Create Your Own FOREX Trading System In 5 Easy Steps

Create Your Own FOREX Trading System In 5 Easy Steps

by Yusoff Allian

A quick search on your favorite internet search engine for the phrase "FOREX trading system" will yield thousands of results, all of which will try to convince you that theirs is the only sure-fire profit making system available. The truth of the matter is that yes, some or most can make you money, but you don't need to pay someone else to teach you something that's really pretty simple to create for yourself. At its core your FOREX trading system needs to be able to spot trends early and also be able to avoid sharp rises or falls due to a particularly volatile market. At first glance this may seem like a difficult thing to accomplish and to be honest no FOREX trading system will perform both functions flawlessly 100% of the time. However, what we can do is design a trading system that works for the vast majority of the time - this is what we'll focus on when designing our own FOREX trading system. So, what elements do we need to consider for our custom system? The most important criteria are as follows:

1. What kind of trader are you? Do you like to follow long trends, or are you glued to your charts for 8 hours straight per day? If you're new to FOREX trading it's suggested that you stick to long term trading as it's far easier to spot trends and cut your losses when compared to day trading.

2. Find an indicator you're comfortable with. Knowing when to buy is key to generating big profits, so it's important to understand some of the key indicators and how they can identify trends. Moving averages are probably the easiest indicators to work with and can be very useful in recognizing emerging trends. A common tactic is to use two moving averages, one slow and one fast, and wait for the fast average to pass above or below the slow average. This is commonly known as the moving average crossover technique. As with everything else in our FOREX trading system it's simple, easy to understand, and effective.

3. Risk Management. Successful FOREX traders understand that you *will* lose money at some point or another, no matter how effective your FOREX trading system is. You will always want to use a stop-loss on all your trades, but the amount risked will vary from person to person based on their experience and available capital. Knowing where to set your stop loss can be tricky - you want to limit how much you could possibly lose so you'd be tempted to set a very small range, but at the same time you want to allow for short term rises and falls so that you don't exit your position too early.

4. Know when to get out. Knowing when to exit a trade can be just as tricky as knowing when to enter, but for your custom FOREX trading system you want to pick one way that you're comfortable with and just stick with it. One simple technique is called the 'trailing stop' technique, and all this entails is updating your stop loss as your position increases in value. Another popular method used in many FOREX trading systems is to set a target and get out when that target is reached. This can be based on support or resistance, or simply based on a certain number of pips. Find a method you're comfortable with and stick with it.

5. Test your FOREX trading system. So you now have a trading system that tells you when to enter and exit a trade, so see how it performs using real data. Find historical data for a currency you've thought about trading, and analyze the charts. Apply your FOREX trading system to the data you see in the charts and write down the results. Was the system effective? Would you have turned a profit or a loss? Try your trading system on several different charts and record the results. If you've got a winning system then it's time to move onto live data via a demo account. Practice makes perfect and you don't want to risk real money until you're confident your FOREX trading system can provide you with decent profits over time.

FOREX Money Management - The Key To Long Term Profits

FOREX Money Management - The Key To Long Term Profits

by Yusoff Allian

Although it can be tempting to whip out your credit card and take advantage of a strong upward trend in your favorite currency, failure to manage your money properly will leave you broke faster than you can say "sell, sell, SELL!!"

FOREX trading, just like any other form of investment, is not a guaranteed money maker 100% of the time. Professional investors know this, and they know that some of their trades *will* lose money. The reason they're still successful is that they plan for these losses accordingly so that in the long term they remain profitable.

Consider this example: a new trader finds a FOREX trading system that proves 75% successful, definitely a system to hold on to. What this means is that out of every 100 trades, 75 will generate a profit. The problem lies in not knowing which of the trades will be successful and which will cause a loss. What if the first 25 trades executed with this system generate losses, while the next 75 generate profit? If the trader has not practiced money management wisely he may have lost his entire investment capital on those first 25 trades.

