Will Euro Recover This Week?

Last week we saw the largest weekly fall in Euro against the US dollar since June 2006 - EUR/USD fell more than 400 pips on speculation a Eurozone slowdown will force the ECB to follow the Fed’s footsteps in reducing interest rates. ECB’s Trichet warned that economic uncertainties in the Eurozone are “unusually high”.

This week will bring about a heavy slate of economic data like the US retail sales, trade balance and so on, so expect a very volatile environment in the forex markets.

We could see a Euro rebound especially if US data come in weak. Also, the OPEC Secretary-General suggested the price of oil may be shifted into Euros from USD sometime in the future.

The G7 left its statement on exchange rates essentially unchanged, saying currency rates should reflect economic fundamentals and that excessive volatility is undesirable for economic growth.

Watch my forex video from New York below:

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This is possible if you have the skills to trade forex. And you can do all this without monitoring the market constantly. With forex, you can profit whether a currency is moving up, down or sideways. It doesn’t require a lot of money to get started, you can open a forex trading account with only a few hundred dollars.

Fed Lowers Rates

The Federal Reserve Bank recently lowered interest rates for the seventh, and perhaps final, time, bringing its benchmark federal funds rate to 2.0%. Since inflation is still hovering around the 4% mark, the Fed will probably be reluctant to lower rates further. Thus, the markets have been given all of the boost that they are likely to receive, and it is "fate" that will determine whether the economy will find its footing. (GDP growth clocked in at an anemic .6% for the last two quarters). The most recent data (including the just-released jobs data) indicate that the economy may be stabilizing, although consumption and the employment situation are still deteriorating. As a result, the National Bureau of Research has yet to officially declare the current economic downturn a "recession," since the picture remains nuanced. The New York Times reports

Where Have I Been?

It's been a while; a little over two weeks in fact since my last blog post. My last trade was 18 days ago and today was the first time I opened up a chart since then. Am I quitting? Has the forex market taken its' toll on me? No and no. I started a new job about two months ago and it has been so draining mentally and physically that I just haven't had anything left for forex. Trading forex has since fallen to the bottom of my priority list next to watering my cactus. The unfortunate thing is that I took this new job because I thought it would give me more time to concentrate on forex. I feel like my added responsibilities are started to loosen a bit though as I become more acclimated to my new full-time job. The fact that I'm finally posting something on my blog for the first time in two weeks may be evidence. The question will be whether I jump head first back into trading forex or ease my way back in. Either way, I'll probably wait until May 1st for psychological reasons. I'm up 2% for the month and I'd rather not threaten this by trading hastily before month end. Stay tuned. I'll be back soon. Hope everyone else is still chugging along making progress and money.

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Last Updated ( Monday, April 28, 2008 )

What Do You Think Is Holding You Back?

Investing and Trading

Sunday, April 13, 2008

"You have been at this forex thing for a while now and still are not achieving the results you had originally hoped you would achieve. What do you think is holding you back?" Simple question but nevertheless a good one that made me think. I have been forex trading for almost three years, not a sophomore and not a senior. Three years ago I had high hopes of trading full time within one years time. These hopes faded as the reality quickly sunk in. The results I was hoping to achieve back then were just totally unrealistic. I'm a firm believer that trading takes experience so there really is no way of rushing the learning process. The more you rush, the more chance you have of getting so discouraged that you want to run as fast as you can away from the market. After rethinking my initial goals, I limped around for quite a long time. I couldn't even put together a profitable month. During this time, I got extremely discouraged and couldn't even hope for achieving anything. I was probably two months away from quitting. Then about six months ago, I got my motivation back and wanted to give it one more shot. A lot of things seemed to come together quickly for me and I felt good about my trading. This was the point where I felt like I could start setting realistic goals and I did. Since then, I think I've made great progress toward reaching these goals. In fact, I think I've surpassed the expectations I had six months ago. So in response to the comment, I think I've achieved the results that I had hoped six months ago not three years ago. In response to the question, the only thing holding me back now is my renewed motivation to excel in my non-trading occupation. This was a bit unexpected but one must have a backup plan. I worked hard to get where I am and I don't want to throw it all away. Ultimately, I want to work for me and I think trading gives me the best shot at doing that.

What Is More Important In Forex Than Making Money?

I haven't been able to make any progress monetarily in about a month. I'm up about 4% this month but breaking my account balance all-time high has been a struggle. I'm pretty much stuck where I was around this time last month. I'm not all that concerned and shouldn't be considering I was preaching patience a couple of days ago. It's just that everytime I open my trading platform, the account balance is just staring me in the face.

It's more important that I progress as a risk-aversed trader. For newer traders, it's very important for you to understand that learning methods to control your risk should be a priority. Making gains monetarily is obviously important but making gains and strides elsewhere are more important. When I first started trading mostly with demo accounts, I had some unbelievably profitable trades but my strategies were random and my risk and leverage too high. A lot of this is just pure luck and not going to take you to the next level. Your account balance shouldn't be used as a guage for success. Some questions to ask yourself to guage your success may be:

Have you managed to minimize your risk and maximize your reward?

Have you maintained consistency?

Have you been able to control your emotions?

Have you developed a complete trading system that you've been able to follow without deviation?

If you haven't been profitable, have you at least been able to turn those gushing drawdowns into slow bleeders?

If you're new to trading forex or have been trading for a couple of years, the #1 goal is to stay in the game as long as you can. I've talked to many traders over the years and many of them have been in and outers. They'll jump in head first, blow up multiple accounts, and jump out never to be heard from again. There are other traders I've known who couldn't consistently turn a profit and instead turned into mentors or forex marketers. Heed caution... There are also others who couldn't stand the non-regulation of forex and went back to trading futures or stocks. There are a couple traders still around since I started but I can count them on one hand. It takes years to become a trader and I can't even say that for certain. I'm still not there but I'm still around and giving myself at least 5 years. If it doesn't work out for me or you after 5 years, just think of the countless people who have gone to college and have never entered into the field of their degree.

Be a Patient Forex Trader

Patience is a common trait among successful traders. Unfortunately, patience isn't inherent in many of us. My belief though is that patience can be separated into two worlds for traders. The first world consists of the patience you exhibit in your non-trading life. I'll be the first to admit that I absolutely hate to wait in lines. I don't discriminate against particular lines like waiting in line at the supermarket or waiting in line at the DMV to renew my driver's license. I hate all lines. The second world consists of the patience you display when trading. Here is where I show very good patience with intermittent lapses. What I'm trying to stress here is that just because you don't have patience in the first world doesn't mean you won't have it in the second. I don't believe they are conditional of one another. So don't assume that your won't be a patient trader if you have no patience outside of trading.

Most Popular Forex Websites

Forex On Top was updated this afternoon and there are a lot of big moves. Why visit? The most informative sites tend to bubble up to the top. With so many forex websites out there, it's tough to disseminate the good from the bad. Granted, there are a lot of broker sites in the top 50 but there are also a lot of non-broker sites mixed in that get just as much traffic. This is impressive considering they're competing without expensive advertising campaigns. Check out sites ranked 1-50, 51-100, 101-150, and more. You can also check out the forex websites that have increased their rank the most from last

Be a Patient Forex Trader

Patience is a common trait among successful traders. Unfortunately, patience isn't inherent in many of us. My belief though is that patience can be separated into two worlds for traders. The first world consists of the patience you exhibit in your non-trading life. I'll be the first to admit that I absolutely hate to wait in lines. I don't discriminate against particular lines like waiting in line at the supermarket or waiting in line at the DMV to renew my driver's license. I hate all lines. The second world consists of the patience you display when trading. Here is where I show very good patience with intermittent lapses. What I'm trying to stress here is that just because you don't have patience in the first world doesn't mean you won't have it in the second. I don't believe they are conditional of one another. So don't assume that your won't be a patient trader if you have no patience outside of trading.

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