HOW TO MAKE USE OF TRENDLINES

A “Trendline” as the name connotes speaks for itself. It helps a trader to identity possible pullbacks on both resistance and support levels, for the purpose of making sound trading decisions. Trendlines are not indicators but simple lines you draw up on your chart to help with your trade analysis. When you draw up a trendline, you simply are telling yourself that you are aware of where the trend is coming from and that you are also willing to follow it where ever it chooses to go next. That is my philosophy to trendlines. There is this popular maxim in the world of forex which states that, “The trend is your friend”.

Trendlines when drawn properly can assist a trader in becoming more successful than not on each trade that is taken. It does not matter what time frame you are working with, whether a trader is on a short or long term trade, trendlines will prove to be quite effective as long as one knows the rudiments or basics of the resistance and support principles.

Consider the market movements, as the candle sticks goes up and down in waves on every time frame, appearing to have no meaning to the common man; but to a professional forex trader, a lot of meaning could be made to that same chart. These waves, even though uncoordinated, would always have a particular direction they are heading. It is the duty of a trader, to determine where the support and resistance levels are at –pending on the time frame in use - . Once this is well analysed and the levels mentioned above have been well established, then one could consider taking a position on the direction of the trend; either from top to bottom –from resistance to support- or from bottom to the top –from support to resistance-. These trendlines could be drawn in just two ways. They could be drawn vertically or diagonally.

To have a complete study of trendlines, you would need to have a forex instructor to put you through properly, so you do not end up drawing them up wrongly. We could also advise you to visit this site: www.fxtrendman.blogspot.com /www.trendman3.wordpress.com to drop comments on this topic and ensure to drop your email address, if you desire a full course on trendlines.

Visit: www.fxtrendman.blogspot.com / www.trendman3.wordpress.com for more incisive experience with what you need to know.

Ephraim Archibong is a trader of over four years and counting and is willing to share his knowledge and experience with anyone who is willing to learn.

WHAT IS LONG TERM TRADING AND HOW CAN I GET STARTED IN IT

Long term trading is the trading of a commodity, stocks and or currencies on a trading platform, over a long period of time, by a professional trader in order to maximise profit. That would be my friends, a simple definition of what long term trading is. As long as we have an understanding of the art of the trading, be it the forex market or any other market for that matter, then it would be easy to understand what it means to place an open position over a long period of time.

To trade long term, you would have of course had the knowledge, of trading the forex market first, before even thinking of risking real money to trading on a long term bases. This method of trading is very unpopular amongst many retail forex traders but tends to reward very handsomely when one is on the right track. This is because it demands from traders a lot of patience and endurance for results to play out.

In my books, if you must get started as a long term trader, you would need extra capital than the usual hundred or two hundred dollars ($100/$200). The reason for this is if the market were to make big moves, the money you have in your portfolio should be able to cushion your fall in case it goes against you for some time. Such a trader would need to possess a good level of patience to wait on the analysis they have done on their charts to come to fruition. You would have to made up your mind as to how long you are willing to keep the trade in the event you are in are truly riding along with the trend and what you would do if the trend were to go against your position.

Normally, most long term traders base their analysis more often on news events, -fundamentals- than on the technical aspect or outlook of the currency pair in question. There is a term called “Carry Trade”, in the forex market. Understanding what carry trade is all about can help long term traders base their decisions on interest rate change over a longer term and make good yield. Be advised that if you do not fully know how to implement this carry trade, then it would be hard to make money as you would be risking a lot over something you have not fully grasped. Simply put, carry trade involves buying a currency that pays a high interest rate while selling a currency that pays a low interest rate.

Other issues to consider as a long term trader would be your “risk aversion”. In financial jargon, if you are willing to risk a lot to enter a trade then you could be said to have a “low risk aversion”, but on the other hand if you are not willing to risk much then you could be said to have a “high risk aversion”. When every trader like you has a low risk aversion then such carry trade entry would eventually be very profitable. Do your homework to understand these terms and how to make effective use of them. The advantages of trading long term far exceed short term. If you are not prone to sticking your head into the screen of your computer system for hours, then trading long term may just be for you. If you have good capital and would be prefer to focus on other aspects of your life, then it may be for you. You simply would like to study your chart, assess you risk involvement and consequently take or enter a trade.

In a nut shell all you need to be a long term trader, does not end here, but we strongly recommend that you keep the above mentioned in mind to further strengthen your resolve to trade long term.

Visit: www.fxtrendman.blogspot.com  for more incisive experience with what you need to know.

Ephraim Archibong is a trader of over four years and counting. He is willing to share his knowledge and experience with anyone who is willing to learn.

HOW TO MAKE A LIVING DAY TRADING

Day Trading is becoming highly popular amongst the forex trading community today as more and more forex traders would prefer it to trading long term. Trading as we are all aware of requires an accurate knowledge, of the forex market, which off course once without, could result in a disaster when involved in the real time market situations. One could end up losing an entire account/portfolio, in a matter of minutes without knowing what hit them. This truth is not meant to scare you away but to keep traders both newbie and experienced alike on their toes. So the question would be, “how could you avoid such scenarios, to make a living day trading”.

