Just be thankful to be alive and wait for my time to shine again!

Happy 2012 to all

2012-01-04T02:44:00.000-08:00

Wah....2011 is gone and now it is already in 2012. Guessed time flies faster when a person gets older ha ha.

Thankful to be alive

2011-09-14T02:21:00.000-07:00

Wah....down with cold and cough for the past 3 weeks and it got worst lately esp since Sunday. Now it is the sinus that got me. So...since today is the start for my 4 rest days, I have decided to have a complete rest to recover just as the doctor recommended me to do.

Investment

2011-08-11T23:41:00.000-07:00

Got burnt...at stock and forex market, so for now just gotto keep a low profile and recover my capital first before looking at having another "go" at investing.

Work

2011-08-11T23:28:00.000-07:00

The best thing for me....is my work at Menicon. Yes, busy and tiring but it keeps me "ALIVE".

Can't be thankful enough to my bosses Mr Ian and Mr Goh for hiring me. Guessed I must have done some good deeds in my younger days and GOD is looking after me.

Yes....working actually kept me "sane" too. Make my relationship with my family "better" in a way too.

All in....I am just thankful to be employed by and work with the "BEST BOSSES" ever. May they be blessed with good health and long life. Amen!

End of the world is near

2011-08-11T23:22:00.000-07:00

Looking at things happening lately....just cannot help to think something seriously will be happening soon. Not the good ones but the bad ones.

Can't help to notice that when it rains....it rains like no tomorrow. Yes, like all hell breaks loose. Flood here and there even in Singapore, not too long ago....remembered the leaders were saying flood happened once 50 yrs but now...what happen?

The stock and forex market.....dropping like no tomorrow too. Lucky Me....
just to lose a fair penny only, not the whole lot. Still....things are not looking good. More shocks to come!

Health....yes, more aches and pains. Guessed that got to do more with ageing than other issues. Oh....durian season, so got cough, flu and cold easily.

Just think back of the prediction regarding 2012. Well....still got a bit of time to make myself happy if this 2012 thingy is for REAL.

So....have fun and don't look back and regret!

Back to work

2011-07-20T03:54:00.000-07:00

Been busy with my new job at Menicon.....the best things are it is the same team pattern of work. 3/4 days per week....I meant for me that will be working in the night shift.

The only setback is the distance to work....esp the traffic to and from work during the week days.

Had the best bosses ever....so I am counting my blessing.

The chiam see from Kuang Imm ( waterloo temple ) was perfect. So thanks to the GODs and angels that are helping me out.

On last Sunday - chaim for job hunting

2011-04-05T23:23:00.000-07:00

Went to Waterloo Temple to pray...1st of Lunar 3rd month, so fast! And I asked for a chaim....got one No 8 which is a good omen. It is about a old pine tree...which get better and stronger as it's ages. So for now, just gotto hang-on tight and wait out for the best job. Once come....grab it and move on with on.

Went about my insurance thingy....and I'm doing the servicing of my clients and talking to them to keep myself busy.

For trading.....not in the picture so, low profile for now! Not in good position to stomach any loss.

6th April

2011-04-05T23:17:00.000-07:00

Supposed to take-over the resale flat so that I can work on it before shifting in by before end of May, but something serious happened. One of the sellers passed away and becoz they bought the flat under tenancy-in-common they need a letter of probate before they can transfer the deeds over to me. Meanwhile....I am Fucked! luckily managed to have their understanding that I can shift in by end of this month of instead of waiting for the whole legal progress to complete the sales. That save me the trouble to seek loss of use of flat ( can claim interest of 10% of value of flat which is about 4K per month ). Already people is widow...so no point to push my luck to gain anything. Bad karma if I do that!

So now....blinked blinked and wait for the lawyer to get the legal paper and complete the whole progress.

Meanwhile...looking for job, have already sent more than 20 resumes out during the time I am back till now. A about a week! Yes, have heard from a couple headhunter companies and they have short-list my name for a couple of companies. So...just gotto wait for call to interview. They are mainly from big MNC and esp for their night shift operation which is in my scope.

Many things have changed since my last blog

2011-04-05T23:01:00.000-07:00

Yes....but in the end, life moves on. For example....now I am jobless but I do have 2 jobs offered. I rejected one for MBS due to super low pay while the other is a new thing to me so I am holding out for something I am similar with. Manufacturing line.

Holiday

2011-03-08T03:08:00.000-08:00

Going to US till end of month....good to walk away from trading for awhile to reflect on things before deciding whether to continue to keep low profile or go all out.

Rich/Poor divide in Spore

2011-02-09T21:13:00.000-08:00

Time for the leaders to wake up if they still think they are doing a great job governing singapore.

Yes...for the rich ( 5% ), they are doing a great job becoz only the rich will get even more richer. Same for our leaders.

For the poor ( 20% )....too bad, this lot of people can go to hell or go over to Malaysia or Indonesia to live out your life as they don't matter at all to our leaders.

For those in the middle ( 75% )....well, we will train you to be in the service lines eg taxi drivers, guards, waiters, cooks once you got yourself "retrenched" from your manufacturing line.

Btw we have already allowed the population to grow by 25% by giving out the new citizenship and PR to 1+ million people.....eg pinoy, indon, indians, chinese, ang mo, malaysian and whoever has the money.

My personal view....yes, it is a wonderful place to live esp if you are rich as you have personal safety and whatever money can buy to live in Singapore. For the poor,
sorry.....better think of up-grading or go live somewhere else. For those in-between, don't sell your flat...always to ready for re-training and up-grading to do whatever job and vote for PAP or else!

Monday's Stock market

2011-01-30T19:18:00.000-08:00

Well, as expected.....most markets "tanked" due to what is happening in middle east plus the fact by the "DROP" is US Dow last friday.

Hope the situation will stablised soon then the stock markets can calmed down too.

Only fear....of things happening in the Middle East

2011-01-29T12:04:00.000-08:00

After seeing the news of what is happening in the Middle East....I have only fear that this may get out of control and cause great suffering to the people there.

Hope people will calm down and rethink what is happening and take a more peaceful way to work out their issues with the governments there.

Frankly I can understand what they are going thru....all the hardships and injustice but still I hope cooler heads can raise up to lead the people and settle the situations there before all hell break loose.

CNY coming soon

2011-01-29T11:53:00.000-08:00

POWER....another 5 days and it is CNY "the year of the white metal rabbit".

After tonight....I'll be "off" until 10th Feb ( 11 days )before going back to work. SWEET :)

Wish everyone a "happy, healthy and sweet year ahead" and may all your dreams and wants be granted.

2011 horoscopes for the year of the Rabbit

2011-01-14T13:39:00.000-08:00

2011 year is the year of the white metal Rabbit and 28th year in sixty-year cycle horoscope. 2011 is the fourth earth branch year named Mao, symbolizes diplomacy and is actually starting February 3, 2011 which is also the date of the 2011 Chinese New Year. After a rather difficult year, the coming 2011 year of the White Rabbit promises to be very interesting in all aspects of our life. For instance horoscope 2011 presents the year of the white metal Rabbit like a period with less changes that take over our real world and mass changes in every sphere of life that stand on an inner level. In other words a lot is going on behind the scenes and we shall open up our eyes widely to these changes and find out how we managed to live with all this new, bright and fascinating.

According to eastern traditional horoscope the coming 2011 year of the White Rabbit should came with more or less tranquil nature, but definitely must be delicate and sensitive to the word around. Of course on the surface the 2011 year of the Rabbit is sensitive, sophisticated and confident period, but... Anyway balanced and calm conditions of the 2011 year of the Rabbit may be easily weakened by only one unpredictable situation after which only titanic effort may return all developments of the 2011 year back on track. So make sure you don't ask too much and don't expect too much from the year of the White Rabbit since 2011 year has something to show us and even the best intellect could hardly imagine what the 2011 year of the White Rabbit got in store for us.

In sphere of love the 2011 year of the White Rabbit will need tenderness, trust and security. This 2011 year love will not be everywhere; moreover new love like a butterfly would be so delicate that may be hurt with just a rude word. In 2011 year of the White Rabbit there will be moments when you are happy and get contentment from your love relationships, but then without reason you could suddenly place serious doubts in your mind. So in 2011 year it will be a tricky thing to live happily with your lover and it would be hard to find your love or to find the right lover that corresponds to all your criteria. However if you would find the right one during the 2011 year of the White Rabbit then your love feelings would be so powerful that lasted forever.

Gemini 2011 horoscope
For the most part of 2011, many circumstances will be favorable, and all troubles will result due to the fussiness of Gemini individuals or due to their inadequate assessment of a situation. Not everything in their life will go well and smoothly. Nevertheless, by the end of 2011, they can achieve even more than they will lose. In the new 2011 of the white rabbit, their horoscope portends dramatic and significant changes that may be related to their professional life, love issues, or interrelationships with others.

Gemini individuals should not rush things or make decisions rashly. The risk of force majeure is too great. They need to be careful and do not attempt to overcome themselves. They should not worry after the first difficulties of early 2011 because everything in their life must surely go smoothly.

Coolness will be an unmistakable sign of success in 2011 for Gemini individuals. It is important to remember that all the important events of the year will be in the nature of force majeure that they cannot influence. That is why the main line of conduct should be the ability to harmoniously fit into any situation and not resist it.

Gemini love 2011 horoscope

The year 2011 will begin with the fact that all the dreams and aspirations of Gemini individuals will focus on an ideal marriage. There are likely ruptures in families where relationships are far from ideal. Gemini individuals may fall victim to outright blackmail by a partner and will lose a lot.

In spring, many will engage in relationships with partners, who they will consider as the incarnation of their dreams. The only trouble is that one person may rarely represent a set of all those qualities that Gemini individuals will seek in his or her chosen one. As a result, they may engage in several romances at once, and this will be fruitful. Destiny will provide an opportunity to meet with someone who has almost all the qualities that Gemini individuals may require in a partner.

In the summer of 2011, Gemini individuals as if they have regained their senses will begin to appreciate the person beside them, love and support them. Unmarried Gemini individuals will spend this summer in love. Destiny will allow them to choose whether to spend the months on sexual adventure, or build a foundation for a lasting union.

With the advent of autumn, their family will witness old problems. However, with patience, most Gemini individuals will still make it up to December, and then everything will change for the better. For single Gemini individuals, romantic relationship entered into during this period will be enjoyable and will last long.

Gemini career 2011 horoscope
2011 will be a good period of business for them because the beginning of the year will be a rare period of sobriety in his thoughts and actions. Those who build a career in this direction will make the first bold steps upwards.

Good luck that will guide their entire life in 2011 will very clearly show itself in spring. There will be no distractions or obstacles. Those who decide to change their jobs will be the luckiest.

Gemini individuals can relax a bit in summer. They will start to enjoy the very process of creation. It's not advisable to completely forget about career. In summer, they will have some great opportunities to get a new good post.

At year-end, the active areas of professional activity will witness good luck. However, colleagues will suddenly cease to understand them. Some important phase of building a career may breakup. Their line of business will not be affected by this trend if they show calm and restraint, and will repeatedly attempt peace negotiations

2011 Gemini Horoscope - Based on Moon Sign

2011-01-14T13:32:00.000-08:00

2011 Gemini Horoscope General

As per the Gemini Horoscope, 2011 would be a landmark year, where much of your past aspirations and efforts would be rewarded. You will find the year will become progressively better as the year advances.

Career, finances & status will expand with renewed vigor till the 7th May 2011. This period will see a lot of hard & efforts from your end. The results would be lower in proportion to the efforts made till the 7th May 2011. However gains would jump up after the 8th May 2011. All efforts made in the past would be doubly rewarded now.

Domestic dissatisfaction would prevail during this period. Discomfort will also prevail till the 15th November 2011. It is period when work & domestic matters will remain challenging. You could find improvements after the 15th November. Health should be monitored & regulated throughout during this period.

The Gemini Horoscope predicts that the year will start will some amount of higher activity level in love matters & relationships. Mind could be somewhat unsteady & decision making could remain impaired. Improvements overall would start coming in after the 2nd May 2011. Period beyond this would bring in rapid progress in career, dynamic approach in life and ability to negotiate & find good deals. You could mistakenly commit to higher expenses during this period. Be careful & cautious against wasteful expenses.

According to the Gemini Horoscope some unsteady trends in income, relations with elders as well as rapport with siblings could be present after the 31st August 2010.

Self confidence, effectiveness & ease in general would be present between 6th March & 31st May, 29th June & 20th July and 29th October till end of the year.

Be careful about health, stamina & excessive worry between 31st May & 14th June and 9th October & 29th October.

Speech and unsteady behavior in family as well as property matters should be controlled between 31st March to 23rd April, 3rd August to 26th August & 25th November to 13th December.

Broadly, the Gemini Horoscope defines the trends during the year broken up between the following periods:

1st January to early May 2011

May to 15th November 2011

15th November to 31st December

2011 Gemini Horoscope for Marriage/ Love

Fluctuations would be present in love life, throughout. You will remain active in love matters, although the high activity phase of the last four months would ebb from 2nd January 2011.

Relationships would remain active but disturbed till end April 2011. Beyond May 2011 you will find a rise in social activity although romance and relationships would go on the back burner. You will make a lot of friends after May 2011. You are likely to have fun and a stimulating time. Do not waste your energy finding relationships. Just be yourself. Relationships would come naturally.

Good time for love during May, July & October 2011.

Marital matters would be positive after May 2011. Rise in socializing & positive activity would come after 31st August & remain high till 25th December 2011.

Period between 23rd March & 21st April would see a dip in marital relationships. Avoid controversy or over expectation during this period.

2011 Gemini Horoscope for Career

The period till early May would be the least gainful during 2011, although there would be high level of activity & growth now. Level of hard work & efforts needed to sustain the processes would be highest now, since the level of responsibility would be quite high, till the 7th May 2011. Scope of your work would expand rapidly.

You should not plan any shifting in career as well as moving homes during this time.

The period between May & 15th November would bring rapid progress & sudden happiness from various sources now. You will find that within a matter of couple of weeks, the pressures will ease and rapid progress will come from various quarters.

Gains would commence due to the hard work & efforts you have made in career in the initial parts of 2011. Career will be very active. You will become dynamic in your outlook. New gainful deals would become possible now. It is a period of exceptional growth due to your comprehension & negotiation skills.

Pressures in career matters would ease out after the 12th June 2011, although a general level of pressure in work matters would persist during this period.

You will be relieved of work pressures to a large extent after the 15th November 2011. Rapid progress, due to new ideas could come now, during16th November 2011 and 31st December 2011.

2011 Gemini Horoscope for Health

Stress & anxiety could cause health issues till early May 2011. Try & keep your mind under control.

2011 Gemini Horoscope for Family

For the period till early May, you will find some distractions at home after 25th January. Frequent travel could upset domestic patterns after the 25th January too. Since your temperament could remain irritable, avoid controversy during this period.

The period between May & 15th November finds pressures in domestic matters easing out after the 12th June 2011, although a general level of pressure in domestic matters would persist during this period. There will be higher level of activity in social life too. Interaction with siblings will revive while there will be opportunity to meet with friends too.

You will fare better in domestic matters after the 15th November 2011.

2011 Gemini Horoscope for Finances

Income will leap high during the period May to 15th November. Income will continue to climb, although in an erratic manner between 16th November 2011 and 31st December 2011.

Gemini January Horoscope:

Issues with partners or in marital matters could come up till the 15th January 2011. You should remain cautious about fever etc. Health & stamina could dip after the 16th January 2011. Hurdles in routine matters could rise too during this period. Fatigue & level of tiredness could prevail now.

Gemini February Horoscope:

Poor stamina & certain amount of challenges overall would remain. Work could experience a slowdown till the 16th February 2011. Important assignments are better postponed after 17th February 2011 or the next month. Improvements in luck and overall growth could come. Chances of travel possible too.

Gemini March Horoscope:

Creative work and spirituality would be present in your outlook. Luck will be good too till the 13th March 2011. Career will grow based on new ideas as well as hard work from the 14th March 2011. People in authority as well as government sources would be supportive. Children related matters will be positive, while investments would blossom.

Gemini April Horoscope:

Career will progress well, while you will still experience heightened activity in career. You will experience a position of authority till the 13th April 2011. Income and growth will jump after the 14th April 2011. You will find happiness in social life, while very positive reunion with friends possible now too. Some celebration in the family after the 15th April 2011 possible

Gemini May Horoscope:

Gainful period financially, while socially you would be active too till the 16th May 2011. A dip could be felt in health and stamina overall after the 17th May 2011. Chances of useless expenses, while some losses are possible too. It would be useful to keep the level of activity lower than usual.

Gemini June Horoscope:

The month would begin with low activity and some amount of pressures and sluggishness which would remain till the 14th June 2011. Improvements in outlook, followed by rise in activity would come from the 15th June 2011. You should be careful about being egoistic and over aggression. You will experience leadership abilities now.

Gemini July Horoscope:

Hard work and aggression would be high. Ego will remain an integral part of thinking as well as attitude. Ego related issues would remain internal and sub conscious till the 15th July 2011, while 16th July 2011 onwards, Ego could be apparent in speech. Finances would remain active and on your mind in the second half of the month. Family matters would be in the focus too.

Gemini August Horoscope:

Creative work would bring in growth in finances till the 15th August 2011. Be humble in speech and communications this month. 16th August 2011, onwards your position will rise and growth would come due to your dynamic attitude as well as networking skills. Growth oriented period overall. Possibility of travel

Gemini September Horoscope:

Positive period till 16th September 2011. You will experience growth and rise in repute. You will feel a higher level of energy & creative ability too. 17th September 2011 onwards a gradual distance from family & relatives could be felt. There could be some changes in property as well as domestic matters. As long as you are positive, there would be abundant energy to work out matters.

Gemini October Horoscope:

Active period in work as well as domestic matters till the 16th October 2011. Some amount of resentment could build up against family members during this time. Avoid conflict. 17th October 2011 onwards, creative energies would be high and you will remain more self centered than usual. Children related matters could remain strained now.

Gemini November Horoscope:

Mind could be over active and some amount of ego could run your thought patterns till the 15th November 2011. Issues with children could crop up too. Beyond 16th November 2011, you will find a rise in energy in work environment. You will find support from superiors and some rise in dynamism which could help you progress faster.

Gemini December Horoscope:

Hard work and support from people in authority will help you make good progress in work till the 16th December 2011. It is a positive period in love life and relationships too. Beyond 17th December 2011, you could experience a higher level of hurdles and possibility opposition to ideas and relationships. If married, ego with spouse could erupt. New partnerships could come up.

Best wishes to you for a wonderful 2011.

Stocks to watch for the coming week in SGX.

2011-01-08T11:41:00.000-08:00

With the non-farm payroll report out of the way and the start of the reporting season come Monday.....likely to see the market here and elsewhere to continue with the rally.

I will be keeping a close watch on Gentings PLC to run past the peak of $2.35 soon. Noticed the volume picking up esp on Friday with the stock trying to run but it pulled back to the opening price of $2.22. The reason maybe due to the NFP report due on Friday night.

At present....I am fully vested in Ezra, Gentings, Cosco, ST Eng and SGX. With the main bulk in Ezra but planning to re-align the holding to equal holding for both Ezra and Gentings......with the rest ( 1/3 ) in Cosco, ST Eng and SGX. Presently.....will just focus on the stocks traded here and not with those in HK. Felt I lost touch with the happening there, therefore need some time to pick up the gut feel.

For forex....planning to lay low for the moment to focus on stock for this coming week.

2011 Horoscopes for gemini people

2011-01-01T10:26:00.000-08:00

Year 2011 Overview
As the consummate social butterfly of the zodiac, you'll be thrilled to hear that the major planetary emphasis takes place in your social sector in 2011. Expect your agenda to be chock full of parties and events to keep you busily buzzing without pause.

The year begins on a romantic note with Venus gracing your relationship sector. But as the year unfolds, you'll be making so many new friends and networking contacts, you'll barely have time to think about intimacy with one person. The more the merrier is one of the year's central themes. You have a knack for attracting interesting characters from every walk of life and finding what's special about them. It's your insatiable curiosity that brings out the gems in all you meet. And the more you can learn about yourself through the continuous onslaught of new personalities and alliances livening up your social scene, the happier and more fulfilled you will feel.

With Pluto still excavating the depths of your soul, your interest in psychology and desire to plummet your own depths only gets stronger throughout 2011. Asking the deeper questions about what really makes you tick can open many wonderful doors. Self-knowledge is power. When Jupiter, the planet of philosophy and expansive thinking enters your subconscious sector right around your birthday, you'll be blessed with amazing vision, renewed perspective and a series of Eureka moments and kismet meetings with amazing people. 2011 is the year for expanding your horizons, meeting kindred spirits and finally creating the community of your wildest dreams.

Chinese Monkey: Yearly for 2011

2011-01-01T10:24:00.000-08:00

Monkey Overview
If last year was a whirlwind, you might need to hang on for another wild ride. In the Year of the Metal Rabbit, things will probably ebb and flow without much warning. You'll have to buckle down and do some serious planning in order to get the most out of 2011, and you might be in for a challenge. You have plenty of ingenuity and flexibility, so call on those strengths when things get sticky. The Rabbit favors peace and order, which could clash with your love of fun and games. Use your favorable months to get ahead and lay low during the unfavorable ones. You might not have a blockbuster year, but there are lessons to be learned. Seek out the moral of the story and try to live by it.

Monkey Rating

Monkey Career
If other things are shaky this year, work might be a solid foundation to stand on. While I wouldn't recommend rocking the boat, stay proactive at the office and offer to take on more. You might have to put in overtime, but your dedication won't go unnoticed. Try to stay put for now, even if you're restless. Can you make your cubicle more entertaining? Bring some headphones to work and get inspired by some tunes. Buy donuts and bagels for your co-workers. Chummy up with your colleagues at office outings. Anything you can do to make work more fun will probably help you stay productive.

Monkey Relationships
The land of love may be rife with conflict this year. The Rabbit loves to be adored and indulged, while you think such things are a bit frivolous. Your partner might have a laundry list of demands that seem ridiculous. Are you just going through a rough patch or are your differences too much to handle? Consider compromise before you go making any rash decisions. It could be you need to be more sensitive this year. Your jokes and Monkey antics aren't understood by all. If you're single, someone might feel like getting serious with you. Are you ready? Make a pros and cons list before you go signing any marriage licenses or mortgage papers.

Monkey Health
Remember that children's song about monkeys jumping on the bed? You might be the first one to fall off this year, so make sure you don't bonk your head. Take care of your health so you don't end up missing out on play time. Are you putting off a doctor's visit? Do you need a teeth cleaning? Better to get it out of the way now rather than wait until it gets worse. The Rabbit's fondness for staying home might not sit well with your active nature. Make sure you get outdoors enough. Stale indoor air can be ridden with germs, so open plenty of windows and clean your surroundings with eco-friendly products. Take up tap dancing or salsa lessons to spice things up when you're in a funk.

Monkey Wealth
Money matters might look brighter than other areas of your life in 2011. Your sign's element is Metal, which bodes well for you in a Metal year. There will be a lot of Triple Metal days to look forward to, which means the element of our year, month and day all align. Mark those on your calendar. While you might not see the tangible rewards yet, your efforts now will bear fruit later. Make sure you're saving a percentage of each paycheck. You could meet with some unexpected expenses this year. Try not to spend on frivolous things. Create a working budget and do your best to stick to it.

Prediction for the year of Rabbit - copied fr Penang Feng Shui

2011-01-01T09:40:00.000-08:00

I am going to start the posts about my prediction for the year of Rabbit. You will find some remedies to minimise the inauspicious qi and at the same time, you will know what to do in order to maximise the auspicious qi as well. Hence, please stay tuned.....

The flying star no 7 is entering into the central of the annual flying star chart. The flying star no 7 is the 破軍 (broken army) which means loss of wealth, possible arguments, medical compilations, war and potential robberies is at the central of the chart of the annual flying stars, hence it is a year full of political instability, viruses, diseases, terrorism and arguments. As the flying star no 7 is entering into the central of the annual flying star chart, I predict that the 中东 Arabic countries are going to go through a turbulence year with a number of terror activities. Most likely, there will be wars around the world such as the Korea. Also, it is most likely that the general election of Malaysia is going to be held on 2011.
We should place a glass of water at the centre of your house to minimise the bad impact as the flying star 7 is gold and by placing a glass of water, the gold will use its energy to produce the water and hence will reduce its energy. Frankly speaking, it is very simple and you do not have to spend lots of money to purchase the expensive feng shui items like other feng shui masters will advise you to do so that they make lots of money from you!

THE TWELVE ANIMAL SIGNS FORECAST FOR 2011 十二生肖2011 运程

2011-01-01T09:33:00.001-08:00

The year of the METAL RABBIT is coming. It hops in to bring challenges for all in 2011. Are you ready to embrace it? Find out what you must do (or avoid do) to achieve success and avoid trouble according to your animal sign.

