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It is hard to watch that because of my EUR/USD position...

Still looking at some 15M down side w/ hidden divergence; not exp. lower than 61.8 fib retrace into congestion before 5th wave up.

USDCAD: With USDCAD continuing its weakness and testing the 0.9841 level to close lower on Tuesday, the threat is for an eventual break and hold below the 0.9841 level, its Aug’2012 low. If this occurs, the pair will resume its medium term weakness towards the 0.9800 level. A violation of there will allow for a move lower towards the 0.9700 level, its psycho level and possibly towards the 0.9600 level. Conversely, the only way to prevent these bear threat is for it to decisively break and hold above the 0.9945 level. This if seen could propel it further towards the 1.0000/83 levels. A breach will aim at the 1.0105 level and then the 1.0165 level. All in all, the pair remains biased to the downside in the medium term.

Managed Forex Accounts are generally pursued by people who want to invest in the forex markets but do not have the time or expertise to do so. Managed Forex Accounts offer different levels of education and trader involvement, which allow the capital owners to actively monitor their money.

If you find that more often than not you are either in a trade, thinking about being a trade, or even “itching” to be in a trade, you are probably addicted to trading the markets. If you find it difficult to remove yourself from your computer after placing a trade or you are staying up until 3 in the morning watching every tick for or against your trade with frazzled nerves, you are probably addicted to trading. How do you stop your addiction to trading? If you are man enough to admit that you are addicted to trading then read on for some tips on how to break free from this addiction, if you want to continue on in denial of your addiction, then it’s better to click off this page now. Stop trading small time frames When I say “small time frames”, I am talking about any chart time frame below the 1 hour time frame. I personally believe these time frames are too full of random price movement that carries with it very little significance. As a result, I feel that traders who focus primarily on these small time frames end up getting “seduced” into over-trading because they naturally spend more time analyzing and watching the markets as a result of having more (mostly meaningless) price movement to analyze. We humans tend to be good at finding “patterns” in things, or meaning in things that perhaps don’t carry any inherent meaning. Traders are really good at doing this when trading the lower time frames. Also, any trading signal on a 5 minute chart is going to inherently carry with it a lot less weight than that same signal on the 4hr or daily time frame. So, if you want to break your addiction to the charts…stop watching the small time frames all the time, the reality is that it’s only causing you to over-analyze, over-think, and over-trade. Be accountable People who are addicted to drugs or alcohol lack accountability to themselves, they don’t care about their bodies enough to stay disciplined enough to stay away from substances that harm them. Similarly, traders who gamble their money away and who are addicted to the markets, lack accountability; they are unorganized and undisciplined and so they need something to be accountable to. The best way to inject some accountability into your trading is to develop a Forex trading plan based around an effective trading strategy, as well as a Forex trading journal. Then, you have to force yourself to actually use them; if you can manage to do this you will then have something to be accountable to. When you self-manufacture these tools of accountability in your trading, it helps you stay disciplined and helps to forge positive trading habits in your trading. Traders who gamble and who are addicted to the markets actually reinforce negative trading habits and thus it can be nearly impossible for them to turn their trading around. Understand that NOT trading IS a valuable position Another very important thing to understand that will help you break your addiction to trading is that NOT trading is often the best position to take. Think of it like this, if you are addicted to the markets and are over-trading, you are going to have many more losing trades than you would have if you were disciplined enough to simply not trade when you knew you shouldn’t have. Just to get back to breakeven you have to then hit enough winning trades to make up for all your losers. Whereas, if you simply had traded like a sniper and not a machine gunner, you could have avoided many losing trades and thus had a much more consistent and profitable equity curve. Don’t put pressure on yourself to make money The reason why many traders get addicted to the market is because they put too much pressure on themselves to make money from their trading. This is a very dangerous thing to do. Traders who find success in the markets feel little to no pressure, they don’t put too much significance on any one trade. If you see trading as your “only option” at having a happy life, you are obviously going to become emotional the first time you lose a trade, then that’s going to kick off an avalanche of emotional trading mistakes and trading addiction that will only result in you losing increasing amounts of money. In short, remover your “need” to make money in the markets, and the money you so badly desire will actually come faster. Making sure you don’t “relapse” As any addict knows, relapse is always lurking around the corner, waiting for you like an unavoidable temptation in the night. When you’re a trading addict, the situation is exactly same, and perhaps even more difficult than being addicted to drugs or alcohol, since you are still going to see your temptation (the markets) everyday. You have to consciously be on-guard against falling back into your old ways of being a trading addict. The easiest way to do this is to stay disciplined and organized by thinking about your trading like a business and making a trading plan and trading journal and using them with passion. You also need to keep in mind that you COULD lose money on ANY one trade, so keep that fact in your mind at all times while trading, and ask yourself before every trade if THIS is a trade that a I REALLY want to risk money on, and is THIS amount of money an amount I am TRULY OK with losing? In short, there is no concrete way to avoid slipping back into your old bad habit of trading addiction. But, you can pre-empt all your actions in the market by doing the things I just described, this will greatly increase your chances of avoiding a relapse. Also, you should realize that trading is a life-long event, so don’t get too hung up on any one trade; your trading success is measured over months and years, not over days or weeks. Find other hobbies, don’t get obsessed with the markets, and realize the markets will always be there, so missing out on a good trade setup is not a big thing. By and large, traders who take a slow and controlled approach to trading the markets make a lot more money over their lifetimes than traders who take a fast and emotional approach. Nial Fuller is a respected Forex trader and trading coach. He teaches forex traders to simplify their trading by learning to read the “raw” price action of the market and by trading with simple yet highly logical and effective strategies. If you want to find out more about him and his price action trading methods, check out his Forex Trading website here:

The “Overlay” in a Currency Overlay gets its name from the overlaid hedging factors that are added to a company's forex portfolio. The key element of the practice is risk reduction and separation from the management of other assets.

Hirose Financial is a FSA regulated subsidiary of Hirose Tusyo of Japan, a top 10 award winning FX broker established in 2004. The Hirose Group offers multiple platforms to over 120,000 clients worldwide, transacting over $90 billion of FX volume a month. In 2010 we became the first Japanese FX broker to open a FSA regulated office in London Technical Strength through Innovation Hirose utilises some of the latest transaction processing technology allowing it to transact thousands of trades simultaneously (using straight through processing) without requotes. It also means that traders can deploy any type of trading strategy you want, from scalping to long term trading due to the underlying liquidity that Hirose has access to.

Cross-Currency Settlement Risk is a characteristic of the forex markets because of the global nature of each transaction. In many cases, the opposing currency in a forex transaction is not received until that particular market is open for business.

The aim of credit netting is to reduce the number of credit checks that need to be conducted. The forex market is arguably the most active market and it is viewed as preferable to reduce the number of credit checks that are needed for leveraged trades.

I will introduce a new EUR/USD thread. I will frequently post my EUR/USD chart analysis I hope some people will participate and also post their EUR/USD analysis here. Let's share our knowledge!

There are so many novice traders who get introduced into the "Forex world" and they hear about all the money you can make in this profession, but after 6 months, a year, or maybe even 2 years if you a persistent, they give up trying to master the markets because they say its impossible or too hard, does this sound familiar? Sadly i hear about this far too often...I am a piano instructor, and lesson after lesson i hear "Teacher, i'm so excited, i practiced for 8 hours this week!" only to be disappointed because the piece sounded exactly as it did last week. The students weren't lying, they did indeed play the piano for hours, just like they told me, notice how i changed the word from "practiced" the piano, to "played" the piano? Just changing a single word, can have a huge impact on its meaning. To PLAY the piano is something i do for enjoyment, just pleasure for myself or for others, not planning on improving much of my performance during this period, but to PRACTICE the piano, to practice is to take your time, go slowly, look at the bigger picture, fine tune the timing, the finger positioning, the accents, dynamics, muscle control, muscle movement, taking a step forward in your skill/performance level by improving something that will better you as a pianist. This can be directly related to trading, people think that if they make tons of trades, they are gaining "experience" yes and no, you do need to make trades, and get the feeling of what making trades is like, watching the market unfold against you or for you, BUT taking trades alone, wont give you the experience needed to one day have the financial freedom we all ache for. There is a saying that practice makes perfect, but i think PERFECT practice makes perfect. Anyone can learn to have financial freedom from the markets, but it takes time, dedication, and will. Take the time to get the knowledge needed, PRACTICE and apply this knowledge on the market, and then start building up your experience. There are no short cuts in this field, but take one small bite at a time, and eventually those bites will get smaller and smaller and smaller. Go make some pips!

