InvestMacro FX

By Vytautas Zilenas

Most traders know what trend trading is. It is a large move in stocks, commodities or currencies that could last for a few weeks or even half a year. This type of move is often called a mega trend. That’s when most money is made in the markets by most investors. However, as you may understand these mega trends do not happen too often, which means that if you miss one, you are out of work for whole year, provided you trade only trends. This situation can be solved quite easily if you took short term trends, which happen on a monthly, weekly and even daily basis.

Daily trends happen quite often and if you learn when to anticipate them, you can become a very successful day trader. There are some things that create various moves on a daily basis and cause a daily trend. Very often this happens due to various fundamental economic news releases. I would advise you to open some websites as dailyfx or fxstreet and copy a weekly economic calendar. Then you will have to mark those economic news events that are of high importance and watch what happens with various forex pairs when those pieces of news are released.

Not all events will cause strong moves. Reaction of market participants to these macroeconomic events mostly depends on the level of unexpectedness that the news creates. If news matches the forecast, there will probably not be a sharp reaction to the news and market will stay in its daily ranges. If the news fails to produce a move you simply do not trade it. What do you do then? You simply watch what happens at important support and resistance levels. They are either broken and this creates a huge daily move or they hold and you can trade a reversal pattern in a given security.

Trading support and resistance as a reversal or a breakout is one of my favorite day trading strategies. Lots of daily trends happen around these levels. In a very range bound market those levels usually hold. However if they don’t you have tremendous opportunity to catch a 100-300 pip move. If you looked at gbp/jpy or usd/jpy pairs today you will be able to see this in action. This is especially true about usd/jpy as it formed a two month channel and stayed in it for the last two months. Even though a disaster struck Japan it was not reflected in Japanese yen pairs. On the contrary, yen strengthened, which resulted in a sharp monthly breakout. So, had you placed some limit orders below the above mentioned pairs you would have made a few hundred pips.

About the Author

There are more opportunities for you to catch a day trend. If you are really interested in the subject I would invite you to visit my blog and find out more about trend trading. There is also a very good video that I have made which is called day trading strategies. You might watch that as well to understand the basics of day trading. I wish you good luck.

GBPUSD’s bounce from 1.5977 extended to as high as 1.6253 level. Further rise is still possible later today, and next target would be at 1.6300 area. Key resistance is at 1.6343, above this level will indicate that the longer term uptrend from 1.5344 (Dec 28, 2010 low) has resumed, then next target would be at 1.6500 zone.

Forex Signals

By James McKee

It is no secret that Obama is a huge proponent of clean energy and that his administration has pushed legislation to pursue this agenda. However, the reality of this effort has never been fully realized through encouraging growth in the green job sector, everything has been speculation and rarely action. Much of the industry has been forestalled due to actions against its growth coming out of the oil and gas industry. Powerful lobbyists have threatened both legal and political action if the government goes forward with support for this industry. The United States stands to gain 1.9 million jobs and over a trillion dollars added to the GDP, it seems like a no-brainer and it is for the common man; but for oil barons this is not something that is desirable.

The oil and gas industry’s voice may very well be silenced to a great extent shortly if the nuclear power plant in Japan has a meltdown. It is very well known at this point that using coal to power all of the world’s energy needs is insufficient, and the large cost related to oil and natural gas is also far too great for the world’s economy to accommodate. This gap in affordability has been filled up until this point with nuclear energy; the events transpiring in Japan have brought serious doubt to the long-term viability of “going nuclear.”

This has become a larger issue in light of the fact that the world’s economy has been suffering greatly, and the issue of using scarce funds to pay for such measures is not a popular idea. The United States needs to act swiftly if they hope to preserve their economy, and if they do not the value of the USD will suffer greatly on the forex currency exchange. If millions of jobs and a trillion dollars of GDP are added to the US economy the exact opposite will be the case.

About the Author

Author is a Forex trader and financial analyst residing in Denver, Colorado. To stay up to date on all the latest developments in the financial world and beyond be sure to check out the forex exchange rates regularly

With the tragic earthquake and tsunami playing havoc on the Yen last week it was very difficult to trade. Similarly to most Yen pair’s strength seen early in the week was soon balanced out after the Japanese intervention.

The EUR/JPY produced a strong Hikkake pattern on the weekly time frames. In the chart below you can see the outside bar from 3 weeks ago followed by the inside bar from 2 weeks ago finally followed by last weeks pin bar suggesting more bullish momentum to come.