Rabbit
1915, 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011

This is your year! Though it may not be absolute perfect, but you don’t have much to be concerned about – just be prepared to deflect any negative vibes that may come your way. Expect smooth financial operations and some measure of support from other people at your time of need.

Dragon
1916, 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000

Don’t rest on good luck to help you this year. Take control and focus on putting on all the right moves to achieve success. Avoid making hasty decisions. An ideal time to concentrate on advancing your professional life than your love life because opportunities for romance will not be so thriving.

Snake
1917, 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001

Life gets interesting and challenging this year! Get ready and pack your bags for new adventures – literally – as travel opportunities are abound. There’s a chance of increasing wealth and romantic luck as well. However, be wise in all your endeavors and take caution when you travel.

Horse
1918, 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002

There will be some happy events and glad tidings for you, especially in the form of help from other people. Though you may need to be wary of those with hidden agendas or spread gossip, you still have trustworthy ones behind your back. Expect personal relationship to undergo positive transformation.

Goat
1919, 1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003

The year may start off as problematic at first but fear not, the challenge is a potential opportunity or success. You will receive help, support, and solutions from people when you need it most. This will help you overcome all these difficulty and ensure that the year will end with a much positive note.

Monkey
1920, 1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004

Greater opportunities for professional and financial success are in the cards this year. So make the most of it! However, be wary not to over-exert yourself in the name of career success or else you may find yourself with health problems. Expect positive changes in the domestic or home front as well.

Rooster
1921, 1933, 1945, 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005

You will tackle the year’s challenges with strength and conviction, showing your mettle to overcome it. However, watch out for obstacles ahead as it may signal the loss of something. But take heart: Don’t give up. Use your creativity and flexibility to get back on the saddle again as the experience gained will help to push you forward.

Dog
1922, 1934, 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006

Expect a generally good year ahead with no major problems. Though that doesn’t mean you don’t need to take heed of some risks that may crop up. Keep an eye out just in case. That said, enjoy good fortune as it comes your way. Career-wise, your outlook is pretty sunny and you will also enjoy good relations with the people at work.

Pig
1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007

Good things will come to you, career-wise. But all this depends on how well you spot opportunities and make the most of it. You are prone to misunderstandings with others this year, so take note and play it cool. Plans may go awry and derailed you from your objectives. Best to be prepared so you can overcome any potential obstacles heading your way.

Rat
1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008

You can pump your fist in the air in jubilance as good fortune in terms of material wealth and relationships are coming your way. Expect possibilities of an increase of income or promotion and a likelihood of romance. However, do take care of your health and be alert for other troubles that bring legal problems, scandals and loss of reputation.

Ox
1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009

Be wise and aware, and keep a low profile this year as some problems in 2010 still remains. Worry not; there will still be time for you to enjoy success. Just stay positive, be proactive and play your cards right. Then things will fall into place. Devote your time and energy to care for elderly family members. Also, be alert as you may be prone to lose money or property.

Tiger
1914, 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010

Much improvement is heading your direction this year, especially in terms of professional development and career outlook. However, think before you act and stay calm when you approach problems. Take care of your health and those of family at home. Remember: Prevention is better than cure. Relationship-wise, romance is on your side. Just look a little closer to home.

Overview Forecast of 2011 Metal Rabbit Year in General

2011-01-01T09:27:00.000-08:00

The year of the Metal Rabbit promises to bring some much needed peace and tranquility. If you are like most people, you probably feel like you were on a roller coaster in 2010, the year of the Tiger. That will generally not be the case in 2011, as the Rabbit is everything the Tiger is not.

Let there be peace, and let it begin with me is the Rabbit motto. The Tiger makes waves, but the Rabbit mends fences. Diplomacy reigns. If you want to improve your chances of success, you most often want to negotiate and cooperate rather than try to force your ideas and methods on others. It's also a time to kiss and make up. Forgive and forget. Let's all get along. Make love not war. If last year the emphasis was on excitement, it now is on harmony.

This does not of course mean there will be heaven on earth. You can find good and bad in every year. Still, looking back at the last reign of the Metal Rabbit, it's hard to deny there were significant, Rabbit-style developments. In April 1951, for example, the Treaty of Paris was signed, establishing the European Coal and Steel Community. This was the first of several organizations that eventually became the European Union. A significant event in Asia in July was the beginning of armistice negotiations that eventually led to the end of hostilities on the Korean peninsula. And, in September, Australia, New Zealand and the United States signed a mutual defense pact (ANZUS).

This is especially true if you belong to the Rabbit's group, that is, your sign is Rabbit, Sheep or Pig. These, however, are the people most likely to have a great year. If you are one of them, make an extra effort to follow your dreams, seize opportunities, and enjoy the moment. Other signs with excellent prospects this year include the Ox, Tiger, Snake, and Dog. Those that might want to hold back a bit include the Rat, Horse, Monkey, and Rooster.

There is a common theme here. Active people who always seem to be on the go are likely to be unhappy with the Rabbit's leisurely pace. They can find themselves in trouble if they try to move faster than the prevailing one. The Tiger, being the Yang to the Rabbit's Yin, can still do well by modifying its style. This year the cautious, slow but sure approach is likely to win the day more than a charge ahead one.

The question, then, is what to do in a so-called, peaceful year? Education, for one. Leisurely travel could also provide a nice experience. That means the museum circuit as opposed to trekking the Himalayas. And, pursuing your hobbies, be they ballroom dancing, bridge or gardening is a very Rabbit thing to do and will bring you many happy moments.

The Rooster is the sign most likely to encounter difficulties this year. If this is your sign, you are probably feistier than your friends and family. Your love of debate, nitpicking attention to detail and argumentative side all run contrary to the Rabbit's fundamental, peacemaking nature. If you can't keep this tendency under control, you may feel you are frequently trying to swim upstream as you pursue your goals.

2011 will be a good year, say feng shui masters and astrologer

2011-01-01T09:10:00.000-08:00

The year is expected to be turbulent with both ups and downs, according to feng shui masters who say that the first six months will be significantly better than the second half of 2011.

Good Feng Shui Geomantic Research master Kenny Hoo said this year would be very good for the metal-related, insurance, banking and stockbroking industries.

“The car industry will boom. Wood-related industries will flourish as well, such as the timber, media, furniture, palm oil and rubber industries,” Hoo said.

However, he said there would be many hidden opportunities this year that people might not be able to see.

“I have named this the Consolidation Year as people will need to gather wisdom, knowledge and strength in order to filter opportunities from risks.”

“The scholastic star is in the south-west. In your homes, you can activate it by ensuring the area is kept neat, tidy and clean.

“Redecorating it as a study room is good as well,” he said when asked how to gain wisdom from a feng shui perspective.

He cautioned that renovations should be avoided for the east, west and south sectors.

Vedic astrologer Master Yuvaraj Sowma from Chennai, India, said the new year would be a “golden year” for business people.

“This applies especially for those involved in the textile, gold and cosmetics trades,” he said, adding that more marriages would happen in 2011.

He added that those born under the moon sign of Vrishabah (Taurus), Kataka (Cancer), Kanya (Virgo), Vrischika (Scorpio) and Kumbha (Aquarius) would enjoy better times.

Master Yuvaraj said if the Malaysian Government decides to call for an early general election it would be favourable to the ruling party.

“Opposition parties will be embroiled in controversies and infighting in 2011,” he said.

Malaysian Institute of Geomancy Sciences (MINGS) founder Prof David Koh said South-east Asia is likely to do well in the economic sector.

“However, natural disasters and epidemics are likely this year.

“Dry weather in June to July might cause forest fires in the east, whereas possible floods in the northern region might happen again in August to September,” he said in his book 2011 Year of the Rabbit: MINGS Outlook.

Prof Koh added that there was a strong indication of a major catastrophe related to “a lot of water” in December in Thailand and Indonesia.

What's in Store for The Year of the Rabbit ?

2011-01-01T09:03:00.000-08:00

The Year of the Tiger in 2010 was a dramatic and at times tumultuous one, as the tiger's passion and fervor came through in producing a year that was both memorable and difficult. Its successor in 2009, the Year of the Ox, was equally as trying and difficult, with many unforeseen difficulties and rash decisions being made.

As such, in the Year of the Rabbit, 2011 will offer a much needed repose from the tiger's fervor and the ox's brutish stubbornness, as the rabbit is a sign that welcomes peace, diplomacy and cautious tact.

General Picture of 2011 Fortune
Thanks to the law-abiding rabbit, 2011 will be a year of harmony and good fortune for everyone, including those who were born in a rabbit year. Across the world, great strides can be made in diplomatic actions and peace agreements will foster more naturally than in previous years. Personal relationships, too, will see the same gentle serenity that offers a much needed calmness and a chance to regroup from the previous years' struggles.

Forecast for 2011 for monkey people

2011-01-01T08:59:00.000-08:00

The Monkey is playful, lively, fun and a quick thinker. They get bored very easily and find it hard to settle down to doing any one thing. The Monkey can also be vain and offhand. They are ambitious and usually very good with investing money. With their quick wit and wonderful sense of humour, they are a great party guest. The Monkey’s life will never be dull and predictable!

Forecast for 2011 The Monkey will find 2011 very much to his liking with plans and goals moving ahead smoothly and as anticipated. For Monkeys involved in creative work such as writing or art, this will be a particularly inspirational year and their work will be highly regarded. The Chinese Rabbit Year will offer some brilliant promotion opportunities and by being proactive and alert, the Monkey will reap the benefits. For those seeking work, attention to detail when applying for jobs will open up significant windows of opportunity. February, September and November should be outstanding months for their career. Friends and family will provide many happy and memorable occasions during 2011 and there may be one or two special celebrations. March to May and December will be very active socially for most Monkeys. For single Monkeys, there should be quite a few opportunities to meet someone special through outings with friends or at work. In addition, trips to art exhibitions, museums or other cultural venues will prove delightful for many Monkeys. The Chinese Year of the Rabbit would be an auspicious year for him to follow up on self improvement ideas he may have been considering for awhile. A fresh look at his fitness routine, diet and how he unwinds, could do him the world of good. 2011 will be the year for the Monkey to move forward, leaving any disappointments and regrets behind. It can be a most satisfying and enjoyable year for him.

Interesting Monkey Facts:
Zodiac Stone: Peridot
Special Flower: Gladiola
Best Hours: 3-5 pm
Season: Summer
Horoscope Colors: White, Violet, Green

New blog skin too

2011-01-01T06:41:00.000-08:00

hehe....down with old and up with the new for 1/1/2011. POWER

Wishes for 2011

2011-01-01T06:34:00.000-08:00

1) Continue with my present job as long as possible hehe.

2) Looking forward to my new flat at Sengkang ( shopping for new stuffs eg
kitchen and toilets make-over plus new sofa, air-cons etc ).

3) Go for a vacation to visit my brothers and their families in US/Canada.

4) To start to hunt for a new job.

5) Work on my present trading status - to improve on the rate of winning.

6) To calm down myself and to take things easier and slower!

7) To learn to listen more before talking ( urgent ).

8) To stay super low profile from now on.

9) Look after my health.

HUAT AH....2011

2011-01-01T06:21:00.000-08:00

POWER....we are in early day of 2011. In fact...today is also special as it is 1/1/11 ( noted all ones ). Then 10 days later, we shall see another all ones.....11/1/11 POWER!
Then 10 months later....again 1/11/11 followed by 10 days later 11/11/11 the most POWER of them all. hehe

So....HUAT AT

One thing positive.....for the moment

2010-12-30T10:22:00.000-08:00

No bitterness nor regrets for what happened during this 2010 or earlier as I have made my peace with myself.

Strangely....I am also very patient when I drive and at works, if I have nothing good to say then I just keep my peace whenever possible becoz I know what I will say. So....this way, less trouble and less fighting to do too. Of course, I will give "my last look" that this is for the best that I do what I do eg stepping back to give space and not to surrender!! This monkey maybe old....but can still be very "feisty" if need to.

So for now....looking forward to welcome in the new year day for 2011 tomorrow morning!

31/12/2010

2010-12-30T10:07:00.000-08:00

Man....this is the last day of 2010 and looking back at what I have done as a trader or investor, the word "failure" is the right one to use. For 2010 as a whole....my health is great so is family life too. Other activities were kept to the bare mininum to the extend of none existance which is good and bad. Bad --- Nothing to look forward to once I finished my work. Good --- no need to look behind my back everytime when I am out. Don't spend much also....then the bad part again, all these saving end-up paying for my losses for stocks, forex and toto/4D. Lucky....toto/4D investment was small as I pulled the hand-brake when my luck wasn't there.

Now...being the last day of 2010, I am eagerly looking forward to the New Year 2011 as there are some new changes I must handle eg new flat, hunting for new job and settling into the new job. For the other activity....will
have nothing to look forward to and not planning to active seek for it too.
I must learn to lay low....may have to give up car to daughter so without a car guessed there goes my chance of anything.

Final year or two, to be an independent trader but that would take lots of discipline and willpower not to mention "$$$$$$". Frankly I am lucky with finding "$$$$$$" so far, my retrenchment, my AIA retirement fund plus my CPF money....do come handy during this period. Hopely....my luck also can improve. HUAT AH :)

Look at the time....and date!

2010-12-11T12:21:00.000-08:00

Thought this year I can be a successful trader at the end of it but now looking back at all the screw-ups and depleted trading funds ( forex and stocks ), just cannot help but to feel "sad".

There are some lessons to be learned from all these bad situations....first thing is not to set any daily profit target becoz in doing so is to force self to trade even when no clear set-up in the charts. So....when started to loose money, tend to over analyized what wrong then totally start to loose self confidence which caused more stresses to self.

Then the self bashing started to set-in which resulted in having the depression and the "rotten" feeling of it all. Plus also having suicidial thoughts which was really the "pits". Luckily....slowly I was able to see thru the whole picture and slow down the trading therefore the losses. At the same time....look for advices via the net and friends. Now....slowly starting back over again and felt good to trade "small" again. So...for the past month, I was able to have small gains plus starting to have my self confidence back too.

Now with better money management and trading small....I hope to slowly get back on my feet again and will happily trade on part-time basis, less stress and also happier to trade win or loose. Believed...in a longer run, I can be a more succussful trader too. Btw success now to me may not mean to make big money daily....but to be able to enjoy trading and can make some coffee money without all the stresses. That would be just fine, better
if can made back the course fees.

Trading Forex Part Time – Your Best Chance at Success by Nial Fuller

2010-12-11T11:55:00.000-08:00

PLEASE READ TODAY’S ARTICLE AND LISTEN TO THE ADVICE IT WILL HELP YOU.. ALOT!.

I want you all to understand, that it does not matter if you are employed, a business owner, retired or etc etc , my advice will remain the same – Your first goal must be to become a “Part time trader and student”. DO NOT fool yourself and believe that you take up trading and replace your income and become a full time trader in the short term. I built my reputation on honesty and integrity and you all should know by now, ALL of my posts are genuine insights and truths on the topic of trading. So if you are a novice trader, a struggling trader.. or basically if you are into trading or even trying to become a pro trader, then this article is for you.

Keeping it Part Time Early in Your Trading Career.

The majority of people that get interested in forex trading do so because they are unhappy with their job or with the current amount of money they are making, or both. They think they will be able to quit their job and become a full-time forex trader in a relatively short period of time, and it is this thinking that actually sets the stage for losing money in the forex market and for making their journey to become a consistently profitable trader extended and difficult. The reason why having an overwhelming desire to become a full-time forex trader can actually be detrimental to your trading success is simply because it makes you feel like you NEED to trade or that you have no other options for happiness in life. To succeed at making money consistently in the forex market, you need to operate from the mindset that you don’t really need to trade, this will work to positively affect your trading and will actually make it easier to profit consistently in the market. The Pressures on the mind when the trader feels like he/she must make a trade in order to make money to pay for the rent /mortgage or other living exspenses will ultimately lead to ongoing failure. That is just one aspect and evidence why new and aspiring traders MUST keep their trading a part time endeavor in the initial stages to escape the mental pressures and emotional roller coaster. The less time you spend trading and thinking of the market the better in my opinion.

• Part time trading; keep your day job

As a beginning forex trader, it is important that you realize early on the significance of not devoting all your energy to just trading. No matter what your current job situation is, you need to maintain it and excel at it, and always work to keep it a priority in your life, if you lose your job or quit your job thinking you can take up full time trading, you will stand no chance at becoming a successful trader. At first, you need to keep trading a part time goal, once you learn the ropes and master the art and skill of successfully reading a price chart, then you can set your sights on becoming a full-time trader. I always say, this is NOT something you can rush.

Keeping your day job and having a secure source of income is crucial to maintaining the proper trading mindset, you don’t want to be operating in the market from the point of view that you have no other options, and that your trading has to work out. Trading only part-time will also help to keep you out of the market, this may sound counter-productive at first, but over-trading is probably the biggest cause of failure among forex traders. By taking a part-time approach to the market you can avoid trading addiction easier because you will be forced into a routine of looking at the market at certain intervals each day, rather than being glued to your computer screen.

• Lose the “get rich quick” mentality

Many traders, if not most, come into the forex market thinking they are going to get rich quick, if they don’t openly express this sentiment they are certainly thinking it or hoping for it somewhere in their mind. While there certainly is nothing wrong with wanting to make money in the market and believing you can do it, when it becomes an all-consuming thought, and you think it will or should happen really fast, you are setting yourself up for failure. Traders who feel like they are going to get rich quick in the market inevitably end up over-analyzing it, essentially they think by looking at their charts and / or reading as many economic articles as possible, they will somehow gain an “edge” just because they are putting in a full-time effort.

The reality of this “get rich quick” mentality is that it ends up causing you to attempt to control the market, whether you realize it or not, when you stay up all night staring at your charts until your eyes burn you are subconsciously trying to control the uncontrollable, and the more you do this, the more you get caught up in actually believing that the increasing time you are spending watching the market is paying off, or going to pay off. So, in essence, by believing you can “get rich quick” in the forex market, you ultimately end up spending massive amounts of time over-analyzing market variables, this causes indecision and emotional trading, which ultimately causes you to lose money.

It is simply a myth that forex trading is a quick and easy fix for income; it’s not possible to make quick and easy money on a consistent basis, unless you are doing something illegal. Traders need to have realistic expectations when coming into the market, by taking a part-time approach to the market you will keep your mind clear and you will trade from a nearly stress-free mindset. The reality of trading the market is that the only thing you can control is yourself, the more control you have over your own actions, the more success you will have in the market. It is easy to fool yourself into thinking you are controlling yourself even as you over-trade and over-leverage your trading account, but when you really step back and think objectively about every action you take in the market, it becomes much clearer as to whether or not your actions are logical or emotional.

The ironic and perhaps metaphorical aspect of forex trading is that taking a part-time approach, or a “less is more” approach will actually make you more money faster, because you will be far less likely to trade emotionally when you accept the fact that you can make money by only trading a few times a week or less. So, to really make consistent money in the forex market, you need to accept the fact that it’s not going to happen fast, unless you are risking way too much and get lucky a few times in a row, or if you have a very large sum of money to begin trading with.

• Part-time trading helps keep you accountable

Probably the biggest reason why making money consistently in the forex market is difficult for most people is because there is no one to be accountable to. Unlike your current boss, who will fire you if you lose money for the company or do something else he or she doesn’t like, the forex market will not fire you no matter how much money you lose, it doesn’t even know you exist or how much money you have or don’t have, or anything else. To put it succinctly, you have to figure out a way to make yourself accountable if you want to excel at forex trading.

Being a part-time trader forces you to study and trade higher time frames, if you work a full-time job you are probably going to have to trade off the daily charts. This is actually a blessing in disguise though, despite what many traders think there really is no advantage to trading the lower time frames. Sometimes you can improve your entry by trading the 4 hour or 1 hour chart, but because the market provides daily setups each week for traders to take advantage of, there is no real reason to feel like you NEED to trade any time frame lower than the daily. Essentially, trading part-time forces you to master the higher time frames early on in your career, when it is the most critical to do so, then as your talent and skill begin to show you can start implementing lower time frames to improve your entries or exits. Many traders unfortunately take the reverse course of action; they start out by analyzing the lower time frames, and only after losing tons of money and time to these noise-infused charts, do they finally figure out and accept that trading less frequently on the higher time frames is key to making consistent money in the forex market.

POWER....another good piece of advice from Nial. Why? It's becoz I have gone thru some of these stressful situations trying to make money daily after I got lucky and more than double my funding in a "10 days winning run" then after that I thought I can do better by spending more time analyzing the lower time frame charts to score more money but in the end....confused myself and lose the winning touch. As a result....wiped out the winnings and my fund together with my own confidence. SHIT! The worst I did was that I set a daily target of making at least $200 or more.
That to me....was the biggest mistake becoz I were setting myself to fail. Now....I'm back slowly again starting to trade with micro lots and at the same time to spend less time glued to the pc by doing the same things that I did during the "winning run" just look at the weekly then daily charts....once spotted a trending pattern then go to 3hrs and hourly charts to confirm. Only when I need to set entry order...I will go to the 15 mins chart, same for my exit or take profit setting. Yes....I am happier and less stressed out by doing all these again. I have a life....swimming, sauna, gym and doing the things I like.

Forex and stock up-date

2010-12-08T12:10:00.000-08:00

Didn't do much for both....therefore no big change for my funding. Hope the stocks may have a nice "pop" for the year-end rally so that can use the winning to pay for the COV haha.

I am holding on to the Genting, UOB and Ezra, so far....all are in the negative side. Fingers...crossed!

For forex.....very quiet since I don't have the time and focus to trade therefore not much happening in this area. Yes....only with a sharp focus then there maybe a chance to make some profits, cannot anyhow trade....surely will die if I do that.

4D....no luck, anyway I also don't but big so it is okay. Toto...yes! I do buy once in awhile but just $5 each time....maybe max $10 for 2 draws haha so it is still fine with not winning any money.

It's Dec.....very soon 2010 is over.

2010-12-08T11:50:00.000-08:00

Man....when I said how fast time flies, guessed it is an under-statement haha. Well, at least it's how thing is esp talking about time. Blink, blink and it's gone!

My lease for the condo....just left with another 6 months and now I am house hunting for the past 2 Sundays. Lucky that the COV is came down quite a fair bit. Now can still see some asking for 30 to 50K....and they have to wait "long long" lor. On the average....the asking COV is around 20 to 30K but the reasonable ones are those asking for around 10 to 20K esp for lower floor units or the older ones. For the newer ones....the valuation is still pretty high. Also noticed the Punggol has a higher valuation cpmpared to Sengkang. Therefore....planning to get in Sengkang around Blk 297 to 299 area for the sake of wifey and kids' transportation.

Went to Waterloo street temple on last Monday ( lunar 1st of 11th mth ) and took a chiam-see. Got no 69.....it is about the shoot of a cherry bloomson in winter looking dry and leaveless but come spring and it will be bloom into a nice plant with lovely flower. Meaning....must have the patient to wait and things will be fine. Same time....asked about the housing thingy but was advised to look to Yee Tee area. For the past 3 days I have been looking up the property ads plus on-line at I-property and Propertyguru sites.....but cannot help noticed the COV and valuation for the flats there. Yes, some of the older ones have a larger floor area but the look is not so in tune as in Punggol or even Sengkang. Unless go the newer ones near the end of Yee Tee and I went to have a look on last Sunday....noticed lots of FTs ( PRC and Indians ) as there are worker hostels there. Understand these people would sit and messed up the ground floor with their litters eg empty beer bottles and food packaging. So it is not safe.

At Punggol....went to view EA and 5I units, wow....some have very nice fixtures and in "move-in" standard but with higher COV. Also went to view Sengkang....and it is less by 30 to 50K in valuation for some units. The renovations for some are also "good". May have to break the advice if I go for Sengkang....and from the look of things, I will go with the flow with nothing casted in stone!

Another weekend....time to up-date the blog

2010-10-22T11:55:00.000-07:00

Yes, time flied by and I am breathless. So So So...fast, and now it is already coming to the end of Oct.

This morning I went to Waterloo temple for praying ( lunar 15th of 9th mth )
and asked for a chiam-see. This time I got no 62 which can be said a good
omen one. That there will be a patron to help look-out for me and at the same will help to point me to the right direction in life. Yes, I needed that....amen!

Forex and stock....both are "down" for me this week, nothing doing!

4D....same same, kena makan!

Trading up-date.

2010-10-13T09:14:00.000-07:00

Stock - yes, my Genting shares are hanging tough hehe. For the rest eg Ezra, St James, Magnus and Memtech are still "dead" in the water. FiberChem...no news! Well,
just got to cheer Genting on then...to make up for the rest for the moment.

