Buying and selling follows the clock, beginning on Monday morning in Wellington, New Zealand, moving on to Asian trade spearheaded from Tokyo and Singapore, ahead of going to London and concluding on Friday evening in New York. The fact that prices are available to deal hours daily makes certain that price gapping whenever a price leaps from one level to another with no trading between is less and makes sure that traders could take a position each time they desire, irrespective of time, even though in reality there are particular 'lull' occasions when volumes tend to be below their daily average which could widen market spreads.

Forex is a leveraged or margined item, which means that you are simply required to put in a small percentage of the full value of your position to set a foreign exchange trade. Because of this, the chance of profit, or loss, from your primary money outlay is considerably greater than in conventional trading.

Currencies are designated by three letter symbols. The first currency is the base currency and the second currency is the quote currency. The price, or rate, that is quoted is the amount of the second currency required to purchase one unit of the first currency. As we see, the US dollar is represented in all currency pairs, thus, if a currency pair contains the US dollar, this pair is considered a major currency pair. Pairs which do not include the US dollar are called cross currency pairs, or cross rates.

One of the most interesting movements in the Forex market involving the British pound took place in the September 16, That day is known as Black Wednesday with the British Pound posting its biggest fall.

the US dollar currency pairs. The general reasons for this "sterling crisis" are said to be the participation of Great Britain in the European currency system with fixed exchange rate corridors; recently passed parliamentary elections; a reduction in the British industrial output; the Bank of England efforts to hold the parity rate for the Deutschemark, as well as a dramatic outflow of investors. At the same time, due to a profitability slant, the German currency market became more attractive than the British one.

All in all, the speculators were rushing to sell pounds for Deutschemarks and for US dollars. As a result, the pound returned to a floating exchange rate. Another intriguing currency pair is the US dollar vs. It is traded most actively during sessions in Asia. From the mid 80's the Yen ratings started rising actively versus the US Dollar. In the early 90's a prosperous economic development turned into a standstill in Japan, the unemployment increased; earnings and wages slid as well as the living standards of the Japanese population.

And from the beginning of the year , this caused bankruptcies of numerous financial organizations in Japan. As a consequence, the quotes on the Tokyo Stock Exchange collapsed, a Yen devaluation took place, thereafter, a new wave of bankruptcies among manufacturing companies began. The above started an Asian crisis in the years that led a Yen crash. It resulted in a tumble of the Yen-US dollar pair from Yens for one US dollar to The global economic crisis touched almost all fields of human activities.

Forex currency market was no exception. Though, Forex participants central banks, commercial banks, investment banks, brokers and dealers, pension funds, insurance companies and transnational companies were in a difficult position, the Forex market continues to function successfully, it is a stable and profitable as never before.

The financial crisis of has led to drastic changes in the world's currencies values. During the crisis, the Yen strengthened most of all against all other currencies.

Neither the US dollar, nor the euro, but the Yen proved to be the most reliable currency instrument for traders. One of the reasons for such strengthening can be attributed to the fact that traders needed to find a sanctuary amid a monetary chaos. Ask and Bid When traders want to place an order on the Forex market they should be aware of the currency pair as well as the price of this pair.

A Forex market price of a currency pair is denoted by two symbols, Ask and Bid, which have specific digital notations. Consequently, a trader sells the currency standing second. Bid price is the lowest price in the quotation of the currency pair, at which a trader sells the currency standing first in the abbreviation of the currency pair.

Respectively, a trader buys the currency standing second. Seem complicated? This means that you can buy 1 euro for 1. The difference between the Bid price and the Ask price is called spread. The spread is actually the commission of the broker. The Spreads in Forex trading are actually very small compared to currency spreads at banks. A pip is the smallest price movement of a traded currency.

It is very important that you understand what a pip is in the Forex trading because you will be using pips in calculating your profits and losses.. For most currencies a pip is 0. When a currency moves from a value of 1. There is an exception for quotations for Japanese Yen against other currencies. For currencies in relation to Japanese Yen a pip is 0. A lot is the minimal traded amount for each currency transaction.

For regular accounts one lot equals , units of the base currency. However you can also open mini and micro accounts that allow trading in smaller lots.

Understanding the Pip Spread - The spread is closely associated with the pip and has a major importance for you as a trader. As mentioned above, It is the difference between the selling and the buying price of a currency pair.

It is the difference in the bid and ask price. The ask is the price at which you buy and the bid is the price at which you sell. In this case the spread is 3 pips. The pip spread is your cost of doing business here. In the case above it means you sustain a paper loss equal to 3 pips at the moment you enter the trade. Your contract has to appreciate by 3 pips before you break even. The lower the pip spread the easier is it for you to profit.

Generally the more active and bigger the market, the lower the pip spread. Smaller and more exotic markets tend to have a higher spread. Smaller accounts will generally have higher spreads than bigger regular accounts. From the profitability point of view it is important to find a broker offering a lower pip spread, however the low spread is not everything. More important is to choose a reputable and reliable broker. Most brokers will allow leverage. This can heighten profits and losses and should be used wisely.

How to Control Losses with "Stop Loss" Stop loss is a widely used order aiming mainly at limiting the possible losses in case of negative market movements. Stop loss is used only with open positions. When the market conditions are not favorable for a trader and the price has reached the level of the "Stop loss", the deal is closed automatically. Therefore, Stop loss helps the trader to control losses and in case of failures to keep safe at least part of his deposit.

If a trader does not use Stop loss orders, the position is closed by the broker when the sum of losses is equal to the sum of the deposit. There are 3 types of Stop loss orders: fixed Stop loss, sliding Stop loss and combined Stop loss. Fixed Stop losses are set while opening positions.

They cannot be changed until the deal is closed. Sliding stop losses, on the other hand, can be modified any time depending on the price movement.

Another name for sliding Stop loss is Trailing stop, that can be modified either manually or automatically based on the traders' settings. There are many discussions on whether it is necessary to use Stop losses or not. Some traders believe that Stop loss is essential in trading, emphasizing the ability of Stop losses to prevent the loss of the whole deposit.

If the price is rapidly moving in a direction which does not correspond to the forecast, a deal that has not been closed in time can result in a significant loss. The opponents of Stop loss believe that this order can limit not only losses, but profits as well.

In this case the position is closed prematurely with a loss while it could develop into a profit later on. As a rule, the decision on whether to use Stop loss or not depends on the individual strategy and preferences of a particular trader. Trailing stop is an order which its major function is to act as an automatic maintenance of an open position with continually shifting of the stop loss level depending on the price movement.

A trader may open a bullish position and sets the gap from the current price to trailing stop in pips. When the price goes upwards, the trailing stop follows it automatically sticking to the set gap. In case that the price goes down, then the trailing stop quote remains on the spot. In this way, a trader using a trailing stop has an opportunity to derive maximal profit at an ascending price with no regard to the set Take Profit value.

Furthermore, a trailing stop is a loss limiter. Here is an example: a trader opens a buy position at the price of 1. In case that the price starts to move upwards and exceeds the mark of 1. If the price turns down, the price does not change its position.

As to a sell position opening, trailing stop behaves quite in the opposite. The trader sets it a few pips higher. At a price descending motion the trailing stop shifts according to the set size.

With the up-going price, the trailing stop does not move. While applying a trailing stop in Forex operations a trader will have to remove stop loss orders manually in line with increases in the trade profit. Trailing stop sets a stop loss level automatically at the value the trader needs.

A trailing stop is mainly used by traders who run trend trading, but can't follow the price moves continually. Trailing stop usage is also feasible at intraday trades, when quick reaction to price change is required. Please note that trailing stops work only when the trading terminal is open. Once the terminal is switched off the stop loss is fixed at its current spot. How to Use Forex for Hedging Hedging denotes safety and security. Hedging means the protection of a client's funds from unfavorable currency rate fluctuations.