Its important to remember last week was almost 100% influenced by news on the Yen and little technical’s or price action came into play. Although the set up below looks very strong it would be wise to ‘sit and wait’ on the Yen until we start seeing more stability which could take a while.

http://www.vantage-fx.com

By Cedric Welsch

Forex market or the currency market deals with currency pairs and their posting against each other for deriving profit out of it. Unlike the stock market, currency traders’ play in a relatively less volatile sphere and thus they can leverage stocks better. However, it is important not to belittle the predicaments and various investing dilemmas that currency trading might pose as well. An expert waves his trade scepter pretty well and the well-meaning novices either try a software or EA or learn the tricks themselves. For this, they require currency trading education.

This education can imbibe the essentials of currency trading in them. This is a multifaceted study and can involve reading of information, reading of technicalities also known as technical analysis, thorough reading of pips and the ways to post them, comprehending pair volatility index, understanding the need of entry and exit points, summating the varying reasons for sudden support and resistance among other things. Obviously, we have not talked about the tip of the iceberg yet.

Let us take the case of entry and exit points. You must begin to understand how a particular currency works. Once you are blessed with the grasp of its recent volatility, you would be able to confer how it may play on the given day. You can add information based fluctuations that may occur. For instance, a sudden military coup in Israel can cause the ISA to dwindle. This means that such important events also have a lot to speak for a currency.

You must also understand the technical analysis aspect of the game. The software and EA generally ruminate over it. It includes various candlestick patterns, indices to grasp what might be the closest area of resistance, and until what point is support expected from a stock on a given day. Once you take into account all these features, you can post a pip (entry point). Guided by the turn of events in relation to these analyses, you can find an exit point.

While receiving currency trading education, you can simultaneously learn about the portfolio management ideas and investment strategies. The latter can be procured from various net portals that monetize by imparting currency investment ideas. Thankfully, technology is doing pretty well today and you have various softwares for teaching you all about the currency pairs. Most of these softwares work over Meta Trader 4 platform and are can be downloaded without any fuss.

About the Author

You should always conduct a good forex research. This way, you can find forex scam review places to guide you along.

By Cedric Welsch

Future market trading is just like any type of stock trading. By diligently analyzing the market, investors predict that the price of a certain stock will rise by a certain amount. Therefore, by instinct they would like to buy as many units of the stock so that when its value rises, they would turn in a profit. In a perfect world, the fearless forecast wins and everybody is happy. However, there is no crystal ball to predict the rising and falling of stock value. If the opposite happens, they obviously lose a substantial part of their investment and that is that. As investors, they roll with the punches and stop for the day.

Fortunately, there is an easy way, and this is where future market trading comes in. This presents an opportunity for investors to minimize their possible loses by buying only a token value of the stocks, which is called, exercising an option. That way, their financial exposure is minimized. At the same time, it gives them a so-called advantage because by paying only a small amount per stock, which amounts to a token value, they control more units. In ordinary parlance, the simplest representation of a lever is a block of wood or chisel that a construction worker would position under a heavy rock. By turning the block, he or she finds an easy way to move the rock from one point to the other, until it gets to where it is supposed to be.

So too with leveraging a futures trade, the investor ends up with more units under his or her control and bidding. This is the primary reason why some people prefer future market trading. It is like taking hold of the TV remote in one’s living room. However, even a caveman can leverage. What is more difficult is to analyze stock trends. Obviously, this takes a lot of time, effort, and intellect. Nevertheless, like most anybody on a learning curve, there eventually comes a time when the person becomes a master of the game. Still, it is important not to become complacent or over confident when that moment arrives. In addition, the learning curve is relatively not as stiff because the individual is dealing with short-term stock behavior. Some may look at the expiry date on every option like a ticking time bomb, but market players who make use of their time wisely might actually find this Godsend.

Just as anywhere else, everyone should be careful with borrowing, which in this world is referred to as buying on margin. It is just as easy to get addicted to the use of credit cards as to borrow money from the stockbroker. Luckily, there are controls or regulations in place. Typically, investors can only borrow up to fifty percent of their total exposure. Future market trading owing to its unique attributes may look relatively simpler, but this is easier said than done.

About the Author

You should always conduct a good forex research. This way, you can find forex scam review places to guide you along.

By James McKee

Major currencies on the Forex currency exchange (especially the USD) have been undergoing much turbulence since the crisis in the Middle East began. What started out in Tunisia spread to Egypt and is now raging in Libya in the form of a civil war. Cities held by rebels for weeks now are being threatened with all out war by the Libyan government saying they will be sending in troops to re-take the city. While Libya may only contribute 5% of the world’s oil supply they are also setting a precedent for the entire Arab world and investors are scared.

