Tag: Forex

OMF Review

OMF Financial Markets is an online foreign exchange broker that recently won an award for the best cTrader broker. Located and regulated within New Zealand, they offer a wide range of services from forex to CFDs. OMF is committed to providing the best service that they can and so we will be using the review to dive deep into the services on offer to see what is really there and how they compare to the competition in this very competitive industry.

Account Types

There isn’t an account comparison page so we do not have any information for this section. However, as we go through the review, in each section we will outline any potential differences if there are multiple accounts. Otherwise, all the information provided in this review will be relevant to the accounts available.

Platforms

There are a number of different platforms available, we have outlined them below along with some of their main features.

x24:
This platform offers the ability to proactively manage volatile currency markets. OMFx24 is a platform that removes the hassle from sending and receiving payments overseas. A full range of FX tools allows you to effectively manage your currency risk so that you can focus on building your business. Manage your positions, track balances or view margin requirements online. The real-time environment provides you with a complete overview of your FX account.

cTrader:
This platform gives you Straight Through Processing (STP) access to the forex market right from your own P.C., tablet or smartphone. Designed for professionals and novices alike, OMF cTrader is a groundbreaking trading tool, developed to give you secure access to major foreign exchange markets from any location. The platform is highly sophisticated yet extremely user-friendly and intuitive. The STP environment routes all your trades directly to prices aggregated from many prominent banks, avoiding the need for market maker type intervention and doing away with the potential for manipulation and re-quotes.

MarketTrader:
MarketTrader provides direct access to equity markets around the world. Trade listed equities, options, ETFs/ETNs and CFDs in multiple currencies all from the one account. Chart equities, indices, futures and options. Compare and overlay different products. Candlestick, bar and line charts are available on a 30 second to the multi-decadal timeframe. OMF MarketTrader’s customizable overlays, indicators, and moving averages, with the ability to chart option implied volatility, meets the needs of the most demanding technical analyst.

CommTrade:
CommTrade provides a facility where live pricing is listed for all available carbon and electricity contracts. Access the latest spot and forward prices, options pricing and historical data across full range products that can be executed via the platform. Buyers and sellers can log in and place orders when the markets are open. Orders can be executed on a spot or forward basis. Access the information you need to stay fully informed of market developments. Our daily market commentary provides an in-depth analysis of the carbon and power markets to keep you up to date.

Leverage

While we know that the accounts can be leveraged. We do not actually know what the maximum leverage is, or if it can be changed on an already open account.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots and go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. We do not know what the maximum trade size is or how many open trades and orders you can have at any one time.

Trading Costs

There is a fees and commission page which is a little confusing. We would recommend looking at it yourself as it provides a lot of information. The one that we will point out is that when trading Forex, there is an added fee of 0.1%. Swap charges are present and are charged for holding trades overnight. They can be both positive or negative and can be viewed within the trading platform that you are using.

Assets

The assets have been split up into various categories of Forex, Equities, Futures, Carbon, Power, and Dairy. However, there isn’t a breakdown of the available instruments within each category. This is a shame as many potential clients may want to see what instruments are available before signing up, especially if they have their preferred instruments to trade.

Spreads

The spreads will go as low as 1 pip, this is the lowest that the spreads will go and as they are variable spreads they will often be seen higher as they are influenced by the markets. Different instruments will also have different spreads so while one may be as low as 1 pip, others may not go any lower than 2 pips.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit amount required to open up an account is 10,000 NZD which is a little high and could price out a lot of newer traders. We do not know if this amount reduces once an account has already been opened.

Deposit Methods & Costs

You are only able to deposit using Bank Wire which can limit the number of potential clients as people often like to use other methods. The FAQ states that OMF does not charge for any deposits, but you should check with your own bank or processor to see if they add any charges of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same method is available to withdraw with, so just Bank Wire Transfers. Just like with the deposits, OMF does not charge when withdrawing your funds from them. You should also check your own bank for incoming processing fees.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

All withdrawal requests are processed the same day as they are requested, if not then they will be processed on the next working day. It will then take between 1 to 5 working days for your request to fully process depending on the processing speed of your own bank.

Bonuses & Promotions

It does not seem that there are any active bonuses or promotions. There is also no evidence that there have been any in the past.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are four pages that equate to the educational side of the site. The first are some webinars. We do not know how often these occur but the past once is available to watch on the site. They go over different aspects of trading and analysis. The next is Seminars, you will need to contact the support team to book and will need to live in New Zealand to attend. There are some videos about forex and trading however they have not been updated since August 2019. The final page has some financial reports, outlining what has happened in the past and also what they feel could happen in the future.

Customer Service

The customer service team is available 24 hours a day 5 days a week and is closed over the weekend and on bank holidays. They have departments in Aukland, Wellington, and Sydney and they provide a postal address, telephone number and email address for each one.

Auckland
Address: Level 2, 37 Galway Street, Britomart, Auckland
Phone: +64 9 520 9310
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

Free demo accounts are available for the cTrader platform, you can signup form on the site with a simple form. The demo account allows you to test out the trading conditions (that we have mentioned throughout this review) and strategies without risking any of your own capital.

Countries Accepted

This information isn’t available, but it seems like OMF is aiming their services more towards those that are living in New Zealand. However, if you are interested in joining, we would recommend contacting the customer service team to ensure that you are eligible for an account.

Conclusion

OMF is aiming its services towards the New Zealand trading community. The minimum deposit if 10,000 NZD which can price out newer traders. There is also just one way to deposit which can be a little limiting. In terms of the trading conditions, the spreads are acceptable, but the commissions have been put in such asway that it can be a little confusing as to how much you will pay. This isn’t made any better with the lack of product specification or breakdown, so we do not really understand how much it will cost and also not what we can actually trade. There are plenty of ways to contact the customer service team which is a plus.

Tags Forex, Forex Broker, review

Forex Basic Strategies Forex Daily Topic

An Old Theory about Support/Resistance

Post author By Tareq Sikder
Post date 18 March, 2020
No Comments on An Old Theory about Support/Resistance

In price action trading, traders rely on support/resistance a lot. Beginners often ask a question of whether they are predetermined. In answer to this, they are predetermined to some extent. A trader can guess level/levels that may work as support/resistance. The idea is simple. Support becomes resistance, and resistance becomes support. In today’s lesson, we are going to demonstrate an example of this.

The price has a bounce at the drawn level and heads towards the North. The last candle comes out as a bearish engulfing candle. The price may head towards the South. If that happens, the sellers are to wait for a breakout at the drawn level. Let us proceed to find out what happens next.

The next candle comes out as a bearish candle as well. However, it does not make a breakout. This is an interesting chart for both the buyers and the sellers. The buyers may wait to get a bullish reversal. Since this is the level where the price has bounce earlier, this may become double bottom support. On the contrary, if the price makes a bearish breakout at the drawn level, the sellers dominate in the pair.

The bear wins. The last candle closes well below the drawn level. This is an explicit breakout. The sellers are to wait for the breakout confirmation. If the chart produces another bearish candle closing below the last candle, the price may find its next resistance at another significant level. In most cases, the price usually goes back and finds its resistance at the breakout level, which was the level of support earlier.

Look at the chart. The price goes back to the breakout level and creates a doji candle. Do you notice the doji candle is produced right at the drawn level? This means the level may drive the price towards the South by being the level of resistance.

The level produces a bearish engulfing candle closing below consolidation support (This may become resistance later as well). The last candle suggests that the price may head towards the South with good bearish momentum. The sellers have found the new resistance.

As expected, the price heads towards the South for one more candle. It usually happens when support/resistance produces an engulfing candle as a reversal candle. In the end, a level of support flips and becomes a level of resistance. If we closely observe, we find this is what happens almost every time. Support becomes resistance, and vice versa. By obeying the theory, experienced traders spot out the levels of support/resistance well ahead.

Tags flipped resistance, flipped support, Forex, Price Action, price action trading, Resistance, Support, support-resistance, trading

Forex Forex Brokers

Tradize Review

Tradize is a foreign exchange broker based in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and was founded in 2013. Tradize promise to provide professional trading conditions with tight spreads and no or low commissions, reliability. However, they mention another broker name here instead of their own, which is rather strange. In this review, we will look […]

Account Types

There are three different accounts available when signing up with Tradize. Each one has its own entry requirement and trading conditions, so let’s get an overview of each.

Micro Account:
This account requires a minimum deposit of at least $500, it comes with a variable spread starting with a range of 1.6 pips to 2.2 pips. The leverage on the account is up to 1:500 and there are 44 currency pairs, 4 metals, oils, equities, indices, and Bitcoin available to trade. Minimum trade sizes start from 0.01 lots and go up in increments of 0.01 lots. The margin call is set at 50% and stop out at 30%. There is no added commission on this account.

Standard Account:
This account requires a minimum deposit of at least $1,000, it comes with a variable spread starting with a range of 1.4 pips to 1.8 pips. The leverage on the account is up to 1:400 and there are 44 currency pairs, 4 metals, oils, equities, indices, and Bitcoin available to trade. Minimum trade sizes start from 0.01 lots and go up in increments of 0.01 lots. The margin call is set at 50% and stop out at 30%. There is no added commission on this account. The account also comes with a free VPS if your balance is over $5,000.

Premium / ECN Account:
This is the top tier account and so requires a minimum deposit of at least $10,000. The spreads on the account start from 0 pips and due to this, there is an added commission of $10 per round lot traded. The leverage on the account goes up to 1:100 and the trade sizes start at 1 lot and go up in increments of 0.01 lots. The margin call level is set at 50% with the stop out level at 20%. OIt comes with an account manager and a free VPS.

Platforms

The only platform on offer is MetaTrader 4 (MT4), MT4 is one of the worlds most used and most loved trading platform, being used by hundreds and thousands of users. Offering high accessibility, available as a desktop download (PC and Mac), a web trader and as an application for mobile devices. Some of its features include a market watch, multiple order types, thousands of indicators, a huge number of compatible expert advisors, trading history, analysis tools, multiple charts, automated trading and many more.

Leverage

The leverage that you get depends on the account you are using and the following is the maximum leverage available per account.

Micro: 1:500
Standard: 1:400
Premium / ECN: 1:100

The leverage can be selected when opening up a new account and should you wish to change it on an already an open account you will need to contact the customer service team with your change request.

Trade Sizes

When using the Micro or Standard account the trade sizes start from 0.01 lots and go up in increments of 0.01 lots. When using the Premium / ECN account the trade sizes start at 1 lot and go up in increments of 0.01 lots. We do not know what the maximum trade size is, however, whatever it is, we would not recommend trading over 50 lots in a single trade. We are also not aware of how many open trades you can have at any one time.

Trading Costs

The Premium / ECN account has an added commission of $10 per round lot traded which is slightly higher than the industry average of $6 per round lot. The other accounts use a spread based system that we will look at later in this review. There are also swap charges which are an interest charge for holding trades overnight, these can often be viewed within the MetaTrader 4 platform and can be both positive or negative.

Assets

Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a breakdown of the available assets and instruments so we cannot give you a breakdown, or examples of what is available. This is a little disappointing as potential clients need to know what is available to trade, especially if they like trading a certain asset or instrument.

Spreads

The only information we have on spreads is the information provided on the account overview page. That information is as follows:

Micro: Variable from 1.6 pips to 2.2 pips
Standard: Variable from 1.4 pips to 1.8 pips.
Premium / ECN: Variable from 0 pips

As there is not a full breakdown of instruments we cannot give concrete examples. The spreads are variable though so this means that they move with the markets when there is a lot of volatility they will often be seen higher.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit required to pen up an account is $500 which will get you the Micro account, if you want an ECN account then you will need to deposit at least $10,000.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Unfortunately, there isn’t a dedicated finance or funding page to the site, the only information that we have are some images at the bottom of the page which indicate that Visa, MasterCard, Skrill, and Neteller are available for depositing. Nowhere on the site does it indicate if there are or are not any added fees for depositing, but be sure to check with your bank or processor to see if they add any of their won.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

As there was no information on depositing there is also not any on withdrawing and the methods or costs available. This is a real shame and Tradize should be making this information public, as not know how you can get your money out and if it will cost you is a bit put off for a lot of potential traders.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

We do not know the processing times. However, we can expect your withdrawal requests to be fully processed between 1 to 7 working days based on the method (whatever they are) used.

Bonuses & Promotions

It does not appear that there are any active promotions at the time of writing this review if you want a bonus you could contact the customer service team to see if there are any upcoming ones you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are two things to mention in this section, the first being an economic calendar which is your standard calendar showing upcoming news events and the markets that they may affect. The second is some technical analysis, this is regularly updated and posted and provides ideas of where the market may move and why.

Customer Service

Should you wish to contact Tradize there are limited ways to do it, you can use the online submission form to fill in your query and send it off, you should then get a reply via email. The second way is via email directly. There is also a postal address available but no phone number.

Address: Cedar Hill Crest P.O.BOX 1825,VillaSt. Vincent
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

There doesn’t seem to be a demo account available, we may have just missed it or you need to be a full member to access them. Demo accounts allow potential new clients to test the servers and treading conditions and allows existing clients to test new strategies without any risk. It would be good for Tradize to ensure demo accounts are available for their clients.

Countries Accepted

The following is presented on the website: “Tradize brand does not provide services to residents of the USA, Japan, British Columbia, Quebec and Saskatchewan, and some other regions.“ If you are not sure of your eligibility, then be sure to get in contact with the customer service team to check before signing up.

Conclusion

The review started off strange with Tradize mentioning another broker name instead of their own in their introduction. There are three accounts to choose from, each offering something different, spreads and commission are both quite high when comparing to the competition. There is a complete lack of information on the tradable instruments and the deposit/withdrawal methods which really put us off. Potential clients need to know all this information especially as we will be giving them our money, not knowing how or what it will cost makes us think twice. All of that combined with the limited ways to contact the customer service team doesn’t give us a lot of confidence and we would recommend looking elsewhere.

Tags Forex, Forex Broker, review

Forex Videos

Crazy Crypto Profits Using The Ichimoku Cloud Indicator – part 1

Post author By Keiran
Post date 18 March, 2020
No Comments on Crazy Crypto Profits Using The Ichimoku Cloud Indicator – part 1

Trading crypto using Ichimoku Cloud – part 1/2

Ichimoku Kinko Hyo is a well-known indicator that seems complex to many traders but actually isn’t. Once you know how it works, it makes your crypto-trading decisions easier and faster. Mastering Ichimoku Cloud trading will really bring you one step closer to the main goal of trading, which is making high-probability decisions in a relatively short time span.
Ichimoku Cloud indicator – definition
Ichimoku Kinko Hyo is translated as the “one look equilibrium chart.” It was created with a specific purpose, which is to enable quicker decision making in trading. Ichimoku Cloud is one of the main indicators offered at websites such as TradingView.

Ichimoku Cloud lines – explained

The Senkou and Kumo
“Senkou span” represents the borders of the filled cloud, which is known as the “Kumo cloud.” This span is filled with green color when the market is bullish, while it is red in bearish markets.

Senkou lines represent major support/resistance areas, and they attract the price. Using these lines, traders set their entries, exits, and stops. However, they are mostly used as additional information alongside some other indicators.

The TK lines and Cross
The Ichimoku Cloud also consists of the Tenken and Kinjun lines, or “TK lines.” These are the balance lines, basically fast and slow MA’s.
As they are moving averages, traders will look for crosses when they search for trend reversals. Because of the names of these lines, the Cross is called “TK cross.” However, TK lines are also important, even when there is no cross in sight. They can signal that the price of a cryptocurrency is neither overpriced nor underpriced if the price sticks around them. On the other hand, if the price action happens very far from the TK lines, it shows that the price is way out of balance and that a pullback is likely. It is important to note that this indicator by itself is not a trigger to open positions expecting a pullback.

The Chinkou

The “Chinkou” span is an indicator that is a lagging one. It is used to confirm trend strength. When the Chinkou line is above the candles, it means that the market is strong. On the other hand, if the Chinkou crosses below candles, it’s a bearish market.

When there is strong action while the lagging line crosses the candles, the trend is slowly weakening and becoming undecided. This tells traders to look for a reversal.

Reading Ichimoku Cloud

Ichimoku cloud Bullish signals

In order to have a strong bullish signal, everything in this indicator must occur above the Kumo cloud, namely:

The price action has to remain above the Kumo cloud.

The Chinkou line has to stay above the Kumo
Tenken has to cross Kinjun above the Kumo – if this Cross occurs inside the Kumo, that’s only slightly bullish.

Ichimoku cloud Bearish signals

In order to have a strong bearish signal, simply reverse everything said about the bullish signals:
The price action occurs below Kumo
Tenken and Kinjun have to be crossing
The Chinoku line has to stay below the Kumo.
If none of these is happening yet, it most likely means that the market is undecided, sideways, or waiting for direction.

Check out part 2 of Trading Cryptocurrencies using the Ichimoku Cloud to learn about cryptocurrency setups using this indicator as well as to learn the popular indicators that get along with Ichimoku well.

Tags Forex, Ichimoku, Technical Analysis, trading

Forex Course

83. Learning To Trade The Donchain Channel Indicator

Post author By Reddy Shyam Shankar
Post date 18 March, 2020
No Comments on 83. Learning To Trade The Donchain Channel Indicator

Introduction

The Donchain channel indicator is one of the quite popular technical indicators in the market. It is developed by Richard Donchian in the mid-twentieth century. This indicator consists of three moving average lines calculated by the highest high and lowest low of the last ‘n’ period. The upper Donchian band marks the highest price of the security over the ‘n’ period of time, whereas the lower band of the indicator marks the lowest price of a security over the “n” period of time. The area between the upper and lower band represents the Donchian channel.

If the price action is stable, the Donchian channel stays in a narrow range, and in volatile market conditions, the Donchian channel indicator will be wider. In this way, the Donchian channel is a wonderful indicator to assess the volatility of the market. The upper Donchian band indicates the extent of bullish energy, highlighting the price action achieved a new high in a particular period. Whereas the centerline of the indicator identifies the mean reversion price for a particular period. The bottom line identifies the extent of bearish energy, highlighting the lowest price achieved by the sellers in a fight with the buyers.

Below is how the price chart looks once the Donchain Channel indicator is plotted on to it.

Trading Strategies Using The Donchain Channel Indicator

Scalping Strategy

This strategy is made for traders who prefer to make quick bucks from the market. By following this strategy, we can get a couple of trades in a single trading session. The idea is to go long when the price action hits the lower band and go short when the price hit the upper band. The preferred time frame will be a 5- or 3-minute chart.

The image above represents a couple of buying and selling trading opportunities. Scalping is the easiest way to make quick bucks from the market. When we take a buy or sell trade, and if the price action goes five pip against your entry, we suggest you close the trade and wait for the price action to give another trading opportunity. Book the profit when price action hits the opposite band of the indicator.

Donchain Channel To Trade The Trending Market

If the market is in an uptrend, it is advisable to go only for the buy trades, and if it is in a downtrend, only go for sell trades. In this way, we can filter out false trading opportunities, and by following the trend, we can easily hold our position for longer targets.

Buy Trade

The below image represents two buying opportunities that we have identified in the EUR/NZD pair. We can see that the trend was up, and if we take any of those small sell trades, we will end up on the losing side. So on a higher timeframe, it is advisable to trade with the trend. We have captured the whole buying movement in this Forex pair. This is the easiest and safest way to trade the market using this indicator

Sell Trade

The below image represents a couple of selling opportunities in the CAD/JPY Forex pair. We can scale our positions when the market gives an opportunity to do so. Or, we can close our positions when the opposite signal is triggered. Always wait for the desired signal with patience to trade the market.

The advantage of trading with the trend is that whenever the market gives us the trading opportunity, we can easily hit the trade without worrying much. Another advantage of trading with the trend is that we can go with a smaller stop-loss as the price action spikes very less in a trending market.

These are only a few applications of the Donchain Channel Indicator. You can follow our strategy section to learn many advanced applications of this indicator. Stay tuned to learn many more technical indicators. Cheers!

[wp_quiz id=”67024″]

Tags Donchain, Donchain Channel, Forex, Forex Basics, Forex Course, Indicator Based Trading, Indicators, Oscillators, Scalping Strategy, Technical Trading, trading

Forex Market Analysis

Daily FX. Analysis, March 18 – Top Trade Setups In Forex – Inflation Figures Under the Spotlight!

Post author By Ali B.
Post date 18 March, 2020
No Comments on Daily FX. Analysis, March 18 – Top Trade Setups In Forex – Inflation Figures Under the Spotlight!

The US dollar strengthened against its major peers, with the ICE Dollar Index jumping 1.3% to a three-week high of 99.38. Later in the day, the European Commission will post final readings of February CPI (+1.2% on-year expected) and January trade balance (19.2 billion euros surplus expected).

During the US session, the eyes will be on the US Commerce Department, which is due to report February housing starts (1.5 million units expected) and building permits (1.5 million units expected).

Economic Events to Watch Today

EUR/USD – Daily Analysis

The EUR/USD plunged from 1.5% to 1.1015. The ZEW German Current Situation Index dropped to -43.0 in March (-30.0 estimated) from -15.7 in February and Expectations Index dipped to -49.5 (-30.0 expected) from 8.7. It is worth to mention that the Eurozone’s powerhouse Germany has closed all borders, schools, public places, and unnecessary shops in the wake of intensifying coronavirus. As a result, the continuous decline in the economy could take the speed in the near term, which may add bearish pressures around the EUR.

Looking forward, the traders will keep their eyes on the broader market sentiment. If the global equities flash red, the USD will likely find buyers. At press time, the futures on the S&P 500 are reporting a 3 % decline.

The Federal Reserve and other major central banks have recently delivered rate cuts to ease the economic shock of the coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, the Fed has also launched a quantitative easing program worth $700 billion. Other major central banks have also played roles by cutting rates.

The Trump administration announced on Tuesday that Trump administration is planning to give checks directly to Americans in the shape of a $1 trillion stimulus program. Moving ahead, the EUR/USD currency pair may return and possibly break below Tuesday’s low of 1.0955 if the stocks cheer the heavy monetary and fiscal stimulus.

Daily Support and Resistance

S1 1.0882
S2 1.1024
S3 1.1096

Pivot Point 1.1166

R1 1.1239
R2 1.1309
R3 1.1451

EUR/USD– Trading Tips

On Wednesday, the major currency pair EUR/USD continues to trade mostly lower after violating the horizontal support level pf 1.1095. The EUR/USD is currently trading around 1.0970, and it’s forming a lower-lows pattern on the 4-hour chart, which mostly drives a continuation of a selling trend.

On the lower side, a continuation of a bearish bias can extend sell-off until 1.0920 and 1.0865. While the bullish breakout of 1.1096 can drive more buying until 1.1240 area. Consider staying bearish below 1.0970 today.

GBP/USD– Daily Analysis

The GBP/USD sank 1.2% to 1.2118. Official data showed that the UK jobless rate for the three months to January climbed to 3.9% (steady at 3.8% expected). The US continues to struggle from every level, as well as the Federal Reserve, also doing the same to make sure that the world’s largest economy doesn’t getting infected due to the deadly virus.

At the USD front, the greenback got support from the moves on Tuesday; the early-day decline could have taken clues from US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin that the lack of action could send the Unemployment Rate to 20%.

Later today, the US Commerce Department will report February housing starts (1.5 million units expected) and building permits (1.5 million units expected), which may help determine further trends in the GBP/USD pair.

The investors will keep their eyes on virus headlines and take clues from the coronavirus relating headlines while the US Senate voting on President Donald Trump’s major stimulus plan as well as the UK PM’s action will be essential to watch.

Daily Support and Resistance

S1 1.1938
S2 1.211
S3 1.2189

Pivot Point 1.2282

R1 1.2362
R2 1.2454
R3 1.2626

GBP/USD– Trading Tip

A day before, the GBP/USD fell sharply to trade around 1.2060 level and has closed a bearish engulfing candle followed by Doji candles. It’s suggesting the odds of more selling in the market. The Cable has immediate support around 1.2170 level, and above this, the Cable can extend the continuation of a bullish bias until 1.1980 level and 1.1805. The MACD is consistently forming bearish histograms below zero, supporting the selling trend in the GBP/USD pair, which is why we should consider selling below 1.2100 today to target 1.1985 at first.

USD/JPY – Daily Analysis

The USD/JPY rebounded 1.4% to 107.35. The USD/JPY currency pair dropped below the 107.00 and hit the fresh session lows in the last hours, mainly due to fresh risk catalysts boosted the safe-haven demand. As of writing, the USD/JPY currency pair is currently trading at 107.17 and consolidates in the range between the 106.77 – 107.72. However, the currency pair trading bearish despite the Fed’s continued action mode and downbeat comments from the US policymakers as well as doubt between Japanese firms.

As we know, the currency pair failed to continue its previous day’s strong intraday positive move of over 200 pips and faced some fresh supply during the Asian session on Wednesday, mainly due to improving demand for traditional safe-haven assets.

Despite organized struggles by global central banks and many government stimulus measures to balance the negative economic impact from the coronavirus pandemic, the fears of an expected global slowdown continued losing the investor’s confidence.

It should be noted that the major reason behind the pair’s decline is the benefitted Japanese yen, which got support as perceived safe-haven status and turned out to be one of the key factors that leave some fresh downward pressure on the pair.

Daily Support and Resistance

S1 101.97
S2 104.1
S3 105.19

Pivot Point 106.23

R1 107.32
R2 108.37
R3 110.5

USD/JPY – Trading Tips

The USD/JPY is trading at 107.800 and continues to face double top resistance around 108.065. Below this, the USD/JPY is exhibiting a correction which is likely to lead the USD/JPY prices towards 105.960. Closing of 4-hour candle above this level has confirmed the chances of further buying in the pair until 108. Whereas, below 105.950, we may see further selling until 103.750. On the leading indicator’s front, the USD/JPY is in a bullish mode, and we should consider buying trades over 105. All the best for today!

Tags Daily Brief, EURUSD, Forex, Fundamental Analysis, GBPUSD, Support and Resistance, Technical Analysis, Technical Outlook, trading, USDJPY

Forex Forex Brokers

Trades.Com Review

Trades.com is a foreign exchange broker looking to raise the bar on the industry. They claim to offer innovative trading systems, airtight security, valuable resources as well as a lot of other benefits. We will be using this Trades review to look into what is on offer so you can decide if they are the right broker for you.

Account Types

There are four different accounts available to use with Trades.com. We will briefly outline the main features of them below.

Bronze Account:
This account has a minimum deposit requirement of $5,000. It comes with market news & research, live expert trading sessions, 24-hour service & support, web, mobile & desktop trading platforms video tutorials & ebook and access to a dedicated account manager.

Silver Account:
This account has a minimum deposit requirement of $25,000. It comes with market news & research, live expert trading sessions, 24-hour service & support, web, mobile & desktop trading platforms video tutorials & ebook, access to a dedicated account manager, trading signals and premium daily analysis.

Gold Account:
This account has a minimum deposit requirement of $100,000. It comes with market news & research, live expert trading sessions, 24-hour service & support, web, mobile & desktop trading platforms video tutorials & ebook, access to a dedicated account manager, trading signals, premium daily analysis, fully licensed asset management, algorithm trading, and private consultation sessions.

Platinum Account:
This account has a minimum deposit requirement of $100,000. It comes with market news & research, live expert trading sessions, 24-hour service & support, web, mobile & desktop trading platforms video tutorials & ebook, access to a dedicated account manager, trading signals, premium daily analysis, fully licensed asset management, algorithm trading, private consultation sessions, exclusive promotions, and premium trading terms.

Platforms

The platform on offer is MetaTrader 4 created by MetaQuotes. MetaTrader 4 offers smart automation functionality and delivers at-best order execution on every trade. Enjoy low latency with less requotes, and access real-time data at a single click. It also offers benefits like customized automated EA’s, multi-language/currency support, instant trade execution, professional trading charts, streaming market updates, and leading technical indicators. The platform is also highly accessible and can be used via a desktop download, mobile app or web trader.

Leverage

The maximum available leverage is 1:200 and can be selected when opening up an account. Should you wish to change it you can do so by contacting the customer service team with your request.

Trade Sizes

Trade sixes start from 0.01 lots and go up in increments of 0.01 lot. We do not know what the maximum trade size it or what the maximum number of open trades you can have at any one time.

Trading Costs

The account uses a spread based system and so while there is no information on the site about there not being any commissions, we do not think that there are any. Swap fees are also charged. These are charged for holding trades overnight and can be viewed within the MetaTrader trading platform.

Assets

There are plenty of assets and instruments available, and we have outlined them below.

Forex:
EURUSD, USDJPY, USDCAD, NZDUSD, AUDUSD, AUDNZD, AUDCAD, USDCHF, GBPUSD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, CHFJPY, EURGBP, EURAUD, EURJPY, EURCHF, EURNZD, EURCAD, GBPCHF, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPJPY, CADCHF, CADJPY, NZDJPY, USDSGD, NZDCHF, USDDKK, NZDCAD, GBPNZD, USDTRY, EURTRY, GBPTRY, TRYJPY, USDZAR, ZARJPY, USDCNH, USDMXN, USDHKD, USDPLN, EURPLN, EURNOK, USDNOK, USDSEK, EURSEK, USDHUF, EURHUF, EURRON, USDRON, USDRUB, EURRUB, USDCZK, USDILS, EURILS, GBPILS.

Commodities:
Tin, Lead, Nickel, Zinc, Aluminium, Cocoa, Palladium, Platinum, Wheat, Live Cattle, Cotton, Feeder Cattle, Corn, Soybean, Gold, Silver, WTI Crude Oil, Brent Crude Oil, Rice, Heating Oil, Copper, Natural Gas.

Indices:
Plenty of different ones available such as DAX30, Nasdaq, FTSE 100,m S&P 500 and Spain 35.

CFDs:
Gilt10Y, USBond5, EUBond10, USBond10, USBond30.

Crypto:
Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Ripply and, Bitcoin Cash.

Stocks:
There is a load of stocks available a few of them include Apple, Google, Cisco, Intel, and IBM.

Spreads

While we know the accounts all use a spread based system we do not. Unfortunately, know much about them apart from the fact that they are variable spreads so they move with the markets and increase with volatility.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit required to open up an account is $5,000. This will allow you to open up the Bronze account. It is unknown if this requirement is reduced for a further top-up deposit.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There isn’t a complete list of available methods however the site states that Visa, MasterCard, UpayCard, PaysafeCard, Bank Wire Transfer and e-wallets such as WIQI, WebMoney, Yandex and more. There is no mention of any added fees but be sure to check with your own bank or processor to see if they add any of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The majority of the same methods will be used for withdrawal. For clarification, these are Visa, MasterCard, UpayCard, PaysafeCard, Bank Wire Transfer and e-wallets such as WIQI, WebMoney, Yandex and more. We do not know of any withdrawal fees.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawal requests should be processed within 48 hours and fully processed between 1 to 5 days from the date of the request depending on the method used to withdraw.

Bonuses & Promotions

At the time of writing this review, there did not seem to be any active promotions or bonuses. If you are after one, you could always contact the customer service team to find out if any promotions are coming up that you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

In terms of education and trading tools, there is an economic calendar that details upcoming news events and the currencies that the news may affect. There is also some market news detailing past news events. A strategy calculator is also present, this is more for working out pip sizes and profit., Finally, there are some trading signals. However, we could not view them so we cannot comment on their accuracy or profitability.

Customer Service

The customer service team is available 24 hours a day 5 days a week and closes over the weekend and on bank holidays. You can contact them by either phone or email.

Phone: +44 208 089 2065
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

We could not locate any demo account but they may be available once you have signed up. If they are not available then it is a shame as demo accounts allow clients to test out the markets and new strategies without risking anything.

Countries Accepted

The following statement is present on the site: “This information is intended for investors outside the United States who are not the US/Japanese citizens and residents. This website is intended for informational purposes only. This website is not directed at any jurisdiction and is not intended for any use that would be contrary to local law or regulation. The products described on this are not offered and may not be sold in the United States/Japan or to US/Japanese citizens and residents.”

Conclusion

The account page doesn’t give a lot of information away about the trading conditions. Unfortunately, we could not find any in regards to spreads and commissions, so the overall trading costs are not known to us. When it comes to assets there are enough to keep you busy and with seemingly no added fees to withdrawals and deposits it can be cheap to get your money in and out. We have given you the information, now it is up to you as to whether they are the right broker for your trading needs.

Tags Forex, Forex Broker, review

Forex Forex Brokers

Finotec Review

Finotec is an online foreign exchange broker that is based in the United Kingdom and is authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). There isn’t a lot of information stated about themselves so instead, we will be using this review to try and look a little closer at the services that are being offered. Hopefully, by the time you’ve reached the end of this review, you would be able to decide if they are the right broker for you to use.

Account Types

There are three different accounts available the only real differences between them seem to be the commissions that are charged. As such, we won’t be outlining their details here instead of in each section of this review. Any potential differences will be mentioned within them.

Platforms

There are two different platforms available to sue, we have outlined both of them down below so you can get an idea of the platforms on offer.

MetaTrader 4 (MT4):
MT4 is super-fast and effective, easy-to-use and flexible, making it a clear-cut favorite amongst investors. Some of its features include free auto-trading with full EA compatibility and MQL5 support, multi-language support, news feeds directly into the platform itself, direct access to real-time executable prices, trailing stop loss facilities, superb security system, trading signals & over 50 technical indicators, and multiple time frames.

Web XTrade 2r:
This is an online trading platform run by PrimeXM, we cant give a whole lot of information around it as we were not able to get a lot. All we know is that t is an online web trader that allows you to trade…we did say that we didn’t have much information.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available is not actually stated on the site, but looking at various sources around the internet we can see that the maximum leverage available is 1:200. We do not know which accounts this applies for, it may well be all of them. We just know that 1:200 is the limit. It is also not clear to us if a lower leverage amount could be selected instead of using the maximum 1:200.

Trade Sizes

The minimum trade size is 0.1 lots, which is equal to 10,000 base currency using due to a lot being 100,000 base currency units. We are not sure what the trade increments are, they could be 0.01 lots or 0.1 lots. We are also not sure what the maximum trade size is or how many open trades you are able to have at any one time.

Trading Costs

The commissions that you are required to pay will depend on the account type that you are using, so be certain to study each of the available account options. There will also be swap charges which are charged when holding trades overnight. These can be viewed within the trading platform that you are using and can be both positive or negative.

Assets

Unfortunately, there isn’t full break won or product specification available so we do not know all of the assets that are available to trade. We managed to get into one of the trading platforms and so could get at least part of the full list. We have outlined them below.

Currencies:
AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDDKK, AUDHKD, AUDSGD, AUDUSD, AUDXAR, CADCHF, CADDKK, CADHKD, CADJPY, CADSGD, CHFDKK, CHFHKD, CHFJPY, CHFNOK, CHFPLN, CHFSEK, CHFSGD, CHFZAR, DKKJPY, DKKNOK, DKKSEK, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURCZK, EURDKK, EURGPB, EURHKD, EURHUF, EURJPY, EURNOK, EURNZD, EURPLN, EURRUB, EURSEK, EURSGD, EURTRY, EURUSD, EURZAR, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPDKK, GBPHKD, GBPHUF, GBPJPY, GBPNOK, GBPNZD, GBPPLN, GBPSEK, GBPSGD, GBPTRY, GBPUSD, GBPZAR, HKDJPY, NOKJPY, NOKSEK, NZDCAD, NZDCHF, NZDHKD, NZDJPY, NZDSGD, NZDUSD, NZDZAR, PLNJPY, SGDHKD, SGDJPY, TRYJPY, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDCNH, USDCZK, USDDKK, USDHKD, USDHUF, USDILS, USDJPY, USDKWD, USDMXN, USDNOK, USDPLN, USDRUB, USDSEK, USDSGD, USDTRY, USDZAR, ZARJPY.

Indices:
AUS200, ESP35, EUSTX50, FRA40, GER30, HKG33, ITA40, JPN225, NASDAQ100, SPX500, SUI20, UK100, US30

Crypto:
BTCEUR, BTCUSD, ETHUSD, LTCUSD, XRPUSD.

Commodities:
Brent Crude Oil, US Crude Oil, Gold, Silver, Palladium, Platinum.

Trading Program Data

Spreads

The spreads are stated that they start from 0 pips. This is the starting spread and the spreads are variable so they will be influenced and move with the markets. The more volatility in the markets the higher they will be and so they will often be seen a little higher than 0 pips. Different instruments will also have different starting spreads, so while some may be as low as 0 pips, others won’t go any lower than 1 pip as an example.

Minimum Deposit

The amount that you need to deposit will depend on the account type that you want to use. The first account requires a deposit of at least $25,000, then there is an account that requires a deposit of $50,000 and the top tier account requires a deposit of at least $100,000. We are not sure if these amounts reduce once an account has been opened, but with such high amounts, we would expect that they would.

Deposit Methods & Costs

We, unfortunately, we do not know what methods are available to deposit with. Due to the amounts being so high we would expect that Bank Wire Transfers would be available but we cannot say any more than that. We are also not sure if there are any added fees, but be sure to check with your own bank or payment processor to see if they will add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

As we do not know the deposit methods we also do not know the withdrawal method. Again, we would expect Bank wire Transfer to be available, but are also once again not sure whether or not there are any added fees from Fintec.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

We do not know what the processing times are. We would expect any withdrawal requests to be fully processed within 7 working days of the request being made. However, we cannot say this for sure.

Bonuses & Promotions

There is no mention of any bonuses anywhere on the site or any evidence that there have been any in the past. However, if you are interested in bonuses you should contact the customer service team to see if there are any coming up that you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

This is another section of the site that didn’t appear to have anything available. This is a shame as many brokers are now actively trying to help their clients improve so it would be good to see Finotec do something similar for their clients too.

Customer Service

You can get in touch with the customer service team over at Finotec in a number of different ways, the first in using the online submission form. Fill in your question or query and you should then get a reply via email. You can also use the provided postal address, email address or phone number, so there is a choice of methods available.

Address: Finotec Trading UK Limited, Mappin House, Oxford Circus, London W1W 8HF, United Kingdom
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +44 (0) 20 351 45555

Demo Account

There is a demo account available for the XTrader 2 platform. In order to open one up for the MetaTrader 4 platform, you will need to download the software and open one up from within. This means that the trading conditions won’t completely match those of the live accounts. The demo accounts do allow you to test out the platforms and new strategies without any real risk.

Countries Accepted

We did not notice any specifics surrounding this on the website and so we would recommend contacting the customer service team to see if you are eligible for an account prior to trying to open one up.

Conclusion

The Finotec website doesn’t actually provide us with much information about themselves or the services that they are offering. The first thing that stood out was the huge amount needed for the lower tier account you will need at least $25,000 which will price out a lot of retail traders. It was then concerning that they are asking for so much but giving away no information around how to deposit or if there are any fees. This goes for the withdrawal methods as well. These are such important aspects for a broker that it is a shame that information was not available.

The commissions were average, but just staying 0 pip spreads with no actual examples leads us to believe that they may well be a bit higher. With all the information being a little vague, it is a little difficult for us to recommend Finotec as a broker to use at this point in time.

Tags Forex, Forex Broker, review

Forex Psychology

The Road to Become a Pro: The Trading Job Part 1

Post author By Fran S.
Post date 17 March, 2020
No Comments on The Road to Become a Pro: The Trading Job Part 1

Except for elementary tasks, to do a job properly, it is commonly subdivided into several tasks or processes, each of them optimized to get the best results. To succeed in Forex trading, people need to think about trading as a job made up of several processes that the trader needs to do every day.

There are three groups of processes a trader should do day, in day out plus another one that must be carried out periodically.

Preparation of the next trading session
The core trading processes
Post-session analysis
Periodic review
Preparation for the session

Trading is like no other profession. Usually, when driving a car, the risk taken compared with the ability of people to predict where the vehicle is going is shallow, and even more so, when we think that it is in the interest of other drivers to avoid collisions against you. That is the opposite of what happens when trading the financial markets. Here, prices move to the direction of maximal pain, that is, pros and institutions, which have vast amounts of information about the trades of the rest of the crowd, move prices so as to hurt the most and profit from your “collisions.” Thus, even when just a few people recognize the fact, psychology plays a vital role in the success of the trader.

Self-Assessment

According to Dr. Van K. Tharp, success is 60 percent self-control and 40 percent risk control. He also stated that the risk control part is 70 percent position sizing and 30 percent reward to risk ratio trades (cutting losses short and let profits run). Thus entries and exits, the basis of a trading system, account for just 12 percent of the total factors that make trading successful. That means traders need to work on themselves much more than on market analysis.

Traders also need to evaluate their physical and psychological conditions and prepare themselves before the opening of the session, since, as we saw, that they are the most crucial factor in their performance. Most top traders are aware that they must show a zen-like, emotion-free state of mind when trading. They call it Zero-state.

Dr. Tharp contends that the propper psychological, mental state is the difference between profits and losses. That is quite true. Sometimes the edge a trader has over the market is tiny. That edge can be lost if the wrong mental state changes the equation, makes him modify or avoid a profitable entry or hold a losing trade too much, not following the rules.

Rate yourself

Before you start the trading session, rate yourself in your different facets (parts). Health, happiness, family relationships, economic condition, Self-image, your fear-greed state, your own market sentiment, and any other aspect you consider vital for you; and rate these aspects on a scale of 1 to 5 or 1 to 10. Make an index of all these and keep it. Check your trading performance in comparison with this index. Maybe you discover that trading below a certain level hurt your profits. You could make a rule not to trade unless your self-index is higher than a specific figure.

Beliefs for Self-rating

I am crucial to successful trading
Being aware of how my brain works is a trading edge
Self-analysis can help my different mental parts to get in agreement
Trading with a self-rating below X hurt my profits
Success in trading is a measure of my mental performance

Best Mental States for self-rating

Honesty with yourself is crucial
Rational and meticulous

Mental strategy for self-rating

See yourself analyzing your condition
Identify and solve possible conflicts
Do the rating and judge if you are fit to trade today
if not, can you identify the part or parts with the lowest scores to improve them?
Yes? Go to Rehearsal
No? Avoid trading today.

Rehearsal

Rehearsal is a crucial element to improve almost any human activity. Visualizing the possible scenarios of future trades and identify your actions if one of them becomes real is key to success. Top athletes mentally rehearse his play before committing themselves to action.

The rehearsal task is essential because your rational mind will be in command, and any fear or greed request sent by your subconscious (system one) mind can be easily spotted and analyzed if it is in collision with your planned course of action. That helps the trader avoid costly mistakes.

Beliefs for Rehearsal

Our capacity to process information is limited
Stress caused by our system one reduces that capacity further
Rehearsal helps our rational mind to take control of system one, which is irrational and primary
Better be prepared to act when needed, especially on disaster situations
Rehearsal will prevent mistakes and save money

The mental States for Rehearsal

Rational
Complete
Creative
Positive

Mental Strategy

Which unanticipated scenario can stop me from following the rules?
For each trade: Plan the possible scenarios. Which stops and targets are optimal?
Mentally see yourself executing your solutions on every trade.

Further reading: Peak Performance Course Book 1 – How to use Risk, Van K. Tharp chapter V

Tags Forex, mental strategy, prepararion, psychology, trading, zero-state

Forex Market Analysis

WTI Crude Oil Slips Below $29- Coronavirus Outbreak Weights!

Post author By Ali B.
Post date 17 March, 2020
No Comments on WTI Crude Oil Slips Below $29- Coronavirus Outbreak Weights!

The WTI crude oil prices flashing red falling from $30 to $28.70 in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak and uncertainties encompassing the price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia.

Improvements in the oil prices were limited today as new nations have announced COVID-19 lockdowns. Airlines are decreasing the number of regular flights because of increased numbers of cases and countries declaring quarantines to combat the new coronavirus. Canada and Malaysia are the two most recent countries to ban arrivals and close their borders.

The U.S. President Donald Trump said overnight that economic interruptions from the spread of the coronavirus and stimulus measures taken against it could start to a recession.

On the other hand, the ongoing price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia, two of the world’s biggest oil producers, also limits the oil price gains. Saudi Arabia’s Saudi Aramco threw down the gauntlet, with Chief Executive Officer Amin Nassar informing investors that the company is “very comfortable with oil prices below $30 a barrel”.

Meanwhile, the group has decided to produce at maximum capacity of 12 million barrels a day next month, and there are no changes forecast for May. Consequently, crude oil prices are trading with a selling bias today.

Daily Support and Resistance

S1 23.34
S2 26.59
S3 27.96

Pivot Point 29.84

R1 31.21
R2 33.08
R3 36.33

On the technical side, crude oil seems to have formed a descending triangle pattern, which is likely to support crude oil around 27.70. Above this, the oil prices may trade bullish until 30 and 32.50. However, the bearish breakout of 27.70 can lead the WTI prices towards 25.65 and 23.85. Let’s consider staying bearish below $28.95. Good luck!

Tags crude oil, Forex, trading, usoil, WTI

Forex Forex Brokers

ALB Forex Review

ALB Forex is an online foreign exchange broker with an ‘About Us’ page is a little confusing. We do not fully understand what they are actually offering or trying to say, but it may be due to a bad translation though. In their own words, the little bit about them states the following, “First Forex company of Turkey to achieve Information Security Standard We care for our investors’ security and securing info is a top priority for us. ISO/IEC 27001 certification, helps you to protect your valuable information assets and protect them. Data, whatever form it takes, should be well-protected when collected and shared.”

We will be using this ALB Forex review to look deeper into the services on offer and to get a better understanding of what is actually on offer from this firm.

Account Types

There are four different account types available to use when trading with ALB Forex. They are the Basic, Silver, Gold and VIP accounts. There isn’t a full breakdown or account comparison page, so instead of finding everything and listing it here. We have outlined the differences in the accounts within each individual section of this review. If there are no differences, then the information we have provided is relevant to all four account types.

Platforms

ALB Forex offers MetaTrader 4 (MT4) as its sole trading platform. MT4 is one of the most powerful and well-used trading platforms, it offers a host of features including a wide range of indicators and graphical tools, with the ability to add thousands of other indicators and also expert advisors for automated trading. The platform has multiple languages, one-click trading, a user-friendly interface, and reliable infrastructure. These are just some of the features that millions of users all over the world love.

Leverage

ALB Forex follows the recommendations of the ESMA which limits the amount of leverage available to their clients. Leverage limits on the opening of a position by a retail client from 30:1 to 2:1, which vary according to the volatility of the underlying:

30:1 for major currency pairs
20:1 for non-major currency pairs, gold, and major indices
10:1 for commodities other than gold and non-major equity indices
5:1 for individual equities and other reference values
2:1 for cryptocurrencies

Trade Sizes

The minimum trade size starts from 0.01 lots which are known as micro-lots and is the equivalent of 1,000 base currency units due to a lot being 100,000 base currency units. The trades then go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade would be 0.02 lots.

Trading Costs

Sadly we could not actually locate information on possible commissions. The way the website translates can be very confusing so we just weren’t able to locate this information. We are also not clear on swap charged but suspect that they will be present unless an Islamic swap-free account is used. Swap information can be viewed from within the MT4 trading platform and will be charged for holding trades overnight.

Assets

The assets on ALB Forex have been broken down into various different categories. We have outlined them below along with the various instruments within each category.

Forex:
EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDJPY, USDCHFG, USDCAD, AUDUSD, NZDUSD, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURCHF, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURNZD, AUDJPY, GBPJPY, CADJPY, CHFJPY, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, AUDCAD, AUDCHF, ADUNZD, USDTRY, EURTRY, GBPTRY, USDNOK, USDSEK, USDDKK, EURNOK, EURSEK, USDRUB, USDZAR, USDMXN, USDPLN,

Metals:
Gold, Silver, Platinum, Palladium.

Commodities:
Copper, Corn, Wheat, Soybean, Cotton, Sugar, Coffee, Cocoa.

Energies:
US Oil, UK Oil, Natural Gas, BP, EXXON, USO.

Indices:
SPX 500, DOW 30, NAS 100, GER 30, US 50, UK 100, FRA 40, ESP 35, ITA 40, JPN 225, AUS 200, DXY.

Crypto:
Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin.

Spreads

The different accounts have different starting spreads. The Silver account has spreads starting at around 1.5 pips, while the Gold account around 1.2 pips. The gold and VIP accounts have spreads starting from around 0.6 pips. The spreads are variable which means they will move with the markets. The more volatility in the markets, the higher the spreads will be. Different instruments will also have different starting spreads and some will naturally be higher than others.

Minimum Deposit

We do not actually know what the minimum deposit amount is due to the site being a little confusing in its translation. So at this point in time, we cannot say what the minimum deposit amount is.

Deposit Methods & Costs

We could only see evidence of Bank Wire Transfers on the site as they have listed out a number of different bank accounts. We do not know if there are any other methods available to use. Along with this, we do not know if there are any added commissions when depositing, but you should check with your own bank to see if they will add any outgoing transfer fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

As we could only find Bank Wire Transfers for a deposit method. We believe that this would also be the same method for withdrawals. Once again we do not know of any possible fees but as always check with your own bank to see if they will have any incoming processing fees of their own.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Unfortunately, we do not know what the processing times from ALB Forex are. We would, however, hope that any withdrawal requests would be fully processed within 1 to 7 days from the request being made. The industry standard is around two business days.

Bonuses & Promotions

We didn’t come across any possible bonuses or promotions, but then again we could not translate and understand everyone that was on the site. So if you are interested in bonuses we would suggest getting in contact with the customer service team to check whether there are any coming up that you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

In terms of education, there are a couple of pages available. The first is a page with a number of training videos. Unfortunately, they are in Turkish so we do not know the quality or actual content of the videos. There is also a webinar page, but again we do not know the quality of them due to not understanding the language.

Autochartist also seems to be available. Some of its features are designed to identify patterns in charts, with the main benefit being the real-time insights it generates for market movements. Autochartist is constantly scanning the markets on your behalf, and it gives you price alerts whenever a new opportunity presents itself. Its software is designed to identify trading opportunities for you based on support and resistance levels.

Customer Service

The customer service team can be contacted using a few different methods. The first is a postal address that you can send physical mail to. There is also a phone number and email address available to use should you prefer to use one of those methods.

Address: Mollafenari Mahallesi Nuruosmaniye Caddesi No:32 Fatih/İstanbul
Phone: +90 (212) 370 0 370
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available from ALB Forex, they will allow you to test out the trading conditions and also new strategies without having to risk any of our own capital. We do not know if there is an expiration on the accounts and the trading conditions provided should be similar to the ones that are mentioned throughout this review.

Countries Accepted

This information does not appear to be available on the website. So if you are thinking of signing up, we would highly suggest that you should contact the customer service team just to make sure that you are in fact eligible for an account.

Conclusion

The website was very confusing to us. The built-in translation was not working properly and kept reverting back to Turkish. Google translate did not make a great job of it either. From the information that we could see, the trading conditions seemed competitive. There was a limit to the number of ways that you are able to deposit and withdraw with just Bank Wire Transfer being available. Without knowing more of the broker it would be hard for us to recommend them as a broker to use and would suggest looking for another broker to use at this current point in time. Unless you are Turkish and can understand exactly what is being said, then they may be an appropriate broker for you.

Tags Forex, Forex Broker, review

Forex Videos

Forex Scalping The 5 Minute Time Frame Like A Pro! Easy Money!

Post author By Keiran
Post date 17 March, 2020
No Comments on Forex Scalping The 5 Minute Time Frame Like A Pro! Easy Money!

https://youtu.be/5Lz9qTTzWRU

Scalping with the 5-minute time frame!

The methodology in this presentation is to use the 5-minute time frame on the EURUSD and the GBPUSD pairs during lulls in the market. Such lulls or quiet periods tend to occur after the American session and just before the Asians come to market. During the Asian market session traders typically tend to focus on domestic currencies that affect their own countries’ GDP, such as the yen and Australian and New Zealand Dollar. Therefore if the timing is correct, opportunities will present themselves to scalp or look for trades with expectations of only making or losing a few pips at a time in this type of scenario. Should trace spill over into the Asian session, financial institutions will be taking positions with our peers, and volatility will increase, but our technical analysis set up and tight stops should protect us from heavy losses.
And although present market conditions are extremely volatile due to the coronavirus, eventually, the markets will calm down, and opportunities will present themselves to try and make money in calmer markets with this methodology.

The first part of our setup is to observe periods in trading that have not been volatile in the run-up to the closing of the American session. We are looking for periods of consolidation and sideways trading in our two pairs, which should spill over into the Twilight Zone between the American session closing and the Asian session opening.
We want to keep our chart set up to a minimum with as little indicators as possible because they tend to be quite laggy on the 5-minute chart. Price action and Bollinger bands are the key behind this setup.

Example A

Example A shows the GBPUSD pair on a five-minute chart, and the period between our two vertical lines shows the time zone we are targeting specifically, and please note some brokers use different times on their charts, such as ours, which is two hours ahead of UK time.
First of all, we can see that price action has been very muted in the run-up to the time we are focused on, and should this be the case, there is no reason why you should not enter this trading methodology sooner, should you wish.

Example B

In example B, we have added the Bollinger bands with a period of 13 and deviation set at the standards default of 2.0.
The most critical parts of this setup is that the Bands must be moving sideways.

Example C

In example C, we can see that price action spikes outside of the Bands at position A, where we have gone short and placed a tight stop loss a couple of pips above the previous high as denoted by our Horizontal line. And when price touches the bottom of the Bollinger band, we need to exit the trade. If price begins to move higher inside the band, which it does at position C, we would enter a buy trade with a target of the upper band and with a stop loss a couple of pips below any low in this consolidation period. In which case, our exit would be at position D.
There are conservatively 15 pips within our highlighted period and a total of over 50 pips within this consolidation period, as presented on the chart as price tops and bottoms from the tops to the bottoms and back of the bands. Tight stops keep losses to a minimum with this setup.

Tags Forex, Scalping, trading

Forex Fundamental Analysis

What Is Balance Of Trade & What Impact Does It Have On The Forex market?

Post author By Reddy Shyam Shankar
Post date 17 March, 2020
No Comments on What Is Balance Of Trade & What Impact Does It Have On The Forex market?

Introduction

The Balance Of Trade AKA. BOT is essentially the difference or variance in a nation’s export and import. When understood correctly, this indicator can help us in evaluating the relative robustness of any given economy compared to the other ones.

Understanding Balance Of Trade

In the simplest of analogies, consider a scenario where a rice seller sells $1000 worth of rice to other grain sellers in the market over a month. Within that month, if he had purchased $800 worth of goods like vegetables, fruits, etc. from the other vendors, his Balance Of Trade would be $200.

Here, in this example, the market is the entire world, and the rice seller is equivalent to a nation. $1000 is the net worth of the exported goods and services that went out of the country, whereas the $800 is the net worth of the imported goods and services that came into the country. In this case, $200 is the trade surplus that the country is having.

Therefore, Balance Of Trade can be considered as a difference between what goes out (exports) and what comes in (imports) over a given time frame. And depending on whether exports or imports are greater, a nation is said to be running a Trade Surplus or Trade Deficit, respectively. Fundamentally, an Export is when a foreign resident or nation purchases an in-country produced good or service, and an Import is when an in-country citizen purchases goods or services from foreign.

How is the Balance Of Trade calculated?

In the previous article, we understood the formula of a country’s current account. That is, Current Account = (Exports – Imports) + Net Income + Net Current Transfers.

In the above formula, (Exports – Imports) is the Balance of Trade.

How Can This Economic Indicator Be Used For Analysis?

Investors can use Balance Of Trade numbers to ascertain whether the overall economic activity of a nation has grown or slowed down concerning the previous month’s/quarter’s/year’s numbers. For example, a country which has seen a trade surplus for let’s say over ten years, and due to some calamities, its exports got hit. The nation might enter into a trade deficit or a reduced trade surplus. Such a relative comparison can help investors to ascertain whether a country’s economy is booming or slowing down.

In an absolute sense, a Trade surplus or Trade deficit, as discussed, cannot tell in entirety. But it will definitely give us a macroeconomic picture of an economy’s health and what the nation has undergone in the present business cycle. Let’s assume a country is a major exporter of oil for which it receives a majority of its income. If the production of oil is doubled, automatically there will be an increase in the demand for that currency worldwide. This will result in an appreciation of that country’s currency.

Not just this, but the Balance Of Trade can also point towards many things like an increase in employment or an oncoming expansion or recession when viewed with correct perspective and analysis.

Impact of Balance Of Trade on Currency

By simply looking at the BOT numbers, we cannot conclude whether a nation is experiencing growth or slow down straight away. Because the Balance Of Trade only projects a partial picture and not the whole picture.

A developing country might want to import more goods and services from abroad, which increases the competition in their respective markets. Thereby they keep the prices and inflation low. During these periods, that country will have a Trade Deficit. To an outsider, it will only look like the country is consuming more than it is producing. So this scenario can be wrongly assumed as the country’s economy is slowing down. But in reality, what if the country is experiencing a trade deficit for the first six months and a trade surplus for the next six months?

Developed nations like the United States and the U.K. have experienced long periods of trade deficits against developing and emerging economies like China and Japan, who have maintained trade surpluses for long times. Hence, the time frame, business cycles, the relative situation with other countries all factor in to give a correct interpretation to the BOT.

But in general, most of the time, an increase in the Balance of Trade number is good for Currency. It is a proportional indicator, meaning. Lower or negative Balance of Trade numbers relative to previous periods signals currency depreciation and vice versa.

Balance of Trade & Balance of Payments

BOT is a major component of a Nation’s BOPs, i.e., Balance Of Payments. Balance Of Payments, ideally, should always equate to zero, giving us a complete account of all things traded in and out of an economy. A nation can have a surplus while having a trade deficit. This happens when other components of Balance Of Payments like Financial Account or Capital Account run into large surpluses.

But in general, countries prefer to have a trade surplus, and it is obvious. A country in net terms receiving a gain or profit for their goods and services would mean that the people of that country will experience higher wealth, and it would automatically result in a higher standard of living. And also, by continually exporting, they would develop a competitive edge in the global market. This would also increase employment within the nation, which, in general, is favorable for the nation. But as said, it is always not necessary for this condition to be true. It depends on what goals the country has in mind for future short term deficits also matters.

Hence Balance Of Trade is one of the important indicators for analysts to ascertain a country’s economic activity and current health of an economy.

Economic Reports

Since the Balance of Trade is about imports and exports, data for the same is publicly available on a monthly basis for all the countries. The reports are released in the United States by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and the U.S. Census Bureau. The units would be typically in millions of dollars for most reports and for most nations. The popularly used reports are typically seasonally adjusted to give a more accurate report.

Sources of Balance Of Trade

To get the latest information about this economic indicator for the United States, you can refer to this link. To know all the diverse components involved in Balance Of Payments and International Trade, you can refer to this page from The Bureau Of Economic Analysis.

Impact Of ‘BOT’ News Release On The Price Charts

Now that we know the meaning of trade balance and how it affects the economy, we shall extend our discussion and understand how it impacts any of the currencies after the news announcement is made.

As we can see in the below image, the Trade Balance indicator has the least effect on currency (yellow indicator implies the least impact on currency). Hence, this might not cause extreme volatility in the currency pair after the news release. It is still important to understand the effect and look at how we can position ourselves in the market in such scenarios.

For illustration, we have chosen the New Zealand Dollar in our example, and we will analyze the latest’ Trade Balance’ data of the same. The data shows that Trade Balance was increased by 44M as compared to the previous reading, which is said to be positive for the currency. But let us see how the market reacted to this data after the announcement was made.

NZD/JPY | Before The Announcement - (Feb 26th, 2019)

The below chart shows that the overall trend is down, which means the New Zealand dollar is very weak. As said in the above paragraph that changes in Trade Balance of a country do not have much impact on the currency, so better than expected data can only cause a reversal of the trend. However, if the data is retained at previous reading, we can expect a continuation of the downtrend, and volatility will be more on the downside. We will be looking to trade the above currency on the ‘short’ side if the Trade Balance data is bad for the country since even positive data cannot push the currency higher.

NZD/JPY | After The Announcement - (Feb 26th, 2019)

After the news announcement, we see that the price crashed below the moving average, reacting to the not-so-good numbers of Trade Balance for New Zealand. The market participants were expecting much better Trade Balance data, but after seeing that it was increased by mere 44M, they were disappointed and hence sold New Zealand dollars. We can take advantage of this change in volatility by taking risk-free ‘short’ positions in the pair soon after the market falls below the moving average. We can hold on to our trade as long as the price is below the moving average and exit once we see signs of reversal.

GBP/NZD | Before The Announcement - (Feb 26th, 2019)

Here we can see that the New Zealand dollar is on the right-hand side, and since the market is in a downtrend, the currency is strong. In this situation, a risk-free way to trade this pair is by going ‘long’ if the Trade balance numbers are not good for the pair and after trend reversal signals. Since the downtrend is not very strong, we can take ‘short’ positions only if it breaks the recent ‘lows’ and shows signs of trend continuation.

GBP/NZD | After The Announcement - (Feb 26th, 2019)

After the numbers are out, we see the positive reaction for the New Zealand dollar as the numbers were better than last time, but it could not take it lower. Since the data was weak, we can ‘long’ positions in the pair once the price makes a ‘higher low’ after crossing above the moving average.

EUR/NZD | Before The Announcement - (Feb 26th, 2019)

The above chart represents the currency pair of EUR/NZD, which shows similar characteristics as that of the NZD/JPY pair but in reverse as the New Zealand dollar is on the right-hand side. In this pair, the New Zealand dollar is extremely weak, and we also the price is above the moving average showing the strength of the uptrend. Therefore taking’ short’ positions in this pair is not advisable even if the Trade Balance data is good for the New Zealand economy, as it is a less impactful event, and the reversal might not last. A better option would be to go ‘long’ in this pair.

EUR/NZD | After The Announcement - (Feb 26th, 2019)

After the news announcement, we see a red candle, and the price bounces off the moving average, continuing its uptrend. Since the data was not very positive, the market continues its uptrend, and thereby the New Zealand dollar weakens further. This could be the perfect setup for a ‘buy’ since all parameters are in our favor. The volatility here expands on the upside, after the news release.

That’s about the Balance of Trade and its impact on the Forex currency pairs. We just wanted to show how the markets get impacted after the news release. It is always advisable to combine these fundamental factors with technical analysis as well to ace the Forex markets. Cheers.

Tags Balance Of Payments, balance of trade, BOP, BOT, Exports, Forex, Fundamental Analysis, fundamental indicators, Imports, Macro Economic Indicators, trading

Forex Course

82. Using The MACD Indicator To Identify Potential Trading Signals

Post author By Reddy Shyam Shankar
Post date 17 March, 2020
No Comments on 82. Using The MACD Indicator To Identify Potential Trading Signals

Introduction

The MACD indicator was developed by Gerald Appel in the late 1970s. It stands for Moving Average Convergence and Divergence. MACD is quite popular, and it can be considered as one of the safest and most effective momentum indicators in the market. As the name suggests, this indicator is all about the convergence and divergence of the two moving averages. When the moving average moves away from each other, the convergence occurs. Likewise, the divergence occurs when the moving average of the indicator moves towards each other.

MACD fluctuates above and below the zero lines, unlike the RSI indicator that we discussed yesterday. Also, since MACD is an unbound indicator, it is not useful to find out the overbought and oversold market conditions. Instead, traders can look for the signal line crossovers, centerline crossovers, and divergence to trade the market.

The image below represents the MACD indicator on the GBP/USD Forex chart.

How To Trade Using The MACD Indicator?

Signal Line Crossovers

The signal line crossover is one of the most popular trading strategies designed around the MACD indicator. A bullish crossover occurs when the indicator prints a crossover below the zero-line. Contrarily, A bearish crossover occurs when the MACD prints a crossover above the zero-line.

If you are trading the lower timeframe, these crossovers last for a few hours. But if you are trading the higher timeframe, these crossovers can last a few days or even weeks. In the below chart, we can see a buy and sell signal generated by using the MACD indicator. In simple words, crossover below the zero-line indicates a buying trade, and the crossover above the zero-line indicates a selling trade.

Trade The Zero Line By Following The Trend

When the MACD line goes above the zero-line, it means that the trend of the instrument is gaining strength. When this happens, any buying anticipation will be a good idea. Conversely, when the indicator goes below the zero-line, it indicates a strong downtrend, and going short in the market is a good idea at that point.

If we plan to go long, it is advisable to trade with the trend. In a buy trend, if the MACD line indicates a selling signal, try to ignore that signal and wait for the buy signal. The same applies to the sell-side as well. If we find any breakout or breakdown supporting the MACD signal, that increases the probability of our trade performing in our desired direction.

The below image represents a sell signal by using the MACD indicator. In a downtrend, when the price action broke the major resistance line, we can see a crossover on the MACD indicator below the zero-line. This clearly indicates the gained momentum by the sellers,, and going short from here will be a good idea. Make sure to book the profit when the MACD indicator gives the crossover to the buying side.

MACD Indicator + Double Moving Average

We have learned what Moving Averages are and how to use them on the price charts. In this strategy, we are pairing the MACD indicator with 9-period and 15-period moving averages to identify potential trading signals.

The strategy is to go long when the MACD gives a crossover below the zero-line and the moving averages crossover below the price action. Conversely, go short when the MACD indicator gives the crossover above the zero-line and the moving averages crossover above the price action. It is advisable to use this strategy in healthy market conditions, and the lower period averages work fine for intraday trading only.

As you can see in the below chart, the market was in an uptrend. Using this strategy, we have identified three buying opportunities. All of these three trading opportunities have gives us 70+ pip profit in just two days. As we know that the moving averages act as dynamic support and resistance to price action, it is safe to put the stops just below the moving average indicator and exit our position when any of the indicators give an opposite signal.

That’s about the MACD indicator and how to trade the Forex market using this indicator. If you have any questions, let us know in the comments below. Stay tuned to learn about many more technical indicators in the upcoming sections.

[wp_quiz id=”66874″]

Tags convergence, divergence, Forex, Indicator Based Trading, MACD, Moving Average, Technical Analysis, Technical Trading, trading

Forex Price-Action Strategies

Price Action Trading: Weekend and Partial Profit Taking

Post author By Tareq Sikder
Post date 17 March, 2020
No Comments on Price Action Trading: Weekend and Partial Profit Taking

Partial profit taking is an option to be safe with our investment. It provides less reward to some extent. However, for the Forex traders, it is a great way to make sure that they cash in some profit or lose less money in a particular trade. In today’s lesson, we are going to demonstrate an example of a trade setup offering an entry four hours before the market closes. Traders have only one H4 candle to hit their target, or they would have to carry the trade during the weekend. Let us find out what we should do in such a situation

This is an H4 chart. The price heads towards the South at a moderate pace. The last candle comes out as a bullish engulfing candle. This may work as a bullish reversal for the minor charts’ traders. However, the H4 breakout sellers are to wait for the chart to produce a bearish engulfing candle closing below consolidation support to offer them a short entry.

The price makes a bearish breakout. However, the H4 breakout sellers do not wait for such a breakout. The last candle comes out as a bearish engulfing candle, but the consolidation is shallow. Thus, the sellers may skip taking this entry as well.

Again, the price consolidates and makes another bearish move. This time it does not make any bearish breakout. The chart may end up producing a double bottom here. It is a long way to go. Meanwhile, the sellers must wait.

The chart produces a bullish engulfing candle followed by a bearish inside bar. Now, it looks that the buyers may take control. Let us proceed to the next chart and find out what happens next.

What a Surprise for the H4 breakout sellers! The last candle comes out as a bearish engulfing candle closing well below consolidation support. The sellers may trigger a short entry right after the last candle closes with 1 R by setting stop-loss above consolidation resistance. Do not forget this is Friday. The market is closing within 4 hours.

This is how the last candle looks. It suggests that the price may keep heading towards the South. However, carry trade during the weekend on the H4 chart is risky a little. The market often starts Monday with big gaps that affect the H4 charts. Thus, the sellers may consider taking a partial profit just before the market closes on Friday. It would not get them to achieve 1R in the end, but it would make sure that they earn some profit out of it. Even if the rest of the trade hits the stop loss, he will not lose as much as he would with his whole trade.

Tags Bullish, bullish reversal, carry trade, Forex, Forex price action, partial profit, Price Action, reversal, Technical Analysis

Forex Market Analysis

Daily F.X. Analysis, March 17 – Top Trade Setups In Forex – Eyes on U.S. Retail Sales

Post author By Ali B.
Post date 17 March, 2020
No Comments on Daily F.X. Analysis, March 17 – Top Trade Setups In Forex – Eyes on U.S. Retail Sales

On the forex front, the U.S. dollar encountered a volatile trading session, with the ICE U.S. Dollar Index dropping 0.8% to 98.00. ZEW survey results in March will be released for Germany (current situation at -30.0, expectations at -27.2 expected) and the eurozone. The U.K. Office for National Statistics will publish a jobless rate for the three months to January (steady at 3.8% expected).

The U.S. Commerce Department will post February retail sales (+0.2% on month expected) and January business inventories (-0.1% on month expected). The Federal Reserve will release February industrial production (+0.4% on month expected) and capacity utilization (77.1% expected). The Labor Department will report JOLTS job openings for January (6.40M expected). The National Association of Home Builders will publish March Housing Market Index (74 expected).

Economic Events to Watch Today

EUR/USD – Daily Analysis

EUR/USD rose 0.5% to 1.1160. Later today, the ZEW German Current Situation Index for March will be released (-30.0 estimated). The ZEW survey results in March will be released for Germany (current situation at -30.0, expectations at -27.2 expected) and the eurozone.

European stocks returned to negative territory, with the Stoxx Europe 600 Index losing 4.9%. Germany’s DAX dropped 5.3%, France’s CAC lost 5.8%, and the U.K.’s U.K.’sU.K.’s U.K.’s FTSE 100 fell 4.0%. Meanwhile, the European Union proposed a 30-day travel ban on non-essential travel for the whole of the union region.

Whereas, the broad market recession fears continue to increase the progress into the U.S. bonds, which translates into lower returns on the bonds, ultimately keep the greenback under pressure. The U.S. dollar index trades around 98.25, down 0.50% on the day, having stopped its recovery just shy of 98.50.

Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said after a meeting with Senate Republicans that he was trying to attempt a significant stimulus package expected to support the economy due to the coronavirus outbreak. Looking forward, the focus will be on the German Zew Survey for March, which is scheduled to release at 10:00 GMT. During the American session, the spotlight will be on the U.S. Retail Sales, which is due at 12:30 GMT.

Daily Support and Resistance

S1 1.0882
S2 1.1024
S3 1.1096

Pivot Point 1.1166

R1 1.1238
R2 1.1309
R3 1.1451

EUR/USD– Trading Tips

The EUR/USD has traded mostly lower, bouncing off the double bottom support level of 1.1095 level. The EUR/USD is currently trading around 1.1165, and it’s forming a lower-lows pattern on the 4-hour chart, which mostly drives a continuation of a selling trend. On the lower side, a continuation of a bearish bias can extend sell-off until 1.1100 and 1.1095. While the bullish breakout of 1.1350 can drive more buying until 1.1454 area. Consider staying bullish over 1.1182 and bearish below the same level today.

GBP/USD– Daily Analysis

The GBP/USD marked a day-high of 1.2431 before retreating to close at 1.2268, broadly flat compared with the prior session. Investors will focus on the latest official jobs report due later in the day (jobless rate steady at 3.8% expected). For now, eyes will be on the U.K. Office for National Statistics as it will report a jobless rate for the three months to January (steady at 3.8% expected).

Market’s risk-tone seems to recover after the fresh stimulus from New Zealand and extended bond-buying from the BOJ. Also, supporting the risk recovery could be comments from Japan to coordinate with China and South Korea to tackle the pandemic. As in result, the U.S. ten-year treasury yields increase five basis points (bps) to 0.775%, whereas stocks in Asia also mark mild gains by the press time.

As we all know that the economic calendar is also active during the day ahead, markets will pay more attention to the COVID-19 headlines and the global struggles to stop the pandemic.

Daily Support and Resistance

S1 1.1938
S2 1.211
S3 1.2189

Pivot Point 1.2282

R1 1.2362
R2 1.2454
R3 1.2626

GBP/USD– Trading Tip

The GBP/USD fell sharply to trade around 1.2260 level and has closed a Doji candle followed by strong selling candles. The Cable has immediate support around 1.2170 level, and above this, the Cable can extend the continuation of a bullish bias until 1.2290 level and 1.2325.

The MACD is consistently forming bearish histograms below zero, supporting the selling trend in the GBP/USD pair, which is why we should consider selling below 1.2282 today. Recently, the GBP/USD has closed a bullish candle that can drive buying in the GBP/USD, and it may lead its prices higher towards 1.2425 level.

USD/JPY – Daily Analysis

The USD/JPY marked a day-low of 105.12 before closing at 106.25, down 1.5% on the day. The Bank of Japan kept its benchmark rate unchanged while doubling its target for the net purchase of ETFs to 12 trillion yen.

The USD/JPY currency pair are flashing green and trading above the mid-106.00 level, mainly due to the risk sentiment improved in the market. While the pair remain struggling to find acceptance above the 107.00, at the press time, the USD/JPY is trading at 106.86 and consolidates in the range between the 105.86 – 107.17.

The currency pair succeeded in recovering some positive traction on Tuesday and built on the overnight late bounce from the region of the key 105.00 psychological marks after a combination of supporting factors.

Notably, the moderate recovery in the global risk sentiment, as represented by positive sentiment in the equity markets, weakened the Japanese yen’s safe-haven demand and gave some support to the pair.

A hard struggle by major central banks to stop any negative impact from the coronavirus pandemic improved to boost investors’ confidence and turned the equity market positive.

The reason behind the risk-on sentiment could also be the goodish bounce in the U.S. Treasury bond yields, which improved the U.S. dollar demand and further added to the pair’s modest uptick.

Daily Support and Resistance

S1 99.26
S2 102
S3 103.37

Pivot Point 104.74

R1 106.11
R2 107.47
R3 110.21

USD/JPY – Trading Tips

The USD/JPY is trading at 107.800 and has already completed a 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level at 108.065. Below this, the USD/JPY is exhibiting a correction which is likely to lead the USD/JPY prices towards 105.960. Closing of 4-hour candle above this level has confirmed the chances of further buying in the pair until 108. Whereas, below 105.950, we may see further selling until 103.750. On the leading indicator’s front, the USD/JPY is in a bullish mode, and we should consider buying trades over 105. All the best for today!

Tags EURUSD, EURUSD USDJPY, Forex, Fundamental Analysis, GBPUSD, Technical Analysis, trading, USDJPY

Forex Forex Brokers

First BTC FX Review

First BTC FX is a foreign exchange broker located in Cyprus and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). The broker has a white label set up as we have seen the site setup, account settings and about us the information a few times before. The broker claims to offer outstanding customer support, a multi-product bouquet, advanced trading platforms, and tight spreads. We will be using this review to see if they achieve this and to help you decide if this is the right broker for you.

Account Types

There are four different accounts to choose from should you decide to sign up, each offering slightly different features. We will outline them for you now.

Standard Account:
This account has an entry requirement of $500 and does not come with any additional features.

Classic Account:
The Classic account requires a minimum deposit of at least $2,500, it comes with the addition of online chat and access to all platform features such as indices.

Gold Account:
The gold account increases the minimum deposit amount up to $20,000. The account comes with access to online chat, all platform features such as indices, access and use of Autochartist, SMS signals, a VIP manager and an individual direct telephone line.

Premium Account:
This is the top tier account and so requires a minimum deposit of at least $50,000. The account comes with access to online chat, all platform features such as indices, access and use of Autochartist, SMS signals, a VIP manager, an individual direct telephone line, special promotions on one on one training and personal reports of the stock market.

Platforms

The only platform on offer from, First BTC FX is MetaTrader 4 which is is one of the world’s most used trading platforms and for good reasons. A few of its many features include multiple order types, Market watch window, a navigator window, lots of pre-installed indicators and analysis tools, multiple chart setups, the ability for automated trading and order execution capabilities. The platform is also highly accessible, as you can use it as a web trader in your internet browser, a mobile application or as a desktop download.

Leverage

The leverage stated on the main page of the site is 1:200. This is all we have to go on as the accounts page doesn’t actually detail any differences in trading conditions and there are none mentioned anywhere else so it seems that all accounts have the same leverage. This can be selected when opening an account and we are not sure if it can be changed once an account has already been opened. Typically, Forex brokers do allow their clients to reduce and increase their leverage within the given parameters as they wish.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots on all accounts and go up in increments of 0.01 lots. We do not know what the maximum trade size is or what the maximum number of open trades you can have at any one time is.

Trading Costs

We did not see any mentions of commissions for any of the accounts so it appears that there aren’t any. There are however swap charges which are fees for holding trades overnight and these can be viewed within the MetaTrader 4 trading platform.

Assets

The different instruments have been broken down into a number of different categories. Unfortunately, there isn’t a full breakdown of the instruments within each group. There are forex pairs of which the site states that there are 50+ different pairs available to trade. Ther are indices but the only one mentioned by name is the FTSE 100, commodities are also there, Wheat, Cattle, Soybeans, Corn, Oragnaged, Gold, Uranium, Copper, Aluminum, Coal, Cotton and Oil are all mentioned but we don’t actually know if they are available to trade. There are also cryptocurrencies but no examples of what is available and finally, shares, with some examples of Lloyds, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Nike, and Tesla. It would be nice for potential clients to have a full breakdown of available assets to better understand what is available to trade.

Spreads

The only spreads that we have to go on are what is mentioned on the home page of the site. It states that the spread for EUR/USD is 1.6 pips. This is the starting spread as they are variable which means they will move with the markets. Different instruments will also have different starting spreads, 1.6 pips is the smallest they will be. It would be helpful for the broker to provide a full list of average spreads for most of the major assets.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit required to open up an account is $500 which will allow you to use the Standard account. If you want a higher tier account then you will need to deposit at least $2,500. We do not know if the minimum amount reduces after an account has already been opened.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Sadly there isn’t a dedicated page for funding, the only information we have is some images at the bottom of the website. They indicate that Visa, Maestro, MasterCard, Neteller, and AstroPay are available to use, but we have no confirmation of this. We also do not know if there are any added fees when depositing.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

We also do not know much about withdrawals such as the methods available or any additional fees for withdrawing. If you are using First BTC FX then we would suggest checking with whatever method you use to see if they have any incoming transfer fees of their own.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

We do not know the exact processing time from First BTC FX. However, we would expect any withdrawal requests to be processed within 1 to 5 working days from the date the request is made, but this will depend on the methods available to use.

