FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

07/30/2010
The Experts' Recommendations for Holiday Time
Summertime. What should I do? Dreaming about white sand? Vacation on a boat? Hiking in the mountains? Road trip with your family? Or will you stay at home this summer? In any case, this is holiday season and market typically behaves differently... So what strategies should we adopt? We've asked some of our contributors how they recommend to trade in August if you're not away on vacation... and what to do if you're going to leave for holidays and how to trade upon your return. They also give us

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

07/29/2010
Ilian Yotov's Summer Recommendations
1. What are your recommendations on how to trade Forex this summer? What should be the trader's tasks in August? What should we prepare before leaving for holidays? High volatility poses a threat to the carry trades. Since market volatility has declined and investors’ sentiment has improved in June/July, the carry trade has made a comeback. If this continues to be the environment in August, the higher-yielding currencies could remain well bid and the USD could continue to be used as a funding

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

07/29/2010
James Chen's Summer Recommendations
1. What are your recommendations on how to trade Forex this summer? What should be the trader's tasks in August? What should we prepare before leaving for holidays? For me, and for many other traders, trading forex during the summer is much the same as trading during any other time of the year. The currency markets are almost always moving and there are plenty of trading opportunities to take advantage of, whatever time of year it is. That being said, if and when the markets are slow, that is

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

07/29/2010
Valeria Bednarik's Summer Recommendations
1. What are your recommendations on how to trade Forex this summer? What should be the trader's tasks in August? What should we prepare before leaving for holidays? Summer is pretty much against my trading style, because I like to take advantage of the speed of movements, and the volume increases; in this case, we have a strong lack of volume, and we have an extra risk, that is, big institutions or banks, placing trades and being able to move price precisely because of that lack of volume. My

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

07/29/2010
Wayne McDonell's Summer Recommendations
1. What are your recommendations on how to trade Forex this summer? What should be the trader's tasks in August? What should we prepare before leaving for holidays? In America, many traders take their summer vacation in July. They stop placing trades in the third week of June... on Quadruple Witching Friday. They spend the next week preparing end of quarter statements for their investors and partners. Once complete, they head to the Hamptons for the 4th of July. This year, this left the DOW

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

07/29/2010
Rob Booker's Summer Recommendations
1. What are your recommendations on how to trade Forex this summer? What should be the trader's tasks in August? What should we prepare before leaving for holidays? Some of my methods (like trading to the weekly pivot) do not work as well in the later part of August, and the early part of September, so I do not trade that style at that time. Other methods - like counter-trend fib trading, work just fine and I keep going. One thing that I have noticed over the years is that during this period

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

07/29/2010
Gonçalo Moreira's Summer Recommendations
1. What are your recommendations on how to trade Forex this summer? What should be the trader's tasks in August? What should we prepare before leaving for holidays? The price action in most major pairs during the last 6 to 8 weeks has been one of correction of those impulsive movements seen in the 1st and 2nd quarter of the year. The speed of correction has been practically the same of the previous impulse, so I wouldn't take a slow price action during August for granted - instead I prefer to

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

07/29/2010
John Jagerson's Summer Recommendations
1. What are your recommendations on how to trade Forex this summer? What should be the trader's tasks in August? What should we prepare before leaving for holidays? I am a big believer in creating investing plans in advance. For example, let's assume that although inflation is not an issue in the U.S. yet that it will be eventually. I can create a plan to profit from its appearance by looking at past periods, evaluating trading strategies and designing risk control that would benefit from

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

07/29/2010
Marco Mayer's Summer Recommendations
1. What are your recommendations on how to trade Forex this summer? What should be the trader's tasks in August? What should we prepare before leaving for holidays? I’ve seen both, summers where literally nothing happened and summers where the markets were completely crazy. You have to be prepared for both, when things slow down, so do I. So if the markets don’t offer good opportunities just take that time to relax and enjoy the summer. If you want to improve your trading you should review

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

07/29/2010
Dr Sivaraman's Summer Recommendations
1. What are your recommendations on how to trade Forex this summer? What should be the trader's tasks in August? What should we prepare before leaving for holidays? When a trader needs to spend the summer with the family, relatives or friends then it is better to take very less position now on and try to close the positions before going off. Keep the mind cool and give importance to the vacation and avoid thinking about market when engaged with other task - not even look at the market. When