Account funds are fixed at their current price through conducting trades on Forex. Thus, hedging helps to ease exposure to currency rate changes risks, which helps to prevent the risk of currency rate fluctuations. As a matter of fact, hedging presupposes using one instrument in order to lower the risk related to unfavorable market factors impact on the price of another one directly associated with it.

Hedging can also be considered as a type of investment allowing to minimize price movements risks in the market. The hedging cost should be valued with regard to the possible losses in the event of not hedging. Here's a hedging example: a trader, who imports in a foreign currency, opens a buy trade with the currency of his trading account in advance, and when the real time of the currency purchase arrives to his bank, he closes the position.

And a trader, who exports in a foreign currency, opens a sell trade with the currency on his trading account beforehand, and at a the real moment of this currency purchase in his bank, he closes it.

Advantages of Forex Over Other Investment Assets 1. Simple to comprehend and master - In a Forex trade we deal with just a pair of currencies 2. Low Minimum Investment - The Forex market requires less capital to start trading than most other markets. The initial investment could go very low, depending on the leverage offered by the broker. This is a great advantage since Forex traders are able to keep their risk investment to the lowest level.

Online Forex brokers offer "mini" and "micro" trading accounts with low minimum account deposit. We're not saying you should open an account with the bare minimum, but it does make Forex trading much more accessible to the average individual who doesn't have a lot of start-up trading capital.

Trading starts when the markets open in Australia on Sunday evening, and ends after markets close in New York on Friday. High Liquidity - Liquidity is the ability of an asset to be converted into cash quickly and without any price discount.

In Forex this means we can move large amounts of money into and out of foreign currency with minimal price movement. Low Transaction Cost - In Forex, typically the cost of a transaction is built into the price. It is called the spread. The spread is the difference between the buying and selling price.

Leverage - Forex Brokers allow traders to trade the market using leverage. Leverage is the ability to trade more money on the market than what is actually in the trader's account. Profit Potential from Rising and Falling Prices - The Forex market has no restrictions for directional trading.

This means, if you think a currency pair is going to increase in value; you can buy it, or go long. Similarly, if you think it could decrease in value you can sell it, or go short.. No one can corner the market - The foreign exchange market is so huge and has so many participants that no single entity can control the market price for an extended period of time.

Such a huge amount of a daily volume allows for an excellent price stability in most market conditions. This means you likely will never have to worry about slippage as you would when trading stocks or commodities.

The price you see quoted on your trading screen is the price you get. Market transparency and Instant execution - Market transparency is much greater in Forex than in stocks or commodities, this means it is easier to analyze the inner workings of the market and figure out what is driving it. Instantaneous order execution is another great advantage Forex has over other markets. Retail Forex trading is generally done over the internet on all electronic platforms.

The Forex market has no central exchange and was designed to be this way to facilitate large banks and allow for instant execution of transactions, this means no delays for you and extreme ease of execution. Price movements are highly predictable in the Forex market - Due to its highly speculative nature Forex price movements tend to over shoot and then correct back to the mean. This means there are a number of repetitive patterns that are easily recognizable to the trader who is trained in price action analysis.

Forex currency pairs generally spend more time in very strong up or down trends than other markets, this is also a huge advantage because it is generally much easier to trade a strongly trending market than a chaotic and consolidating market.

Now, if you were holding a futures position over night it is entirely possible that your stop got gapped around, in which case you would get filled at the next best price, which often will be extremely damaging to your trading account. Direct participation, difficult to manipulate or influence - Forex trading operates in a decentralized online electronic market for its participants: Banks, FCMs, hedge funds, governments, retail currency conversion houses and high worth net individuals.

Investors can interact directly with the market maker for pricing on a currency pair. Access is quicker and costs are lower than in other markets. Large market liquidity makes it very difficult for any one participant to manipulate or influence it.

Easier market analysis - Countries are more often stable than companies making it easier to predict their economic direction. Primary factors affecting demand and supply for Forex investment are interest rates and economic indicators such as GDP, trade balances and foreign investment. This and other economic data released regularly determines demand and supply for currency pairs.

Technology frontiers and investing - Technology enables the retail investor the ability to make better investment decisions through ready access to economic and political news events, to technical charting software and electronic trading platforms.

They also have transparent and safe access to their investment funds in segregated accounts so that the safety of their funds is guaranteed. Limited Risk - Despite the common perception about Forex being risky, it is easy to limit and reduce the risk if a trader chooses the right strategy. In addition it should be mentioned that stops are much easier to control as well, that is why newbies have good chances to succeed even while doing their first steps as Forex investors and traders.

No fees or middlemen - There are no commissions when trading on the Forex market. The retail brokers in this market are compensated through the bid-ask spread. Businessmen can also spot currency trading which eliminates the middlemen and allows each person to trade directly with the market that is responsible for pricing on a certain currency pair. Not only does this expedite the process, it gives each trader more options and versatility. The Basic Forex Trading Strategy The basic Forex strategy that is used by many traders of all experience levels, is Trend Following.

This strategy is widely followed because of its simplicity to identify and trade and many times, strong trends can bail you out of an imperfect set of buy and sell rules. Before we delve into the basics of Trend Following, it is important to first explain why trend trading is a popular strategy used by many new and experienced traders.

Do you have the perfect Forex trading strategy? I have not found it. To me, a perfect strategy is the one that wins all of the time and has minimal trade drawdown. Therefore, learning how to trade in an imperfect world is very important. Trend following is a simple way to cover up some strategy imperfections by identifying the strongest trends in the market.

When you trade in the direction of the trend, the rest of your trading approach can fall right into place. This doesn't mean that all your trades will be winners. It does mean that you don't have to be exact in your entries and exits once you find a strong trend to trade.

Now how do you know when a trend starts and when it is going to end? Since this is a beginners guide I will not elaborate on the various techniques that traders use to identify trends as this is beyond the scope of this book. I will however touch on several techniques in later chapters but note that these will be just in an introduction level without going too much deeper.

Any trader either a newbie or a pro should develop his own style of trading. There are several trading styles that you can adopt. You will choose your style based on your personality and financial capacities.

Many traders make the mistake of adopting a trading style that is unnatural for them. A trader may adopt one of the following two main trading styles: Day Trading and Intraweek trading.

Let's discuss each of them; Day Trading Day trading on Forex means that one or few trades are conducted within one trading day. As a rule, the time intervals between the opening or the closing of trades may take from several minutes up to several hours. Despite some difficulties of day-trading, this type of trading is very popular among the newcomers as well as among experienced traders.

Day trading allows for the opportunity to make a profit in a short time with a small amount of funds. In order to achieve favorable results in an intraday trading it is essential that you make the right forecast as to the price movement, as there are many external factors that cause high volatility in the currency market.

So to make your day trading beneficial you have to track the market situation, collate facts and make conclusions about the price behavior of currencies, it is also important to be able to react fast so that you will find entry and exit points quickly at the opening or the closing of trades.

Combining knowledge of technical analysis to be discussed in a later chapter with patience and observance a trader has good chances to earn well with a relatively low risk. There are several strategies of day trading. The most widespread among them is Scalping - a strategy that is offering a fast opening or closing of several day positions.

The trader closes trades while making just a few profit pips on each trade while the earnings come from the accumulation of a large number of successfully completed short term trades.

Another popular day trading strategy is news trading. Traders, who choose news trading, monitor the market events permanently, analyze the currencies behavior in different cases. Usually news trading requires an insight learning of market development and a proper trade experience accumulation. Day trading can be a source of a nice income through the readiness to devote most of your free time to trading. Now here are the advantages and disadvantages of day trading.

