“Easy money” is the allure that captivates many beginning FOREX traders. FOREX websites offer “risk-free” trading, “high returns”, “low investment.” These claims have a grain of truth in them, but the reality of FOREX is a bit more complex.

Mistakes Of The Beginning Trader

There are 2 common mistakes that many beginner traders make: trading without a strategy and letting emotions rule their decisions. After opening a FOREX account it may be tempting to dive right in and start trading. Watching the movements of EUR/USD for example, you may feel that you are letting an opportunity pass you by if you don’t enter the market immediately. You buy and watch the market move against you. You panic and sell, only to see the market recover.

This kind of undisciplined approach to FOREX is guaranteed to lose money. FOREX traders must have a rational trading strategy and not make trading decisions in the heat of the moment.

Understanding Market Movements

To make rational trading decisions, the FOREX trader must be well educated in market movements. He must be able to apply technical studies to charts and plot out entry and exit points. He must take advantage of the various types of orders to minimize his risk and maximize his profit.

The first step in becoming a successful FOREX trader is to understand the market and the forces behind it. Who trades FOREX and why? This will allow you to identify successful trading strategies and use them.

Accountability

There are 5 major groups of investors who participate in FOREX: governments, banks, corporations, investment funds, and traders. Each group has its own objectives, but 1 thing all groups except traders have in common is external control. Every organization has rules and guidelines for trading currencies and can be held accountable for their trading decisions. Individual traders, on the other hand, are accountable only to themselves.

Large organizations and educated traders approach the FOREX with strategies, and if you hope to succeed as a FOREX trader you must follow suit.

Money Management

Money management is an integral part of any trading strategy. Besides knowing which currencies to trade and how to recognize entry and exit signals, the successful trader has to manage his resources and integrate money management into his trading plan.

There are various strategies for money management. Many rely on the calculation of core equity — your starting balance minus the money used in open positions.

Core Equity And Limited Risk

When entering a position try to limit your risk to 1% to 3% of each trade. This means that if you are trading a standard FOREX lot of $100,000 you should limit your risk to $1,000 to $3,000. You do this with a stop loss order 100 pips (1 pip = $10) above or below your entry position.

As your core equity rises or falls, adjust the dollar amount of your risk. With a starting balance of $10,000 and 1 open position, your core equity is $9000. If you wish to add a second open position, your core equity would fall to $8000 and you should limit your risk to $900. Risk in a third position should be limited to $800.

Greater Profit, Greater Risk

You should also raise your risk level as your core equity rises. After $5,000 profit, your core equity is now $15,000. You could raise your risk to $1,500 per transaction. Alternatively, you could risk more from the profit than from the original starting balance. Some traders may risk up to 5% against their realized profits ($5,000 on a $100,000 lot) for greater profit potential.

These are the kinds of strategic tactics that allow a beginner to get a foothold on profitable trading in FOREX.

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Traders start each day in anticipation of making quality trades. It’s up to the market to provide the opportunities for a trader to participate; and it doesn’t always reciprocate with quality opportunities for a trader to pick out high probability trades.

Trending markets, or markets that are moving in one distinct direction are what every trader likes to see on his or her chart. These markets provide ample opportunity for a trader to showcase his skills and enter high probability trades with potential for profit. Depending upon which article or book you read, markets trend between 30% and 40% of the time. These are times when the trader is most active participating in the market move.

There are other times, however, that the market does not trend. During these periods the market is usually moving sideways in serpentine patterns that invite the trader to try his or her luck. It is seldom a great idea, especially for the novice trader, to initiate trades in consolidating markets. They can be treacherous and very difficult to trade. Consolidating markets, to use a fishing metaphor, is like sitting in a boat when the fish aren’t biting. It can be frustrating to watch the bars roll across those screen without any clear opportunity to trade.

I am a scalper, and I nearly always trade with the trend. In fact, I trade with the trend more than 90% of the time. Less than 10% of my trades are counter trend trades. The only counter trend trades I generally take our tick fades generated by the NYSE tick indicator. Most of the great traders that I have had the privilege of trading with are trend traders, too.

Why?

That’s an extremely easy question to answer. It’s a lot easier to go with the flow than go against the flow. Ask any salmon how fun it must be to swim against the current for several weeks at a time. Its tough work and they get beat up terribly. Counter trend trading is arguably similar to swimming against the current. The majority of the time, the trend may retrace for a few bars and then resume in the direction of the trend. It’s a great way to lose money and destroy your confidence. Of course, it’s easily avoided. Don’t trade against the trend; don’t try to swim against the current.