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

07/29/2010
Phil Newton's Summer Recommendations
1. What are your recommendations on how to trade Forex this summer? What should be the trader's tasks in August? What should we prepare before leaving for holidays? There is only one thing to do: trade your plan. If a part of your plan is to trade through typically slow market phases, like the summer doll drums then follow your plan. Reduced position size might also be another option should you trade through and expecting a low performance. If as a part of your strategy TESTING it was evident

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

07/29/2010
Ed Ponsi's Summer Recommendations
1. What are your recommendations on how to trade Forex this summer? What should be the trader's tasks in August? What should we prepare before leaving for holidays? As we’ve seen this summer, we can experience high volatility and wild trading at any time of the year. A common mistake made at this time of the year is for some traders to “load the boat� - take large positions, in other words - because they want to profit in a market that isn’t giving them many opportunities. Instead of this

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

07/27/2010
Tackling Those Unanswered Questions
It feels like we have all been on a very wild ride in the Global Markets these last few weeks, and if volatility is any kind of gauge, then I have all the confirmation I need. What with earnings season in full swing, combined with statements of "unusual uncertainty" from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, what objective trader can really be surprised? I understand that the market is always capable of surprises, and if one is not fully prepared for the consequences at all times, then they are simply

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

07/27/2010
Failure is Often a Necessity for Success
Trading is a difficult challenge that will test your emotions more than you can imagine. From birth, we gravitate towards things that make us feel good and run from things we fear. If you take this instinctual and conditioned action in trading, you will lose. For example, if you wait for news and charts to look "good" before you buy into a market, price is already high and at retail prices at that point. You can't buy when price is at retail levels and profit consistently. If you sell into

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

07/20/2010
Forex Questions and Answers with Sam Evans
Firstly, I would like to take the time to thank each and every one of you who reads my weekly article. It is your continued support and interest which keeps me coming back for more, week in week out. As I have mentioned before, I receive a large number of emails from my ongoing students and readers alike and answering each one does take its time, with a few slipping through the net on occasion, I must admit! However, every once in a while, I like to address some of the best questions publicly,

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

07/20/2010
The Proper Use of Indicators and Oscillators
When walking around an Online Trading Academy classroom during the trading portion of a Professional Trader class, I see the trading work–spaces of traders, the charts they are looking at and most importantly, what lines, circles, indicators, and oscillators are on those charts. This last part is most important because what you add to a raw price chart will likely strongly influence your trading decision. After all, why else would someone add something to a chart? The biggest issue I see in

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

07/13/2010
Optimizing your trading strategy by analyzing your Risk/Reward ratio
As we have said in our previous article, one of the most important aspects of trading in any market and especially forex, is Money Management. Money Management can be defined as the way a trader manages his equity, number and size of trades, open positions, stop loss limits and take profit targets and optimizing its Risk/Reward ratio in order to yield positive results in the long run. To understand this, first you have to recognize that no one can always get it right and we all get losing

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

07/13/2010
Defining the Trader's Edge
Since I started teaching students of Online Trading Academy, I have obviously taken a great interest in the development of their careers and progress along the way. I have taught a variety of individuals, hailing from different backgrounds and each with their very own reasons for taking on the tough challenge of seeking a life as a professional Forex trader. Some are just looking for a secondary or supplementary income, some are just looking for a new interest in life and others want to become

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

07/13/2010
Government Intervention and Market Price
I started my career on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange facilitating institutional order flow. This means taking large buy and sell orders from banks, institutions, money managers, hedge funds, and more, paying close attention to market price, and then making sure those orders get executed and filled at the proper prices. I started in the currency quadrant and was specifically responsible for the Japanese Yen, Canadian Dollar, British Pound, Deutsch Mark, and Swiss Franc markets.

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

07/07/2010
Why the Fundamentals Never Stand a Chance
With another interesting month of trading activity behind us, toasts to success and open wounds of defeat are just some of the scenarios faced by the growing population of speculators across the world. It's been a turbulent time for all, no matter what your toolkit contains, and anyone who says otherwise is a braver man than me! Uncertainty and indecision are the flavors of the times and never has there been a greater need to filter through the noise and keep things as simple as possible.

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

07/07/2010
Motion Into Mass: Your Questions Answered
Last week's article entitled, Motion Into Mass: An Example Trade , generated some good questions that I will address in this piece. Never be afraid to ask questions as they can hold answers that can change the way you think about little things as well as major, life-changing thoughts. The trick is to ask the right questions to the right people; easier said than done sometimes. My answers always stem from the basic laws of supply and demand, motion into mass, or whatever you want to call it.