It is not just the USD that is in danger, the Euro are the currencies being affected most by the Middle Eastern crisis. The United States is of course being affected because of how dependent they are on Middle Eastern oil, but Europe is seeing quite a bit of discourse due to Italy’s large dependence on Libyan oil. Libya shows signs of having their internal conflict intensify, not calm down…the simple truth is that the Libyan government under Gaddafi is again seizing control of the country. Despite the fact that it may take a couple more weeks the Libyan conflict is on the way to being resolved one way or another.

The latest uprising has occurred in Bahrain, the financial headquarters of the Arab world has seen a good deal of turmoil recently. Bahrain is far different than Egypt or Libya because it is not an oil producing country; instead it acts as a banking hub for the countries who do conduct oil production. Major currencies on the forex market will continue to experience instability until the Middle Eastern conflict is corrected and the conflicts are resolved. Currently there are signs of Saudi Arabia experiencing unrest and if they enter a civil war the damage to the USD is incalculable.

About the Author

Author is a Forex trader and financial analyst residing in Denver, Colorado. To stay up to date on all the latest developments in the financial world and beyond be sure to check out the forex exchange rates regularly

By Cedric Welsch

When you talk about the stock market in general, basically you are referring to stocks really, because obviously the stock market is all about owning stocks, buying them and selling them. In other words, the market has everything to do with transactions purely related to stocks.

Investing or trading stocks, is one of the most powerful mediums man has ever come up with in terms of creating wealth. When investors talk about making profits through the means of investments, stocks will inevitably always be part of the main conversation, simply because investing in stocks can return amazingly huge amounts of profits if done right.

In order for you to become a part of the super large community of investors that are amassing wealth through investing in stocks, you should first have a clear knowledge about how trading in the stock market works really. Although this form of wealth building has been present for ages now so to speak, there has been a tremendous outpour of stock trading enthusiasts in the most recent years. This is because, the once investment medium that is only known to wealthy men is now openly available even to the common individual who simply desires to become wealthy through stocks.

The high curiosity of the common guy next door and the availability of the entire stock market trading to the public have sparked the sudden explosion in popularity of this investment medium. However, although as highly popular as it may seem already today, not everyone is able to make their dreams come true with the help of the stock market. The primary reason for such disappointment of many struggling enthusiasts is their lack of knowledge for it.

As a beginner in this game of trading stocks, you cannot just rely on passed on knowledge or information from people who are just learning the ropes themselves in the stock market. There have been countless of made up stories about certain individuals making a killing off of the stock market. Sadly, most of these hyped up stories are just mere fabricated claims.

You cannot look at the stock trading system to be just another get rich quick type of bubble phenomenon. The people who become wealthy at this are those that decide to really know the in and outs of the entire trading system. In other words, it’s as if trading and stocks is the oxygen they breathe. Yes, it actually becomes their full time career. This is how the successful investors become extremely wealthy with the stock market. They are just too familiar with the system already, that they know exactly how and what to do in order to make profits out of their investment each time.

About the Author

You can benefit from online stock trading services. However, it’s advisable to only work with the best online stock trading service.

By Ken Sundheim

Entrepreneurship Taught By Warren Buffett

By seeing that we attached entrepreneurship with Warren Buffett, you may be confused, don’t worry, we’ll get to it.

Typically, when we write these articles, we only put one, maybe two quotes. We had trouble because Warren Buffett had so many. Therefore, before we get into the article, here are our favorite three:

Warren Buffett:

“I always knew I was going to be rich. I don’t think I ever doubted it for a minute.”

“It’s better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you’ll drift in that direction.”

“Beware of geeks bearing formulas.”

Buffett’s Road to Entrepreneurship

Warren Edward Buffett was born August 30, 1930, in Omaha, Nebraska. His father was a local stockbroker. Buffett was always fascinated by numbers and at the age 8, he began reading his father’s stock books. At age 11, he marked the board at the brokerage house where his father worked. From that age, Buffett began to think in a very entrepreneurial way. In fact, Buffett did not want to go to college, instead he wanted to go directly into business. His father convince the young Buffett to attend the University of Nebraska where Warren Buffett would end up reading a book that would change his life, our lives and investing as we know it. This book is the still famous Intelligent Investor by legendary investor Benjamin Graham. Buffett was so intrigued by his writings that he applied to receive his MBA in economics at Columbia University in New York where Benjamin was teaching. Some people who were in the class in which Graham was teaching and which Buffett was a student, described the classes as a conversation between Buffett and Graham with the rest being an audience. Eventually, Buffett was asked to join Graham’s company, the Graham-Newman Corporation. After two years, the company disbanded. Buffett went back to Nebraska.

