Items Tagged With december 2005

Here are a couple of highlights of the posts that will occur today:

-Rob Booker, forex trader, really brings me down to earth with his article posted later
-Successful momentum trade today using Raghee's method.  Charts will be posted
-What are E-minis? 

In the meantime, you can read:

133 Trading Tips 

Yen sinks to 32-mth low vs dollar after G7

Dollar Strength Remains Unchallenged

By Martin Crutsinger, AP Economics Writer

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan expressed concerns Friday that America's failure to deal with its exploding budget deficit and worldwide efforts to erect trade barriers could disrupt the global economy.

Speaking at an economic conference in London, Greenspan said that so far the United States has had no problem financing its current account trade deficit, which last year hit a record $668 billion, because of the flexibility of the American economy.

I've added a new feature to My Trade History.  Next to each trade is a commentary link.  Click on the commentary to find out why I decided to make a trade and what was going through the mind of a forex rookie at that moment.  Not every trade will have commentary but I'm trying to make this few and far between....

I always hear that experienced forex traders dabble in e-mini's as well.  I honestly did not know what an e-mini was until I did some investigation.

By definition, an e-mini is  an electronically traded futures contract on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange that represents a portion of the normal futures contracts.  There are a wide range of indices that can be trades such as the Nasdaq 100 and the S&P 500. 

For example, an E-mini S&P 500 futures contract is 1/5th the size of a standard futures contract. The advantage of trading e-mini's is liquidity, greater affordability, and around-the-clock trading.  SOUNDS A LOT LIKE WHY WE TRADE FOREX!

There are online brokers such as xpresstrade.com that provide trading of e-mini's for $7 per round-turn. 

You can also use your forex trading system and apply it to trading e-mini's.  It should work for both as charting principles are the same.

I'm going to look more into e-mini's in the coming days.  The first thing to do is open a demo account to familiarize yourself with the indices available and the way a trade is executed.  I'll definitely revisit this soon. 

I'm learning more by enhancing My Forex Goal page.  I've added a couple more columns:

From evidence of both weeks performance, you don't have to win as many trades as you lose.  This is obviously contigent on your ability to place stops to limit your losses.  This week (week #2), my average pip loss is only -15.33 which shows how tight I've been placing my stops. 

I haven't had time to watch these yet.  I've been quite busy.  Check them out though.  Their only 10 minutes long altogether:

Hubert's Video Link:

http://clicks.aweber.com/z/ct/?iQ4Zulvt6xYv_xXbDs.PwQ

John's Video Link:

http://clicks.aweber.com/z/ct/?0xcG8Nu87MDOkIpmLsHvhQ

My gift to you for a limited time. 

Download the book, "Currency Strategy: A Practitioner's Guide to Currency Trading, Hedging and Forecasting."

It's actually on Amazon for  $69.30.  I haven't had a chance to read it yet but it seems advanced which is good.  One chapter that caught my eye was, Real Interest Rate Differentials and Exchange Rates.

The description of this book on Amazon:

Expert advice and timely techniques for surviving and thriving within currency markets
Rapid movements in currency markets have been a common occurrence in recent years, often to the detriment of traders and investors. The ability to manage these fluctuations is essential for safe and successful investment in these markets. Currency Strategy develops new techniques and explains classic tools available for predicting, managing, and optimizing fluctuations in the currency markets. Author Callum Henderson shows readers how traditional macroeconomic theory has repeatedly failed in the face of practical experience in these markets and develops a new approach based on experience. He draws on the technical expertise of his bank to develop mathematical models to assist in the prediction of crises and gives practical advice on how to use these and other tools successfully.

Download the full book while you can.

 Currency_Strategy.pdf (1.64 MB 10.08.2005 23:22) 

Right click and save as. 

I'm just now getting a chance to post some of the notes from Raghee Horner's second seminar yesterday titled "Three Step Analysis of Forex Trading."

-If risk is too great, don't take the trade
-Trade the 30 minute charts for smallest risk 

3 Step Analysis.  Read more! 

After the jobs report this morning, which reported a nonfarm payroll growth of 215K and 5% unemployment, traders were up in the air on which direction the currency market should go.

Usually the volatility after this report is quite high after the announcement but that volatility didn't exist this morning.  Just now are the majors putting pressure on the USD.