Sunday, July 27, 2008
Forex Trend Following
How To Get Your Share!
If you are a Forex Trader than you need to liquidate losing trades quickly and run profitable trades to pile up big long term profits. Many traders don’t know how to do this and this section will give you some basics to follow and advantages and disadvantages of various methods.
Forex trend following can be done in various different ways and here we will examine the merits of each and how they can bring you currency trading success.
Day Trading
More novice traders try to catch trends in daily time frames than any other method however, this method of trend following is doomed to failure.
Fact: The data within a day is totally unreliable and support and resistance levels are meaningless. Volatility can and does, take prices anywhere and all daily movements are random.
You can’t get the odds in your favour and you can’t win – PERIOD
There are countless millions of traders, trading trillions of dollars daily and it’s laughable to think that you can trade in such a short term time frame and win.
So why do so many traders try it?
Well, it’s a good story and many vendors appeal to the greed and naivety of investors and try and sell them forex trading systems or courses, but they don’t trade them! They make money from selling their product - they win by selling their product and the trader loses in the market.
Don’t fall for the myth of Forex day trading!
Advantages: None!
Keep in mind: You are guaranteed to lose, as you can never get the odds in your favour.
Swing Trading
Swing trading is perhaps the easiest way for novice forex traders to learn a Forex trading system. The aim is to catch reactions in major trends which normally last a few days to a week.
Swing trading has the advantage of there are plenty of trades to go for and you know if you are right or wrong quickly. Forex swing trading is easy psychologically, as you have obvious stop levels, small loses and profits are generally banked quickly.
The key to successful swing trading is to spot valid areas of support and resistance and then use momentum indicators, to execute trading signals in line with shifts in price momentum. For example, traders would wait for a test of support and for price momentum to turn up away from support and then trade to the long side.
The key with swing trading is always to CONFIRM With momentum indicators - before executing a trading signal.
EVER simply hope a level will hold or try and predict as you will lose.
Advantages: Easy to learn, its fun, there are lots of trades, it can be very profitable and it’s easy psychologically.
Keep In Mind: Make sure you don’t just guess or hope with swing trading and you use momentum indicators to confirm your trading signals.
Long Term Trend Following
The most lucrative form of trading and also the toughest way to trade.
If you look at Forex trends you will very often see trends that last for months or even years yet, very few traders have the mental discipline to hold these trends and milk them for all they’re worth.
Forex trend following requires patience, to wait for and enter these trends when the risk/ reward is at its best and then have the mental discipline to follow them.
Why is it so hard to do?
Because most traders are not mentally prepared to accept big gains.
The above may sound odd - as surely all forex want big gains?
The answer is yes they do, but accepting them is another matter.
The problem is - if money is important to you (as it is to most traders) then counter trend moves, which eat into your open equity, can tempt you to bank a profit early.
Most traders get excited when they get a profit and the bigger it gets the more tempted they are to take it, before it gets away. As volatility eats into open equity the temptation becomes too great for most traders and they bank early.
They end up taking an average profit or mediocre one, when they could have had a huge one.
If you are long term trend following you need the courage of your conviction and tremendous mental discipline to ignore counter trend swings and keep your eyes on the bigger prize.
Forex trend following is tough mentally but the rewards are immense, if it is done correctly and you have the right mindset.
Advantages: You can make huge profits!
Keep in mind: You need to be patient when timing entry levels and you also need to be able to psychologically handle short term severe dips in open equity. You need to keep your eyes focused on the end prize - not the short term swings against you. It’s not easy to do but very lucrative.
New Trends & Turning Points
It is the dream of most traders to be able to catch important market tops and bottoms.
Catching these turning points offers low risk and high rewards, as you are in at the stat of a new trend and these turning points normally see profits piled up quickly.
Catching turning points is satisfying, very profitable and its not has hard to do as many traders think. If you use sentiment tools such as % bullish and Net Traders Positions, you will with a little practice, be able to spot these turning points forming. Then you can time entry with on your forex charts.
The key is to WAIT for clear confirmation of a trend change - before getting on board.
These moves don’t come around very often but if you look out for them, they will give you some great profits coupled with low risk.
Advantages: Great risk to reward, it’s a lot easier to do than many traders think and it gets you in at the start of big trends which, normally see big profits emerge quickly.