         SCALPING AND SHORT TERM TRADES

In order to be a successful day trader, you would need to be a good scalper, or basically just making sure that, your open position/positions do not exceed a few minutes to a few hours of the particular day it was placed. To cut it short, you need to place short term trades. In turn, it would require quite a bit of your time, as the market does not stay in one spot for long,-especially in a range bound market situations-.  So you would need to map out for yourself a sort of time table, which should best suit, your schedule. This is so that you do not mix your real life concerns with business. After all, if you must live on it,-day trading- you must give it the much needed attention, only as at when due. Since everyone is different, so obviously, schedule and timing would be as well. Learn to do what works for you, as what may work for another may not work you.

         SCHEDULING AND TIMING

A full time professional day trader, could choose to begin trading, from seven (7am) (GMT) in the morning up until ten (10am) (GMT). Intermittently allowing for an “R&R” should help the brain not get over active and still be able to make good trade decisions, keeping in mind that the brain, can only function effectively for so long. Deciding to trade the whole day is time consuming and would impede other aspects of one’s life if done that way. As a trader you should decide of your own volition when and how long you should commit to trading daily.

         MIND FRAME

Having the right frame of mind is also paramount. This is because getting into a trade when you have other things that bother your mind, when you should be concentrating on your charts, is a sure way to much bad chart analysis that could lead to losses. Do ensure to give it your full attention, if possible have an office/trading room where no one can interfere with your work. Applying what you have been taught with experience in real time demo trading should set you off on the right path to succeed as a true “Day Trader”.

Visit: www.fxtrendman.blogspot.com / www.trendman3.wordpress.com for more incisive experience with what you need to know.

Ephraim Archibong is a trader of over four years and counting and is willing to share his knowledge and experience with anyone who is willing to learn.

HOW MUCH MONEY DO YOU NEED TO GET STARTED IN DAY TRADING

If you are familiar with the term investment, then I am pretty sure you would have already understood, what it means to have a portfolio. Having one may require, - in some cases- a lot of procedures and in others not much but a click away. As long as you have acquired the knowledge of trading the forex market, then all you would need are affordable capital and a portfolio/an account that will enable you trade to maximise profit.

As earlier stated, in some cases, you may require a lot of procedures, while in other cases, you may not be asked to do much and still require minimal capital to achieve this. Many thanks to the heavy competition in the forex world today, you can actually have a small amount to begin your “day trading” adventure. All you need is to affiliate yourself with a good, well regulated broker, that does not require heavy sum of money to open an account with them and you are on your way.

Some of these brokers accept as low as a hundred dollars ($100), on first account opening. Remember that, how you have in your portfolio/account will determine how much you make –if you are that good-. So you are not limited to opening with just a hundred dollars ($100) alone, but as much as you can afford to risk. Off course knowing full well that it is an investment for you. Make sure to check that you broker is well regulated.

Visit: www.fxtrendman.blogspot.com / www.trendman3.wordpress.com for more incisive experience with what you need to know.

Ephraim Archibong is a trader of over four years and counting and is willing to share his knowledge and experience with anyone who is willing to learn.

THE TRUTH ABOUT DAY TRADING

If you have been following our previous thesis intensely, you would have observed by now, that we have treated issues on “Day Trading”, where we discussed “WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO START DAY TRADING”. Now we shall further pierce into the intricacies involved with “Day trading” that you may not be ware of already.

“Day Trading”, as exciting as it may seem, is not as easy as it is made out to be. It involves making complex decisions from time to time, all in a bid to ensure that everything you do should result in a profit, consequently, minimal losses on the whole. Now that is where the work lies. Unlike long term trading which requires, you to set up your position/positions with the appropriate take profit and stop loss, for a week, running into a month/months; the day trader does not have that luxury and this could be due to many antecedents. One of which could be lack of adequate capital, to hold positions for long periods. It could be as a result of fear and or greed,-In other words not enough patience to wait for the market to give results-. Then again, it may stem from the fact that, there is enough time on my hands, so I can afford to trade daily, etc.

Whatever our reasons or excuses may be for preferring day trading, it is entirely up us and usually our own prerogative. It will not change the toll it takes on our mind when we over trade during the space of one day. That is not to say, day trading is not recommended, but rather there should be a discipline to it.

Those with large capital base, can afford to leave trades for longer periods, but since we are on the side of the small guys like us, then we simply need to find a way out. Brokers, especially “market makers” capitalise on this weakness. They are aware of the fact that, they can easily ware out the smaller guys, since they do not have enough capital to stay in a trade for long periods. To get through this, a trader must be disciplined. You must trade during the morning hours from 6am to 10:30am/11am (GMT). During this period, there is adequate liquidity in the market and manipulations are rare, since brokers themselves may not be able to withstand the volume. Maintaining such discipline, would also help you save some strength for the next day. You will not get warned out mentally.

Visit: www.fxtrendman.blogspot.com  for more incisive experience with what you need to know.

Ephraim Archibong is a trader of over four years and counting and is willing to share his knowledge and experience with anyone who is willing to learn.

WHAT YOU NEED TO START DAY TRADING

We shall first go on to describe what “day trading” is. Day trading is the management of an individual traders’ portfolio/trading account on a daily bases, in order to maximise profit. As an investor, in the forex market, traders want to be associated with being able to make money on a day- to- day bases.