This style is suitable for traders with endurance and quick reactions. Intraweek Trading Intraweek trade has no such furious market movements as in intraday trade. It may seem that the market is motionless. But it is just at the first sight. Probably, every trader can find additional styles, but the two that we've mentioned here are probably the most common. Forex Trading Risk Management Your first concern when trading Forex should be not to risk too much money on any given trade.

Unfortunately, many traders start trading Forex without thinking about the risk that they are taking - only about the potential rewards. If you want to succeed in Forex you must take into consideration the maximum percentage of the total trading money that you should risk in any one trade.

Actually, your ability to limit your losses is equally as critical or even more critical as your success in managing winning trades. The goal of practicing a good Forex money management is to minimize risk and increase payouts. For starters here are 3 quick tips: First, Trading Forex is fun and exciting and money can be made; but you must also keep in mind that like with any other trading there is the risk of losing. Hence, Forex trading rule number one: do not trade with money you can't afford to lose.

Second, never borrow money while trading, trade only with your own money this does not apply to leverage that is provided by your broker. And third, set and stick to a budget. Write it on your forehead if you have to, but no matter what, when you hit that number, quit trading for the day. Good money management calls for adopting a conservative investment strategy that means that you should never risk your entire capital.

When you enter a trade no matter how great it may be , always ensure to only invest conservatively. Forex trading like any other investing is not a sure thing, there is always a risk factor involved. A conservative investment strategy helps you to conserve your money when things go wrong. Forex trading offers a lot of choices to the trader. A good money management strategy requires diversification.

The volatility that accompanies trading currencies is much distinct from say trading commodities as well as stocks. Obviously, the payouts may vary depending on the currency pair which is selected. As the saying goes, never put all your eggs in the same basket. Losses in a trade should be accepted on a positive note. The effects of a trade that goes against you are able to impact the future or successive trade decisions.

Expecting losses whilst investing can assist traders in identifying the areas which may happen to be unnoticed. Losses needs to be seen as a stepping stone instead of having it affect you. Start off slow and scale up - this has a significant role particularly for beginner traders. Bulls enter the market buying first and exit selling second.

Bears do the opposite: they enter selling first and exit buying second. To make a profit in the market, you must always buy low and sell high. Both bulls and bears are trying to do that; bears just reverse the transactions see Figure Remember, there is a bid price and an ask price with a 3- to 6-pip spread on the major currencies the U.

dollar [USD], the Japanese yen [JPY], the British pound [GBP], the Swiss franc [CHF], the European euro [EUR], the Canadian dollar [CAD] and the Australian dollar [AUD]. Traders buy on the ask price and sell on the bid price. If you want to enter buying, you would pay the ask price of 1.

You can enter and exit the market using a limit order, which are orders placed ahead of time to enter the market buying below where current prices are or selling above where the current prices are. They are placed like a limit order at a predetermined price; however, they turn into market orders when the market reaches the predetermined price and may be subjected to slippage.

The rule is, when you place a buy order above the current market price it is called a stop order, and when you place a sell order below where the current price is it is also called a stop order. Every trade should have an entry point, a predetermined exit point for profit, and a well-thought-out exit point for minimal loss should the market not go your way. The rule is, every buy order should have two sells: a sell limit order for profit and a sell stop order for loss protection.

Conversely, every sell order should have two buy orders: a buy limit order for profit and a buy stop order for loss protection. Some trading software programs allow the trader the ability to place an OCO one cancels the other order.

This means the moment the market hits either the stop order or the sell order, it cancels the opposite order. By trading with an OCO order, you are not left exposed with a working order after either your stop or limit has been filled and you have been taken out of the market. An OCO order offers you the opportunity to set a trade and forget about it. You can literally walk away from your computer and not be concerned with catastrophic results if you have properly quantified your potential losses before you placed the trade.

No one knows where the next pip will go, so the best you can do is plan your trade and trade your plan. One of the most important and productive habits you can adopt is properly educating yourself about the Forex before you begin trading. If you move forward without the proper education, be prepared to lose your money, much like in a casino. Just like the casino, the market will be there to take all your money. I have learned that to achieve success in trading requires learning to understand the three critical facets of trading: 1.

The technical education and trading knowledge 2. The fundamental understanding of what determines market movement 3. All successful traders learn that working through frustration is the path to success. Knowing what to do when you get frustrated is critical. Strong people make as many mistakes as weak people. The difference is that strong people admit their mistakes, laugh at them, and learn from them, and that is how they become strong.

Mistakes are part of being human. We need to appreciate our mistakes for what they are. Before you begin trading, you need to create your own mission state- ment to help you focus on becoming an educated, financially successful, long-term Forex trader. I want you to think of your journey toward becom- ing a successful trader as a transformation of thought, a new process of knowledge build-up, followed by: 1. Disciplined thought 2. Disciplined rules 3. Practice first on a demo account to become comfortable with the trading platform before trading with real money.

LEVEL 2: THE COMPETENT TRADER You acquire conscious competence. You begin to trade with real money, work through your emotions, and learn to trade within the equity manage- ment rules to achieve a consistent financial return. LEVEL 3: THE EXPERT TRADER You acquire unconscious competence. You mechanically execute profitable trades with no emotion. THE REALITY OF TRADING The reality of trading is that less than 10 percent of all traders who attempt to trade succeed in the market.

More than 90 percent of all traders who attempt to become successful on the Forex fail. Our professional international team at Market Traders Institute adamantly believes in proper education first.

Knowledge is the key that can make a big difference in the success of a trader, providing a necessary edge. I cannot stress this enough: the majority of the world is locked into managing its poverty or mediocrity.

Very few people learn how to manage any kind of success because they are not given any sort of manual or instruction guide to success. Growing up, we learn how to survive finan- cially from our caregivers and circles of influence. But not all mentors are successful, leaving many to learn through trial and error. Thousands of books have been written on how to achieve some sort of success.

I believe that success comes from acquiring the right education about the opportunity; possessing the right work ethic; implementing the right productive daily habits; and believing with focus, concentration, action, and a positive attitude that your dream will come true. Successful people keep things simple. They find beauty in simplicity. The average per- son, for some reason, tries very hard to complicate things, even the simplest processes or procedures.

I, on the other hand, have worked hard to take a very complicated issue, Forex, and simplify it, enabling just about anyone to understand how the markets work and how to trade them.

THE DAY, 3 PERCENT RULE The human mind forgets 80 percent of the knowledge it acquires within the first three days of acquisition.

During the next 18 days, it continues the loss of information until it settles at 3 percent retention of the new information. Our focus at MTI is to provide you with productive practical, continued education, enabling you to be trading with percent-plus recall. You must practice them over and over again until they become an unconscious habit.

Doctors prac- tice on cadavers first. Pilots fly with instructors long before they go solo. I personally believe that self-empowerment is learning how to fish and that dependency is all about being handed a fish to stay alive.

Make no mistake, there is no holy grail! You cannot buy any indicator or trading system that works percent of the time any more than the airlines can buy an autopilot system that eliminates the need for pilots. I would think not, because if you could create such a trading system, all you would need to do is walk into any major financial institution like the Bank of America or the Royal Bank of Scotland and show proof that your auto- mated system works. Just as there is no perfect trading system, there is no autopilot sys- tem that works without a pilot.

I very much doubt that human beings will ever put their lives on the line with a computer or autopilot system in an airplane without a pilot. We all have bought enough electronic equip- ment in our lives—TVs, VCRs, cameras, and so forth—to know they all fail eventually. Pilots are educated and trained to fly proficiently before they are even shown where the autopilot system button is. The first time I got into the cockpit with my instructor I asked him where the autopilot button was.

I did eventually learn how to engage the autopilot function and will have to say, the autopilot system is not a fail-safe function without the close moni- toring of a pilot. As powerful as such systems are, when things start to go wrong, they cannot make spilt-second decisions in the best interest of the passengers. They can only do what they are programmed to do, and there are too many variables in flying to program absolutely everything.