Bonuses & Promotions

When signing up for an account there is a bonus mentioned. There is a 100% welcome bonus however the terms of the bonus are rather confusing. It states that if you make a deposit of at least $5,000 you will receive a bonus of $1,500, which indicates that it is a 30% bonus and not a 100% bonus. As there are not dedicate terms and conditions for this bonus we do not know which one actually is or how to convert the bonus funds into real funds.

Educational & Trading Tools

There is a news section of the site which details news from around the world which could be affecting the markets. There is also an economic calendar available that details different upcoming news events and the currencies or markets that they may affect.

Autochartist is a tool that is also available and offers features to help with your trading. It can identify and react to market movements, check the quality and competitiveness of your broker’s pricing, manage your cash exposure, optimize your stop loss and take profits, capitalize on known outcomes of news events and identify and react to market movements that are not typical.

Customer Service

The customer service team is available 24 hours a day 5 days a week and close over the weekends and on bank holidays just like the markets do. You can use an email address, phone number or skype to get in contact. If you have an account higher than the lowest tier account then you will also have access to live chat, and the higher tier accounts will have access to an account manager for support.

Address: PARK LANE MAYFAIR London W1K 1QW UNITED KINGDOM
Phone: + 44 ( 0 ) 1923537198
Email: [email protected]
Skype: firstbtcfx.com

Demo Account

There is mention of a practice account on the main page. However, we could not see how to open up so assume that you need to be fully signed up and can then open one in the client back office. Due to this, we do not know what the trading conditions or expiration times of the accounts are. Demo accounts are great as they allow you to test out new strategies and also the brokers trading conditions without having to risk any of your own capital.

Countries Accepted

We did not locate this information on the side and so we do not know the answer. If you are thinking of signing up, we would suggest that you contact the customer service team first just to check that you are eligible for an account.

Conclusion

First BTC FX is using a white label solution for their broker so it is very similar to a number of brokers we have reviewed before. The difference between the account is based on features rather than trading conditions and the MetaTrader 4 platform is a great platform to use. The trading conditions are not fully known to us, we know of the spread for EUR/USD but that is it. With spreads that high, we are confident in saying that there will be no added commissions.

There is a lack of information on the available assets which is disappointing, but even worse is the lack of information on funding methods. This is vital information as clients need to know how they can get their money in and out and what it will cost them to do so. With those bits of information missing we can only suggest looking for a different broker that provides you with the vital information you need.

Tags Forex, Forex Broker, review

Forex Forex Brokers

70 Trades Review

70Trades is an online foreign exchange and CFD broker based out of Cyprus. They do not give a lot of information about their history, however, they have provided a list of what they feel are their main selling points: Customer service 24 hours a day, 5 days a week User-friendly platforms Multilingual support: English, Arabic, […]

Customer service 24 hours a day, 5 days a week
User-friendly platforms
Multilingual support: English, Arabic, and Spanish
Easy withdrawal process
Online trading courses
Markets news and updates
Professional analysis
Training sessions for each level
Webinars with investors from all around the world

We will be going through the website to find out exactly what services are on offer and to see how they compare to the competition.

Account Types

There seems to be three different account types available, and the trading conditions within them all seem to be the same. So as we go through the review any trading conditions will be relevant to all three account types. Below we have outlined some of the additional features that you get from the accounts:

Entry Account:

A deposit is required between $200 and $1,000
Introduction lesson with an expert
1-on-1 trading session
Personal account manager
Trading tutorials
Beginners eBook
Super-low Fixed spreads
Service and support 24/5

In addition to this stater account, there are two additional accounts for more seasoned traders…

Advanced Account:

A deposit is required between $1,000 and $4,000
Advanced trading tools
Access to Daily Updates
Personal account manager
24/5 Support
1:200 Leverage
Advanced trading course

Pro Account:

This account requires a deposit of at least $4,000
Fast trade execution
Advanced trading tools
1:200 Leverage
Technical Analysis
Access to Daily Updates
24/5 Support
Currency charts

Platforms

The platform on offer is called PROfit. It is available as a web trader and as a mobile application. They aren’t providing a lot of inflation on the platforms, but some of the few features mentioned are that the web trader offers one-click trading, no re-quotes, instant trade execution, and advanced charting system. The web application allows you to trade anywhere, it’s a user-friendly mobile app, and allows you to access market analysis and is suitable for both Apple and Android.

Leverage

The leverage that you are able to get depends on the assets and instruments that you are trading, they are as follows:

So 1:200 is the maximum leverage which is a little below the 1:500 that a lot of brokers now aim for, but still offers a good risk and reward ratio.

Trade Sizes

While most of the information on trading conditions is present we do not have much in regards to the trade sizes. While the minimum deposit if $200, we suspect that this will mean that trade sizes of 0.01 lots. We do not, however, have any idea of what the maximum trade size is or how many open trades and orders you can have at any one time.

Trading Costs

There are no added commissions or fees when trading, 70 Trades have stated that multiple times throughout the site. There will be swap charges though, and these are fees that will be either charged or received when you hold trades overnight. These costs can often be viewed within the trading platform that you are using.

Assets

It is unfortunate that there isn’t a full breakdown of the available instruments and assets. Instead, we have just a few examples of each, and have outlined the examples that we know below.

Forex:
EURUSD, GBPEUR, CADCHF, GBPSEK, USDPLN, NZDJPY.

Commodities:
Gold, Silver, Oil, Corn, Coffee, Copper, Natural Gas, and others.

Indices:
CAC 40, S&P 500, FTSE 100, IBEX 35, Nikkei 225, Dow Jones, and others.

Stocks:
Apple, Facebook, Walk Disney, Citigroup, General Electric, and Google are just a few out of the available stocks.

Spreads

The spreads seem to start from around 3 pips. They are fixed spreads which means they will not move with the markets and will not be influenced by them. It is also worth mentioning that different instruments will have different spreads, so while EUR/USD may have a spread of 3 pips, other instruments will be higher.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount that you are able to use to open up an account is $200. This is a reasonable amount and will allow newer traders to join up, and allows for some risk management on the account. We do not know if this amount reduces for any further top-up deposits.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are a few different methods available to deposit with, these are Credit/Debit Card, Skrill, Neteller, WebMoney, and Bank Wire transfer. In terms of any fees, there isn’t anything mentioned dso we are not able to comment on whether they are present or not. What we will do though, is recommend that you contact your own bank or payment provider to see if they will charge any outgoing transfer fees.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods seem to be available to deposit with. Once again they are Credit/Debit Card, Skrill, Neteller, WebMoney, and Bank Wire transfer. Just like with the deposits, there is no further information provided on any possible fees added by 70Trades. As always we would suggest contacting your payment provider to see if they will charge any processing fees of their own.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

70Trades does not indicate how long it will take for them to process your withdrawal. However, they do state that the process should fully complete within 2 to 6 working days. This time will depend on the method used and the method’s own processing times.

Bonuses & Promotions

Looking through the site, we did not notice any information pertaining to bonuses or promotions. So there may not be any active at the time of writing this account. If you are interested in bonuses, then you could always contact the customer support team to see if there are any you are able to take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are various educational courses available which cover, beginner, experienced and professional trading techniques, including commodities trading, gold trading, and oil trading. We weren’t able to look into the details of them too much so we cannot comment on the suitability or quality of each.

There are a few little tools available. There is a live data center that gives you live prices of various assets, an economic calendar that tells you about upcoming news events and the impact that the events may have on the markets, and finally, there is a news feed available.

Autochartist is a tool that is available to use with 70 Trades. This offers features to help with your trading, it can identify and react to market movements, check the quality and competitiveness of your broker’s pricing, manage your cash exposure, optimize your stop loss and take profits, capitalize on known outcomes of news events and identify and react to market movements that are not typical.

Customer Service

You can get in contact with the customer service time from Monday to Friday between the hours of 8:30 and 17:30. You are able to contact them using a postal address, email address, and phone number, so there is a choice of methods available to use.

Address: Wanakena Ltd, 73 Arch. Makarios III Avenue, Office 301, 1070 Nicosia, Cyprus
Phone: +442031290685
Email: [email protected]

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available once you sign up for a basic account, The demo account allows you to test out the trading conditions as they will mimic those of a real account. It is also a way to test out new strategies without risking any of your own capital. We do not know if there will be an expiration time on these accounts though.

Countries Accepted

The only information available on the site is the following statement “Any information included in this website does not constitute an offer of services for clients residing in any jurisdictions where such offer is not authorized.” This doesn’t really help so we would suggest contacting the customer service team to check whether you are eligible for an account or not.

Conclusion

We have seen a website that looks very much like the 70Trades website before, so it may possibly be a clone of another broker. In terms of the trading conditions, the leverage is fine at 1:200. However, the platform used isn’t as sophisticated as MetaTrader 4. As an example and the spreads are starting very high at around 3 pips, and this can make it quite expensive to trade here. In terms of deposit and withdrawal methods, there are enough available to cater to most needs and there doesn’t appear to be any fees. However, we do not know for sure. Due to the costs of trading, we would personally suggest comparing costs among FX brokers before making your final selections.

Tags Forex, Forex Broker, review

Forex Forex Brokers

AMP Global Review

AMP Global is an online foreign exchange broker that is registered and regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC). AMP was originally a US-based broker but has now expanded into the European market which is what AMP Global is all about. AMP Global points out that their insurance for each client of 20,000 EUR is one of their stand out points. Apart from that, they don’t really say a lot about themselves and so we will be using this review to look into the services that are being offered to their clients and so you can decide if AMP Global is the right broker for you.

Account Types

There are two main account types, the trading account, and an Islamic account. There is also a Corporate account but we won’t be looking at that one in this review, as the average Forex trader will not require this account type. We have outlined some of the features of the two main accounts below. In fact, the trading specification of both accounts are exactly the same, so we have outlined them below as if it is just the one account.

Trading Account:
The account requires a minimum deposit of at least 100 USD/EUR/GBP or 6,500 RUB. The account uses MetaTrader 5 as a trading platform and has an STP execution method. There are no requotes or rejections, the account comes with a variable spread starting from 1 pip. There are commissions charged on the account (depends on the market traded) and Islamic swap-free versions are available. The account can be leveraged up to 1:100, with a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots and a maximum trade size of 100 lots, you can also have an unlimited number of trades open at any one time. A lot size is equal to 100,000 base units and the margin call level is set at 100% while the stop out level is set at 50%. There is also negative balance protection, scalping, expert advisors and news trading is all allowed on this account.

Platforms

There are two different platforms available to sue, both from the MetaQuotes company, even though the accounts state that they use MT5, MT4 also seems to be available to use.

MetaTrader 4 (MT4):
MetaTrader 4 s one of the worlds most traded and most loved trading platforms, released back in 2005 it has been improving on every update, some of its features include:

Access to tight pricing on our full trade offering
Expert Advisors supported
Highly customizable charting
Ticket based trading and more
Full charting library
The web platform operates without any additional software or browser extensions
Execute your trade ideas anytime, anywhere
Check your positions whenever you want
Full charting library
30 indicators
Execute your trade ideas anytime, anywhere
Analyze financial markets through charts & technical indicators
Check your positions whenever you want

MetaTrader 5 (MT5):
This is the younger brother to MetaTrader 4, it was designed to improve on what MT4 had already built, it is a multi-asset platform that offers superior tools for comprehensive price analysis, use of algorithmic trading applications (trading robots, Expert Advisor) and copy trading. Available on all sorts of devices such as desktop, mobile and as a web trader, it can be used anywhere in the world. A few of its other features include:

Built-in market analysis tools
A system with Market Depth and executions
Netting and hedging accounting systems
Trade orders, pending and stop-orders
3 chart types and 9 timeframes
Built-in chat, news, alerts and push notifications

Leverage

The account can be leveraged up to 1:100, this is a little lower than what a lot of brokers are aiming for as a lot are now offering up to 1:500. The leverage can be selected when opening up a new account. However, when looking through the FAQ, it states that they are also following the guidelines of the ESMA, this would mean that the following terms are being met:

Leverage limits on the opening of a position by a retail client from 30:1 to 2:1, which vary according to the volatility of the underlying:

30:1 for major currency pairs
20:1 for non-major currency pairs, gold, and major indices
10:1 for commodities other than gold and non-major equity indices
5:1 for individual equities and other reference values
2:1 for cryptocurrencies

So it is not actually clear to use what the maximum leverage will be as both numbers contradict each other. Looking at the product specification it seems like the ESMA leverages are the correct ones.

Trade Sizes

The trade sizes that you get depends on the assets that you are trading. When looking at Forex pairs the minimum trade size seems to be 0.1 lots. This is known as a mini-lot and is worth 10,000 base currency units. The maximum trade size is 100 lots and there is no limit to the number of trades you are able to have open at any one time. Different instruments will have different stating trade sizes, be sure to check the specification for the specific instruments that you wish to trade.

Trading Costs

Multiple places around the site indicate that there will be commissions. However, nowhere does it actually state what they are (that we can see) so we do not know what the actual trading costs of trading with AMP Global are. There is a section of the site that states that they will beat any written commission quote. Whether this means we can find a low quote and they will match it, we don’t know as we could always find an incredibly low figure somewhere.

Assets

The assets have been broken down into various categories. We have outlined them below so you can get an understanding of what sort of assets and instruments are available to trade.

Forex:
AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, AUDUSD, CADCHF, CADJPY, CHFJPY, EURAUD, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURCZK, EURDKK, EURGBP, EURHKD, EURHUF, EURJPY, EURMXN, EURNOK, EURNZD, EURPLN, EURRON, EURRUB, EURSEK, EURSGD, EURTRY, EURUSD, EURZAR, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPCZK, GBPDKK, GBPHKD, GBPHUF, GBPJPY, GBPMXN, GBPNOK, GBPNZD, GBPPLN, GBPSEK, GBPSGD, GBPTRY, GBPUSD, GBPZAR, NOKSEK, NZDCAD, NZDCHF, NZDJPY, NZDSGD, NZDUSD, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDCNH, USDCZK, USDDKK, USDHKD, USDHUF, USDILS, USDJPY, USDMXN, USDNOK, USDPLN, USDRON, USDRUB, USDSEK, USDSGD, USDTRY, USDZAR.

Crypto:
Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple.

Indices:
AUS200, EUR50, FCHI, GER30, HSI, J225, SPN35, UK100, SPX, NDX, WS30.

Energies:
UK Brent Oil, US Crude Oil, US Natural Gas.

Metals:
Gold (tradable available USD, EUR, AUD), Silver (tradable against USD and AUD).

Shares:
Apple, Amazon, Alibaba, Bank of America, Daidu, Facebook, Alphabet, Netflix, Tesla, Twitter.

Spreads

Spreads when trading forex pairs can start from as low as 0.5 pips according to the front page. However, the account specification states that they start from 1 pip, so to be safe would say to take note of the higher figure of 1 pip. The spreads are variable which means they will be influenced by the markets, different instruments will also have different starting spreads. So while some may be as low as 1 pip, others may be higher at 2 pips or more.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open up an account is $100. This is the minimum amount for the initial deposit and it also looks like it is the same for any top-up payments.

Deposit Methods & Costs

The following methods are available to deposit along with the available deposit currencies.

Credit/Debit Card – USD, EUR, GBP
UnionPay – USD
Neteller – EUR, GBP
Skrill – USD, EUR, GBP
Bank Wire – USD, EUR, GBP, RUB
Internal Transfer – USD, EUR, GBP, RUB

There aren’t any added fees from AMP Global themselves. However, you will be liable to pay any transaction fees added by your own bank or payment processor.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods seem to be available to withdraw with. For clarification, they are Credit/Debit Card, UnionPay, Neteller, Skrill, Bank Wire, and Internal Transfers. There is also a number of other images for additional methods, but they are not mentioned within the fees time section of the page. In terms of withdrawal fees, there isn’t anything mentioned so it looks like there are none added by AMP Global. However, you will be liable to pay any fees that are added or charged by your own payment method.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

There is a processing time for each method, however we believe that these are only for deposits. We do not know how long it will take AMP Global to process your withdrawal request but would hope that any requests would be fully processed between 1 to 5 working days from the request being made. This will depend on the processing times of the method you have used to withdraw your funds.

Bonuses & Promotions

Looking through the site and its FAQ we did not see anything that would relate to promotions or bonuses so we do not believe that there are any active promotions at this point in time. If you are after bonuses then you could always contact the customer service team to see if there are any coming up that you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

There is quite a lot when it comes to the educational side of the site. The first section is about futures, this has a lot of information talking about history and what futures are. There is also a glossary about futures as well as some technical and fundamental analysis, this is information about analysis rather than actual analysis done for you. There is a forex section, which has some basics and a forex related glossary.

The next section is similar but about CFDs, again going over basics and also details on how to trade CFDs. There are some webinars available, you can view the past ones too which is great. They cover various aspects of trading. The final section is a video section, which has various videos covering aspects like using the trading platform, or how to trade different trade sizes.

StereoTrader is a scalable interface available for MetaTrader 5, some of its features include:

Exchange-Traded Futures, FX and CFD Trading
Quick access Scalping-Terminal
Volume Profile and DoM in/on the Chart
Advanced Order Types incl. Limit-Pullback-Order
Advanced Day-trading Statistics
Stop-loss and Order Trailing
Algorithmic Grid Trading
Exit automation (based on Time/Equity/growth)
Fully Automated Strategies (StereoMQL)

Customer Service

The customer support team is available 24 hours a day. They do not specify whether they are available over the weekends though. You are able to get in touch in a wide range of ways. There is the usual postal address, email address and various phone numbers available. There is also a remote access system, live chat, and access to a support forum.

Address: Ayiou Athanasiou Avenue, Kaminion Street 1, 2nd floor, Agios Athanasios 4102, Limassol Cyprus
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +357 22 007182

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available and allow you to test out the servers, conditions, platforms, and new strategies without any risk to your own capital. The demo account offers conditions such as spreads starting from 1 pip, this is a variable spread, it is commission-free, swap-free, can be leveraged up to 1:100, can have a minimum balance of 100 USD/EUR/GBP. The trade sizes start from 0.01 lots and go up to 100 lots with a lot being worth 100,000 base currency units.

You are able to have an unlimited number of trades open at any one time, the margin call level is set at 100%, the stop out level is set at 50% and there is negative balance protection (however this isn’t really needed on a demo account). The demo account can be used within MetaTrader 5 with scalping, expert advisors, and news trading all being allowed. As far as we can tell, there is no expiration time on the account as long as you regularly use it.

Countries Accepted

The following statement can be found at the bottom of the AMP Global website: “Restricted Regions: AMP Global (Europe) aka AMP Global LTD. does not provide services for citizens of the United States of America and some other regions.”

Conclusion

There is a lot on offer from AMP Global. There was a little bit of confusion with the available leverages, but we believe that they are limited to 1:30 which is very low when comparing to the competition. We are also not aware of what the commissions are, we just know that they are there. So, unfortunately, this means we do not know what the overall trading costs are. There are plenty of assets available to trade which is great. In terms of funding, there are plenty of methods available with no added fees from AMP Group. The customer service team is offering plenty of ways to get in contact which is always a positive thing to see. AMP Group seems like they could be a competent broker to use, but of course, the choice to use them is up to you.

Tags Forex, Forex Broker, review

Forex Psychology

The Road to Become a Pro: Preparation

Post author By Fran S.
Post date 16 March, 2020
No Comments on The Road to Become a Pro: Preparation

I see a lot of people approaching the financial markets as a way to get a second income or even be financially independent. The major part of them wants to invest in the financial markets but don’t have the time or interest in mastering the needed skills to really succeed.

A minority of them are involved in acquiring those skills but think that to be successful, only the knowledge to forecast the markets is needed, most of them focused on learning one or several technical analysis methods that would allow them to do it.

The cruel reality is that the randomness of the markets is high, and forecasting is not deterministic. Thus, operating in leveraged markets makes the task much more difficult if traders are not aware of the statistical parameters and size limitations of the system in question. Thus, psychology comes into play as traders get confused and unable to act as losses accumulate, greed, and fear driving the decision process instead of the rational mind.

The preparation tasks

Dr. Van K. Tharp states in his Peak Performance Course series that top traders need to master 15 different tasks or processes, twelve related to trading, two preparation tasks, plus “being out of the market” task. The two tasks related to preparation are:

Developing Self-awareness and
Developing a low-risk game plan

Self-Awareness

This task aims to recognize our strengths and flaws, so we can profit from the first ones and overcome the second ones. For instance, if you are good at recognizing breakouts, you could focus on that kind of pattern to create your trading strategy. Another trader might have difficulty with decision making but is good at programming. Thus he could use his skills to develop a mechanical system that makes decisions for him.

Goal Settings to solve the conflict

Dr. Tharp rightfully states that most traders are nor aware of what they want to accomplish. Of course, they want to get the max out of the markets, but that statement says nothing about the right way they should go. Most of the time they have conflictive goals, they want profits but also avoid losses, be safe at the same time they risk capital. Most of the time, unresolved conflict of both primary desires spells catastrophe. The right way to solve personal issues is through goal setting. In the case of profit/risk conflict, traders must set goals for the monthly profits and verify these are congruent with the expected risks (drawdowns), and match both to fit him. Goal setting is part of developing a system that suits you, but to know what suits you, you need to know yourself. It is important to list all your desires and expectations about you and the markets.

Are you a risk-taker or avoid risk? Do you want to work 100 percent of the time looking at monitor screens or just to enter a trade? Do you like to plan in advance, or are you an intuitive trader acting the moment you feel a move?

Development of a Low-risk Plan

The key to succeeding in the financial markets is not good forecasting, but profiting from low-risk ideas. A lot of traders only focus their attention on entries and forget that the exit is when the profits are realized. Also, since most traders want to avoid losses, they think that a high percentage of winners is the critical element of a sound trading system. Thus these traders end up scalping small profits and holding their substantial losses. Instead, the key to success is the opposite. Traders must create a written plan with a primary element: low-risk trades.

A low-risk idea is one in which the reward is higher than its risk. The property of high reward-to-risk ratios is better shown with an example. Let’s call the risk R and the reward a multiple n of R. It is evident that in a series of n trades, just one needs to be profitable to break-even. Thus, if continually trading using 5:1 RR ideas, only one profitable trade, every five trades is enough to keep us afloat. Therefore, it is in the trader’s interest to chose low-risk trades as protection for a drop in the percentage of winning trades.

Consistency by following your rules

A written plan consisting of a set of rules is essential. You need written rules so you can, later, analyze results and make changes to the rule that needs to be improved. If there are no rules, it is impossible to improve them.

For instance, let’s suppose there is a stop-loss rule that cut losses at 1.5 ATR(10). Maybe, after some time, you see that there is a substantial portion of trades that reverse after your stop is hit. If your system has such a rule, and you keep a record of your past trades, you could do an analysis and conclude that your system could be optimized by changing the 1.5ATR to 1.8ATR, but that 1.9ART or more harms you in the risk side with no substantial improvement in the number of winning trades. That kind of analysis, obviously, is impossible if your stop-loss strategy is decided on each trade depending on your subjective feelings

Making money demands consistency and discipline. Trading rules are essential to both. To respect the rules is the factor to consistency, and a disciplined mind is required to adhere to the rules. With no rules, trading is a set or random entries and exits with no possible statistical value for future analysis and improvement. In this context, a mistake means not a losing trade, but not following the rules.

Further reading: Peak Performance Course Book 1 – How to use Risk, Van K. Tharp chapter V

Tags Forex, Forex psychology, preparation, tasks, trading, Trading Plan

Forex Forex Brokers

Everest Trade Review

Everest Trade is a foreign exchange broker that is regulated by the VFSC, a zone of preferential taxation that is being regulated by the Financial Supervision Commission for trading in Forex and in the market of derivative financial instruments. There isn’t much information provided about them, so we will need to sue this review as […]

Account Types

There isn’t an account comparison page and going through the site there isn’t any indication that there is more than one account type. As we go through this review if it becomes apparent that there are then we will outline any differences in each section. However, we believe that just the one account exists and so all information provided in this review is relevant to that one account.

Platforms

Everest Trade uses its own trading platform that is available as a web trader and as a mobile application for iOS and Android devices. The platform offers you basic trading abilities and order functionality. It lacks a lot of the customization that you see on platforms like MetaTrader and it also is lacking a lot of the compatibilities with expert advisors and indicators. It does have its own inbuilt indicators, but they are very basic. It would have been nice to see a more established platform available to use.

Leverage

The leverage that you receive is based on the instrument that you are trading. We have listed the different instruments along with the associated maximum leverage.

Forex: 1:500
Metals: 1:500
Stocks: 1:5
Commodities: 1:100 or 1:10 for Natural Gas
Indices: 1:5
EFTs: 1:5

The maximum leverage for Forex can be selected when opening up an account, we are not sure if it can be changed on an already open account but you should request a change by contacting the customer service team.

Trade Sizes

The trade sizes are also dependant on the instrument that you are trading. We have outlined the minimum trade size, increment size, and maximum trade size for each asset group below.

Forex: 0.01 lot min / 0.01 lot incrmeent / 1,000 lot max
Metals: 0.1 lot min / 0.1 lot incrmeent / 1,000 lot max
Stocks: 1 lot min / 1 lot incrmeent / 10,000 lot max
Commodities: 1 lot min / 1 lot incrmeent / 100,000 lot max
Indices: 1 lot min / 1 lot incrmeent / 10,000 lot max
EFTs: 1 lot min / 1 lot incrmeent / 10,000 lot max

We would advise not trading over 50 lots in a single trade, but instead break up larger requests into smaller trades to help with execution and slippage issues.

Trading Costs

There are no added commissions when trading as the available account uses a spread based structure that we will look at later in this review. There are however swap charges which are fees for holding trades overnight, they can be viewed within the trading platform you are using.

Assets

The assets and instrument shave been broken down into a number of different categories, we have listed them below along with the instruments within them.

