Forex Trading Strategies

M

Machal

Nice Friday to everyone!

I am looking at different markets and I want to learn something about Forex.

Do you have any recomendation about some educational website for Forex trading?

I am not looking for website with tons useless teory, I am looking for website with practical recomendations. (What to trade, what don't, what works and what doesn't...)

If you have any personal recomendation, please, dont hesistate to post them too. :)

Forex seems to me very different than stocks or futures markets and I am not sure, if this is the right place for individual trading, but I like to know, what is possible.


Thank you for your asnwers and have a wonderful weekend!
 
In case you didn't see there is now a "Currency Trading" forum section in ET. You might want to browse through the discussions already held.
 
My suggestions:

Go visit the site of Gain Capital. They are hands down THE BEST currency trading firm for individuals. No other firm even comes close to their systems amd benefits.

I can tell you that currency, in my opinion, is a lot better place to trade right now than the equities market.

More volatility, all the time=more chances to make big money!!!

You'er on the right track for sure if you are intersted in the currency market right now.
 
If you came across a stock or future firm that charges $35 per side per minimum lot which is 100 shares or 1 future lot such as 1 emini would you trade that instrument?

Such is the case with spot forex where due to the leverage and execution platform you would be behind by at least 30-$40 when you lift offer and hit bid.

Huge Handicap on a 1 lot for daytrading. Swing trades maybe diff story.

You might say,well if dealing rate is 80 85 can I bid 80 and hope to get hit, Yes, but the only time you get hit on your 80 bid, it is already 75/80 offer so you are still behind the 8 ball. That is the reason why they offer commission free ! coz it is embedded in the spread with little chance of splitting the spread.
Be aware.
 
I noticed that the Euro futures dropped during the 11:00 AM EST hour this past Friday and then slowly recovered.

I was wondering if this falling price action has anything to do with the settlement of the EONIA contract at 11:12 AM EST (16:12 GMT) on the LIFFE?

If anyone has sufficient experience to say whether this is a coincidence or a correlation I'd certainly appreciated their advice.
 
GATrader,
I don't think I agree with you here. The problems you describe refer to daytrading in general. I still see trading forex as paying "spread" vs "spread+commission". You're correct that you can't cut the spread in forex, but I rarely try to do that anyway with the ES. Like you said, it all depends on you're timeframe. I primarily trade off the 30min and 5min charts, usually around 2-4 trades per day(rt), per pair. I don't see giving up 2 pips as such a huge handicap when you can often grab 20 or more pips per trade(depending on what the market gives you, of course).

I suppose the spread would be more of a problem if I were trying to scalp, but even there, Oanda gives 2-3 pip spreads on EUR/USD, so you're only down $20-$30 per "lot" to start(Oanda doesn't really use lots). Not sure what you meant when you said "given the leverage",since futures and forex both use leverage. Just some thoughts.

Note: I'm not saying I make 20 or more pips on every trade.


Snake
 
Just a few thoughts on my experience, there's become increasing more competition for the retail spot fx trader. A few years ago you couldn't find a market maker offering less than 4 pips on the majors. Today many MM like CMS offer 3 pips firm day or night and Coesfx is advertising 1-2 pips with a 1 pip commission. 1-2 pips is interbank spreads. So the days on raping the retail trader with 5+ pip spreads on the majors is gone. I prefer the cash market for the leverage, volatility, and depth(the futures market represents only about 1/10th of total currency volume where as spot is more like 70-80%).
 
Snake thanks for your insight. Admiteddly, it has been a whle since I traded spot forex.At that time, I picked up a phone and asked for a dealing quote and the guy gave me a 5 pip spread which is around $30-$40 in the hole and another 30/40 in the hole when getting out. There is a a huge diff between elec futures vs. spot forex as far as execution though. This is specially evident on slower moving instruments like 5 yr bonds. When I enter a bid on forex and I get hit it is almost a certainty that it has become the offer. With futures, when I enter a bid and I get hit, it could be that I was the first since the matching engine gave me priority over other bids. I can then scalp on the offer and have a higher chance of scalping it out due to time/price priority.In addition paying the spread by buying the offer and hitting the bid w/o price movement would result in only a 25$ slippage on the ES 10-20 on the $5 dow, $30 on the bonds. I think it is higher in the forex. I am not knocking it, if you can do it more power to you. In fact, I will give it a more than cursory look this week. Best of luck to you.
 
To experiment try www.fxcm.com. They'll give you a free
simulation account. Also, with real money you can trade
$10,000 lots ($50 margin) so you can open an account with
only a few grand (I think the minimum is $300). Personally I am thinking about trading the smallest size lot on a 40-60 day SMA.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top