4x Trading Made Simple: Forex Money Management 101

By Phil Jarvie

is 4x trading easy? Or is it hard? It really is neither. 4x trading is just different. It is nothing like trading stocks, bonds, shares, options or warrants. It is 4x trading. It is the home to emotional investing, 4x gambling losers. So, to protect yourself you need to understand the rules of Forex Money Management, and the first rule is:

Forex Money Management 101. Do not look for a holy grail of trading. Just don't lose money!

The 4x market turns over more cash in 1 week than the whole USA economy does in 1 year. But add to that concept, how much does every up and down tick in the market all add up to? How many pips movement in a day do we miss? Forget about it. There is no such thing as Albert Einstein and the theory of everything with 4x trading. No super computer can help you. 4x robot software is useful but clumsy at the micro level. Missing opportunities is a big part of forex trading. The real heart of the matter is not losing money. Profit is about making profitable trades only.

2% of your 4x account is more than you should be risking on a trade if you have proper and effective forex money management.

Let me give you an example. Assume I have $10,000 in my account. 2% of $10,000 is $200. If I trade with full lots where 1 pip is worth $10, then I am allowed 20 pips for my stop loss. Sounds fair enough in principle, but I make most of my money in huge rebounds or retracements that happen after a break out on highly volatile days. Meaning, I often trade with 5 lot orders - so 2% of my money is now down to 4 pips for stop losses. If 20 pips is nothing, imagine only being able to to be wrong by less than 4 pips.

I'm sure you think I am crazy, but hear me out. Open up your forex platform software of choice - metatrader is fine. You want H1 hourly chart for EURUSD on the 19th of August, 2009. Note the huge rise of the Euro from 1.4111 to 1.4265 in 3 hours - all of which happened after bad USA economic data and a billion dollar trader from the Middle East put his weight behind the Euro at the same time.

To get on board a long position by following the news is what would have happened for many smart 4x traders. But I was lucky enough to already be on long from a few hours earlier when I picked up the trade on a dip at 1.4080. It was a wild day. Was I lucky or stupid to be ridding 5 lots with a 4 pip stop loss while I went shopping?

When I entered my buy limit trade at 1.4080 I did it as a pending order. Actually, when I placed that pending order, I was going shopping with my girlfriend and wasn't going to be back home for hours. SO, at the same time I placed a 5 lot sell stop order at the same price as my 5 lot pending buy order. IF the market dipped to pick up my buy order, it would also hit my sell stop. The market can then do what ever it likes after that. Each trade 100% cancels the other out. It's called hedging. I had hedged my position with opposite orders.

If the market did not dip and execute these pending orders, nothing was lost. If I returned from shopping to find the market did pick them up, then I would be in profit on one trade to the same amount of the loss on the other trade. So far so good, I came back to find the orders now live trades and it was the long position that was in a loss position. But that was OK, no forex money management rules were broken because the short position was in profit to the same amount. By closing both positions I could only lose the 0.9 pips spread. Within an hour, I closed out the short position at break even, and let the long position continue to stay in profits.

After an exciting few hours at the screen I watched that long position go crazy into profits, and so I switched it to a 20 pips trailing stop, which it did do at 1.4245. That was a tidy, ultra low risk, $8,250 profit on the day. 82.5% profit on a $10,000 trading account while I went shopping. The first rule about forex money management was never broken. I was never at risk of losing 2% of my account.

First rule of Forex money Management: Don't Lose Money. Never risk more than 2% of your capital. Hedging. - 23305

About the Author:

Phil Jarvie is a professional forex trader expert in fx trading, fx sofware and using fx hedging for forex money management and may wish to visit his website to consider his reviews on how to make money trading currencies

Sterling Silver Charm Bracelet Popularity

By George Pertonio

A sterling silver charm bracelet evokes feelings of years gone by and has always been a recognized classy piece of jewelry. Its appeal transcends all age groups and can be seen in the collections of young and old wearers.

The market has a variety of sterling silver charm bracelets ranging from the reasonably priced ones to exclusive high end designer charm bracelets.

The charm bracelet spans a history of centuries. It was first made popular by Queen Victoria who carried family portraits related to her ancestry.

This led to a trend and eventually charm bracelets found themselves around the wrists of the masses.