Forex:
AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, AUDUSD, CADCHF, CADJPY, CHFJPY, EURAUD, EURACD, EURCHF, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURNOK, EURNZD, EURPLN, EURSEK, EURTRY, EURUSD, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, GBPNZD, GBPSEK, GBPUSD, NOKSEK, NZDCAD, NZDCHF, NZDJPY, NZSUSD, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDCNH, USDJPY, USDMXN, USDNOK, USDPLN, USDRUB, USDSEK, USDSGD, USDTRY, USDZAR.

Metals:
Only Gold is available to trade.

Stocks:
Plenty of stocks are available including Aviva, Barclays, Adidas, Siemens, Amazon, and Apple.

Commodities:
Brent Crude Oil, WTI Crude Oil, Natural Gas.

Indices:
CAC 40, DAX 30, FTSE 100, Dow Jones, Nasdaq 100, S&P 500, Nikkei 225.

EFTs:
iPath S&P 500, Samsung.

Spreads

The spreads are not specified on the site but they appear to be starting from around 1.1 pips. The spreads are variable which means they will move with the markets and any added volatility can make them grow larger. Different instruments will also have different starting spreads.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit required to open up an account is currently y$100 and this will get you access to the one account available. We do not know if this amount reduces once an account is already open.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There isn’t a dedicated page for deposits and withdrawals but there are some images of Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, and Bank Wire Transfer. There may be more options available but they are not stated, we also do not know if there are any additional fees added for deposits.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

We only have the same images to go by when it comes to withdrawals too, so we believe the available methods are Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, and Bank Wire Transfer. Just like with the deposits there is no information surrounding withdrawal fees but be sure to check with your own bank or processor to see if any fees are added by them.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

This is another section where we don’t have any concrete information, we would expect any withdrawal requests to be fully processed between 1 to 7 working days from the request it is made.

Bonuses & Promotions

It does not seem like there are any promotions or bonuses active, this does not mean that there won’t be in the future so if you are interested in bonuses you should get in touch with the customer service team to see if there are any coming up that you can take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

There does not seem to be any educational content on the site or any tools to help with your trading. This is a shame as a lot of modern brokers sare now trying to help their clients improve on their trading and knowledge, so it would have been nice to see Everest Trade do something along those lines too.

Customer Service

There isn’t a contact page on the broker’s website. In fact, there is no information on the site indicating any way to get in contact with them, which is a little concerning and enough to send most people looking elsewhere for an FX broker.

Everest Trade Licence.

Demo Account

We do not know if demo accounts are available s there is no information surrounding them, this is a shame as demo accounts allow you to test out trading and strategies without any real risk.

Countries Accepted

This information is not on the site, we would suggest contacting the customer service team to find out if you are eligible or not but we don’t actually know how to contact them.

Conclusion

Information on the trading conditions was a little hard to find while finding information on the trading platform was even harder. There was also little information to be found on deposit and withdrawal methods, as well as on how to get in contact with Everest Trade. Not the greatest start, middle or end. All of that combined is enough for us to suggest looking elsewhere for your trading needs, as the best Forex brokers tend to be the ones who are the most forthright with the provision of key details such as these.

Tags Forex, Forex Broker, review

Forex Market Analysis

WTI Crude Oil Slips Beneath $29 as Coronavirus Outbreaks Further!

Post author By Ali B.
Post date 16 March, 2020
No Comments on WTI Crude Oil Slips Beneath $29 as Coronavirus Outbreaks Further!

Crude oil prices fell sharply to trade below $29 after showing a slight bullish recovery during the previous week. Crude oil prices benefited from President Trump’s saying that his government is to buy large quantities of crude oil for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to take advantage of lower oil prices. Nymex crude oil futures rose 2.8% to $31.87 a barrel, and Brent rebounded 4.3% to $34.07.

Over the weekend, the global coronavirus pandemic worsened, particularly in Europe. Italy saw the number of coronavirus cases surge past 24,700 (1809 deaths), while Spain reported over 7,800 cases in total, Germany over 5,800 cases and France over 5,400 cases. In the U.S., the number of cases jumped to nearly 3,600 (68 deaths).

The RBA indicated that it would purchase bonds while holding a special meeting on Thursday. Whereas, RBNZ finally also joined the role of major central bankers that offered major rate cuts in order to control the coronavirus (COVID-19).

China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said that China’s economy continues to stabilize despite the impact of coronavirus. The comments came after January-February month Retail Sales and Industrial Production disappointed markets. As in result, the risk-tone remains under pressure with the U.S. ten-year treasury yields decreased around 0.673% while stocks in Asia register mild losses due to pandemic fears.

Moving forward, traders will keep their eyes on central banker’s moves and announcements/surprises for near-term trade direction. On the other hand, coronavirus headlines will also be essential to watch.

Daily Support and Resistance

S1 26.84
S2 29.16
S3 30.25

Pivot Point 31.49

R1 32.57
R2 33.81
R3 36.13

On the technical front, crude oil has formed a bearish engulfing candle, which is strengthening the bearish bias among traders. On the lower side, the WTI prices may head further lower towards the support level of 27.33 level. Below this, the next support can be found around 23.95 level. Fundamentals are in favor of a selling trend, and but oil should break below 27.50 level before exhibiting further selling today. Let’s consider staying bearish below $31. Good luck!

Tags crude oil, Forex, Trade Setup, trading, usoil, WTI

Forex Fundamental Analysis

Comprehending ‘Current Account to GDP Ratio’ Economic Indicator

Post author By Reddy Shyam Shankar
Post date 16 March, 2020
No Comments on Comprehending ‘Current Account to GDP Ratio’ Economic Indicator

Introduction

The Current Account balance represents one half of the nation’s Balance Of Payments. This number typically ranges in billions and trillions. When trying to comprehend such big numbers, a strong understanding of what do these numbers represent in actuality is paramount.

What is the Current Account Balance?

The equations given below represent what Current Account balance is composed of and how it contributes to the nation’s Balance Of Payments

The current account balance is the sum of the Balance Of Trade, Net Income, and Net Current Transfers. Fundamentally, the Balance Of Trade represents the difference between total exports and imports of goods and services for that nation.

Balance Of Trade: The Balance Of Trade is the difference between the revenue generated by export and the expenditure incurred by the imports. A nation that exports more than what it imports is said to be running a trade surplus. Conversely, a country whose imports exceed its exports is said to be running a trade deficit. A country that is having a trade deficit is said to have a negative Balance Of Trade, and a trade surplus country is said to have a positive Balance Of Trade.

Net Income: It represents the income received by a country for its investments in areas like real estate or holding in foreign shares, etc.

Net Current Transfers: The net current transfer represents one-directional transfer between one Nation to another without any equivalent financial item in return. This may take the form of worker remittances, charitable fund transfer, or even relief funds, etc.

All these three components are combined to form what is called the current account balance of a nation. A country with a negative current account balance is a net borrower from the rest of the world, and that which has a positive current account balance is a net lender to the rest of the world.

For example, the United States, which is running a negative current account balance, indicates that the nation is importing or consuming more than it is exporting or producing, thereby sending trillions of dollars out of the nation in exchange for equivalent goods and services.

Current Account & Capital Account

The Capital Account reflects the opposite of what current account balance shows. If a country is importing commodities by sending out money, it must receive an equivalent amount of money in one form or another from a certain set of sources. The Capital Account reflects those sources.

A country receives capital when its domestic assets are purchased by foreign bodies. The same country also spends money when it purchases foreign assets using domestic currency. The total of these both may result in a positive or negative capital account. A country running a negative current account balance must have, by definition, a positive equivalent capital account as the total of the entire Balance Of Payments should equal to zero.

How is the Current Account Balance to GDP calculated?

The current account balance, which often ranges in billions and trillions, is expressed as a percentage of GDP. The Bureau of Economic Analysis releases the current account balance quarterly, semi-annually, and annually. The World Bank publishes current account balance as a percentage of GDP for all the nations.

Below is the snapshot of the current account balance as a percentage of GDP for the United States published by the World Bank on their official website.

How can the Current Account Balance to GDP be Used for Analysis?

The current account balance is an entire country’s economic figure, and when calculated as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product GDP, we can draw a lot of conclusions about the current economic situation within the nation.

We have to also keep in mind that simply a negative current account balance or its percentage does not mean that the economy is stagnating nor a positive current account balance indicates a growing economy. The United States has been running in a negative current account balance since 1980.

The current account balance is one part of the Balance Of Payments, and when we look in the absolute sense, we will not be able to assess the nation’s economic situation properly. Instead, if we look at the percentage concerning the previous number, we might be able to know whether the economic conditions have improved or declined concerning earlier periods.

For example, in the US, a $1.1 billion reduction of the current account deficit in the third quarter of 2019 concerning the previous quarter was mainly due to increased income and reduced goods deficits, as mentioned by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Impact On The Currency

The Current Account balance reflects the overall economic activity and the revenue circulation in and out of the country. As a percentage of GDP, it can give us a relative comparison on a global scale with other competing nations. In general, it is a proportional indicator. Meaning, an increase in the results in currency appreciation on a relative basis with previous periods and vice-versa.

On a relative basis, the measured changes in the percentages can help us understand which country’s economic activity has grown or contracted. Such macro-economic indicators are very useful for many people. For instance, Governments can take policy decisions or put appropriate pressure or give support to certain businesses, either increase or decrease economic activity.

Traders can also use these indicators to predict currency movement and may decide to invest. Large and unpredictable movements in the current account balance can shake the confidence of investors in either direction, i.e., positively or negatively.

Sources of Current Account Balance to GDP

The United States Bureau of Economic Analysis releases quarterly reports of the Current Account Balance numbers. It can be found here.

Also, the World Bank releases Current Account Balance as a percentage of GDP on its official website for many countries. Those numbers can be found here.

Impact Of ‘CA To GDP’ Announcement On The Price Charts

In this section of the article, we shall see how the Current Account % of GDP will impact the currency and cause a change in the volatility. We will be analyzing the Current Account % of GDP data of New Zealand by observing the changes in the data from previous reading to the current reading.

The Current Account % of GDP data is released every quarter, and thus we will have four readings in a year. The latest data available to us is of the 3rd quarter released in the month of December and the 4th quarter data will be released in March. As we can see below, this indicator has the least impact on the currency (Yellow Implies Least Impact), and we should not expect much volatility after the news announcement.

Below is the Current Account % of GDP of December quarter, which is released by the ‘Statistics New Zealand’ agency, which collects information from people and organizations through censuses and surveys. It is also known as ‘Stats NZ’ and is a government department. The data shows that the Current Account % of GDP was increased by 0.1%, which we will now see what impact it created on the charts.

NZD/CAD | Before The Announcement - (Dec 17th, 2019)

Before the news announcement market is in a clear downtrend and is attempting for a pullback. When we are talking about the impact of the news, we know that since it is a less impactful event, a better than expected result would mean a partial reversal of the trend. If the numbers are not that good for the ‘New Zealand Dollar’ we should expect a continuation of the current trend.

Thus, from a trading point of view, it is better to join the current downtrend if the Current Account % of GDP is maintained somewhere around the previous reading. We should not be going ‘long’ in the market even if the data is good for ‘New Zealand Dollar’ since the impact of the indicator is not high, and then the rally will not last.

NZD/CAD | After The Announcement - (Dec 17th, 2019)

The Current Account % to GDP was increased by 0.1%, which is mildly positive for the New Zealand Dollar. We see the initial reaction of the market where the candle barely closes in green. The volatility witnessed is also very less due to the above-mentioned reason.

Therefore, we can trade this currency pair on the ‘short’ side, after the price goes below the moving average line, which will our confirmation sign for the trend continuation. Since the news outcome was not good for the New Zealand Dollar, the downtrend could continue further, and we should be able to easily make a profit on the downside.

NZD/CHF | Before The Announcement - (Dec 17th, 2019)

NZD/CHF | After The Announcement - (Dec 17th, 2019)

The above chart represents the currency pair of NZD/CHF, which shows similar characteristics as that of the NZD/CAD currency pair. In this pair, we can notice that the news release did not even take the price above the moving average line, which means the data is very weak when compared to Swiss Franc. The market became volatile after the news release and took the price down. Thus, this is a much better pair for taking a ‘short’ trade with an amazing risk to reward ratio. We can also continue to hold on to our profits as long as the price is below the moving average.

EUR/NZD | Before The Announcement - (Dec 17th, 2019)

EUR/NZD | After The Announcement - (Dec 17th, 2019)

In this currency pair, the New Zealand Dollar is on the right side, so we see an uptrend illustrating the weakness of the currency. Since the Current Account % of GDP data was slightly positive for the New Zealand Dollar, we see a red candle after the news announcement, but later it was fully overshadowed by the green candle. This means the Current Account numbers were not good enough to take the currency lower.

What we see after the news release is a ‘Bullish Engulfing’ candlestick pattern, which is essentially a trend continuation pattern. Thus, once the price goes above the moving average line, we can enter for’ longs’ in this pair with a stop loss below the red candle and aiming for a new ‘higher high.

That’s about the Current Account To GDP ratio Economic Indicator and its impact on the Forex market. If you have any questions, please let us know in the comments below. All the best.

Tags Account Balance, Balance Of Payments, BOP, CA to GDP, Capital Account, current account, Forex, Fundamental Analysis, GDP, Macro Economic Indicators

Forex Course

81. Learn To Trade Using The ‘RSI’ Indicator

Post author By Reddy Shyam Shankar
Post date 16 March, 2020
No Comments on 81. Learn To Trade Using The ‘RSI’ Indicator

Introduction

In our previous article, we have learned how to trade the markets using the Bollinger Bands. We hope you have used that indicator in a demo account and got a hang of it. Now, in this course lesson, let’s learn the identification of trading opportunities using a reliable indicator know as RSI.

RSI is one of the most famous indicators used in the Forex and the Stock market. It stands for the ‘Relative Strength Index’ and is developed by an American technical analyst – J. Welles Wilder. This momentum indicator measures the magnitude of the price change to identify the oversold and overbought market conditions.

The RSI indicator consists of a line graph that oscillates between zero and 100 levels. Traditionally, the market is considered overbought when the indicator goes above the 70-level. Likewise, the market is considered oversold when RSI goes below the 30-level. These traditional levels can be adjusted according to different market situations. But if you are a novice trader, it is advisable to go with the default setting of the RSI.

When the market is in an overbought condition, it indicates a sell signal in the currency pair. Likewise, if the market is in an oversold condition, we can expect a reversal to the buy-side. To confirm the buy and sell signals generated by the oversold and overbought market conditions, it is advisable to also look for centerline crossovers.

When the RSI line goes above the 50-level, it means that the strength of the uptrend is increasing, and it is safe to hold our positions up to the 70-level. When the centerline goes below the 50-level, it indicates the weakening in strength and any open sell position until the 30-level is good to hold.

RSI is one of those indicators which is not overlapped with the price action. It stays below the price charts. Below we can see the snippet of how the RSI would look on the charts. The highlighted light purple region marks the 70 and 30 levels, and the moving line in the middle is the RSI line.

How To Trade Using The RSI Indicator

There are various ways to use the RSI indicator to generate consistent signals from the market. You can use this indicator stand-alone, or you can pair it with other indicators and with candlestick patterns for additional confirmation. In this article, let’s learn the traditional way of using the RSI indicator along with RSI divergence and RSI trendline breakout strategies.

Traditional Overbought/Oversold Strategy

In the traditional way, we just hit the Buy when the RSI indicator gives sharp reversal at the oversold area. Contrarily, we go short when the RSI indicator reverses at the overbought area. The image below represents the Buy and Sell trade in the AUD/CAD Forex pair. We must close our positions when the market triggers the opposite signal. Stop-loss can be placed just below the close of the recent candle.

RSI Divergence Strategy

Divergence is when the price action moves into one direction, and the indicator moves in another direction. It essentially means that the indicator does not agree with the price move, and soon a reversal is expected. In other words, RSI divergence is known as a trend reversal indication.

In the below image, price action prints the RSI divergence twice, and both times the market reversed to the opposite side. When the market gives us a reversal, find any candlestick pattern or any reliable indicator to confirm the trading signal generated.

In the below image, we have identified the market divergence twice, and both the times the market reversed. If traded correctly, this strategy will result in high profitable trades.

Trendline Breakout Strategy

RSI trend line breaks out is a quite popular strategy as it is used by most of the professional traders. In the image below, when price action and the RSI indicator breaks the trend line, we can see the market blasting to the north.

Always remember to strictly go long in an uptrend, and go short in a downtrend while using this strategy. Buying must be done when the market is in an overbought condition, and the selling must be done when the market is in an oversold condition.

If you want to confirm the entry, wait for the price action to hold above the breakout line to know that the breakout is valid. Exit your positions when the RSI reaches the opposite market condition.

That’s about RSI and trading strategies using this indicator. Try using this indicator on a demo account today and experiment with the above-given strategies. Let us know if you have any questions in the comments below. Cheers!

[wp_quiz id=”66690″]

Tags Education, Forex, Forex Course, Indicator Based Trading, Overbought, Oversold, Relative Strength Index, RSI, Technical indicators, Technical Trading, trading

Forex Assets

Exploring The EUR/THB Exotic Currency Pair

Post author By Reddy Shyam Shankar
Post date 16 March, 2020
No Comments on Exploring The EUR/THB Exotic Currency Pair

Introduction

EUR/THB is the abbreviation for the Euro area’s euro against the Thai Baht. This pair is classified as an exotic currency pair. In this pair, EUR is the base currency, and THB is the quote currency.

Understanding EUR/THB

The market value of this pair represents the value of THB equivalent to one EUR. It is quoted as 1 EUR per X THB. For example, if the current market price of this pair is 35.345, these many units of THB are required to purchase one euro.

EUR/THB Specification

Spread

The algebraic difference between the bid and the ask price is referred to as the spread. Spread is determined by the brokers and varies based on the execution model they use.

Spread on ECN: 25 pips | Spread on STP: 28 pips

Fee

The fee is simply the commission paid on the trade. However, this fee is levied only on ECN accounts, not STP accounts.

Slippage

When you execute orders by market, the price you receive from the broker is different from the price you trigger your order. This happens solely due to the changes in the market volatility and the speed with which brokers execute the trades.

Trading Range in EUR/THB

The trading range is the representation of the range of pip movement in a currency pair. These pip values help in assessing the profit/loss in a trade, even before opening positions. In the below table, we have included six timeframes, ranging from 1H to 1M.

Procedure to assess Pip Ranges

Add the ATR indicator to your chart
Set the period to 1
Add a 200-period SMA to this indicator
Shrink the chart so you can assess a large time period
Select your desired timeframe
Measure the floor level and set this value as the min
Measure the level of the 200-period SMA and set this as the average
Measure the peak levels and set this as Max.

EUR/THB Cost as a Percent of the Trading Range

The cost as a percent of the trading range is the representation of the cost variation in the trade. The cost varies based on the volatility of the market. Having an idea of the cost variation, we can find our ideal times of day to trade in the market with reduced costs.

ECN Model Account

Spread = 25 | Slippage = 3 | Trading fee = 3

Total cost = Spread + Slippage + Trading Fee = 25 + 3 + 3 = 31

STP Model Account

Spread = 28 | Slippage = 3 | Trading fee = 0

Total cost = Spread + Slippage + Trading Fee = 28 + 3 + 0 = 31

The Ideal way to trade the EUR/THB

Before getting right into it, let’s comprehend the above tables. To analyze the tables, we consider the magnitude of the percentages. The higher the percentages, the higher is the cost of the trade. Conversely, lower percentages imply lower costs.

The costs in the min column are higher compared to the max column. This means that the costs are high when the volatility of the market is low, and the converse holds true as well.

The ideal way to trade this pair is completely dependent on the type of trader you are. For instance, if you are a trader looking for low costs, then you may trade when the volatility is high. Since the majority of the traders need a balance between the two, they may trade when the volatility of the market is somewhere around the average values in the trading range table.

Another simple technique to reduce costs is implementing strategies such that orders are executed using limit orders instead of market orders. In doing so, the slippage will be completely eradicated, and the total costs will be reduced by a decent number.

Tags EUR, Euro, EURTHB, Fee, Forex, Forex Assets, Pip Range, slippage, spread, Thai Baht, trading, Trading range

Forex Elliott Wave

Intermediate Wave Analysis – Impulsive Waves – Part 3

Post author By Eduardo Vargas
Post date 16 March, 2020
No Comments on Intermediate Wave Analysis – Impulsive Waves – Part 3

Impulsive waves are characterized by their directionality; thus creating trends; however, how the wave analyst can recognize the stage of the trend? To answer this question, we will present the canalization process.

Canalization

Until now, we presented a set of rules that allow that wave analyst to identify which kind of structure the price action is creating. However, these rules do not provide any clue about its target area.

To aid in solving this question, R.N. Elliott, in his Treatise, introduced the use of channels to identify the potential target zone of the next path.

Channels are a useful tool to recognize if an impulsive sequence is complete, and to identify the potential ending points of waves in progress.

In motive waves, there exist two kinds of base-line of channels; these are base-line 0-2 and 2-4. The way to trace them is as exposes the following figure.

In the left-side figure, we observe the trace of the 0-2 line. The dotted line represents a preliminary 0-2 line that was violated by the price action. In this case, the wave analyst must update the base-line 0-2 until the confirmed end of wave 2.

Once the ending of the second wave and traced the base-line is validated, the wave analyst must project a line parallel to the 0-2 line at the end of wave 1, this channel will provide a potential target of the third wave.

Analogously, on the right-side figure, we distinguish the trace of base-line 2-4 and its projection at the end of wave 3. The channel projection will provide the potential end of the fifth wave.

The procedure for executing the canalization process is as described below.

Once the price has created the first impulse wave and, then, completed the second corrective wave, a base-line is projected linking the origin of the first impulse wave to the end of the second wave.

The base-line is then projected at the end of wave 1. This channel will provide the wave analyst with the potential target of wave 3.

When wave 3 is complete, the ends of wave 1 and 3 are joined, then a parallel line is projected towards the end of wave 2.

The projection of this channel will provide information about the possible end of wave 4.

Subsequently, once wave 4 is complete, the ends of waves 2 and 4 are joined, then the line parallel to the end of wave 3 is projected, this channel will provide the potential target of wave 5.

EURNZD – Channels Suggests a Five-Wave Sequence Completion

The following chart illustrates to EURNZD cross in its 4-hour timeframe. From the figure, we observe the rally developed by price action that began on January 24th, low at level 1.66642.

EURNZD made a first rally that boosted the price in five waves until 1.71764 level reached on last February 02nd. Once its first upward sequence has been completed, the price retraced in three waves.

The corrective process brought the price to find fresh buyers at 1.67854 on February 10th. The completion of waves (i) and (ii) allow us to trace the first channel in blue, from where the next path corresponds to wave (iii).

On the figure, we observe that the price extended its third upward sequence until 1.78755 level on March 02nd. Once this fresh higher high was reached, EURNZD started to consolidate in a fourth wave. The ending of this corrective structure drives us to trace the second upward channel in brown.

The upper-line breakout of the second ascending channel carried the EURNZD cross to complete its fifth wave that found resistance at 1.90725 level, reached on March 09th.

Once it peaked at 1.90725 level, the price action pierced the base-line of the second ascending channel, this movement could drive the cross to start a corrective sequence in the coming trading sessions.

Conclusions

In this article, we have seen how the use of channels can assist the wave analyst in the process of identifying impulse wave targets.

From the example exposed, we observed how the canalization process worked in the real market. It is essential to consider that the fifth wave can fail, and not surpass the upper-line of the ascending channel.

In this context, the wave analyst should consider the signals that can reflect the end of the five-wave sequence, for example, the base-line breakdown.

Forex Hedging Using The Elliot Wave Setup – How To Win Trades Whatever The Outcome!

Post author By Keiran
Post date 16 March, 2020
No Comments on Forex Hedging Using The Elliot Wave Setup – How To Win Trades Whatever The Outcome!

https://youtu.be/WccXmygr8PA

Hedging using the Elliot Wave setup

Continuing with our hedging strategy series. Today we are going to look at setting up two trades. One Which involves using the Elliott wave Theory of technical analysis, and should this prove ineffective, we will also be setting up a secondary hedging, or insurance based trade, in the event that our first trade does not go according to technical analysis.

While hedging comes in many forms and strategies, the methodology behind this type of hedging is that we want to carefully set up a trade based on tried-and-tested technical analysis, and where, in this particular case, price action may be set for a sharp reversal, but turns unexpectedly, in which case we will be able to catch the move in the opposite direction. In which case theoretically we win no matter which way price moves. Therefore this strategy works best when markets have consolidated or reached highs or lows, which seem right for reversal or continuation in price action but where the consolidation squeeze should cause a burst in volume in either direction.

Example A

Example A, Let’s quickly remind ourselves of the theory of the Elliott Wave, which consists of an impulse wave that is usually composed of 5 sub-waves that move in the same direction followed by a corrective wave composed of three subways that move against the previous trend.

Example B

Example B, Here we can see the Elliot wave in action. After a consolidation period, we can see the Elliott wave as denoted by 1 2 3 4 5 6 pattern, with higher highs and higher lows and where we would expect price action to begin to fade with our three-part full pull back as denoted by the A B C technical pattern we have drawn as an estimation onto our chart.
Therefore, if the Elliot Wave theory holds true in this case at position A, we would see a decent in price action in line with our A B C expectation, and if not, we would expect a price action continuation up to position 7 in continuation of the original upward trend.

Example D

Example D, This is the first part of our hedging strategy in which case we are going to go shorts at position A, which represents her 50% pullback between position 6 and 5, and at which point should be the beginning of the three-wave counter move in the opposite direction of the trend upwards should the Elliott wave Theory hold at this point we will capture some decent down movement, especially if this setup is used on a 15 in 30 or 60 minutes chart.
We must set our stop loss at a couple of pips above position 5, which would mean that the Elliott wave theory has not held out on this occasion, and that price could be set in a continuation upwards of the original trend. However, should position 5 on your chart be a round number and what is also called a big figure number such as 1.3400 which you might see in the USDCAD pair, or 1.300 in the EURUSD pair at the time of writing, then price action might find this as a level of resistance and fall anyway. But as the theory would be negated, we would suggest you consider this and think about exiting the trade and waiting for another Elliot Wave set up. In either case, stop losses should not be more than 20-30 pips.

