4x Currency Trading: Forex Money Management Basics

By Phil Jarvie

Gambling with 4x trading, God complexes of chasing losses, emotional investing - all the hallmarks of forex losers. The fact is that 4x trading is neither easy or hard. It is simply different to what we find in other parts of life. Most novices and experienced players came from share trading. This has barely any resemblance to 4x trading at all. So, to bring clarity to this different market, rule number 1 of 4x trading is:

Rule 1 of Forex Money Management is Do Not Lose Money! Forget the holy grail of profits, just protect yourself from losing money.

It should make sense that with the largest market place in the World - where in one week more money changes hands than the entire USA economy does in a whole year - that there is no such thing as a 4x robot, any super computer or an Albert Einstein of 4x trading. That's OK, this simply means we don't get to ride every blip and pip of movement with profits. We will miss opportunities and that's just fine. I am allowed to sleep, I am allowed to be cautious. But I am NOT allowed to lose money!

2% of your 4x account is more than you should be risking on a trade if you have proper and effective forex money management.

Let me give you an example. Assume I have $10,000 in my account. 2% of $10,000 is $200. If I trade with full lots where 1 pip is worth $10, then I am allowed 20 pips for my stop loss. Sounds fair enough in principle, but I make most of my money in huge rebounds or retracements that happen after a break out on highly volatile days. Meaning, I often trade with 5 lot orders - so 2% of my money is now down to 4 pips for stop losses. If 20 pips is nothing, imagine only being able to to be wrong by less than 4 pips.

So far, I am sure you are thinking that only the rule of 2% maximum risk makes sense - that none of my plans for 5 lot trades seem reasonable at all. Well, lets look at a real trading day. Stop reading this now, and open up your metatrader charts or whatever platform you use and look at the H1 (hourly) EURUSD for 19th August, 2009. You will then see that the USD crashed after some bad and sad economic data came in. The Euro shot from 1.4111 to 1.4265 in 3 hours - 154 pips.

Not even a super computer could predict to buy at 1.4111. News traders would have got on board based on the USA problems sure. But actually, I was lucky enough to be already long a few hours earlier. But with only a 4 pips stop loss? Luck or stupid?

When I entered my buy limit trade at 1.4080 I did it as a pending order. Actually, when I placed that pending order, I was going shopping with my girlfriend and wasn't going to be back home for hours. SO, at the same time I placed a 5 lot sell stop order at the same price as my 5 lot pending buy order. IF the market dipped to pick up my buy order, it would also hit my sell stop. The market can then do what ever it likes after that. Each trade 100% cancels the other out. It's called hedging. I had hedged my position with opposite orders.

As it turned out, the market did dip down to 1.4069 and I was in for both buy and sell orders cancelling themselves out. When I got home the sell stop order was in profit, and my buy was at a loss. But the net effect to my account was only the 0.9 pips spread. I waited for an hour, the Euro rebounded, I closed my sell trade at break even and let the buy trade continue. Joy oh joy it then went seriously into the money a few hours later on the USA's bad news.

After an exciting few hours at the screen I watched that long position go crazy into profits, and so I switched it to a 20 pips trailing stop, which it did do at 1.4245. That was a tidy, ultra low risk, $8,250 profit on the day. 82.5% profit on a $10,000 trading account while I went shopping. The first rule about forex money management was never broken. I was never at risk of losing 2% of my account.

Hedging people. Learn it, get serious about the first rule of Forex Money Management. DON'T LOSE MONEY, and NEVER risk more than 2%. - 23229

About the Author:

Phil Jarvie is a professional forex trader expert in 4x trading, 4 software and using 4x hedging for forex money management and may wish to visit his website to consider his reviews on trade forex currency

Use These Tips When Filing Personal Taxes

By Doeren Mayhew

Your Home Is A Tax Saving Tool Deduct interest on up to a compounded total of $1 million of mortgage debt incurred to purchase, build or improve your top act and a second residence. And you can deduct points related to purchasing or rising your top residence. Also keep in mind these deductions and exclusions, including: concept set deduction, bag equity debt welfare deduction, rental income exclusion, and bag sale gain exclusion.

Save For, and With, Education Expenses Whether you're saving for your children's (or grandchildren's) education, paying higher education expenses for them or yourself, or even paying off student loan debt, you may be eligible for the following tax breaks: 529 Plans, ESAs, and Education Credits. Your tax advisor can help you select the most advantageous credit mix, depending on the amount of tuition paid and the number of students in your family. Student loan interest deduction. If you're paying off student loans, you may be able to deduct up to $2,500 of interest.

Give to Charity to Save More on Taxes Donations to qualified charities are generally fully tax deductible. For large donations, discuss with your tax advisor both the types of assets to give and the best ways to give them. Charity assets include appreciated assets and CRTs.

Time Spent On Gains and Losses While time, not timing, is mostly the key to long-terminvestment success, timing hit a hammy impact on the set consequences of your investment activities. The 15% long-term top gains rate is 20 percentage points modify than the highest regular income set rate of 35%--and it mostly applies to investments held for more than 12 months. Don't permit set reasons stop you back from selling at a loss. If you're ready to divest your portfolio of a poorly performing security but don't hit enough gains to absorb the expiration you'll realize, advert that top gains distributions from mutual funds crapper also be equilibrize with losses. If you end up with a net top loss, you crapper claim up to $3,000 of the expiration against ordinary income this year and carry nervy any excess to future years.

Save Tax-Deferred First Because of the set advantages, contributing to an employer-sponsored retirement plan, such as a 401(k), 403(b), 457, SIMPLE or SARSEP, is usually the best first step in retirement planning: Contributions are mostly pretax, so they reduce your taxable income. Plan assets crapper grow tax-deferred-- meaning that you pay no income set until you take distributions. Your employer haw correct some or all of your contributions--also on a pretax basis. At minimum, contribute the turn necessary to intend the maximum employer match.

April 15, 2010 is the last day you can make deductions for 2009. - 23229

About the Author:

Doeren Mayhew provides accounting, audit, tax, and business consulting services to middle-market, closely held companies and non-profit institutions. For more information, please visit the Doeren Mayhew website.

Is Forex Currency Trading Different to Currency Market Trading?

By Phil Jarvie

Currency Market Trading and Forex Currency Trading for all intents and purposes are the same thing. People don't trade US dollars for US dollars, except to make change at a bank for a retail shop. So the terms are referring to international currency being exchanged for a different country's money. Fact is, you can also call it 4x trading, 4x currency trading, fx currency trading, fx exchange - they all are referring to the same thing.

But many people do get confused by these different terms, and I guess that's because we all grew up with the Internet as being the biggest mega-trend in society in the last 10-15 years. With the Internet came the stock market's day traders dealing in shares, options and banks. All the brokerage houses had to adapt to the new World of online day trading because investors could now place their own trades - brokers were reduced to advice only.

Most people did not really notice the liberation of forex currency trading from the clutches of the banks and large corporations. The big boys had a monopoly on forex since the dawn of International trade, until the Internet also gave way to Forex currency trading by small and micro-sized currency market trading.

The irony is that Currency market trading, even though much less well known than the stock market, is massively bigger than the stock market. In fact, the World's forex currency trading turns over more money in 1 week than the entire USA economy does in one whole year.

And it is not just the size of the total currency market trading that takes place that is impressive; it is more that it is so huge that it is beyond the ability of any Government to control it fully. There is no central regulation of currency market trading. Sure the USA Government can make laws for brokers and traders in the USA, but when bad laws are passed people simply trade from an International broker - often just an overseas branch of their existing USA broker.

Forex currency trading is so huge that big business and the criminal element cannot manipulate it as they often and easily do with the stock market. There are no corporate raiders or takeovers in forex, no corporate lawyers leading stock market proxy fights. Currency market trading is simply the constant process of matching one currencies value against another currency in real time.

Let's assume a Middle Eastern Prince enters the market with 5 Billion Euros which he backs the Euro against the dollar. Yes, such a heavy-weight move may push up the value of the Euro by about 1 cent or a bit more over about 3 hours. But his timing had better be on the back of some bad news coming out of the USA, because the currency market trading volumes are so large that the 5 billion Euros could just as easily become 4 billion in that same 3 hours. Forex currency trading is so large that 5 billion Euro is nothing really considering the 2,500 billion euros traded each and every day, 5 days a week.

Given that big business and Governments are powerless to control or corrupt the forex currency trading market, what chance does the little guy or gal have? Every chance and the same chance as the large player does, simple as that. The only difference you will find is the points spread that bigger and smaller forex traders pay. I pay 0.9 pips anyway, so I am not concerned about that at all. My main concern is that currency market trading is a level playing field that cannot be rigged - and it cannot. So, that leaves the very smart 4x trading software like metatrader and forex robots we all have available, and the best of proven forex strategies we all have the ability to learn. We all have the power to work to a successful money management plan.

Feel free to visit my website where I go into great detail about currency market trading, the many forex robots and expert advisors available, and also what forex strategy can do for your forex currency trading. - 23229

About the Author:

Phil Jarvie writes extensively on 4x trading related matters and is an experienced forex trader. Feel free to visit his free website for details on forex robots, expert advisers, 4x trading, 4x trading software and currency market trading and forex currency trading articles.

A River of Inflation is About to Bust the Dam

By Paul Kluskowski

We all know that big corporations - including lots of banks - have gotten millions of taxpayer dollars. Mortgage rates are remaining low and short term interest rates apparently going to stay that way for a while.

It sure sounds like cash is everywhere. So why are so many individuals, businesses, and corporate giants going broke? And American home foreclosures just keep rising.

