forextrading

Factors That Influence Forex Trading

The value of a country's currency is influenced by a number of factors: The economics of the country, its trade deficit, political and social environment.

If the current government's deficit increases, its currency's value will fall. As the government decreases its deficit, the currency can begin to recover value and the exchange rate will become more favorable. The same relationship holds true with a country's trade deficit. If the country imports more goods and services than it exports it will have a negative influence on the currency.

Inflation lessens the ability of a unit of currency to buy less and less, so the currency loses value. If the inflation becomes rampant the currency is valued less because it's also viewed as unstable. As the rate of inflation begins to decline the currency begins to increase in value.

Politics and social changes can play havoc with the currency exchange rates. Changes in the regime that are viewed negatively can lower the value of the country's currency in the short term and continue into the long term. If the present government makes decisions that are looked at negatively it can decrease the currency value as well. The opposite can happen. Current government officials can make policy changes that are viewed positively by the rest of the world and that can increase the value of the currency.

For the United States, interest rates and the price of oil can have a major impact on the value of the US dollar.

Interest rates effect how much it's going to cost to borrow money and how much can be earned on investments. Historically if the US raises its interest rates it attracts foreign investors. Those investors have to sell their own currency in order to buy U.S. dollars to purchase treasury bonds. If the interest begins to drop, or the perception is that the rates won't rise any more, investors may purchase Euros as an alternative investment which lowers the value of the US dollar.

The United States is dependent on foreign oil production. Many US industries are dependent on oil and an increase in the price of oil means an increase in their expenses and a drop in profits. In a similar way, a country's dependency on oil influences how the country's currency is valued and will be impacted by changes in oil prices. The US's dependency on oil makes the dollar more sensitive to oil prices than countries who aren't so dependent. As the price of oil increases the value of the dollar drops.

If you interested in learning to trade forex successfully then the most common path for an aspiring trader these days is to search the internet for information to apply immediately to their live forex trading account.

At the end of the day what many of these forex guru's sell is a gross misrepresentation of what it takes to trade forex for a living.

Forex Trading is not easy. You can become a good forex trader though dedication and by treating forex trading as you would any other skill. The reality is that it is hard work and must be treated with the same amount of seriousness as you would any other career.

New forex traders normally start their career by purchasing some secret set of indicators and they are quickly punished for their naivety. Many of these forex traders then purchase a different set of secret indicators until they become disillusioned and then quit trading.

In fact, many forex traders that are now successful went through this learning process, including myself. This is only a problem if you refuse to learn from your mistakes. You need to break from this cycle of reliance on secret indicators and guru methods to be successful.

You help yourself in the beginning; by learning to think for yourself and understanding that whilst anyone can trade forex, to be successful, you must learn to BE a forex trader.

To BE A Forex Trader

To trade forex is easy, all you need is a forex trading account with money in it and then you enter the foreign exchange market and start trading.

To be a forex trader is more work. You need to grow from the starting point of having very little knowledge to the stage where you have a trading plan, understand the concepts and behaviour of the forex market and be able to trade with a cool head and understand that wins and losses are all part of being a Forex Trader.

Learning How to Trade Forex by thinking like a Forex Trader in Seven steps.


1.Understand your place in the Forex Market

This is very important you must understand that you are very small fish in a big ocean.

In the Foreign Exchange Market the majority of the liquidity is coming from big banks and experienced institutional traders. These are the big fish. The big fish will happily enjoy you as a little snack.

You have to learn to swim alongside these big fish and catch the same currents they do. Swimming against them just marks you as prey and sooner or later you will be eaten.

2.Learn to read the Forex Charts and Understand the Foreign Exchange Market.

Many novice forex traders believe that these big forex traders have access to some secret forex trading strategy or use a secret set of indicators, but the truth is this is just not the case.

These major forex players are using simple, but proven technical analysis techniques - most commonly horizontal support/resistance, identification of trading ranges, Fibonacci these are then coupled with fundamental themes.

3. Money Management

It is crucial that you understand as a novice forex trader the emphasis is not on how much you can make from forex trading but on how you manage what you have.

This is the most common downfall of all novice traders. It is common place to see a starting trader risk the majority of their account on one or two positions.

This style of trading is not sustainable and professional traders do not trade in this manner. Everyone sometime in their career will have a string of bad trades. A typical number might be 10 losing trades in a row. The question is do you have a money management plan in place that enables you to survive this?

4.Focus on the Market

Many novice forex traders open their forex charting software and activate their latest hot indicator or tool and proceed to place their trades as per the tools recommendations. This style of forex trading is unlikely to have much long term success.

You must focus on the forex market and understand what the indicators are telling you so that you can pick the forex trades which have the best probability of being winners.

Successful forex traders use indicators and tools as Fibonacci, Pivot points, price channels, MACD, RSI etc. These tools by themselves do not make a successful trader.

The key is that successful traders understands how the market behaves around the indicators and understands what the signals actually mean.

The best way to achieve this is to stop swapping between tools and select those that compliment your trading plan, understand how they work, and then spend time in the market experiencing them.

5.Plan your trade and trade your plan.

This is a common saying that seems to get lost on novice traders. It should be every traders goal to make pips on each forex trade as per their trading plan.

Many novice traders seem to lack the discipline to follow a plan for each trade. So what happens is typically the following; a novice trader will see a potential set-up, they decide on some arbitrary sum to buy or sell with a quick guesstimate, then place the trade without analyzing any risk and having an exit strategy.

The first question novice traders tend to ask themselves how much will I make on this forex trade?
The first question experience traders tend to ask themselves is how much is my potential loss / risk?

6.Your mind is your strongest asset and weakest link.

First you must understand the role psychology plays in trading. You must learn to understand your personality traits and how they might affect your trading style.

Second you must make it your aim to never stop learning. You cannot get yourself to a certain level and then become complacent. Every day is a learning experience in some way or other and you must be prepared to learn lessons and invest time in improving your skills and experience.

7.Understand The Forex Market is always right or Expect the Unexpected.

The forex market is an interesting place, but there is one thing every trader needs to learn. Always expect the unexpected and do not get wrapped up in past successes.

Whatever happens in the market you must maintain an objective outlook on your strategy and the forex market and ensure that bubbles and crashes do not derail you in the long term.

By following these steps and learning to become a forex trader rather than just trading the forex market, you will put you on the path to ultimate success as a profitable forex trader. This is something that 95% of all novice traders fail to achieve.