Example E

Example E is our hedging strategy. In the events that the Elliott wave fails and price action continuous, we must set a buy limit order a couple of pips above the previous trade’s stop loss in order to capture the move from position 6 to position 7 and beyond. If possible, we should monitor this move closely, because as an insurance policy, we need to at the very least make the same amount of pips.i.e. 20 to 30 that we lost in the first trade.

Tags elliot waves, Forex, Forex hedging, trading

Forex Daily Topic Forex Price-Action Strategies

Price Action Trading: An Important Thing to be Remembered

Post author By Tareq Sikder
Post date 16 March, 2020
No Comments on Price Action Trading: An Important Thing to be Remembered

To draw Support/Resistance, price action traders are to be sensible. They often need to be adjusted. In today’s lesson, we are going to demonstrate an example of this. To spot out support/resistance, traders are to aim the zones. Then, in the end, they are to draw levels to have the confirmation of a breakout. Let us learn more about this from the examples below.

This is an H1 chart. The chart shows that the price has been choppy for quite a while. It has been roaming within a descending triangle. The price may make a breakout to either side. Let us work with horizontal support and spot out point/points where the price bounces twice.

We may spot out two points here. These two levels are nearby to each other. Without any doubt, this is a strong support zone. If we consider levels, we may get confused since we get two levels. In such a situation, we may closely observe what the price does around the last swing low. Let us proceed to the next chart.

The chart shows that the last candle breaches the level of support (the last swing low). This is not an explicit breakout. We must wait for the next candle to have the breakout confirmation.

The next candle comes out as a bearish candle as well as closing well below the breakout candle. If we consider the price action for the last two candles, it is clear that the sellers have taken the control. The level of support at the last swing low holds the key as far as the last two candles’ price action is concerned. The H1 breakout strategy sellers may trigger a short entry right after the candle closes. Let us proceed to the next chart what the price does after triggering the entry.

The price heads towards the South with good bearish momentum. The sellers achieve their 1R with ease. The last candle’s attributes suggest that the price may go towards the South further. In a word, this has been a prolific trade setup for the sellers.

If we consider the first swing low on this chart, we may get confused about the breakout. Considering the price action and the last swing low, it is a basic thing to understand that the price makes a breakout at the last swing low. The last swing low matters most as far as the breakout strategy is concerned. If the price consolidates after a breakout, then other levels (previous levels of support/resistance) may work as flipped support or resistance. This is one important thing to be remembered by the price action traders.

Tags Forex, Forex price action, Price Action, Resistance, resistance zone, resistane level, Support, support level, support zone

Forex Market Analysis

Daily F.X. Analysis, March 16 – Top Trade Setups In Forex – G7 Meetings In Highlights!

Post author By Ali B.
Post date 16 March, 2020
No Comments on Daily F.X. Analysis, March 16 – Top Trade Setups In Forex – G7 Meetings In Highlights!

During Asian trading hours on Monday, the ICE U.S. Dollar Index dropped 1.1% to 97.67, giving up most of its gains made in the prior session, as the Fed slashed interest rates over the weekend. The U.K. house price grew 1.0% on month in March (+0.8% in February), according to the home-listing website Rightmove.

In the U.S., the New York Federal Reserve will publish March Empire Manufacturing Index (4.9 expected).

Economic Events to Watch Today

EUR/USD – Daily Analysis

On Monday, the European Union finance ministers plan to agree on an economic acknowledgment to the coronavirus pandemic, with the European Commission forecasting the consequences of the virus could drive the European Union into a recession.

The central bank kept rates unchanged on Thursday and raised its asset purchase program by EUR120B. They introduced a new program of cheap loans that would necessarily pay banks up to 0.75% to give to small businesses. However, the EUR traders were not impressed, as indicated by the long-tail (seller exhaustion) attached to Thursday’s candle.

Looking forward, the markets now keep their eyes on the European Union (E.U.) Finance Ministers’ and G7 leaders’ economic response to the virus outbreak, which is due later on Monday for taking fresh near-term trading opportunities in the main currency pair.

Daily Support and Resistance

S1 1.0654
S2 1.0918
S3 1.1045

Pivot Point 1.1182

R1 1.1309
R2 1.1447
R3 1.1711

EUR/USD– Trading Tips

GBP/USD– Daily Analysis

The GBP/USD dropped to 1.2321. Over the weekend, the global coronavirus pandemic worsened, particularly in Europe. Italy saw the number of coronavirus cases surge past 24,700 (1809 deaths), while Spain reported over 7,800 cases in total, Germany over 5,800 cases and France over 5,400 cases. In the U.S., the number of cases jumped to nearly 3,600 (68 deaths).

On Sunday, U.S. Federal Reserve slashed interest rates to near zero percent while announcing plans to purchase 700 billion dollars in bonds and securities to stabilize financial markets and support the economy.

It is worth mentioning that the global markets remain sluggish despite the Fed, and the RBNZ announced an unscheduled rate cut while the BOJ is in the pipeline. As in result, the risk-tone remains on the back foot with the U.S. treasury yields falling almost 30 basis points while markets in Asia also flash losses by the press time.

Looking forward, the coronavirus headlines and the central bank updates will be the key to watch for near-term direction, while the traders will keep their eyes on the EU-UK disputes regarding Brexit.

On Monday open, U.S. stock futures dropped nearly 5% to their daily limit.

U.K. house price grew 1.0% on month in March (+0.8% in February), according to the home-listing website Rightmove.

Daily Support and Resistance

S1 1.1957
S2 1.2295
S3 1.2436

Pivot Point 1.2633

R1 1.2774
R2 1.297
R3 1.3308

GBP/USD– Trading Tip

The GBP/USD fell sharply to trade around 1.2360 level and has closed a bullish candle followed by strong selling candles. The Cable has immediate support around 1.2270 level, and above this, the Cable can extend the continuation of a bullish bias until 1.2450 level and 1.2625.

The MACD is consistently forming bearish histograms below zero, supporting the selling trend in the GBP/USD pair, which is why we should consider selling below 1.2633 today. Recently, the GBP/USD has closed a bullish candle that can drive buying in the GBP/USD, and it may lead its prices higher towards 1.2685 level.

USD/JPY – Daily Analysis

Today in the Asian session, the USD/JPY currency pair flashing red and trading below the 107.00, representing 1.40% losses on the day after the Bank of Japan avoided delivering the rate cut ahead of the European open on Monday.

During its emergency 1-day monetary policy meeting, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) board members decided to keep rates unchanged at -10bps whereas maintaining a10-yr JGB yield target at 0.00%. Although, the decision on maintaining its interest rate targets was made by a 7-2 vote with board members Goushi Kataoka and Yutaka Harada dissenting.

At the BOJ front, the BoJ Interest Rate Decision is announced by the Bank of Japan. Usually, if the BoJ raises the interest rates, it is positive, or bullish, for the JPY. Likewise, if the BoJ has a dovish view on the Japanese economy and cuts the interest rate, it is considered negative or bearish.

On the other hand, the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) announced a surprise rate cut to 0.25% in addition to $700 billion worth of Quantitative Easing. As well as, the Fed policymakers signaled that there would not be any Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) during this week, which was earlier scheduled for Wednesday.

Whereas, the RBA indicated that it would purchase bonds while holding a special meeting on Thursday, whereas RBNZ finally also joined the role of major central bankers that offered significant rate cuts in order to control the coronavirus (COVID-19).

Daily Support and Resistance

S1 99.26
S2 102
S3 103.37

Pivot Point 104.74

R1 106.11
R2 107.47
R3 110.21

USD/JPY – Trading Tips

Tags Daily Brief, EURUSD, Forex, Fundamental Analysis, GBPUSD, review, Technical Analysis, Technical Outlook, trading, USDJPY

Forex Videos

Forex Limit Order Hedging Strategy – Making Cash Hand Over Pip

Post author By Keiran
Post date 14 March, 2020
No Comments on Forex Limit Order Hedging Strategy – Making Cash Hand Over Pip

https://youtu.be/xvgFPr7FTdM

Limit Order Hedging strategy

This video continues in the series showing you how you can make money by using hedging strategies to take advantage of breakouts and reversals in the market, no matter what direction. And while there are many different styles of hedging strategies, in this series, we are focussing on a simple way to maximize opportunities while increasing the chance of profitability, no matter which way the market moves and if used correctly, you will be able to utilize this in your own methodology.
While the following is risky – just like all trading, we will show you how to keep setups tight, while implementing clear and precise technical analysis that professional traders use every day in the Forex market. This strategy consists of two parts, the initial trade, and a backup trade. We have eyed an opportunity with multi-month lows for the EURCHF pair.

Example A

Example A is a monthly chart of the EURCHF pair, and we can see that the Euro is falling heavily against the Swiss franc. This is due to the flight to safety, whereby the Swiss franc is seen as a safe-haven currency during the Coronavirus pandemic.

However, the Swiss National Bank will be very unhappy about their currency being so strong and are threatening to intervene in the money markets to correct this. We can also see from this chart that we are approaching lows that have not been visited for five years. Therefore with the threat looming of the Swiss National Bank intervention, and previous reversals from these levels, we can hypothesize that although the continuing risks of the virus are still prevalent, there could be an argument for imminent price action reversal, particularly because of the current strength of the Euro and where the EURUSD is currently riding high around the 1.13 level.

Example B

Let’s take another look at this chart as in example B. While we may see some further downside in the EURCHF pair, our particular area of focus will be on the key 1.03 level. Previously price action found support at this level for several months. We are going to look at putting in a buy limit at the 1.03 level, with a tight stop loss, which, if triggered, we will also implement an immediate sell limit order to target the 1.00 key psychological trading level, which is parity.

Example C

Example C is a one-hour chart of the EURCHF pair, and our setup for the first part of this trade. We have placed a buy limit at the key 1.03 level with a tight stop loss at the 1.0270 level and a profit target of the current trading range around the 1.0550 level.

Example D

Example D, Now let’s look at our backup or insurance trade in the event that price continues to fall in the pair. We want to to set up a sell limit order at the 1.0270 level which is our previous stop-loss, and this time we need a slightly wider stop loss on this new trade at 1.0310, in case the key 1.03 level is initially targeted from our entry, and where we believe it might possibly become an area of resistance before price action reverses again and where will be looking at a target of 1.000 or parity in the pair.
On the second trade, we should be looking to implement a protective profit stop at around 1.0240 level in order to, at the very least, cover the loss from our first trade.

Tags Forex, Forex hedging, trading

Forex Course

80. Indicator Based Trading – Bollinger Bands

Post author By Reddy Shyam Shankar
Post date 14 March, 2020
No Comments on 80. Indicator Based Trading – Bollinger Bands

Introduction

In the previous course lessons, we understood the importance, types, and various pros and cons involved in indicator-based trading. From this lesson, let’s start learning some of the most widely used indicators in the market. We will be starting with Bollinger Bands, which is arguably considered as one of the most widely used indicators in the Forex Market.

What are the Bollinger Bands?

They are a technical analysis indicator, which was developed by one of the famous technical trader John Bollinger in the 1980s. This indicator consists of three lines, which are simple moving average (the middle band), an upper and a lower band. In a volatile market, the bands of the indicator expand, and it contracts in tight market conditions.

Most of the traders think that the Bollinger bands indicator is similar to the moving average envelope, but it’s not true, because the calculations of both of the indicators are different. For plotting the upper and lower bands of the Bollinger Bands indicator, the standard deviation is considered. On the other hand, for moving average envelopes, the lines are calculated by taking a fixed percentage.

Bollinger Bands Indicator Plotted on a Forex Price chart

Using The Bollinger Bands Indicator To Take Trades

Most of the market experts and chartists believe that when the price action continuously touches the upper band, it means that the market is in an overbought condition, triggering a sell signal. Conversely, the closer the price action moves towards, the lower band, the more oversold the market is, triggering a buy signal.

This is the most common way to trade the markets using the Bollinger Bands. As much as this is true, we don’t suggest to use this approach to trade the markets where traders just blindly follow this one single rule. As we all know that the trend is our friend, we must first figure out the trend. Then it is advisable to trade only buy opportunities in an uptrend and sell opportunities in a downtrend. This is one of the most reliable ways to identify the trades on any trading timeframe.

The below image represents the buying opportunities on the EUR/CAD 5 min Forex chart. As we can see, the market was in a strong uptrend. We have identified four buying opportunities in just a couple of hours. The chart clearly represents how many times the price action touched the upper band and didn’t drop instantly. This is the reason why most of the professionals use this indicator to trade the market.

Trading Ranges Using The Bollinger Bands

One more crucial applications of the Bollinger Bands indicator is while trading ranges. This is because the bands of the indicator act like dynamic support and resistance levels to the price action. Higher the timeframe we use to trade the ranges, stronger are the bands will be. That is, price relatively respects these brands than the bands in the lower time frames. Many successful traders ace the market by using this strategy alone.

As we can see in the below chart, the market generated three buying and two selling opportunities when the market is ranging. Do not place the buy or sell orders blindly when prices reach the upper or lower level of the consolidation phase. Instead, wait for the prices to hold there for a couple of candles to activate your trades. In the below image, we have activated our trades only when we saw the confirmation candles. In this way, we can filter out whipsaws and false trading signals.

Conclusion

This lesson is an attempt to give you a basic idea of the working of this indicator. There are many more aspects to this, and you will be learning them once you start exploring Bollinger Bands on the price charts. You can refer to this and this articles to get advanced trading strategies using this indicator. Bollinger Bands can also be combined with technical tools like chart patterns and other reliable indicators to generate more accurate trading signals. One such example can be found here. Cheers!

[wp_quiz id=”66529″]

Tags bollinger bands, Forex, Forex indicators, Moving Averages, ranges, Standard Deviation, Technical Analysis, trading, Trading Techniques

Forex Assets

Everything You Should Know About The EUR/SEK Forex Pair

Post author By Reddy Shyam Shankar
Post date 14 March, 2020
No Comments on Everything You Should Know About The EUR/SEK Forex Pair

Introduction

EUR/SEK is the abbreviation for the Euro Area’s euro against the Swedish Krona. This exotic-cross currency pair has enough volatility but lacks liquidity. This is the reason this has pretty high spreads. In this pair, EUR is the base currency, and SEK is the quote currency.

Understanding EUR/SEK

The market price of EURSEK as a whole determines the value of SEK that is required to buy one euro. It is quoted as 1 EUR per X SEK. For example, if the value of this pair is 10.5839, then this amount of SEK is required to purchase one EUR.

EUR/SEK Specification

Spread

The difference between the bid price and the ask price is called the spread. This value is different from one ECN and STP accounts. The approximate values of the same are mentioned below.

Spread on ECN: 50 pips | Spread on STP: 55 pips

Fees

The fee is simply the commission paid for the trade. This, too, depends on the type of execution model used by the broker. The fee on ECN accounts is a few pips, while it is nil on STP accounts.

Slippage

The slippage is the difference between the trader’s intended price and the broker’s executed price. There is this difference because orders are executed by the ‘market.’ The two main reasons for slippage to occur include, broker’s execution speed & Market volatility.

Trading Range in EUR/SEK

With the values in the trading range, which depict the pip movement in different timeframes, we can determine the gain or loss that is possible on trade.

These values are obtained by combining the moving average with the average true range indicator. A complete procedure to get it into your charts is given below.

Procedure to assess Pip Ranges

Add the ATR indicator to your chart
Set the period to 1
Add a 200-period SMA to this indicator
Shrink the chart so you can assess a large time period
Select your desired timeframe
Measure the floor level and set this value as the min
Measure the level of the 200-period SMA and set this as the average
Measure the peak levels and set this as Max.

EUR/SEK Cost as a Percent of the Trading Range

Firstly, the total cost is calculated by finding the sum of the spread, slippage, and trading fee. And this cost varies as the volatility of the market changes. Below is a table that represents the cost variation for EURSEK for both ECN and STP accounts.

ECN Model Account

Spread = 50 | Slippage = 3 | Trading fee = 3

Total cost = Spread + Slippage + Trading Fee = 50 + 3 + 3 = 56

STP Model Account

Spread = 55 | Slippage = 3 | Trading fee = 0

Total cost = Spread + Slippage + Trading Fee = 55 + 3 + 0 = 58

Note: The costs may seem high because of the Spreads. As we know, these Spreads keep changing from time to time. At times we have seen the spreads for this pair being as low as 10. But we have considered the maximum spread to give you the maximum cost percentages.

The Ideal way to trade the EUR/SEK

From the trading range table, we can clearly see that the volatility in this pair is pretty high. However, this does not mean that it cannot be traded.

Coming to the next two tables, the percentage values are within the 600% mark. Note that the higher the value of the percentages, the higher is the cost. The opposite holds true, as well. Since the percentage values are high in the min column, we can conclude that the costs are high when the volatility of the market is low.

Now, to have a balance between the costs and the volatility, one must trade during those times when the volatility of the market is around the average values in the trading range table.

Moreover, there is a way through which we can nullify the slippage on the trade. This can simply be done by placing orders using ‘limit’ instead of ‘market.’ In doing so, the total cost will reduce by a decent amount.

Tags Asset Analytics, ECN, EUR, EUR/SEK, Fees, Forex, Forex Assets, SEK, slippage, spread, STP, Swedish Krona, trading, Trading Fee

Forex Fundamental Analysis

How ‘Government Debt to GDP Ratio’ Impacts The Forex Market

Post author By Reddy Shyam Shankar
Post date 14 March, 2020
No Comments on How ‘Government Debt to GDP Ratio’ Impacts The Forex Market

‘8765Introduction

Government Debt to GDP is one of the main indicators which points towards the current health of an economy and its probable future monetary prospects. For a long time, analysts have used Government Debt to GDP ratio as one of the reliable indicators in ascertaining a country’s economic health and its resultant country’s currency worth.

What is the Government debt-to-GDP ratio?

The debt-to-GDP is the proportion of a country’s total public debt to its GDP (Gross Domestic Product). In simpler words, it is the ratio of what a country owes to what a country earns. The debt-to-GDP ratio of a country compares its sovereign money owed to its total economic output for the year. Here the output is measured by gross domestic product.

Why is the Government debt-to-GDP ratio important?

When we contrast what a nation owes against what it outputs, the debt-to-GDP ratio assuredly indicates a nation’s potential to repay its dues. The Government debt to GDP in many places is conveyed as a percentage. This ratio can also mean the time required by a nation to repay and close off the owed sum where we assume if GDP is entirety used for its debt repayment.

The Government debt-to-GDP ratio is a beneficial indicator for analysts, economists, investors, and leaders. It enables them to ascertain a country’s potential to repay its owed debt. An excessive debt to GDP ratio tells that the country isn’t generating enough output to be able to repay its debt. A small ratio means there is enough income to pay off the interest on its debt.

To elaborate in layman terms, consider this analogy where a nation is like an employee, and GDP is like his/her income. Financial Institutions will be willing to give a bigger loan if they earn a higher salary. In the same way, investors would come forward to take on a country’s debt if it generates more revenue.

If investors start to lose confidence in repayment by a country, they will tend to expect a higher return in the interest rate for their lent money for the higher defaulting risk. That results in the rise of the country’s cost of debt. It means the debt itself becomes more expensive in the sense that more money goes on in just paying interests only. Such situations can quickly become a financial crisis and thereby resulting in depreciation on their credit score. That will, in turn, impact their money lending capacity and credibility in the future.

How can Government debt-to-GDP ratio be Used for Analysis?

If a Government has spent more in the past than they have received in tax revenues, it means they are injecting more money into the economy than they are withdrawing and vice versa. In general, injections are inflationary and withdrawals deflationary. The higher the percentage of Debt to GDP a Government has, the more they have to spend to maintain inflation or GDP growth or risk defaulting on their debt.

As the debt to GDP ratio increases, Economic growth becomes more dependent on Public Spending. If the Government decides to cut public spending, then this would mean if all things being equal, reduce the debt to GDP ratio and be deflationary. The thing we need to notice here is that a higher debt to GDP ratio means there is more pressure to inflate. The only choices are to deflate (which is not desirable), default on the debt (not desirable), or to inflate further.

Historically 80% level of debt to GDP is usually seen as the trouble zone. The default zone is above 100%, where it means that what country earns is less than what country owes. Interest rate suppression is necessary to keep interest bill on Government debt to a minimum. At levels of 100%+ Debt to GDP Ratio, Governments have no choice but to continue to inflate further.

Impact on Currency

If a country’s debt-to-GDP ratio increases, it often points towards an oncoming recessionary period. When a country’s GDP decelerates during a contraction, it causes federal revenue, in the form of taxes and federal receipts, etc., declining. This results in currency depreciation. In this type of situation, generally, the government tends to increase its public spending to spur growth in the economy. If this spending produces the desired effect, the recession will waive off. Taxes and federal revenues will again increase, and the debt-to-GDP ratio should accordingly return to normal.

When the entire world’s economy keeps on improving, investors will tolerate a higher exposure on their lent money because they seek higher returns. The returns on U.S. debt will increase as requests for U.S. Debt depreciates. If a particular country’s interest rate returns are higher than usual, we also need to keep in mind the fact that the probable reason for such high rates are either because the nation is already in a lot of debt, so it is very likely to default, and it certainly is in less demand in the market.

The country has to give out larger sums of interest to get them to purchase its bonds and lend their money to the Government. Hence, Investors generally choose developed nations or nations with a proven track record of repayment. In general, a decrease in the Debt to GDP number indicates a growing economy, which ultimately results in strengthening the currency.

Economic Reports

To calculate the debt-to-GDP ratio, we have to know mainly two things: the country’s current owed sum and the country’s generated revenue, i.e., its real Gross Domestic Product. This data is publicly available, and it is released quarterly. The majority of economic analysts, professional traders, look at total overall debt, but some institutions, like the CIA, only consider the total public debt to publish in their publishes.

Sources of Government Debt to GDP

The Research Division of St. Louis FRED is in the top 1% of all economics research departments worldwide. St. Louis Fed publications provide analysis, information, and instruction for the journalists, the general public, and students. These outlets allow us to effectively address economic trends, explore historical trends, and current data for economic policy.

For the United States, we can get a comprehensive analysis of Federal Debt, Total Public Debt, and Total Public Debt as a Percentage of Gross Domestic Product, Federal Surplus or Deficit. All of these details with illustrative historical analysis and many more subcategories of the same can be found in the St. Louis website.

Inflation Rates of some of the major economies can be found below.

How ‘Government Debt to GDP Ratio’ News Release Affects The Price Charts?

After understanding the Government Debt to GDP economic indicator, we will now see how a currency is affected after the news announcement is made. To understand the effect, we have chosen ‘Brazilian Real’ as the reference currency, as the data available is appropriate for analyzing the impact made by the news.

The Debt-to-GDP ratio data has the least importance and does not cause much volatility in the currency pair after the news release. This is the reason why most countries do not announce the data every month and review the GDP ratio on a yearly basis. But Brazil is one country where the government releases the data on a monthly basis. Let us analyze the lastest Debt to GDP ratio of Brazil.

The Debt to GDP ratio of Brazil is released by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), which is the official agency responsible for the collection of various information about Brazil. We see that the Debt to GDP ratio was reduced by a mere 1.5% from the previous January’s ratio. Let us find out how the market reacted to this.

Note: The ‘Brazilian Real’ is an ’emerging currency’ which is not traded in high volumes and hence can appear to be illiquid at times.

USD/BRL | Before The Announcement - (Feb 28th, 2020)

In USD/BRL, the market before the news announcement is in an uptrend showing the weakness of the ‘Brazilian Real.’ The price, just before the data is about to release, has broken the moving average line, which could be a sign of reversal. As we mentioned in the previous section of the article, lower than expected reading is taken as positive for the currency and should strengthen the currency.

Hence if the data is much lower than 55.7%, we can take a ‘short’ trade and expect a trend reversal. In this case, we will also have a confirmation from the MA. Whereas if the data is maintained around the previous reading or increased, it is bad for the currency, and we need to wait for some trend continuation signs to join the uptrend.

USD/BRL | After The Announcement - (Feb 28th, 2020)

After the news announcement is made, traders see that there was not much change in the Debt to GDP ratio, where was it was reduced by just 1.5%. This is the reason why USD/BRL did not collapse, which would strengthen the ‘Brazilian Real.’ The price did go down for a while but later created a spike on the bottom and closed above the opening price.

This spike could be a sign of trend continuation, and one can go ‘long’ in the market with a stop loss below the ‘low’ of the spike and targeting the recent high. We are essentially taking advantage of the increase in volatility after the news announcement.

EUR/BRL | Before The Announcement - (Feb 28th, 2020)

EUR/BRL | After The Announcement - (Feb 28th, 2020)

The EUR/BRL currency pair shows similar characteristics as that of the USD/BRL pair but with a major difference that the price remains below the moving average most of the time. Even though a wonderful rejection is seen at the time of news announcement, it is advised to go ‘long’ in this pair with a smaller position size and taking profit at the earliest. The debt to GDP ratio was not reduced much to create an impact on the pair, which can be seen from the ranging nature of the market after the news release.

GBP/BRL | Before The Announcement - (Feb 28th, 2020)

GBP/BRL | After The Announcement - (Feb 28th, 2020)

In the above chart, we can see that the currency pair is already in a downtrend, showing the strength of the ‘Brazilian Real.’ Since the pair is in a strong downtrend, not so good news for the Brazilian Real would mean no reversal of the current trend. However, this currency pair could prove to be the best pair for trading among all other pairs if the news outcome is positive for the Brazilian Real as we will be trading with the trend.

After the news announcement is made, the market barely goes above the moving average, which means going ‘long’ in this pair can be very risky. Therefore, the only way to trade in such scenarios is when the news outcome is positive for the currency pair on the right-hand side and profit on the downside.

That’s about Government Debt To GDP Ratio and its impact on some of the Forex currency pairs. In case of any queries, let us know in the comments below. Cheers.

