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Items Tagged With january 2008

Are We In a Recession?
Written By: Rich
2008-01-11 10:48:53

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:

You can almost hear it pop...
The facts say no...
Bet the house on it...
Not if exports save us...
Nobody knows...
Wait 'til next year

Comical in a way...

Did Brokers Prepare For NFA Requirement Changes?
Written By: Rich
2008-01-10 02:02:39

I guess we'll find out sooner or later but Forexds has an interesting comment regarding the whole thing:

"I know that many of the small FCM fishes have become IB's to established FCM's in December or sold their books to the likes of FXCM. But ALL of the names you mention in your note have posted the higher capital (I know for a fact that MB Trading and FX Club have). Alpari is a new comer to the US, but very well established in Eastern Europe. The higher net cap requirement of $10m is no surprise to FCM and they've had months to prepare and get the capital in order. You wont get the DEC data from the CFTC site until 6 weeks from now, though."

For those of you that aren't versed in the common acronyms you see in forex, FCMs are Futures Commission Merchants. IB's are introducing brokers (defined as a futures broker who has a direct relationship with a client, but delegates the work of the floor operation and trade execution to another futures merchant.) Some IB's may be fund managers and some could just be considered salespeople, "introducing" traders to a larger broker and taking a commission and a cut of the spread.

2007 Year In Review
Written By: Rich
2008-01-03 01:28:00

First off, Happy New Year. Hopefully this year will bring us all great trading experiences.

I don't follow fundamentals as closely as I should mostly because I don't fully understand the global markets and how they influence one another. There just isn't enough time in the day either but there's a great article summarizing the fundamental events in 2007 that influenced the currency markets. The article summarizes the year concisely so you don't have to read a book... India buying lots of gold, a Yen carry trade that's alive then unwinds, UK rate hike, Yuan appreciation, US not happy, gold continues push into nosebleed territory, USD and SRF become currencies of choice for carry trades, ECB raises rates, global hit to stock markets, credit market worries, USD/CAD at parity, USD/EUR hits record... Seems like the USD was all the talk in 2007. Could this be the end to the US world market influence?

http://www.currencyconverter.co.uk/news/currency-news-summary-2007.html

Forex Most Visited Updated
Written By: Rich
2008-01-13 00:19:52

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

Forex Most Visited Updated This Evening
Written By: Rich
2008-01-19 21:51:02

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
Written By: Rich
2008-01-16 19:48:49

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....

Lots of Changes
Written By: Rich
2008-01-05 17:49:30

Forex on Top was updated last night with a lot of ranking changes across the board. Forex broker positions changed substantially. According to traffic reports, the top 10 Forex brokers are:

Oanda
EasyForex
Forex.com
FX Solutions
FXCM
ACM
Saxo Bank
GFT Forex
iForex
CMSFx

Other notables, of course I have to mention, Forex Project up 6 spots to #35 and Forex on Top up 19 spots to #63.

Peter Bain's Forex Mentor dropped 14 spots to #42. It can only be a good thing that FXPowercourse dropped 21 spots.

I Got A List of Forex Firms That Ceased Operations
Written By: Rich
2008-01-15 15:49:46

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.

Forex and Insomnia
Written By: Rich
2008-01-15 20:54:33

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.

New Research Your Broker Site
Written By: Rich
2008-01-03 01:54:47

I spent my remaining vacation days of 2007 designing a new site that ranks FCMs (Futures Commission Merchants). This has been a site that I've been wanting to develop for over a year but just never got around to it mostly because I knew it would take a lot of data parsing and compilation. I'm launching it today fully functionaly but with more features in the works. In a nutshell, you can search for your broker, view the financial data they're required to report, view their ranking trends over 60 months, view any regulatory actions against this broker, and more. These reports are the best thing we have as traders in identifying a broker that may be financially troubled or fit. Seeing trend data may also assist in viewing how this particular broker is financially progressing.

Click the thumbnail picture on the right to see an example of Oanda who is ranked 31st overall and 6th in the mid-cap broker category.

You can check out the site at http://www.brokerontop.com

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