For forex, yes I have started to write a journal for my trades win or lose. For Monday, didn't do much....but did enter some trades on Tuesday and kena stopped out!
Well....just small trades so small losses, just push my fund to less than 30% of the original amount. Have already sent my checks to top-up the fund....should be ready by tomorrow for trading.

Wah...this GBPCHF, USDCHF and USDJPY pairs really gave me a big headache. Still down after hitting their multi-years' low last week. MAN....while EURUSD and AUDUSD are hitting their high for the moment!

Today....I was happy to witness 2 great events.

2010-10-13T08:46:00.000-07:00

First....the rescue of the 33 miners in Chile and can see the joy and reliefs when the 1st miner was out of the mine. I too was crying tears of joy when their stories were reported. I was following the whole thing on CNN and BBC....in fact, most of the news were reporting about the event even CCTV in China. The powerful thing is that they were in the mine for 68 days and yet...they are so orderly. That takes great discipline and will to live!!! I can understand what they went thru esp the inital 16 days when they were trapped and no one knew for sure if they were alive! The truth was that most people on the ground were saying it was not possible that they can last so long. Yes....God must be a Chilean!!! Yes also...for the Chilean people and their leaders, they are something!!! I am very happy to witness this event esp after what Chile has gone thru early this year, the earthquake! This does made me believe that there is God and if one is to pray hard enough....nothing is impossible!
See story as followed :
SAN JOSE MINE, Chile – The miners who spent 69 agonizing days deep under the Chilean earth were hoisted one by one to freedom Wednesday, their rescue moving with remarkable speed while their countrymen erupted in cheers and the world watched transfixed.

Beginning at midnight and sometimes as quickly as once every 40 minutes, the men climbed into a slender cage nearly a half-mile underground and made a smooth ascent into fresh air. By early afternoon, more than half the men — 17 of 33 — had been rescued.

In a meticulously planned operation, they were monitored by video on the way up for any sign of panic. They had oxygen masks, dark glasses to protect their eyes from unfamiliar daylight and sweaters for the jarring climate change, subterranean swelter to the chillier air above.

They emerged looking healthier than many had expected and even clean-shaven, and at least one, Mario Sepulveda, the second to taste freedom, bounded out and thrust a fist upward like a prizefighter.

"I think I had extraordinary luck. I was with God and with the devil. And I reached out for God," he said as he awaited the air force helicopter ride to a nearby hospital where all the miners were to spend 48 hours under medical observation.

The operation moved past the halfway point with the rescue of the 17th miner, a 56-year-old electrician named Omar Reygadas who helped organized life underground. His fourth great-grandchild was born a month after the men were sealed into the mine's lower reaches by an Aug. 5 collapse of 700,000 tons of rock.

As it traveled down and up, down and up, the rescue capsule was not rotating as much inside the 2,041-foot escape shaft as officials expected, allowing for faster trips, and officials said the operation could be complete by sunrise Thursday, if not sooner.

The anxiety that had accompanied the careful final days of preparation broke at 12:11 a.m., with the first rescue — Florencio Avalos, who emerged from the missile-like chamber and smiled broadly after his half-mile journey. He hugged his sobbing 7-year-old son and wife and then President Sebastian Pinera, who has been deeply involved in an effort that had become a matter of national pride.

Avalos was followed an hour later by the most ebullient of the group, Sepulveda, whose shouts were heard even before the capsule peeked above the surface. He hugged his wife and handed out souvenir rocks from the mine to laughing rescuers.

No one in recorded history has survived as long trapped underground as the 33 men. For the first 17 days, no one even knew whether they were alive. In the weeks that followed, the world was captivated by their endurance and unity.

Health Minister Jaime Manalich told a news conference after eight miners were rescued that all of them were in good health, and none has required any special medication, not even the diabetic among them.

Chile exploded in joy and relief at the first, breakthrough rescue just after midnight in the coastal Atacama desert.

In the capital, Santiago, a cacophony of car horns sounded. In the nearby regional capital of Copiapo, from which 24 of the miners hail, the mayor canceled school so parents and children could "watch the rescue in the warmth of the home."

News channels from North America to Europe and the Middle East carried live coverage. Pope Benedict XVI said in Spanish that he "continues with hope to entrust to God's goodness" the fate of the men. Iran's state English-language Press TV followed events live until President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad touched down in Lebanon on his first state visit there.

The images beamed worldwide were extraordinary: Grainy footage from beneath the earth showed each miner climbing into the 13-foot-tall capsule, then disappearing upward through an opening. Then a camera showed the pod steadily rising through the dark, smooth-walled tunnel.

After the fifth miner made his ascent — 19-year-old Jimmy Sanchez, the youngest and the father of a months-old baby — the rescuers paused to lubricate the spring-loaded wheels that gave the capsule a smooth ride through the shaft, then resumed the rescues.

The ninth, Mario Gomez, who at 63 is the oldest miner, dropped to his knees after he emerged, bowed his head in prayer and clutched the Chilean flag. His wife, Liliane Ramirez, pulled him up from the ground and embraced him.

Gomez is most experienced of the group, first entering a mine shaft to labor at age 12, and suffers from silicosis, a lung disease common to miners. He has been on antibiotics and bronchial inflammation medicine. Manalich said Gomez came up with a special oxygen mask.

The lone foreigner among the miners, Carlos Mamani of Bolivia, was visited at a nearby clinic by Pinera and Bolivian President Evo Morales. The miner could be heard telling the Chilean president how nice it was to breathe fresh air and see the stars.

Most of the men emerged clean-shaven. Crews had lowered packages dubbed "palomas," Spanish for carrier pigeons, to get food and medicine to the men during their weeks underground, and in the days before rescue they were sent razors and shaving cream.

The entire rescue operation was meticulously choreographed, with no expense spared in bringing in topflight drillers and equipment — and boring three separate holes into the copper and gold mine.

Mining is Chile's lifeblood, providing 40 percent of state earnings, and Pinera put his mining minister and the operations chief of state-owned Codelco, the country's biggest company, in charge of the rescue.

It went so well that its managers abandoned what a legion of journalists had deemed an ultraconservative plan for restricting images of the rescue. A huge Chilean flag that was to obscure the hole from view was moved aside so the hundreds of cameras perched on a hill above could record images that state TV also fed live.

That included the surreal moment when the capsule dropped for the first time into the chamber, where the bare-chested miners, most stripped down to shorts because of the underground heat, mobbed the rescuer who emerged to serve as their guide to freedom.

"This rescue operation has been so marvelous, so clean, so emotional that there was no reason not to allow the eyes of the world — which have been watching this operation so closely — to see it," a beaming Pinera told a news conference after Avalos was brought to the surface.

Avalos, the 31-year-old second-in-command of the miners, was chosen to be first out because he was in the best condition. When the capsule came out of the manhole-sized opening, Avalos stepped out as bystanders cheered, clapped and broke into a chant of the country's name — "Chi! Chi! Chi! Le! Le! Le!"

The next three men out, including Mamani of Bolivia, followed because they were deemed the fittest of body and mind. The 10 to follow included miners with health problems such as high blood pressure, diabetes and skin ulcers.

The operation started just before midnight, when a Codelco rescuer made the sign of the cross and was lowered to the trapped men. A navy paramedic went down after Avalos came up — a surprise improvisation as officials had said the two would go down to oversee the miners' ascent before the first went up.

The last miner was slated to be shift foreman Luis Urzua, whose leadership was credited with helping the men endure the first two and a half weeks without outside contact. The men made 48 hours' worth of rations last before rescuers reached them with a narrow bore hole to send down more food.

Janette Marin, sister-in-law of miner Dario Segovia, said the order of rescue didn't matter.

"This won't be a success unless they all get out," she said.

Chilean officials played down the risks of the rescue.

Panic attacks during the ascent, they said, were the biggest concern. The miners were not sedated — they needed to be alert in case something went awry. Manalich said rescuers could accelerate the capsule to its maximum speed of 3 meters per second if necessary.

Rescue coordinator Andre Sougarett told The Associated Press beforehand that the worst technical problem would be the possibility that "a rock could fall" and jam the capsule in the shaft.

But Davitt McAteer, who directed the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration during the Clinton administration, said there were many risks: A miner could get claustrophobic and somehow jam the capsule, the cable could get hung up, or the rig that pulls the cable could overheat.

"You can be good and you can be lucky. And they've been good and lucky," McAteer told the AP just before the operation commenced. "Knock on wood that this luck holds out for the next 33 hours."

The CEO of the Austrian company that made the capsule's winch and pulley system said there was no danger of the motor overheating because the winch was not working under maximum capacity.

Mining Minister Laurence Golborne, whose management of the crisis has made him a media star in Chile, insisted all risks had been considered.

"There is no need to try to start guessing what could go wrong. We have done that job," Golborne said. "We have hundreds of different contingencies."

McAteer said he gave "very high marks" to the Chileans for creating lowered expectations by saying that it might take until Christmas to rescue the men — and then consistently delivering results ahead of schedule.

"Second, they have had very few technical problems," he said.

Three rescue capsules were built by Chilean navy engineers, named Phoenix for the mythical bird that rises from ashes and painted in the white, blue and red of the national flag. Only one has been used in the rescue.

The miners' vital signs were closely monitored throughout the ride. They were given a high-calorie liquid diet donated by NASA, designed to prevent nausea from any rotation of the capsule as it travels through curves in the 28-inch-diameter escape hole.

Engineers inserted steel piping at the top of the shaft, which is angled 11 degrees off vertical before plunging like a waterfall.

Drillers had to curve the shaft to pass through "virgin" rock, narrowly avoiding collapsed areas and underground open spaces in the overexploited mine, which had operated since 1885.

At the regional hospital in Copiapo, two floors were prepared for the miners to be evaluated.

Then the second one....is about the armless pianist in China who went on to win the China Got Talent contest. Wow...me with 2 good arms and legs can't even think of doing 5% of what he have achieved. Yes....play the piano, and can swim well too. For this young man....it takes great discipline and will to live life to the fullest.

See story....
October 12, 2010 : If you think that the piano can be played only by hand, then you should certainly meet Liu Wei. Liu Wei is perhaps the World's best armless pianist.

Liu Wei lost his arms at the age of 10 when he was accidentally electrocuted while playing a game of hide and seek. Liu, a resident of Beijing taught himself to play the piano when he was 18 and has been practicing regularly ever since. For his final performance, Liu performed the song "You're Beautiful" all the while, singing and playing the piano with his feet.

"I really do not care how people regard me. It is enough for me to do the things I like. When other people express their regret and sorrow because I lost both arms, I can tell them confidently that I have perfect feet," he said.

Liu lost his arms when he was 10 after touching a high-voltage wire during a game of hide-and-seek.

At the time he dreamed of becoming a soccer player. He was encouraged by Liu Jingshen, vice-chairman of the Beijing Disabled Persons' Federation, to do daily chores with his feet and started swimming two years later. He won two gold medals and one silver at the National Swimming Championship for the Disabled in 2002.

By the age of 19, Liu had taught himself how to play the piano with his feet and started composing and producing music, practicing more than seven hours every day.

One year later, he was given the chance to work with the famous Hong Kong pop star Andy Lau and they composed the song Let It Be.

"Music is like water and air to me. I can't live without it," Liu Wei has said.

The jury panel of China's Got Talent, Shanghai stand-up comedian Zhou Libo, Taiwan singer-actress Annie Yi and mainland pop composer Gao Xiaosong, all praised Liu's performance.

"We all fought for our dreams when we were young, but no one has fought as hard as you," Gao said at one of the auditions.

"You tell us that to realize our dreams, we need to spare no pain," Yi said.

"There are only two options for the rest of my life: die as soon as possible or live life loud," Liu said during one show, inspiring thousands of people across China.

Liu moved the audience in the stadium and TV viewers when he said "at least I have a pair of perfect legs", according to the report.

Liu started playing the piano at 19 to pursue his childhood dream of being a musician. His first teacher quit because he thought it was impossible for someone to play with their toes, the newspaper said previously.

But Liu, who was studying music theory, persisted and taught himself in secret how to play, creating his own technique.

At the ceremony on Sunday, Liu was invited by Taiwanese singer Jolin Tsai to be a guest performer during her overseas tour. The report said he may also receive a performance contract, without elaborating.

Looking at the two events....it does give me "hope" that I can do whatever I set my mind to do and have the will-power to follow thru the action plan. Frankly...the easiest thing for me to do is to lay down and wait for a hopeless death, esp with just thinking of the road ahead for me....is kind of blocked with not much hope. Now with these 2 events today....I should kick myself to get out of this "mind trap" and do whatever needed to live my life meaningfully. Don't wait for hopeless things to happen....when in my heart, I already know that it's time to move on and to let go all the wishful thinking!

Yes....I will do my best after my present job end to master Forex plus go all out with the insurance thingy! If that doesn't work....then it is alright to lay down and die! In doing so.....I would know I done my best and it's time to let go!

The important of having a Forex Trading Journal - Written by casey

2010-10-09T10:35:00.000-07:00

I am going to start an online Forex Trading Journal that will be a public log of every trade I make. There are a couple of reasons I am going to start posting my trades here on the Winners Edge Trading blog. First reason is because I want to follow my own advice in an article I wrote last week about forex discipline. If I am going to write about doing it, I want do to it and live it. So this will be my trading accountability structure. All of you will be my accountability partners, and I want every one who reads this blog to help out. You guys can post your trades her as well and we can get some group feedback. I will write all the entry points as well as stop loss, and take profit target. I will also include my pre-trade analysis as to way I take each trade.

The other reason I am going to post my trades is because I have been getting tons of emails about my trades and strategies. In addition to helping me in my trading I believe this will help everybody else as well. To keep my entries to a manageable number I will only post swing trades with a daily, 4hr, or 1 hr entry candles.

I am always writing about keeping a Forex Trading Journal so now I will teach you how to keep one as well by following this journal. The journal will start tomorrow because it is the first of the month. It is easier to show someone something then it is to tell someone about it. This way I will be showing you how to keep a journal. Please join me and participate in this Forex trading journal because as always your participation is what is going to make this a success. Winners Edge Trading would not be here if it was not for this great community. If you like this idea or have any other ideas about how I should proceed please include it the comments below.

Forex trading tip#1 - remember to always pit the strongest against the weakest - Written by Karthik

2010-10-09T10:28:00.000-07:00

Lot of people/traders talk about how similar stock markets and the currency exchanges are. Both are leveraged products, both involve lots of risks and returns, both can be analysed using techies and fundies and we could go on and on about the similarities. But there is one crucial difference between how you trade stocks and how you trade currencies which many traders fail to realise and recognise. Due to the fact that they don't even realise it, they do not realise how powerful it can be and how it can be properly exploited to increase your profit potential and at the same time, decrease your risks as well.

The big crucial difference is the fact that in the FX market, i am talking about spot forex and not the futures, we always play one currency against the other while in the stock market, we always deal with only a single stock at any point of time. In other words, we are not bothered about how the share price of Microsoft is going to perform relative to the share price of Google. We are just going to be bothered about how it is going to go on its own respect. Whereas, in spot forex, we always need to see how one currency is going to perform relative to the other.

So, how does this affect our profit and risk potential? Imagine this scenario: assume that there are 2 boxing bouts, one in which Muhammed Ali (one of the greatest boxers of all time) is up against Joe Frazier (another very good fighter) and in another bout, you have Ali against yours truly (yes !! Thats me, Karthik). Assume that the odds are the same for both the bouts. Which bout would you place your bets on? It would of course be the one which pits yours truly against Ali. It does not mean that Joe cannot or never will beat Ali, its just that you want to be on the safer side, reduce your risk and make some very good,low-risk money. At the end of the day,Joe might even beat Ali, but you always play to the side which has lesser risk. And even if Joe does beat Ali, it is going to be a long, hard-fought excruciating fight which will make you keep biting your fingernails, not knowing the results till the last moment. While the bout between me and Ali is going to be a short straight forward low-tension fight. Now, can you think for a while and compare this scenario with the one in the spot forex markets ?

From the last article, assume that Ali is EUR, JPY is Joe and USD is yours truly. So, now the first bout translates to EURJPY and the second bout translates to EURUSD. For the past 2-3 weeks, we have seen that the euro has been strengthening, Instead of blindly going long on some pair based on its strength, you needed to spend 5-10 mins to find the best pair to go long. So, now, you have decided to go long on EUR. Choose the pair which pairs the Euro against the weakest. Surely, JPY is not the weakest. How do we know that. We can know this by seeing that it is gaining against USD. Now we know that USD is weaker. Now, we see whether USD is gaining against any other currency. We continue doing this till we find a currency which is not gaining against any others. Now, we see that USD is not gaining against any currency. So, we come to the conclusion that it is best to play the strongest, Euro, against the weakest, the USD. True to this, we can see that EURUSD has gained 600 pips in 2-3 weeks while no other pair has gained that much.

I could see that there were a lot of people who tried going long on GBPUSD, EURJPY etc. but all that you needed to do was go long on EURUSD. This guarantees good returns and the risks were also very low. If you had more money to invest, take more lots on EURUSD rather than going long on other pairs just because one of it was strong. In the boxing example, we knew Ali was strongest but we had to pick the bout which pitted the strongest against the weakeast.Lesser risk,lesser nail-biting,lesser tension, higher returns. So remember to always pit the strongest against the weakest.

New trader's mistakes - By Diane Holstrom from WorldFXIQ

2010-10-09T10:17:00.000-07:00

It was once said, “a smart man learns from his Forex mistakes – but a wise man learns from others’ Forex mistakes!”

When it comes to learning Forex trading, your money is on the line! We want you to learn from others that have forged ahead of you in the learning process.

1.Trading without the proper education
a.Let me ask you – would you be hired as an educator, engineer, accountant, doctor or lawyer without the proper education? NO! Then why do we believe that because we can do this trading thing in the convenience of our home with no boss, no employees, that it should be easy? It’s not rocket science – but you need to be committed to getting educated in order to make smart and profitable trades.

2.Trading without a plan
a.This is a nutty idea – but I would venture to say that over 90% of new traders do this. Why? Because we don’t yet know what we are doing and we are simply feeling our way around. Trading with a plan includes some of the following items:
i.Declaring the pairs you will trade and stick with those for a period of time
ii.Knowing your limit of the number of trades to have on at the same time.
iii.Deciding you will leave a bad trade when it goes against you at 2-3% of your total margin
iv.Understanding that if you don’t know why you are in a trade – you need to leave it.
v.Committed to only training when nothing else is going on; no phone calls or visitors, etc.

3.Trading when emotionally distraught, trying to get over being emotional!
a.Greed and fear rule trading. Greed gets stronger when the trade is going in your favor and fear takes over when the trade is going against you.
b.Emotions rule in either case so deciding not to trade when or if something else in your life is distracting you is the only decision.
c.Emotions keep you from following your plan.
d.There is an old adage – Bulls make money and Bears make money – pigs get slaughtered.

4.Trading when you must have the money
a.This type of pressure puts you in a position of fear. Sound, logical decisions that support your plan will be abandoned. Be wise – know this is not a quick fix to your money problems!

5.Placing an order for the wrong pair
a.The charts are exciting and new at the beginning of your trading career. When you see a pair heading in a direction you don’t want to miss – take one more second to make sure the order you are placing is the one you want!

6.Placing an order for 20 lots instead of 2 lots
a.Ouch, this hurts! Especially if the trade is going against you. Often times traders post different amounts each time they trade e.g. 1 standard lot, .5 lots, .3 or even .1 lots. Be sure you know when you are getting into the trade, how much you want to put in the trade and check it one more time! That extra second it takes to double check could save you lots of money!

7.Placing too many trades at one time
a.New traders are excited to trade and don’t realize the adrenaline that is pumping through the veins. Getting multiple trades on at a time may keep you from managing the money on 1 or 2 very profitable trades because you eyes were off the ball. Be wise. Start small until you are proficient.

8.Placing too much risk on a single trade, otherwise known as “doubling up to catch up”!
a.This happens so quickly! You think you are fine; the trade is headed in your direction. Then, it’s not! So you place another trade in the same direction to “dollar cost average the trade” knowing that it will eventually turn in your favor. But it doesn’t and you now have 3 or maybe 4 trades on the same pair. Now you are stuck holding that one trade and have used up all of your available funds so you’re unable to get into something profitable. Its not fun to sit on your hands and watch the pips evaporate and your account get margined out. Remember it is better to be wishing you were in a trade then wishing you were out of a trade.

9.Placing a trade not knowing why you got in the trade
a.As a new traders you have so much to learn. Someone will call a trade in the news, or from a Tweet. You trust the individual, so you make the trade. Boom! It goes against you! How dare them! Be careful  as you didn’t know why you were in the trade in the first place! Remember it is your money
b.Only get in a trade when you agree with the call.

10.Accidentally going Long instead of Short
a.This is as easy as entering 2 lots instead of 0.2 – be very clear when you pull the trigger the pair you are trading

Forex trading is a up-hill battle for most

2010-10-09T10:03:00.000-07:00

There is a high turnover in the number of traders that come into the premium trading room. We try everything in our power to help them trade profitably and stay members. As a matter of fact we conducted a poll of one of our trading session at the end to see how many traders were profitable during the session. This was a session where we posted 5 trades and they were all profitable for us. At the end of the poll the results were that 21% of the traders lost money even though we called 5 profitable trades.

In the beginning our team would get very frustrated about the fact that traders lose money despite us doing everything we can to help them. We still work hard and do everything we can but we have learned that many people fall through the cracks and dont make the cut as forex traders.

I have found a remarkable article about Forex Discipline that I recommend that you read. It is written by Jason Stapleton and he explains some key issues why traders fail.

I have also found an article that release the actual success rate of all traders at IBFX.

Thanks for reading and I hope this helps you take some improvements in your trading.

Casey

Discipline: Why You Don’t Have It……And How to Get It.

2010-10-09T09:58:00.000-07:00

It’s the “thing”. When you break it down and cut out all the noise, all the talk about trading systems, EA’s, psychology, money management and risk management what trading really comes down to is discipline. It’s the one thing that will make or break you as a trader. Winning system? Without discipline, you won’t follow it. Tight spreads? Without discipline, you will still over trade costing you a fortune in broker fees. Lightning fast internet connection with a spit second new feed? Without discipline, you will constantly miss out the good trades due to your own indecision.

But this is nothing new. Everyone knows you need discipline to be a trader. The question is HOW.

I’ve always believed the best teaching tools come from real life. So I want to talk to you for a little while about something else in life that takes a great deal of discipline with roughly the same success rate as trading…….weight loss.

Nearly everyone reading this article can identify with a waistline that’s become a little………unflattering. At some point, the sight of yourself as you pass by the mirror on your way to the shower becomes too much for even you to tolerate. What follows is a process that is all too familiar.

1. Tell friends and family that you are thinking about losing some weight.

2. Listen to those people giving you advice about how best to lose the weight. (Most are overweight as well.)

3. Get several new books by current authors covering the latest strategies for achieving your goal.

4. Buy a bunch of new stuffs like a blender, vitamin packs, health foods, new running shoes, exercise shorts and a gym membership.

5. Decide to start in a week or so.

6. In a month, received the credit card bills for all the stuffs you bought and decide to get started.

7. Religiously follow your diet and exercise program for a full week.

8. Start to see some results.

9. Give yourself a “cheat day” to reward yourself.

10. Go right back to your old eating and exercise habits.

11. Put all your weight back on.

This has been the process for nearly every dieter in the world at one point or another. So let’s talk about the WHY. WHY is it so hard to stay disciplined when dieting? Let me frame the scenario differently. Let’s say you want to lose some weight and you decide you are going to cut out the sweets. NO MORE SUGAR! No more soda pop or candy. No dessert or treats after meals. On its surface this seems to be a very simple, rational and effective plan for losing some of those unwanted pounds. How hard to you think it would be to follow?

Most people would say, “Sure Jason, it sounds simple. But it’s a lot harder than it sounds.” True, but let me add a critical piece of information. If you’re stranded on a deserted island. See what I mean? With no access to processed sugar it becomes easy to follow your rules and stay disciplined.

But let’s change our scenario one last time. What if you worked at a pastry shop? Not just any pastry shop but the kind of shop that would rival Le Grenier a Pain. Every day you show up and create some of the most delicious morsels ever devised. You get to smell the aroma of fresh baked sweets as the waft through the kitchen. The display cases are lined each day with every conceivable guilty pleasure. Occasionally you poke your head out only to find the patrons of the shop enjoying the fruits of your labor. You see the look of satisfaction on their faces as they devour every last bite.

Get the picture? So how long do you think you could stay disciplined and committed now?

Traders, your commitment to follow your trading plan and stay disciplined is just like a commitment to cut out sugar. The problem is………..

The FOREX market is your bakery.

