FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

This article is taken from the YourTradingEdge magazine (MAY/JUN 2010 issue) The author, Mario Singh has been trading forex for five years. He is the co-founder and CEO of FX1 Academy, the largest Forex Academy in Asia. He is a popular seminar speaker, writer and forex coach. As he is a regular guest on CNBC, his views are widely sought in the industry. Mario Singh on how to become consistently profitable in the forex market. ‘Until you can manage your mind, do not expect to manage money.’

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

“News creates opinions whereas price is fact.� --- Sam Evans Hello: The supreme goal of any trading activity on the markets is to achieve profit. Therefore it’s natural to use any technique or information that might help us achieve that goal. You know an old debate: Whether technical analysis or fundamental analysis is a better method. None of the two is perfect. There are benefits and drawbacks for each. For example, a good knowledge of fundamental analysis often makes it possible to better

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

One of the most common mistakes new forex traders do, is that they have no trading strategy. Because of the many appealing characteristics (24 hours, trade both short and long, leverage etc) most of the new traders entering the market are eager to prove themselves in an often egoistic approach. Egoistic in that they believe that they can become very profitable and make a fortune in the short term, but soon enough they end up with a bad psychology which at the end accelerates their loosing

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

The final, and by far one of the most important factors to your success is money management (sometimes also referred to as position-sizing). To illustrate just how important it is to your final results, there has actually been a mathematical study which confirms that even completely random entries, based upon a coin toss and yielding only a 35% “win� ratio, can produce steady profits when combined with proper money management formulas. As a matter of fact, to break it down by level of

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

Who are the women working in the Forex Market, a typical "man’s world"? How did they get there? How being a woman can be an advantage or disadvantage? How do they manage to combine their private life with their professional career?  Why is trading so exciting? We were curious to better know those female bank analysts, traders and strategists. Through our series of interviews, you will discover a myriad of personalities, opinions and careers for these − undoubtedly − atypical women. Enjoy

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

What separates the 10% that make money from the 90% that don’t? 10,000 hours. In his recent book ‘Outliers’ Malcolm Gladwell describes the 10,000-Hour Rule, claiming that the key to success in any cognitively complex field is, to a large extent, a matter of practicing a specific task for a total of around 10,000 hours. 10,000 hours equates to around 4hrs a day for 10 years. For some reason most people that ‘try their hand’ at trading view it as a get rich quick scheme. That in a very short

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

V. Bednarik PROFILE: • Current Job : Professional Trader and Expert Advisor for Fxstreet.com • Career: 7 years in Forex, 20 years in Accountancy. • Age : 41 After 20 years in Accountancy, Valeria Bendarik left her job to dedicate herself to trading.  "I had 'invested' in what finally was a Ponzi scheme that left 11,000 victims in South America. So I learned my lessons and decided I could only be serious about it." After a couple of years studying and teaching through two different

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

So trading is a zero-sum game? ‘I think it’s a minus-sum game. The amount of money is very large. I had a number in my first book, Trading for a Living, and I thought it was the most scandalous number in the book. Nobody paid attention. 25% of profits and losses. 25% of change. They get lost in the machinery. That’s what makes trading so difficult. Trading is expensive.� – Dr. Alexander Elder “If we want a consistently profitable trading strategy, we had better make sure that the person on the

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

‘The best way to become successful in trading is to learn from someone with more experience than you, and for that person to become your mentor. You train alongside them in a professional environment, preferably as part of a team of traders. Trading by yourself is extremely hard without a team of people to watch, question and bounce ideas off.� — Mike Baghdady (a 35-year veteran of the financial markets) Hello: Many markets wizards trade behind closed doors. They’ll never let you see how they

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

“Knowing when not to trade can be all the edge you need. In their quest for an edge, traders tend to focus solely on finding additional reasons why they should enter a trade. Knowing when to stay out of a trade is equally, if not more important. As an example, let us say that over 100 trades you have 50 winners and 50 losers. You are profiting 50% of the time on your 100 trades. Now if you could find a slight edge that, while not increasing your number of winning trades, does help you to cut