Each charm bracelet tells a unique story and this is perhaps the most interactive type of jewelry in the market. Each charm can represent a particular genre of sport, travel or kitsch hobbies.

You can build on and add charms as you require. You can pick your desired charm from your world travels as a memento to record your journeys.

Similarly you can choose any other theme, for instance baseball fans can have a charm bracelet that displays their interest whereas race car fans can have one accordingly.

The charm bracelet makes for an excellent gift item and can be personalized by the gift giver to match the personality of the wearer.

You will be able to find a myriad of options when it comes to the design and style of charms that are available out there in the market. The thousands of charms have been placed into different categories that make it easier to make a choice.

You can find some that are as unique as telephones, kitchen items, cars and even vacation sports to suit your mood and your need.

Though silver is incorporated in the charm bracelet, the real appeal of this fashion accessory lies in the fact that it is a timeless piece that takes on a life of its own as the wearer adds on charms as time goes by.

This jewelry item combines two facets in one. You can find a wide variety of charms to add on to your bracelet in craft and hobby stores across the world at various price ranges.

Some manufacturers will charge you for the designs while others will simply charge you for the precious stones like diamonds or others that form part of the charm that can be added on to the bracelet. - 23305

About the Author:

Sterling silver jewelry is a popular gift choice for family and loved ones. To know more about choosing sterling silver charm bracelet please follow the links.

Is Forex Currency Trading Different to Currency Market Trading?

By Phil Jarvie

Currency Market Trading and Forex Currency Trading for all intents and purposes are the same thing. People don't trade US dollars for US dollars, except to make change at a bank for a retail shop. So the terms are referring to international currency being exchanged for a different country's money. Fact is, you can also call it 4x trading, 4x currency trading, fx currency trading, fx exchange - they all are referring to the same thing.

But many people do get confused by these different terms, and I guess that's because we all grew up with the Internet as being the biggest mega-trend in society in the last 10-15 years. With the Internet came the stock market's day traders dealing in shares, options and banks. All the brokerage houses had to adapt to the new World of online day trading because investors could now place their own trades - brokers were reduced to advice only.

There has always been forex currency trading, but prior to the Internet it was the exclusive domain of Governments, large banks and brokerage firms. Currency market trading then was opened up to the micro and mini forex day traders because of the widespread use of broadband internet and smart, fast and reliable software. It is interesting that most investors really only discovered stock markets when the Internet opened up all the markets equally.

What is interesting is that in fact the forex currency trading market is massively bigger than the stock market. The Forex Currency Market has a higher cash turnover each week than the entire USA economy does in one year - and that is before the USA collapsed into recession.

And it is not just the size of the total currency market trading that takes place that is impressive; it is more that it is so huge that it is beyond the ability of any Government to control it fully. There is no central regulation of currency market trading. Sure the USA Government can make laws for brokers and traders in the USA, but when bad laws are passed people simply trade from an International broker - often just an overseas branch of their existing USA broker.

Stocks and shares have mostly been manipulated and are only slightly influenced by the operation of the free market. Law and lawyers, misleading press releases by big business and/or outright fraud will always be found in the boom or bust cycle of share trading. Forex currency trading on the other hand is simply too big. Governments cannot write laws which can be manipulated by lawyers. Big business is tiny by comparison, and can only report their forex gains or losses to their own balance sheets; none of which could influence the total currency market trading system.

Let's assume a Middle Eastern Prince enters the market with 5 Billion Euros which he backs the Euro against the dollar. Yes, such a heavy-weight move may push up the value of the Euro by about 1 cent or a bit more over about 3 hours. But his timing had better be on the back of some bad news coming out of the USA, because the currency market trading volumes are so large that the 5 billion Euros could just as easily become 4 billion in that same 3 hours. Forex currency trading is so large that 5 billion Euro is nothing really considering the 2,500 billion euros traded each and every day, 5 days a week.

So if big business and Governments seem powerless to manipulate forex currency trading, what chance does the small, mini or micro investor have? This is the beauty of currency market trading, because the operation of the free market allows for astute money management and strategic trading positions to be taken (like hedging). Add to this the very smart 4x trading software trading live at your desktop provides you with; even the modest forex trader can do very well indeed.