Each and every day you sit down to trade your commitment to follow your trading plan will be tested. You’re on a diet in a pastry shop. The market will seek at every turn to challenge your resolve and attempt to push you out of your comfort zone causing you to make impulsive emotional decisions rather than disciplined, planed ones.

Many people will tell you it is wrong to look at the market as a living breathing entity, “The market is not out to get you.” as the saying goes. But I find in this case that it serves the analogy well. The “market” is the representation of every trader’s decision as a specific point in time. That’s all. But the market rewards risk and punishes those that follow the path of least resistance. This must be the case in order for markets to function.

Because of this simple truth we can deduce that in order to succeed, we must have the strength of our convictions since they will no doubt run contrary to many in the market.

Remember 90% of traders lose money. If you want to be part of the 10% look at what the 90% do, then do the opposite.

Ok, if you’re still reading I’ve kept you in suspense long enough. So how do you stay disciplined given the overwhelming temptation to do otherwise?

Discipline is an emotional quality. To have discipline means you have fixed yourself in a course of action and are unwilling to deviate from it. Having discipline starts with commitment. Even this first step causes people some problems. A lot of people think they are committed but most are not.

“There’s a difference between interest and commitment. When you’re interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstance permit. When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.” -Art Turock-

Step one to staying disciplined; Are you truly committed? If not, you must make that commitment if you ever expect to succeed. This first step while simple acts as an anchor to your trading. The commitment to succeed is what allows your mind to focus on a goal. This is a moving target. As one goal is achieved a new commitment to a new goal must be set allowing you to continue your journey.

In NLP and NAC (psychological processes) we actually call this an “anchor”. You must literally change your perception of reality before you will truly create lasting change. Again, using the weight loss analogy; People who ultimately achieve lasting results have shifted their reality. Often this comes from a doctor visit when they are told they have diabetes. For some, it comes after a heart attack, or after a child expresses concern for their well-being. Whatever the catalyst, something changes in the individual at a fundamental level that literally alters their perception of the world. Their new reality causes them to view their decisions differently and shifts their focus of what’s important.

But if blowing up account after account doesn’t do the trick how do we create this anchor? I find that a lack of trader discipline is the result of 2 specific things.

1. A Lack of direction

You simply don’t know what you’re doing. This sounds a little hash but the cold hard truth is most traders simply don’t have the education, understanding and experience to have confidence in what they are doing. If you’re struggling with discipline right now I would venture to say you really question if there’s something you’re missing. Some piece of the puzzle you don’t yet have.

2. Lack of/Unprofitable Trading System

This one get’s misunderstood. I don’t mean to suggest that most traders don’t have a winning system. What I am saying is that most traders don’t KNOW if their system is a winner or loser.

They have never done any of the hard work necessary to test and verify the system they are trading. I would venture to guess that most of you reading this article have not tested the system you are currently trying to follow for any length of time. For those of you who think you have let me ask you a couple of questions:

Over the past 300 Trades,
What is the expectancy of your system?
What is the average DD given your money management strategy?
What is the maximum DD
What is the average number of losing trades?
What is the maximum number of losing trades in a row?
What is the average Risk/Reward Profile?
Given your money management system what was the ROI over the past 300 trades after accounting for slippage and commissions?

If your answer includes the words “about” or “roughly” you’re wrong. You should have exact figures. WHY? Because having those figures gives your mind something to anchor to when the going gets tough. It provides a foundation for you to build your trading house on.

If you know, for example, that your system produces 4 losing trades in a row on average and that you had a maximum of 7 losing trades in a row over the sample testing period, you have a base line. When that 3rd 4th and 5th losing trade come you can have confidence that if you are disciplined, the losses will soon end. Not only were you prepared for this drawdown, you were expecting it. You knew it would come. And now that it has you are prepared for it mentally.

When this happens your reality literally shifts. You can now change what kind of effect your decisions have on you emotionally based on how you now view your trading. Instead of “winning brings me pleasure and losing brings me pain.” You now have a new reality. “Following my rules brings me pleasure; not following my rules brings me pain.” This is much the same way someone who used to over-eat due to a love of food now eats healthy because of a love for their health. They have shifted what brings them pain and pleasure based on how they view the world.

Imagine how different your results would have been over the past several months if you had simply applied some if this knowledge. But alas, you’re trading journey has gone largely the way of the 90%. See if this sounds familiar. (Not unlike the dieter.)

1. Get interested in FOREX and find a chat room where you tell others of your interest.

2. Listen to those people give you advice about how best to trade FOREX. (Most are losing money, hand over fist.)

3. Buy several new books by current authors covering the latest strategies for achieving your goal.

4. Do OK in a demo account, decide to go live.

5. Blow your account out in a month

6. Attend a seminar, buy a $97 EA that promises you millions while you sleep, join a signal service or a live trading room.

7. Decide to get serious and create a plan to follow

8. Religiously follow your trading plan.

9. Start to see some results.

10. Get cocky.

11. Slip back into your old habits

12. Blow your account out again.

The secret to gaining discipline in your trading is having confidence in what you’re doing. That comes from KNOWING. Not hoping or believing but KNOWING that if you follow your rules with consistency and discipline then you will achieve consistent results.

Now if you don’t have a winning system or any idea how to test the one you have, then we have more to discuss. But that will have to wait for another article. Until then, I wish you every success in trading and in life.

Good Luck and Good Trading,

Jason Stapleton

Head Trading Coach

4xtraderslive.com

Friday - trading the news release thingy

2010-10-08T10:16:00.000-07:00

Wah lau....high impact news release trading, but for the 2 releases this evening I managed to get "whacked" by both. CAD Employment Claim plus Unemployment rate for Canada at 7pm followed by the mother of all news release Non-farm Employment report from US at 830pm.

The lessons learnt were that whatever personal's view doesn't really matter and that the market is always right and has it's own way to deal with over where it wants to go. For me....can only guess at best and hope my guess is right. For the set-up, it is to enter the market just a minute or two before the release plus set the SL tight enough for the widening of spread by the dealers/brokers during the release and still left enough for some wild swings but not too wide that will caused bigger losses! If the spike goes against you....then it is wiser to take the "hit" than to fight it. For this high impact release....the run can be more than 50 pips in less than a min. So...no point to have wide SL.

Btw it is any body's guess which way the market spikes? For the rest...of the forex traders, we can only hope for the best and hope our guess and set-up was "right".

The other good thing was that I closed all other orders and trades before the release to lock in and focus on my trading plan! I also tips from a few different top-guns traders, still "failed" and take a 25% hit for my fund. May have to do another top-up this coming week or left with not much bullets for another good fight! For forex....traders must be able to take "hits" then be cool enough to profit from it.

Wah...it's Oct already!

2010-10-07T09:21:00.000-07:00

Time flies....yes, it really does!

Same for my fund too....blew it trading USD/JPY, USDCHF and USDSGD pairs. Thought they were already too low as it was reported that these pairs were at their lowest level for the year, then multi years' low...shit, they still went further down. Now! I had cold feet....almost wiped out my funds at Onada and MFG. Topped up....but it was gone again!

At same time....also "got caught out" by shorting of EURUSD and AUDUSD pairs. Luckily......I traded with tight "SL" but with a few std lots size at one "go" so the damaged was "bad" too. Was thinking....how low can it goes? And also surely BOJ would step-in again if it across a certain level. But no action noted....on Wed and Thu and the USDJPY sank to near 82.1 level before jumping back to 82.4. Now....back to 82.3 level and maybe to test the low again by morning. Btw I have 3 std lots....awaiting at 82.02 to 81.92 level, still believe that BOJ will intervene! Shit.....they must have gone to sleep!!

For stocks....got whacked by Genting PLC, shit! 25 lots at $2.16 bought last month.
Today....it was at $2.03! Btw it was "greed" that I bought it thinking it can go higher for the Qtr-end plus F1 thingy but it didn't work out according to my thought! It was worst last week....it was down to below $1.85 with a strong finished on Friday to $2.00. The best it went up was on Tuesday....$2.13!

Trading forex on news releases....still didn't quite got a "hang" for it. eg today, I bet that AUDUSD would dropped due to the same situation yesterday with the RBA thingy. No...once the news was out, it "popped" upward and got out my "shorts". Yesterday...it was the other way around. It sank....and caught my "long" since my signal was telling me 2 thirds of the Analysts were looking at 4.75% interest rate.
I was thinking....all the datas lately from Australia do not support such a move.

Frankly I don't blame anyone for my losses nor find excuses for my "greed and fear".
This evening...when GBPCHF, USDCHF and USDJPY "tanked" I was busy shifting my positions downward. I was thinking....wah, so lucky that I managed to shift before my position was triggered.

Oh....I went to KL for my niece's wedding on Sat, so I drove up on Fri morning after my work. Hand-over to my daughter to drive most of the trip. Only took back the wheel....near to KL and the Singapore/JB leg. Crazy jams at KL and crazy drivers too....but they don't really get too pissed at each other like here! They go about their business even when they were "blocked"....they still don't "honk".
Quite peaceful lot....those crazy drivers but they do "tail-gate" which I hate! So
I speed up....whenever it happened!

Activties for this coming week.

2010-09-18T14:19:00.000-07:00

Meeting....and more meetings with boss plus some servicings for some "alien clients" on Mon and Tue. Shit....lots of running around activities with little to no benefit for myself plus giving myself "stress"! No choice for
the moment....my trading skill is not "sharp" enough to replace my day job
to trade full-time!

Hope for some "peaceful" times for me to focus on my trades. Really want to be "free" to have open mind in order to fully focus on my trade plans for both forex and stock.

Yes.....must have a "focus" mind esp when trading "short term" forex. But if I can't have this "focused" thingy then I will give-up on forex trading for the week.

Up-date for 13 to 17 Sept trading week

2010-09-18T13:50:00.000-07:00

For stocks.....well, managed to clear the last lot of HK stocks in my holding. SMIC....and managed to run before it went "south". Good call!
Now shifting back my attention to SGX counters and the lastest addition
was ChinaAniHealth. Still kind of "chicken" to trade Gentings as it has "gone" north with such a huge run. Maybe this week....may think of it if see any pullback for short term trade. Max....to hold till end of the month ( window dressing due to Qtr-end plus F1, therefore lots of visitors and tourists ).

For forex, was caught out with my USD/SGD pair which I bought from last week. So...last Tuesday, sold down to one single std lot and shifted my
postions to USD/JPY on the hope of a upward swing with the election in Japan, but no such luck and I was kind of regreting my earlier move. Luckily on Wed morning....news of BOJ moves for selling of the yens came, the USD/JPY just shot up nicely....and I was like "OMG". Just "swee swee" :)...to see my trade "pop" with a nice "doubling" of my fund in one single move. SWEET!

On using Henry Lui's trading on news release method....committed a couple of silly mistakes. 1st....using a trailing stop loss and was "stopped out" by the spread just before the news release. Shit....just open-up to plus-minus 10 pips while I put in my trade with a 15 pips trailing SL. So with a minor whip-swing....my position was "gone" for me to see the spike going in my direction.....straight-up with a 60 pips run. Shit!!! 2nd mistake was that I open postion 15 mins before the release only to see my postion kena stopped out just by the widening of ask/bid spread at news release.
Both mistakes costed me....more than 100 pips of potential gain plus at the same time immediate loss of more than 60 pips. My stop loss is at 29 pips/trade....plus some spillages. Luckily...I only traded with half std lot size during news release, so a loss of about S$700 for both mistakes instead of making a nice gain S$1K+. Sighed!

End of the day....I took this as a painful lesson and one that would help to sharpen my trading skill when I trade "big". Finally added back my USD/SGD when I closed my USD/JPY position on last Thursday and now my positions are showing a "plus". My reasoning is that....USD/JPY has corrected, followed by USD/CHF so the USD/SGD should start to move "north" soon. On Friday....even USD/CAD also shifted higher plus the fact that EUR
is having some problems with their banks thingy again, therefore it went "south".

For the week....also bought a "signal" thingy from a site in UK and I started to receive my 1st signal on last Friday evening. Didn't see it till nearly 2 hrs later. Short for both EUR/USD and GBP/USD pairs and Long for USD/CHF and USD/JPY pairs. Both "Short" calls....were spot-on! But for "Long" I was "whacked" by the USD/CHF pair with a small profit for my USD/JPY pair. In the end....loss nearly S$500 at close of trade due to my missed trade for USD/EUR. It went down by nearly 60+ pips therefore didn't dare to "fire" my Short call for it. I managed to "fire" for GBP/USD but I didn't managed to get the max pip for it ( also it has gone down by the time I saw the signal ). The worst thing was that I open 2 positions for USD/CHF for only 1 position each for my other pairs. USD/JPY didn't have any huge swing.....quite a calm ride for it.

So....the result was still a positive one for my trading fund as of close!

Trading up-dates

2010-09-09T10:40:00.000-07:00

Had some pips from my last week's USD/SGD forex pairs on last Monday evening when the trailing stop was triggered, still a few hundred $$$ profit but on Tuesday....it went higher.
No trading on Tuesday...and on Wednesday, went long again for EUR/CHF pair and this time managed to ride out at least the bulk of the run and added nearly a grand to my profit. Today....kena stopped out on a few small trades but still holding on to my main bulk of my trade USD/SGD - 3 std lots which I picked up when it went south from 1.344 to 1.341. Wah...but then it went even lower to below 1.3392, lucky didn't kena stopped out yet as my stop-loss is at 1.3385. Now at 1.30am it has recovered back to 1.3426/32 and there are a couple of hundred of profits for my account too. Not about to close...as I have been aiming for this trade since I sold off last Monday and now I am getting this pair even cheaper. My cost - at around 1.3418 as compared to my last entry at 1.3455 that is why I won't "chicken too early" and will give this pair some running space.

For HK stocks....managed to make back some losses too so on the whole, it is a reasonable profitable week for me. Hope I didn't speak too soon hehe!

BOC Interest Rate Decision Forex Trading Plan 09/08/10 - by Henry Lui

2010-09-09T10:19:00.000-07:00

Bank of Canada (BOC) will once again meet for their Overnight Rate (Interest Rate) and the decision will be announced today at 9:00am sharp. Along with the rate decision, BOC Carney will also announce a Rate Statement to further explain today’s decision. Here’s what analysts are expecting:

9:00am (NY Time) CA BOC Rate Decision Forecast 1.00% Previous 0.75%
ACTION: USD/CAD SELL 1.00% BUY 0.75%

The Trade Plan
BOC (Bank of Canada) will be hiking its Overnight Rate as the majority of analysts agree (14 out 20 as surveyed by Bloomberg). BOC is likely to remain optimistically cautious in its tone but the overall market is expecting a rate hike.

However, since this rate decision is not perceived as a “done deal”, it is possible that we’ll see market react to both possibilities, therefore we would be looking to BUY USD/CAD if BOC decides to leave rates unchanged and SELL USD/CAD if BOC decides to hike as expected.

I’ll be trading this release using Spike Trading method as the odds for either possibilities are high, therefore it is almost guaranteed that we’ll see strong market movement immediately after the release.

The Market
As CAD gained across the board last Friday after NFP release showed the underlying market sentiment that a better U.S. economy is likely to ease BOC’s concerns over global uncertainty, which increases the probability for BOC to hike rates today.

As a matter of fact, Credit Suisse is predicting about 65% of probability for a rate hike today; however, there is 35% of possibility that BOC may just hold rates unchanged and adopt a wait-and-see stance for the time being.

Additional Thoughts
BOC has been on target with its monetary policy and the series of rate hikes since June has been done in such a way that avoided parity level on the USDCAD pair. This may be another opportunity to BOC to hike interest rate and at the same time warn the market over future uncertainty, which will make CAD less strong, thus keeping the volatility to a minimum.

On the other hand, we are also seeing the economic growth in the 2nd quarter slowing, along with negative job data. With US economic outlook lagging, BOC may pause for the time being…

Since both outcomes have merits, market will move after the rate decision, and the idea is to get in and hold on to the trade as USDCAD usually doesn’t retrace much.

Pre-News Considerations
I’ll be looking to SELL USD/CAD prior to the release, from recent highs.

Upcoming Signals Overview (Sept. 6 ~ 10, 2010) - by Henry Lui

2010-09-09T10:16:00.000-07:00

Hello folks:

Here are the news releases that we’ll be trading this week. I’ll be sending you a more detailed analysis usually a day ahead of their schedule. Thanks.

Tue September 7, 2010 12:30am EDT – AU RBA Interest Rate
Wed September 8, 2010 9:00am EDT – CA BOC Interest Rate
Wed September 8, 2010 10:00am EDT – CA IVEY PMI
Wed September 8, 2010 9:30pm EDT – AU Employment Change
Thu September 9, 2010 7:00am EDT – UK BOE Rate Decision
Fri September 10, 2010 7:00am EDT – CA Employment Change
And of course, we do have several untradable yet high impact releases scheduled for the week:

Thu September 9, 2010 8:30am EDT – US & CA Trade Balances – Market seems to ignore this release, therefore it’s better we stay away from them.
Thu September 9, 2010 8:30am EDT – US Unemployment Claims – Market is getting used to this release and we rarely see any significant push.
Fri Septermber 10, 2010 4:30am EDT – UK PPI – Even the CPI release out of UK is losing its appeal to move the market, much less the PPI.

Looking at the overall market sentiment and the fact that we’ve gotten a nice positive surprise in the US NFP release last Friday, it’s entirely possible that we are staring at the early stage of trend reversal, one that would push USD and JPY lower as concerns over double-dip recession subsides. Some big name analysts are now switching their position and unwinding their USD longs brought upon by the exaggerated demand for safe-haven instruments during the last few weeks as concerns over recession was exacerbated by Bernanke’s dovish stance and the possibility of a second round of stimulus, better known as quantitative easing.

What was changed this week from last week is, time. We now have time to wait and see. Big Ben won’t have to make a decision to start codename QE2 (Quantitative Easing Round 2) yet, and if jobs market shows resilience in recovery, evidenced by the next NFP release (one is a fluke, two could be a trend), Bernanke could very well wait until next year before undertaking such a measure, and the very fact that Feds might be delaying the controversial QE2 program, is in itself a positive message for Risk Appetite.

Therefore, I expect to see some general sentiment moving it that direction this week. Although it is still at early stage of a trend reversal, which by definition is prone to fake moves, I’d advice everyone to watch the development in EURUSD and USDJPY for more taletelling signs.

As far as weekly trends for the week, I am biased towards further risk appetite sentiment, but I do understand there are risks to assume direction this early in the trend reversal stage. Perhaps we should see a more defined market next week so that we can take advantage of it.

Understand that he is coming out with another new site - "10K to 1 mil in 12 months". Wow....that is POWERFUL and I would be damn happy if I can made double my 10K in 12 months haha! Frankly....I won't dare to say that it is not possible as there are some lucky souls who will make it with their trading. Look at POWER-UP site, they also claimed some newbies who made tens of thousands in a short period of trading. Beginner's luck????
Not likely....maybe they have better in-sight and luck during their trades.
I too had a huge run early June....then end-up loosing most of the profits when I added more technical stuffs and changed my trading method. Too much changes until I lost how to enter and exit a trade....and managed to win only small profits while end-up loosing "big losses". Well...I will monitor Henry's new site and his methods when it is out.

Forex Trading Tips - copied from Henry Lui

2010-09-09T10:14:00.000-07:00

Here is a list of some of my previous posts on various tips and insights into the currency market. If you are new to news trading or even to Forex trading in general, this would be a place to start:

The Grandma Indicator – Too many times traders chase after a trade or get in the market when everyone else is getting out. Hopefully by understanding this basic concept, you won’t chasing trades anymore…

Pick Your Battles – I see more and more novice traders spend far too much time trading, and sometimes even when the market is flat trying to force a trade. I’ve realized this long ago, and I’ve decided to share a little insight…

New to News Trading? Start Here - This is my welcome post to all new traders starting in the fundamental analysis space, and I try to put together valuable information to get you started.

FOREX News Trading Trigger Sheet - This is a link to download my deviation sheet containing all of the news releases that I trade, along with a video showing you how to use this report.

FOREX Tricks Video – My dumbest trick (yet it works!) - This is a special shortcut or loophole, that I’ve discovered one day when comparing different brokers. Make sure you watch this video.

Currency Strength Meter – Add 30 pips to your trade - This meter needs no introduction, but if this is the first time you read about this, you NEED to get it, and the best part is, it’s FREE!

NFP or Russian Roulette anyone - by Dean Popplewell

2010-09-03T14:28:00.000-07:00

It’s like attending a bingo session. All eyes will be down waiting for the highly anticipated employment print this morning. Will this week’s ADP report translate into a much weaker jobs number? Will the stubbornly elevated weekly claims push the unemployment rate up two ticks? Will analyst’s consensus of a headline loss of -100k jobs and no growth in the private sector provide us with a non-event as we head into the ‘labor’ weekend? Expect liquidity to be thin as many New Yorkers skip out of town averting the storm ahead of the holiday. It’s another crap-shoot. Spin the wheel, black or red?

The US$ is stronger in the O/N trading session. Currently it is higher against 11 of the 16 most actively traded currencies in a ‘subdued’ trading range in the O/N session.

We had a plethora of data to digest yesterday ahead of this mornings highly anticipated employment report. It will either be a snooze, non-event heading into this long North American weekend or the results will force traders to react like ‘elephants in a china shop’. In his communiqué yesterday, Trichet met market expectations, again announcing that emergency lending facilities would be extended into next year. Somewhat of a surprise was the EU’s policy maker’s small upward revision to next year’s views. They now expect to come inside a range of +0.5% to +2.3% (up from +0.2% to 2.2%). Could they not have made it any wider! The inflation outlook was also revised up a tad to a range of +1.2-2.2%. It’s worth noting and not surprising that they again identified risks to the downside and flagged renewed tensions in financial markets. Policy makers have no intention ‘to signal any change in rates and remains apart from experiments elsewhere with respect to providing rate guidance’.

  The dreaded weekly claims reports potentially points to a downside risk to this morning employment print. Analysts note that initial claims (+472k vs. +475k) remains ‘stubbornly elevated and at a level inconsistent with any expectation for meaningful job growth’ and supportive of renewed private job losses. Digging deeper, continuing claims fell by -23k to +4.456m (2nd consecutive week of declines). Up to date, the average has been hovering around the +4.5m mark as claims push further into extended (+894k) and emergency (+4.1m) categories. Since bottoming at the end of the 1st Q, extended benefits have surged higher by +531.6%. Not to be out done, emergency benefits have seen a similar fate and rallied +50%. With unemployment assistance being extended until the end of Nov. has caused the massive surge in both categories.

And finally, US pending home sales unexpectedly jumped yesterday (+5.2% vs. -1%). Any other day and the market would have paid more heed, but, a day before NFP where market participants try to batten down the hatches, there was no excitement. Technically this is the first ‘bullish’ news we have had to digest in the US housing market for some time. Analysts have been quick to explain the huge monthly jump away, the growth is coming off the lowest base ever (June was all-time record low). On level terms, the July data is only ‘ever so slightly better’ and remains insufficient to counter mounting stockpiles of unsold and shadow inventories. So, it’s back to our doomsday housing scenario.   

The USD$ is lower against the EUR +0.05% and higher against GBP -0.01%, CHF -0.17% and JPY -0.10%. The commodity currencies are weaker this morning, CAD -0.18% and AUD -0.15%. The loonie pared some of its euphoric rise, a day after its largest gain in three-months, on concern that US job losses will stall the global economic recovery. Next week’s BOC call is a spilt vote amongst analysts. Fact, futures are pricing in a +40% chance of the BOC tightening. It’s probably one of the toughest calls over the last decade. A string of disappointing Canadian data and a darkening global outlook have weighed heavily on the market’s conviction for a Sept. hike. Last month, the CAD happened to post one of its worst performing months in over a year, falling -3.5% vs. the dollar. The dollar has now capped a triple top at 1.0675 and will prove a formidable support level for the currency again. Canada is not immune to weaker data reported south of its borders. It is only natural that growth and interest rate sensitive currencies would experience some volatile moves on changing risk attitudes. A shortened holiday week will continue to keep the market on its toes.

The AUD fell in the O/N session vs. all its major trading partners ahead of this mornings NFP report. The market anticipates further job cuts this month which is dampening the demand for higher-yielding growth currencies. Investors continue to speculate that the RBA will keep interest rates unchanged next week. The currency has underperformed against all of its major trading partners and is expected to do so until there is a new Government formed. The commodity rich currency is not isolated, as other growth sensitive currencies are suffering the same fate. Government data has also happened to put a lid on the recent rally. Net result traders are adding to their bets that the RBA will leave interest rates unchanged for the next 12-months. Interest rate differentials play a big part of the currency’s attractiveness (0.9100).