Commodity Pairs include forex pairs like the AUD/USD, the USD/CAD, and the USD/NZD. Since the economies of these countries are highly dependent on exports, they are given this categorization.

One of the things that separates the forex markets from those where other asset types are traded is the fact that currencies are priced in pairs. Essentially, what this means is that we are never buying or selling a currency by itself. Instead, currency performance can only be viewed in relative terms and this can have drastic on the type of trades that should be placed and the various strategies that should be implemented. If this didn't complicate things enough on its own, another factor that traders must understand is that some currencies are highly correlated with some of its counterparts and inversely correlated with others. But while it might seem to be a daunting task to research and memorize the ways various currencies align with each other, currency correlations can provide traders with potential trading opportunities and tactics for managing your total risk exposure at any given moment. Understanding Correlation Comprehending the interdependence that is seen in currency pairs is easier in some cases than it is in others. For example, when dealing with the EUR/JPY we would expect there to be some similarities to others, such as the EUR/USD and the USD/JPY. A trading session particularly strong buying activity in the Euro would likely send the EUR/JPY higher but if the same trading period saw the EUR/USD trading lower, we would know that the US Dollar was the strongest of the three currencies that session, with an inevitable run higher in the USD/JPY. More specifically, correlation can be measured using the “correlation coefficient”, which ranges from +1 (highly correlated) to 0 (unrelated or random) to -1 (inversely correlated). Currencies with a coefficient of +1 would essentially move in lock-step with each other. Currencies with a coefficient of 0 would have no decipherable relationship with each other. Currencies with a coefficient of -1 would show price patterns that are mirror images of each other. Of course, most currencies will not fall exactly into one of these categories and instead will fall into some interval degree of these three coefficients. Correlation Tables Many currency brokers offer currency tables that display the correlation coefficients of the most commonly traded pairs. These are updated regularly, so traders will always have the most up to date information. Below is the currency table that is offered by OANDA, separated by regular time intervals: The table above shows the relationships between the EUR/USD forex pair and its commonly-traded counterparts (along with silver and gold). Relative to the EUR/USD, the EUR/JPY has a 1-week correlation coefficient of 0.81, while the USD/JPY has a 1-week correlation coefficient of 0.57. To better understand these coefficients, the following descriptions are given: 0.0 to 0.2 Very weak to negligible correlation 0.2 to 0.4 Weak, low correlation (not significant) 0.4 to 0.7 Moderate correlation 0.7 to 0.9 Strong, high correlation 0.9 to 1.0 Very strong correlation From this, we can see that the 1-week correlation between the EUR/USD and the EUR/JPY is “strong,” while the 1-week correlation between the EUR/USD and the USD/JPY is “moderate.” The EUR/USD and the EUR/JPY will move in the same direction 81%, while the EUR/USD and the USD/JPY will move in the same direction 57% of the time. These numbers, of course, are constantly changing depending on the various market conditions currently in place. In this case, the longer term 1-year correlation became stronger in the EUR/USD – EUR/JPY, while it weakened in the EUR/USD – USD JPY. Interestingly, looking at the table above, the EUR/USD and the USD/CHF had a perfect negative correlation of -1 during the latest 1-week to 3-month periods. With this, we can see that these pairs moved in opposing directions 100% of the time. In the next article, we will look at ways this information can be used to construct trading plans.