Keep in mind: You need to be careful in timing your entry and enter at the right time furthermore; these trades only come around a few times a year, so you have to be patient and wait for the right opportunities
Final words
You can make money with all the above methods of trend following (except day trading) and the method of Forex trend following you choose is down to personal preference.
You can focus on one of the above - or combine all of them together in your forex trading strategy and seek big profits in the worlds most lucrative and exciting investment market.
Good luck!
Source: http://www.learncurrencytradingonline.com
Monday, July 21, 2008
Currency Swing Trading - A Simple Profitable Swing Trading System For Novices
Currency swing trading is easy to learn and can be very profitable. Here we will look at how to put together a currency swing trading system which can help you build big consistent gains, even if you have never traded before.
Why is swing trading so good for novice currency traders?
The answer is - it requires less discipline than long term trend following. You get lots of trades and profits and losses are banked quickly; this suits the trader who isn't patient or lacks the discipline to sit on trades for a long time.
What exactly is currency swing trading?
Swing trading takes advantage of over bought and oversold levels within the major trends and you swing trade between these levels of support and resistance. Trades typically last a few days to a week.
Let's now look at this great way of trading and how to incorporate it in your forex trading strategy.
How to swing trade correctly
With swing trading you need to look at price momentum and determine if support or resistance levels will hold. For example, if a price comes to support you wait to see if it will hold and then take a long position and bank it before it hits resistance.
You have to determine if levels will hold and here it is important to determine if price momentum is turning up above support - this is when you want to execute your trading signal. For this you need to use some momentum oscillators.
If you don't know what they are they are leading indicators that simply tell you the velocity and momentum of price.
Great Swing Trading IndicatorsTwo great ones for swing traders are the Relative Strength Index (RSI) and the stochastic indicator. We use these in our swing trading strategy to execute our trading signals and it works very well. There both visual indicators and you can spot set ups instantly - there explained more fully in our other articles so look them up.
Stop Levels
When you execute a trading signal you simply put the stop behind the level you're bouncing off and then take your profit as you come into resistance for your trade.
Profit Taking
In swing trading your aim is not to hang on to the trade and trail a stop but to have a profit target and bank it - hang on to long in swing trading and your profit will disappear.
Does the above sound simple? It is - but don't let that deceive you it works. I have been using a simple currency trading system based upon the above for 20 years and made a lot of money with it and you can to.
NEW! 2 X FREE ESSENTIAL TRADER PDFS & MUCH MORE!
For free 2 x trading Pdf's with 90 of pages of essential info on Forex Trading Education visit our website at: http://www.learncurrencytradingonline.com.
Article Source: http://www.ArticleBiz.com
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Trading for a Living
Trading for a living, satu tahapan yang merupakan tahapan impian dari semua trader, dimana pada tahap ini kita sudah tidak perlu lagi bekerja sebagai karyawan/pegawai dengan rutinitas jam kerja yang sangat membosankan dan segala permasalahan yang ada di tempat kerja. Kita sudah dapat menghidupi diri kita sendiri (dan keluarga) hanya dari profit yang kita dapat melalui trading, bahkan banyak trader yang sudah sampai pada tahap ini hidup dalam kondisi "financial freedom" dimana kebutuhan akan uang sudah tidak menjadi masalah lagi, karena income yang didapat sudah dapat memenuhi semua kebutuhan, bahkan jauh melebihi kebutuhan setiap bulannya sehingga kekayaannyapun terus bertambah sejalan dengan waktu.
Hmmm... what a dream life..! Siapa yang tidak ingin hidup seperti itu?!
But wait!
Ada hal lain yang tidak kalah pentingnya dalam hidup ini yang bisa kita dapatkan sebagai seorang trader. Selama perjalanan saya dalam belajar trading, saya mendapatkan beberapa poin penting yang dapat kita terapkan dalam kehidupan kita sehari-hari.