Here are a few steps to take: they include and are not limited to (a) having the knowledge required for trading the  forex market. This could be attained through a sound forex course available both online and in your area near you. Ensure to make proper enquiries so as to get quality information about where you could take a course. Good courses do not have to cost a fortune, you only need to search properly, so you could find honest and dedicated forex   instructors, who will put you through, without leaving any stone unturned. (b) You want to get a good broker to do business with. There are a great number of certified and well regulated brokers out there; just as there are rotten ones. So the remedy would be to, check review sites on the internet to ascertain good and trusted brokers. Most instructors usually recommend a broker for their students. Go with what they tell you, as they have experience  on their side. (c) Do you/do you not have a job? If your answer is “yes”, then you would need to consider trading in the early morning hours before leaving for work and during brake periods alone. If you close early from work, you could also consider placing a trade before night fall. The whole idea is to make sure that you at least enter one position during the day and exit it before the day runs out. Well placed trades, with your take profit and stop loss in sight, should give you peace of mind while you do your job. As soon as the day’s work is over, check your trading platform to see if you are running on a profit or have been stopped out. On the other hand if you do not work and simply intend to dedicate your time to “day trading”, you would also need a plan to trade during a certain time of the day and stay out at certain times. Experienced full time “day traders” prefer to trade in the mornings from 6am up until 10:30am (GMT). Then go out to concentrate on other aspects of their lives. The important thing is, to make use of your time wisely. Don not spend the whole day looking at your computer screen.

Have a great trading experience.

Visit: www.fxtrendman.blogspot.com  for more incisive experience with what you need to know.

Ephraim Archibong is a trader of over four years and counting. He is willing to share his knowledge and experience with anyone who is willing to learn. 

FOREX BROKERS AND THEIR ISSUES.

 

             FOREX BROKERS AND THEIR ISSUES

Before delving into the many issues of forex brokers today it would be best we define what a broker is before really jumping in. In simple terms a broker could be referred to as a go between, a middleman and or an agent. Now in the case of the  forex market they are regarded as the agent responsible for linking the buyer and the seller to the market place. Since many big and successful forex brokers have big banks that provide them (the brokers) market prices,these market prices are transferred to traders as the bid/ask price.

To fully understand these brokers, one would really have to consider knowing the different types of brokers available. There are just four types of brokers but other school of thought may think differently. These are:

1)      Market Makers/DD

2)      NDD

3)      STP

4)      ECN

These are the four available types of brokers today (though I personally like to think there are just three).

1)    Market Makers/DD: These brokers   are to say the least not looking for your best interest as they have “dealing desks” (DD).  Forex brokers that operate (route orders) through the Dealing Desk and quote fixed spreads. A dealing desk broker makes money via spreads and by trading against its clients. A Dealing Desk Forex broker is called a Market Maker - they literally "make the market" for traders: when traders want to sell, they buy from them, when traders want to buy, they sell to them, e.g. they will always take the opposite side of the trade and in this way "create the market". A trader doesn't see the real market quotes, which allows Dealing Desk brokers (Market Makers) manipulate with their quotes where they need to in order to fill the client. They make money from the bid/ask price which more often than not is manipulated. In my books this makes the market makers a “no no” for any trader who wants to succeed. Painfully most of your “micro accounts”  are owned by these market makers. This is so because they may not have liquidity providers and since micro accounts do not require large sums of money they are willing to give traders a hard time. So if a trader must have a winning spree, such trader would want to avoid trading the news hours since the “market maker” brokers will be able to manipulate the prices as they so wish.

2)    NDD: Meaning No Dealing Desk. These type Forex brokers provide access to the interbank market without passing orders trough the dealing desk. With true No Dealing Desk brokers there are no re-quotes on orders and no additional pausing during order confirmation. This, in particular, allows trading during news times with no restrictions on trading. An NDD broker can either charge commission for trading or choose to increase the spread and make Forex trading commission free. No Dealing Desk brokers are either STP or ECN+STP.

3)    STP: Simply means, “Straight Through Processing”. These types of  forex brokers send orders directly from clients to the liquidity providers - banks, which trade on the Intebank. Sometimes STP brokers have just one liquidity provider, other times several of them. The fact remains that the more there are banks and liquidity in the system, the better the fills for the clients of such brokers. Since traders or clinets of such brokers  have access to the true market and can execute trades immediately without dealer intervention, this makes brokers operating the STP platform very transparent in their dealings with clients and is perceived by traders to be honest to a large degree.

4)    ECN: Meaning “Electronic Communications Network”. They are the most transparent of all other types of brokers and so are usually regarded as the purest form of what a forex broker should be, because of their services and qualities.  ECN Forex brokers additionally allow clients' orders to interact with other clients' orders. ECN Forex broker provides a marketplace where all its participants (banks, market makers and individual traders) trade against each other by sending competing bids and offers into the system. Participants interact inside the system and get the best offers for their trades available at that time. All trading orders are matched between counter parties in real time. A small trading fee - commission - is always applied. More often than not sometimes STP brokers are discussed as if they were ECN brokers. Well the truth is to be a true ECN, a broker must display the Depth of the Market (DOM) in a data window, let clients show their own order size in the system and allow other clients to hit those orders. With ECN broker traders can see where the liquidity is and execute trades. ECN Forex brokers always have variable spreads. Only ECN brokers charge commission for trading Forex. Commission is the only revenue/profit an ECN broker receives. ECN brokers are not making money on bid/ask as do the market makers.

