Thursday, October 1, 2009

Understanding How Basic Forex Strategies Work

By Mcknight Norris

So what are the best forex investing strategies? The obvious answer would be the one that works. However, this is not a satisfying answer when you consider that there are many successful strategies that traders use. To become a successful trader, there is no single strategy that is going to work all the time. There are too many factors influencing the market to come up with one single formula that consistently works.

There are too many factors influencing the market to find one glove that fits all. Profitable traders will tell you that in order to trade successfully, you will have to gain some experience under your belt. As you trade over time, you will develop an intuition that will help to serve as your guide. Intuition alone is not enough though. Learning when to stay in and pull out of a trade is also important.

One of the best tips I can give you is to never make a trade when you are emotional. This is the worse time to decide on whether or not you will stay engaged in a trade. It is hard when you see a market signal going in the wrong direction. The tendency is to pull out when the signal starts going south or to invest when the signal is climbing. You must learn to look at the signals and properly analyze the data.

Since you are looking for profitable trading scenarios or strategies, you will be happy to know there are only two main categories. The first category can be classified as a profit-maximizing strategy while the other deals with minimizing risk. No two investors will ever use these strategies the same because each may be influenced under a different set of circumstances.

To be a successful trader, you must take many factors into account. The size of the account, your initial investment, geographic influences, the trading platform you are using, and the trading system all play a significant role in determining how successful you will be. Some traders are in the game with long term goals while others are looking for short term profits.

Profitable traders also employ a system of financial leverage to maximize their profits. To use this strategy you will have to hire the services of a broker. This strategy allows a trader to make trades by essentially borrowing money from a broker when you have very little in your own account. Under these conditions a broker will usually lend on a basis of 100:1 leverage meaning they will give you borrow $100 for each dollar you put into your account.

The stop loss order is the most popular risk minimizing strategy. This strategy helps traders by using presets as a means to automatically stop a trade once a set of conditions are met based on the stop loss prices of the trade. Traders set their own stop loss price limits. There are different types of stop losses, each used under varying circumstances at the discretion of the trader. A key point to be made is that regardless of the trading strategy used, there is always an element of risks involved.

If you are the type of investor that like more control over your investing you may want to consider an automated trading platform. Under this strategy, a trader can set a price of a currency trade and have the system automatically activate once the price point is met.

Other strategies may include strategies for choosing entrance and exit prices, currency pairs, and trading hours.

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