Autopilot systems do not work percent of the time, they have their limitations. As a trader, you will learn that, from time to time, the trading environ- ment will be ideal enough to use an autopilot system. That is truly suc- cessful trading. I was sitting in my office at home and had been in a few trading positions for a couple of days on four different currencies.

All of a sudden, they all took off like rockets in the opposite direction of my positions. Thank goodness I was not using an auto- pilot trading system or I could have been financially wiped out that day. I was stopped out on all four currencies and was able to preserve what profit I had made. The reality is that to become a successful trader, you must go through an education process no different than that of becoming a pilot, a physician, or of any profession that requires a specific discipline to be mastered.

I am even more amazed at the massive amounts of people willing to purchase these products. But I am never surprised when they call our office and share their experience of buying a Forex program that failed or disappointed them.

These traders are now pleading for help because with their current system, they keep on losing money and have no idea how to make it back. A fair question is, did the system truly fail or was it the system found between their ears that failed? You must be taught how to use the best tools available for whatever profession you want to pursue. If you are going to be a ditch digger, you need to be taught how to use a backhoe as well as a shovel and be taught in which situations one or the other should be used.

Learning to trade on Forex, from someone who is already successful at trading, is critical. Finding out which trading tools they use is equally important. Now is not the time to go bargain hunting for tools. Bargain hunting for free or low-cost trading tools is like learning to navigate on the ocean with a compass in a foot canoe—clearly the wrong vessel for the environment.

A solid built, 1,foot, state-of-the-art cruise ship with all the latest gauges for weather would be wiser. With so much at stake, do not take a shortcut on paying for quality trading tools. When it comes to trading on Forex, I highly recommend the MTI 4.

These systems can be back-tested over many years instantaneously, allowing a trader to see if their trading strategy is a good one, or if they are working in the wrong direction. You can create a trading strategy that aligns with your personality, program it into a system, back-test it, and, if it is productive, have the trading system send you alerts via e-mail or cell phone when an entry and or exit signal is triggered see Figure The most important part about a trading system is that it must be simple and easy to use.

Whether it is done visually or created by a trading system, your trading strategy must have three very important components: 1. It must be able to find the current market direction. It must have a consistent entry strategy that works consistently.

It must have two very clear exit strategies, one for protecting you against major losses and one for capturing a profit. In Figure , you can see a line that goes above and below the price movement against time that is monitored by a computer creating a candlestick formation candlestick formations are a way of monitoring the open, high, low, and close market prices in any given time period.

This line is called a moving trend line; a visual indicator of market direction or perhaps the current trend. When you turn on your computer and begin to review your charts on any time frame, if the current candle is above that line, the market on that time frame is in a potential uptrend, and if the current candle is below that line, the mar- ket on that time frame is in a potential downtrend. No matter what time frame you trade in, this simple exercise accompa- nied with this system can help you determine trend direction.

Before you use an autopilot program, you need to understand how it has been programmed. Looking at the moving trend line, on any time frame, can help you deter- mine market direction on that time frame. One mistake traders often make is believing that a trading system created for a minute chart will work on all time frames, such as a one-hour chart or a daily chart.

Sometimes it does work, but typically, as you move a trading system from one time frame to another, you may want to adjust the settings of such a system to optimize its performance on that time frame.

It is vital to find trading software that will not only allow you to change these settings but also instantaneously back-test the results as found incorporated in MTI 4. Every trader wants the market to move in his or her direction from entry—there is nothing worse than get- ting in a trade and having the market run in the opposite direction.

One of the most important traits of a successful person is that when they are trying to make a productive, empowered decision, they gather facts. The more facts they can gather, the more informed their decision.

Trading is 10 percent skill and 90 percent emotion, which is why our emotions frequently stand in the way of making good decisions. Anytime you need to make a decision, do yourself a favor and do not make it while you are in an emotional state. Take the time to calm down and place your- self in a logical state of mind.

If you do that, you will open up the left side of your brain, where all your knowledge is stored, where all your intellec- tual recall is, and you will have access to everything you have learned in your past that is productive. You will begin to make an educated, positive, and productive decision. Trading indicators can keep you from using the right side of your brain, where all your emotions are stored.

You can program buy and sell signals that have no emotion, they just monitor price movement against time. Using different indicators together can create effective entry points, like the ones found in Figure , but they need to be manually monitored. The trading system you are looking at in Figure is called the MTI Trend Scalper. The two moving lines overlapping the candles are moving trend lines, which can act as buy and sell signals.

The line closest to the candles is a moving inner trend line and the other one is a moving outer trend line. In Figure top , you can see that if you used the moving trend lines as your entry and exit signals, right around March 10, , you would have bought the euro at approximately 1.

But where do you get in if the moving trend lines have already crossed? Do you have to sit there for another three to six months before they cross over again to find another trading opportunity? The answer is no. You can have two options. You either educate yourself how the markets move without using indicators or you learn to add additional indicators to your trading system like the waving line you see at the bottom of the chart in Figure This indicator, called the MTI Trend Tracker, monitors the waves of the market.

As the market moves, it resembles the waves of the ocean. The greatest part about a trading system is that it is constantly moni- toring the movement of the market, projecting directions with entry and exit points 24 hours a day even while you sleep or work.

Using a trading system allows you to control your trading in the market, rather than the market controlling you, and to come and go, or turn off your computer, without having to do all kinds of new technical analysis of the market to catch up from where you left off. If the lines overlapping the candles crossed while you were away, the MTI Trend Tracker allows you to enter the market at a price point where the market will more than likely reverse and rally back up in your buying direc- tion from entry, which is what every trader wants.

Look at the MTI Trend Tracker indicator where you see the bold up-arrows see Figure , bot- tom. When the moving line is going south and then U-turns to the north, the market should follow. Look at the price movement of the market and how it began to rally again. This trading system works just as effectively in a downtrend as it does in an uptrend, as you can see in Figure All the rules are the same but in the opposite direction.

When the lines overlapping the candles cross from the north to the south, it is time to sell. Once again, if you turn on your charts and the mov- ing trendlines have already crossed, giving a short signal, you can enter when the MTI Trend Tracker indicator moving north U-turns to the south. Look at the market movement on the charts after the U-turn toward the south. Using trading indicators eliminates a lot of the guessing and allows you to focus on developing a trading strategy that works consistently, on a time frame that suits your personality.

Some traders like fast action and want to turn their computer into a video game—they want to quickly scalp the market. In and out, in and out, perhaps 10 times a day.

If you enjoy day trading, use this trading system on one-hour to four-hour time frames, and if you enjoy long-term trading, use this trading system on four-hour, daily, or weekly charts In any of these cases, you let the computer do the majority of the work. Just like an autopilot system.

If it were that easy, however, we would all be living in gated communities and flying our jets to our beach-house estates every weekend. Most traders make their money during trends and lose it when the market gets turbulent or begins to go sideways. What if you were just starting out and the market began to go sideways, or consolidate, as shown in Figure Just about every time the computer gave a buy signal, the market went south, and just about every time the computer gave a sell signal, the market reversed and went north.

When most people board an airplane and look inside the cockpit, they are intimidated by all the gauges they see. How do I know? Just like when I turned on my computer back in the s and looked at charts, I, too, was extremely intimidated.

But believe it or not, sideways movement can potentially offer the trader more trading opportunities than trends. Envision buying all the lows as seen in Figure and exiting at the highs and then reversing your position, shorting the market by selling all the highs taking a ride across the trading channel and exiting at the lows.

It is clear to see by continually repeating this process that there is profit to be made. Conversely, when going short or selling first to enter the market, every sell entry order needs two buy exit orders, one for profit and one for loss. After you enter the market, you need the two exit points, one for profit and one for financial protection should the trade not work out.