You might be interested to know that markets that are trending downwards move three times quicker than markets trending to the upside. Markets in an upward trend usually do so in a gradual manner as opposed to the more violent and erratic downward movement typified by downtrends. There are a variety of theories why this phenomenon occurs, and I think the most credible theory states that people tend to sell out of fear and are more pragmatic as they accumulate shares. The logical ramification of these phenomena is that more patience is needed when trading in an upward trend, and downward trend trades need a quick and concise buy/sell decisions.

The point of this article is a simple one, and that is the most profitable times to trade are in trending markets. Non-trending markets are difficult to trade and treacherous; they are best avoided, especially by novice traders.

- About the Author: I am a long time retail and institutional trader who now only trades part time, usually in the morning. I enjoy writing informational articles about my style of trading so others may benefit. Would it be convenient to receive valuable trading tips every night in your email? You can sign up for our free video series by Clicking here These videos contain advanced trading strategies and will enhance your trading knowledge immeasurably. Best of all, they are free! So get your free videos and start trading like the pros. Article Source

Stop loss orders are great insurance policies that cost you nothing and can save you a fortune. They are used to sell or buy at a specified price and greatly reduce the risk you take when you buy or sell a futures contract. Stop loss orders will automatically execute when the price specified is hit, and can take the emotion out of a buy or sell decision by setting a cap on the amount you are willing to lose in a trade that has gone against you. Stop loss orders don’t guarantee against losses but they drastically reduce risk by limiting potential losses.

With my system the only stop I use is what I call an emergency stop. My stop loss is automatically made when I make my initial trade at two points. It is only for emergencies, like news I wasn’t expecting, or anything that will make the market gyrate drastically and I never enter a trade without it. However I never expect to use this stop loss to exit my trade. I simply will not let the market move against my trade entry more than a tick or two. If I find that I exited the trade too soon I just reenter the trade but if the trade continues to move against me I have saved the loss of one or two points per. contract. Usually I will only have to exit and reenter a trade one time if I have entered a trade to early. This means I only lose a small commission per contract instead of fifty dollars per point- per contract, when trading the e-mini, and taking what many considera normal loss.

Trading the futures markets is a challenging but profitable opportunity for educated and experienced traders. However it is not easy, without a great trading system, and even traders with years of experience still incur losses. Finding a good trading system and trading in small increments with an emergency stop loss in place will allow those relatively new to futures trading to be successful. Once you have learned the skills you need to trade with consistent profits it will not be a problem but until that time it is absolutely critical that you do not take unnecessary losses. If you are new to trading futures you should never trade until you have a mentor with a trading system that gives you consistent profits.

A great way to protect profits if you have not established an exit strategy is the trailing stop. The trailing stop loss is an order that is entered once you enter your trade. Your stop price moves at a specified distance behind the market price. Trailing stops are raised when a price rises, in a long trade, but will remain stationary when it falls. Trailing will only occur when the market price moves in favor of the trade to which the order is attached. The trailing stop order is similar to the stop loss order, but you use it to protect a profit, as opposed to protect against losses. Trailing stops are designed to lock in profit levels and they literally trail along your increasing profit and adjust your stop loss levels accordingly. Often traders will find tailing stops confusing because they change them while in an open position. This is not a wise practice, and should be avoided. It is an indication that you are not sure of your trade and if one is not sure of a trade it would be wise to exit immediately. Trailing stops are ideal because they allow for further profit potential to enter due to momentum, while limiting risk. Trailing stops are an important component to a trader’s risk management unless they have an exit strategy in their system that might serve them better.

The market order is the simplest and quickest way to get your order filled to enter a trade or to use as a stop loss. A market order is a trade executed at the current market price and they are often used to exit trades to ensure that the order has the best possible chance of execution. A market order to exit is simply an order used to exit the trade immediately. Be aware that in a fast-changing market sometimes there is a disparity between the price when the market order is given and the actual price when it is filled.

Stop loss orders are used to exit trades, and are always used to limit the amount of loss, but some day traders use them as their only exit, while other traders use them as a backup exit only. If one uses them as their exit they will risk more than is necessary and might want to find a better system to trade. Stop loss orders allow you to define your risks before you open a position and in my opinion that risk should be minimal. Stop loss orders are one of the easiest ways to increase your chances of survival when trading commodities and futures and they are a powerful risk-management tool.

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