1. terbiasa menghadapi pilihan
2. terbiasa mengambil keputusan dari pilihan yang ada (yang tersulit sekalipun)
3. konsisten terhadap keputusan yang sudah diambil
4. siap dengan resiko yang ada (dari keputusan yang sudah diambil)
5. terbiasa menghadapi kegagalan (atas kesalahan dari keputusan yang sudah diambil)
6. terbiasa untuk belajar dari kesalahan dan berusaha untuk tidak mengulangi kesalahan yang sama
7. terbiasa untuk bersikap "let go" (bersikap tidak menyesal)
8. terbiasa untuk tidak dendam
9. terbiasa untuk bersikap tenang (tidak panik) dalam mengahadapi masalah
10. terbiasa disiplin (disiplin atas peraturan dari orang lain itu tidak mudah, tapi jauh lebih sulit untuk disiplin atas peraturan yang kita buat sendiri)
11. selalu bersikap optimis (there always be tomorrow)
12. yakin bahwa "selalu ada kepastian diantara ketidakpastian"
13. terbiasa bersikap "grateful" (mensyukuri berapapun nikmat yang kita peroleh hari ini)
14. last but not least, kita terbiasa untuk bersikap sabar dalam menghadapi semua permasalahan, karena sikap sabar adalah 'master key' dalam hidup ini
Walaupun tidak dalam arti kata yang sebenarnya, tapi seperti itulah saya memaknai kata-kata 'trading for a living'.
Bisa kita bayangkan, seandainya kita tidak hanya sukses dari sisi financial melalui trading, tapi juga berhasil menerapkan "ilmu trading" dalam kehidupan kita sehari-hari, betapa sempurnanya hasil yang kita capai...
Semoga.....
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Market Hours
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Cut Your Loss and Let Your Profit Runs
Cut your loss and let your profit runs, kata-kata ini sering kita jumpai di setiap media untuk belajar forex (website, e-book, forum, dll.) yang maksudnya agar kita segera melakukan tindakan cut loss disaat pergerakan harga berbalik arah agar kerugian kita tidak semakin banyak dan melakukan open position baru sesuai dengan arah pergerakan harga agar dapat menutup kerugian dan mendapatkan keuntungan (switch).
Bagi type "technical trader", yang memang melakukan trading hanya berdasarkan indikator dan candlestick, hal ini sering terjadi. Disaat kita sedang menunggu pergerakan harga mencapai titik target profit yang sudah kita tentukan, tiba-tiba harga berbalik arah dan kita lihat profit yang sudah kita dapatkan semakin berkurang pips by pips, bahkan mendekati angka nol.
Dalam kondisi seperti inilah biasanya kita dihadapkan pada 2 pilihan yang tidak mudah. Di satu sisi kita berharap harga kembali sesuai dengan arah posisi kita agar profit kita lebih banyak (greed), tapi dilain sisi kita takut (fear) bahwa harga benar-benar berbalik arah dan profit yang sudah kita dapatkanpun berubah menjadi minus.
Cut loss atau let the profit runs?
Ada 3 hal yang dapat kita lakukan dalam kondisi seperti ini
1. Cut loss
2. Hedging / locking (memerlukan keahlian dan perhitungan yang matang)
3. No action
Sebelum melakukan cut loss, hedging, ataupun membiarkan posisi tetap terbuka, ada beberapa hal yang bisa anda pertimbangkan:
1. Cek indikator yang anda gunakan.
2. Seberapa kuat harga berbalik arah?
3. Apakah perubahan arah ini mampu merubah trend?
4. Apakah harga turun drastis justru untuk naik lebih tinggi lagi (Bullish) atau sebaliknya (Bearish)?
5. Seberapa kuat available margin kita menahan pergerakan harga?
Hal-hal tersebut bisa menjadi bahan pertimbangan/analisa teknis sebelum kita memutuskan untuk mengambil tindakan, karena tidak jarang disaat kita sudah melakukan cut loss, ternyata harga kembali ke trend semula dan profit yang sudah kita peroleh dan seharusnya dapat kita pertahankan justru hilang, hanya karena kita tidak mempunyai pertimbangan/analisa teknis dan gegabah untuk melakukan cut loss.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
The 3 Duck's Trading System
The first thing we need to do is look at our largest time-frame (4hr chart) and see if current prices are above or below the 60 sma. From this chart we can see that current price is below the 60 sma. This tells us that we maybe looking to sell.
The second thing we need to do is drop down to our 1hr chart. We need to see the current price below the 60 sma on this chart also, this gives us confirmation.Important: If the current price was to be above the 60 sma on this chart we could not move on to step 3.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Level Trader
Unconscious Incompetence
Conscious Incompetence
The EUREKA Moment
Conscious Competence
Unconscious Competence
3. Jelas ENTRY nya, berupa signal visual yang tertera di chart, sebagai contoh bila ma1 memotong ma2 dan berada di atas ma3, dengan deMark diatas 50 dan ADX diatas 30 maka merupakan signal buy. dan hanya masuk posisi jika dan hanya jika ada SIGNAL, jangan menghayal yang belum terjadi, tapi lihat KENYATAAN di chart.