Using Pivot Points to make Better Trades Pivot Points have been used by floor traders at the major equities and futures exchanges for a long time. Traders found that the price tended to hover near the pivot level and trade in between the pivot and support and resistance levels generated by a simple calculation based on the previous day’s high low and close. One advantage of using Pivots is they are a predictive indicator as opposed to lagging. Predictive Vs Lagging Indicators The majority of technical indicators most traders use such as moving averages and RSI are lagging. Meaning they are telling us what has already happened, or at best, what is happening in real time. Few indicators are predictive; one type of predictive indicator is Pivot Point study. Pivot Points use old data to predict future price movement, and, since technical analysis is based on the idea that many people looking at the same thing will draw similar conclusions, we can use pivot points in a variety of ways to improve our trading. Pivots have been used by floor traders for many years, traders found that daily price action seemed to fluctuate more intensely around certain levels based on the previous day’s high, low and close. Traders also found that by using the pivot point and the previous day’s range, high and low, they could set support and resistance levels that price respected. There are several methods of calculation for these pivots we will explore the classic calculation method in this article in detail but we will also discuss the alternative methods. Classic Pivot Points To calculate the pivot point, take the previous day or session’s high(H), low(L) and close©, add them together and divide by 3 [(H+L+C/3 = Pivot Point (PP)] Now we can calculate the support and resistance levels based off of the pivot, Support 1 is (PP x 2)-H , Resistance 1 is (PP x 2) – L =, S2 is (PP-Range), S3 is(PP-Range) x 2 and S4 is (PP-Range) x 3. R2 is (PP+Range), R3 is (PP+Range x 2) and R4 is (PP+Range x 3). Range is High-Low. E-mini S&P500 Chart: For this example we will use the E-mini S&P 500 futures. The previous session high was 1124.25, the low was 1110.25 and the close was 1122.25 Using these values we can calculate the pivot point, which is 1118.92, Support1= 1113.57, Resistance1=1127.58, S2=1104.94, S3=1090.92 and S4=10796.92. R2=1132.92, R3=1146.92 and R4=1160.92. Looking at this chart, we see that when price fell, it fell exactly to the first level of support and bounced higher. We used the exchange hours to set our session and ignored the Globex/overnight session when calculcating our pivot points. The reason we did this is because much more volume is traded during the exchange session and the institutions that really move the price are trading during these hours. Most institutions do not trade the low liquidity overnight session unless there is a news event. So when the market opened the next day it immediately fell and found support exactly at S1. The difference between R1 and S1 was about 14 points, which is a pretty large range for this contract. In other words, it would take a major event to push the price to the next level of support or resistance (S2, R2). By using S1 as the buy entry and our pivot point as a take profit level we can use S2 as the Stop Loss level, the difference between S1 and the PP was 5.34 (5.25 rounded down, which is 21 ticks on this contract), so that was our profit potential on this setup. Conversely, we could have set a buy stop slightly higher than R1 and a sell stop right below S1, this would be more of a breakout strategy where we look for the price to move through either level with momentum and continue down to S2 or move higher to R2. Alternate Calculation Methods There are several methods to calculate pivot points, 2 alternate methods are Woodie’s and Fibonacci. For Woodie’s method instead of using the previous session’s closing price, we use the current session’s open price. The formula to calculate the pivot point is PP=(H+L+(Today’s Openx2)/4. Our Support and Resistance levels are calculated the same way as the classic method. Another method is Fibonacci, this method uses the Classic calculation to find the Pivot Point (H+L+C)/3 but uses the major fibonacci levels to calculate support and resistance levels. S1=PP-0.382 x (H-L), S2=PP-0.618 x (H-L) and S3=PP-1.0 x (H-L). R1=PP+0.382 x (H-L), R2=PP+0.618 x (H-L) and R3=PP+1.0 x (H-L) Here is a table using the same Open, High , Low and Close data to compare the different calculation methods: Combining Pivots with other tools. Pivot Points are a valuable tool for any trader, however, no single tool tells the whole story, we are looking for multiple indicators to align and confirm a move. Meaning, if the price is nearing R1, our RSI is above 90 and we have an important Fibonnacci level at or around the same price, that validates our prediction that we will encounter resistance more than relying on any 1 indicator. It is important to look at different indicators that tell a different story. For example if you are using a moving average crossover for entry confirmed by a MACD, you are basically looking at the same thing in two different ways, a MACD measures the difference between 2 moving averages so of course the signal will be confirmed! But if we mix the inidcators up by using a momentum indicator such as RSI or Stochastics, now we are looking at 2 different instruments that are giving a similar reading. Combine these indicators with support and resistance tools such as pivots and Fibonnacci, now you have 3 totally different indicators for confirmation, that means you have a much better chance of making a good trade. You may find yourself taking less trades, however this is about quality, not quanitity. In the end, trading is all about probablilty, and if you put the probability in your favor over and over again, you will increase your chances of coming out on top. Risk Disclosure: There is a substantial risk of loss in trading futures and foreign exchange. Please carefully review all risk disclosure documents before opening an account as these financial instruments are not appropriate for all investors. Jesse Richards is a Series 3 registered Commodities Futures Broker and a Principal of Fast Trading Services LLC