The fact of the mat- ter is that no one knows where the next pip will go. The best you can do is to understand how the market works and learn how to go with it. But success comes to those who understand how it works—just look at the people who have been able to create great compa- nies that haul freight, passengers, or oil over the ocean.

After the market has moved in your direction from entry, as planned, the question is where do you get out? The last thing in the world you want to do is guess what the market is going to do next. Let a simple mathe- matical calculation of price movement against time tell you instead. Remember the two indicators—the moving trend lines that are overlapping the candles and the MTI Trend Tracker at the bottom of the chart?

If you take a long position and want to become a long-term trader, you may want to stay in until the moving trend lines cross over. However, if you only want to grab a few pips, and you entered using the indicator below, you may want to get out after that line has moved from the south to the north and is beginning to U-turn back south see Figure Some traders use the movement of their indicators as their protective stop loss orders—they let the indicators make their decisions regarding when to reverse their positions.

Your hope and or fear will get the best of you. What is critical is finding and calculating where your pro- tective stop order needs to go as you are making your trading plan. Once you find that location, after you enter the market, place that order immediately and do not move it if you are trading an OCO one cancels the other order. Trading is about keeping your losses small and letting your profits run.

The problem with most Forex traders is they hold onto their losses and quickly dump their profits for fear the market will take them back. They have the definitions of hope and fear backwards. They will hold a losing position for days, sweating it out, walking through the valley in the shadow of death, praying, hoping, promising God and everyone else that will listen to just help them get back to breakeven and once they do, they dump their position after only capturing a few pips.

Some traders will go pips in the red to only exit after a brutal ordeal and capture only 2 pips. Learning where to place your protective stop loss orders and creating a trading plan before you trade is of critical importance as a novice trader. Trade a simple strategy with a clear entry order accompanied by two exit orders trying to capture a profit of perhaps 10 to 20 pips. Your aim should be to establish the habit of winning more than you are losing.

After you get in the habit of winning more than losing, and realizing that losing is just as much a part of this game as winning, you will then be able to move to a larger time frame to capture more pips, perhaps capturing 40 to 80 pips at a time, consistently, 7 out of 10 times with some losses. After you get the simple basics down of winning more than losing, you can start learning more advanced exit strategies.

Take two different time frames, for example, a daily time frame and a four-hour time frame, using the same MTI Trend Scalper trad- ing system on both time frames. Remember the MTI Trend Tracker at the bottoms of the charts, which monitors the wave movement? Look what happens to the price movement on a four-hour chart when the indicator U-turns on a daily chart, as seen in Figure Remem- ber, prices on a smaller time frame respond to the movement on a larger time frame.

This works the same on all time frames and is a great way to trade. The MTI checklist cross-checks important points for your entry and exit. These seven points are graded, indicating the odds of your making money, and include the use of indicators, candlestick formations, Fibonacci Fib numbers, coun- tertrend lines, and more.

Trading needs to be fun and simple. Anyone who tries to impress you with all their knowledge and indicators see Figure will only confuse you. A confused mind is going to take you down a path of financial destruc- tion. Stay clear from using too many indicators or complicated indicators. Keep it simple! Candlestick formations are the sign language of the mar- ket. They frequently tell the trader where U-turns or reversals are and where the market is going.

Most beginner traders prefer learning how to read charts using what is called a Japanese candlestick, which monitors price movement against time. There are three types of charts traders can refer to: a line chart, a bar chart, or a candlestick chart. Military confrontation had become a way of life in that country as feudal lords fought for control of rival territories.

Once somewhat relative peace had been established, several new opportunities for expansion developed. It was during that the concept of the Japanese candlestick was being explored, tested, and used in monitoring prices in the rice markets. Because there was no standardized currency, the price of rice became the predominant medium of exchange, or currency. In the late s, the Rice Exchange was formed to regulate trading proceedings.

By , there were more than 1, rice dealers. Rather than just deal in actual rice, rice coupons were issued, and these became one of the first forms of futures contracts ever traded. Similar events took place in other parts of the world.

There was the Tulip Mania that swept The Netherlands in the early s, which also involved a form of futures contract. During this period, tulips became the standard medium of exchange and became even more valuable than gold there. The popularity of these Tulip coupons were drawing attention around the world and other countries began to catch on to this effective way of trad- ing. Rice coupons in Japan became significant, with a bale of rice being the standard amount to be traded.

An empty rice coupon became a form of a futures contract—a coupon for rice that may not even be planted or harvested yet. The rice is traded for a specific future date, as if it was grown and going to be delivered to that person on that future date. Today, futures trading is a multibillion dollar industry. In America, most futures trading for commodities occurs in Chicago, at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, or CME.

But where do Japanese candlesticks fit in? Munehisa Homma was born into a wealthy Japanese farming family in Homma had an aptitude for business and would eventually become a dominant trader in the Japanese rice market. Although candlesticks were not actually developed by Homma, he studied the psychology of investors and formulated several key trading principles.

These concepts evolved into the candlestick charting techniques that we know today. Candlestick charts were originally plotted painstakingly by hand.

This labor-intensive step, as well as the fact that many Japanese traders could not properly communicate or share their trading methods due to language barriers, meant that the use of Japanese candlestick formations could not become widespread until recent times.

As the candlesticks form, they begin to tell a story of the activity in the market, as well as reflect the mood of the market during that time. Candlesticks become the sign language of the market, communicating via certain forma- tions the future potential moves of the market, which is how profits are made—by projecting correctly where the market will go, not where it has been.

Successful traders take the time to study and understand this visual lan- guage. Candlestick formations indicate clear buy and sell signals, commu- nicating to the trader when it is time to enter the market or to get out. How well you understand candlestick formations can give you a significant advantage in the market. They will appear in the form of a single candlestick or a combination of more than one candlestick.

There are hundreds of formations, yet only a handful of formations carry substantial weight when looking for a good entry point. A good entry point is described as a location where the market goes your way from the beginning. Let us see what a Japanese candlestick looks like and how it forms see Figure Candlesticks, which are composed of full bodies and wicks, measure price fluctuations within a certain period of time.

As prices move up or down from the opening, the body begins to form. If, from the opening price, prices move up and then close higher than the opening, it is a bullish candle. If prices begin to fall from the opening price and close lower than the opening, it is a bearish candle. For example, you can set your charts to provide you with 5-minute candlesticks, , , or minute candlesticks, even hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly.

Candlesticks monitor price movement against time, providing traders with four key pieces of information for that specific time period: the opening price, the closing price, the highest price reached, and the lowest price reached. Trading is a financial game involving two opponents: the bulls and bears. We all know that there are not actual bulls and bears trading in the market, but investors and traders who have invested either in a bullish direction or a bearish direction. Both sides have clear objectives and want the market to move in their direction: bulls want the market to go up, or rally, to make higher highs, whereas the bears want to take the market down, or have it dip to make lower lows.

The numbers to the far right indicate the price and the numbers at the bottom of the chart indicate the time period. The very last candle to the right is the current candle, indicating the current price.

All the previous candles, to the left of the current candle, have recorded the historic price movement during that time. As you see in Figure , all the icons to the left, top, and right of the actual chart are your trading tools. HOW TO FIND A HIGH Highs are defined as a level where the market ceases to rally and U-turns in the opposite direction. A high can be considered a new level of resistance, or a higher price level achieved by the bulls that is interrupted and reversed by the bears.

However, not all highs are major levels of resistance. Only highs that are higher than the current market can be considered a level of resistance see Figure The levels of resistance noted in the above chart as R1, R2, R3, R4, and R5 become future price targets for the bulls to chase and move higher.

Once they regain control of the market, they will aim to make higher highs and higher lows. The bears are maintaining control in the above chart, as the market is making lower lows and lower highs. HOW TO FIND A LOW A low is defined as the level where the market ceases to drop. A low can be considered as a new level of support, or a lower price level that was achieved by the bears and then interrupted and reversed by the bulls; however, only lows that are lower than the current market level can be considered a level of support see Figure Once they gain control of the market again, they will aim to make lower lows and lower highs.

The bulls control the above market example. Although candlesticks may look alike, the 20 formations listed in Figure will provide you with a solid understanding of candlestick formations and their meanings.

This is a bullish line if it occurs after a significant BULLISH PATTERN downtrend. If the line occurs after a significant uptrend, it is called a hanging man.

A hammer is identified by a small body a small range between the open and closing prices and a long lower shadow the low is significantly lower than the open, high, and closes.

The body can be empty or filled in. PIERCING LINE. This is a bullish pattern and the opposite of a BULLISH PATTERN dark cloud cover. The first line, on the left, is a bearish line, and the second line is a bullish line. The second line opens lower than the first line's low but closes more than halfway above the first line's real body. BULLISH PATTERN BULLISH PATTERN BULLISH ENGULFING LINES. This pattern is strongly bullish if it occurs after a significant downtrend it acts as a reversal pattern.

It occurs when a small bearish line is engulfed by a large bullish line. MORNING STAR. This is a bullish pattern signifying a potential bottom. The star, at the bottom between the two lines, indicates a possible reversal; the bullish line confirms this.

The star can be empty or filled in. BULLISH DOJI STAR. A star indicates a reversal and a Doji BULLISH PATTERN indicates indecision. Thus, this pattern usually indicates a reversal after an indecisive period. You should wait for a confirmation, as in the morning star in the previous pattern, before trading a Doji star. The first line can be empty or filled in. HANGING MAN. These lines are bearish if they occur after a BEARISH PATTERN significant uptrend, and if the pattern occurs after a significant downtrend, it is called a hammer.

They are identified by small real bodies a small range between open and closing prices and a long lower shadow, that is, the low was significantly lower than the open, high, and close. The bodies can be empty or filled in. This is a bearish pattern that is more significant if the second line's body is below the center of the previous line's body as illustrated. BEARISH ENGULFING LINES. This line is strong and bearish if it occurs after a significant uptrend—it acts as a reversal pattern.

It occurs when a small bullish line is engulfed by a large bearish line. EVENING STAR. This is a bearish pattern signifying a potential top. The star indicates a possible reversal, and the bearish line confirms it. The star can be empty or filled in or it can be a Doji star. DOJI STAR. A star indicates a reversal and a Doji indicates indecision. You should wait for a confirmation, such as an evening star illustration, before trading a Doji star.

BEARISH PATTERN BEARISH PATTERN BEARISH PATTERN SHOOTING STAR. This pattern suggests a minor reversal when it appears after a rally. The star's body must appear near the low price, and the line should have a long upper shadow.

LONG-LEGGED DOJI. This line often signifies a turning point. It occurs when the open and close are the same, and the range between the high and the low is relatively large. DRAGONFLY DOJI. This line also signifies a turning point. This pattern occurs when the open and the close are the same and the low is significantly lower than the open, high, and closing prices. This line signifies another turning point. It occurs when the open, close, and low are the same, and the high is significantly higher than the open, low, and closing prices.

Stars indicate reversals. A star is a line with a small real body that occurs after a line with a much larger real body, where the real bodies do not overlap, although the shadows may. SPINNING TOPS. These are neutral lines. They occur when the distance between the high and the low, and the distance between the open and the close, are relatively small.

This line implies indecision because the security opened and closed at the same price. These lines can appear in several different patterns. DOUBLE DOJI. This implies a forceful move will follow a breakout from the current indecision. This pattern indicates a decrease NEUTRAL PATTERN in momentum. It occurs when a line with a small body falls within the area of a larger body.

In this example, a bullish line with a long body is followed by a weak bearish line and implies a decrease in the bullish momentum. When it moves, the candlesticks provide a visual sign that monitors the strength or weakness of the market in a certain direction.

However, there are two basic types of candlesticks: 1. Decision candlesticks 2. Indecision candlesticks Decision candlesticks are full-bodied bullish or bearish candles with rela- tively small wicks on either side.

They communicate to the trader that either the bulls or the bears are in control. The indecision candlestick formation is exactly the opposite, with small bodies and, in some cases, no bodies at all—just a line where the open and the close were at the same price with large wicks on either side or on both sides see Figure As the market moves, it creates visual waves, and the candlesticks form different patterns.

Movements are caused by investors entering and exiting the market. When there are more buyers than sellers, the market begins to rally; when there are more sellers than buyers, the market begins to dip, or decline; and when there are equal numbers of buyers and sellers, the market goes sideways.

These patterns communicate the strength or weakness of the continued move. As the market moves, it waves, and the can- dlesticks form bullish and bearish reversal patterns. These patterns are the sign language of the market and the buy and sell signals for the traders.

The patterns communicate when it is time to get in and when it is time to get out. These patterns can become invaluable whenever they appear at the end of a downtrend in a smaller time frame, which many times is nothing more than the end of a retracement in a larger time frame.

It is imperative to note that as the market moves sideways in a to pip trading range, the market may form all kinds of bullish and bearish candle- stick patterns, which should be ignored. It is imperative not to trade these candlestick formations in small consolidated or sideways movement.

The charts being used in this book have black and white candles— the black candles are bearish and the white are bullish. THE MORNING STAR BUY SIGNAL Figure A clearly shows the formation of the morning star. What is important to note is that in the formation of morning stars, they start out with a bearish decision candle, followed by one, two, three, or even four indecision candles before the decision bullish candle appears.

In Figure B, a morning star appears at the bottom of the chart, signifying the end of the recent dip. A morning star forms when you have a large bear- ish decision candle followed by one or more indecision candles, which are followed by a bullish decision candle that closes beyond the 60 percent mark, or beyond the top half of the beginning bearish decision candle. It indicates the market is U-turning. Investor Psychology Behind the Morning Star The bears are losing control and investors are no longer selling when you spot a morning star.

More buyers have come into the market, which creates an equal number of buyers and sellers. In the end, more buyers step in and take control of the market. Bears are placed in hibernation, and bulls come out of their corrals in herds. The final bullish candle of the formation sends ripples of greed throughout the trading community and a major rally takes place, especially when accompanied by significant trading volume. THE BULLISH ENGULFING PATTERN BUY SIGNAL A bullish engulfing candlestick formation often signifies the end of a down move, or a reversal.

It can also be the turning point or the end of the retrace- ment in an uptrend see Figure A. An ideal bullish engulfing candle is formed when the candle opens lower than the close of the previous bearish decision candle, engulfing the previous two or three bearish candles. This is a strong sign of a U-turn. The bulls are clearly taking control, as seen in Figure B.

Traders with short positions make a quick dash to cover their exposure, and their rush to exit their positions adds power to the creation of the pattern. The volume on the uptake component shows that the majority of traders have changed camp from bearish to bullish within the duration of one period.

TWEEZER BOTTOM BULLISH FORMATION BUY SIGNAL Tweezer bottoms form when bears lose control. Buyers step in and create an environment of equal buyers and equal sellers, which forms two or more indecision candles. Figure A shows the formations.

When the market has been falling and a clear decision has been made by the bulls to take over, tweezer bottoms are formed. The market contin- ues to move down, and bearish candles are formed. All of a sudden, an indecision candle appears, which means more bulls have started buying. We now have equal buyers and sellers. When bears attempt to take prices lower and bulls step in and buy more than bears, a long wick on the south side of a small-bodied candle forms.