                                            CONSIDERATION SO FAR

For the sake of clarity we shall have a quick preview at all types of brokers earlier mentioned above to ascertain which should be best for doing business with. We have discussed the Market makers and see them as what many traders refer to today as “bucket shops” since they legally trade against their clients. They have a dealing desk which means all orders pass through that desk so they decide whether or not the price is good for you. In plain words they do not seek your success as they make money coming against your open positions in the opposite direction; so that when your trade goes bad they simply would have made money from your losses, as well as from the bid/ask price which they manipulate at will.

Then we moved on to the NDD brokers and referred to them as transparent. This is because they allow for instant execution of trades without re-quotes. They do not operate dealing desks and do not trade against clients. We also stated that they could come in STP or ECN+STP.

Getting warmer now we entered the terrain of the STP brokers.Praising them for not having a dealing desk and having liquidity providers (banks).We mentioned that the more availability of such providers  and their liquidity (money), the better for their clients because they would get good fills on prices.

Finally the we plunged into the ECN brokers, calling them the purest form of what a forex broker should be. They do not trade against their clients but rather, they allow for a fair market situation thereby making money only from commissions and not from their clients open positions.

A good thinker would have concluded by now which type of broker would best suite thier portfolio.  I believe the obvious choice would be within the ranges of the last three types of brokers, but preferably the last one, the ECN brokers. Having said that, it is not as easy as it may appear to be, due to the fact that most ECN,STP and NDD brokers require larger sums of money to run an account. In some cases, you would find brokers requiring up to ten thousand US dollars ($10,000) to open an ECN account. In less milder cases half of that amount is required, which is five thousand US dollars ($5,000). Better situations would require far less as low as two thousand to even one thousand US dollars ($2,000 - $1,000).

This situation, leaves the financially less privileged traders, at the mercy of the “bucket shops” or market makers, who off course require far lower than the above mentioned, from as low as fifty to three hundred US dollars ($50 - $300) to open and run an account. New traders fall into the trap of these market makers, since they perceive them as lenient to their status. Traders would only begin to find out their brokers’ lapses only after a few days or weeks, which may be too late by then, as they would have lost a great part of their capital or the entire amount.

                                       SOLUTIONS AND CONCLUSION

Before depositing your hard-earned money to any broker, one would do well to do proper searches on search engines, to enquire about such brokers. Reading forex brokers’ reviews would be eye opening for any newbie. There are a number of accredited brokers out there , as well as dirty ones, that are even unregulated. You would need to do your searches to sieve out the good from the bad ones, e.g of such reviews sites is www.forexpeacearmy.com , www.forexjustice.com , www.bestonlineforexbrokers.com , etc . Those are just a few of the review sites that are credible. If you still have issues with making sound decisions with which broker to go with, you could jolly well reach us on our blog @ www.fxtrendman.blogpot.com , where you could throw in your comments and questions, even after the posting period of this thesis has expired and we would be glad to give a helping hand. Be sure to leave your e-mail address so we can send you the information you need.

Visit: www.fxtrendman.blogspot.com  for more incisive experience with what you need to know.

Ephraim Archibong is a trader of over four years and counting and is willing to share his knowledge and experience with everyone who is willing to learn.

          

Forex Courses -The Truth About Them-.

FOREX COURSES -THE TRUTH ABOUT THEM-.

A “Forex Course” is a knowledge based course with the sole aim of educating and informing a would be forex trader or newbie of how the forex market works with a purpose to fully educate a new trader to become proficient in making good trading decisions. Thing is most of our forex courses have fallen short of these expectations and continue to push new traders along the path of confusion in some cases.

Have you ever wondered how it is possible that even after you have spent your hard earned money on an expensive forex course that is (pending on whether you even went to the right place for your course) you still end up being unable to make consistent profits from the market despite all of your
“text book knowledge” of what the market is supposed to do. So you go on to search for courses that would lead or steer you in the right direction, hence you end up spending more money on courses after courses. Only to find that the previous place you got your first forex course did not offer all that they know about the forex  market  but the basics and that you were meant to pay extra for an additional course that is for an advance level course that would “probably” give you the edge or full inside knowledge you so require. Off course, only to find again that there is still yet a more advance level course that you still require to gain the knowledge you so desire.

Hence leading you on a barrage of forex courses that only end up confusing you the more and leaving you at the mercy of the market .Truth is we have all been there, maybe not all of us but those who never had a friend, or an uncle, or a brother, or anyone for that matter who is close to him/her and already familiar with the forex market to help shed more light into the mysterious patterns of the market. So you are left on your own to find the truth and maybe, who knows “The Holy Grail”! Which brings to mind another truth you must know, as much as this may disappoint you all (there is no “Holy Grail”) to cracking the forex  market. The sooner you accept this truth the better chance you have at succeeding in this game.

As pathetic as this may seem, the instructors who offer these courses do not concern themselves with your pain but rather are more concerned about how much they will make when you pay for your course. Leaving the newbie trader(new trader) in the dark and alone so that they keep coming to the same instructor to learn a supposedly new and advanced system of trading.  That would seem to be like the only way these instructors are assured of a consistent stream of income. They fail to learn that once you teach truthfully and honestly that there is a certain measure of good karma that comes with such noble acts.

