0Posted by Michael Glass on May 16, 2012 at 2:53 pm
Introduction to Forex
What is Forex
The Foreign Exchange Market (forex) facilitates the process of exchanging one currency for another. It is the place where currencies are traded and converted for one and another. The forex market, which is all electronic, was created around the mid-1970s. The exchange rate is established by the consensus of buyers and sellers. It is the relative value of the base currency vs the value of the quote currency. Forex is traded in currency pairs: Base Currency vs. Counter Currency (Quote)
The Forex market is the largest and most liquid financial market in the world. The daily volume of transactions in the forex market ranges between 1-3 trillion dollars. One of the reasons the Forex Market is so liquid is that it is open 24 hours a day, five and a half days a week. Although Forex is traded worldwide, the largest financial centers are London, New York and Hong Kong. The US Dollar is involved in approximately 90% of all forex transactions.
0Posted by Michael Glass on April 1, 2012 at 11:11 am
Basic Stock Market Trading Strategies:
Breakouts, Pullbacks and Bollinger Bands
The stock market has been known to be the greatest creator of wealth on the planet; however, it is often quoted that 8 out of 10 investors are losing money on a daily basis. How can both these statements be true?
The problem that most investor fall victim to is that they are not prepared to invest in the stock market. They get a tip from a television show or website and throw all their cash in hopes of that wealth untold; however, the usual results is pain like nothing they have felt before. Investing in the stock market takes much more than knowing what to buy. You also have to know when to buy and how to buy. You need to be aware of how much to buy and when to cut your losses. Today, we would like to focus on the How to Buy portion that every trade must learn.
So, we put together a list of basic trading setups that any beginning investor must learn and master before throwing real cash into the market.
Breakouts - A breakout is a stock price that moves outside a defined support or resistance level with increased volume.
Pullbacks - Buying weakness and selling strength is the art of buying pullbacks. Pullbacks offer low risk opportunities to establish a trading position
Bollinger Bands - Many traders use Bollinger bands to determine overbought and oversold levels, selling when price touches the upper Bollinger band and buying when it hits the lower Bollinger band.
Watch the video learn more about these stock market trading strategies
0Posted by Michael Glass on March 2, 2012 at 5:49 pm
Trading Blueprint
for New Traders
If I was at the beginning again at trading, I would emphasize that trading is like a business. Thus, you need to treat as such by creating a business plan or in trading, a trading plan. So here’s my trading blueprint for new traders.
Start off by understanding your strengths and weaknesses. In your contact, you discussed wanting to trade futures. They are great advantages to the futures market. My favorite is leverage, but with the advantage also comes greater risk when mismanaged. So, make sure the market you want to invest in matches your strength and weakness. Make sure you have a firm understanding of how money (capital, commissions, profits, losses, etc.) works just like a business needs to know assets and liabilities.
Then, you need to address the type of trader you want to be. By this I really mean a day trader or end of day trader. Even as a day trader there are different styles based upon the timeframe you want to watch the market. The longer the timeframe, the bigger your stop (the amount of money you can afford to risk) needs to be. This is very important and goes back to understanding the money.
Third, you can look for specific trading rules/strategies. You need to have a specific set of criteria that you follow. Only when those settings are matched will you enter a trade. This is all about being a disciplined trader instead of an emotional trader. If A, then B. If C, then D. Very specific. Make adjustments to the rules only when the market tells you to (which is when you start to see it not working).
Practice, Practice, Practice. Then Document, document, document. See what works. See how it affects cashflow. Document. Remember, it’s a business, not a hobby.
It’s only at this point that you can think about risking live/real money. Start small to get the feel of what it is like to make and lose money. Then go back and really make sure your rules, strategies, cashflow, risk tolerance still are the same.
Of course, I highly recommend getting a coach to help guide you through the process, but if I were at the start all over again, I would definitely treat it more like a business and not just a hope I would be successful.
I hope this helps. Feel free to contact me if any additional questions. Remember, there’s potential to both make and lose money.
Watch the video below to learn if You are Prepared to Trade
0Posted by Michael Glass on February 26, 2012 at 12:02 pm
Why do 90%
of all
Day Traders Fail?
It is often quotes that over 90% of all Day Traders Fail. The obvious question is WHY? Why do 90% of all Day Traders Fail? Well to start, you have to look at what exactly brought the investor to the stock market. Was it a sound plan with achievable objectives? Or was it a hot tip they received from a friend or saw on TV. My p oint is that many traders have their fingers burnt because they did not take the time to define why it is exactly that they are investing in the stock market.
That same trader will unrealistic goals now heads to Google to look for the Legend of the Holy Grail. They search day after day looking for some magical indicator or trading system that will remove all risk from traders. Of course, their are trading gurus promising just that. Buy my system and I’ll show you a cant miss trading strategy that anyone can replicate. If it is truly this easy, again I ask, Why do over 90% of all investors fail?
The answer? Consistent and profitable traders are aware that the key to success in trading is NOT found in a technical indicator or trading system. Instead they understand to be successful in the stock market that you must develop a trader’s mindset. You must be able to handle the emotions o both winning and losing trades.
0Posted by Michael Glass on February 18, 2012 at 2:26 pm
How to use
Pivot Points for
Stock Market Trading
Pivot Points are technical indicators derived by calculating the average of a particular stock’s, forex pair or futures high, low and closing prices. Using pivot points as a trading strategy has been around for a long time and was originally used by floor traders. Pivot Points have become very popular with day traders because of their ability to identify support and resistance based off of the prior days price action. If price action falls below the pivot point, it may be used as a new resistance level. Conversely, if the price action rises above the pivot point, it may act as the new support level.
Currently, there are several different ways to calculate pivot points. Using some simple arithmetic and the previous days high, low and close, a series of points are plotted on a chart. These points can be used as support and resistance levels. The pivot level, support and resistance levels calculated from that are collectively known as pivot levels. You can find one of the popular sites used to help calculate pivot points by clicking here.
Some trading strategies used by traders utilizing Pivot Points are:
