How to Choose the Right Dealer? (Part I)

Posted by Ahmad Hassam | Currencies | Tuesday 23 June 2009 4:47 am
by Ahmad Hassam

Almost 90% of the investors in currency markets are short term speculators. Most of the investors want quick capital gains by starting forex day trading as a speculating venture. If you have made the positive decision to start currency trading, your first step should be choosing the right forex broker. The right choice of a broker will greatly influence the success of your whole enterprise.

These days, the market is overcrowded with companies and banks offering online brokerage services to individual traders and investors to access the currency markets. It is not easy to make the right choice without a certain set of criteria. These criteria will mostly depend on the interests, preferences and means of each individual trader depending on his/her trading strategies and tactics.

The best method to choose the right forex broker is to compose a list of questions to ask the forex broker before making a final decision. The following are some of the suggested questions that you should ask the forex broker before making a final decision.

What is the amount of the interday and overnight margin? What is the corresponding leverage? Many online forex brokers offer margin between 2-5%. They provide leverage ranging from 20:1 to 100:1. Higher margin requirement means lower investment efficiency for you. Margin is the amount the broker sets aside as guarantee against your trading losses.

However, beware of lower margin. It means that most of the time the forex broker will be against you as a trader and will do everything possible to prevent you from winning. You will face many trading problems with such a broker. It will become difficult for you to work under such conditions.

What is the minimum contract size? Now days, the standard contract size is $100,000. This contract size is quite affordable and allows for reasonably effective money management with limited capital. This contract size also allows small individual investors to participate in currency speculation.

What are the minimum deposit requirements demanded by the forex broker? It is not unusual that many new traders dont have sufficient funds to open an account. The investment and financial means of traders differ. $10,000 is the required minimum amount corresponding to the forex market conditions by good dealers. In my opinion, the optimal minimum amount is $10,000 with 2% margin requirement.

What are the terms of setting and executing stop and limit orders? The ideal condition should be the execution of the stop and limit orders at the fixed price regardless of the market conditions, its speed and its direction. Some forex brokers provide this type of execution. Other brokers reserve the right to fulfill an order with slippage.

The value of slippage depends on the current state of the market and can fluctuate from a few pips to tens of pips. The slippage creates favorable conditions for the abuse of the trader by the broker. Although it is practically impossible to arbitrate the price received from the broker during the transaction.

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Testing Forex Trading Robots For Seek And Scalp Profits

Posted by John Eather | Currencies | Tuesday 23 June 2009 4:43 am
by John Eather

Forex trading robots are programmed to seek and scalp small profits during day trading. This done on a long term basis is able to grown some considerable profits. Day trading in forex is not a huge challenge. Millions of traders are doing the same things at the same time of day, and a robot can look at these trends to build income in a relatively risk free manner. What may be a challenge is finding the right robot product.

The trading systems, goals and aims used by different traders are to a degree very predictable. Day trading can be a challenge because of the fact that it is so predictable. However there are factors such as support and resistance levels and volatility in short time frames which come into play. Because of these if a robot does not perform, it could mean losses for the trader.

Day trading is actually a good wicket, and there here are a great many day trading robots for sale. They offer simulated track records which are back tested. But the only way you can tell forex trading robot will perform is to test it with real data in real time. This is known as a forward test! The forward test will allow you to see how the robot performs in changing market circumstances on a broker account.

Testing a forex robot in this way is called a “forward test” as apposed to a “back test”. It has to be able to adapt to changing market circumstances while performing on a broker account. The test should reveal that the robot shows consistent trades, meaning more winning trades. And most vital of all is money management, the robot has to be able to protect the account equity without allowing any large draw-downs.

Ideally these robots should be tested against one another during the same or similar market conditions, with and identical capital deposit amounts. This is the only sure fire way to receive a true indication of whether a product is comparable or not. For vendors to cash in on day trading by means of a forex trading robot, don’t rely solely on the hype of historical price data and tested performance analysis. This is marketing speak from the people who sell these products. Be prepared to test and compare products yourself.

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Selecting a Real Estate Agent

Posted by Jim Olenbush | Real estate | Tuesday 23 June 2009 4:04 am
by Jim Olenbush

There are several things you should keep in mind when you are taking the assistance of a real estate agent to assist you find a home. For instance, you should remember that real estates are commissioned by sellers to help them sell their homes. Therefore, while a real estate agent can help you find a home and has access to a vast database of available homes for sale, the agent is primarily responsible for meeting the needs of the seller. Finding an agent who will keep your best interests in mind is not so tough.

