Does location matter?

[Biggles]

Hi everyone, my first post on any trading forum. I am a total newbie at this. I live in Vancouver on the West coast of Canada. My main interest in trading is in the Forex market but I am concerned that my location (ie, time zone) puts me at a disadvantage since the Forex busiest time is at the London opening--eight hours ahead of my time zone. Any comments?

[Buk]

Hi Biggles........

there are opportunities across all timezones & timeframes, just depends on what type of strategy or method(s) you're intending utilizing?!

sure, London attracts a good percentage of intraday volumes & the London-New York handover is probably the most active timezone regards volume/liquidity etc........

which pairs/crosses are you looking at trading?

to be honest, your currency (loonie) throws up quite a few decent opportunities against the buck & is a decent candidate to trade on the medium term swing basis.........

if you're intending trading the Cable (GBP/USD) or Euro via a shorter timeframe strat, then I guess you're gonna have to tailor your screen time to suit the trading/volume conditions

[RhodyTrader]

I agree with Buk. While you should be able to pick up some action in the Yen and the Aussie as Asian trading kicks in, you are definitely going to be outside prime-time for day trading. That certainly doesn't mean you can effectively swing trade, or take longer term positions, though.

[Biggles]

Thank you for your input
Last night I tried staying up late watching the Yen and got up at 6.00am to see what NY thought of it. I don't think I can do that everyday! I do think that I need to be at the computer by 6.00am though since that gives me the most opportunities. I am a very new to this and am trying to trade the news:rolleyes:

[Anna-Maria]

Wow!! You've just hitched your saddle to the bronco & you're looking to trade Yen via the news?

Are you sure - are you really sure?

Just joshin with ya. It's certainly not an impossible task to chip away at these babies striking via a data angle (strat) - a little ambitious for a rookie, but not impossible.

What type of strat are you looking to deploy & why the Yen if you don't mind me enquiring.

Best of luck to you by the way

[Biggles]

Texas: I was using info from Felix. Just experimenting at the moment...
The NZ dollar is next!!

[Anna-Maria]

Felix?? As in the cat?

What's a "Felix"??

[ezduzzit]

I think Texxas was right on the money when he sort of jokingly inquired if you were really serious about your plans to trade the yen as a newbie, etc.

Daytrading the Forex can be quite a challenge, even for experienced traders.. and in this one person's opinion it is one of the hardest instruments to trade, especially for beginners and for those depending mostly on tech analysis. Forex is whipped about considerably by news and you really have to be on top of your game to even have a chance of consistent profitability. Forex lends itself better to swing trading than daytrading but you better have had huge amounts of screen time and more than a smattering of education about what drives those markets and when.

If you have not already done so, being as how you said you were such a newbie, you might want to read an ebook called Bird Watching In Lion Country. The title alone should give you some indication of the challenge you are taking on. It is a very worthwhile read even if you decide to trade with a somewhat different strategy later on.

Best of luck to you.. and you might consider trading the e-mini futures markets initially since they much more closely fit with your local time frame and have somewhat limited leverage. You could always learn about Forex and decide to give it a try later if the e-minis don't aren't exciting enough for you.

If you insist on starting out with Forex and especially the yen.. you had best stick to using a mini account until you are truly comfortable and even that shouldn't be traded until you have plenty of screen time and at least some demo or simulated trading under your belt. Just remember that demo trading is good for getting a feel for how to execute the platform you are trading with, but it is in no way any kind of substitute at all for what trading is like when you switch to real money where your emotions are fully engaged. What that means is, don't go into shock when all your winning demo results are immediately trashed with loss after loss once you switch to trading live money. It happens to almost everyone as this business is somewhere around 80% or more psychological. In summary, regardless of your methods or strategy, it is all about control of your emotions of fear and greed and also about mercilessly closing down your losing positions right away so that you and your capital can survive to trade another day.

Happy Trading

[Biggles]

Thanks for the advice everyone. That is the only time I have tried the Yen-I thought I should try everything! After I shorted the Yen I got faked out, panicked and exited, saw which way it was going and re entered and left it overnight with a close stop loss. I made up most of what I lost on my 'switcheroo'. I have a hell of a lot to learn but right now I have the time to do it. I will try "Bird watching..."

[Biggles]

Is this ebook 'Bird Watching in Lion Country" worth the $69.95 it is advertised for? There seem to be an awful lot of people on Forex ready to remove my hard earned cash:mad: