Hi all, I have been reading your articles here with great interest, and I am happy to see that you all are willing to help each other like that, very cool. I just opened my demo account with FXCM, and downloaded Metatrader. I anticipate to stay on the demo for the next 6 month, until I understand all this a little more. I have been reading a lot from Rob Booker, he seems to have a great spirit about trading. Anybody else using him? Here are a few questions. When opening a real account(mini), I might have $2000.00 to start with. How much will my pip value be, and how long would it take to make 'real' money, assuming I know what I am doing by then. Also, what is a pip spread, and how would that affect my profits? If trading from the Philippines (my future goal), will I still have to pay taxes? Also, how could I get a trading partner with whom I could brainstorm with? Thank you so much for this great forum. Steve P.S. If those questions are too basic, I am sorry, I do not want to start a flame war, please be gentle, I really want to do this....thank you
Greetings and Salutations Steve. Welcome to ET. I like your approach. "Gird up your loins" in preparation for that big day when you go live!!! Good trading to you. Per mini a Pip is worth about one buck in a USD account or a little less depending on the pair you trade. You will determine how many minis you use ...your 2k in your account will just be your limit...FXCM will stop you from entering when you get too heavily leveraged....they will margin call you if you get close to losing that 2k as they do not want you to owe them money...You can email them to get the max leverage of 400:1...but you do not have to max it out if you do not want to. Remember Metatrader will shut your demo off in about a month and you must reopen it, so write down all of your settings! A pip is a point within the price quotes, streaming live through the feed your platform has. Currently the EUR/JPY is at 150.05/150.09 (other pairs can use up to four decimal places) The first price (the bid price quote) is where you would sell at...the second price (the ask price quote) is where you buy at...the amount in between is you dealers commission. If you buy and sell often your dealer makes more. If you hold longer term the dealer makes less. (there is a cost of carry that you must consider also, but we will not get into that just now) The Philippines have numbered accounts without names, I believe, but check with a tax advisor experienced with Forex Trading overseas...and such... trading partners...hmmmm...just use ET and make friends... again...good Trading to you Michael B.
I did not address how your profits will be affected with pip spreads. When you look at the charts of Forex pairs...you can notice the nice trends that develop. Your dealer is presenting this to you. Now if your really into this you can get several charts from different dealers and compare. Generally there is a lot of shading and differing spreads out there... But to answer your question if you have a big area between your bid and ask (the spread) it will temper the volatility you see in that dealers chart you are trading from and basing your decisions from. There is a lot of money out there and there usually is enough of a trend for everybody to grab, if your patient. But I think you can see those dealers that have the wider spread making all that money off of you and your trades can cut into your trend. In Equities you just pay the commish out of your balance ... In Forex it comes out of your chart...and it is a percent in FXCM's case. now I know your totally confused But I want you to think Steve you are awesome! and this adventure in Forex is the beginning to your bright future. Your life will be changed for the better and you will wake up looking forward to looking at your candlestick charts. I really like your style and I think your going to make it. Michael B.
Steve to get started simply (or exponentially ) take a look at some different Moving Averages. FXCM has a chart plugin named Marketscope that integrates into their platform. There is a deep history there of daily, weekly and monthly charts. Look at the 5 minute chart and several averages (experiment and observe)...then look at the longer charts with those same averages to see where this pair has been going for the last few years...develop a bias from the longer term and only take that direction from the shorter term ....do not fight the trend... FXCM is a sponsor here and do not hesitate to discuss them ok? Michael B.
Michael, I don't know what to say besides THANK YOU!! You answered all my questions, and more.... Good tip about Metatrader, good to know, thanks. I have been reading every PDF I can get my hands for the last month. I have not been trading much yet, as I really don't know what I am doing yet. I want to be able to identify entry points better, and which way the chose pair will go. I do like that I can modify the stop loss to a point I hardly have any loss at all, it if goes bad. Of course that means I might lose out when there is small fluctuation.... I am tempted to sign up for Rob Bookers course. But I am not sure if I could maybe invest those $1000.00 a little better....anyway, I still have soooo many questions. I will just keep on reading here, and try to make sense of all this information. Thanks again, you are very kind. Steve
Do not waste your money on these courses.... Just keep reading here and take your time! You have the rest of your life and the Philippines is there waiting for you! Currencies are a marvelous market to trade. They all move differently and some of them are correlated. This you will learn in time. The Stock market is a slave to earnings reports and 70% of all of the componets are reliant of the general market direction. You will find currencies do not all move like that eventhough the US dollar controls most of their movement. I am looking forward to your observations and idea's. My lifes work is trading and I so much love to read about the trials and tribulations a new trader goes through. You guys are open minded and I have learned so much from you... Michael B.
Well, if I can only make $1.00 per pip, this will take me a long time to make serious money.... But I feel the passion for it burning inside me, and I can make it!! I will be a pipaholic. And as far as I was reading, making 20 pips a day seems real good.... Steve
steve, You have 6 months of INTENSIVE training to do. stay away from these projections for now. The money is there believe me... You need to go slow and steady and first learn how to make 25% a year for two straight years. On 2k thats only 41 bucks a month...PROMISE ME YOU WILL NOT SIZE YOUR TRADES TOO BIG...I WOULD SAY YOU NEED TO TRADE WITH JUST ONE MINI TOTAL. Michael B.
I do not want to take advantage of your kindness, but maybe you could tell me which currency pair I should concentrate on from my eastern time zone? I have been playing with the EURUSD, but I am happy to learn from others... Also, which indicators are good to have in a chart? I know, they are so many possibilities, but I like to have as clutter free as possible.... How do you feel about those signals you can subscribe to? Are those just BS? Steve
put up all of the pairs...yes fill your screen (s) with little squares and just observe for now... there are many traders here awaiting your most excellent questions. and do me a favor...share your observations no matter how stupid they seem... now there are some seasoned traders that will rough you up to get your attention...lets see what your made of! Michael B.