Crude is lower in the O/N session ($74.67 -35c). Crude prices yesterday advanced, paring earlier losses, after a rig in the Gulf of Mexico was struck by an explosion, reinforcing concern that US regulations will reduce output in the region. Stronger economic growth data happened to provide a leg up for the ‘black-stuff’ earlier this week. Aiding the commodity was the weekly EIA report revealing an unexpected decline in supplies of distillate fuels. Distillates (heating oil and diesel), fell -739k barrels to +175.2m. The market had been expecting the inventory to increase by +1.15m barrels. Inventories of crude itself advanced +3.42m barrels to +361.7m Supplies were forecast to climb by +1.2m. On the face of it, the weekly report should have been market bearish, but investors happily ignored the data as they found solace in Chinese and US manufacturing data showing new signs of growth. How long is this sustainable? Perhaps NFP will bring even more surprises? In reality, oil hovers just above this month’s low, on concerns that weaker economic data will push the US into a double-dip recession. The market should be wary that the underlying situation has not changed, the fundamentals remain very weak, demand does not look good and stockpiles of crude and products remain at a record high. Speculators remain better sellers on up-ticks in the short term.

Gold prices continue to advance on its record high print recorded earlier this year as investors seek to protect their wealth. The uncertainty of recent data has had investors contemplating boosting their demand for the commodity as a safe heaven. Last month, bullion appreciated +5.2% alone. The market would not be that surprised to see some sort of technical pull back supported by profit taking selling if investors embraced more risk. Consumers are trying to put there cash somewhere more solid on mounting evidence of a US economic slowdown. Speculators again are supporting the various safe heaven assets on pullbacks, avoiding risky assets due to uncertainties in the markets. With a genuine fear for global growth, by default, should boost the demand for the metal as a protector of wealth in the grand scheme of things. With treasury yields expected to remain close to their lows, could promote a quickening inflation rate, which would promote pushing commodity prices even higher. The opportunity costs of holding gold are low due to falling interest rates ($1,254 +60c).

The Nikkei closed at 9,114 up +51. The DAX index in Europe was at 6,093 up +10; the FTSE (UK) currently is 5,376 up +5. The early call for the open of key US indices is lower. The US 10-year backed up 4bp yesterday (2.61%) and is little changed in the O/N session. Treasuries fell a second consecutive day as a surprise pending home re-sales print coupled with a drop in the initial jobless claims data reduced, temporarily at least, the relative safety of government debt. The curve had become too rich and the overbought asset class was due for some sort of correction. Again the curve 2’s/10’s spread has widened 2bp to +211bp after flattening sub +200bp a matter of days ago. Treasuries also after the government announced the sizes of the $67b three debt sales next week (3’s, 10’s and long bonds). Despite product becoming expensive on the curve, NFP uncertainty has debt better bid on pullbacks.

Forex trade after the NFP release - copied Daily Forex Forecast

2010-09-03T14:25:00.000-07:00

The Japanese yen is sharply lower in early US session after release of better than expected non-farm payroll report from US. Commodity currencies also soar broadly on risk appetite. European majors are relatively steady and Swiss Franc is indeed dropping sharply following yen. The headline non-farm payroll number showed -54k contraction only comparing to expectation of -105k. Prior month's number was also revised up to -54k. importantly, private sector job market showed 67k expansion versus expectation of around 40k while prior month's data was also revised up to an impressive 107k. Unemployment rate climbed from 9.5% to 9.6% as expected and is ignored by the markets. Markets will now face another test of ISM services later in US morning.

Release earlier today, UK PMI services dropped more than expected to 51.3 in August and sent sterling lower against Euro. Eurozone services PMI was revised mildly up to 55.9 in AUgust. retail sales grew 0.1% mom , 1.1% yoy in July. Swiss CPI was flat mom, rose 0.3% yoy in August.

CAD/JPY follows risk appetite in US session and jumps sharply. Consolidation above 78.52 is still in progress and more upside should be seen to 82 and above. But after all, we'd still expect upside to be limited by 83.48 resistance and bring resumption of the whole fall from 94.46.

US NFP (Nonfarm Payroll) Employment Analysis & Trade Plan 09/13/10 - by Henry Liu

2010-09-03T14:16:00.000-07:00

We’ll be trading the US NFP (Nonfarm Payroll) Employment Changes, it is the most volatile news release for the week as traders and their cousins all sit around in front of their PCs preparing to jump in…

Here’s the forecast:
8:30am (NY Time) US NFP Forecast -100K Previous -131K
8:30am (NY Time) US Unemployment Rate Forecast 9.6% Previous 9.5%
ACTION: USD/JPY BUY -30K SELL -170K

The Trade Plan
With today’s release, as per a special report by Bloomberg, the expectation ranges from +70K to -190K, counting on an increase in the private sector payrolls estimated at +47K versus the 71K release in July, and Census job cuts in the public sector of -119K. Market has shifted down its sentiment towards private sector jobs slightly after Wednesday’s ADP report of -10K versus +20K of expectation.

The Unemployment Rate will be another important figure today as it is expected to rise to 9.6% from 9.5% in July. I believe that in the event we get a conflict of releases, such as a better NFP figure but worse Unemployment Rate, market will react more to the Unemployment rate if it’s above the psychological 10.0% level.

Considering the lackluster market movement during Thursday’s trading session after ECB Trichet’s interest rate speech, market is likely to remain neutral at the time of NFP release… We could see potential movement in either direction pending on the outcome of the release.

Here’s the plan: If we get a significantly lower release on the NFP (-170K or worse) and Unemployment Rate (9.6% or worse), I’d be looking to BUY JPY (SELL USDJPY, SELL AUDJPY) on a retracement. There might be a chance to go LONG on GBP/USD or EUR/USD as “delayed trades” because the immediate reaction to another disappointing NFP release would prompt traders to SELL USD against JPY. But after the initial spike focused on strong JPY is over, traders will turn towards LONG on EUR and GBP while selling USD.

On the other hand, if we get a positive NFP release (-30K or better) and the Unemployment Rate remains at 9.6% or better, JPY should weaken immediately as USD/JPY may recover and move above 87 throughout the trading session, and the long-term trend would eventually head back on to 90 in the next few weeks…

If we get a conflict release, we will wait and see how the market reacts first. If there is an overwhelming sentiment driving the market, there will be plenty of opportunities for entry. If you just wait for 5 minutes before making an entry, you’ll get a much clearer view.

The Market
If you remember what took place during last NFP release, market didn’t react with much directional bias as the release came out in line with expectation.

We’ll probably see similar reaction in the market if we were to get an in-line with expectation release, or -100K on NFP and 9.6% on the Unemployment Rate. However, I believe the general market will be focused more on the Private Sector jobs, which are expected at a +47K; simple math shows that the entire -100K drop in the NFP forecast is attributed to the -119K of Census Temporary hiring, and that makes the private jobs growth the real reflection of U.S. employment sector…

Therefore, I’d advice everyone to focus on both headline NFP and Private Sector job growth. If we get around 70K+ in the private sector growth, I think market would really take that as a positive sign for the U.S. economy.

NFP Trading Strategy
Below is a general guideline on how to trade NFP release. This is what I do with EVERY NFP release.

Let’s talk about how to trade this release: We’ll wait for the numbers to come out, but will not take any trade YET, even if we get our tradable figures (-170K or -30K). We’ll wait for a possible revision to the previous release number, which is -131K, as the market usually overreacts with the Revision and chances favor for this trade to work out if we do not get conflicting releases between the revision and the actual release; at this point, still stay out of the market.

Then the next step is to wait for the Unemployment Rate, which is expected to be at 9.6% from 9.5% prior. If the Unemployment Rate were to surprise higher, we’ll have to really make an executive decision at the time of the release and see what is the primary focus of the market. As long as we don’t go over the 10.0% psychological level, I think traders may not focus exclusively on this release. However, if we do get over the 10.0% level, I’d probably be looking for a SELL on USD/JPY or other JPY crosses and Yen should strengthen.

After all of the numbers have been released. Wait for the market to push… then be patient and wait for a decent retracement before getting in. Look for recent support/resistance areas for entry as a high impact news with various components are extremely volatile, and those who are patient will always get a chance to enter with much better entry.

Additional Thoughts
With USD/JPY sitting at the psychological level of 84, with throwing distance of the 15 year high level at 83.50 against USD, it is going to take a very strong momentum to break this level. I have noticed the numerous attempts to break below this level but the general market seems to find support and unable to stay below 84.00. Therefore, I’d consider this level when SELLING USDJPY on a worse than expected NFP release, and possibly skip the trade altogether to avoid whipsaw.

Looking at the NFP, there are a few indicators pointing for a better than expected release despite the surprise -10K release on ADP report this Wednesday. We’ve got better ISM Manufacturing PMI which indicated strong employment component, a slightly better initial Jobless Claims, higher consumer spending, and general rise in Consumer Confidences…

Although one could argue that the negative ADP report and the uncertainty of government Census job cuts could skew the NFP result to a worse figure, most traders should be focusing more on the Private Sector jobs rather than the headline NFP.

Pre-News Consideration
I strongly suggest that any pre-news trade be closed at this moment. As with NFP releases, liquidity will die down from now until the actual release time because most traders are likely to sit on the sideline.

DEFINITION of NFP
“Measures the change in number of employed people during the previous month, excluding the farming industry. A rising trend has a positive effect on the nation’s currency. Job creation is an important indicator of economic health because consumer spending, which is highly correlated with labor conditions, makes up a large portion of GDP. This report is the first of the month that relates to labor conditions, making it susceptible to big surprises.”

Forex Plan For US ADP NFP Employment 09/01/10 - by Henry Liu

2010-09-02T13:33:00.000-07:00

ADP or Automatic Data Processing (NASDAQ:ADP) is releasing it’s own estimate for the private sectors of NFP (Nonfarm Payroll). This is high impact release and it’s followed by currency traders as they look for hints on Friday’s NFP official release. Here’s the forecast:

8:15am NY Time US ADP NFP Change Forecast 20K Previous 42K

ACTION: USD/JPY BUY 70K SELL -30K

The Trade Plan
As stated in my last analysis on ADP NFP news, I usually don’t trade it but I use this release for future market trend references. However, I assume that most traders are likely to do the same, but if the deviation of 50K is actually hit, true speculators will probably have not problem jumping into the market, and this will undoubtedly change market perception for Friday’s NFP release; therefore it is best to be around your computer during the release time rather than finding out what happened hours later and perhaps missed the entire movement.

With the above being said, if we get 70K or better release, I’d be looking to BUY USD/JPY; if we get a -30K or worse, then I’d be looking to SELL USD/JPY… I’ll look at how close we are to the 84.00 level as it has been considered a strong support for the pair and in order for us to take a SELL trade, we need to see market break beyond 83.50 level.

The Market
With NFP private jobs forecasted at +47K, or a decrease from last month’s figure of 71K, this ADP release’s range is between +17K to +30K, which averages out at around 20K.

With the current market focus on risk aversion, which is exacerbated by the ever increasing unemployment rate and job losses in the U.S., a better than expected release should change the overall perception of the NFP release on Friday and we should see some unwinding of JPY long trades.

Additional Thoughts
The ADP NFP Employment Release is aways considered as a high impact release because ADP is the largest private payroll processing provider in the U.S., traders in general pay more attention to this release, especially during NFP week. ADP usually releases its version of Non-Farm Payroll numbers before the actual NFP based on it’s proprietary private payroll data.

I’ll use caution when trading this release even if we get our deviation. When it comes to NFP, market always exaggerates.

Pre-news Consideration
ADP is expected to show a modest gain of 20K, but with Census hiring skewing the overall picture (still 200K workers need to be fired), private data such as the ADP may not move the market much… However, if we do get a strong release, we could expect some change in the pre-news expectation for NFP on Friday.

There should not be much pre-news trading opportunities for this release. General market trend is still for leaning towards risk aversion, although I am seeing some sign of rebound.

Using Econonomic News to Supercharge Your Forex Trading Profits

2010-09-02T13:23:00.000-07:00

Most forex traders I know use charts and technical analysis to make their forex trades, and are taught by so called “gurus” to completely avoid the market when news comes out, and in many cases, to even take off trades before news. My question is, why avoid trading during a period where price action actually behaves sensibly? In other words, price action actually moves due to traders’ reactions to new information about the economic state of a country, rather than some pattern or price level that may or may not have any predictive ability.

Should you trust the news in your forex trading?
Save some time and watch for only the high probability trading opportunities
News isn’t something you should avoid. News is the only thing that you know for sure moves the market. News has a much longer effect than just the knee jerk reaction immediately after the release and the next 5 minutes. The reason why news time has such a bad rap among traders is that many news events create random, whipsawing price action that can easily take out stops. So what does one do? Avoid trading during and after useless news events and only stick with ones that have strong cause-effect relationships (i.e. a surprise in the economic data has a high probability of producing a strong, one-directional move in a currency pair). These are:

Interest rate announcements, statements, press conferences (including US FOMC minutes)
Retail sales
Manufacturing PMI, Chicago PMI, Ivey PMI
Inflation/CPI
German ZEW, IFO surveys
US Employment (Non-farm payrolls),
Canadian employment

3 ways to use news in your trading
Analyzing sentiment (and thus direction) using news releases can be a very powerful element of your forex trading strategy. I’m not talking about chasing the market after a news release- I’m talking about professional, calculated, profitable forex trading. Here are some ways to combine forex news trading with technical analysis so that you have a better chance of getting both the direction and timing right during your trades.

1.Look for breakout due to important news surprise.
Out of all the forex technical analysis methods out there, I don’t think any are as powerful as watching how price reacts to weekly (or even daily) highs and lows. All other things equal, if price breaks a high, it’s likely to continue going up, and vice versa for lows. The reason why such a simple strategy as this can result in depleted accounts is because it doesn’t take into account the momentum and behavior of the market. If you consider that the GBP/USD traders are reacting strongly to a surprise in the amount of retail sales in the UK, however, then a sustained upward move beyond the break of the high looks more likely, doesn’t it?

2.Trade retracement of a news spike.
The easy days of waiting for a surprise in scheduled economic data and buying up a currency are long gone, as the competition is too fierce and brokers have implemented measures to make this practically impossible. However, that’s not to say that we can’t get into the move after the original price spike following the release. If you keep your eye on a 4-hour chart and see a clear break of a recent channel or weekly high after a surprise in economic data, wait for a retracement back down to the high and buy there.

3.Fade an “irrational” news move.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen price rocket upward 50-100 pips after a release only to come back down to right where it started a few hours later. Usually what happens is one of two things. First, the deviation between the market’s prediction and the actual economic number might be small (e.g. US retail sales is +0.3% vs. 0.1% expected), but nevertheless enough of a surprise to throw the market off and spur buying, or second, the news release turns out to be better than expected while in the recent past nearly all releases have been negative. In these situations I would look for a nearby technical resistance level, such as a weekly high, and short price when it gets to that level. Of course vice versa for the opposite scenario.

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Overview of News Trading - copied from Forex Boost

2010-09-02T13:09:00.000-07:00

If you’ve read through our site and others, you know there are two sides to forex trading; Fundamentals and Technicals. Technical trading is all about reading forex charts, using moving averages, tools and indicators to such as fibonacci studies and trendline analysis to find high probability trades. There are some very good ways to make money in forex technical trading. This section describes the other side of forex trading called Forex News Trading. This is where your odds of making good, profitable trades increase enormously.

Trading the news, is one of the best ways I know of making larges sums of money in very little time with very little risk. Financial news announcements get released every week. Some of these news announcement can and do move the market if there is a surprise in the announcement. For example, if a country is expected to raise it’s interest rate by a quarter of a point (0.25), the market prices this “expectation” into the price of it’s currency. When the announcement comes and the country decides to hold rates steady or raise them even more, e.g by half of a percent (0.50), this will absolutely move the currency. These are the kind of opportunities forex news traders look for and profit from.

Most news traders break even unless they have an edge. The edge we need is called "spike trading" and it's the only way to be consistantly profitable trading the news. Spike trading is a term used for playing the initial spike in price when a news event is released. This is where the money is made and the way to do this is with tools that get us into a spike trade immediately upon a news release. The only tool I know of, and have used used for amost 2 years, is called the Secret News Weapon (SNW) and it gets me into 80% of my spike trades. Sometimes prices moves too far, too fast so no matter what tool you use, you will not get into a spike trade. But the news spike trades we do get in to, hold your hat, because you can make a lot of money within 10-15 seconds after a news release. Nothing beats news trading with the SNW for super quick and profitable trades.

News trading can also be challenging. In our previous example we said if a country raises it’s rates more than expected, we would expect it’s currency rate to increase. That could be so, but timing is also very important. If the interest rate announcement is accompanied by a statement from that countries Fed of Board that indicates something like this could be the last interest rate hike for a while, this could have a negative effect on the currency. So instead of skyrocketing up, price stalls, flounders a bit and start crashing in the opposite direction. You would initially be on the right side of the trade, with a very nice profit and before you know it, price goes the other direction, stops you out and you lose money of the trade. This can and does happen.

How to Trade The News

You need to know tho (2) things about news trading. First you need to know when important news gets released. The second thing to know, is what kind of numbers will make your news trades work.

The first one is easy. Just look at any forex news calendar to see what news releases are due out and at what time of day. The one I use every day is the Forexfactory Forex News Calendar. This calendar shows you at a quick glance, all the news scheduled for release for the current week. The ones with Red folders are the ones to consider trading.

The second one is what can make you a lot money. To make money trading the news, the news release itself has to be a "shock". In other words, every news event has a Consensus number. This is the number the market is expecting. If that number is hit, or very close to consensus, then 99% of the time, that is considered a "No Trade". In other words, the numbers came out "As Expected". There were no surprises and chances are very good price will not be affected. However, when there is a surprise deviation, this is when price takes off. If the number is a "Good Surprise", then that's good for a currency and that currency would increase in value. If the number is a "Bad Surprise", the opposite happens and the currency you're trading dwould ecrease in value. As news traders, we look for these deviations from consensus and that's what makes us money.

So, the Million Dollar question is, "How do you know what a good deviation number should be?" The only way to know is to look at past performance of news releases and see what numbers caused the currencies to move. The one and only service I know of that has all this historical information in one easy to read place is called News Trader Pro. We also worked out a deal with them too so for our ForexBoost members, if you order their service through our site, you will save 10% off their service one-time service plan. And if you want to make serious money trading the news, you need to get the Secret News Weapon and watch your profits go thru the roof.

Trading Example

One of the best News Trades that everyone looks forward to is called the Non-Farm Payroll Report or what it's commonly referred to as NFP. This report comes out on the first Friday of each month. Everyone looks forward to this trade because if the released numbers deviate considerably from the consensus, then this can be a huge money maker. Some traders only trade this report. That's how important the NFP release is to forex news traders.

The first thing you would do is got to the Forexfactory Forex News Calendar to see what time the report is getting released and what the Consensus is. The NFP is always released at 8:30am EST but you should always double check every report just to make sure. The second thing you would do would be to go to News Trader Pro and find the previous releases for all the past Non-Farm Payroll reports. You would quickly see what deviations caused a huge move in the currency pair when this report was released in the past. I personally trade the USD/JPY (US Dollar vs. Japanese Yen) pair for this report. In my opinion, this pair is the most dependable pair to trade for this report. So, if you see that a deviation of 100,000 for example, caused a huge move, then you would Buy the USD/JPY pair if the number came out at 100,000 or better. And the opposite is true. If you saw a number worse than 120,000 historically caused a huge move in the other direction, you would Sell the USD/JPY pair. If you were fortunate enough to get the Secret News Weapon, you would put these deviation numbers into the Weapon and set your autoclicks. Then wait for the news to come out and if your deviation gets hit, watch your trade fly into profit. I suggest closing 1/2 of your position immediately after the initial spike. Then watch the price action and either go for more profit if price continues, or close out the final 1/2 if price retraces past 50% of the initial spike.

There are many reports released each week and sometimes you'll get a few each day! In my opinion, there's nothing more profitable than news trading in forex. At least with news trading, you know exaclty when to be ready for a trade and you can get in immediately. With technical trading, you really need to watch all your charts and indicators all the time, to make good trading decisions. I'd rather sit through a news release trade for 15-20 minutes than look at my charts for a few hours waiting for a setup. Dont' get me wrong though. I enjoy technical trading, but for faster profits and much less risk, nothing beats trading the news.

Forex News Trading Summary

For trading forex, you need to have money to start with. If you can’t start a forex trading account with at least $2500, my recommendation is to stay out of news trading with us. Needless to say, the more money you start with, the more money you can use to trade and the higher profits you will make.

This is a great business and I’m so glad I decided to get into forex trading when I did. I’ve been at this for years and expect to do it for many more years. I also expect to have enough money to have a nice, early retirement for myself and my family. News trading is one of the main reasons why I'm so much closer to my financial goals than every before.

The Difference Between Currency Futures and the Forex Market

2010-09-02T12:38:00.000-07:00

Well, you already know that the word “currency” refers to the monetary unit used in countries to buy goods and services (or pay taxes like in the USA). And we are also aware of the fact that “trading” refers to the purchasing and selling of these currencies. To say that there are nearly as many currencies in the world as there are countries is a fairly safe assumption. But when it comes to discussing currency futures versus the Forex market, the most targeted currencies for investment purposes are:

* United States dollar

* British Pound (sterling)

* The Euro

* Japanese Yen

Since the currency markets have become extremely popular with investors, and since they are predominantly a day-trade oriented market, they exhibit an extremely high volume of trading (contracts) and equally high amount of liquidity. The factors of high volume and liquidity entice the participation of all types of traders such as:

* Banks

* Financial and non-financial companies

* Governments

* Individual day traders

There are a number of ways in which to trade currencies but even non-traders are familiar with the most obvious one, namely trading your currency for that of the country that you are vacationing in. Usually, travelers will use a currency broker, in this case one of the country’s banks, to exchange their currency. When the transaction is done, it is considered to be part of the currency exchange market. Where the serious investor or professional trader is concerned, this form of currency exchange is not acceptable.

Forex (FOReign EXchange)

The Forex Exchange is one of the most popular and highly trafficked venues of trading the actual exchange rates of two currencies in the industry, and the Euro to United States dollar gets a lot of attention in the Forex market. The exchange is usually listed as EUR/USD, which means trading the value of one Euro in US dollars. The five other most popular currency trades are:

* AUD/USD – The Australian Dollar to US Dollar

* CAD/USD – The Canadian Dollar to US Dollar

* EUR/CHF – The Euro to Swiss Franc

* EUR/GBP – The Euro to British Pound

* GBP/USD – The British Pound (Sterling) to US Dollar

In the Forex market, currencies are traded directly rather than in contracts. “Lot” is the terminology that is used to describe the minimum amount that can be traded, which is characteristically $25,000 USD.

Currency Futures

The currency futures market is based on the currency exchange market. Trades use futures contracts that are a reflection of the exchange rates of two different currencies. The Euro futures market is currently the most popular market of the bunch and is based upon the EUR/USD exchange rate. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange, or CME, provides the most popular currency futures.

An exchange provides the currency futures since it is a futures market, meaning that it employs centralized pricing, as well as clearing, and therefore ensures that market prices remain constant regardless of which brokerage is being used. Contract specifications include the value of the contract, the “tick size” (minimum price change), and the “tick value” (price change value).

Copied from Futures Trading System

Forex News – How The Worlds News Effects Currencies

2010-09-02T12:34:00.000-07:00

Either you are simply starting in Forex or have a expertise in it, but it’s very important you stay on top with all the Forex news happening in the industry. Staying intact with what happens around the world within your industry can be really addictive at times. Moreover with a globalized world it seems that something happens somewhere every moment of the time.

Financial News

Here we are listing some of latest news that has happened in and around the forex industry and will impact your business as well in some ways. Remember that Foreign exchange currencies are always paired so you will need to receive relevant news about the comparison of two different currencies or commodities. Some examples of relevant news that would have an impact on various currencies around the globe would be;

-A recent story reported that retail traders had just tipped to a net short positioning on the same day that the British pound gained a 200 point plus rally.

-Forex traders watch the U.S. housing slump very carefully, gauging the market for mortgage futures.

-When the U.S. Fed made its recent rate cut, one Forex news service reported that expectations for the U.S. Dollar were “falling like a rock.”

-Recession fears in the United States may drive the dollar even lower than it already is. (In Forex trading, the fact that the dollar drops is not considered negative, as long as the trader leverages the drop when trading for higher priced, more valuable currencies around the glove.

Political News

Most people are under the wrong impression that currency and finance news are the only things that interests any forex trade, yet political news is very important as well as they can give you hint of the political movement of different nations and their where their country is headed. You need to make sure that you follow the trend that goes throughout the world.

Currency and financial news are not the only news stories of interest to Forex investors and traders. Forex traders are also interested in political news that can have an impact on a country’s currency.

