Forex crew: I am a total noob to Forex. Get in here and help me (please :) )

Quote from IronFist:

I got an Oanda demo. I don't like the java interface, or the fact that the candlestick charts are not even colored by default and you have to choose the colors.

I was playing around last night with EUR/USD. I was up a little bit, then down a lot, and then down a little.

Is EUR/USD a good pair to study for a beginner? I want one of the main currency pairs with higher liquidity (even tho there's no volume in forex, which seems strange).

I have a question about pips, tho. A pip is the smallest unit of movement, right? So like .0001 would be a pip, but if it's one of the currencies that only goes to two decimal places, then .01 would be a pip for that pair, right?

Most of the trades I was doing last night were for 1-4 pips and were open for 5-10 min. Is that bad? Cuz I'm reading things about 30 pip slippages... one slippage like that would negate my last 10 positive trades...
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I'm not familiar with the Oanda interface, so I can't comment about it - other than you must be comfortable with whichever platform you settle on.

EURUSD, USDJPY, etc are great to start with - you'll typically find good movement in any of the majors during late London and early NY sessions. I'd recommend just starting out with one pair (such as EURUSD) and live and breathe it for a while.

Pip is the smallest increment, so like you said, .0001 is one pip for EURUSD and .01 for USDJPY.

Obviously 1-4 pip scalps are OK, if your losers are tighter than that. 30 pip slippage is possible with major news - so avoid trying to trade the news and that shouldn't be an issue for you.
 
Quote from datamerc:

Obviously 1-4 pip scalps are OK, if your losers are tighter than that. 30 pip slippage is possible with major news - so avoid trying to trade the news and that shouldn't be an issue for you.
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I keep hearing things about "trading the news." What does that mean? Trading when news is released related to currency?

Are there specific times that this occurs? What times does "news" come out? Is it different for each currency?

Thanks.
 
Quote from IronFist:

I keep hearing things about "trading the news." What does that mean? Trading when news is released related to currency?

Are there specific times that this occurs? What times does "news" come out? Is it different for each currency?

Thanks.
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Right - some news releases have a larger impact (e.g. NFP) on a currency than others (e.g. Trade balance). Some people get off on trading news events - I think more for the thrill of it.

Forex Factory has a very nice and simple to use calendar... http://www.forexfactory.com/calendar.php
 
Quote from datamerc:

Right - some news releases have a larger impact (e.g. NFP) on a currency than others (e.g. Trade balance). Some people get off on trading news events - I think more for the thrill of it.

Forex Factory has a very nice and simple to use calendar... http://www.forexfactory.com/calendar.php
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Cool, thanks. So if it says EUR that means it will probably affect all pairs involving EUR, right?

What timezone are those times in?
 
Quote from IronFist:

I want a practice Forex account with a good trading platform with a good brokerage that won't rape me on spreads or take positions against me if I decide to use real money.

1. Where do I go to get this?

2. Is there anywhere I can get a practice account without actually having to deposit money into a real account while I practice?

Oh, also, how are taxes on forex profits different from stocks? I'm assuming there's no wash sale rule and no PDT rule. Just a high level, one or two sentence answer will suffice.

Thanks.
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Forex is for fucking idiots who follow the bright lights...
 
Quote from IronFist:

Cool, thanks. So if it says EUR that means it will probably affect all pairs involving EUR, right?

What timezone are those times in?
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Right - they allow you to customize the calendar for time zone and pairs (you might have to sign in - I don't know).
 
Quote from PohPoh:

Sorry..you wanted 2 sentences..

1) forex is for fucking idiots...
2) Trade currency futures instead..
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I don't know anything about futures, either. My only experience is with stocks.

Why are they better? Where can I get a practice trading account?
 
It seems like EUR/USD follows trendlines/Fib lines a lot more consistently than stocks do (based on my one day of experience, lol).
 
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