The more aggressive FOREX trader will no doubt claim that the only way to big profits in a short period of time is to risk more of your capital, but in essence all he is doing is gambling. Indeed, an aggressive FOREX trader may get lucky and hit ten profitable trades in a row generating a very nice profit, but what happens if the next 19 trades all generate losses? If he's still wagering large sums of money on each trade he'll soon be back to where he started from, or more likely in an even worse predicament.

A disciplined FOREX trader will only risk a smaller percentage of his or her investment capital on each trade. Sure, the profits will be smaller in the short term compared to a more aggressive trader, but when the downturn hits (and it most definitely will), the FOREX trader practicing wise money management will be able to weather the storm far better than the aggressive trader.

It may not be the most exciting of strategies, but you're not in the FOREX trading business for thrills, you're in it to generate consistent profits. Using anything other than wise money management when investing in the FOREX market is simply gambling, and if you want to gamble then you're better off at the casino. Even professional poker players, widely labeled as gamblers by spectators, employ money management systems. They realize that they can't possibly win every single tournament they enter, so instead of risking their entire bankroll on one game they risk only a percentage at each one. This allows them to recover far more quickly when their losing streaks hit. Those that don't practice money management quickly find themselves playing Crazy Eights instead.

In conclusion, don't let the promise of quick riches cloud your judgment. FOREX trading is not a get-rich-quick scheme; it's an investment vehicle that can provide healthy profits for those who manage their money wisely. Remember, slow and steady wins the race.

Forex Scalping - A Guaranteed Way to Wipeout Your Equity Quickly

Forex Scalping - A Guaranteed Way to Wipeout Your Equity Quickly

by kelly Price

Forex scalping and day trading are more popular than ever but it's simply the best way to wipe out your equity quickly. Here we will give you the facts about forex scalping and why it is based on unsound logic which will see you lose.

First let me ask you a question:

There are millions of traders all around the world from banks to private traders, trading trillions of dollars all with different methods, motivations and diverse opinions.

How is it possible to tell what this huge diverse mass will do in a few hours?

Know the answer?

Well if you do you can make money at forex scalping - but it's obvious that you can't predict what this vast mass will do in a few hours but forex scalpers try. Here are some of the answers you get form vendors selling systems .

1. Support & Resistance is Valid In a Day and can be Traded

Fact: Its not - volatility is totally random, prices can and do go anywhere and support and resistance levels in daily time frames are not tradable.

2. Markets Move Scientifically

Fact: This is absolute rubbish! If there were a scientific theory that worked, everyone would know the market price in advance and their would be no market! Markets move because they are not certain and while human nature is constant it certainly is not logical and predictable with scientific accuracy.

Anyway, if anyone had found a theory that worked all the time they would be to busy making money to bother anyone else.

You will see lots of forex scalping courses on the net, all promising 50 ticks a day, regular incomes and the ability to predict prices in advance - It's a wonder anyone has to go to work! Buy one of these for $100 odd bucks, sit back and earn money for doing nothing - if only it were that easy.

If ever you see a day trading or forex scalping track record it's a simulation - simply look for this disclaimer or a similar one:

"CFTC RULE 4.41 - Hypothetical or simulated performance results have certain limitations. Unlike an actual performance record, simulated results do not represent actual trading. Also, since the trades have not been executed, the results may have under-or-over compensated for the impact, if any, of certain market factors, such as lack of liquidity. Simulated trading programs in general are also subject to the fact that they are designed with the benefit of hindsight. No representation is being made that any account will or is likely to achieve profit or losses similar to those shown".

So there you have it - a vendor can make up any track record he likes in hindsight and of course they do (they have the sense not to trade it themselves) and simply put the above disclaimer on it.

Naïve and greedy traders can't resist it like bees at a honey pot, later they get a sharp lesson in trading reality - a wipeout.

The way To Make Money in FOREX

Is to forget day trading and forex scalping and trade time frames where you can get the odds in your favor and that means forex swing trading or forex trend following. The former looks for trends of a few days to about a week and the latter for weeks or months. Which you choose is up to you but with both methods ,the data is long enough for you to calculate the odds and enjoy currency trading success which is more than can be said for forex scalping.