Without mentioning names so as not to discredit anyone,-as this is not meant to tarnish anyone’s  name or business- many of our big names in the forex industries are guilty of this act and they need to put the perspective of the would be trader into consideration to be able to really help all newbie traders.

                                

                                   A WAY OUT OF THE DARK

In order not digress from our main discussion it would be clear that most of what we learn from these courses whether beginner stages or the complete guide would always remain what they are, “Text Book Versions”. Indeed they are the very guide for knowledge everyone needs to be able to get a grasp of what the market is all about and therefore serves as a pivotal necessity which every trader cannot do without; but left on its’ own it continues to remain what it is, a “Text Book Version”.

What every newbie trader needs is consistency and a strong will to applying all of the knowledge gained from all courses put together. This would enable a newbie or new trader  have adequate experience with the market and become more familiar with the movements of the market. In a nut shell “EXPERIENCE” would become the best teacher a student would ever have as it would open ones’ eyes to the actual behaviour of every partaker of the market. That is why every newbie trader should never be in a hurry to throw in hard earned money into the market without effectively practicing and honing ones’ skills. You should be ready and willing to take your time to practice what you have learned and understand certain patterns to further develop your own strategy to succeed in this ever growing market. It would be a shame that after just a couple of weeks of taking a forex course you find a student or newbie jumping into the market head first and eventually finding that the market was by far hotter than what was envisaged.

                   DO YOUR HOMEWORK

My advice would be for you to do your home work, before you take a forex course.  Do well to ask your instructor how much it would cost and  how long it should take before you are certified as good enough to enter the market with real money. There are a good number of excellent instructors out there, you only need to do your home work properly.  According to my knowledge and experience a good instructor would spend close to two or three months preparing a newbie for the market and even at that the student may not be fully ready until a large measure of practice and consistent results has been achieved. The provision of demo accounts by almost all forex brokers in the market today is a big helping hand to all traders who intend to hone their skills before risking hard-earned money. So the next time you hear or see a jingle offering forex courses, make sure to find out if the said organisation or company as the case may be is a credible one; in other words is fully registered and well known by forex  traders community. You may ask past students of such organisations or simply go online, insert the name or the company or organisation to find out if they are what they claim to be.

If they are not online, then knowing your instructor or instructors one on one would help tell you whether or not you are on the right track. With that said I sincerely hope that your eyes have been opened and I would also hope that you feel much better knowing that you are not alone. Wish you a successful trading experience.

Visit: www.fxtrendman.blogspot.com  for more incisive experience with what you need to know.

Ephraim Archibong is a trader of over four years and counting and is willing to share his knowledge and experience with everyone who is willing to learn.

Forex,is it really worth the trouble?

Truth is if you have not prepared your mind for losses then forex is not for you.It is experience more than even your text book knowledge that makes the few professional forex traders today; and the litmus test of being able to handle lossess and still get back into the game is the true test of an accomplished trader.

The very moment you begin to believe that you are above making mistakes is the very time you will fall and fall hard.You want the market to give you a direction before you can follow it.This is to make certain that you are not riding on a wild goose chase.It pays to be patient and adhere to the common rules of not being greedy;and I mean that in every way concievable.As greed could come in many forms.Like your lot size for instance;say you have just a $100 to trade with in your account and you opt to make use of a 0.2 lot size when the highest lot size you should be using is 0.1 considering you have just $100 as earlier mentioned.You'll only be going in search of big trouble because when the market reacts it could wipe out your entire account within seconds or mins as the case maybe especially if you did not have a stop to limit your losses.So control that greed tendency so you can make well informed entry decisions.

Greed could also come in the form of you trying to over do things, that is trading more than you should which could in turn ware you out mentaly and that's when the fat lady starts to sing because your brain would have been tired.I recommend trading for not more than 6hrs for those who have the time and can stretch themselves.Then for those who don't seem so comfortable steering at a computer screen for that long then 2-4 hrs should do(For day traders).Also you may have other things you wanna do during the course of the day than steering into your computer for very long.

Well,that said,I hope this would be helpful for those traders who are wondering if it is worth the trouble.If you stick to the common rules of trading there are a lot that you can achieve just by being honest and truthful to yourself.The skies may not be your limit.

Visit www.fxtrendman.blogspot.com to learn more.

Ephraim Archie is a day trader who has been in the business for over four years now.You will have a lot to learn from this blog so feel free to drop your comments.Thankyou.

Forex Blog - How to Avoid a Fake Forex Blog

It is sad but true, but there are too many forex scams out there and most are run in a forex blog. Anytime you are dealing with a financial instrument that requires in depth knowledge, you are bound to find someone who takes advantage of the lack of knowledge.
The forex market is littered with hundreds of products that claim the impossible financial dream. Take a look at some of the headlines: $1000 a day trading forex, How I became a millionaire trading forex, 100% automated forex profits. If you are one of those people who have fallen for a forex scam, I hear you.
The problem is that forex scam websites are being created everyday with impossible stories of making a killing trading forex in your underwear. What they forget to tell you is why they need to sell $10 forex e-books if they are making $1000 a day. The simple reason is that they sell 100 of those e-books every day.
Forex Trading is a good business. All good businesses require that you learn and also are disciplined enough to achieve your goals. I have yet to meet anyone who has turned a $100 mini forex account into $1 million. If you know the guy, please inform me.
There are traders in the forex market making huge profits, and their common attribute is hard work, long hours, constant learning and some very bad days. There is no short cut in forex trading. When you start out in forex trading, you are going to find many a forex blog promising you a short cut. These are some of the things you will notice from a scam forex blog:

• Fake Forex Trading Results. Do not be cheated by forex screen shots that show a profit every day. There is no professional trader who does not have bad days. In fact, you can have long periods of losing trades. Anyone showing perfect trading results is probably lying.
• Copying other content. You may be surprised but someone who is not trading has no new ideas. They will scour the internet, grab information and print it on their sites.
• Selling each and every new forex e-book. When trading profitably, you tend to stick to one or two ideas that work. Anyone pretending to tell you how good each and every forex trading system is working is probably lying to you.
• Dead forex blogs. It is sad but true that many forex blogs die within 6 months. There is only so much lying you can do.
• A forex blog owner with more than 10 websites. Forex trading is a full time job. How someone can have the time to run more than 3 websites is still a mystery to me.

Not all forex blogs are made by scam artists. There are some that have proven over the years to offer information that is relevant to every trader. They may not be famous, but the information they have can change your life. If you are going to be successful trading forex, you should research and find a good forex system and a good forex blog that you can profit from.

Avoid Forex Sham Expert Advisors

Forex scam Expert Advisors (commercial automated trading software) are very common in the forex trading arena. The result? Most people who trade forex lose money. Don't be one of them.
Sources agree that only about 20% of all forex traders actually make consistent profits. This is in line with Pareto's Principle, or "80/20 rule". It states that 80% productivity is due to 20% effort.
When you apply Pareto's Principle to forex trading, it would mean that 80% of profits go to only 20% of forex traders. If you take the flip side of this principle, then that would mean 80% of all forex traders only make 20% of the profits (or no profits at all!).
Why is this happening? Forex scam Expert Advisors, or "EA's", play a big role.
With the weakened state of global economies, more and more people are trying to find an easy solution to their financial problems. As a result, they become more susceptible to "get-rich-quick" schemes.
Many scammers are coming out of the woodwork, seeing plenty of opportunities in the forex trading arena to scam people out of their hard-earned cash. They market their EA's as a way to make 1000%+ returns almost overnight. And all you have to do is install the automated trading software, forget about it, and let the money roll in!
Really? I don't think so.
Unfortunately, given most people's financial dire straits, many fall prey to these forex scam EA's. They jump in head-first and purchase a highly-marketed EA, risk all or most of their capital to it, and end up frustrated and upset when the EA doesn't deliver. Some even end up in a worse financial mess than they began with!
Most people are so desperate for financial solutions that they cannot see (or perhaps even ignore) the logic of the situation.
When looked at logically, it's easy to realize that it simply doesn't make sense for an extremely profitable EA to be marketed to the world. Why would it?
If an EA developer created a money-making machine, why would he need to sell it, let alone use aggressive marketing tactics to sell it?
Of course, there are always exceptions, but I believe that in general, it's illogical that extremely profitable EA's are marketed so aggressively.
Something's amiss, and that something is usually that the EA isn't what it's marketed to be.
So are all EA's a forex scam? No, but at the same time, I don't believe any commercial EA will deliver the 1000%+ returns it promises. Don't believe the hype.
With that said, a few commercial EA's do exist that deliver consistent (albeit conservative) returns. The key is to find these "needles in the haystack" of junk, forex scam EA's.
In your quest to find a legitimate EA, I provide 3 warning signs that may imply an EA might be a scam.
1. The Upsell - After you've purchased the EA, the marketer tries to upsell you with advanced EA features or other add-on products / services...but only if you pay extra for it. If this happens to you, be very careful. You could be dealing with a forex scam. Honest EA marketers will show you all the costs up front, including any add-ons. What you see is what you get.
2. High Commissions to Affiliates - This is a red flag that you could be dealing with a forex scam. When you visit the commercial EA's website, look for the Affiliates link and see if you can find out the payout structure for affiliate marketers. If you can't find it there, try looking up the EA on ClickBank or Plimus (where most commercial EA's process payments). If the commission to affiliates is very high (i.e., over 50%), this is a warning sign. Why provide such a big incentive to sell the product? Maybe the EA is no good, so there's a higher reliance on marketing efforts (especially through affiliates) to sell the product.
3. No Protection Mechanism - If you pay for a commercial EA which has no protection mechanism (i.e., there are no restrictions on where or how many times it can be installed), this may be a forex scam. How do you know this EA is not pirated or may already be provided for free elsewhere as shareware? Most developers of quality commercial EA's will want to protect their product from piracy. One way to do that is via some type of protection mechanism when you install the product. A popular method is to provide you with a license or key, which you need to enter in order to activate your EA. Some go so far as to lock your EA to your specific broker account number. If you change brokers, then you would need to reset your license.
Identifying these warning signs will not guarantee that you will never buy a forex scam EA, but it should help you separate as much "wheat from the chaff" as possible, so to speak.
In any case, when you buy a commercial EA, do not commit all or even most of your precious capital to it. Take the time and effort to test it first, using a very conservative approach.
Start by testing it using fake money on a demo account. Only after several months of consistent (albeit fake) profits, can you test the EA on live money.
But even at this point, test it on a micro-lot trading account, where you risk only pennies instead of dollars.
Again, allow a period of several months for testing. Only after the EA has made consistent profits on your micro trading account over several months can you consider risking more capital to it (i.e., move it to a mini- or standard-lot trading account).
Testing an EA takes time and effort, but it's the only way if you don't want to lose your shirt to it.
By checking for the 3 warning signs of a forex scam EA, and by taking a conservative approach to EA testing, you protect your capital and might indeed find an EA that's worthwhile.
Who knows? You might end up in the 20% of traders who make 80% of the profits!