After the union of southern and northern parts of Yemen in 1990 both Southern Dinar and Northern Rial was used as legal lender. However in 1996 Dinar was withdrawn from circulation and only Rial was considered to be the official currency of Republic of Yemen.

The name given to the currencies traded in foreign countries are called Xeno currency. For example when Chinese yuan or Korean won are traded in US markets or exchanges it is considered as Xenocurrency. Governments or corporations deposit into foreign banks is also called XenoCurrency.

In the forex market, standard lots are equal to 100,000 units of a given currency. Thus, a yard is comprised of 10,000 standard trading lots. Since this is more capital than individual investors possess, yards (or half yards) are generally traded by central banks and large private institutions. Trade orders of this size generally increase volatility and if these orders are not telegraphed, these trades can take many traders by surprise.

Trading positions are generally based either on a fundamental news event, a collection of macroeconomic data, or technical chart analysis. Once positions are established, traders will either gain or lose money depending on the accuracy of their initial forecast, the initial entry level, and the price at which the trade is closed.

Speculative Attack is a term that refers to a collective strategic investment that is made in order to push market prices in a specific direction. The word “attack” in this case can be viewed as an attempt to influence market activity. Defining what is actually a legitimate speculative attack can be difficult to do. Many argue that the use of the term is more closely related to political rhetoric, rather than an adherence to statistics. One way of understanding whether or not a true speculative attack has occurred can be seen in the length of time it takes for the currency to recover to previous levels. Quick recoveries are seen as less legitimate than recoveries that take years. An example of a speculative attack can be seen in the legacy of George Soros. In the 1990s, Soros led a speculative attack to drive down the value of the British pound in the face of questionable central bank activities.

Since these transactions are done at central banks, and in large quantities, this tends to create a great deal of volatility for the underlying currency. Currency interventions tend to have questionable levels of success. In general a central bank’s economic policy will be directly tied to the acceptable value of a currency and when markets deviate from these levels, a central bank will attempt to reverse the trend. Since the value of the currency is a direct function of supply versus demand, a central bank can choose to weaken a currency by increasing supply, or strengthen a currency by limiting supply.

A Hawkish central bank is one that is more likely to raise the interest rate tied to the national currency. This is important for forex traders because higher interest rates tends to increase the value of the underlying currency, and any evidence that a central bank is planning in raising interest rates will likely push the value of that currency higher. When using the term “Hawkish” forex traders are generally referring to comments that are suggestive of a rise in interest rates or a robust national economy.

Monetary tightening is conducted to restrict economic growth by making it more difficult to finance investment capital. One key consequence of tightening policies can be seen with lower inflation levels and a increase in the value of the underlying currency. When consumer spending is affected in this way, the national economy will generally see a decrease in spending and productivity and this will eventually lead the central bank to reverse policy as a way of restarting the economy.

A Dovish central bank is one that is more likely to lower the interest rate tied to the national currency. This is important for forex traders because lower interest rates tend to decrease the value of the underlying currency, and any evidence that a central bank is planning in lowering interest rates will likely push the value of that currency downward.

Central banks act as both major players in the currency market (conducting many foreign exchange transactions) and as a data source for understanding the strength of the country’s underlying economy. In some cases, central banks will actively intervene in currency markets to control volatility and bring liquidity into unstable markets. The main role of a central bank is to ensure price stability with respect to inflation.

The Central Bank Rate determines the rate that commercial banks are charged when loans are initiated and this is directly related to the interest rate determined by the country’s Federal Banking System. Higher rates are put in place to discourage lending in overheated economies, while low rates are given when an economy is viewed as being in need of stimulus measures.