Where To Place Stop Losses?

By Hass67

Currency prices in the forex markets are always jumping up and down. Forex markets are volatile most of the time. In the short term, you will only find noise in the intra day forex market. This makes it difficult for new day traders to know how to put a stop loss. Most of the time, prices in forex markets jump 10-20 pips for no apparent reason.

The noise in the intraday market keeps on frustrating new day traders. They constantly find their stop losses being tripped even when the rates are going in the anticipated direction.

Most of the new day traders use a static 10-20 pip stop loss. This is an arbitrary choice many traders make. How about using a trailing stop? If you place the trailing stop loss too close; you will find your stop hit too early. And if you place it too far; you will have to forgo potential profits if the price retraces later on.

You should place your stop loss on dynamic levels. Most of the professional traders do use stop loss but mostly place it on their computers making them invisible to their brokers.

Stop hunting is something the brokers are continuously doing. If a broker finds many stop losses at a particular price level on his price feed; he can easily trip them using a momentary blip in the price. You cant even complain. The momentary spike happened due to a sudden large transaction in the market.

Do you know this many professional forex traders only use a stop loss in their mind. They plan entry/exit for each position. Keep on monitoring it changing, the stop loss in their mind as the rate fluctuates. When they reach the desired outcome, they close the position. With experience, you will also learn to do the same.

Using dynamic stop losses such as Moving Averages, Bollinger Bands, SARs etc is a better way to reduce your risk while allowing the markets to do what it wants.

The more experienced a trader you will become, the more you are going to realize that placing fixed stop losses actually hurts you more emotionally, psychologically and profit wise than help you.

You should not try to trade before or after a major economic news release. You should not try to place stop loss close to or at round numbers. And you should also not try to trade in times of thin liquidity in the currency markets.

You should understand that your broker can and will use stop hunting to take out your positions using noise in the market as an excuse. Forex trading and casinos have many things in common. You should learn how to beat the markets and the brokers only then you will become a successful forex trader. - 23196

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. He is interested in investing; stock and forex trading. Discover a revolutionary new broker buster Forex Robot. Learn Forex Trading!

Forex Brokers India, Indonesia, Australia- The Best

By fxindia

Forex Trading is financially the most rewarding strategy for Traders. With more than $2 trillion dollars turned over daily is also the most liquid trading market available. However in order to be a successful Forex Trader the simple most important thing that any trader either trading in the Forex market or looking to trade Forex can do is to educate themselves to become better Forex Traders. Today we will look at some key educational lessons to help you become a better Forex Trader.

No matter if you are Forex Trading in India or Forex Trading in Australia, Forex trading can be risky, but it does have huge potential for you to either make a lot of money or lose a lot of money. If you have been around the market awhile you will realize that not all Forex Brokers are equal, and in fact some border being just plain rip off merchants. This can be a major turn off for many new investors, the fear of being ripped off by a Forex Broker.

So how can you find a Great Forex Broker if you are trading From India?

The great news is that there are some awesome forex brokers in the market. A good place to start is finding Forex Brokers as a referral or through a company that knows a lot about forex brokers. Recently the CFD FX REPORTresearched all the Forex Brokers and have found who they believe to be the best.

Now if you don't feel comfortable with that and you want to do all the hard work of researching brokers yourself, then here is a list of things to look about when looking for a great Forex Broker.

1. Find and validated the companies reputation- See what license they hold

2. Make sure they are tied to Forex legitmatly

3. If the company has just started stay away, they maybe fly by nighter

4. What sort of spreads do they offer

5. Do they offer stop losses?

6. Do they requite your orders? If the do stay away

7. What is the slippage?

8. Where is your money held? If it is not through a reputable bank stay away

Most importantly whatever broker you start with, start off small, test the waters these are just some of the research that CFD FX REPORTuse when looking for a Great Forex Broker. - 23196

About the Author:

The CFD FX REPORT is a real time trading tool that offers clients free trading reports, with trading ideas, stock market and forex market education as well helping them with. Also if you are looking for a Forex Broker, then feel free to visit our broker section as we recently reviewed all the forex brokers and have found the best on the market.

Over-thinking an Investment

By Rick Amorey

Investing money can both be hard and easy. It's difficulty will be based on your approach to the business, really. To me, the best way to approach it is to make decisions that are free from one's ego. Sometimes, our desire to be the perfect investor will tend to make us over-think decisions before we make them.

One fundamental truth that applies to the world of investing: Everyone thinks differently from each other. No two people will think the same strategy with investing in stocks. So, as an individual, you'll need to know your strengths and weaknesses. Try to improve on the areas wherein you need the most improvement, but use your strong points to invest.

Basically, choose your playing field with care. If you are in a game show with multiple categories, for example, you will most likely pick categories you have knowledge in. If you're a Star Wars fan, you'll most likely pick the Star Wars category. The same goes for stocks, go for what you know.

In contrast, if you find that you're trying to convince yourself into buying a particular stock, then it is probably not worth investing in at all. Don't try to be real smart by envisioning elaborate scenarios that will result in those stocks becoming big gainers. If you don't know about the niche of the stock, then you don't know how it'll grow.

There will also be situations wherein you'll find yourself in the opposite direction; you have done something right, but have gotten scared off and talked yourself out of it. You've probably heard of the stories of people selling too soon, and missing out on a 100% gain. Or maybe those people who, because of a sudden drop, sold their stocks only to see the same stocks soar after. If you think you know the niche of your stock, don't be so jittery about it.