5 Quick Tips on How to Avoid Forex Scams

As you know, forex scams are a real pain and are the reason why so much people are failing and lose their money.
There are plenty of Forex gurus on the internet, willing for only one thing: make money by selling poor services.
The purpose of this article is give you some tips on avoiding those scams, and finding great forex methods which will be profitable.
Actually you don't have many possibilities but being cautious on this market is the most important thing.
- At first, what you must avoid is buying forex stuff on eBay. Even if eBay is a great place to find good deals, in the Forex domain, that's not the answer... In fact, the main part of Forex Sellers on eBay are selling Expert Advisor which we don't know where they come from. Indeed, almost everyone is able to make a copy of an existing Expert advisor and then sell it... And this is very harmful for you because those products can make your Forex account hit the $0 bottom line in a short while.
- Always, buy always buy courses, methods, indicators, expert advisors, whatever only if on the sale page you can see some proofs of profitability... Everyone is able, to wake up one morning and say "Oh why don't i create my own forex method", and then make money by selling crap.
- When a new forex product has just been launched, please wait a while and see what the other people are saying... You don't have to rush on the product and then have a bad surprise because you wanted to act fast. Honest people do exist and they will soon publish review, or feedbacks of the product that you want to buy.
- Always, but always, check out what other people are saying about the product you want to buy. Once again you don't have to rush. Consult forums, websites, articles where "real" people are giving their thoughts about the service... If you can't find anything, just post a question on a forum or somewhere on the internet and trust me someone will answer
- Take care about the reviews you can find on the internet... Some people are posting one or two reviews on their website because their goal is actually to make money even if what they sell is a poor quality product. Only rely on websites where you can see comments of people about the author of the review, or websites which propose a large number of different reviews.
Hope that it will help you to pick up more safely the forex products you want to buy!
Trade Safely !
Samuel Cimamonti

Samuel Cimamonti is a young trader and he has just launched his new blog, where he is reviewing ALL the forex products available on the internet. You can check out his blog here: http://www.ultimateforexreview.com

Forex Scams - Do Not Let Online Thieves Steal Your Money

Forex market, as one of the largest markets in the world, is very lucrative and tempting opportunity for anyone and therefore, most scam artists will use it to lure people into their schemes and steal money from them.
Internet is, unfortunately, very convenient for scam artists and it is relatively easy to cheat people. Today anyone can purchase a domain name and set up a website for less than a $100. It is also possible to hire an expert to design a website for relatively small amount of money.
Also, most people are not familiar much about forex market which makes them easy targets as it is very easy to promise dreams and manipulate numbers and information presented.
Scam artists can very easily hide from public, and once scammed, getting money back is very difficult and often impossible.
The most common forex scams are various investment programs, also known as HYIPs, or High Yield Investment Programs. Scam artists usually present themselves as financial experts that can bring unrealistic profit through investing in forex market, stock market, oil, online shares, various off-line businesses, etc. and offer potential victims a chance to profit on their "expertise".
Scam is usually seen as great investment opportunity, sometimes with unrealistic returns (200% - 300% within days), and many people decide to invest money in it. The catch is that every investor must wait a certain amount of time before money can be withdrawn. For example, if a program offers 300% within 10 days, it means that if you invest $100, after 10 days this "expert" will "earn" you $300. During this time investment is locked which means that you can't withdraw a single cent before 10 days expire. Of course this time is necessary for program owners to "trade with invested money" and "generate profit" for investors.
What is really happening during that time nobody knows for sure, but here is the most likely scenario:
You invest certain amount of money and have to wait 10 days before you can withdraw any money. During that time scam artist promotes his program over Internet to find more potential investors. Scam artist also offers investors a commission for every new investor they bring which makes promotion of his website (scam) easy.
Each and every one of the new investors invest various sums of money and each and every one of them has to wait 10 days before withdrawing any money. After first 10 days scam artist usually collects enough money to pay his initial investors their profit. They are happy because they earned a lot of money and decide to tell everyone they know about this program.
The number of investors starts to grow exponentially as well as the money scam artist is collecting. At one point of time he has enough money to live happily ever after and cannot afford anymore to pay profits to investors. It is then when he decides to stop issuing payments and HYIP collapses. In this scenario only first few investors made money, while many others that joined later lost their investments.
Other scenarios are also possible where no one gets paid and scam artist just collects money, makes empty promises, and suddenly disappears with his program. Also, many scam artists return later with a new looking program under different name and website and scam people again.
Some of them even offer realistic investment returns and use that to attract more investors, but one thing you never know about these kind of programs is WHEN they will stop making payments or WHEN they are going to disappear.
High Yield Investing Programs are just one type of forex scams. There are many more investment programs that offer unrealistic income through some kind of get rich quick scheme involving forex trading. There are also a lot of shady forex brokers that offer foreign currency futures and option contracts and they should be avoided at all costs. Some of these programs may seem legitimate and may be very hard to recognize but always keep in mind their only goal - to take your money.
The best recipe to avoid getting scammed is to use your due diligence. If something looks too good to be true, it probably is. Also pay close attention to every detail when you come across some websites that offer "great opportunity" and ALWAYS do a thorough research. It is difficult to say if there may be genuine investing programs that really trade with invested money and generate profit to investors. There are, but probably less than 1% of all investing programs and these programs are private, offer low returns and rarely accept new members.
Never let some tempting offer cloud your judgment. Be suspicious of every offer where you have to decide and act quickly because scam artists usually use this technique to prevent you from thinking a lot about it. Always do a research and you will never be wrong. If the offer is genuine it won't disappear overnight and will be available tomorrow.
If you are interested in investing in forex, arm yourself with knowledge - learn as much as you can about forex trading and thread carefully in forex market. Also find a lot of forums and online discussions about forex trading on the Internet and join them. They are excellent source of free information and even give you a chance to interact with other forex traders. You can see opinions and experiences of different people about various matters; forex trading strategies, forex scams, HYIPs and other investment programs and even ask questions about anything in particular.