Upon return to Nebraska, Buffett had only $100 of his own money to invest. He was able to convince six investors to put in a total of $100,000 and, in time, Buffett would make billions. Now, many people see him as a stock picker. Warren Buffett is not a stock-picker in the traditional sense. Instead, he is the type of person who goes into a company and makes it better through fresh, innovative ideas which are entrepreneurial and make money. That is why Warren Buffett buys so much stock in one company like he did in Geico, he can step in and make them better. Most people think of entrepreneurship as just starting a small business and hoping it does well. Warren Buffett’s version is just on a much more grand scale. If Buffett did not have an entrepreneurial spirit, Berkshire Hathaway would have never been.

Warren Buffet is known as one of the best, if not the best investor of our time. Though, if you look a little closer at his ventures, they are quite entrepreneurial.

About the Author

Ken Sundheim owns KAS Placement, a Marketing Headhunters Washington DC a U.S. sales and marketing staffing agency with recruiting specialists covering the U.S. Chicago Marketing Recruiters in Chicago and in New York City Headhunters NY Sales Recruiters

By CountingPips.com

The latest Commitments of Traders (COT) report, released on Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), showed that futures speculators decreased their short positions of the US dollar against the other major currencies. Non-commercial futures positions, those taken by hedge funds and large speculators, were overall net short the US dollar by $27.07 billion against other major currencies as of the March 15th data release. This is a decline from the total short position of $35.36 billion on March 8th, according to the CFTC data and calculations by Reuters which calculates the dollar positions against the euro, British pound, Japanese yen, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar and the Swiss franc.

This week’s notable changes included Japanese yen positions almost doubling from the week prior while the British pound sterling and New Zealand dollar fell over to the short side in the latest data.

EuroFx: Currency speculators decreased their net long positions for the euro against the U.S. dollar after three consecutive weeks of rises. Futures positions in the euro fell to a total of 46,316 long positions as of March 15th following a total of 62,294 long positions on March 8th.

The COT report is published every Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and shows futures positions as of the previous Tuesday. It can be a useful tool for traders to gauge investor sentiment and to look for potential changes in the direction of a currency or commodity. Each currency contract is a quote for that currency directly against the U.S. dollar, where as a net short amount of contracts means that more speculators are betting that currency to fall against the dollar and net long position expect that currency to rise versus the dollar. The graphs overlay the forex spot closing price of each Tuesday when COT trader positions are reported for each corresponding spot currency pair.

GBP: British pound sterling bets dropped over to the short side last week to a total of 225 short contracts after registering 33,906 long contracts on March 8th. This is the first time pound sterling contracts have been on the short side since January.

JPY: The Japanese yen net contracts advanced as of March 15th to a total of 30,230 long contracts following a total of 16,656 net long contracts reported on March 8th. Yen positions have been on somewhat of a roller coaster the past five weeks and that is not likely to change in the next few weeks with G7 central banks agreeing to intervene to stablize the yen’s volatile moves from Japan’s earthquake and tsunami.

CHF: Swiss franc long positions rose for a fifth consecutive week to a total of 27,640 long contracts, according to the COT data as of March 15th. Franc contracts totaled a net of 23,661 long contracts on March 8th. This is the highest level for franc positions since late 2009.

CAD: The Canadian dollar positions dropped from their highest position in over a year on March 8th to a total position of 56,991 contracts as of March 15th. CAD net contracts had advanced for two straight weeks to a total of 77,544 net long contracts as of March 8th.

AUD: The Australian dollar long positions reversed course after three consecutive weeks of rises. AUD contracts totaled a net amount of 47,951 long contracts as of March 15th after AUD positions had totaled 73,695 net long contracts on March 8th.

NZD: New Zealand dollar futures positions headed lower for a fifth straight week and fell over to the short side for the first time since June 2010. NZD contracts fell to a total of 2,809 short positions as of March 15th from a total of 4,346 long contracts on March 8th.

MXN: Mexican peso long contracts have risen for two consecutive weeks to a total of 121,575 net long contracts as of March 15th. MXN positions had increased to 113,165 net long contracts on March 8th.

COT Data Summary as of March 15, 2011
Large Speculators Net Positions vs. the US Dollar

Euro: +46,316
British pound sterling: -225
Japanese yen: +30,230
Swiss franc: +27,640
Canadian dollar: +56,991
Australian dollar: +47,951
New Zealand dollar: -2,809
Mexican peso: +121,575

Further COT Resources from around the web:

• Forecast The FX Market With The COT Report

• The Only Indicator You Will Ever Need