All the advice I'm giving out is centered on one principle; do not over-think your investments. You could avoid making stupid decisions, yes, but don't be a know-it-all by looking at every possible problem that your investment may or may not even encounter. - 23196

About the Author:

Rick Amorey believes that shortcuts to success are a joke, and instead suggests the comprehensive program of Emini Trading. Be an educated trader with the help of Emini Trading System, and secure your future at a consistent pace.

The Essentials of technical Analysis: Part II

By Jack Haddad

Charting:

The time frame used for forming a chart depends on the compression of the data: intraday, daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annual data. Traders usually concentrate on charts made up of daily and intraday data to forecast shorterm price movements.

The shorter the time frame and the less compressed data is, the more detail that is available. While long on detail, short term charts can be volatile and contain a lot of noise. Large sudden price movements, wide high-low ranges and price gaps can effect volatility, which can distort the overall picture. Long term charts care good for analyzing the large picture to get a broad perspective of the historical price action. Once the general picture is analyzed, a daily chart can be used to zoom in on the last few months. Four of the most popular methods of displaying price data are by the following charts: line bar, candlestick, and point & figure. The line chart is one of the simplest charts. It is formed by plotting one price point, usually the close. For that matter, I don't favor them because I personally consider the open, low, and high to be as important as the close in technical analysis. However, at times, only closing data are available for certain indices, thinly traded stocks and intraday prices. Bar charts are perhaps the most popular charting method. The high, low, and close are required to form the price plot for each period of a bar chart. The high and low are represented by the top and bottom of the vertical bar and the close is the short horizontal line crossing the vertical bar. On a daily chart, each bar represents the high, low, and close for a particular day. Weekly charts would have a bar for each week based on Friday's close and the high and low for that week. Bar charts can be effective for displaying a large amount of data.

Using candlesticks, 200 data points can take up a lot of room and look cluttered. Line charts show less clutter, but do not offer as much detail (no high-low range). The individual bars that make up the bar chart are relatively skinny, which allows users the ability to fit more bars before the chart gets cluttered. If you're not interested in the opening price, bar charts are an ideal method for analyzing the close relative to the high and low. In addition, bar charts that include the open will tend to get cluttered quicker. If you're interested in the opening price, candlestick charts probably offer a better alternative. The beauty of Point & Figure charts is their simplicity. Little or no price movement is deemed irrelevant and therefore not duplicated on the chart. Only price movements that exceed specified levels are recorded. This focus on price movement makes it easier to identify support and resistance levels, bullish breakouts and bearish breakdowns. Contrary to this methodology, Point & Figure charts are based solely on price movement and do not take time into consideration. The topic on candlestick charting is broad and beyond the scope of this article. This method of charting originated in Japan over 300 years ago, and have become quite popular in recent years. For a candlestick chart, the open, high, low, and close are all required. A daily candlestick is based on the open price, the intraday high and low, and the close. A weekly candlestick is based on Monday's open, the weekly high-low range, and Friday's close.

Trendlines:

Trendlines are an important tool in technical analysis for both trend identification and confirmation. The general rule in technical analysis is that it takes two points to draw a trendline and the third point confirms the validity. An up trendline is formed by connecting two of more low points. The second low must be higher than the first for the line to have a positive slope.

Up trendlines act as support and indicate that net-demand (demand less supply) is increasing even as the price rises. A downtrend is formed by connecting two or more high points. The second high must be lower than the first for the line to have a negative slope. Down trendlines act as a resistance and indicate that net-supply is increasing even as the price declines. - 23196

About the Author:

Dr. Jack Haddad, MD, MBA has been professionally trading the stock market since 1997 and had an annualized return of 39.4%. Dr. Haddad has recently launched MD Capital Management, an Investment Fund with Charles Schwab. The fund utilizes option hedging techniques to generate returns while minimizing risks. For more info, visit Jack's online group: MD Capital Management.

Draped Bust Silver Dollar - Why Your Draped Bust May Not Be Real

By Christina Goldman

The Draped Bust Silver Dollar is one the earliest coins among the official currency of the USA. These antique coins were been minted under the Coinage Act of 1792, and it would cost a fortune to own genuine pieces of these.

There were two types of these Silver dollar coins produced by the US Mint from 1794 to 1803, each different from the obverse side. The first issue is called the Flowing Hair manufactured for only two years, 1794-1795. The second is the Draped Silver Dollar which came out for a longer period, 1795-1804.

The Draped Silver Dollar also features two varieties in its reverse design. These draped silver coin types are the small eagle which was minted 1795-1798, and the heraldic eagle struck in 1798-1804.

All dates of mintage between 1795 and 1903 have different variety classifications because the dies in those days were done by hand engraving. The varying nuances in the draped bust silver dollar design and its vintage pedigree have created a certain mystique among coin collectors who are willing to spend much to own one.

But because of its popularity and the high price that it could command, antique silver dollar fakes have also proliferated. Auction facilities online are often the outlets for such counterfeit coins as the sellers could easily hide under anonymity.

Fortunately, population auction houses like eBay are doing some efforts to stop the unscrupulous practice by stopping sale of those coins determined to be fake. Still, the auction may proceed if the seller declares that the coins being sold by bidding are replicas. It would only be illegal to own counterfeit coins if the intention of the owner is to pass them off as real.

An authority at the American Numismatic Society advises that those who chose to collect counterfeits or replicas should clearly label them as such to prevent these from being sold inadvertently as genuine coins later. For indeed, there are still many gullible ones who would not check and just think that theyre buying the real rare draped bust silver dollar. - 23196

About the Author:

You'll find a wonderful selection and terrific prices on the rare, antique Draped Bust Silver Dollar at: http://SilverDollarCoins.net