Searching for the Correct Agent

When narrowing down your real estate agent options and trying to determine who you will have work for you, you should look for someone that has a number of certain characteristics. These include.

Knows your needs Is willing to work with you in order to fulfill your needs Has a professional outlook Is well versed in the real estate profession Is familiar with the area where you wish to purchase a home Is knowledgeable about the different properties that are available under your budget Is a qualified real estate professional and boasts of being a Certified Residential Specialist or is a graduate of the REALTORS Institute Has strong references that can be confirmed from previous buyers

Once the above tasks have been completed and you have shortened the list of reputable real estate agents that meet these qualifications, you can sit down and talk with each of them. Spending some moments to talk with the agent and asking them certain key queries you can ensure whether the agent is cut out for your task.

Querying the Agent

You can determine whether the agent is suitable for you or not by asking them a set of relevant questions. There are certain key questions that will help you to gauge the agent’s qualifications, know him or her better, and also determine whether you shall feel comfortable working with them or not. They include

Are you familiar with the area I am interested in? How many sales did you complete last year? Do you work as a full time real estate agent? How long have you been in the real estate field? Do you often work on behalf of the buyers or the sellers? How many other buyers are you currently working with? How many sellers are you currently representing? As a real estate agent, what are your capabilities?

It is a good idea to write down these questions and then to write down the answers the real estate agents give you. This way, you can compare notes and select the one that is right for you.

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Have Access to a Broker and Real-Time Trading with XForex

Posted by Alex Miller | Stock market | Tuesday 23 June 2009 3:44 am
by Alex Miller

If you want to get started on the Forex market, the first thing that you are going to need is access to a broker who can place your trades for you. One of the easiest ways for you to be able to accomplish this is by joining an online platform. Not only will you have access to a broker, you will also be able to trade in real time and to do so from the convenience of your own home, using your own personal computer.

One of the difficult parts about going with an online platform, however, is the fact that you are going to have a number of different choices that are available to you. Although you certainly could choose any forex platform, the one that we have currently been using and are recommending is xForex. We have been benefited in a number of different ways by using this platform, but it is impossible for us to give you all the benefits within the confines of a single article. Here are three different reasons that will help to give you an overview of what the platform can do for you.

The first thing that the platform offers to you is great customer service. There’s no doubt that customer service is one of the most important parts of any Forex platform that you are going to use. There is nothing more frustrating than having a problem in the middle of the night and not being able to contact somebody who is able to help you with that problem.

In our initial testing of this platform, we did what we usually do in order to test how effective customer service is going to be. We send several questions in order to find out if they are able to answer them intelligently. Not only was this platform able to answer them correctly, they were able to do it in a timely manner. This also occurred whenever we contacted them during the middle of the night with a rather urgent question. You can contact them via e-mail, telephone and online chat.

Another thing that we enjoyed about this platform is the fact that they have a low deposit available, which allows anybody to get started trading on the market easily. With as little as $100, you can begin your trading career and really test the waters of the Forex market. You can fund your account with any major credit card and when it’s time to make a withdrawal, you can withdraw into that credit card as well.

The final thing that we like about the xForex platform is that they are very user friendly for people who are just getting started. Through a series of online tutorials that is available on their website, you can not only get comfortable with trading but you can learn everything that you need to know about it. Take your time and look through these tutorials, they will benefit you.

You certainly do have a lot of different choices whenever it comes to the platform that you are going to use. By choosing a reliable provider, such as xForex, you will be a trading in no time at all.

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The Rule of 72

The rule of 72 is one of those mathematical formulas that are great because it’s so simple, yet effective in showing you the dramatic effect of compound interest.

Simply, the rule of 72 says that the approximate amount of time (in years) that your money will double is 72 divided by the interest rate (in percentage).

For example, a quick calculation tells us that our money will double in 12 years if the interest rate is 6% (72 / 6 = 12) while the same gain could be had in 9 years if the interest rate increases to 8% (72 / 8 = 9).  Here’s a graph with more examples.

double money

2% means your money will double in 36 years while 12% means 6.  It’s no wonder why people are always hungry for a higher yield!

The rule of 72 is a nifty way of not just showing your friends that you are quick with math but also a convenient mechanism to illustrate the power of having a higher rate of return.


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