Top 4 Things Successful Forex Traders Do

Trading in the financial markets is surrounded by a certain amount of mystique, because there is no single formula for trading successfully. Think of the markets as being like the ocean and the trader as a surfer. Surfing requires talent, balance, patience, proper equipment and being mindful of your surroundings. Would you go into water that had dangerous rip tides or was shark infested? Hopefully not.

The attitude to trading in the markets is no different than the attitude required for surfing. By blending good analysis with effective implementation, your success rate will improve dramatically and, like many skill sets, good trading comes from a combination of talent and hard work. Here are the four legs of the stool that you can build into a strategy to serve you well in all markets.

Leg No. 1 - Approach 
Before you start to trade, recognize the value of proper preparation. The first step is to align your personal goals and temperament with the instruments and markets that you can comfortably relate to. For example, if you know something about retailing, then look to trade retail stocks rather than oil futures, about which you may know nothing. Begin by assessing the following three components.

Time Frame
The time frame indicates the type of trading that is appropriate for your temperament. Trading off a five-minute chart suggests that you are more comfortable being in a position without the exposure to overnight risk. On the other hand, choosing weekly charts indicates a comfort with overnight risk and a willingness to see some days go contrary to your position.

In addition, decide if you have the time and willingness to sit in front of a screen all day or if you would prefer to do your research quietly over the weekend and then make a trading decision for the coming week based on your analysis. Remember that the opportunity to make substantial money in the markets requires time. Short-term scalping, by definition, means small profits or losses. In this case, you will have to trade more frequently.


Methodology
Once you choose a time frame, find a consistent methodology. For example, some traders like to buy support and sell resistance. Others prefer buying or selling breakouts. Yet others like to trade using indicators such as MACD and crossovers.

Once you choose a system or methodology, test it to see if it works on a consistent basis and provides you with an edge. If your system is reliable more than 50% of the time, you will have an edge, even if it's a small one. If you backtest your system and discover that had you traded every time you were given a signal and your profits were more than your losses, chances are very good that you have a winning strategy. Test a few strategies and when you find one that delivers a consistently positive outcome, stay with it and test it with a variety of instruments and various time frames.

Market (Instrument)
You will find that certain instruments trade much more orderly than others. Erratic trading instruments make it difficult to produce a winning system. Therefore, it is necessary to test your system on multiple instruments to determine that your system's "personality" matches with the instrument being traded. For example, if you were trading the USD/JPY currency pair in the forex market, you may find that Fibonacci support and resistance levels are more reliable in this instrument than in some others. You should also test multiple time frames to find those that match your trading system best.


Leg No. 2 - Attitude
Attitude in trading means ensuring that you develop your mindset to reflect the following four attributes:


Patience
Once you know what to expect from your system, have the patience to wait for the price to reach the levels that your system indicates for either the point of entry or exit. If your system indicates an entry at a certain level but the market never reaches it, then move on to the next opportunity. There will always be another trade. In other words, don't chase the bus after it has left the terminal; wait for the next bus.


Discipline
Discipline is the ability to be patient - to sit on your hands until your system triggers an action point. Sometimes, the price action won't reach your anticipated price point. At this time, you must have the discipline to believe in your system and not to second-guess it. Discipline is also the ability to pull the trigger when your system indicates to do so. This is especially true for stop losses.

Objectivity
Objectivity or "emotional detachment" also depends on the reliability of your system or methodology. If you have a system that provides entry and exit levels that you know have a high reliability factor, then you don't need to become emotional or allow yourself to be influenced by the opinion of pundits who are watching their levels and not yours. Your system should be reliable enough so that you can be confident in acting on its signals.


Realistic Expectations
Even though the market can sometimes make a much bigger move than you anticipate, being realistic means that you cannot expect to invest $250 in your trading account and expect to make $1,000 each trade. Short-term time frames provide less profit opportunities than longer term, but the risk with longer-term time frames is higher. It's a question of risk versus reward.


Leg No. 3 - Discrimination
Different instruments trade differently depending on who the major players are and why they are trading that particular instrument. Hedge funds are motivated differently than mutual funds. Large banks that are trading the spot currency market in specific currencies usually have a different objective than currency traders buying or selling futures contracts. If you can determine what motivates the large players then you can often piggyback them and profit accordingly.

Alignment
Pick a few currencies, stocks or commodities and chart them all in a variety of time frames. Then apply your particular methodology to all of them and see which time frame and which instrument is most responsive to your system. This is how you discover a "personality" match for your system. Repeat this exercise regularly to adapt to changing market conditions.


Leg No. 4 - Management (Implementation)
Since there is no such thing as only profitable trades, no system will trigger a 100% sure thing. Even a profitable system, say with a 65% profit to loss ratio, still has 35% losing trades. Therefore, the art of profitability is in the management and execution of the trade.