A second attempt is made by the bears to take prices lower, with the same results, leaving another inde- cision candle with a long wick on the south side of the small body of the indecision candle, next to the last one. The lows of the two candles, as dis- played by the wicks, are usually at the same price or within a couple of pips difference, which now creates a new level of support. Anyone wanting to make a profit in this next rally needs to start buying right now!

Because higher prices are likely to follow the formation of tweezer bottoms, as you see in Figure B. Invester Psychology Behind the Tweezer Bottoms The bears have created lower prices, which have been tested, and new buy- ers have entered the market.

As traders note more bullish participation, a rally is implied. The bears were unable to acquire the interest of more sell- ers and were not strong enough to hold prices down. Several attempts for lower prices failed, as evidenced by the long wicks on the south side of the small-bodied candles. The tweezer bottoms are a sign of selling exhaustion. It is important to note that the tweezer bottoms do not need to be side- by-side; they can be several candles apart, as long as the lows of the wicks are close to each other, with only a difference of a few pips.

Such a forma- tion will create a level of support. These patterns can become invaluable whenever they appear at the end of an uptrend in a smaller time frame, which many times is nothing more than the end of a retracement in a larger time frame. It is imperative that you remember not to trade these candlesticks formations in small consolidated or sideways movement. THE EVENING STAR SELL SIGNAL Figure A shows what an evening star looks like.

What is important to note is that it starts out with a bullish decision candle, followed by perhaps one, two, three, even four indecision candles before the decision bearish candle appears. In Figure B, an evening star appears at the top of the chart, signify- ing the end of the recent rally. An evening star forms when you have a large bullish decision candle, followed by one or more indecision candles, which are followed by a bearish decision candle that closes beyond the 60 percent mark, or beyond the bottom half of the beginning bullish decision candle.

It signifies the market is U-turning. If the last bearish candle closes above the halfway point of the first bullish candle of the formation, it is a sign of continued bullish sentiment. Investor Psychology Behind the Evening Star In Figure B, the bulls start out rallying like a rocket going to the moon, driving prices higher. Initially, it seems nothing can stop them. These initial candles reinforce the bullish sentiment. All of a sudden, a spinning top appears—a sign of indecision—in the form of a small indecision candle.

It is quickly followed by a bearish decision candle and the session quickly U-turns. The bulls lose control and investors are no longer buying. More sellers come into the market, which creates the dip in prices. Bulls run for cover and begin liquidating their bullish positions, which adds to the bearish momentum. In the end, more sellers step in and take control of the market. Bulls are corralled and bears come out of hibernation.

The final bearish candle of the formation sends ripples of fear throughout the trading community and a major sell-off takes place, especially when accompanied by significant trading volume. THE BEARISH ENGULFING PATTERN SELL SIGNAL A bearish engulfing candlestick often signifies the end of an up move, or a reversal. It can also be the turning point or end of the retracement in a downtrend, as seen in Figure B. The opening price of the bearish engulfing candle must be higher than the close of the previous bullish candle and the closing price of the bearish engulfing candle must be lower than the open of the previous bullish candle.

The prototypical bearish engulf- ing candle occurs when the open of the bearish engulfing candle opens higher than the close of the previous bullish decision candles and engulfs several previous bullish candles. This is a strong sign of a U-turn when the bears are taking control.

Investor Psychology Behind the Bearish Engulfing Pattern On an emotional level, a devastating blow has been swiftly delivered to the bulls when an engulfing bearish candle appears. Those feeling optimistic and buoyant about the upward market direction have been proverbially kicked in the teeth.

Traders with long positions make a quick dash to cover their exposure, and their rush to exit their positions adds power to the creation of the bearish engulfing pattern. Within the duration of one period, the majority of traders have changed camp from a bullish perspective to a bearish orientation. TWEEZER TOP FORMATION SELL SIGNAL Tweezer tops form when bulls lose control. Sellers step in and balance out the numbers of buyers, which forms two or more indecision candles see Figure A. In Figure B, the market has been rallying, but a clear decision has been made by the bears to take over, observed via the formation of tweezer tops.

As the market was moving up, bullish candles were forming. Then all of a sudden, an indecision candle appears, which means more bears have stepped in selling. There are now equal buyers and sellers. A tweezer top formation starts out with a bullish decision candle, followed by perhaps one, two, three, or even four indecision candles, as seen in Figure A. A tweezer top appears when the bulls attempt to take prices higher and bears step in and sell more than the bulls, creating a long wick on the north side of a small-bodied candle.

A second attempt is made by the bulls to take prices higher, with the same results, leaving another indecision candle with a long wick, on the north side of the small body of the indecision candle next to the last one.

The highs of the two candles, as displayed by the wicks, are usually at the same price or within a couple of pips difference, which now creates a new level of resistance. Anyone wanting to make a profit in this next dip needs to start selling right now! Because lower prices are likely to follow the formation of this pattern, as shown in Figure B. Indecision candles have formed next to each other and, in this case, three in a row, as seen in Figure B. With such resistance, the market collapses. With increased bearish participation, bears enter the market charging, and the result will be a dip.

Shortly after the dip, the bulls try one last time to see if they can attract any more buying interest. It is important to note that the failed attempt of the bulls to create higher prices formed the tweezer tops, although they do not need to be side by side.

Your common sense is an excellent guide as well. For example, your common sense should tell you that in a downtrend, only trade bearish candlestick formations, not bullish.

Because you are trading in the direction of the trend where the market strength is. You have a greater probability of the market moving in your direction after entry versus fighting against the trend. Obviously, you would do the oppo- site in an uptrend. When you trade in the direction of the trend, you will always have the market movement on your side, pushing the market in the direction of the current trend.

In trading any candlestick formation, you must wait until the last candle closes before you enter the market because the market may not necessarily react immediately after the candlestick formation has formed. Keep in mind that as long as you have your stop-loss orders in place, you are protected. The market will move on its own timetable—not yours. You have no control of the future movement of the market.

No one knows where the next pip will go. As long as the candles are above the outer moving uptrend line, you should enter buying bullish candlestick formations and exit selling bearish candlestick formations; the opposite applies in a downtrend. When the candles are below the outer moving trend line, enter selling bearish candle- stick formations and exit buying bullish candlestick formations, as shown in Figure Trading is a game of probabilities and to put the probability of success in your favor, it is always helpful to compile more than one piece of evi- dence that the market will potentially U-turn and move in your direction at the price level you enter.

In other words, success is increased if you have more than one educated reason to enter the market. When you have more than one good reason to enter a trade, that is what is called creating a con- vergence. This is, in essence, nothing more than building a case as to why the market is going to turn at that location.

Why is it that all of a sudden, at one number, the market creates a candlestick formation and changes direction or U-turns? It is almost as if there was a conspiracy taking place among a group of traders.

We all know that is impossible, because there is no Forex building or pit filled with Forex traders who could manipulate prices. My sense is that nature must stay in balance, and nature takes whatever course it must to remain in bal- ance. As human beings, we are part of nature and because we are the ones trading in the market, it is our buying and selling that make the movement in this market.

The market is part of nature and will take whatever course it must to remain in balance, as you will see in Chapter 9. Nature can provide signs on our path to success of which I know most people never think about it.

However, those individuals who try to understand it and tap into the potential it holds are the people who will benefit most and live fulfilling and wonderful lives. I thought about all the trading opportunities I had missed over the years, due to the fact that I was not educated or ready to read the signs of success the market provided, like the evening stars and morning stars.

If learning to become a successful trader is something you really want to achieve, you will need to prepare yourself to read the signs of the market. It is there you will find success. It is a game played on a daily basis by two teams, or two types of investors on opposite sides of a trade. The bulls want the market to go up. The bears want the market to go down. The two sides are in constant, unrelenting bat- tle, fighting for control of the trading territory.