Tags Brazilian Real, Currency Impact, debt to gdp, Forex, Fundamental Analysis, fundamental indicators, Government Debt To GDP Ratio, Macro Economic Indicators

Forex Daily Topic Forex Price-Action Strategies

Price Action Trading: Entries to Take and Entries to Skip

Post author By Tareq Sikder
Post date 14 March, 2020
No Comments on Price Action Trading: Entries to Take and Entries to Skip

In today’s price action trading lesson, we are going to demonstrate an example of a chart that offers multiple entries. We try to spot out entry/entries that we may skip and the entry/entries we may take. We try to find out the reasons behind that as well. Let us get started.

The price after being bullish for a long time produces a bearish reversal candle and heads towards the South. Look at the last candle. It comes out as a bullish inside bar. Price action traders start eyeing on such a chart to go short. However, the sellers would love to see the price have deeper consolidation.

The chart does not make a deep consolidation. It produces a bearish engulfing candle closing well below consolidation support. The trend and the reversal candle get 10 on 10, but the consolidation is not deep enough. It is not an A+ entry. It is best if we restrain ourselves from taking such entry. Let us proceed to the next chart.

Many of us may think an opportunity missed. Here is one added lesson on ‘ do not cry over spilled milk.’ Forex traders must obey this. Let us concentrate on the chart again. The last candle comes out as a very strong bearish candle. The pair may offer more short entries.

The chart produces a bullish inside bar again. The equation is simple for the sellers based on price action. The chart is to produce a bearish engulfing candle closing well below consolidation support. Let us proceed to the next chart.

Here it comes. This is one good-looking bearish engulfing candle closing well below consolidation support. The trend, consolidation length, and the bearish reversal candle all get 10 on 10. As far as price action breakout trading strategy is concerned, this is an A+ entry. Let us now find out how the entry goes.

It does not go according to our expectations. It rather produces a bullish inside bar again. It is an inside bar. Thus the sellers still hold the key here. The fact remains at the first consolidation, despite having shallow consolidation, the price heads towards the South with extreme bearish momentum. On the contrary, despite being an A+ entry, the price does not move according to the sellers’ expectations. It may even go towards the North and hits the stop loss. Then again, we must stick with our trading rules and be extremely disciplined. Let us proceed to the next chart to find out what happens next.

Ah! What a move this is! The sellers make some green pips here. The chart makes them wait, but it pays them back. As mentioned, it could go another way. That does not mean we start thinking to change our strategies or start taking random entries. We must make sure we only take entries that get A+ after considering all the segments.

Tags Bearish, bearish reversal, Breakout, Bullish, consolidation, engulfing, Forex, Forex price action, Price Action, trading

Forex Forex Brokers

Fair Markets Review

FairMarkets Trading Pty Ltd. is an ASIC (Australian Securities and Investments Commission) licensed liquidity provider for over-the-counter derivatives. They aim to offer protection, a fair price, and innovation to their clients. In this review, we will be looking into the service being offered to see if they live up to this expectation.

Account Types

There are two different accounts on offer, the Pro and the Elite account. Both having their own requirement sand trading conditions, so let’s see what they are.

Pro Account:
The Pro account requires a minimum deposit of $500, it has no added commissions and the average spread starts from 1 pip. Leverage can be up to 1:500 and it has access to forex pairs, CFDs, metals, and cryptocurrencies. The account is allowed to hedge trades and has access to FairMarkets 24/5 support team.

Elite Account:
The elite account has a minimum deposit requirement of $25,000. The account comes with a commission of $25 / million and due to the commission, there is an average spread starting from 0.1 pips. The account also has leverage up to 1:500 and has aces to forex pairs, CFDs, metals and cryptos. Hedging is allowed and there is access to FairMArkets 24/5 customer support team.

Platforms

There are three different ways to trade with FairMarkets, let’s look at what they are.

MetaTrader 5 (MT5):
MetaTrader 5 offers the built-in Market of trading robots, the Freelance database of strategy developers, Copy Trading and the Virtual Hosting service (Forex VPS). Use all these services from one place, and access new trading opportunities. MetaTrader 5 is also highly accessible with it being available as a desktop download, application for iOS and Android devices and even as a WebTrader where you can trade from within your internet browser.

FairMarkets Trader:
This is FairMarkets own platform, unfortunately, there isn’t a whole lot of information regarding it, instead, there is just a little information that states “Our own modern platform and client portal that runs on any device for efficient trading and account management on the go.” No actual information about features or benefits.

Fix API:
This is a more advanced way of trading and requires some coding knowledge so it isn’t really for the retail trader. You can connect directly to FairMarkets via the Financial Information Exchange (FIX) API protocol. Perfect for high-speed trading.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available is 1:500, you can select leverage when signing up for an account. Once an account is open if you wish to change the leverage on it you will need to get in contact with the customer support team with your request.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots (also known as a micro lot), they then go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. The maximum trade size is 695 lots which his an oddly specific number, at any rate, we would recommend not trading in sizes larger than 50 lots. As the bigger a trade becomes the harder it is for the markets or liquidity provider to execute the trade quickly and without any slippage.

Trading Costs

The Pro account uses a spread based system that we will look at later in this review so there is no added commission. The Elite account has a commission of $25 / million traded, which equates to around $2.5 per lot traded which is low when comparing it to the standard $6 per round lot traded.

Swap charges also need to be noted, these are interest charges that are incurred for holding trades overnight, they can be both negative or positive and can usually be viewed from within the trading platform of choice.

Assets

FairMArkets have broken down their assets into a few different categories, we will outline some of the instruments available in each.

Forex Currency Pairs:
Plenty of different pairs are available for trading a few of them include AUDCAD, EURCHF, EURUSD, GBPJPY, EURZAR, GBPNZD, NZDUSD, USDMXN, USDTRY.

Crypto:
Just three on offer which are BTCUSD, ETHUSD, and LTCUSD.

Metals:
Just the usual suspects of Gold and Silver are available to trade against the Dollar.

Indices:
A number of different indices are also available, they include FRA 40, GER 30, NAS 100, SPX 500, UK 100, JPN 225 and, US 30.

Energy:
Finally, there are energies, or energy, as there is just one which is US Oil.

Spreads

The spreads you receive depend on a few different factors, the first being the account you are using. The Pro account has spreads starting from 1 pip while the Elite account has spreads starting from 0.1 pips. The spreads are variable (also known as floating) so this means that when the markets are being volatile, the spreads will often be seen higher. It is also important to note that different instruments and assets have different starting spreads. So while EURUSD may start at 1.2 pips, other assets like GBPJPY may start slightly higher, in this case, 1.8 pips.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open an account is $500, this gets you the Pro account. If you want the Elite account then you will need a deposit of at least $25,000. It is unknown if the minimum deposit reduces or not once an account is already open.

Deposit Methods & Costs

The methods stated on the site as being accepted are Bank Wire Transfer, Visa Credit / Debit, MasterCard Credit / Debit, and Alipay. There is no information surrounding any fees so we can not comment on that part however, we can say to check with your processor prior to making a deposit to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available to withdraw with, for clarification these are Bank Wire Transfer, Visa Credit / Debit, MasterCard Credit / Debit, and Alipay. Just like with the deposits there is no information surrounding any fees for withdrawing. So as usual, be sure to check with your bank or processor to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Unfortunately, this information is not stated on the site. We would hope that withdrawal requests would be processed within 48 hours. We can say that once they are processed, using Bank Wire Transfer or card withdrawals, it can take an additional 1 to 5 working days for your funds to become available for use.

Bonuses & Promotions

We could not locate any information on the website in regards to bonuses or promotions so it does not appear that there are any active ones at the time of writing this review. If you are interested in bonuses then be sure to check back regularly or get in contact with the customer service team to see if there are any upcoming bonuses or promotions.

Educational & Trading Tools

There doesn’t appear to be anything in regards to education or trading tools. This is a shame as a lot of brokers these days are looking to help their clients improve and become more profitable with educational courses or tools to help them trade or analyze. It would be nice to see FairMarkets do something similar for their clients.

Customer Service

Should you wish to get your questions or queries to FairMarkets, you can do so using an online submission form to fill in your query. You should then get a reply via email. They also have an email address to use or a phone number should you wish to speak to someone directly. The customer support team is open 24/5 and is closed over the weekend and on bank holidays just like the markets are.

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available, you need to sign up. Prior to signing up there is, unfortunately, no information surrounding the account available such as which account it mimics or if there is an expiry time on the account. This information would be nice to have before needing to sign up to find out.

Countries Accepted

The only statement on the site regarding this is as follows: “FairMarkets Trading Pty Ltd. is a company registered and regulated in Australia by ASIC (Australian Securities and Investment Commission) and holding AFS license number 424122 ACN 159166739. As a consequence of our financial services being provided outside of Australia, the AFS license and Australian regulation only apply to financial services provided to Australian residents.”

So if you are interested in signing up for an account, we would recommend getting in contact with the customer service team to find out if you are eligible for an account or not.

Conclusion

FairMarkets started off very well, offering some good trading conditions and accounts. They are relatively cheap compared to the competitions when it comes to trading costs. The main downside is the lack of information surrounding the deposits and withdrawals. It is important for us and clients to know how they can send and receive their money as well as how much it will cost them. This information is vital and FairMArkets should look to include it on the website.

Tags Forex, Forex Broker, review

Forex Market Analysis

WTI Crude Oil Prices Rose To $32.35 – Emergency Cash Injection U.S. Fed Hikes!

Post author By Ali B.
Post date 13 March, 2020
No Comments on WTI Crude Oil Prices Rose To $32.35 – Emergency Cash Injection U.S. Fed Hikes!

The WTI crude oil prices flashing green and recovered to $32.35, mainly after the emergency liquidity injected from the United States Fedra Reserve. The fresh geopolitical tension from Iraq supporting the energy prices. Moreover, the reason behind the oil price recovery could also be the surprise infusion of liquidity from the Bank Of Japan. The U.S. Crude Oil WTI Futures traded 2.7% higher to $32.35.

The WTI Crude Oil prices recovered today after the Federal Reserve moved to provide $1.5 trillion in short-term liquidity and changed durations of Treasuries it buys.

Despite today’s recoveries, crude oil markets fell almost 30% this week after Saudi Arabia and Russia prices war and decided not to cut production further and instead sell at lower prices, raising fears of a price war.

Meanwhile, the U.S. decision to ban travel from some European countries as President Donald Trump’s main tactic to control COVID-19 also disappointed the investor’s sentiment.

Traders are expecting that the talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and Saudi Prince may help to stop the fall in crude prices while, on the other hand, Russia’s willingness to attend the OPEC+ meeting on March 18 adds smiles on the face of the oil trades.

Looking forward, qualitative catalysts could keep the driver’s seat, whereas the weekly release of the Baker Hughes US Oil Rig Counts, prior 682, will entertain the traders.

Daily Support and Resistance

S1 26.84
S2 29.16
S3 30.25

Pivot Point 31.49

R1 32.57
R2 33.81
R3 36.13

Technically, crude oil is trading at $32.36 per barrel, mostly maintaining sideways trading range of 34.40 – 27.33. At the moment, 34.35 resistance is very, very crucial for crude oil as the MACD is in the buying zone, and traders need a reason to go long on crude oil. Breakout of 34.35/40 can be that reason which may attract some buying in crude oil and may lead its prices towards 38. Let’s look to stay bearish below 34 as below this; crude can head to target the next support level of 31.50. Good luck!

Tags crude oil, Forex, trading, usoil, WTI

Forex Forex Brokers

DAX1001 Review

Dax1001 is an international foreign exchange broker that aims its services at both novice traders and experienced ones. Some of their main selling points are stated as having the fastest system of trading order execution, guaranteed daily customer support with quick problem resolutions, multiple account types to choose from and a powerful and adaptable trading platform. Throughout this review, we will be looking into the services that Dax1001 offers to see how they compare to the competition and so you can decide if they are the right broker for your trading needs.

Account Types

There are three different account types on offer, the account comparison page does not give a lot of information, but we have outline date information that it does give below.

Basic Account: This account type is sufficient for beginners who are just starting to earn money on a market trade and avoid serious financial risks.

Gold Account: The Gold account is a good choice for the more experienced trader; it includes a wider range of tools.

Platinum Account: The Platinum account would be perfect for well experienced professional traders, who are ready for big deals and major risks.

As the trading conditions offered by them is not stated on this page, as we go through this review, we will outline any differences between them within each individual section of the review, this way you can get a better understanding of what makes each account type unique.

Platforms

Dax1001 offers just a single platform for use with their accounts and that one platform is MetaTrader 4 (MT4). MetaTrader 4 comes with a whole host of features including online quotes and interactive charts in 9 periods. This option allows you to study the movement of quotations, and respond to market changes immediately. 23 analytical objects and 30 built-in technical indicators that will assist in considering and predicting price fluctuations in the most convenient way for the trader.

The built-in Market of trading tools makes the analytical possibilities of traders unlimited by allowing them to install additionally thousands of robots. The library of additional indicators is free and available for all users. The platform can also be used as a desktop download, webtrader within your internet browser and as an app downloadable to your Android or iOS devices.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available seems to be at 1:300 for all three account types, the leverage that you desire can be selected when you first open up an account. Should you wish to change it on an already open account then you can do so by sending a change request to the customer service team. Make sure that there are no open trades at the time of the request, otherwise, any changes cannot be made.

Trade Sizes

The minimum trade size available s 0.01 lots, this is also known as a micro lot and is equal to 1,000 base currency units. An overall lot is worth 100,000 base currency units. The trade sizes go up in increments of 0.01 lots but we do not know what the maximum trade size is. We also do not know how many trades and orders you are able to have at any one time.

Trading Costs

There is no mention of any commissions, but also no mention that there aren’t any so we are not entirely sure what the cost of trading actually is. There are swap charges on the accounts, these are fees that are charged when holding trades overnight. Swap fees are based on the change of interest between markets and can be both positive or negative, and can be viewed fro within the MT4 trading platform.

Assets

The assets on Dax1001 have been broken down into various categories. Unfortunately, there is not a full breakdown of the available assets. We have outlined the information we do know in each category below.

Currency Pairs:
There are over 50 currency pairs available which include the basic currency pairs (also known as majors) which are the most popular currency pairs to trade. There are also cross-currency pairs available which usually do not contain the USD currency. Finally, there are also exotic currency pairs available which include smaller economic currencies such as those from Brazil, Mexico, and South Africa.

Indices:
There are a number of different indices available, these are normally stock portfolios and some of the ones mentioned include the Dow Jones, S&P 500, Nasdaq, Nikkei, Dax 30 and FTSE 100 form the UK.

Metals:
Looking through all the information provided it seems that Gold, Silver, Platinum, and Palladium are all available to trade.

Energies:
Through the Dax1001 platform, you are able to trade energies such as Natural Gas, Brent Crude Oil, US Crude Oil, Plastics, and Gasoline to name just a few.

Futures:
There are futures that include various assets from the other categories including currencies, securities, goods, energy resources, and stock indices.

Shares:
There are shared from all over the world available to trade, the examples that are given include the likes of Alphabet, Amazon, Coca-Cola, Alibaba, and Tesla.

Spreads

There aren’t actually any examples of the available spreads and so because there are no spreads known and also no commissions known. The overall cost of trading with Dax1001 is completely unknown to us. The only information that we have about the spreads is that they are supposed to be low and that they are variable. This means that they can be influenced by the markets, the more the markets move the higher the spreads will be. It should also be noted that not all instruments will have the same spreads, some will naturally be higher than others.

Minimum Deposit

There does not seem to be a minimum deposit level, as you can open up an account using just $1. We would always recommend starting with a higher amount though as starting with a sum that is too low can make profits harder to come by and it is also harder to use proper risk management.

Deposit Methods & Costs

The only methods mentioned as available are Visa, MasterCard, and Bank Wire Transfer. The same page does state that there are a lot of methods available, so whether there are some additional ones available that aren’t mentioned, we do not know.

Dax1001 doesn’t take fees for transferring money to your account. A standard commission should be paid only if you transfer money from debit and credit cards. In this case, you should pay up to 2.5% of the sum you transfer. This money is paid to cover the expenses on card payment processing. Sometimes a payment system collects fees for using its electronic invoices or servicing bank cards s you should check with your own card issuer or bank for any additional fees added from them.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods should be available to withdraw with, for clarification purposes those methods are Visa, MasterCard, and Bank Wire Transfer. Dax1001 does not state whether they add any additional commissions or fees when withdrawing funds with them. You should, however, check with your own bank or card issuer as some may charge an incoming processing fee which you will be liable to pay.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Withdrawal requests will be processed on working days from 09:00 until 18:00 local time (GMT+2), except weekends and public holidays. Queries sent after 18:00 p.m. will be considered during the next working day. Once the withdrawal request has been processed, it may take between 1 to 5 additional days for the withdrawal to be fully processed by your own bank or card issuer and to be available for use.

Bonuses & Promotions

The only promotion that is shown on the site is the fact that there is a demo account available, so this isn’t really much of a promotion. There are mentions of bonuses around the site but no information about them, so they may have been available in the past. So if you are looking for bonuses, you may have some luck if you contact the customer service team to see if there are any active or coming up that you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

The educational side of the site is very basic, it involves an FAQ which is more about the broker rather than trading (it actually only has questions and no answers, so it’s not the most useful FAQ). The only other section is a glossary which contains forex related terms, good to come back to if you come across something you do not know, but there are more comprehensive glossaries out there on the internet.

Customer Service

The contact us page is a little basic, there are no details about the operating times of the support team, so we do not know their opening and closing times. There is also a limited way to contact the team, you can use the email address provided or the phone number. It is good that they have provided a phone number as that is what many brokers leave out.

Demo Account

Demo accounts allow you to test out the servers, platform, and trading conditions, as well as new strategies without any real risk. Dax1001 is offering demo account to their clients or potential clients. The demo account uses the MetaTrader 4 platform and will use the same trading conditions mentioned throughout this review. So we, unfortunately, do not know them all, and we also do not know if there is an expiration on the accounts.

Countries Accepted

This information is not present on the site, so we would recommend contacting the customer service team before signing up just to make sure that you are eligible for an account.

Conclusion

Dax1001 does not make their trading conditions very clear, we know the platforms available and that you can be leveraged up to 1:300 but that is about it. We do not know the spreads or commissions, so the overall cost of trading is a complete mystery to us. We also do not have a full breakdown of the available assets, just some explanations and a few examples here and there. The deposit and withdrawal methods are also limited, the good news is that there are no fees though. There is a lot of information missing, so much that it makes it hard for us to recommend Dax1001 as a broker to use at this current point in time.

Tags Forex, Forex Broker, review

Forex Videos

Master Forex – Hedging Strategy Using Buy & Sell Limit Orders

Post author By Keiran
Post date 13 March, 2020
No Comments on Master Forex – Hedging Strategy Using Buy & Sell Limit Orders

https://youtu.be/td11yLQCTC8

Hedging strategy using buy and sell limit orders

This video is a follow on from Hedging – Making money no matter which way the market moves and Hedging Strategy Via The Ascending Pennant Chart Pattern.

The idea in this series is to incorporate a secondary backup, or insurance policy type trade, in order to maximize the possibilities of breakouts from well-known, tried, and trusted chart patterns that professional traders use. And these setups are better suited to the 15-minute, 30-minute, and 1-hour time frames, where you might expect a larger amount of pips to be made in a trending, or reversing market.

Example A

Example A is a 1-hour chart of the GBPUSD pair, but this set up works with any forex pair.

Example B

Example B shows that after an initial push higher, price action consolidates in a sideways move and this consolidation is confirmed by at least two attempts to push higher than a horizontal line of exchange rate where price action is rejected and which acts as a line of resistance and at least two pushes lower on a separate horizontal line of the exchange rate which was met with a line of support.
While this see-sawing between the resistance and support levels may continue for some time, one thing is for sure, that eventually, price action will either break to downside or break to the upside.

Example C

Now let’s look at Example C. This is where we will set up our first limit order. Firstly, price action appears to be fading to our support line, as defined by the green line. This fading of price action means that we are more likely, at this point, to see a breach of our support line and a continuation in price action in a downwards direction.
Therefore we have placed a sell limit order a couple of pips below the support line with a stop loss a couple of pips above the resistance line.

Example D

Now we must turn to example D, which is our secondary backup buy limit order, which we believe would be a good insurance policy should price action break the resistance line and move in an upward direction.
In this situation, we simply set our buy limit order a couple of pips above the line of resistance with a stop loss a couple of pips below the area of support.

The idea regarding our hedging strategy is to prime everything in readiness for where we believe the price action will go due to our technical analysis and also to set up a secondary trade in the reverse direction as a backup or insurance policy in case price action reverses in the opposite to the direction where we believe price action will go.
Obviously, it is possible that both trades could be executed and therefore we would advise that you keep an eye on the trade and should both trades be executed and where one triggers a stop loss, the profit target from the secondary trade should be at the very least the amount that was stopped out on the first trade, in order not to adversely affect your profit and loss.

Tags Forex, Forex hedging, trading

Forex Market Analysis

Daily F.X. Analysis, March 13 – Top Trade Setups In Forex – Market Tosses in Profits & Losses Amid Coronavirus!

Post author By Ali B.
Post date 13 March, 2020
No Comments on Daily F.X. Analysis, March 13 – Top Trade Setups In Forex – Market Tosses in Profits & Losses Amid Coronavirus!

On the forex front, the U.S. dollar gained traction on Thursday, with the ICE Dollar Index climbing 1.0% on the day to 97.50. The U.S. official data showed that producer prices declined 0.6% on month in February (-0.1% expected), and initial jobless claims fell to 211,000 in the week ended March 7 (220,000 expected).

Later today, March University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Index (preliminary reading, 95.0 expected) will be reported.

U.S. official data showed that producer prices declined 0.6% on month in February (-0.1% expected), and initial jobless claims fell to 211,000 in the week ended March 7 (220,000 expected).

Later today, March University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Index (preliminary reading, 95.0 expected) will be reported.

Economic Events to Watch Today

EUR/USD – Daily Analysis

The EUR/USD lost 0.8% to 1.1181. The European Central Bank expanded its asset purchase program by EUR120 billion while keeping its key interest rates unchanged. ECB President Christine Lagarde said, “the spread of the coronavirus Covid-19 has been a major shock to the growth prospects of the global economy and the euro areas economy, and it has heightened market volatility”.

It should be noted that the 3-month euro-dollar and dollar-yen swap spreads had widened to levels last seen in 2017 on Thursday. Notably, spreads widened by nearly 40 basis points, the most significant single-day increase since December 2008, highlighting stress in the dollar funding markets. Whereas, the Federal Reserve injected liquidity by $1.5 billion. As a result, the credit markets could normalize ahead of the weekend.

The German Federal Statistical Office will report final readings of February CPI (+1.7% on-year expected). France’s INSEE will post final readings of February CPI (+1.4% on-year expected).

Daily Support and Resistance

S1 1.0654
S2 1.0918
S3 1.1045

Pivot Point 1.1182

R1 1.1309
R2 1.1447
R3 1.1711

EUR/USD– Trading Tips

The EUR/USD has traded mostly lower to test the double bottom support level of 1.1095 level. The EUR/USD is currently trading around 1.1195, and it’s forming a lower-lows pattern on the 4-hour chart, which mostly drives a continuation of a selling trend. On the lower side, a continuation of a bearish bias can extend sell-off until 1.1100 and 1.1095. While the bullish breakout of 1.1350 can drive more buying until 1.1454 area. Consider staying bullish over 1.1182 and bearish below the same level today.

GBP/USD– Daily Analysis

The GBP/USD plunged 1.9% to 1.2576, the lowest level since last October. Sterling fell against the U.S. dollar despite weaker than expected U.S. economic events. The U.S. official data showed that producer prices declined 0.6% on month in February (-0.1% expected), and initial jobless claims fell to 211,000 in the week ended March 7 (220,000 expected).

At the U.K. front, there are fewer chances that the British PM Johnson will announce any significant stimulus after the BOE joined the budgetary push to defeat the virus the previous day. However, Traders should wait for the final announcement because we all know that the Tory leader is famous for providing surprises.

Apart from the coronavirus headlines, traders will likely pay a little attention to the U.S. data. However, the Bank Of England minutes could offer a robust near-term direction after the central bank marked a surprise cut during the week. “Minutes are released at noon GMT from MPC’s “special” March 10 meeting, where they decided to coordinate the inter-meeting easing package announced Wednesday.

Later in the day, the U.S. Labor Department will release the February import price index (-1.0% expected). The University of Michigan will publish its Consumer Sentiment Index for March (95.0 expected).

Daily Support and Resistance

S1 1.2523
S2 1.2695
S3 1.2758

Pivot Point 1.2867

R1 1.293
R2 1.3039
R3 1.3211

GBP/USD– Trading Tip

On Friday, the GBP/USD continues to trade in a bearish mode due to the BOE rate cut decision. The GBP/USD has dropped further after violating the immediate support level of 1.2750, which is now working as a resistance. The sell-off in the GBP/USD was so solid that it’s pricing fell down to 1.2506 level which is now working as a support.

Recently, the GBP/USD has closed a bullish candle that can drive buying in the GBP/USD, and it may lead its prices higher towards 1.2685 level. The MACD is consistently forming bearish histograms below zero, supporting the selling trend in the GBP/USD pair, which is why we should consider selling below 1.2825 today.

USD/JPY – Daily Analysis

During the early Asian session, the USD/JPY currency pair flashing green but dropped from the session highs, because the Japanese yen is finding bids, mainly due to the sharp decline in the U.S. stock futures. At the press time, the USD/JPY currency pair is currently trading at 105.41 and consolidates in the range between the 104.51 – 106.03. However, the pair dropped from 105.20 to 104.68 in the 60 minutes to 01:30 UTC and was last seen trading around 104.89.

The futures Wall Street’s benchmark equity index S&P 500 are currently down 1.64 percent, having started the Asian session on a relatively less risk-off note.

Whereas, the global equities and the U.S. stock markets are expected to trade red on Friday. In the time being, the Asian equities are flashing red with Japan’s Nikkei reporting a 9% drop.

The BOJ offered a liquidity injection of 500 billion yen early Friday, but so far, but that has failed to improve the risk sentiment and weaken the Japanese yen.

Daily Support and Resistance

S1 99.41
S2 102.11
S3 103.7

Pivot Point 104.81

R1 106.4
R2 107.51
R3 110.21

USD/JPY – Trading Tips

The USD/JPY is trading at 105.800 and has already bounced off a double bottom support level of 104.100. Closing of 4-hour candle above this level has confirmed the chances of further buying in the pair. The recent candles on the 4-hour chart are three white soldiers who are bullish nature and typically drive buying in the market.