  Risk Control
In the end, successful trading is all about risk control. Take losses quickly and often, if necessary. Try to get your trade in the correct direction right out of the gate. If it backs off, cut out and try again. Often, it is on the second or third attempt that your trade will move immediately in the right direction. This practice requires patience and discipline, but when you get the direction right, you can trail your stops and usually be profitable at best, or break even at worst.


The Bottom Line
There are as many nuanced methods of trading as there are traders. There is no right or wrong way to trade. There is only a profit-making trade or a loss-making trade. Warren Buffet says there are two rules in trading: Rule 1: Never lose money. Rule 2: Remember Rule 1. Stick a note on your computer that will remind you to take small losses often and quickly - don't wait for the big losses.

9 Tough Questions for Forex Brokers

 1. How often are advertised spreads available?

Some brokers publish “as low as” or “typical” spreads without revealing when or for how long these rates are on offer. You may never get these spreads when you trade.
If your broker advertises spreads “as low as” 0.9 pips on EUR/USD, you need to know what “as low as” means. Do special conditions apply? Can you see a record of recent spreads to confirm their  spreads are what they advertise and if they apply to you?

   2. Do special conditions or restrictions apply?

All too often, brokers will advertise tight spreads that, in truth, apply only to a narrow range of ticket sizes or a small group of privileged customers. These “special” rates are reserved for traders who meet restrictions based on deposit size, trade volume, region, or lot size.
For example, many brokers impose a minimum account opening balance or require a minimum trade size before you can access their tightest spreads. (Brokers can be equally reluctant to offer their lowest spreads for larger ticket sizes.) The only way to truly test quality of execution is to try the real thing, so such restrictions may make it prohibitively expensive to test their platforms.
    3. Are there extra fees in addition to the spread?
Some brokers may offer low spreads but make their profit in other ways. For example, they may charge extra fees or commissions for the privilege of accessing their “professional” trading platforms. Or they may charge monthly fees you can avoid only if you keep a minimum deposit or meet a minimum trading volume every month.

4. Do all clients get the same spreads?

Every forex dealer claims to have the industry’s tightest spreads. But not every trader gets the low prices touted by some dealers, who may tailor their spreads based on customer trading patterns, account balance, trading volume, or third-party introductions. Larger and better-connected traders and financial organizations may receive “preferred” treatment and “discounts” that you never even hear about, never mind get offered.

5. Will my trade get executed at the quoted price?

The tighter the spread, the better for you. But it’s the quality of execution that determines whether you actually receive the tight spreads you see on screen. Beware rejected trades, delayed execution,price-skewing and stop-hunting that may never occur on the broker’s demo platform.Say, for example, your screen shows a tight spread and you opt to make a trade at that price. But your trade is filled a few pips to your disadvantage or is mysteriously rejected. When this happens again and again, it’s a clue that you’re falling prey to “bait-and-switch” pricing.

6. Do I have unlimited access to a live demo platform?

A demo platform can be useful to observe how prices and spreads vary under different market conditions. And it can give you an idea of how good your broker’s quality of execution is—but only if the demo platform behaves exactly the same as the real thing.
Ask how the broker's demo platform differs from their real platform in terms of execution and spreads.
7. How are interest charges and payments calculated?

In the forex trading industry, standard practice for interest calculations on funds being traded is the rollover swap with two-day settlements. This means that you pay (or receive) interest based on the open trades you hold at 5 p.m. EST, with weekend interest calculated and included on Wednesdays.Experienced intraday traders may be used to timing their trades around the rollover swap, but consider how it may impede your freedom to keep trades open. Ideally,you should receive (or pay) interest based on the length of time you hold open trades—not based on the time of day you hold them.

8. For fixed spreads, what are the benefits?

In forex, rates and spreads change with every market tick. If you choose a broker that offers trading at fixed rates, you are likely paying higher spreads than you would under a variable system. Is it worth it? That depends on your trading pattern. With fixed spreads, you are in effect paying an “insurance premium”—so you can trade around news events or other times when the markets tend to be more volatile.

9.Do I have open, uncensored access to information?

Many banks and forex brokers don’t like to share their data and intentionally hide the very information you need to make your best trading decisions. This tendency starts with a reluctance to provide open, unfettered access to spreads and pricing information. These same organizations rarely share their customer feedback , leaving you to wade through external forums where you never really know whose agenda is whose.


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10 Ways To Avoid Losing Money In Forex

10 Ways To Avoid Losing Money In Forex

The global forex market boasts over $4 trillion in average daily trading volume, making it the largest financial market in the world. Forex's popularity entices traders of all levels, from greenhorns just learning about the financial markets to well-seasoned professionals. Because it is so easy to trade forex - with round-the-clock sessions, access to significant leverage and relatively low costs - it is also very easy to lose money trading forex. This article will take a look at 10 ways that traders can avoid losing money in the competitive forex market.