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

How long does it take to become a successful trader? ‘Years, not weeks or months – and that’s true in any performance field. Neglect of that reality is perhaps the single most common source of trading failure.’’ – Dr. Brett N. Steenbarger Hello: We all have a strong desire to be financially free. This is a noble desire, and forex trading is capable of giving you the wealth you dream of. But this wealth won’t come easily. For you to belong to the small percentage of successful traders, you need

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

Hello: Someone reading my previous thoughts about FX markets could have been scared. I didn’t intentionally want to scare anybody; I was only telling you the reality. I like to treat others as I’d like them to treat me. I don’t want to tell me lies in other to get people interested in something or buy a product, neither would I like anyone to do that to me. There is no risk-free business or activity under heaven. When it comes to forex, people always have a wrong approach, no wonder over 90%

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

J. Samuels PROFILE: • Current Job : Forex Instructor and Coach, Founder of FX Trader’s EDGE • Career: Over 10 years in the FX Market, as bank trader at JP Morgan and retail traders coacher • Age : 52 "Thinking back it should have been more daunting than it actually was�, says Jody Samuels, the “Queen of the quid�, about her first years back in the 80's at JP Morgan in NYC. Jody Samuels, traders coach and founder of FxTradersEdge.com, discovered Forex in 1979 in the Arbitrage (Foreign exchange)

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

Besides all of the fundamental and technical factors a trader must keep track of in order to be successful, there is another area which is often overlooked – themselves. No matter how good your strategy is, the other factor which will always influence your outcomes are your own emotions. After all, it is emotions that move the markets. Emotions are what most of our indicators are designed to give us a measurement of. And in order to be able to profit on market movements created by the emotions

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

R. Horner PROFILE: • Current Job : Trader and Author at RagheeHorner.com; Chief Currency Analyst at InterbankFX • Career: 15 years in financial markets: Futures since 1996 and Forex since 2000 • Age : 38 “Quality of life comes from the understanding of when I should and should not be at my desk.� Raghee Horner was 17 years old when she started trading. She has managed to balance private life and work through a well-studied schedule discipline. Involved in the financial markets since the early

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

Oscillating indicators get their name due to their tendency to oscillate within a range of values. They can signal when price is at extreme levels and due for a reversal. Stochastics Stochastics consist of a fast line and a slow line, and oscillate between 0 and 100. Levels above 80 are said to be over-bought and levels below 20 are referred to as over-sold. When the red line crosses above the blue we know that the bulls are overpowering the bears. When the red line crosses below the blue, on

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

Kathy Lien PROFILE: • Current Job :  Director of Currency Research at GFT • Career: More than 10 years in the FX Market • Age : 29 “I truly believe that the more you are a conscious of the existence of a glass ceiling, the more that you will credit your lack of progress on that and the more it will become realityâ€�, says Kathy Lien when asked about the limitations her female gender could create. The young woman, aged of only 29 years, is Managing Partner of BKForexAdvisors.com and Director

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

Jane Foley PROFILE: • Current Job :  Research Director at Forex.com. • Career: Over 20 years in the Bonds and Forex Market, 10 years for Barclay's. • Age : 43 “The beauty of this business for me is that there is almost always something fresh to write about.â€� Jane Foley is an economist with over 20 years of experience and whose writing on fundamental analysis has garnered a lot of attention. She was appointed as Research Director at Gain Capital in May 2009. Before that, Foley spent eight

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

A Sufi Story There was once two farmers in the desert. They both desperately needed to acquire water so they could survive the desert and support their families. After searching the area together, they conclude there is water somewhere in the area but they are not sure where. So they set out to find a water well and start digging in a similar location between their two properties. After several days with both of them digging, the second farmer strikes water. As soon as this happens, the first

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

An indicator (sometimes also called a study) is a tool which helps you analyze price movements. There are two groups which most indicators fall into –trendfollowing indicators are the most useful when price is trending in one direction or the other, meanwhile oscillating indicators can be helpful when price is consolidating into a range. It is important to know which group the indicator you are using falls into, and to choose the correct indicator for each situation. Some common

