Lets first define what Technical Analysis is. Technical Analysis is the study of historical and ongoing price data through charts, price patterns and chart indicators. Charts display price in time intervals using bars and candlesticks.

Technical Analysis is based on the following assumptions. The most important is that all available information is already impounded in the market prices of the currencies. The second assumption says that prices always move in trends or patterns. The third assumption says that history repeats itself meaning you can predict the future market by studying the past market prices.

Studies have shown that once a trend is in motion, it is most likely to continue rather than reverse it. The more one studies chart patterns in technical analysis, the clearer it becomes that reading and interpreting chart patterns and technical analysis are more an art form than a skill.

Two charts are important in technical analysis. Bar charts and Candlesticks charts. Bar charts display price data in vertical lines that represents price action during a given time period. The tip at the bottom of a bar chart is the low for the period. The tip at the top is the high for the period. The open and close are represented by small horizontal dashes called tics. The tic to the left of the vertical line is the open. The tic to the right of the line is the close.

Candlestick charts are similar to bar charts in many ways but different in other ways. Candlestick charts were developed by Japanese rice traders. They are used extensively in technical analysis. Like the bar charts, the top of the vertical line represent the high. The bottom of the vertical line represents the low. However, the price action between the open and the close is represented differently by the use of candlestick bodies. A shaded body represents a lower closing price below a higher opening price. A hollow body represents a higher closing price above a lower opening price.

The price action that takes place above and below the body is referred to as tails or wicks. As a forex day trader, you may use any one of the 3, 5, 10, 15, 30, 60 and 180 minutes charts for technical analysis. As a swing and position trader, you may use a daily, weekly or a monthly chart. These charts all use the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) or the Eastern Standard Time (EST) depending on the software that your broker platform uses. But you can always adjust these times according to your local time.

While doing technical analysis, you need to understand markets patterns? You need to understand what are Uptrends? You should also know what downtrends are and what are sideway trends? Forex markets expand and retrace constantly. Currency prices may continue to expand for sometimes either upward or downward. It is the nature of the currency markets to surge then pause and retrace.

Trends in markets make a series of peaks and troughs as they move. An uptrend consists of a series of ascending peaks and troughs, each peak higher than the last peak and each trough lower than the last trough. A downtrend consists of a series of descending peaks and troughs. A sidways trend consists of a series of horizontal peaks and troughs meaning all peaks and all troughs are almost on the same level.

Part of becoming a good investor in forex is learning to understand that the markets evolve and changes with time. As it does, your trading strategies should also evolve and adjust. You will need to make a little tweak here and a little tweak there sometimes in your trading strategies.

There will be periods of low returns or losses. But once you have made the changes and adjusted your trading strategies, you will start making profits again. Don’t get stuck with only one currency pair and one trading strategy. Start looking at macroeconomic events and how different currency pairs react to them.

Oil drives the global economy. High oil prices put recessionary pressures on the global economy. Lets discuss a currency trading strategy that depends on following oil prices in the global markets. There are many sources of oil. Some countries export oil. Most of the countries in the world import oil. So oil prices tend to affect almost all the currencies. Some currency pairs react more strongly. Others less so when oil prices change. When oil prices rise, they continue to rise for several months. Fortunately for you, oil prices trend for extended periods.

Likewise when oil prices decline, they tend to continue declining for several months. Last year in 2008, we saw a major upsurge in oil prices for several months then a sudden collapse, oil prices than stabilized around $55 for quite sometimes. Some of the currencies that react strongly to oil price changes are GBP and CAD. Lets focus on USD/CAD currency pair in our oil following strategy.

As United States imports more oil from Canada, the value of CAD should increase with increase in oil prices in relationship to USD. This means that the pair USD/CAD should start trending downward with the increase in oil prices. This is an example of a trend trade.

Watch for times when the oil prices are rising and the exchange rate USD/CAD is decreasing. Similarly, watch for times when oil prices are declining and the exchange rate USD/CAD is increasing.

Use CCI (Commodity Channel Index) to trigger your trade. Watch for the 14 period CCI to cross above 100 and then cross back below 100. This tells you that the buyers have made a temporary upward push on the currency pair USD/CAD but was not able to turn the trend around.

Enter the trade. Set a limit order of 300 pips and a stop loss order of 75 pips. Go short on USD and long on CAD. This setup gives you a risk to reward ratio of 1:4. This risk to reward is very good and it allows you to be wrong a few times but without ruining your chances of being profitable. 300 pips mean $3000 profit and 75 pips means $750 loss if the trade goes against what you anticipated. Usually such a trade will continue for a month.