Some make millions while others keep hoping the market will turn in their favor as they continue to root for their team—the bulls or the bears.

It sounds crazy when you hear that a trillion-dollar financial market works this way, but it does. Like any game in our lives, there are objectives, rules, and penalties. Each side is trying to get ahead by scoring points, following the rules of the game.

You must obey the rules if you are planning to succeed in trading. If you break them, you are more than penalized— you fail. It is a fascinating book that relates how, at one point, the president of the bank had not placed the proper controls over what his Forex traders were doing and describes the calamity that resulted. Because of the lack of rules or oversight, a rogue group of Forex traders began to take huge financial positions in various currencies.

In time, they started adding to their losing positions in hopes that they could cost average down which is the term used in a trading strategy where additional positions are taken in the same direction at lower prices from the original entry, in an attempt to average out your buying price.

Like any group of kids that find themselves in major trouble, the traders agreed to hide their misdeeds. However, as is usually the case with wrong- doing, one eventually will become so guilt ridden that the individual has to spill the beans, and this situation is no different.

At the beginning of the investigation, it was determined that no real crime was committed by the traders—they were just irresponsible. The shareholders of the bank immediately demanded that the bank president be fired because of his lack of control over the bank.

As the investigation continued, many believed the only real crime committed was that of ASIC, which demanded the bank liquidate its positions. This was clearly unfortunate for the bank, because soon after all positions were liqui- dated and losses realized, all the currencies took off in the opposite direc- tion. If the four rogue traders had maintained their silence and just held onto those positions for one more month, they would have recovered from all their unrealized losses and probably would have made millions for the bank.

This would have turned the bank president into a hero instead of a fired zero! The reality of the market and the amazing part of this story is that rule breakers are just as necessary as rule makers, and in the end the disciplined trader who abides by the rules makes a profit. Pension plans? Brokerage firms? Investment firms? Financial institutions? Individuals trade in the financials markets—human beings with human thoughts, human feelings, human emotions, and human fears.

Humans who represent the organizations listed above make multimillion-dollar financial decisions. THE GAME Here is how it works. Bulls and bears fight aggressively to make the mar- ket go their way. For the Forex market to trade, there must be someone buy- ing and someone selling simultaneously. In other words, one trader must be a bull going long and one must be a bear going short.

Both traders are adamant about their positions, despite the fact that they rely on extremely accurate information, often from the same sources. What is amazing is they are adamant about the market going in opposite directions. In the market, the bulls and bears have different characteristics, yet they want the same thing—they both want to make a profit!

Get Started by choosing your current skill level below. Opportunity to make money from every corner of the world by easily accessing markets through your computer or smartphone. Ability to trade in both directions so you can still have opportunities to trade even in a market downturn. You control your own working hours. The market is open 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. Manage and control your own risk, estimate exactly what you are willing to risk and create your own goals and plans to achieve these goals.

Due to our currency trading course being highly popular, there are a limited number of spots available at any given time, so make sure you book your seat today.

Low cost to enter the market. Apply leverage and multiply your earnings. Leverage can earn you a lot of money with less effort and increase your capital efficiency. Reach a level where it is acceptable to leave your full-time job and trade professionally.

Avoid the mistakes other beginners make. Our free online forex trading course covers everything you need to know on how to get started in this highly-exciting investment field. All of our educators have extensive years of experience and knowledge of forex trading.

For the purpose of the course, we have also studied numerous successful traders to ensure you are getting access to only the highest standard of education. By the end of this course, you will understand how to trade forex, understand the complex terminology and ideas behind forex, be able to perform advanced analysis of the market, and implement practical trading strategies.

Enter the forex market several steps ahead of everyone else. Forex is short for foreign exchange sometimes abbreviated to FX. It is the rate of exchange between two different currencies. These rates are constantly on the move and present numerous opportunities for speculation. Forex trading is the market where people trade forex in an attempt to make a profit. Usually, via a broker, traders buy and sell different currencies, in the hopes of making money on the price difference.

Not at all, no prior experience is necessary to take part in this free forex trading course. In fact, the vast majority of people enrolling on this free forex trading course are complete beginners. This free forex trading course is exactly that, FREE. Trading Education is working with some of the worlds leading brokers in order to be able to offer this forex trading course to you absolutely free.

This free forex trading course is designed to be completely accessible to anyone and everyone. Not only do we have an open door policy in our London office so you can come in and visit us but we will also provide the free forex trading course via interactive video and PDF so that you can access the course from absolutely anywhere and revisit the course material whenever you require a reminder on any of the information covered.

Absolutely yes, you can certainly visit our office. Anyone who is enrolled in this free forex trading course will be invited to our London office and we very much look forward to meeting you. On completion of this free forex trading course, you will receive a personalised certificate to keep as a record of your achievement. You should never stop learning and never stop trying to improve.

While we cannot guarantee you will be successful after completing our course, we can say that you will be in a much better position to start trading. Learn to Trade with this Free Forex Trading Course. Whether you're a beginner or have some experience, our free forex trading course will teach you everything about online forex trading.

WHAT ARE THE POSSIBLE BENEFITS OF LEARNING HOW TO TRADE FOREX. Start Course Now. what can i expect from this course? WHAT WILL I LEARN IN THIS FREE FOREX TRADING COURSE? We have separated our free forex course into several chapters to avoid information overload and make the learning process a little bit smoother.

The free forex trading course is broken down into the following chapters and topics: Chapter 1 Foundation in FOREX Trading. What this course will provide you Why Trade Forex What is Forex How Forex works The Key Economic players Economic Calendar Setting up Forex Trading account Setting up Forex Charts Styles of trading Forex Scalping Day Trading Swing Trading Position Trading Forex Case study Glossary of Forex Terms. Chapter 2 Mechanics of FOREX Trading. Trading Times Leverage Margin Margin call Prices and Pips Spread Fixed or floating Long and short Rollover Trade Size Lot Stop loss and take profit Understanding charts - Support and Resistance Trends and channels Volatility Price gaps Risk Management Risk return ratio How much to deposit Psychology Trade plan Trade example.

Chapter 3 Advanced Analysis FOREX Trading. Forms of analysis Fundamental analysis Employment Consumer spending Consumer confidence Consumer price index Housing Trade Purchase managers index PMI Interest rates Gross domestic product GDP Central bank and monetary policy Consensus Noteworthy country specific indicators Price action Support and resistance zones Trendlines Channels Candlestick and chart pattern Technical indicators.

Chapter 4 Strategy Trading for FOREX Trading. Market Orders Naked strategy Fundamental analysis Market sentiment Carry trade Correlated assets Hedging News trading Technical strategies Dynamic Support and Resistance Breakout trading Cross Over Divergence Specialised strategies Fibonacci Elliott Wave Theory Bill Williams. Certificate of Completion. Enrol me on this Free Forex Education course. Frequently asked Questions What is forex? What is forex trading and how does it work?

Do I need any experience to attend this free forex course? How much does it cost? Where will this course take place? Can I visit your office? What will happen once I have completed this free forex trading course? Will I be ready to start trading currency after the course? Ready to start? Secure your spot on this Free Forex Trading Course now. Sign Up! Interested in more Forex Trading Education options? Sign Up Now. Find out more. So do you think you are ready?

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You are not only great business partners, but have become some of my best friends. When the current prices move lower than the low of the previous 20 bars - that's a sell signal. Here is how to do it: 1. Rather than being a transaction cost, the margin can be compared to a security deposit. In the opposite scenario when the long-term moving average is higher than the short-term moving average, this of course points towards a sell signal due to a downward trend. Technology frontiers and investing - Technology enables the retail investor the ability to make better investment decisions through ready access to economic and political news events, to technical charting software and electronic trading platforms. While trading, your main concern should be limiting risk and protecting your capital.

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