Absolutely any help would be greatly appreciated. Sources, resources, books, articles, absolutely everything I could possibly absorb to increase my understanding. Primarily of the fundamental influences to the markets, but also of those crazy looking indicators. The only thing I could tell you if you asked me "Elliot wave oscillator?" is "5 is apparently a magic number". I see a lot of aconyms with a lot of figures to accompany them - and have a firm grasp on the concepts surrouding inflation - but where exactly do I turn to be taught MORE of the sort of information I know that I need to know? Please feel free to flame me to pieces for this honest admittal of my ignorance, as long as afterwards you help. Thanks in advance
The only reason to trade forex is the volatility, but sentiment stability minute to minute and session to session is extremely variable in contrast to other markets. There are really no books to help you. Lot of people robotically just trade GBP and follow the tick gaps hoping for directional price gaps. And there are periods of time when GBP tick jumps dont retrace and SL's dont get hit, and one is able to capture 50-100 pips.
Thanks for your reply After about a month of demo trading with FXCM I had decided that technicals definitely were not for me and was able to generate profit trading infrequently and after large announcements, however I: Now wish to undertake a mixture of "scalping" in quiet times even though Oanda doesn't like that, and sometimes day trading to take advantage of the frequent and large daily swings of the gbp/usd. For instance, I am aware that there is a large psychological barrier to cable hitting 2.0, but I am at a loss as to whether or not the past few month's positive industrial and economic UK data clearly indicate a push past that mark - I even know there is a USD announcement of sales of existing homes at 3pm gmt today. I *think* I'd be correct in projecting a boost to the dollar as a result, if this information is positive, I am not sure. I need to be! Does intuition help? Because before I'd read anything about stop-losses and stop-running I had an intuitive stroke to avoid using hard stops if I was attending to the trading platform. I became more profitable as a result, but worry if that is pure conspiracy theory rubbish!
Ideally not have stops gives more flexibility. But if your not disciplined about cutting your losses on your own, then using stops entered to the broker is better. Forex order flow can really take out most anyones position, since the order flow adheres to no logical constraints. In constrast to other markets. Forex is in a constant state of flux regarding its final price progression point. You can only rely on what has happened in the price pattern in the most immediate past. Some people only trade the previous sessions highs and lows. Meaning instead of trying to get chopped up, they might enter sell stops and buy stops at the previous session highs and lows, and try to play a breakout regarding price progression/direction. There are underlying macro economic themes, that play a role, and looking at gross price progression it adheres to it on the whole. Things such as the carry trade and monetary policy sentiment shift the price bands according to logical constraints. But most people end up getting chopped up even though they know the direction or trend that a pair is heading in. To trade forex properly you have to treat it like a 'stock', and use minimal leverage as possible and not let daily fluctuations alter your views on its direction. The only meaningful timeline in forex is weekly or monthly charts.
I was rather unsure about opening an account with IB, who I have heard offer FX futures. I don't have any idea what sort of capital they demand to open an account for the purpose and am fairly sure of my lack of required capital. I'd need to explore their website this afternoon. Get this, right. I have to be absent from my trading platform for the sake of taking a mock-exam in economics which I am destined to fail. So I'm going to be missing out on the direct effect of the US existing home sales release at 3pm gmt. For the sake of being told I cannot "do" economics. Let's hope it's an empowering figure, thx.
A good few things I have read written by people I don't know state the same sort of thing. FX Cash day trading is possibly the worst idea you could ever come across. Unfortunately I'm rather obstinate in my conviction that the use of leverage enables me to, on a *good* day, cause seventy or eighty quid to pop up out of nowhere. Having made more than my fair share of mistakes already I've become very aware of the need for self discipline in closing losing trades when not using a stop-loss. Being aware of it doesn't mean I'm good at it, it means I'll practice until I'm good at it. It is possible to *avoid* blowing up your account, but the learning curve appears to be both very steep and possibly exponential. I have to go, bye!