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

07/08/2010
How I Apply Risk Management
‘I risk a fixed, small portion of my portfolio on each trade… I raise my size if I’m trading well and seeing markets well; reduce my size if I’m not in sync with the markets. I make those adjustments very quickly. I want to ensure that, from peak to trough, I never go down more than 5%. I know that’s very conservative, but that’s worked well for me. I go for small, consistent returns – not home runs.� — Brett N. Steenbarger Hello: Some asked me if I’m not worried about revealing my secrets.

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

06/29/2010
The Hidden Costs of Forex Trading
For the purpose of this article, I would like to highlight an aspect of Forex trading which is often the very last thing on the minds of traders: The cost of doing business. As is widely known, if one participates in the Equity or Futures markets, there is always a commission charge for taking a trade. This charge pays the broker for allowing the position to be taken in the first place. While there is a difference in commission charges among the various equity and futures clearing firms, the

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

06/29/2010
Motion Into Mass: An Example Trade
Before starting my career at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, I did two things and really two things only. I played ice hockey and went to school where the focus of my studies was Biology and Genetics. I know what you're thinking, how boring... Well, I actually was and am still fascinated with the study of life so I really enjoyed those days. Around every corner of Biology, Chemistry, Genetics, and so on is another mathematical equation. After diving into this field, I quickly realized that

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

06/29/2010
'The worst is behind but the US is still in a healing mode' - Wayne McDonell
W. McDonell PROFILE: • Position : Chief Currency Coach at FX Bootcamp. See bio • Educational videos: Strategic & Tactical FOREX Trading: Watch Part 1 and Part 2 • Wayne's book : The FX Bootcamp Guide to Strategic and Tactical Forex Trading In honor of the 50th Anniversary of "Trade Non-Farm Payrolls LIVE" webinar presented by FX Bootcamp, FXstreet.com developed this audio interview with Wayne McDonell , who has been presenting all the NFP webinars since the first edition in June 2007! You

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

06/22/2010
A Practical Use of Technical Indicators
After having just spent six days in the Online Trading Academy classroom with a brand new group of Professional Forex Trader students, memories of my own experiences in the class have come flooding back to me. I distinctly remember how I felt when I was learning all about support, resistance and trends and as the pieces of the puzzle slowly started to fit together. Now that I am on the other side of the room, I use my own experiences to teach my students in the most practical manner in which I

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

06/22/2010
Why Proper Market Speculating is so Difficult for Most People
Compare the average investor's returns around the world to the average Wall Street firm's returns. I think we would all agree that the average Wall Street firm is making the lion's share of the money, while the average investor is either losing or not making much at all. Next, think about what the average investor does in the markets, they "buy stock." Now, think about what the average Wall Street firm does, they "sell stock." Hhmm... One group is selling and making super high returns each

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

06/15/2010
Trade Management: Often Overlooked and Mostly Ignored
There are many factors that determine the overall success rate for a trader. It is easy to see the vast differences between the novice and professional speculators, but as the beginner starts to make progress, it comes down to the more subtle factors which greatly distinguish the level of their consistency. We all know that the majority of novice Forex traders fail to protect their capital efficiently enough, resulting in early account retirements and huge losses, plus they typically do not

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

06/15/2010
Sam Answers Your Questions
With a strong stream of email questions coming in lately, I thought it would be a good idea to answer some of the popular ones for you here in Lessons from the Pros. I hope this is helpful for you.  Sam, I really like your simplistic approach to trading, makes a lot of sense keeping it simple. I have one question, when you are looking for levels on index charts, do you include any that may have formed in the afterhours time frame? Thanks, Joe  Sam – Thanks for the email and good

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

06/08/2010
When a Commodity is Really a Commodity
As we all know, the Forex markets offer a variety of interesting and unique opportunities. While I personally trade a variety of asset classes, including Stock Index Futures and Commodities as well as Forex, my discipline and technical approach to each of these markets remains the same. I look for low risk, high probability opportunities, respecting the governing laws of Supply and Demand at all times. Price is simply price, no matter what we are looking at, and it will always be the greatest

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

06/08/2010
The Check List
There are many aspects to short-term and longer term trading. Where to enter, where to place your protective stop loss order, where to take profits, trade duration, risk management, position sizing, trade management, and much more are key considerations when trading. In my humble opinion, I would argue that the key to doing any of these things correctly comes down to where you are "entering" the market. Entering the market correctly means entering as close to the turn in price as possible.