You can also look to trade the USD/CAD pair in the opposite direction if the oil prices start to decline. However, prolonged downtrend in the oil prices is usually unlikely. This trading strategy just depends on knowing which way the oil prices are moving right now so that you can take advantage of it. Oil prices have again started to climb and reached above $68. You can take advantage of the rising oil prices by trading USD/CAD pair as described above.

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Day trading has made fortunes for many stock traders; this is one of the few types of trading where large profits can be made quickly by those with a limited amount of capital. However, there is always risk associated with investing and traders can lose large sums as well as reap sizeable profits, leading many to be wary of this market. A lot of day trading ebooks focus on futures these days.

Even though the futures market has a reputation as one of the riskier investment avenues, there are many experts who say that futures trading need be only as risky as you allow it to be. With carefully planned investment strategies, there is a lot to be gained while keeping risks to a minimum.

What Are Futures?

Futures are transferrable contracts which represent the purchase of a stock (or a commodity) at a particular price at a specified time. The contract obligates the contract holder to make this purchase and obligates the seller to deliver on the asset represented by the contract. Futures differ from options in that they are an obligation to buy and sell rather than contracts simply giving the buyer and seller the right to buy or sell the asset named in the contract.

Profiting from futures involves speculative trading based on fluctuations in the price of the asset on the open market. These fluctuations can represent gains or losses which may potentially be very large.

Emini contracts are very popular futures contracts to trade. Most ebooks and courses today are really some form of emini trading system.

How And Why Are Futures Traded?

Futures trading is particularly popular with day traders, since many futures contracts can be traded at a low initial investment and there are a wide range of markets which can be traded in this way. You can trade futures whether the market is expected to go up or down. If the trader expects the market (and thus the value of the futures contract) to go up, then they will perform a long trade, purchasing the contract and selling it once the value has increased. If the trader expects a decline in the market and the value of their futures contract with it, they will perform a short trade, selling one contract to enter and buying another to exit.

A trader that is good at what they do will manage to make a profit regardless. Many traders worry about what direction the market is moving in instead of what direction things are moving in because of this.

This can be very risky, or it can be very profitable. A knowledge of the stock market will go a long way in helping you to navigate the market, and anyone who knows the stock market well should have no trouble navigating the futures market.

It’s not hard to get started in futures trading, but it’s not something to be jumped into headfirst if you’re not an experienced trader already. Educate yourself about the market and read everything you can about this potentially very rewarding investment venue before you make a serious financial commitment in futures trading.

In the world of Forex nothing is so out of place. It appears that even robots have found their way into the technology. With new programs being developed every day should you be considering finding a robot counterpart? A program capable of sifting through loads of information each day? If it came down to it who would you’re taking recommendation from, a robot or a human?

Personally I am a large follower in the robots. You’d be surprised at how smart androids are. The reason for this I feel is kind of simple because robots don’t count feelings they count numbers. They put the chances in your favor without any doubt.

The currency exchange is just one huge game, it’s you one guy trying to get by a market of millions. It’s hard work and I have met few folk who can claim to have made their living threw forex.

This of course is changing, each day more and more folks are ditching the standard approach of reading books and taking courses and taking a new way out. They’re buying up to 10 screens and connecting them to programs. Programs which are designed to use market flaws and can notice them much quicker than their human opposite number.

The thing is that people just cannot sift through info fast enough, robots see numbers where we see words. They see values where we see meanings. It’s no surprise that folk can’t beat androids in chess. A robot makes no mistakes simply because he’s as good as his programmer.

This is the reason why I think the top-notch programs are actually quite the steal. It’s almost as if folk are selling personal ‘get rich’ schemes. Take your probabilities and purchase a program or do your research and buy something attempted and proven.

No matter how I look at it a robot just beats a human. Sure he would lose you some money but with the percentages in your favor do you really believe your robot won’t pay himself off? He’s a machine made for making you money, and I bet it should be the best investment you may ever make. foreign exchange robots can make it simple for you, they can make it as simple as comparing some numbers and seeing where you need to make money today. They will relay all of the info that has relevancy to you and do it with such precision and accuracy that you’ll be absolutely amazed.

Don’t involve emotions in business, let a robot do the thinking for you and let the money start pouring in. Quite frankly I believe you’d be nuts, positively nuts not to speculate in one of these. It’s what we call a marvel of modern technology or at least that is how history will remember them.

So there is no debate and there never will be. Robots are the future, robots are faster, smarter and better then we will ever be. Get a robot and start watching the money pile up.

A trading system is a methodology of trading. An investor who uses one system and follows a specific set of guidelines when making a decision, follows system trading, and will usually never deviate. A trading system is only one method of trading, and usual requires no thinking. It is possible to have one system that is governed by multiple system.