-Tragic events like the assassination of a political leader can affect currency futures in the country where the event occurs and can have a ripple effect in surrounding areas; for example, the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan.

-Natural disasters like an earthquake, hurricane, or typhoon can consume a great deal of a country’s resources; therefore, Forex traders watch news of such disasters.

-Political events, like the U.S. presidential election cycle, has significant effects on currency valuation; therefore, Forex news contains updates on presidential candidates, primary elections, and general elections.

News Analysis

Forex news services add value to the news stories they provide by analyzing current events and predicting how they will affect the exchange rates of various currencies around the globe.

Some popular sources for Forex research and analysis are: Daily FX, Rabobank Technical FX Daily, Scotia FX, TRL, Mizuho Corporate Bank, CIBC World Markets, BHF Bank, and Mellon Foreign Exchange.

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Forex Trading Success – Three Popular Forex Trading Strategies That Lose Money – Avoid Them!

2010-09-02T12:31:00.000-07:00

Here we are going to look at three popular Forex trading strategies which the bulk of all new traders use and they are all doomed to failure so make sure you avoid them or you will lose to, here they are.

Let’s take a look at all strategies which involve making no effort and buying the vast amount of Forex Robots and Expert Advisors.

1. Automated Predictive Software

How many cheap hundred dollar systems do you see online which tell you they can make you an income for life with no effort, because they have software that predicts the future? There are loads of them, they all lose and there predictions, always turn out as accurate as your horoscope.

You cannot predict markets in advance because humans are not predictable!

People are creatures of emotion and not logical, if you could predict the future there would be no market, as we would all know the price in advance. Avoid these cheap get rich quick systems, you don’t win in a market were 95% of traders lose by making no effort and spending the cost of a good night out.

2. Any Forex Scalping or Day Trading Strategy

Any system based on the above will lose long term – think about what you have to to win:

You have to decide what countless millions of traders will do in advance, all with different skills, aims objectives and emotional make up and to make it even harder you have to decide what they will do in a few minutes or hours.

All volatility in short term time frames is random therefore, you cannot get the odds on your side and you can’t win. Avoid these short term trading strategies.

3. Fibonacci Systems

This has to be one of the most amusing and dumb ways to trade Forex, this is no disrespect to Fibonacci but even he would be surprised how his theory has been hijacked by the far out investment crowd.

This theory had nothing to do with Forex and traders who trade it, give you mystical retracements you can buy into where prices are supposed to hold to some universal law – so do they work?

Sometimes but so will any percentage retracement. This theory is supposed to have found the hidden order of the universe but it hasn’t quite figured it out in Forex! Do not be taken in by people selling you systems, based upon this theory.

If you want to Win at Forex

Get a simple Forex trading strategy, based upon trading the odds which doesn’t predict but executes its trades on the reality of price change and you can enjoy long term currency trading success.

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Tips for people learning to trade the FOREX market from home

2010-09-02T12:28:00.000-07:00

Demo trade before doing any live trading. Everyone says this, its true…. always test a new system or your first system using a demo account first. Demo is a good way to start. Be prepared for a shock when going to a live account using your hard earned money! Everything changes, losses hurt more, wins are way better, and the emotions can run away with you. Its another world compared to demo. The best thing to do is open a micro account with a few hundred bucks and trade pennies first. Get used to losing as well as winning, gain confidence before moving on to a larger account. And don’t move on until you are profitable using small amounts. Don’t get bored with pennies and try to jump ahead to make real money before you can turn a consistant profit first. It takes a lot of patience in the begining, being impatient can be expensive!

Don’t jump in to trades, you see the price action take off and think wow I want to get some of those pips! You jump in just as it reverses and heads the other way …. Arrrg! Happens way too often. Find or create a system and follow it. Don’t open a trade until your system shows a setup. There are lots of systems out there for free! The key is finding one that suits you and following it.

Don’t buy systems on eBay or websites! There are so many good free systems out there! The ones for sale are no better and some are very expensive! The same goes for education, there is so many free ways to learn trading… try them first! I have never heard anyone say “My system cost a lot but it was worth it!” Never! Its always the opposite! ” I spent alot of money and the system was no better or worse than some of the ones available for free!” They advertise stuff like “10,000 pips in 3 weeks!!” or something more incredible, grab your wallet and run the other way!! Training and education is the same also, be very wary of courses that sound great and are expensive. Most of the best training is available for free, and many forums have experienced traders who are happy to answer questions and post charts to study.

Be wary of EA’s or autotrading. Sounds great at first… let the EA (Expert Advisor in Metatrader…) do the trading! I can make money just letting the robot trader run… who needs to learn!! I fell into this trap! I was having a hard time learning manual trading, couldn’t seem to find the right system. Went with EA’s for awhile and lost quite a bit of my account! I still like them, but only on Demo for learning. Some of them can be very profitable if used properly. Also don’t buy them on eBay or anywhere else! There are lots and lots of them for free!

Risk Management is very important in trading. Each trade should be only a small percent of your trading account. This also requires using a Stop Loss… very important!! Nerver open a trade without a stoploss! Calculate how much you will lose if your stop gets hit. This should be a small amount, for example 3% of your account. This is your risk for the trade. So then do the math, if your system calls for a 30 pip Stop Loss, with a $10,000 account, 3% would be $300, so the amount of the trade would be $10 per pip. This should all be worked out before you enter the trade. When the trade goes in your favor a certain amount, move your stop to break even. Then your risk is zero! Always be aware of your risk, don’t let it get above a certain level by opening multiple trades either, say a 10% to 15% maximum for example, don’t open anymore trades until the risk level drops. I can’t stress this enough, risk management will save your account from a Margin Call, which is one of the worst feelings ever…. poof and your account is gone! I have done this and it is very painful. Risk management is key to successful trading.

Money Management is the twin to Risk Management. The key is “Cut your losses short and let your profits run” everyone says this also and its very true. Its hard to watch a trade go the wrong way and hit your stop, but its harder to see a lot of money piling up in a trade and let it continue! People tend to close early and grab the quick profit! Trouble is you will never make much money this way. The best thing to do is close a partial amount and take some profit, move the stop to breakeven and let the rest go. Risk management has a stop loss, money management has a Target! Before entering the trade your system should have a target, where price action should go before turning back. This should be farther than your stop loss, say your target is 50 pips and the stop is 30 pips away, This would be a good Risk / Reward ratio, almost 2 to 1. In this example we could enter this trade and after 25 pips in our direction we move our stop to break even, eliminating our risk. Then let the rest go to target and close it, or close half at target and let the rest continue, and move the stop up to say +25 pips. You could let the trade go and keep moving the stop up behind it. This sounds easy but actually doing it can be hard, price usually zig zags around and can make you want to close early to at least get a small win instead of a loss, so you close with a + 10 pip trade and are relieved… then price zigs back up and hits your target eventually… your +50 trade ended early with +10! Stand by your system and acccept the risk and let the trade go!

Copied from www.MykeFX.com

15 Ways To Avoid Losing Money Trading Forex

2010-09-02T12:23:00.000-07:00

When trading Forex, it’s all about the basics – there are so many mistakes you can make that can easily be prevented by some advice from people who have made them and lived to tell the tale. So pay attention to these 20 tips for success and implement them into your trading and you can be a survivor also.

1 – Be careful with demo accounts. Though demo accounts are great for teaching you the ropes of Forex trading, they can be dangerous sometimes. Because they are not strictly realistic, they can give you unrealistic expectations or cause you to form impractical strategies.

2 – Keep a broad perspective. Focusing exclusively on short-term investments and trading plans may work for a while, but in the end you will end up losing money. You need to have a plan and a goal for the future, as well as plans for the present.

3 – Pay attention to technical conditions. You have to know if the market is over-extended short or over-extended long. Sudden changes or spikes usually occur during one of these extremes of conditions.

4 – Don’t be fooled by temporary luck. Forex trading is never about luck. If things are going good and your investments are yielding great profits, do not get cocky or overconfident. You have to acknowledge the fact that sometime you are bound to make mistakes and you must be always on the lookout to avoid them.

5 – Take you losses bravely. It is okay to be disappointed, mad, or sorry about a loss and a mistake, but don’t beat yourself up about it. And don’t sink into depression. Pull through it and continue trading. The best thing in the world to do is to examine your system and see where you went wrong so you can avoid doing it again in the future.

6 – Set aside time for trading. You can’t trade sporadically. You need to have the time to think through decisions, to analyze the market, and to prepare your trading plans.

7- Trade for the right reasons. Never trade just because you’re bored and there doesn’t seem to be anything else to do. If there is nothing else to do, that means that there is no smart trade to be done in the market. So just be patient.

8 – Make sure you have the right broker. Having the wrong broker will mess up everything in your Forex trading career. Make sure the broker you have is sufficient and will perform the task well.

9 – Focus on one currency at a time. It is very dangerous to trade many currencies at a time or right after one another. The more currencies you do, the less time you have to completely master them. It is best to focus on one or two and learn thoroughly and completely their details.

10 – Tough it out. Don’t give up easily just because you made a mistake or got bored with the market. Keep going and stick it out and you will find that it was worth it in the long run.

11 – Don’t act rashly. Jumping the gun will prove to be harmful and will cause you to lose. Stay calm and be patient!

12 – Beware of your pride. Pride and being afraid to admit that your were wrong after you’ve made a small mistake will only lead to more mistakes that will cost you more than your initial small blunder. So swallow your pride and reevaluate your system.

13 – Focus on what you are doing. Though being completely absorbed in the short-term can lead to long-term losses, the same is true of the reverse. Daydreaming about the future will only lead to missing opportunities and making bad decisions in the present. So keep your mind in the moment and trade smartly, with an idea for the future, yet a plan for the present.

14 – Don’t be too smart. This sounds ridiculous, but honestly it’s true! Don’t overanalyze your plans and make them so complicated and full of details. The more details you have the greater the odds are that something will go wrong. So keep it simple, clear, and reasonable.

15 – Be careful of overtrading. It is possible to trade too much at one time or on one day. Don’t procrastinate, but neither try to get it all done at once. Make a plan that follows a specific timeline and spread your trading out wisely, practically, and realistically.

In conclusion, there are a lot of mistakes you can make, but by following the guidelines that are laid out here, you can avoid many of them and move swiftly down the road of success.

Copied from Futures Trading System

Forex Trading Traps – How You Can Avoid These 4 Top Frauds in Forex Trading

2010-09-02T12:20:00.000-07:00

1. Doing Research: It is most important to thoroughly research Forex trading, and any companies you may be thinking of trading forex with, before making any kind of investments. Be sure to check out any claims made by a company, and make sure they are indeed members of one of these organizations, before even thinking of dealing with them. Some people just park their hard-earned cash with some forex trading organizations without first doing research on that company. It is a risk.

2. Stay Away From Promises That Sound Too Good to Be True: Those Get-rich-quick schemes, including those involving forex trading, tend to be frauds. There is no easy way of learning how to trade forex and earn consistent profits everytime. Always remember that there is no such thing as a “free lunch.”, you will really need to spend some time to learn forex basics. Some big investors invest with a large amount of funds, which are never to be seen again if deposited with those schemes.

3. Avoid Any Forex Company that Assures You Large Profits: Be extremely wary of those forex trading companies that guarantee profits. Nobody can offer sure guarantees where currency trading is concerned. In many cases, those claims are false. Learn to trade forex by yourself with a forex trading guide or ebook will be good enough, then slowly make your way up. The following are examples of statements that are most likely are fraudulent:

“Guaranteed to make a ROI of 40-50% within few days.”
“You will reach a million dollars fast in forex trading.”
“Make $5000 in forex trading every week!”
“You don’t have to learn how to trade forex, it’s all automated.”
“You will never lose again in forex trading.”

4. Avoid promises with little or zero risk trading: The guarantee of risk-free forex trading is another fraudulent claim. The fact that more than 90% of people failed in forex trading means there are risks in losing. the currency market is not the place to put any funds that you cannot afford to lose. No can will know how the markets will be performing in the future. Therefore, it’s either low risk or high risk trading, and NOT NO risk! Anyone who suggests that forex trading is risk-free is likely to be a liar or fraudster.

For those new in forex trading, you will find the contents in my free ebook very useful as there is free forex trading system for you. And for advanced traders, you will also find value added stuffs inside the ebook, so try not to be attracted to those claims which can make you a lot of money, learning and trading by yourself is the best.

Copied from Futures Trading System

Forex Trading Tips – 5 Traps to Avoid if You Want to Trade the News in Forex

2010-09-02T12:17:00.000-07:00

If you have been trading the currency market for a while, you’ll know that there is money to be made trading forex news. However, trading the news in forex does involve some risks and there are 5 major traps you must avoid before you can to trade the forex news successfully. We’ll discuss these 5 traps and provide some forex tips and forex trading strategies to use to counter these traps.

Trap #1: Strong Market Reaction.

Economic news releases and reports are forex indicators for future long-term movements for a currency pair. But for short-term trading, the actual results and the forecasted expectations may create big move opportunities.

Thus, when actual results came out the same as what the market expected, then there is high possibility that the market will not have a strong reaction. It is the big gap difference between the actual release and the market expectations that causes the market to have a breakout or big movement.

Trap #2: Generally Short-Lived.

Most of the time, breakout opportunities from the news release are not a long term trend as the movement may only last for few minutes to few hours. But still, it has to depend on the significance of the economic news release and the difference between the actual results and the forecasted expectations.

Most traders are either using forex scalping or day trading when they trade on news releases. One of the forex tips is to try not to trade during the release as the trade can turn against you in a short moment even after you caught a big initial move.

Trap #3: Quiet Market before a Big Movement.

The market may often poise for a huge movement when it is very quiet before some economic announcements or news releases. This is because the market is waiting for those before deciding on which direction it is going.

Traders are waiting for a right opportunity to jump into the market after the news reports are being released. Thus, you should not react to any forex trading signals 2 to 3 hours before the news are released as the signals may be false and misleading.

Trap #4: High Spread during News Releases.

During news releases, a trading broker may guarantee that your trade will be executed, but none of them will guarantee a normal spread for you. Forex brokers will widen the spread due to the lack of trading volume during the release. EUR/USD is one of the currency pairs with tight spread, but I have seen it turning it into a 10 pips spread from a normally 2 pips during a news release.

Trap #5: High slippage.

You might experience slippage when there is a big move during news releases. It means that your trade order will get filled at a different price instead of the price that you wanted. For example, you might have set a limit order at 1.3000.

But when the news release, the price shoot up 50 pips to 1.3050. So a slippage may occur and you will get your order filled at maybe 1.3020 instead of 1.3000. This is quite risky as the market may go against your trading plan.

The above forex trading guide will be very useful if you are using a forex day trading strategy to trade news. But in any case, I will not recommend news trading as it is very risky with the above considerations.

Copied from Futures Trading System

Trading Forex During Economic Releases by Alexander Nekritin

2010-09-02T12:11:00.000-07:00

In this article I will talk about a popular trend that is taking place among forex traders in terms of taking advantage of inefficiency in the markets during economic news releases. Although this strategy is a bit risky I have seen some of our clients reap great rewards by utilizing it.

How Economic Releases Work

Certain organizations like the Federal Reserve Bank announce economic reports such as the non-farm pay roll, GDP, Consumer price index and more. You will usually be able to find an economic calendar on the internet, in fact our website forexyourself.com has one available. Another very popular one is forexfactory.com. It has been historically tested that various economic releases will impact the price of the currency pairs that are associated with them. For example the Non-Farm Payroll will usually effect the U.S. dollar.

A good economic calendar such as the one on ForexFactory states which currency pair will most likely be affected by a particular economic release. Although the long term price change of a particular currency pair is unpredictable, usually a short-term spike will take place. This spike is based on the divergence between the forecasted numbers (consensus) and the actual numbers released. Thus with this strategy a great deal of traders have created ways (which I will discuss later) to take advantage of the discrepancy between the consensus and the actual economic numbers.

Timing
For the most part there is a lag between when the economic information is released and the change in the price of a particular currency pair. It is because of this lag that many of our clients have been able to take advantage of this inefficiency. Usually only a limited number of agents of major news firms are allowed into the room where the economic numbers are released. After the release the agents must enter the data into news providing services such as Reuters or Bloomberg.

The key to success in terms of timing for the trader is getting into the trade before the spike begins. Prior to the announcement most of the smart money is backing away and not trading but as soon as the information hits they will trade. So what becomes important for the trader is the speed at which he can get his information. Therefore if a retail trader has a fast news feed and has software set up to provide him with the discrepancy between the consensus and the actual report, by being small and nimble he can get in as early as some of the professional banks.

For the most part, the banks are using the similar technology to some of the traders that are taking advantage of these situations. Now a lot of the dumber money are using slower news feeds and end up jumping on the spike later than players with these professional news services and end up driving the price up enough for the smart traders to get out of their positions.

Trading the Spike

In order to get in before the spike some technology is required. First you would need a fast data feed, and you can purchase Bloomberg or Reuters. Another option would be to sign up for a service that broadcasts signals during news. These types of services usually have numerous fast data feeds and broadcast buy and sell signals. These services are usually cheaper and easier to implement than actually paying thousands of dollars for the fast data feeds. The one drawback to these services is a lag due to broadcasting of the signal. The next step is to track the news consensus for the release that's about to come out. Some good places to find the consensus numbers is Briefing.com or FXstreet.com or forexfactory.com.

Now you will need to do some historic research and analyze how the market has reacted to the difference between the consensus and the actual result historically. Basically for each release you need to know how large a discrepancy has to be in order for you to act on the trade one way or the other. This takes a lot of research or you can sign up for a news trade call service which already does the research for you. Now that you have your triggers set, I recommend making a calendar for yourself of the economic releases that you will trade and trading during your releases.

It is very important to get in as quickly as possible if your trigger is met in order to get execution. Once in a trade I recommend moving your stop loss to break even after you have gained 10-15 pips (this varies from trade to trade and trailing your position with a trailing stop after you have generated a profit or 15-20 pips. Having a profit turn into a loss is one of the most demoralizing things that can happen in trading and I recommend avoiding it at all costs if you are trading discretionarily. However you must keep in mind that stop losses are not guaranteed and it is very possible for you not to be triggered to exit at a stop level especially in a fast market such as the one during news trading. So it's imperative that you watch your trade.

Execution
Since forex is an off exchange market usually the desks have to either take risk on a client's position or offset with a bank. Since everybody is trading only in one direction during the spike it becomes hard for the forex FCM's to offset the trades. Therefore they sometimes end up taking a hit during the news times. They do not like it at all, some will not allow news trading and some will re-quote or slip clients. One thing I recommend while trading with this approach is taking trades all the time and just slightly increase position size during the news trades.

I also recommend to let the FCM know what you plan on doing before hand so that they can tell you what size you can get away with. At forexyourself.com we have relationships established with many FCM's and will be able to advise you on what you can do at each place. Also a very important thing to keep in mind is the smaller you trade during these releases the more likely you are to get execution.

Risk Management
Because this strategy can make money quickly a lot of people like to swing for the fences with it, for example leveraging out a large portion of their accounts on it. This is a huge mistake for many reasons. On main reason is the bigger you trade the harder it is to get execution at the trading platforms. Also unexpected events can happen and if you are leveraged out fully you can get yourself into a lot of trouble. I recommend using stops with this strategy and never risking over 5% of your account on any of the news trades. With some of the spikes that can be caught it is possible to make some very decent gains.

Post News Trades

A close friend of mine used to trade on the CBOT. He says that the only way he will trade the release is the pull back. Many times a spike will happen and the price will pull back allowing a second opportunity to get in. This is what's called a post news trade. If the price spikes after the news and makes a slight pullback within 10 to 15 minutes it may be a good idea to get in with a fairly tight stop to catch the second leg of the move. Another way to trade some of the less volatile news announcements is a breakout strategy.

With this strategy you can take announcements regardless of the discrepancy wait until a range is created usually about 10 to 15 minutes and than take a trade in the direction of the range breakout. This is an effective way to capture 8-12 pips after the news trades. I recommend doing historical research or subscribing to a service that calls these trades out to determine your timing with precision.
By establishing a point A and B we are able to play the high probability break out trades. This is a trade we took on 9/29/06 USDCAD after the GDP announcement where we took 9 pips. Although this strategy has its drawbacks it allows the trader to get into some high probability trades. I recommend experimenting with different releases to see which one is a good fit. Please keep in mind that this strategy is risky since you are trading during extremely volatile times. Also it is critical to control your emotions and plan each trade with extreme precision.

Three Strategies To Trade Forex During News by Tom Van Geert

2010-09-02T12:05:00.000-07:00

In this article, I will discuss three ways how you can take advantage trading forex during economic news releases.

1) Trading the economic numbers strategy

Currency traders try to take advantage of the discrepancy between the forecasted and the actual economic number, you need a very fast news data feed such as Reuters or Bloomberg because you want to get in the trade before the move begins.

Steps to trade the economic data numbers:
1. Purchase a fast news datafeed at Reuters or Bloomberg

2. Track the news consensus and determine the significance of the economic news report being released, if it is not important, do not trade it.

You will be able to find all important data on a good economic data calendar

3. For each important news release you need to know how large a discrepancy has to be in order for you to act on the trade.

4. Finally, watch the news release using your fast datafeed and trade the numbers.

2) Straddle the News strategy

This strategy is very simple and consists of 2 limit orders, one to buy a few pips above the range high and one to sell a few pips below the range low, then wait for the price to breakout triggering one of your orders. Your stop loss order should be placed a few pips below the range low when buying, conversely, a stop loss order should be placed a few pips above the range high when selling.

3) Hedging the News strategy

What is hedging? Hedging enables a currency trader to simultaneously hold Buy and Sell positions in the same currency pair at the same time in one trading account.

1. To hedge, go both long and short at market price 30 min before the news release.

2. Add a protective stop loss order to both long and short positions 30 seconds before the news release.

3. Add a limit order to both long and short positions 30 seconds before the news release.

For more free tutorials, forex tools, free system downloads, news, forex calendar, forex product reviews and articles about forex trading, please visit us at Aboutcurrency.com | Forex

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tom_Van_Geert

The 10 Best Questions to Ask at a Job Interview by Karen Burns

2010-08-29T19:37:00.000-07:00

You're interviewing for a job. After 20 or 30 minutes, you're asked: "Do you have any questions?"

The worst thing you can do is ask, "What is it your company does?" (Hey, it has happened.) The next worst thing you can do is say, "Um, nope, I don't have any questions."

You need to ask some questions! Asking questions shows your interest in a company and makes you look smarter (smart people tend to be inquisitive). Asking questions gives interviewers a chance to talk about themselves, a thing most people love. And--this is important--asking questions is a way to find out if you really want to work for these people.

Bottom line: Don't make the interviewer do all the heavy lifting. Take an active role in the interview process and improve your chances of landing a job.

So what should you ask? Here are 10 suggestions:

1. "Can you describe a typical day for someone in this position?" If your interviewer appears to be nervous or ill at ease, a non-abstract question like this is a good way to get the ball rolling.

2. "Could you talk about the history of this position?" Specifically, what you're trying to find out is how long the position has existed, how many people have held it, and why it is now available.

3. "What were the major strengths and weaknesses of the last person who held this job?" Or in other words, what kind of act would you have to follow. This is also a chance to find out what happened to your would-be predecessor. How this question is answered will tell you a lot about the dynamics and expectations of this workplace.

4. "What are this position's biggest challenges?" You're naturally curious about the downsides of the job. But find out in a way that makes you look confident and unafraid to tackle problems.

5. "In what area could your team use some improvement?" Do you get an honest-sounding answer? This is important. It's also an opportunity to talk some more about how your skills specifically match this company's needs.

6. "What are the prospects for advancement?" Asking this demonstrates that you have ambition, and makes you look like a big picture person.

7. "How would I be evaluated?" If you want to know an employer's true priorities, and what is really important about the position under discussion, ask this.

8. "Who are the most successful people in this company and why?" A clever way to get a glimpse of a company's values/ethos/culture and how the powers-that-be measure success.

9. "Why do you enjoy working at this company?" Okay, it's a softball question. But the answer, and the tone in which it is given, should tell you a lot. Basically, you are looking to see some sincere enthusiasm here.

10. "Do you have any reservations about me or my ability to perform this job?" It's a gutsy thing to ask. But consider doing so because it's a great way to get real-time feedback on you and your interview skills. Asking for criticism not only earns you points for courage, it could result in some very helpful information.

P.S. Do not ask questions that would be easily answered by consulting the company's website. You will look unprepared, even lazy. You'll also lose the opportunity to gather some valuable insight about this employer and the job on offer.

Thot I copied this here for myself in future just in case that I need this!