Pentingnya Simulasi/Demo Account. Kami adalah member dari sebuah forum trading yang beranggotakan sekitar 20.000 trader dari seluruh dunia, dan dalam forum itu disebutkan bahwa 39% dari anggotanya saat ini masih simulasi/demo trading dengan tujuan untuk:
Sumber: http://www.valastrader.com
Copy/Paste: http://asia.groups.yahoo.com/group/belajarmarketiva/message/4392
Trading = Driving
The Rules
Sebelum kita belajar mengendarai mobil, kita wajib tahu rambu2 lalu lintas. Begitu juga dengan trading, sebelum kita mulai belajar trading, kita wajib tahu produk yang akan kita perdagangkan (forex, option, futures, etc.) dan mempelajari setiap term atau istilah, karakter maupun aturan2 yang digunakan pada setiap produk.
The Tools
Sebelum kita belajar mengendarai mobil, kita wajib tahu fungsi dari setiap alat (tools) yang akan kita gunakan. Sama halnya dengan trading, kita wajib tahu tools yang digunakan pada platform trading kita, misalnya Marketiva. Kita harus tahu bagaimana cara membuka/menutup posisi (buy/sell/close), bagaimana melakukan pending order (limit/stop), bagaimana merubah time frame, bagaimana menampilkan maupun menggunakan indikator, dll.
The Style
Dalam mengendarai mobil, kita tidak dapat meniru gaya atau "driving style" orang lain. Begitupun dalam melakukan trading, kita tidak dapat meniru gaya trading orang lain. Misalnya, disaat kita sedang mengendarai sebuah mobil, lalu secara tiba2 teman kita meminta kita untuk berhenti, tentu saja kita tidak bisa langsung injak rem pada saat itu juga. Dalam sepersekian detik, pasti kita akan berpikir "kenapa kita harus berhenti? apakah kondisi jalanan aman untuk kita berhenti mendadak? di mana tempat yg aman untuk berhenti?", dan mungkin masih banyak lagi pertanyaan yang terlintas di pikiran dalam waktu yang sangat singkat.
Begitu juga didunia trading, kita tidak bisa serta merta melakukan Open Position hanya karena orang lain menyuruh kita untuk melakukan buy/sell. Kita harus mampu menganalisa sendiri 'mengapa orang tersebut akan melakukan buy/sell'. Kalau memang hasil analisa kita mengindikasikan tepat untuk Open Position, ya sah2 saja kita mengikuti.
Orang lain boleh saja memberi aba2 kita untuk maju/mundur/belok/rem, tapi tetap hanya kita yang tahu kapan melakukan itu semua. Kita yang tahu untuk belok sekian derajat itu seberapa banyak kita memutar stir. Dalam tradingpun hanya kita yang tahu, kapan saat yang tepat untuk OP/Close/Cut Loss/Locking, dll. atau berapa Quantity ideal yang dapat kita gunakan. Karena semua itu tidak akan lepas dari kondisi margin dan karakter kita sendiri.
The Loss
Setiap orang pasti pernah mengalami menabrak/ditabrak (minimal nyrempet pagar :D ) pada saat belajar mengendarai mobil seperti halnya belajar naik sepeda pasti pernah jatuh, belajar berenang pasti pernah mengalami tenggelam. Begitu juga dengan trading, loss adalah hal wajar dalam dunia trading. Jangan pernah takut loss seperti halnya jangan pernah takut jatuh disaat anda belajar naik sepeda.
The Time will Tell
Pada akhirnya, seseorang yang sering mengendarai mobil (daily activity) akan jauh lebih mahir dibanding orang yang jarang2 nyetir. Dalam situasi jalan seperti apapun, parkir dengan kondisi sesulit apapun, dia tetap tenang dan yakin bahwa dia bisa melakukannya dengan baik.
Seorang trader dengan "jam terbang" tinggi tentu akan lebih tenang dalam mengambil keputusan, yang tentunya akan berpengaruh pada profitable percentage-nya.
Trading is a personal matter afterall.