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

   K. Jones PROFILE: • Current Job :  Head of FICC Technical Analysis at Commerzbank • Career: Over 20 years in the Forex business. Worked for a Commodities broker and two major investment banks. • Age : 44 Karen Jones is a purely technical analyst with more than 20 years of experience in the financial business and has always monitored and analyzed currencies. “Of all the markets I analyze, it is simply the most harder to do [… and] also the most volatileâ€� says Karen. She joined

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

A trend can do one of 3 things: it can go up, go down, or it can go sideways. An up trend is defined as having higher highs, and higher lows. Similarly, a down trend is defined as having lower highs and lower lows. When a trend is moving sideways, price is said to be in a range. Trendlines Lines can be drawn connecting the tops of support levels, as well as the lows or resistance levels to form trendlines. Typically, when drawing trendlines, people use the candle bodies as opposed to the

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

T. Hammond PROFILE: • Current Job : Professional Trader and Coach, Founder of TrifFX.com • Career: Full-time trader in the FX retail market since 2002. Previous jobs as PC Technician. • Age : 37 “Though it has been difficult at times (there’s no harder reality check than a depleting account), I’ve enjoyed the process of self discovery. I’ve learned a lot about myself through learning to trade currencies.� says Triffany Hammond , professional currencies trader and coach. Triffany quit her last

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

  C. Harmer PROFILE: • Current Job : Founder of CharmerCharts.com • Career: 30 years in the FX Market spent at the London Futures Exchange, in banks and as a traders coach. • Age : 54 “Most the newer technical analysts today who base their analysis on algorithmic or mathematical models have never traded on a market,â€� says Carol Harmer , founder of Charmercharts. “I am sure they would not be able to trade in today's markets using the tools we had when T/A first became popular…â€� With a

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

As price moves up and down on our charts, it encounters “barriers� along the way. If this barrier acts like a floor, keeping price from dropping any lower, it is known in trading terminology as support. When it acts more as a ceiling and stands in the way of upward moves, it is called resistance. What is interesting to note is that if a certain price level acts as resistance on the way up (such as the doji candle which highlights a moment of market indecision on the way up at 1.4848 in the

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

The markets represent the struggle between two opposing forces… the bulls, who want to push the price higher, and the bears, who wish to push it lower. As each side tries to overpower the other, they leave footprints behind. Technical analysis is the art and science of reading a price chart in order to determine who is stronger, and who is winning the struggle at any given moment. Chart Types There are three types of charts commonly used in technical analysis: The line chart is the simplest

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

Many traders or future traders shop for a broker to work with and find endless reviews on the web, and not all are genuine. Here are 5 ways ways to separate the good from the bad. There are lots of sites that specialize in forex broker reviews and lots of talk about brokers in various forums. While a lot of information comes from real experience of people that have used a brokers’ services, some may have a hidden agenda of promoting the broker. Promoting a broker is OK, as long as it’s done in

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

The first rule of focus is this: "Wherever you are, make sure you're there." Dan Sullivan, Strategic Coach Founder Over the past 20 years working with many traders, I have learned that these 10 habits will help you take your trading to the next level. To illustrate this point, I’m going to introduce you to two traders, frustrated Fred and successful Steve. Fred has fallen into the technical traders trap. Fred is “out of shape� with no business plan or trading goals. He trades emotionally and

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

The price buyers are willing to pay is called the bid. The price sellers are asking is called the ask. And the distance between the two is called the spread. If you believe the price is going to go up, you would buy a long position, and then look to close it by selling when the higher price is reached. If instead you think the price will go down, you would sell and enter into a short position. The idea then is to cover your position by buying back at a lower price. Order Types When you want to

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal. Henry Ford (1863 - 1947) Over the past 20 years working with many traders, I have learned that these 10 habits will help you take your trading to the next level. To illustrate this point, I’m going to introduce you to two traders, frustrated Fred and successful Steve. Fred has fallen into the technical traders trap. Fred is “out of shape� with no business plan or trading goals. He trades emotionally and would