Directional Trading & Higher Time Frame Confirmation - by Jay Norris is the author of Mastering the Currency Market

2010-08-28T10:29:00.000-07:00

Directional trading, also known as discretionary trading, is what most retail traders strive to succeed at. In this type of trading the traders attempt to figure out the market’s current direction, and either position themselves in that direction at the most opportune time, or wait till the market changes direction and position themselves to be able to profit from a continuation of this new direction. Contrary to what most beginning trader’s think, most traders who work for investment banks or proprietary trading shops are not directional traders.

Many traders employed by investment banks and prop shops are mechanics trained in the use of counter-trending methods who continuously scan markets in search of those times when one market price gets slightly out of line with a related market and they position there firm’s money in those markets so that when price snaps back into line they profit. They’re method is called arbitrage, and if they can borrow money at 2.6% and make 5 or 6% in their trading operations they are very profitable. The big investment houses in London and New York also employ traders called market makers. This is the trading category that most professional trader’s fall into today. In many ways they aren’t traders by most old school trader’s definition at all. They are computer programmers who write and service the programs that investment firms and trading boutiques use in an attempt to take the other side of every trade you and I make. When you read stories that the investment bank Golden Stash made money every day of the previous quarter it does not mean that they have the secret on how to pick and train traders, it means that Golden Stash’s market making operations managed to book, or get on the other side of a lot of trades and then offset those trades at a sliver of a profit. Big investment banks and prop trading shops aren’t interested in directional trading because it does not make sense from an odds maker’s perspective. The average directional trader places the odds against herself every time he buys or sells at the market. The minute she hits the button to enter a trade by buying the offer, or selling the bid, she gives up an edge. Professional market makers or arbitrage traders never, or rarely give up the edge of buying on the bid and selling on the offer They are not in business to predict where a market is going to move to next, they are in the business of buying the bid and selling the offer, and they want their computers to do that for them thousands of times a day in a hundreds of markets.

We on the other hand, are not interested in that fractional edge. We would much rather play the opposite of that game and only trade once, or twice a day, but position ourselves in a market that trends in our direction all day, or two or three days, or two or three months. The way we attempt do this is by trading in the same direction as the higher time frame trends, and recognizing when those trends are shifting. Knowing how to use higher time frame charts to confirm a price signal on a lower time frame is an essential skill for directional traders and one which can reward you nicely once you master it. Many students will become impatient and take a trade that is coordinated on the lower time frames, and not on the higher time frames. This is a mistake and more often a waste of time, energy and more important money. While you may not always have all the time frames line up, there will be times when this happens. More times than not though, if you are trading an intraday chart and have the current trend on the daily lined up in the same direction, you are going to have the wind at your back. If you have the knowledge to identify markets where the intraday trends are moving in the same direction as daily and weekly trends then you are going to put yourself in a position to reap the trader’s reward.

Trading against the 90% that lose - copied fr Pivotfarm

2010-08-28T10:19:00.000-07:00

We often hear figures about the 90% (or even more) that lose money on a consist basis. It’s a ‘fact’ often quoted by gurus and a common belief held by traders. The question for professional traders then becomes how do we benefit from this landslide of people on the wrong side of a trade?

Although an often discussed subject, how we actually use the ‘90% lose’ fact is not often approached. In this article we will discuss 2 freely available pieces of data that with the right analysis and interpretation can provide savvy traders with a great edge to trade against the 90% that lose.

COT Index

The Commitment of Traders Data is created by the CFTC – The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and is published weekly every Friday. This body gathers and publishes the open futures positions on all publicly traded US futures contracts as well as the corresponding options.

The data consists of 3 main categories.

Commercial Traders – These are the bigger players in the markets, the smart money and consist of large firms that actually use the commodity being traded, includes companies like…BP in the Oil and Gas Market, Nestle in the Cocoa and Sugar market. The main function of these traders is to hedge the price of the commodity that they trade in.

Large Speculators – These consist primarily of commodity fund traders and are mainly trend following. The position sizes of these traders tends to be in tandem with the movement of price.

Small Speculators – The little guys, individual traders and small firms, these are the traders that tend to be wrong in the market at the tops and bottoms of markets.

COT data is often misused and misunderstood, in its raw form the COT information describes the number of contracts long/short held by these groups. For example the Large traders component may have 56,000 contracts long S&p 500 emini and 23,000 contracts short. The net position would thus be +33,000 long. Many traders use the net number itself, we feel that this does not provide enough information. +33,000 sounds bullish, but the key is where is this number relative to the historical average of each commodity group.

This is where the COT Index comes into play, the construction of the COT Index is nothing more than putting this weeks net position into a format that will tell you where the current number is in relation to past numbers over the last 6 months. The point is, if the net position is the highest it has been over the 6 month period then the COT Index is 100 and if it is the lowest, then it is 0. Any variation between the two will constitute its respective relation to the historical average.

How do we use this data? We believe that the COT Index offers a good indication of market sentiment and future direction. The key is to follow the smart money (Commercial) and trade against the other 2 groups when they are at an extreme.

Extremes in the data are figures below 30.00 and above 70.00. The ideal situation for a short position is a low reading in the Commercial COT and high readings in the Large and Small trader numbers. For example the Commercial COT Index reads 5.97, this means that the net commercial position is strongly biased to the short side. The Large and Retail (our main contrarian focus) are reading 97.70 and 100.00 respectively, meaning they are the most long side biased they have been in the last 6 months. For traders this means that their focus should be on short side trades, the goal is to follow the commercial traders. This is the ideal alignment of the the groups for optimum success.

This scenario has been present in the EURUSD for the last 2 weeks. So we are expecting some continued short side bias in that pair

Remember this is longer term view so more swing oriented, however the swing view is also important for day traders when trying to line up the higher probability “trend” following trades.

Retail Traders Position Summary

Also known as the Long-Short ratio this is a tool primarily offered by Forex firms, we haven’t been able to come across the same data in the futures as yet. The data is based upon the collective trades and trading direction of many thousands of retail traders (the average Joe). This group of traders is notoriously wrong at predicting market direction, market tops and bottoms with some simple analysis we can look at this data and take a contrarian view, for example if over 70% of retail traders are long USDJPY this offers us a short bias. Savvy traders should then be focusing there energies on short side trades.

It is the 24th of August 2010 today over the 2 months over 70% of retail traders have been positioned on the long side of USDJPY the currency has had a sustained decline in that time, with a major breach of support today.

Set and Forget Forex Trading – Keep Your Day Job by Nial Fuller

2010-08-14T06:42:00.000-07:00

Set and Forget Forex Trading – Keep Your Day Job

Very often aspiring forex traders become lost in a web of confusion with the amount of data that the various financial media outlets plaster all over the internet and television. It is extremely easy to experience “analysis paralysis” while trying to trade forex or any market for that matter. There are so many competing ideas and trading methods along with more fundamental data coming out every day than you could ever hope to digest, it can be very overwhelming to even try and make sense of it all and develop a trading plan based off this amount of information. One of the biggest psychological mistakes that almost every aspiring trader makes on their journey to success is firmly believing that the amount of economic data analyzed and (or) having a technically complicated or expensive trading method has a direct linear relationship with profiting in the market. In reality, as any professional trader will attest to, these factors usually have an inverse relationship with trading profits, at least after certain point. This essentially means that once you do a certain amount of analyzing market data any further time spent analyzing this data is likely to have a negative effect on your trading; it causes you to lose money.

Why it’s Counter – Productive to Analyze too Much Market Data

It may seem confusing or counter intuitive to the aspiring forex trader when they first hear the fact that too much analyzing of market data can actually cause you to lose money faster than you other wise would. This is one of the inherent psychological traps that so often keep aspiring traders from consistently profiting in the forex market and is the reason why many of them blow out their trading accounts and eventually give up all together. The main reason why this occurs is because human beings have an innate need to feel in control of their life and of their surroundings, it is an evolutionary trait that has allowed our species to perpetuate its existence and ultimately arrive at our current modern day level of civilization. Unfortunately for the aspiring forex trader however, this genetic trait of all human beings works against those trying to succeed at forex trading. In fact, most of our normal feelings of wanting to work harder than the next guy or spend extra time studying and researching for our jobs or for school are feelings that are really not beneficial to success in the forex market.

The problem with trying to apply the idea of hard work to forex trading is that beyond a certain level of technical chart reading and awareness of which economic events are the main catalysts for price movement there really is no beneficial aspect to spending more time on tweaking a trading system or analyzing more economic reports. The bottom line here is that there are literally millions of variables involved in trading the forex market; each person trading the market is a variable and every one of their thoughts about the market is a variable because these are all things that can cause price to move. So, unless you are somehow able to keep track of every trader in the market and all of their thoughts, you essentially have no control over price movement and trying to further analyze economic data or trying to come up with an overly complicated method is essentially just a meaningless attempt to control something that simply cannot be controlled.

Thus, the underlying problem of why so many people fail at trading the forex market begins with the idea that they feel a psychological need to control their surroundings and when this emotional state meets the uncontrollable world of forex trading it almost always has negative consequences. This problem works to snow-ball itself as well because once a trader loses a few trades he or she begins to get angry and wants to “get back” at the market. The way they do this is by reading another trading book or buying a different trading system that seems more likely to work or by analyzing the inner workings of every economic report they can find and trying to predict how it will affect market movement. Once this process has begun it is very difficult to stop because it makes logical sense to us that if we put more time in and do more work we will eventually figure out how to make more money faster in the forex market. The difficult truth to all of this is that, as stated earlier, after you reach a certain degree of technical and fundamental understanding, any further research or system “tweaking” beyond that point will actually work against you and the rate at which you study more and do more research is probably about the rate at which you will lose your money in the market.

Less is more in Forex – Set it and Forget it

So how does the aspiring trader achieve consistent profitability in the forex market if we are genetically primed to fail at this endeavor? The very first step in this process is just accepting the fact that you cannot control the uncontrollable forex market and checking your ego at the door. The forex market does not care what you have done in your life before; it has no emotion and is not a living entity. It is an arena where human beings act out their beliefs about the exchange rate of a certain currency pair. These beliefs are a result of emotions, and human emotion is very predictable when it comes to money. The point here is that the people mentioned in the previous section who are doing extensive amounts of research and trying to find the “holy grail” trading system are the ones who are trying to control the market and thus trading based off emotion and providing the predictability for the professionals to take advantage of. The paradox here is that professional traders do very little actual technical and fundamental “homework”; they have their defined edge in the market and they simply check the market once a day or so and see if their edge is there. If it is not than they just wait for tomorrow because they know that the forex market is a continuous stream of self-generating opportunities, thus they do not feel pressured or anxious to trade. If their edge does show up then they set their orders and walk away, accepting the fact that any further action will only work against them because it will be a vain attempt to control the uncontrollable and would not be an objective action.

The logic of “set and forget” forex trading is this; if your trading edge is present than you execute your edge and do not involve yourself further in the process unless you have previously defined the action in your trading plan. Traders that decide to mess with or tweak their trade once they enter it almost always kick start an emotional rollercoaster that leads to overtrading, increasing position size, moving their stop loss further from their entry, or moving their profit target further out. These actions almost always cause the trader to lose money, the reason why is because they were not objectively thought out, but were influenced by an emotional reaction that was caused by trying to control the uncontrollable.

Make Money and Save Time by Doing Less

It is a statistical fact that traders who trade off longer time frames such as 4 hour, daily, and weekly charts and hold their positions for multiple days, make more money in the long run that traders who “day trade” off intra-day charts. The reason many people are attracted to day trading is because they feel more in control of the market by looking at smaller time frames and jumping in and out of positions frequently. Unfortunately for them they have not figured out that they have the same amount of control as the swing trader who holds positions for a week or more and only looks at the market for twenty minutes a day or even less. The ironic fact about forex trading is that spending less time analyzing data and finding the perfect trading system will actually cause you to make more money faster, many people are attracted to speculative trading for this very reason but soon afterwards forget about the fact and start spending countless hours digging themselves into a huge psychological trap that many times they never dig out of. All you need to do to consistently make money in forex is develop a written out trading plan, that includes a risk management scheme, with a definable edge and check the market one time a day for ten to twenty minutes. If your edge (price action signals and setups) is showing up than you set up your entry, stop loss, and target and walk away until the next trading day is over.

Trading in this manner actually elicits a snowball type effect of positive habits that work to further perpetuate your trading success. This entire article can be summarized in the following two sentences; people who spend more time analyzing market data and trying to perfect their trading system inevitably induce a cycle of emotional mistakes that work to perpetuate their trading failures and eventually result in lost money and lost time. People who realize that the market is uncontrollable and build their trading plan around this fact will inevitably arrive at a “set and forget” type mentality that induces an emotional state that is conducive to on-going market success and consistent profitability. The trading method used is one of the least important variables, but generally a simple method that offers a definable and profitable edge such as price action analysis is the best method to use to maintain your “set and forget” mindset.

The Psychology of Forex Traders Profits by Nial Fuller

2010-08-14T06:16:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone .. Welcome to This Weeks Forex Trading Lesson. Today, we touch again upon that never-ending debate, particularly amongst newer traders, about the role of psychology in becoming a profitable and successful trader. How much does it play a role in trading? Some argue it plays no role and that all that needs to be followed are one’s trading signals. Others swear that it’s role is 80-90%. How these percentages are calculated or how accurate they are is irrelevant. The truth is, psychology can make or break you.

We are all different. Some traders are incapable of changing their behavior and no matter what system they have decided to follow, they just cannot do it. Certain personality traits are in the driving seat and cause them to break all their rules. For instance, a personality type marked by greed combined with emotional traits such as impulsiveness will create the conditions leading to the eventual demise of even the most innately gifted trader. An over-confident personality susceptible to being governed by emotional forces such as impatience is a similar destructive psychological amalgamation; anything that moves is seen as a potential trade. Then there are the others – incidentally of whom there are very very few – who seem unaffected by their emotions when they trade.

Most of us belong however to a third group in our trading – we go through four different stages in our learning curve:

Stage 1 – we completely ignore or are unaware of the importance of psychology in our trading. Instead, we concentrate completely on the technicals.

Stage 2 – we could call this stage realization. We begin to realize that there is another element we have been missing. We become adept at reading the charts and yet we are not consistently able to make or keep money. So we start reading books and listening to others and the message is: our personalities are getting in the way.

Stage 3 – the role of psychology becomes unimportant again but not because we are ignoring it or are unaware of it as in Stage 1. We just do not have to worry about it any more. Inner barriers are overcome and we have managed to change ourselves and our behavior to the extent that we can execute our forex trading plan and follow our rules automatically. We no longer have to consciously think about the clutch or accelerator or the brakes, we just drive the car.

It is important to understand that Stage 3 is attainable and it should be our goal. Sadly, most traders get stuck at stage 2. They think about the role of psychology and their personalities continuously and to such an extent that they go round and round in circles. Their growth and development as a trader comes to a halt as they delve deeper and deeper into the inner workings of their minds. Stage 2 can be taken slowly but to become a successful trader, it has to be left behind at some point.

Stage 4 – this is a different dimension altogether and it may take years to achieve

So let us look at each of these stages in more detail.

STAGE 1 – UNAWARENESS OF THE IMPORTANCE OF PSYCHOLOGY IN TRADING – there is little to be said about this stage – it is painfully obvious only when we have entered stage 2.

STAGE 2 – REALIZATION – after the trader becomes aware that what he or she thought was easy is certainly not, they begin to search for answers. Articles and books are read, information is sought on the web and forums are visited. The realization grows that his or her inner mind greatly influences his or her trading performance and that it is not always under conscious control.

In our daily lives, we are often confronted with the knowledge that our emotions lead us to do and say things we should not. We become angry when someone cuts in front of us in a queue or we get stuck behind some ‘idiot’ who doesn’t seem to realise that the speed limit is 30km/h and not 20km/h. What prevents us from delivering a left jab to these annoying individuals? What prevents us from walking into a cafe and lifting a delicious-looking piece of cake from someone’s plate? Self-control, self-discipline and social mores dictate our behaviour.
But what would happen if these controls were lifted and our inhibitions released? Could we restrain ourselves? Would we act out our emotions? With moral or ethical constraints no longer in place, would we succumb to temptation?

The answer is probably yes. And this is exactly the nature of the trading environment. There are no external factors to prevent us from causing damage to our accounts. There is nobody leaning over our shoulders to say ‘stop!!!!’ In the absence of external constraints, we need much stronger self-discipline and self-control in order to continue following our forex trading plan and rules. Those rules have to be found, built on and structured entirely by us. And then they have to be implemented and reinforced by us alone. Is there any other profession that requires such dedication and so much work on ourselves to become successful? Is it any surprise that trading is so hard to master and that 95% of traders fail in the process?

So what is the solution? We have to realise that the market is an uncertain environment. And that what is more important than anything else is the right mindset. In fact our success as traders is directly correlated to our ability to create this mindset and practice strong self-discipline.

But there is another even more crucial fundamental difference between the potential consequences of displaying emotions in the real world and world of the markets. In our social environment we can utilise emotions such as anger, rage, or the evocation of sympathy or pity through a display of sadness to influence or manipulate those around us to give in and succumb to our needs and demands. The market however, does not work that way for it is an environment that is totally and utterly impervious to our emotional displays. When trading, the only entity whose behaviour will be moulded by our emotions is us, for the merciless and immutable workings of the market dishes out losses and rewards solely on the basis of one factor: a rational determination to follow our rules.

STAGE 3 – CLARITY AND LIBERATION

As the chrysalis becomes a butterfly, a trader is born. We are no longer slave to our emotions and we are in control of our actions. No longer do we jump in and out of trades, nor do we micro-manage them once they have been placed. We set our stop and take profit target and then we walk away. We allow the market to ‘do it’s own thing’ by employing a set and forget trading style. As in our daily lives, so much is outside our control and the only power we have lies in the way we react to the cards that are dealt us. Thus we are not over-elated when our take profit is hit, nor do we fall into deep despair when we incur a loss. In fact, there is a direct negative correlation between the intensity of our emotional reactions to either events and our success as a trader.

Suddenly we can see the emotions of the herd on our charts without being part of that herd any longer. Thus we do not react to those herd-emotions but instead are able to evaluate and use those emotions to our advantage.

This clarity is liberating. Clarity and liberation constitute this stage of a trader’s development, if we have developed the ability to see clearly and understand what is happening. We now have the freedom to choose how we react. We are master of our own trading versus being part of the herd.

What else can a trader expect from this stage of development? He or she becomes a detached observer of the market, never involved emotionally yet constantly evaluating the emotions of other traders, waiting patiently for the right set-up to appear and not compromising by entering the market on low-probability trades.

The transition from Stage 2 to Stage 3 does not happen overnight. Like all learning experiences it is a process and a gradual one which is made up of a series of small clicks, each being another piece of the puzzle falling into place. There is a realization of how the market’s logic is not the same as the conventional Aristotle kind of logic, which was incorporated in the late 19th century into modern formal logic. There dawns the understanding of how Smart Money acts versus how the herd behaves and of how a chart reflects emotions. The knowledge develops that the trader does not have to participate in any market event, that he or she is free to choose which battles are to be entered into. Each click comes as a result of yet another lesson taught by the market, which is the greatest teacher of all. Rarely does it miss an opportunity to punish the trader for making mistakes. If you are an avid student of the market, you will listen carefully and take notes, collecting knowledge and experience. Ore goes in and steel comes out. This process takes time but it is worth it.

When you arrive at this point in your trading career, you will discover that this metamorphosis has transformed you not only as a trader but as a person. You will find that in your daily life you have more self-control and self-discipline, are more patient and less impulsive.

This sounds almost too good to be true. And there is indeed a big ‘BUT’. For this transformation is not necessarily a constant state. There will be times when those bad habits return and you suddenly realize that you have slipped back a few rungs on the ladder. You become over-confident, trigger-happy and complacent. You enter into less optimal trades and disregard your rules. The sooner you notice this, the sooner you can get yourself back on track. For the discarding of old destructive trading habits is not a single event but a process. It seems to be a human failing that when we achieve success, we tend to stop doing what led to that success in the first place. However, as frustrating as this may seem, when you overcome these set-backs and return to the right path, your skill of dealing with this phenomenon becomes better. Relapses are less frequent, you recognize them sooner and eliminate them faster. They will finally cease altogether when your reactions to the market become second nature.

STAGE 4 – the last stage of a trader’s development is easy to understand even if it is not easy to implement. If the trader is ready for the transition, then it will not be difficult.

The early stages of trading are full of emotional decisions which lead to erroneous entries and exits. These are the emotions that drive the herd. But as you slowly recognize, take control over and lessen their effect on your trading, they do not disappear entirely. The trader at this level has learned to separate them from his or her trading behavior and observe them in an objective and detached manner. Instead of becoming their slave, the trader can use them to his or her advantage. If you can feel the panic deep within yourself that ensues when there is a huge sell-off, those are exactly the emotions the herd is feeling too. Similarly, if you can feel that irresistible temptation to buy that enormous upward parabolic spike, you are slotting into how the herd feels too. How often have you sat and watched it go up and up and up until it becomes too unbearable to resist and you buy, only to find that the last traders have hit ‘buy at market’ already?

USE your own emotional reactions as a mirror to gauge the emotions of the herd. Once you recognize them then you will also know how the herd is going to act. Together with your improved and strict self-control, such an approach will put you on the right side of the market. And the right side is not usually the side of the herd.

However, I administer two warnings:

First, do not try to integrate this element of trading into your arsenal too soon. It is better to remain at Stage 3 long enough to become confident and consistent before you attempt to move onto Stage 4, which demands the implementation of a great deal of experience and self-control.

Secondly, as you progress on your journey, you may discover that you stop experiencing those herd-like emotions altogether and that your impulses are completely in synchronization with your own analysis and actions. When this happens, your attempt to read YOUR impulses as a window to the HERD’S impulses may backfire as you begin trading as a contrarian trader to yourself rather than the herd. Essentially then you become part of the herd again!

Look at it like this... There is a space between external influences and your reaction. YOU create this space by pausing before you react and your freedom of choice lies within that space. And YOU CAN CHOOSE the impulsive emotional reaction – or not. You can choose to ask yourself what reaction would be the best, what emotions are driving the price move and who is likely to be behind it, either smart money or the herd and you can choose to position yourself on the right side and make decisions which support that choice. You can choose to listen to your own emotions during that pause, evaluate the first impulsive response you felt compelled to make and analyze whether it was a valid decision or purely one that the herd would make, THUS MAKING YOUR FIRST IMPULSE A WINDOW INTO MASS PSYCHOLOGY.

Up-date for my trading week

2010-08-06T11:08:00.000-07:00

Frankly I am disappointed with myself....totally screwed-up for my forex trades as I lost about 3/4 of my total profit in my fund in just two days of trading. Why? I didn't put in a stop-loss for my trades becoz I felt USD/JPY and USD/CAD were already too low to fall lower. But they both did so....until I gave up on Thursday and kena stopped out. Then when the non-farm job data came out....I still go "long" for USD/JPY but didn't do a thing for USD/CAD. Yes....USD/JPY continued to fall while USD/CAD "fly", worst I kena stop-out for both my "short" trades for EUR/USD and GBP/USD.

Well...back to the drawing board!

One from my old memories

2010-08-06T10:56:00.000-07:00

Yes, just chanced on a food blogspot about Penang food. And it brought back old memories of my time there. Btw I was born there...but I came back to Singapore with my parents when they shut up shop there. Wow...about near to 40yrs ago to be actual, it was 39yrs back!

Yes...this food blog is http://makanpenang.blogspot.com

weekly up-date

2010-07-31T14:13:00.000-07:00

Well....after attending more forex/stock talks plus going back to class for forex, I managed to get back to winning pips. Yes, for 2 days....Thu and Fri I managed to add another 10+% to my total funding with Onada. Not bad...esp with a few trades mainly Eur/USD - long and USD/CAD - short.

For stock.....also added about 10% too to my fund with MFG when SMIC shot-up on Fri. I have 200 lots and even after suffering a loss for my holding in Noble.

4D - no luck.

For the coming week....hope that SMIC will continue to run and I think it should do continue becoz the "1.3 billion - new funding" shares should have been sold. Without this over-hang....the share price managed to run.

For forex....will go long for USD/JPY for some retracement since it was traded at 17yrs "low" on last Fri. Japan is also "cooling off" therefore shouldn't be too different from the situation in US. Understand....last Fri being end of the month and last day of the week, price maybe out of whack. I am also holding onto some losses from my present holding....USD/SGD and USD/CAD pairs, in fact for my USD/CAD I am in the black at Fri's close becoz it retraced back about 30+ pips at the close.

I shall be attending another trader's class on this coming Tue by Kinetic. I am going to do the funding on that day too for my forex account with them.