Forex Scams - How to Spot Them A Mile Away

n recent years, investors have witnessed increased number of investment opportunities and offerings. While the complexity and success of these investment products vary, technological innovation has made the Forex market one of the fastest growth areas. Many of the leading Forex brokers reported up to 500% rise in the number of new retail customers. However, the growth of the Forex market has been accompanied by a sharp rise in foreign currency trading scams.
Many of these Forex scams are promoted on the radio, television, newspapers and the Internet. Investors who fall victim to these schemes, often lose all of their money.
As an illustration, let's examine the facts of a recent case involving Forex fraud and its consequences. W learned of a foreign currency trading opportunity through an infomercial on the radio. K, the owner of a Forex asset management firm, spoke during the infomercial, promising viewers significant profits with minimum risk. After seeing the infomercial, W contacted K, and later attended a seminar presented by K and his firm. The seminar was so convincing that W wrote a check to K for $100,000.
Several months later, W received statements (which were false) from K's firm reflecting significant returns on his initial $100,000 investment. Thereafter, W attended another seminar and decided to invest more money. W took a loan and invested another $800,000 in K's Forex trading operation. Short while after W's second investment, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint against K and his firm for engaging in a scheme to defraud investors. K's firm's assets were frozen, including the $900,000 invested by W. A receiver was appointed to distribute the remaining assets of K's firm to defrauded investors. The assets were distributed on pro-rata basis with no legal preference given to any of the victims. Since K's firm's assets were not enough to satisfy all of the defrauded investor's claims, W received only about $22,000 of the $900,000 he invested.
Since a whole book can be written on the various tactics and methods used by Forex scam artists, in this article, I will focus on the major warning signs that one needs to identify to avoid falling victim to Forex swindlers.
1. Promises of Little or No Risk
If you encounter a Forex firm that claims to have developed a foreign currency trading strategy that carries very little or no risk, stay away. The reason Forex trading can be very profitable is because it also carries a very high risk of loss. The Forex market is very volatile, and, without good money management, an investor can lose most if not all her capital within few days. Thus, individuals and firms who make claims that are far from market realities, as is riskless Forex trading, are really after your money.
2. Guarantees of Large Profits
Beware of firms that guarantee large profits in Forex trading. These so called "guarantees" are mere ploys to entice investors and make them believe that their money is safe and that they will definitely make large profits. Such claims are simply untrue, because even the best professional traders cannot guarantee that they will make a profit any given day. The Forex market, as most financial markets, is very unpredictable. Hence, be suspicious of such claims and those who make them.
3. Employment Ads For Forex Traders
Many Forex trading firms use employment ads to attract individuals with capital to trade using their systems. The employment ads, which often appear in newspapers and on the Internet, state that a foreign currency trading firm is looking for individuals to teach how to trade the foreign currency market using firm capital. Those who reply to the ad are convinced by the firm that they will make a fortune trading currencies if they participate in the firm's training program. During the training process, which often occurs on a demo system, the novice traders are encouraged and told that their demo trading records show that have made significant profits, that they are ready to make real money and would very successful. Despite the firm's assessment of the novice trader as a brilliant newcomer, no firm capital is provided to the trader, instead the excited novice is told to use her own capital to trade using the firm's platform.
In addition to various fees imposed on traders using the firm's platform, the Forex firm makes money as an introducing broker. Each time the novice trader trades through the firm's system, a good part of the spread charged by the broker is shared and goes into the firm's coffers. After few months, the novice trader loses all of her capital and leaves. The Forex firm, having made money during the novice trader's short stint, moves on to new traders eager to become rich trading foreign currencies.
4. Is the Forex Firm a CFTC or NFA Member
Before you sign a check and give your capital to a Forex company, make sure you investigate the entity. Check to see whether the Forex firm, with which you plan to do business, is registered with the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission or the National Futures Association. Many scam artists falsely claim that their firms are registered with the CFTC or the NFA to gain a prospective investor's trust. Do not trust anyone, research the firm and the background of the individuals involved before parting with your hard earned money.
The Internet has paved the way for many new opportunities for retail investors. The Forex market is both exciting and fast paced. Investors who are careful and diligent are likely to avoid the perils of this market, and will profit from the opportunities foreign currency trading has to offer.