1. Do Your Homework – Learn Before You Burn
Just because forex is easy to get into doesn't mean that due diligence can be avoided. Learning about forex is integral to a trader's success in the forex markets. While the majority of learning comes from live trading and experience, a trader should learn everything possible about the forex markets, including the geopolitical and economic factors that affect a trader's preferred currencies. Homework is an ongoing effort as traders need to be prepared to adapt to changing market conditions, regulations and world events. Part of this research process involves developing a trading plan. (For more, check out 10 Steps To Building A Winning Trading Plan.)

2. Take the Time to Find a Reputable Broker
The forex industry has much less oversight than other markets, so it is possible to end up doing business with a less-than-reputable forex broker. Due to concerns about the safety of deposits and the overall integrity of a broker, forex traders should only open an account with a firm that is a member of the National Futures Association (NFA) and that is registered with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as a futures commission merchant. Each country outside of the United States has its own regulatory body with which legitimate forex brokers should be registered.

Traders should also research each broker's account offerings, including leverage amounts, commissions and spreads, initial deposits, and account funding and withdrawal policies. A helpful customer service representative should have all this information and be able to answer any questions regarding the firm's services and policies. (Discover the best ways to find a broker who will help you succeed in the forex market. This is why we suggest INSTA FOREX. The best forex broker in Asia.

3. Use a Practice Account
Nearly all trading platforms come with a practice account, sometimes called a simulated account or demo account. These accounts allow traders to place hypothetical trades without a funded account. Perhaps the most important benefit of a practice account is that it allows a trader to become adept at order entry techniques.

Few things are as damaging to a trading account (and a trader's confidence) as pushing the wrong button when opening or exiting a position. It is not uncommon, for example, for a new trader to accidentally add to a losing position instead of closing the trade. Multiple errors in order entry can lead to large, unprotected losing trades. Aside from the devastating financial implications, this situation is incredibly stressful. Practice makes perfect: experiment with order entries before placing real money on the line.
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4. Keep Charts Clean
Once a forex trader has opened an account, it may be tempting to take advantage of all the technical analysis tools offered by the trading platform. While many of these indicators are well-suited to the forex markets, it is important to remember to keep analysis techniques to a minimum in order for them to be effective. Using the same types of indicators – such as two volatility indicators or two oscillators, for example – can become redundant and can even give opposing signals. This should be avoided.

Any analysis technique that is not regularly used to enhance trading performance should be removed from the chart. In addition to the tools that are applied to the chart, the overall look of the workspace should be considered. The chosen colors, fonts and types of price bars (line, candle bar, range bar, etc) should create an easy-to-read and interpret chart, allowing the trader to more effectively respond to changing market conditions.

5. Protect Your Trading Account
While there is much focus on making money in forex trading, it is important to learn how to avoid losing money. Proper money management techniques are an integral part of successful trading. Many veteran traders would agree that one can enter a position at any price and still make money – it's how one gets out of the trade that matters.

Part of this is knowing when to accept your losses and move on. Always using a protective stop loss is an effective way to make sure that losses remain reasonable. Traders can also consider using a maximum daily loss amount beyond which all positions would be closed and no new trades initiated until the next trading session. While traders should have plans to limit losses, it is equally essential to protect profits. Money management techniques, such as utilizing trailing stops, can help preserve winnings while still giving a trade room to grow.

6. Start Small When Going Live
Once a trader has done his or her homework, spent time with a practice account and has a trading plan in place, it may be time to go live – that is, start trading with real money at stake. No amount of practice trading can exactly simulate real trading, and as such it is vital to start small when going live.

Factors like emotions and slippage cannot be fully understood and accounted for until trading live. Additionally, a trading plan that performed like champ in back testing results or practice trading could, in reality, fail miserably when applied to a live market. By starting small, a trader can evaluate his or her trading plan and emotions, and gain more practice in executing precise order entries – without risking the entire trading account in the process.

7. Use Reasonable Leverage
Forex trading is unique in the amount of leverage that is afforded to its participants. One of the reasons forex is so attractive is that traders have the opportunity to make potentially large profits with a very small investment – sometimes as little as $50. Properly used, leverage does provide potential for growth; however, leverage can just as easily amplify losses. A trader can control the amount of leverage used by basing position size on the account balance. For example, if a trader has $10,000 in a forex account, a $100,000 position (one standard lot) would utilize 10:1 leverage. While the trader could open a much larger position if he or she were to maximize leverage, a smaller position will limit risk. (For additional reading, see Adding Leverage To Your Forex Trading.)