Back to basic

2010-07-29T13:55:00.000-07:00

Yes....starting to go back for reflesher's classes for my forex trading since I have return most of what I learned to the teachers. Went back to the Monday's afternoon one and plus attending classes by the brokers. Went to CMC Market....in Singapore Land Tower to listen to what they teach but found their platforms to be hard to use esp the charts.

I have already find using the platforms from MFG and Onada confusing at times....and
now have to learn another one is too troublesome. Btw...since I will be signing with Kinetic Securities for their forex thingy and therefore have to learn to use their platform - MT4 and a new up-date version soon MT5 for all their products eg forex, CFD, Index and etc.

Yes....will attend their training next Tuesday to learn how to use their platform for forex then for other stuffs.

Did well for my forex trading today....hope to continue the good run. Cheers!

Week's up-date

2010-07-23T14:32:00.000-07:00

Man...now I recalled what I did during my winning "runs" for my forex trading in early June. Yes....the recommendations from MF Global were spot-on esp for Eur/USD and USD/JPY pairs for the 2 weeks. I was able to quickly made up for all my initial
losses in that time.

Then...in the 3rd week, there was a screwed-up call and I got whacked....same thing
for the 4th week. 2 wrong calls....and I lose back nearly 30% of total fund. I weren't following any money management system but just pure casino cheonging system
of doubling my new bets all the time while adjusting my SL to prevent stopped-out.

Only until I kena to 2 wrong calls that I realised the danger of the whole silly method. Then....I start to add new methods of using bollinger band and MACD. But
at the same time...I started to "chicken out" on my trades. Put more cushions to
my "limit orders" which end up lesser triggering and me losing my interest for
trading and paying more interest to stocks. After awhile....almost forgotten how
to trade forex again. My confident in forex trading....almost "gone" too. Luckily
my wife started to show an interest and me have to show her how to trade since she
used my Onada trading account to trade.

Yes....now I totally recalled what and how I was able to have my "so-called bullish"
run. Now I think....I can refine the way I can do it again without taking the "added" risk of having huge loss if call is wrong. No changing of SL...for my orders, that way will limit my losses to whatever SL I put into my order while I
will let the winning runs.

I will continue to use the MF Global's recommendation as a guide but I will refine
my new entries using Bollinger band & MACD for my entry and exit.

This week....result for forex, I was able to stop my losses even with some screw-up recommendations and no triggerings.

For Stocks....esp HK market, SMIC is still not doing well....down from 53 cts to close at 50 cts. And me....losing nearly another 30 % of my funding. Now my fund is
at less than 20% of my inital capital. SHIT!!

Got this from Bethea@myhealthwealthandhappiness.com

2010-07-21T09:20:00.000-07:00

Dear Laurence,

How grateful would you say you are? Did you know that your gratitude level can directly affect your wealth and happiness? Now that may sound strange, especially in light of our current economy, but I've seen it time and time again in my work with clients. I have guided many clients whose charts I felt displayed a need for gratitude to bring about positive change in their lives. And I'm happy to say that those who took my advice to heart have reported a positive shift in their lives and a boost in the things they view as good, including increased wealth.

Even financial experts and abundance speakers agree that gratitude is a vital component for increasing wealth and success. This basic premise of gratitude is to acquire a more positive and receptive state of being. Here is how it actually works. Laurence, you begin by being grateful for the smaller and more immediate things like having a place to live, food to eat, and a car to get around, etc. By placing yourself in a positive frame of mind through gratitude, you open yourself to all the good things the universe has to offer.

That is when you can actually begin to attract good things to you, and most of us could certainly benefit from this idea right now. As you become more comfortable with the positive things that basic gratitude brings, you will likely find yourself feeling grateful for even bigger things like being alive, learning hard lessons, your past mistakes, the freedom to make choices in life, and more. This type of gratitude catapults you even further along the path to a successful and happy life. That's because you begin to lose your fear of change or loss and you begin to develop a deep appreciation for the exciting adventure that life truly is.

Once you reach the point where you remain in a constant state of gratitude, you will become a magnet that attracts the positive things to you . . . the things that resonate with who you are and what you desire to do with your life.

So, Laurence, if you are ready to enjoy more happiness and wealth, I challenge you to take some time every day this week to note those things that you are grateful for, from the smallest little gifts to the bigger ones. And may you attract the most wonderful and beneficial things into your life.

Conclusion - well, frankly I never really bother to read thru the whole thing but for today....since I am free, I read this and find it interesting. So I shared it here. Yeah....no harm to open eyes to read things that can help with our daily living. haha

Thursday

2010-07-15T10:24:00.000-07:00

Yes, my 2nd favorite football team won the WC2010 and I am happy that they finally done it. Of course, it went into extra time and so on. Still....Spain managed to do
itself an big favor at the end.

Now...back to work again and I have the time to read up some Forex e-book that I bought via the Internet. No chance to read when not working....due to busy on the pc to trade the forex or during the day ...stock.

Stock...screwed up and over sold 12 lots of Sound Global on Monday, therefore on Tuesday got a call from the remisier to go down to the office to open new "scrip loaning account" or face a penalty from SGX for selling "short". No choice but to get things sort-out. Luckily by the time, she bought back I managed to make $250 after minusing the charges and commission for the whole deal....42 lots. Cannot buy back just 12 lots...I don't want to argue why not, since the price has dropped by the time of the buy back. Today....I sold off the 30 lots at the same price that I sold on Monday...so, not a bad deal lor. For the rest of my HK holding eg SMIC and China food, they are still holding inspite the big drop for HK index today.

Forex....again 2 steps forward and 3 steps backwards so far this week. Did well enough on Monday and Tuesday then come Wednesday kena "bite". In fact....due to my stubbornness of not wanting to close and lose a small amount that I end-up kena whacked by nearly 10% of my fund. When I saw my second entry started to lose the "pips", I checked the other time frame for my pair and I found I have entered
with a wrong set-up. But since I have entered I tried to save the situation by entering the 3rd position....and I was back to make some money within 10 mins but I end-up being greedy and added a 4th position. Then....it just dropped nearly 40 pips
straight down right before my eyes. I was stopped out for the first 2 positions and down by more than 20+ pips for my last 2 positions. Instead of adding positions to try to ave down....I decided to just take my chance with the 2 positions. Yes, they managed to recover most of their losses until another sudden drop of more the 30+pips that wiped out my last 2 positions. Learned a lesson not to be lazy when trading and to check the set-up carefully before entering a trade. If not within set-up then place a limit order to sell/buy. No need to enter blindly.

4D....kena makan.

The week is about done....same for the World Cup too.

2010-07-09T10:23:00.000-07:00

Wah...the World Cup is about to be over soon. Just another 2 more matches. Yes, just 2 more matches and have to wait for another 4 years for more World Cup actions.

Gotto thanks the South African for a job well done. Yes, it is a beautiful country and it is surprising a safe experience for many.

Now my 2nd favorite team....Spain will be playing in the final with Holland. That will be a nice hard fought match to watch. Both team....belong to the total football school of thought. The old great Ajax and Barcelona style of play.

Well....hope Spain can win the World Cup to avenge for my favorite team Brazil who was knocked out by Holland.

Viva Spain......la champion!

Technical analysis tools I used in my trading plan

2010-07-03T11:31:00.000-07:00

Bollinger Bands are a technical analysis tool invented by John Bollinger in the 1980s. Having evolved from the concept of trading bands, Bollinger Bands can be used to measure the highness or lowness of the price relative to previous trades.

Bollinger Bands consist of:

a middle band being an N-period simple moving average (MA)
an upper band at K times an N-period standard deviation above the middle band (MA + Kσ)
a lower band at K times an N-period standard deviation below the middle band (MA − Kσ)
Typical values for N and K are 20 and 2, respectively. The default choice for the average is a simple moving average, but other types of averages can be employed as needed. Exponential moving averages are a common second choice. Usually the same period is used for both the middle band and the calculation of standard deviation.

Purpose
The purpose of Bollinger Bands is to provide a relative definition of high and low. By definition, prices are high at the upper band and low at the lower band. This definition can aid in rigorous pattern recognition and is useful in comparing price action to the action of indicators to arrive at systematic trading decisions.

Indicators derived from Bollinger Bands
There are two indicators derived from Bollinger Bands, %b and BandWidth.

%b, pronounced 'percent b', is derived from the formula for Stochastics and tells you where you are in relation to the bands. %b equals 1 at the upper band and 0 at the lower band. Writing upperBB for the upper Bollinger Band, lowerBB for the lower Bollinger Band, and last for the last (price) value:

%b = (last − lowerBB) / (upperBB − lowerBB)
BandWidth tells you how wide the Bollinger Bands are on a normalized basis. Writing the same symbols as before, and middleBB for the moving average, or middle Bollinger Band:

BandWidth = (upperBB − lowerBB) / middleBB
Using the default parameters of a 20-period look back and plus/minus two standard deviations, BandWidth is equal to four times the 20-period coefficient of variation.

Uses for %b include system building and pattern recognition. Uses for BandWidth include identification of opportunities arising from relative extremes in volatility and trend identification.

Interpretation
The use of Bollinger Bands varies widely among traders. Some traders buy when price touches the lower Bollinger Band and exit when price touches the moving average in the center of the bands. Other traders buy when price breaks above the upper Bollinger Band or sell when price falls below the lower Bollinger Band.[3] Moreover, the use of Bollinger Bands is not confined to stock traders; options traders, most notably implied volatility traders, often sell options when Bollinger Bands are historically far apart or buy options when the Bollinger Bands are historically close together, in both instances, expecting volatility to revert back towards the average historical volatility level for the stock.

When the bands lie close together a period of low volatility in stock price is indicated. When they are far apart a period of high volatility in price is indicated. When the bands have only a slight slope and lie approximately parallel for an extended time the price of a stock will be found to oscillate up and down between the bands as though in a channel.

Traders are often inclined to use Bollinger Bands with other indicators to see if there is confirmation. In particular, the use of an oscillator like Bollinger Bands will often be coupled with a non-oscillator indicator like chart patterns or a trendline; if these indicators confirm the recommendation of the Bollinger Bands, the trader will have greater evidence that what the bands forecast is correct.

Btw I also use BB together with MACD - moving average convergence/divergence ( use to for trend ) to enter and exit a trade. I just want to keep it simple so that it is easy to use. So far...so good for me esp use for my forex trading. So for MACD, see the below.

MACD stands for Moving Average Convergence / Divergence, a technical analysis indicator created by Gerald Appel in the late 1970s.[1] It is used to spot changes in the strength, direction, momentum, and duration of a trend in a stock's price.

The MACD is a computation of the difference between two exponential moving averages (EMAs) of closing prices. This difference is charted over time, alongside a moving average of the difference. The divergence between the two is shown as a histogram or bar graph.

Exponential moving averages highlight recent changes in a stock's price. By comparing EMAs of different periods, the MACD line illustrates changes in the trend of a stock. Then by comparing that difference to an average, an analyst can chart subtle shifts in the stock's trend.

Since the MACD is based on moving averages, it is inherently a lagging indicator. As a metric of price trends, the MACD is less useful for stocks that are not trending or are trading erratically.

Basic components
The graph above shows a stock with an MACD indicator underneath it. The indicator shows a blue line, a red line, and a histogram or bar chart which calculates the difference between the two lines. Values are calculated from the price of the stock in the main part of the graph.

For the example above this means:

MACD line (blue line): difference between the 12 and 26 days EMAs
signal (red line): 9 day EMA of the blue line
histogram (bar graph): difference between the blue and red lines
Mathematically:

MACD = EMA[fast,12] – EMA[slow,26]
signal = EMA[period,9] of MACD
histogram = MACD – signal
The period for the moving averages on which an MACD is based can vary, but the most commonly used parameters involve a faster EMA of 12 days, a slower EMA of 26 days, and the signal line as a 9 day EMA of the difference between the two. It is written in the form, MACD(faster, slower, signal) or in this case, MACD(12,26,9).

Interpretation
Exponential moving averages highlight recent changes in a stock's price. By comparing EMAs of different lengths, the MACD line gauges changes in the trend of a stock. By then comparing differences in the change of that line to an average, an analyst can identify subtle shifts in the strength and direction of a stock's trend.

Traders recognize three meaningful signals generated by the MACD indicator.

When:

the MACD line crosses the signal line
the MACD line crosses zero
there is a divergence between the MACD line and the price of the stock or between the histogram and the price of the stock
Graphically this corresponds to:

the blue line crossing the red line
the blue line crossing the x-axis (the straight black line in the middle of the indicator)
higher highs (lower lows) on the price graph but not on the blue line, or higher highs (lower lows) on the price graph but not on the bar graph
And mathematically:

MACD – signal = 0
EMA[fast,12] – EMA[slow,26] = 0
Sign (relative price extremumfinal – relative price extremuminitial) ≠ Sign (relative MACD extremumfinal – MACD extremuminitial)
[edit] Signal line crossover
Signal line crossovers are the primary cues provided by the MACD. The standard interpretation is to buy when the MACD line crosses up through the signal line, or sell when it crosses down through the signal line.

The upwards move is called a bullish crossover and the downwards move a bearish crossover. Respectively, they indicate that the trend in the stock is about to accelerate in the direction of the crossover.

The histogram shows when a crossing occurs. Since the histogram is the difference between the MACD line and the signal line, when they cross there is no difference between them.

The histogram can also help in visualizing when the two lines are approaching a crossover. Though it may show a difference, the changing size of the difference can indicate the acceleration of a trend. A narrowing histogram suggests a crossover may be approaching, and a widening histogram suggests that an ongoing trend is likely to get even stronger.

While it is theoretically possible for a trend to increase indefinitely, under normal circumstances, even stocks moving drastically will eventually slow down, lest they go up to infinity or down to nothing.

Zero crossover
A crossing of the MACD line through zero happens when there is no difference between the fast and slow EMAs. A move from positive to negative is bearish and from negative to positive, bullish. Zero crossovers provide evidence of a change in the direction of a trend but less confirmation of its momentum than a signal line crossover.

Divergence
The third cue, divergence, refers to a discrepancy between the MACD line and the graph of the stock price. Positive divergence between the MACD and price arises when price makes hits a new low, but the MACD doesn't. This is interpreted as bullish, suggesting the downtrend may be nearly over. Negative divergence is when the stock price hits a new high but the MACD does not. This is interpreted as bearish, suggesting that recent price increases will not continue.

Divergence may also occur between the stock price and the histogram. If new high price levels are not confirmed by new high histogram levels, it is considered bearish; alternately, if new low price levels are not confirmed by new low histogram levels, it is considered bullish.

Longer and sharper divergences—distinct peaks or troughs—are regarded as more significant than small, shallow patterns.

Timing
The MACD is only as useful as the context in which it is applied. An analyst might apply the MACD to a weekly scale before looking at a daily scale, in order to avoid making short term trades against the direction of the intermediate trend.[2] Analysts will also vary the parameters of the MACD to track trends of varying duration. One popular short-term set-up, for example, is the (5,35,5).

False signals
Like any indicator, the MACD can generate false signals. A false positive, for example, would be a bullish crossover followed by a sudden decline in a stock. A false negative would be a situation where there was no bullish crossover, yet the stock accelerated suddenly upwards.

A prudent strategy would be to apply a filter to signal line crossovers to ensure that they will hold. An example of a price filter would be to buy if the MACD line breaks above the signal line and then remains above it for three days. As with any filtering strategy, this reduces both the probability of false signals as well as the frequency of missed profit.

Analysts use a variety of approaches to filter out false signals and confirm true ones. As a lagging indicator, the MACD is often paired with a leading indicator, like the Relative Strength Index (RSI). Historical comparisons to similar stocks as well as a careful investigation of past price movements provide added information about how a stock tends to move.

Limitations
The MACD has often been criticized for failing to respond in very low or alternately very high volatility market conditions.[3] Since the MACD measures the divergence between averages, it can only give meaningful feedback as trends change. Thus, the MACD is less useful if the market is not trending—trading sideways or trading erratically—making sudden, dramatic, and/or countervailing moves.

In a sideways market, the divergence between averages will not have a trend to illuminate. In an erratic market, the changes will happen too quickly to be picked up by moving averages or will cancel each other out, diminishing the MACDs usefulness. A partial caveat to this criticism is that whether a market is trending or volatile is always relative to a particular timeframe, and the MACD can be adjusted to shorter or longer spans.

Finally, though some analysts trade on technical indicators alone, the abundance of experts recommend a complete work-up of a company's business sectors, financial strength, past earnings, new products, management, and institutional buying. For more traditional investors, an indicator like the MACD may be used only to support a previously determined stock choice, or to select an ideal entry-point into a fundamentally sound stock.

Signal processing theory
In signal processing terms, the MACD is a filtered measure of velocity. The velocity has been passed through two first-order linear low pass filters. The "signal line" is that resulting velocity, filtered again. The difference between those two, the histogram, is a measure of the acceleration, with all three filters applied. An MACD crossover of the signal line indicates that the direction of the acceleration is changing. The MACD line crossing zero suggests that the average velocity is changing direction

Football World Cup

2010-07-03T10:22:00.000-07:00

Wah....I was really caught up by the latest results esp with the Holland-Brazil and Germany-Argentina games. I would never dare to think that both Brazil and Argentina are out of the world cup and now on their way home.

Anyway it is why....the world cup football match is good to watch as anything can happen and is full of last minute drama.

I will be watching the Semi and the last match since I have already request annual leave from work to watch these matches "live" on TV. Btw I am not putting any money on any team so I am "open" to whoever win the world cup. I just want to enjoy the game.

Yes! Africa has done well to host this world cup and they can be proud for doing a great job so far. I also got to learn about the beauty of their country and people. Yes....Africa is a beautiful country.

Trading up-date

2010-07-01T08:02:00.000-07:00

Stocks - well, there isn't a window dressing for the qtr-end. And since I was "long" for that, I got "whacked" and end-up with a 25% loss for my fund with a couple more stocks to clear still. Nett nett....the loss may amount to 30+%.

For Forex - for the whole month only managed to make 180% for my funding after nearly chalking up over 300% during the first 10 days after that I made changes to my trading plan and from then on kena whacked by a few wrong calls esp on Eur/USD and USD/JPY. Even today...got whacked by both, so I started this month on a losing streak. In fact....for the past few days I am trading less. Just unable to focus on
forex becoz of my positions on stocks.

Conclusion - June is a losing month for me mainly due to the losses from stocks, my winning from Forex is not enough to off-set the loss. Another lesson learned is don't be too smart and try to change a winning trading plan until it became a losing trading plan....

Wrong call for stock and forex

2010-06-26T12:26:00.000-07:00

Yes....had a few bad calls for both stocks and forex trades therefore kena "whacked".
So this coming week...must step back to regroup before cheonging in again haha.

For forex....got only another 3 more days to trade before end of the June month. So far, only managed to grow fund by 300+% after several mis-steps in the past 10 days.
Esp on Eur/USD on 17/6 and USD/JPY for this week. These mis-steps costed me nearly another 200+% profit.

As for the moment....somehow kind of loss the direction to call for the major pairs. Must wait and see.

TGIF

2010-06-25T09:34:00.000-07:00

Stocks - down hill since Tuesday till now, kena whacked nicely.

Forex - Loss back what I made on Monday and Tuesday on Wednesday when the JPY strengthen. Thursday and Friday...I step back and placed just a few "long" trades again on USD/JPY and Eur/JPY, all kena "stopped out". Shit!

Lesson learnt - sometimes nothing goes right and best to stop and take a step back to review what went wrong both for stocks and forex. Conclusion is that I was too impatient to wait for a proper set-up to happen and was too kancheong spider to cheong. Now staring at 5-figures loss! Stocks is too risky!!

Monday up-date

2010-06-21T08:03:00.000-07:00

Stocks - Up from the start of market opening, managed to buy Foxconn as plan but also picked up some Sino Bio-pharm when I noticed that it went further "south".
And it already went further down after I bought a lot size ( HKD50K ), and to see
it ate up my 2nd order too. It just went straight down from HKD3.15 to HKD2.95 before it retraced higher. HENG AH....I sold the 2 lots size when it got back to HKD3.15/6...sold at 3.15 when I noticed no more strength to go higher. Yes, after I sold it went down to HKD3.05 before settling to trade around the HKD3.07 to 3.13 range. I placed another order at HKD3.07 and it was triggered in the afternoon trade.
Also sold off Foxconn but picked up PetroAsian Energy Holding at 73 cts and SMIC at 69 cts near the close after noticing US Futures was showing a gain of 120 points. Now left with Sino Bio-pharm ( btw it's candle stick pattern is a "hammer" - so it will be a nice bounce tomorrow if US market is up tonight ), PetroAsian Energy Holding and SMIC for HK market.

For SG market....bought Cosco at S$1.55, Sound Global at 91.5 cts and 93 cts.

For tomorrow trading plan....planning to pick-up more Sino Bio-pharm and PetroAsian Energy Holding if it is a "up trading day" and to monitor China Food and Guangzhou Pharm for buying if within set-up. Foxconn...can buy if it is below HKD5.90 and only if it is a "up day" for the HK market.

My believe is it will be a "up day" for most markets...since US is now trading with a 100+ points gain. Have only now till end of the month to make some money...qtr/yr end closing therefore there shall be some window dressing going on by the fund managers and companies.

Forex - make some coffee money trading the Eur/USD pair in the evening. Only 1 trade since I am not at home to monitor and scalp some pips. In fact...this order was placed before I went to work at 6pm. It was triggered around 8+pm and it was closed
after a gain of 40+pips.

I won't be able to focus on forex trading at present becoz my money is almost in stocks, so I shall focus on stock for the mean time until end of this month. Hope to make some nice profits too....hehe. Why???...becoz I have only a one-track mind and I cannot multi-tasks "well". In trading...esp for myself, I must be totally focus with what is in front of me during trading hours. Yes, I do go for swim, gym, sauna and feed fishes when I need to step back to re-focus ( that is if I lose money and the market is like shit ).

Attended a trading talk by MF Global

2010-06-19T12:59:00.000-07:00

A wake-up call....after hearing what they said and also confirmed my opinion with regards to trading stocks. Just too hard esp with the company's news and result, and by the time....I heard it, it is already stray news too late for making money and if to enter the market then....likely to lose is greater than winning money if trade.

It is a 9 to 5 market....and after market closed, if anything "happening" in major markets will impact our market when it opens the next day here. Can "gap-up/down".
Then with the latest "last minute market big moves in US market"....we also kena
"whacked" if it's a big down day there.

Therefore....the stock market is very risky to be in as compared to those which trade 24hrs/day eg forex, index and commodity like gold, silver, oil.

Now....with MF Global launching the new trading platform for trading all of the above just using the same account, I will switch out and pay more attentions to the new opportunity. But I will first....get myself ready for more lessons before doing some water-testing for them.

Must learn to trade smart and make my money work harder for me, so that I have time to relex, swim, go feed fishes, gym, spa even stay home haha. At same time to do all these....full-time!

Market up-date for the past week

2010-06-19T12:14:00.000-07:00

Forex....loss back what I gained from Mon to Wed on Thu. And by Fri after a couple more losing trades ( stopped out ) confidence also kena "whacked" which is harder to handle than just losing money. Luckily....after looking thru what I have done "right" until Thu then what I done "wrong" on Thu and Fri, I come to the conclusion that I must get back to the forex trading basic again before "cheonging" again. Anyway...it is just a case of forgetting the basic rules of trading that caused the loss and nothing to do with my trading call.

Stock....this week is a profitable week. Made money with my few trades eg Midas, Baker Tech for SG market and China Shipping Cont, Guangdong Inv, Xinao Gas for HK market. Now I am left with only SoundGlobal for SG and SMIC for HK market.

My trading plan for this coming week....may focus more on stocks for the moment and will buy on any pullback as I believed that with the start of the football - World Cup, volume is less and the market is also in for the closing of the Qtr/Yr-end for some companies, therefore there will be window-closing opportunities ( pushing up of share price for companies ).

For SG market....will focus on Midas ( just broke peak and is within less than 6% plus volume is coming back ) and Baker Tech ( if no issue with it's legal fight with SMC over it's stake in PPL then it will be a windfall for it's share price ).

For HK market....esp with the index back to above 20K points, there are a few stocks looking "good and cheap" eg Foxconn after getting "hit" due to what is happening in it's China plants, Fosun....with it's recent stake in Club Med, China Food....very cheap now with it's recent sell-down, Nine Dragons....same thing looking cheap after the sell-down, SMIC....same thing too after falling from HKD1.09 to present HKD0.66 with it's counter-parts from Taiwan TSM and UMC predicted further increase demand for "chips" in the coming years. Then....the China banks eg ICBC and BOC esp Agbank IPO is coming out soon.

For forex....I will go slow for the moment and watch the direction for the Eur/USD and USD/JYP. Will place trades....on Tuesday once the direction is clearer. From there, I will slowing build up positions for other pairs. It is a case of back to basic for me hahaha.