G'day all, My name is Tom, i'm new to this forum and i've just made the transition between trading stocks and forex. Can anyone recommend a good charting software? I have downloaded the saxotrader and oanda software, and i don't find it nearly as good as the software i was using with my stock trading (incredible charts). My main issue is I can't get volume up. Does anyone who uses this software know how to do it, or if there is volume, or is volume just not provided with the Forex data? Any help would be appreciated Tom
Hello Tom, No charting packages in spot FX are going to show volume. There is no centralized exchange in FX so there is no reliable guide to the amount of exchange taking place (it is all private transactions). Most traders can use other substitutes for volume on the packages they choose. If you do want to know the positioning in the market there are two good ways to get it. 1. Using the COT report from the CME off of www.cftc.gov. This will show the amount and positioning of futures and options traders in the market. 2. On DailyFX under the Strategy Reports you can get what they call SSI. This will give you a good idea of the relative positioning for retail traders in the market. Both work the same way; if the currency is skewed too much to one side or the other than it is due for a reversal. This is especially true of the SSI in skews of 3x or more. Some good free charts are on dailyfx.com under their charting but eventually you may want to check out Intellicharts package. Good luck. Trader/God
Anyone choosing a name like that should at least have a minimal understanding. There's not ONE forex, but there definitely is EBS, which for all practical purposes is good enough. Even eSignal has volume included, although I can't verify if it's helpful yet. They gave me the company name where they get it from, but I can't trace it down to a specific ECN.
Well if I didn't know what I was talking about I would choose a slapstick name like yours to lower expectations. Sure I suppose you can put a volume number on anything even if it does ignore 80% of the market, it will be meaningless, but I'm sure if it exists the newbies will eat it up. Why anyone would use it or think that it reflects reality is another story entirely. Trader/God
MetaTrader 4 from Metaquotes is the best free charting I've found, better than Oanda or VT. As for volume, look at the currency futures for that, rather than the "volume" supplied by some of the FX brokers. As has been pointed out, it's just not representive of the whole market. H
I apologize for maybe being impolite. But I want to restate my point: If someone were to offer the real EBS volume, it's not insignificant. No doubt about that anything else, be it actual volume from a smaller ECN or a number dreamed up completely should not help. My name comes from my native language and is not intended to mean anything to people who don't speak it.