The allure of forex trading is its apparent flexibility.  You can trade almost anytime and from anywhere as long as you can access the Internet.  The sophistication of trading software is astounding and masks to some extent the real risks of retail forex trading.  Beginners must accept their amateur status and seek out professionals to mentor their progress.  A trading regimen is no place to learn by “hit and miss” or “trial and error”.

At the start, immerse yourself in research about the craft.  The objective is to gain enough knowledge so that later training lessons will seem familiar, and your mind will be more receptive to understanding and retaining the information.  Knowledge is key before moving onto the next step in the process.  Your mentor will guide you through fundamental and technical analysis, trading platforms, risk management, fraud prevention, forex broker selection, trading strategy and psychology, and basic money management techniques for prudently handling your own account and investments.

Use these to assist in choosing a domestic forex broker.  Many overseas brokers may tempt you with their offers, but local regulators do not favor trading from offshore, nor do you want the potential problems of attempting to exercise legal rights overseas, a nightmare waiting to happen.  Your chosen broker will most likely supply you with his preferred trading software or allow you to interface with your own.  Be sure to read your agreement closely, as there may be exceptions or obligations that you will want to be aware of when you actually begin trading.  There will also be Help screens and more tutorials to enhance your effort.

Is it now time to start trading?  NO, with emphasis on both letters!  Experience is your next objective, and the only way to gain it without losing your capital is with a forex trading demo account.  Your broker will also provide this system for you with an account of “virtual” cash that you can trade at will using real time quotes and his trading platform.  Experts in forex trading have claimed to have spent months refining their trading strategy and gaining the confidence and consistency necessary for real-time trading.  Invest the time if you want to succeed, but be aware that there are no actual guarantees that past performance or historical data indicates future events or results.

Having a detailed trading plan is paramount to blocking emotional intervention during your trading experience.  Knowledge and experience are key factors for success, but controlling one’s emotions is, perhaps, more important in the long run.  Your mind can play tricks with you if allowed, undermining even the most secure decision-making process.  The stress of having real money on the line and having to respond decisively to a rapidly changing marketplace can easily overwhelm the unprepared.  Practice your trading plan until it can be repeated as if it were an ingrained habit.

Forex trading is high risk.  Knowledge, experience and emotional control can create a platform for ultimate success.

Where is their momentum coming from ? Is there a momentum measuring stick or some indicators or signs of expectations that I should be looking at, or do you see the same thing…..a flat to declining market that is desparately looking for places to most safely park devaluing currencies?

Look at a 5-year chart below the stock table from Yahoo! Finance.

1. How many times has Intel had a stock split during the last 5 years?

2. If students bought 100 shares of Intel in 1995, how many shares would they have now? Click on the "vs. S&P 500" link on the bottom right hand corner of the chart.

3. Intel and the S&P index were at the same value in January 1996. How many percent did Intel outperform the market (S&P) at the current share price?

4. Is Intel’s current price above or below its 50-day moving average? 200-day moving average?

Note: If the share price is above the 50-day or 200-day moving average, investors will expect the price to go even higher due to upward momentum. The opposite is true if the price is below the moving averages.

8/2: 1611/ 315.09%
8/1: -749/ -10800.00%
7/31: 7/ -99.65%
7/28: 2020/ 541.05%
7/27: -458

Look bellow at Diedrich coffee DDRX over the past six months (chart at the bottom of this) it has had a massive gain: Stocks like this one and others that I seen come out of what is called a “Narrow Sideways Price Channel”! In other words in this case it was at a relatively FLAT price or price channel when it was a penny stock and then it stated picking up momentum. There is a rule I once remember reading in an investing book that if a stock or commodity is in a narrow flat price range: if it STARTS to gain momentum in will generally continue on in that direction until resistance is met. In other words if there is a 20 dollar stock and it stays almost the same price for 3 month but then all of a sudden starts falling to 18 and bellow, then it will probably KEEP going down for a long time to come i.e. falling demand. The same holds true for this stock if a stock that’s 35 cents which it was and stays flat and then goes to 1.10 there is a good chance it will keep going up i.e. rising demand. I have SEEN this pattern before it’s amazing how it seems to work. SOOOO how can someone screen for this or find this? IS there software for finding horizontal narrow price channels?