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

06/02/2010
Time For Some Mental Push-Ups
Trading discipline is simply a hard skill to master. With dreams of making big money in the fastest possible time, the vast majority of novice and beginner traders typically learn this lesson the hard way. Being disciplined and patient is pretty much the last thing on the rookie trader's mind in the early stages of their career. They want to make money and get results quickly after seeing and hearing how the professionals do it and aspiring to reach these upper echelons in the shortest

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

06/02/2010
The Power of Simple
Occam's Razor is a scientific principle that suggests the simplest answer is typically the right answer to a given question. This is truly a principle I have lived by and it has rewarded me handsomely. I am always fascinated with the origin of things and specifically, the simple thought process behind the idea. For example, have you ever wondered about the origin of numbers? I mean, the numbers 1 – 10 are a part of our every day life. We see them everywhere, while we drive on signs, at every

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

05/27/2010
How To Use Elliott Wave Analysis To Position Yourself Ahead of the News
Predicting how markets will react to news is like counting cards when playing blackjack. It gives you an edge. Want to outright gamble with your money while you trade – or would you rather take a calculated risk instead? Now, I guess that we all gamble to some degree, but you won't find me playing blackjack in Las Vegas or Atlantic City. Still, if I did play blackjack, I'd make sure to control the risks by learning to count cards. Here's why: Blackjack is one casino game where you can change

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

05/25/2010
Trusting the Trade
One of the biggest challenges facing any novice trader is learning to develop trust. I am talking about having trust across the whole spectrum of trading. You have to learn to trust yourself, knowing that it takes discipline and patience to allow time to do its work. You have to learn to trust your strategy, implementing and executing your orders waiting for the very best setups with the lowest risk and highest reward, while constantly remaining as objective in the analytical process as

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

05/25/2010
You Have Questions - Sam has Answers!
Over the past few days, some emails with good questions have come in that I wanted to share with you, for your benefit. In our quest to attain an "edge" in market speculation, it is important to "think" the markets very differently from others, our competition. Hi Sam, Thanks for the great presentation of Market Traps today. You have pointed out 4 important questions to ask when looking at charts. For some reason (distractions at home), I didn't get the significance of questions 2 to 4. Can

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

05/18/2010
Currency Corner: The tug-of-war
This article is taken from the YourTradingEdge magazine (MAY/JUN 2010 issue) The author, Wayne McDonell is the Chief Currency Coach of FxBootcamp.com, a live forex training organisation. He is a member of the US National Futures Association and registered as a Commodities Trading Advisor. His book ‘ Strategic and Tactical Forex Trading ’ (Wiley Publishing) is a bestseller in the Foreign Exchange category of Amazon.com. Wayne McDonell provides analysis of the currency market: tug-of-war. The

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

05/18/2010
Fat Fingers, Hung Parliaments and Greek Tragedies – Welcome to Forex Trading
For some traders, last week's price action on May 6th was a gift and unfortunately, for many others, it was also a curse. That day will go down in history as perhaps one of the most volatile trading days in the history of the markets. It didn't matter if you were involved in Stocks, Futures or Forex, everywhere you looked, things were selling off in sheer panic one minute, then rallying hard the next. I happened to be teaching the Professional Forex Trader class for Online Trading Academy in

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

05/18/2010
Rate of Return
Often, my articles talk about myth vs reality when it comes to trading, money, and markets. Today, I want to discuss a bigger picture issue many people lose sleep over. The issue is the amount of savings needed to live the lifestyle you choose to live today, tomorrow, and into retirement. The professionals and financial industry lead everyone to believe that they need a large savings amount or else retirement will not be fun and likely consist of moving in with in-laws. How much do you need?

FXstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies
Fxstreet.com: Education: Trading Strategies. Useful resources for those who want to explore new ways to approach the currencies market.

05/13/2010
Video Analysis: Indicator Piling
Technical studies can be useful, but they can also be abused by traders. The biggest danger traders face when using charting tools is “analysis paralysis.� At some point, you have to make a decision about your trade, and simply adding more analytical tools that may just end up muddying the water does not necessarily increase your probability of success. “Indicator piling,� or adding several indicators to a single chart, will probably only obscure your real trading opportunities.