For example, to have 10 different systems, and select only one stock from each system every month according to the main system’s qualifications.

Someone that uses several Trading Systems is a multiple system trader. They have to either have an overall system that encompasses all of them, or make their own decision on which to follow. Doing so can be dangerous, as the purpose of system is to prevent human error. It is advised to be a system trader who trades one system at a time, or trade multiple systems within a larger core system, and avoid being a multiple systems trader.

Trading System – Trading can be awfully hectic without some kind of methodology. You can’t expect to take on the best traders in the world who have teams and resources at their disposal just by throwing around money at will hoping that it works. You need an actually defined system in order to be able to trade effectively.

Many successful systems are based on earnings and high potential for growth. Stockbee’s trading system often swings for the fences. As a result, it requires a solid degree of protection. Obviously you shouldn’t limit yourself to someone else’s system, you need to find one that is right for you.

There are two kinds of traders, technical traders, and fundamental traders, each has their own system. Of course there are some who use both.

Technical traders

Some system traders, are day traders. Others are swing traders. Still other people are more of a trend trader. Each will have it’s unique system. The system will be based on the technicals. Is it volume that triggers the buy? Is it price movement? A combination of both? Or perhaps it’s pattern trading.

Some people even have trading machines or robots that do the work for them. Others rely on pattern recognition done by a system. The method is to sign up for email alerts, or some form of alerts, then make a purchase based on the software’s recommendation. There are some people that screen down a stock based on strong fundamentals, and only trade those stocks, but trade them based on the technical chart patterns and volume.

They will sell based on a trend break, or rules on when to take gains such as 20% gain according to their system. They will set a stop loss based on their system as well. It might be 4%, or 8%, or it may be a trailing stop.

Fundamental traders

Fundamental traders might do things a little differently. They are looking for improving fundamentals, or stocks that pass through a certain screener. Zacks.com is a great resource if you want to rely on fundamentals. Earnings is always a big part of a system, and the Zacks’ ranking uses earnings revision to get in early when the earnings and company internals appear to be improving. Zacks’ has several screens, and their software allows you to screen stocks according to many different options.

Regardless of your trading system, one thing remains important in every single system. Money Management and loss protection.

It doesn’t matter what the upside is or win rate is, if you can’t protect yourself from major declines, you shouldn’t be trading. I don’t care if your system is 90% effective (no system is and if they say they are, they’re lying), and if the gain is 1,000%. If you put all your money on it repeatedly, eventually you will suffer a loss so catastrophic you will never be able to recover without borrowing money. By taking one loss, you hinder your ability to make money. That is more costly then the potential for greater gains that you would gain by taking additional risk.

Just to illustrate if your system causes you to take a 95% loss, you need a 2000% return just to make up for that loss. You cannot trade like this. No system is better then it’s weakest link. That weak link unfortunately for many people is the ability to manage money. Fortunately, it is a skill that can be learned, and doing so will make you a better trader. Better yet, if you do not wish to be a better trader, you can simply follow the rules of a system that contains a methodology on how to manage money and how much to invest before placing a trade.

I recommend that you either have a trailing stop or a hard stop. You can also buy a protective put if you are afraid of a stock bottoming out overnight and plummeting through the stop. Protective puts are like owning insurance. Unfortunately, you have to continue to buy the insurance as it eventually expires if you don’t use it. Don’t trade options without learning everything about them.

Some puts are not good for some strategies. Longer term trades and Investments will require long-term equity anticipation securities, or LEAPs, where as you may not need to risk as much capital for short term protective puts. A trailing stop should be usually 20%, where a hard stop should be more like 7%. Different systems will require different stops so take this with a grain of salt.

A good investor or trader actually will rarely need to ever be fully invested. There are people that trade on complete margin for a few times the entire year, and the rest of the year they’re on the sideline, but generally the best traders that have a career that lasts have lots of money on the side, even more so if they use options and are unhedged. If you are unhedged, that is only playing one side of the market, (all buys, or only playing one theme such as only playing inflation or only playing deflation), you need to have even more cash on the side.

The lower the win rate, the more money on the side you need, and the smaller your positions should be. Any good system won’t require you to analyze. Having to do a lot of the thinking can cause you to panic and make incorrect decisions. Most people aren’t cut out for that, and that’s why it is a smart thing for many to use a trading system.

If you trade within a system, you have a much better chance at placing winning trades. A trading system will have a solid record of success, evidence that it works and has been working, an understanding of the decline and proper money management planning. If you trade within a system, you can estimate your results, and by doing so attain measurable success consistently with a trading system.