Feel free to visit my website where I go into great detail about currency market trading, the many forex robots and expert advisors available, and also what forex strategy can do for your forex currency trading. - 23305

About the Author:

Phil Jarvie writes extensively on 4x trading related matters and is an experienced forex trader. Feel free to visit his free website for details on forex robots, expert advisers, 4x trading, 4x trading software and forex currency trading, fx exchange and currency market trading articles.

Investor Diversification 101

By Michael Swanson

For most people the old adage about not putting all one's eggs in one basket makes perfect sense. Most people can see how this applies to their investing decisions. We by our very nature can be very cautious people and dislike the thought of losing money on investments. However does investor diversification really work for the smaller investor?

Where we are at any point in our investment life cycle will have a huge bearing on our tolerance for risk. Some people are naturally risky, others much more cautious. For those starting out in their working careers the money they invest is very limited and they don't want to lose any of it. For those in the wealth accumulation years they tend to be much more risk tolerant. For them there is a bigger base so a small loss isn't as important and they have years to recoup any losses. For those at the end of their working lives or in retirement, the risk profile is probably much lower. All these factors mean that as individuals, our attitude to diversification will be different.

The problem with diversifying is that while you may limit your risk, you may limit the gains you can make as well. If all your money is in stock picks and the property market has a boom you will not participate in any of these high returns.

For the smaller investor the amount they have to invest will determine the level of diversification they can achieve. We are told to have a number of different stocks, fixed investments, property etc. But to buy all these might end up with the investor having thimble sized investments in a number of areas, which just isn't sensible.

There are many instances where specializing have paid off, look at Henry Ford or Bill Gates, neither of these diversified their markets. But there are just as many examples of people who have not diversified and have been burnt.

In the end each small investor has to assess his risk profile and manage his investor diversification appropriately. - 23305

About the Author:

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Trading Decreased Volatility Breakout (Part II)

By Ahmad Hassam

Aging Trend: This is the period of consolidation as the trend comes to maturity. Volatility tends to decrease at this stage of the trend as the momentum of the trend exhausts itself. This is the period where lot of profit taking will take place.

Experienced traders try to get out of their trades at this stage of the trend by closing their positions. This satisfies the appetites of inexperienced traders as they consolidate their positions. Both the bulls and the bears are hesitant to make daring moves at this stage of the trend.

The trend takes a short break and the volatility is low during this stage of the trend. This is the period of consolidation and the prices tend to stay calm during this period. Currency prices have moved by a large amount in the previous period of high volatility.

Fourth Stage-End of Trend: This is the time when the prevailing trend ends. After some new information is revealed about a currency that changes the opinion of the crowd, the trend reverses itself. This is the last stage of the trend. As the market players tend to absorb the information, this results in the rapid adjustment of prices within a short time.

Traders become desperate to get out of their positions especially if they have been caught on the wrong side of the market. Many stops will get triggered during this stage of the trend.

During this stage of the trend there is a sharp follow through of the prices in the reversed direction. You can see even within a trend currency prices can experience decreased volatility followed by increased volatility as the crowd psychology keeps on changing.

Traders with open positions during this low period of volatility are the most vulnerable to unanticipated news. Decreased volatility can be found during trending or ranging phases.

During this time gains can be made from the unsuspecting players and this is known as the Decreased Volatility Breakout Strategy. Deceased volatility provides an excellent opportunity to traders to prepare and profit from an imminent change from low to high volatility.

There are several technical indicators that can help you visualize the volatility in the currency prices. The success of this strategy lies in measuring the volatility of the forex market correctly.

One such is the triangle patterns. Though they maybe difficult to identify for new traders but with experience you can learn how to identify the triangle patterns on price charts. You can use triangle patterns as one of the best indicators of decreasing price volatility in the currency price charts. Combine the triangle patterns with technical indicators to confirm or deny decreasing price volatility. Two of the most useful indicators that can help you measure the volatility of the currency prices are: 1) Moving Averages and 2) Bollinger Bands.

You can take advantage of the decreasing price volatility in the forex market through identifying the triangle formations. When a particular type of triangle has been identified by the trader, a high probability trade may be in sight. All triangles show decreasing price volatility in the forex market. - 23305

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam is a Harvard University Graduate. He is interested in day trading stocks and currencies. Get Netpicks Forex Signals Free. Learn Forex Trading!