Forex Most Visited Updated This Evening

 

 

 

 

Forex On Top was updated this evening.  There were an addition of four sites this week.  There appear to be a lot of changes everywhere.  

Trading Forex and Trading Stocks

I’ve been trading forex for about 2 1/2 years now.  I’ve had some breaks in between but overall, it’s been a pretty steady run.  While I’ve been trading forex, I haven’t strayed outside of this market other than investing in mutual funds or index funds.  Last night I started thinking about getting more involved in other markets, specifically the stock market since I have previous experience.  I’ve traded stocks in the past turning a small profit but I never got immersed in it.  

Today I searched around for a stock market demo account but unlike forex, you’re not going to find any of your major stock brokers that offer them; at least I don’t know of any that do.  I stumbled over a bunch of "fantasy" stock market websites, some free, some that cost a fee to join individual contests.  Marketwatch has good stock coverage and offer a virtual stock exchange but I liked WallStreetSurvivor much better.  Wall Street Survivor offers prizes and though they’re not easy winning since there are thousands of contestants, I liked that the website was a dedicated stock market fantasy game and free.  They currently have a $50,000 contest that runs from January 1st until sometime in April, daily prizes, and weekly prizes.  I’m pretty excited to get into the initial preparation phase of possibly trading in the stock market.  When I traded stocks in the past, I didn’t use technical analysis, position sizing, or much of anything I use now so it will be interested to see how I can transition from trading forex.  I’m certainly not taking the focus off of forex trading, just trying to expand my horizons….

Forex and Insomnia

I was mentioning to another trade via email that I have insomnia.  Personally, I’ve found that ever since I got into forex trading, I’ve slept a lot less.  I did burn out though sometime in the middle of 2007 and needed about six months to recover.  Try to pace yourself.  I can’t seem to do this.  It’s either full throttle or bust.  Anyway, I wanted to post this trader’s comments:

I think there’s a great element of sleeplessness for a lot of Forex trading related folk. I know I have it.

I’ve seen the ebbs and flows of a host of traders … Many get burned out, many peter off and do less, and a few break through the wall and come to a happy place where they feel comfortable and where they can still do things they enjoy (other than trading themselves).

I’m one who likes to take in a lot of information and distill it, yet it seems such a counterproductive philosophy when applied to trading. Maybe I’m trying to prove to myself that I can do this too in my own way, that I don’t NEED the absolute focus and structure advocated by others. I would argue that this is my structure and which provides me better focus. 

Whatever it is, I know it’s all part of my trading journey.

2 Percent Risk with 2R Multiple

I’ve been emulating my real account trades with my demo account for the January forex trading contest.  I’m currently in first place with a return of 11.16%.  After today though, my return will drop 2 percentage points to about 9% since I lost 2% on a trade.  I don’t know if this will be enough to hold on to the lead.  

This is an overview of how I’ve been trading so far in January 2008: 

1. I have been risking exactly 2% on every trade.  No more, no less.  
2. I’ve been using my forex position size calculator everyday when figuring out my trade size and find it very handy.  Some of you have commented the same.  
3. My R-multiple on every trade has been 2R.  For those of you that haven’t heard of R-multiple, it’s really just an abbreviation for reward-to-risk.  2R means my reward-to-risk is 2:1.  
4. I’m not watching my positions so there isn’t any fancy money management going on.  I haven’t once set my stops to breakeven. I’m just letting them ride.  If they hit my target, they hit it.  If they don’t and stop out, so be it.  This is quite different from what I’ve done in the past.  In the past, I’ve been quick to set my stops to breakeven when they move a little in my favor.  The consequence of doing this was typically a gain/loss of zero.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve moved my stop to breakeven only to see it get stopped out.  Then I have to watch as the price goes back in the direction I was trading where it hits my initial target price.  This to me was more frustrating than losing.  I’d rather stick to my guns on a trade instead of playing it scared. 

I Got A List of Forex Firms That Ceased Operations

I spoke to someone over at the NFA today and they sent me over a current list of forex dealer members who have ceased operations since September 1st, 2007:

American National Trading Corp.
Direct Forex FX
Farr Financial Group
Forex Liquidity
Hamilton Williams LLC
One World Capital Group LLC
Royal Forex Trading LLC (Freedom FX LLC)
SNC Investments, Inc.
Solid Gold Financial Services, Inc.
XpressTrade LLC

This is a list the NFA sent me today of all registered Forex dealers as of December 21st, 2007:

Advanced Markets Inc.
Bacera Corporation
Capital Market Services
CMC Markets US LLC
E FX Options LLC
Easy Forex US Ltd.
Forex Capital Markets
Forex Club Financial Company LLC
Friedberg Mercantile Group, Inc.
FX Solutions LLC
Gain Capital Group Inc.
GFS Securities and Futures, Inc.
Global Futures & Forex Ltd.
Hotspot FXr, Inc.
I Trade FX LLC
IFSCL USA, Inc.
IFX Markets, Inc.
Interbank FX, LLC
MB Trading Futures
Money Garden Corporation
Oanda Corporation
ODL Securities Inc.
Peregrine Financial Group, Inc.
RJ O’Brien Associates Inc.

Trade The News

Good thing there really isn’t any news to trade….

Four Forex Brokers Cease to Exist

I missed this on Friday but the NFA announced that four forex brokers ceased operations due to the $5 million capital requirement.  They don’t announce which four.  I noticed an "Under Maintenance" page from Direct Forex which had reported to the CFTC in November but other than that, there’s no for me to know at this point.

It’s definitely not GFS Forex and Futures which have a note on their website stating they received a $6 million capital infusion.  So they’re fine for now. 

Forex Most Visited Updated

Forex On Top was updated today and is quickly approaching 400 sites.  There weren’t any rank changes in the top 20 but there were elsewhere.

Top 20 Movers

Top 20 Losers

Alpari and Other Forex Brokers Increase Capital

The November 2007 Futures Commission Merchant report was released today and has been processed on http://www.brokerontop.com.  Here's an updated status of the broker's I mentioned may be in trouble earlier in the week:

• CMS Forex (needed 10 million, barely compliant in October) increased excess net capital by 4%
• Hotspot FX (need 5 million, barely compliant in October) increased excess net capital by 1%
• Forex Club (need 10 million, seriously undercapitalized in October) increased excess net capital by 65%
• MB Trading (need 10 million, seriously undercapitalized based on October report) increased excess net capital by 168%
• Easy Forex (don't know their leverage but still seriously undercapitalized based on October report) increased excess net capital by 184%
• Alpari (need 10 million, seriously undercapitalized based on October report) increased excess net capital by 271%

Check out the Small-cap Brokers.

Are We In a Recession?

I wrote an article back in January of 2007 when the press was writing a lot about the impending US recession. How Do I Know If We're In a Recession? Seems like this is still the question one year later.  Based on the last Real GDP report in December, we're not and if we use the financial press definition of a recession, we won't technically find out until after the Q1 Real GDP reports come out.  The NY Times asked this question to six experts and their answers are all over the map including:

1. You can almost hear it pop…
2. The facts say no…
3. Bet the house on it…
4. Not if exports save us…
5. Nobody knows…
6. Wait 'til next year 

Comical in a way… 

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