Billions of dollars - borrowed and printed - have been injected then bottled up behind a dam that is weakening and ready to burst. The people in charge do not seem able to figure out how to regulate the flow as in a proper dam. The obligation for future generations is astonishing. Dams cannot hold higher levels that their design though. When the hole finally breaks through the result is - inflation that rivals 3rd world countries.

Money, right now anyway, is not going anywhere. So cash flow and asset appreciation are dampened. And all the rest of the transactions that keep a capitalist economy oiled just are not happening. Ask Tom Persinger, who went from 60k a year at GM to 24k as a nurses aid. But he is one of the luckier ones. There is a 10 percent unemployment rate so one in ten people arent spending. Take that a step further. If you look at unemployment the way they did before the Clinton era voodoo, it is closer to 21% - sounds like the Great Depression. The loss of spending and thus income is staggering.

California is issuing IOU's, Rhode Island shuts down for a couple of weeks - and all the rest of the states are scrambling to raise taxes and cut spending. Nothing is secure anymore.

Nervous about the stock market? Just when it seems equities are stabilizing you and every other investor gets faked out when they dump again. Real estate, though housing markets seem to no longer be in free fall, is still causing anxiety and hand wringing.

A delicious irony is apparent when you consider that the economies of Germany and France my be recovering faster than America. By any measure they have long been tipping to left with socialism being way more acceptible, for now at least, than the USA. And those cynical professional bond traders are saying that the Fed is ensuring low interest rates by cranking out more money to meet our mind boggling present and future political obligations.

So the bankers are caught in a Hobson's choice where the only logical thing is to do nothing and reap the taxpayers largesse. After all, if they loan out all that money so people can buy assets that are not going to appreciate soon and jobs are still hard to come by then they lose.

The tragic consequence of all of this gross mismanagement is what third world countries usually experience - very, very high inflation. The government has borrowed to oblivion and the money is being printed with abandon. The banks must eventually let that money go. When is does we will be paying dearly. - 23229

About the Author:

My Market Friend is Paul Kluskowskis's blog. It is packedwith up-to-date financial, economic, and market news. He is a managing financial advisorat T/R Financial Management Group. He has been in the business for over 10 years and writes extensively with numerous articles and three ebooks to his credit. Paul also manages the PINGP Work Control Center Mgr at Xcel Energy. You can gethis financial advice and newletter at My Market Friend

Trading Decreased Volatility Breakout (Part II)

By Ahmad Hassam

Aging Trend: This is the period of consolidation as the trend comes to maturity. Volatility tends to decrease at this stage of the trend as the momentum of the trend exhausts itself. This is the period where lot of profit taking will take place.

Experienced traders try to get out of their trades at this stage of the trend by closing their positions. This satisfies the appetites of inexperienced traders as they consolidate their positions. Both the bulls and the bears are hesitant to make daring moves at this stage of the trend.

Currency prices have moved by a large amount in the previous period of high volatility. This is the period of consolidation and the prices tend to stay calm during this period. The trend takes a short break and the volatility is low during this stage of the trend.

Fourth Stage-End of Trend: This is the time when the prevailing trend ends. After some new information is revealed about a currency that changes the opinion of the crowd, the trend reverses itself. This is the last stage of the trend. As the market players tend to absorb the information, this results in the rapid adjustment of prices within a short time.

Traders become desperate to get out of their positions especially if they have been caught on the wrong side of the market. Many stops will get triggered during this stage of the trend.

The trend now reverses itself. There is a sharp follow through of the prices in the reversed direction during this stage of the trend. Now you understand and know that within a trend, currency prices can experience decreased volatility followed by increased volatility which is again followed by decreased and increased volatility as the crowd psychology keeps on changing.

Traders with open positions during this low period of volatility are the most vulnerable to unanticipated news. Decreased volatility can be found during trending or ranging phases.

When the market shift from high volatility to low volatility or vice versa, this time can be used to profit from the change in volatility. During this time gains can be made from the unsuspecting players and this is known as the Decreased Volatility Breakout Strategy. Deceased volatility provides an excellent opportunity to traders to prepare and profit from an imminent change from low to high volatility.

But the success of this strategy lies in measuring the volatility of the forex market correctly. There are several technical indicators that can help you visualize the volatility in the currency prices.

Two of the most useful indicators that can help you measure the volatility of the currency prices are: 1) Moving Averages and 2) Bollinger Bands. You can also use triangles as one of the best indicators of decreasing price volatility in the currency price charts.

You can take advantage of the decreasing price volatility in the forex market through identifying the triangle formations. When a particular type of triangle has been identified by the trader, a high probability trade may be in sight. All triangles show decreasing price volatility in the forex market. - 23229

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. He is interested in day trading stocks and currencies. Get Netpicks Forex Signals Free. Learn Forex Trading!