8. Keep Good Records
A trading journal is an effective way to learn from both losses and successes in forex trading. Keeping a record of trading activity containing dates, instruments, profits, losses, and, perhaps most importantly, the trader's own performance and emotions can be incredibly beneficial to growing as a successful trader. When periodically reviewed, a trading journal provides important feedback that makes learning possible. Einstein once said that "insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." Without a trading journal and good record keeping, traders are likely to continue making the same mistakes, minimizing their chances of become profitable and successful traders.

9. Understand Tax Implications and Treatment
It is important to understand the tax implications and treatment of forex trading activity in order to be prepared at tax time. Consulting with a qualified accountant or tax specialist can help avoid any surprises at tax time, and can help individuals take advantage of various tax laws, such as the marked-to-market accounting. Since tax laws change regularly, it is prudent to develop a relationship with a trusted and reliable professional that can guide and manage all tax-related matters.

10. Treat Trading As a Business
It is essential to treat forex trading as a business, and to remember that individual wins and losses don't matter in the short run; it is how the trading business performs over time that is important. As such, traders should try to avoid becoming overly emotional with either wins or losses, and treat each as just another day at the office. As with any business, forex trading incurs expenses, losses, taxes, risk and uncertainty. Also, just as small businesses rarely become successful overnight, neither do most forex traders. Planning, setting realistic goals, staying organized and learning from both successes and failures will help ensure a long, successful career as a forex trader.

The Bottom Line
The worldwide forex market is attractive to many traders because of its low account requirements, round-the-clock trading and access to high amounts of leverage. When approached as a business, forex trading can be profitable and rewarding. In summary, traders can avoid losing money in forex by:

Being well-prepared
Having the patience and discipline to study and research
Applying sound money management techniques
Approaching trading activity as a business

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How to know a good forex broker.

5 Tips For Selecting A Forex Broker

1. Regulatory Compliance
In the U.S., a reputable forex broker will be a member of the National Futures Association (NFA) and will be registered with the U. S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as a Futures Commission Merchant and Retail Foreign Exchange Dealer. The NFA is an industry-wide, self-regulatory organization for the futures industry in the United States.

2. Account Details
Each forex broker has different account offerings, including:-Leverage and Margin,Commissions and Spreads,Ease of Deposits and Withdrawals,

3.Currency Pairs Offered,
While there are a great deal of currencies available for trading, only a few get the majority of the attention, and therefore, trade with the greatest liquidity.

4. Customer Service
The foreign exchange market accounts for more than $4 trillion in average traded value every day, making it the world's largest financial market. Since there is no central marketplace for the forex market, traders must select a forex broker to help them conduct their trading activity. There are a large and growing number of forex brokers, and choosing the right one requires cautiously sifting through an overwhelming number of magazine and internet advertisements. In this article, we'll look at five considerations when choosing a forex broker in today's competitive forex marketplace.

5. Trading Platform
The trading platform is the investor's portal to the markets. As such, traders should make sure the platform and any software is easy to use,

Other considerations include customization options, order entry types, automated trading options, strategy builders, backtesting and trading alerts. Most brokers offer free demo accounts so that traders can try out the trading platform prior to opening and funding an account.

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forex mistakes.

Forex trading, however enticing it may seem is not fool proof. People usually indulge in cross currency trading like USD to EUR or vice versa. The trick here is to choose your risk quotient by following market trends and doing some research on your own. No matter how much perfect you think your strategy is, you are always advised to tread with caution.

1) Forex Day Trading is not your shortcut to wealth

No matter what you have read on the internet or what stories your other trader pals have told you, you cannot become a millionaire overnight with Forex Trading. However, we are not completely discouraging you as there are many traders who have made their fortunes and many others who still are dependent on it as a means of livelihood. What you need to develop is trading acumen which will help you gain profits.

2) Do not risk more than 1% of Capital

The higher you risk, higher the gains, this strategy is not overtly applicable to day trading Forex. A successful trader will never risk more than 1% of his capital on a single trade. By adopting this method, you ensure that in event of a loss the amount is not too significant.

3) Keeping unrealistic expectations

While starting your trading be fully aware of the market conditions and what you are getting into. Do not blindly foray into it just because somebody promised a windfall. Make sure that you have sufficient financial knowledge about day trading, the terms that are used, what to look out for etc. If you think you will have 5000 USD that will yield you 30000 USD then than it not going to happen. Take help from an expert who is dealing into day trade Forex to learn the finer nuances of the game.

4)Make very sure you trade with a good forex broker.
   Thousands of people looses there money in forex only and only because they invest with the wrong forex trader.
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Conclusion

When trading Forex, you should avoid:

Thinking it is a shortcut to wealth overnight, you can be successful in Forex trading if you learn and improve every day.

PLEASE Dont Risking more than 1% of your capital!

Trade with Insta Forex.

Best of Luck.