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

Price displacement in the fx market is an artifact of market mechanics that have nothing to do with determining fundamental value. The inefficiency of over-shooting is disruptive, increases risk, and drives uncertainty. Olsen’s investment methodology counters this uncertainty by anticipating imbalances between buyers and sellers and providing liquidity that can restore prices to more reasonable levels. Finding a foothold in the shifting sand The potential profitability of currency trading is a

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

The biggest danger for any trader is excessive exposure. An unexpected price spike can then trigger a margin call that wipes out all the profits generated over months of hard effort. This is the most frequent reason why traders lose money. How can we prevent this from happening? What do we have to know? Diversification As there is no such thing as perfect foresight and an unexpected price spike can occur at any time, a trader should always diversify his risk and trade not just one, but two or

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

"Practise as if you are the worst, perform as if you are the best." Over the past 20 years working with many traders, I have learned that these 10 habits will help you take your trading to the next level. To illustrate this point, I’m going to introduce you to two traders, frustrated Fred and successful Steve. Fred has fallen into the technical traders trap. Fred is “out of shape� with no business plan or trading goals. He trades emotionally and would rather search the net for the next latest

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

One of the most common causes of failure is the habit of quitting when one is facing defeat. Next time, think of the adage: - Combine time (at least 2 years) with perseverance and a strong desire to win! Over the past 20 years working with many traders, I have learned that these 10 habits will help you take your trading to the next level. To illustrate this point, I’m going to introduce you to two traders, frustrated Fred and successful Steve. Fred has fallen into the technical traders trap.

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

"My specialty is being right when other people are wrong." George Bernard Shaw Playwright and Essayist (1856-1950) Over the past 20 years working with many traders, I have learned that these 10 habits will help you take your trading to the next level. To illustrate this point, I’m going to introduce you to two traders, frustrated Fred and successful Steve. Fred has fallen into the technical traders trap. Fred is “out of shape� with no business plan or trading goals. He trades emotionally and

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

"Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You" Dr. Seuss Over the past 20 years working with many traders, I have learned that these 10 habits will help you take your trading to the next level. To illustrate this point, I’m going to introduce you to two traders, frustrated Farah and successful Sally. Farah has fallen into the technical traders trap. Farah is “out of shape� with no business plan or trading goals. She trades emotionally and would rather

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

The forex world is filled with its own unique terms and concepts. Here are some of the most common you need to know: Pips A pip is similar to a tick or point in stocks, futures, or other markets. It stands for percentage interest point and is the smallest individual unit of trading in forex. The pip is always the right-most digit of any forex price quote. Exactly how much an individual pip is worth depends upon the currency being traded. The Euro is measured out to four decimal places, thus

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

"Success starts from within a person. Nobody can help you achieve success unless you have that inner strength and belief to overcome all roadblocks to riches. And when you are ready to achieve greatness, the teacher will appear." Author Unknown Over the past 20 years working with many traders, I have learned that these 10 habits will help you take your trading to the next level. To illustrate this point, I’m going to introduce you to two traders, frustrated Farah and successful Sally. Farah

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

Over the past 20 years working with many traders, I have learned that these 10 habits will help you take your trading to the next level. To illustrate this point, I’m going to introduce you to two traders, frustrated Farah and successful Sally. Farah has fallen into the technical traders trap. Farah is “out of shape� with no business plan or trading goals. She trades emotionally and would rather search the net for the next latest and greatest black box out there. Sally used to be a technical

FXstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics
Fxstreet.com: Education: Forex Basics. A comprehensive way to understand the basic concepts of the currencies market.

“To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.�� Ralph Waldo Emerson Over the past 20 years working with many traders, we have learned that these 10 habits will help you take your trading to the next level. To illustrate this point, I’m going to introduce you to two traders, frustrated Farah and successful Sally. Farah has fallen into the technical traders trap. Farah is “out of shape� with no business plan or trading goals. She trades emotionally and would rather