The immediate resistance that USD/JPY can face is around 106.150 level, and violation of this can extend more buying until 107.450 marks. On the lower side, support stays around 104. All the best for today!

Tags Daily Brief, EURUSD, Forex, Fundamental Analysis, GBPUSD, Technical Analysis, trading, UDJPY

Forex Forex Brokers

FCMarket Review

FCMarket claims to be one of the most outstanding and reliable online forex trading consultants in the industry. Some of the features listed on their company profile include:

Trade Forex, Indices, Commodities & CFDs
Tight Spreads from as low as 0.1* (EURUSD)
Flexible leverage up to 1:1000
EAs, Scalping, and Hedging allowed
Winner of 18 Industry Awards
Only top tier international banks are used
Client funds are held in segregated accounts
Full transparency
Swap-free Islamic Account
Premium Account from just $500
VIP Account for the ultimate trading experience
Licensed by SVG FSA

Looking at this list and information around the site we can already see a lot of potential contradictions. FCMarket seems to use the services of multiple different brokers to help create their own, mixing and matching, and we will outline these collaborations as we go through this FC Market review.

Account Types

We believe that there may be more than one account type, however, there aren’t any definitive differences shown apart from the odd account name here and there. As we go through the review we will outline any potential differences in the accounts in each individual section so you can get a better understanding of what is on offer.

Platforms

FXMarket uses MetaTrader 4 as its trading platform, MT4 is one of the most used and trusted trading platform which has a whole host of features including:

Working with securities of Forex, Futures and CFD markets
Instant Execution, Request Execution, Market Execution
Confidentiality of all trading operations
Unlimited charts quantity
Support of various timeframes (from minutes up to months)
A large number of technical indicators and line studies
Experts, Custom Indicators and Scripts
MultiLanguage program interface
Realtime data export via DDE protocol
Signals of system and trading actions
Getting on-line news from financial markets
Internal e-mail system
Printing charts and completed trading transactions statements
Accessible as a desktop download, mobile application, and web trader.

Strangely the site indicates that you will be downloading the FxPro MT4 platform rather than its own.

Leverage

If your account has less than $400,000 then you can have a maximum leverage of 1:400. If your account has a balance over $400,000 then your account can be leveraged up to 1:100. You can select the leverage when opening up an account and can change it by contacting the customer service team with the change request. The opening statement from the broker indicates that the maximum leverage available is 1:1000 so this is a little contradictory to the rest of the information on the website.

Trade Sizes

A lot is equal to 100,000 units and the minimum trade size is 0.01 lots. Trade sizes go up in increments of 0.01 lots so the next trade would be 0.02 lots and then 0.03 lots. We do not know what the maximum trade size is or how many open trades and orders you can have at any one time.

Trading Costs

We do not know if there are any additional commissions as the information is not present on the site. We do know that there are swap charges which are fees charged when you hold a trade overnight, and these can be viewed within the MT4 trading platform and can be both positive or negative.

Assets

The asset list provided comes from HF Market, so it seems like they use the same assets provided by them, we have outlined them below.

Forex Major Pairs:
CADCHF, CADJPOY, CHFJPY, EURCAD, EURCHF, EURGBP, EURJPY, EURUSD, GBPCAD, GBPCHF, GBPJPY, GBPUSD, USDCAD, USDCHF, USDJPY.

Forex Minor Pairs:
AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY, AUDNZD, AUDUSD, EURAUD, EURCZK, EURDKK, EURHUF, EURNOK, EURNZD, EURPLN, EURZAR, GBPAUD, GBPNZD, GBPZAR, NZDCAD, NZDCHF, NZDJPY, NZDUSD, USDCNH, USDCZK, USDDKK, USDHKD, USDHUF, USDMXN, USDNOK, USDPLN, USDRUB, USDSEK, USDSGD, USDTRY, USDZAR, ZARJPY.

Commodities Spot:
Palladium and Platinum

Commodities Futures:
US Cocoa, Coffee, Copper, US Cotton No 2, Sugar #11

Indices (also available as futures):
AUS 200, FRA 40, GER 30, JPN 225, NETH 25, SPA 35, SUI 20, UK 100, USA 100, USA 30, USA 500.

Metals and Energies Spot:
UK Brent Oil, US Crude Oil, Silver (USD and EUR), and Gold (USD and EUR).

Metals and Energies Futures:
US Natural Gas, UK Brent Oil, US Crude Oil.

Shares:
There are plenty of shares available including the likes of Apple, Boeing, Coca-Cola, Tesco, RBS, Microsoft, and Netflix.

Spreads

The minimum spread starts from 1 pip. The spread is variable which means they move with the markets, the more volatility or lack of liquidity can cause the spreads to widen and grow larger. The different instruments will also have different natural spreads, so some will always be higher than the others.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open up an account stated on the FAQ is $500. However, on the account opening page, it states that the minimum required is $50, so we are not sure which figure is the correct one.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There are a few methods available to use to deposit, these are Bank Wire Transfers, Skrill (MoneyBookers), WebMoney, Neteller, Credit Card (Visa, Mastercard, Visa Electron), CashU, UKash, FinalPay. We do not know if there are any added fees, you should always check with your own bank or processor to see if they will add any outgoing transfer fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available to withdraw with, for clarification these are Bank Wire Transfers, Skrill (MoneyBookers), WebMoney, Neteller, Credit Card (Visa, Mastercard, Visa Electron), CashU, UKash, FinalPay. It is not stated if there are any added fees or not, but some banks and processors will charge a fee for incoming transfer processing. Make sure to check with the method you use to see if there are any added commissions from them.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

It can take up to three days for a withdrawal request to be processed by FCMarket. It can then take an additional 1 to 5 working days based on the method used and its own processing times.

Bonuses & Promotions

There does not appear to be any bonuses on offer, you could always check with the customer service team to see if there are any coming up that you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

There are some very basic information pages provided which make up the majority of this section, they cover topics such as: What is Forex?, Forex History, Margin & Leverage, What is CFD?, Technical Analysis and Fundamental Analysis. There is also a forex glossary that details different trading terms so you can refer back to if you come across something you do not know the meaning of. There is also an economic calendar that details different news events and what potential impact they could have on the markets.

Customer Service

The customer service team is available 24 hours a day from Sunday to Friday. The only method of communication provided ina via email address. This is a little disconcerting as many people prefer to speak to someone directly, so having a phone number available would be beneficial for those clients.

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available. You will need to download the MT4 platform and open up a demo account within it. Due to this, we do not know what the trading conditions are but would hope that they will match the live ones. We also do not know if there is an expiration time on these demo accounts. Again it mentions the FxPro demo accounts and not their own, you can use these accounts to test out new strategies without any real risk.

Countries Accepted

This information is not present on the site so if you are thinking of signing up we would recommend contacting the customer service team prior to opening up the account, just to make sure that you are eligible.

Conclusion

There is quite a lot of confusion and some noted contradictions on the FCM website. The leverage has different values, as does the minimum deposit. Some information is taken from FCMarket directly while other bits come from FxPro and HFMarkets, so we do not really know what is going on as we have seen a broker take information from multiple other brokers before. The trading conditions that are on offer are average and the spreads are acceptable, but we do not know if there are any added commissions on the trading. Plenty of assets are available. Another downside worth mentioning is the limited ways to get in contact with the customer service team. We never really like brokers that use aspects of other brokers to build their own service, this along with all the discrepancies in the information can make FCMarket and hard broker to recommend.

Tags Forex, Forex Broker, review

Forex Daily Topic Forex Psychology

What does it take to Replicate Success?

Post author By Fran S.
Post date 12 March, 2020
No Comments on What does it take to Replicate Success?

Replicating something is done by taking a model and copying it. To become a successful trader, beginners should replicate, or model, a successful trader. But what does it take to replicate Success?

The Model

To replicate a model, we need first to define and subdivide it into sub-processes or tasks. According to Dr. Van K. Tharp, the needed subtasks required to master to become a successful trader are:

The trading process

The process of trading
The process of developing a trading system that fits the trader
The process of objective definition and risk management
The process of a business plan as a document that guides decision-making.

Of course, to aim for excellence, we need to model the best traders in class.

The first step is to subdivide the model into sub-tasks. Once the tasks have been defined, we need to attach beliefs, mental states, and mental strategies for each one. The purpose is to duplicate the way a successful trader thinks and acts. If we can achieve this feat, we are sure the results can be replicated.

The beliefs

According to Dr. Tharp, beliefs act as the first filter to transform the information coming from the world. Beliefs, meanings, categorizations, and comparisons determine how people perceive the real world. What a trader expects from the market depends largely on his beliefs about it. That which is called market sentiment is really “market beliefs.”

Since beliefs are filters to reality, it is wise to classify them, by asking ourselves the following

Where did this belief come from?
How useful is it?
How does it limit my actions?

This process helps us keep and improve valuable beliefs and get rid of un-useful ones.

Mental States

The next step to generate success is duplicating the mental state of top traders. It has to do with discipline and emotional control. When people carry their mental problems to trading their results usually come from an improper mental state, not suited to trading:

I’m impatient and always get in too early
I get mad at markets. They seem to know when I trade just to do the opposite
I’m afraid the market is against me now that I’m wining
I get too excited when I’m winning and don’t get out in time.

Controlling these states is not the solution to solve all problems. It is just one part of it. Dr. Van K. Tharp tells that in the ideal model to the trading success, each task has an optimal mental state attached to it.

Mental Strategies

A mental strategy is a sequence of thoughts that go from a stimulus coming any of your senses to output or action. Let’s create an example with two possible mental strategies for the same stimulus to better understand the concept.

Mental Strategy One:

perceiving a trading signal
realizing it is a known signal
Think about what can go wrong if you take it
Visualize the scenario
Feel afraid

Mental Strategy Two

Perceiving the Signal
Recognize it as part of your system
Feel good your system delivers you a new opportunity
Take it and trade

What do you think is the right strategy for trading? Could you take action and trade consistently using mental strategy one?

As in the case of the mental states, each trading task requires an optimal mental strategy to optimize the results. That will be developed in future articles.

Further Reading: Peak Performance Course Book 1- How to use Risk, Van K. Tharp.

Tags Crypto, Forex, Market Psychology, psychology, success, trading

Forex Forex Brokers

BlueStarFX Review

BlueStarFX does not give a lot of information about themselves away, only stating that they are an established ECN broker serving both individual and corporate clients. They have a comprehensive range of tradable assets, technical support, consulting services and they have a goal of making the trading process efficient, hassle-free and above all, profitable. We will be going through the services on offer to see if they do offer these things or if they are a broker you would be better to avoid.

Account Types

There are two different accounts available, we will outline some of the basic features of the account below.

Variable Spread Account:
This account has a minimum deposit requirement of $500, spreads on this account start from 1.6 pips and are variable. The account can be leveraged up to 1:500 and trading starts from 0.01 lots.

ECN Pro Account:
The ECN Pro account requires a minimum deposit of at least $1,000. Spreads on this account start from 0.2 pips and the account can be leveraged up to 1:1000. Trade sizes start from 0.01 lots and there is an added commission of $10 per round lot traded on the account.

Platforms

The only platform on offer is MetaTrader 4 which is a great option to have. MetaTrader 4 is a highly popular trading platform due to its many features. These include its accessibility, it is available as a desktop download, web trader and as an application for your mobile devices. Its distributed architecture, robust security system and convenient mobile trading are some of the core competencies that give MetaTrader 4 its compelling competitive advantages, offering the perfect solution to the even most demanding trading needs.

MT4 is also perfect for traders of all experience levels and is recognized for its user-friendly interface, advanced charting features, technical analysis tools, and automated trading capabilities. Our MetaTrader 4 platform supports multiple account base currencies including USD, EUR, GBP, SGD, and PLN. It is also available in over 30 different languages.

Leverage

If you are using the Variable Spread account then the maximum leverage is 1:500. If you are using the ECN Pro account then your leverage can go up to 1:1000, we would suggest not going over 1:500 though as higher leverage can increase risks. Leverage can be selected when opening up an account and should you wish to change it you will need to contact the customer service team with your request.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes on both accounts start from 0.01 lots and go up in increments of 0.01 lots. We are not clear on what the maximum trade size is but would recommend not trading over 50 lots due to execution issues. We are also not clear on what the maximum number of open trades you can have at any one time is.

Trading Costs

The ECN Pro account has an added commission of $10 per round lot traded which is a little higher than the industry average of $6 per round lot traded. The Variable Spread account does not have any added commissions as it uses a spread based system.

There are swap charges on both accounts, these are fees for holding trades overnight or over the weekend. They can be positive or negative and can be viewed within the trading platform you are using.

Assets

There is a very small list of assets detailed on the site, we believe that this is all that is available if it is then there really isn’t much to trade at all.

Forex:
EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDJPY, USDCHF, USDCAD, AUDUSD, NZDUSD, EURJPY, EURCHF, EURGBP, AUDCAD, AUDCHF, AUDJPY.

Spreads

The starting spreads that you get depend on the account you use. The Variable Spread account has spreads starting from 1.6 pips, while the ECN Pro account has spreads starting from 0.2 pips. The spreads on both acocunts are variable which means they move with the markets and added volatility in the markets will mean more movement on the spreads. The different instruments will also have different starting spreads so not all spreads will be the same.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit amount required to open up an account is $500 which will allow you to open up the Variable Spread account. If you want the ECN Pro account, you will need to deposit at least $1,000. It is not known if the minimum amount reduces once an account has been opened.

Deposit Methods & Costs

There is a little confusion as to which methods are actually available. When looking at the bottom of the screen there are images of Bank Wire transfers, MasterCard, Visa, WebMoney, CashU, Ukash and Skrill, however when going to the deposit page, the three options given are Bank Wire, Counter Deposit and Bitcoin, so we would suggest that those three are the real options available to use. It is not clear to us if there are any added fees, but whatever method you use, be sure to check with them to see if there are any added transfer fees.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

When we go to the withdrawal page the only two options stated are Bank Wire and Bitcoin. Just like with the deposits, we are not sure if there are any added fees for the withdrawals but check with your bank to see if they have any incoming transaction fees added by them.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

Unfortunately, this information was not stated. However, we would expect BlueStarFX to process any withdrawals within 48 hours of the request and so depending on the method used the withdrawal request should be fully processed between 1 to 5 working days from the request being made.

Bonuses & Promotions

We did not see any information relating to bonuses or promotions, so there may not be any active at the time of writing this review. If you are interested in promotions then we would suggest contacting the customer service team to find out if there are any upcoming promotions you could take part in.

Educational & Trading Tools

The only educational tool that seems to be available is an economic calendar. This details upcoming news events as well as detailing which currencies they may have an effect on. It would have been nice for there to be more education as a lot of brokers are now looking to help their clients improve their trading so it would be nice to see BlueStarFX follow in those footsteps.

Customer Service

The customer service page only contains a web form to fill in. You can fill it in with your question or query and then you should get a reply via email. There doesn’t seem to be any other way to get in contact which is a little concerning. The minimum expected would be an email address being available with there also being an expectation of a postal address or phone number being available to use.

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available, the account has a choice of ECN spreads or Variable spreads and uses the MetaTrader 4 trading platform. There aren’t any further details on the demo account such as whether or not there is an expiration time on the account. Demo accounts are great as they allow you to test out the trading conditions and also strategies without risking any of your real capital.

Countries Accepted

This information is not present on the site so we would recommend contacting the customer service team prior to signing up just to make sure you are eligible for an account.

Conclusion

BlueStarFX does not offer up much information about themselves which makes it hard to form a full opinion on them. The trading accounts offer some variation in regards to spreads and available leverage, the commission on the ECNM account is a little high at $4 per lot higher than the industry average of $6 per lot traded. The main confusion comes from the deposit and withdrawal methods. Lots of images at the bottom of the site which seemingly has no reason to be there as those methods are not available to use. There is also no information on any potential fees for moving your money. The final point we want ed to make is on customer service. There just aren’t enough ways to contact them. It is no longer acceptable to just have an online submission form. There needs to be a more personal way to get in contact also. For these reasons, we cannot recommend BlueStarFX as a broker to use at this point in time.

Tags Forex, Forex Broker, review

Forex Market Analysis

Gold Exhibits a Dramatic Dip – Is It Good Time to Go Long?

Post author By Ali B.
Post date 12 March, 2020
No Comments on Gold Exhibits a Dramatic Dip – Is It Good Time to Go Long?

On Thursday, the precious metal fell dramatically despite worries about the economic influence of the coronavirus break on the global market.s The United States rejected flying from virus-infected Europe, although gains were capped as investors covered margin calls after plunge inequities.

The global coronavirus crisis deepened, as the number of cases surged to 7,375 (366 deaths) in Italy, to 7,313 (50 deaths) in South Korea, and 6,566 (194 deaths) in Iran. The situation is also worsening in France (1,126 cases), Germany (1,040 cases), Spain (674 cases), and the U.S. (534 cases). The New York Stock Exchange reopened trading following a brief pause initiated by a 7% slump quickly after the market opened.

Support Resistance

1,646.71 1,696.48

1,619.68 1,719.22

1,569.91 1,768.99

Pivot Point 1,669.45

The yellow metal gold slips dramatically, falling from 1,649 high level to 1,573 level during the U.S. session open. Usually, gold get’s stronger when the stock market drops, but in today’s case, both the stock markets and billions are falling like a tit for tat situation.

At the moment, gold is gaining support at 1,574 level, and violation of this can open the selling room until 1,562 mark. While the closing of candles above 1,573 can help us capture a quick retracement until 1,602 level. Let’s wait for the market to calm down a bit before we place further bets in gold.

Good luck!

Tags Forex, Gold, Support and Resistance, trading, XAUUSD

Forex Forex Brokers

MRG Forex Review

MRG Forex is an online foreign exchange broker that doesn’t give much about itself away. They are committed to expanding our knowledge to help our clients achieve their unique financial goals. Their mission is to foster mutual and long relationships with our clients by providing every ideal condition to fulfill their trading potential. Throughout this review, we will be looking into the services on offer to see exactly what is on offer and so see how they stand up to the competition.

Account Types

Should you decide to sign up with MRG Forex then you will have a choice of four different accounts to use, each one has its own requirement to pen and offers slightly different trading conditions, so let’s look at what they are.

Basic Account:
This account requires $10 to open, it has a minimum trade size of 0.01 lots and a maximum trade size of 1 lot. The spreads on the account start from 2 pips and the account has swap charges for holding trades overnight. There is no commission on the account and it can be leveraged up to 1:500. There are 29 trading products available on this account.

Sharia Account:
This account requires $3,000 to open, it has a minimum trade size of 0.1 lots and a maximum trade size of 20 lot. The spreads on the account start from 0.8 pips and the account does not have any swap charges. There is an added commission of $20 per lot traded on the account and it can be leveraged up to 1:200. There are 29 trading products available on this account.

Infinite Account:
This account requires $50,000 to open, it has a minimum trade size of 0.1 lots and a maximum trade size of 30 lot. The spreads on the account start from 0.8 pips and the account does not have any swap charges. There is an added commission of $15 per lot traded on the account and it can be leveraged up to 1:200. There are 29 trading products available on this account.

Premium Account:
This account requires $300 to open, it has a minimum trade size of 0.1 lots and a maximum trade size of 10 lot. The spreads on the account start from 0.8 pips and the account has swap charges for holding trades overnight. There is an added commission of $10 per lot traded on the account and it can be leveraged up to 1:200. There are 29 trading products available on this account.

Platforms

MRD Forex wants to offer only the best in trading platforms, they are currently offering just the one platform which is in the form of MetaTrader 4. MT4 comes with a whole host of features including its accessibility, usable as a desktop download, mobile application, and web trader. It also allows you to use three types of order execution to make entering the market instantly or at a specific time possible. MT4 contains a technical analysis package comprised of 30 built-in indicators and more than 2,000 free custom indicators, as well as 700 indicators that are for purchase. It is fully customizable algorithms can be developed for trade automation using the Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and MQL4 programming language. MT4 provides a live news feed, as well as programmable alerts to keep users aware of changing market conditions.

Leverage

If you use the Basic account that you can get leverage up to 1:500. If you use the Sharia, Infinite or Premium account the maximum leverage available to you is 1:200. The leverage can be selected when first opening up an account and can be changed by sending a request to the customer service team.

Trade Sizes

We have outlined below the different minimum trade sizes as well as the maximum trade size of each account.

Basic Account: Min 0.01 lots / Max 1 lot
Sharia Account: Min 0.1 lots / Max 20 lots
Infinite Account: Min 0.1 lots / Max 30 lots
Premium Account: Min 0.1 lots / Max 10 lots

We do not know how many trades you can have open at any one time.

Trading Costs

There is an added commission on the few of the accounts. The Sharia account has an added commission of $20 per lot traded, the Infinite account has an added commission of $15 per lot traded and the Premium account has a commission of $10 per lot traded. All of them are rather high when you compare them to the industry average of $6 per lot traded. The Basic account does not have any commission and instead uses a spread based system.

There are also swap charges on the Basic and Premium accounts. These are charges for holding trades overnight and can be viewed within the trading platform you are using. The Sharia and Infinite accounts do not have three charges and this is reflected in the higher commissions charged.

Assets

The assets have been broken down into categories that we will outline below, there arent a lot of them available.

Forex:
USDJPY, EURUSD, GBPUSD, USDCHF, AUDUSD, NZDUSD, USDCAD, EURGBP, AUDJPY, AUDCAD, AUDCHF, CADJPY, CHFJPY, EURAUD, EURCHF, EURJPY, GBPJPY, EURCAD, AUDNZD, NZDJPY, EURNZD, GBPAUD, GBPCAD, GBPNZD.

Commodities:
Gold and US Crude Oil are the only ones available.

Indices:
Just Nasdaq 100, S&P 500, and Dow Jones 30 are available to trade.

Spreads

The Basic account comes with a starting spread of 2 pips while the Sharia, Infinite and Premium account still has a starting spread of 0.8 pips. 0.8 pips are quite high for commission-based accounts. The spreads are variable which means they move with the markets when there is more movement in the markets, the spreads will often be seen higher. Different instruments will also have different starting spreads, the listed number above are simply the minimums.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum amount required to open up an account is $10 which gets you to access to the Basic account. If you want a different account you will need to deposit at least $3,000 for the Sharia account, $50,000 for the Infinite account and $300 for the Premium account. Once an account has been opened, the minimum top-up value for all accounts is $10.

Deposit Methods & Costs

You can currently use Bank Wire Transfer, Credit/Debit Card, Skrill, FasaPay and Indonesian Local Bank Transfers to deposit into MRG Forex. It is not known if there are any added fees for depositing but you should check with your own bank or processor to see if they add any fees of their own.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

The same methods are available to use to withdraw, for clarification these are Bank Wire Transfer, Credit/Debit Card, Skrill, FasaPay and Indonesian Local Bank Transfers. Once again there is no mention of any potential fees, but also no statement saying that there are no fees. As always you should check with your own bank or processor to see if the change for any currency conversion or incoming processing fees.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

MRG Forex will aim to process all withdrawal requests within one business day of the request being made. The total time for the withdrawal to fully process will depend on the method used and could take an additional 1 to 5 days to process depending on the speed of the processor or bank used.

Bonuses & Promotions

The following is stated in the FAQ section of the site under the question of “Does “Maxrich Group LTD” offer bonuses?” is listed, with the answer being, “No, and we advise traders to be wary of free money and the firms that offer such incentives. Maxrich Group LTD makes money fairly from commissions, and as such, we do not need to offer financial incentives to sign up potential traders.” They do, however, appear to offer cashback bonuses of up to 100%, as well as a “Grand Jackpot” trading contest that offers a top prize of $15,000. See the MRG website for more details on these offerings.

Educational & Trading Tools

Looking through the site there does not appear to be any education material or trading tools which is a shame to see as a lot of modern brokers are now looking to help their clients improve on their trading. It would be nice to see MRG Forex do something similar for theirs.

Customer Service

The only way to get in contact with the customer service team is via an online submission form, and you need to fill it in and you should then get a reply via email. It is a shame that there aren’t any other additional ways to get in touch with the support team, as it does not help to build a sense of trust.

Demo Account

Demo accounts are a great way to test out the markets and strategies without risking any of your actual capital. We know that they are available from MRG Forex but we do not know the conditions such as which accounts they mimic or if there is an expiration time on the accounts.

MRG Demo Account Form

Countries Accepted

The FAQ states that residents from the United States are not accepted, but citizens from all other countries are accepted.

Conclusion

MRG Forex offers four different accounts each containing slightly different reading conditions. The one that stands out is the commissions, and they are extortionately high. In fact, some are twice or even three times the industry average of $6 per lot traded. There is also a very limited number of assets available to trade, along with the limited funding methods with unknown fees. For us, another major concern was the fact that there is only an online submission form to use in order to contact the support team. This does not build confidence and there needs to be more ways to get in touch. All of those things combined are enough for us to suggest looking elsewhere for your trading needs.

Tags Forex, Forex Broker, review

Forex Videos

Forex Hedging Strategy – The Ascending Pennant Chart Pattern

Post author By Keiran
Post date 12 March, 2020
No Comments on Forex Hedging Strategy – The Ascending Pennant Chart Pattern

https://youtu.be/4-soNFQeXkc

Hedging Strategy Via The Ascending Pennant Chart Pattern

Today’s video is a follow on from our: Hedging – Making money no matter which way the market moves. So be sure and check that out if you missed it. The theory in this series is that we are looking to maximize successful trading opportunities from areas in price action that are likely to accelerate in either direction. And by covering both eventualities, we create a situation where we can capture the breakout in either direction, even if our initial trade goes against us.

There are various types of hedging, such as selling equities in favor of buying gold or buying one currency pair while simultaneously hedging the position by selling another pair, which might be seen as acting in confluence, in order to spread the risk.
But this is a different style of hedging, where we essentially set up two trades in the opposite direction, while incorporating tight stop losses and where trade one is based on a high probability of a correct move based on our technical analysis and where trade 2 acts as a backup trade, or insurance policy if the market reverses against our technical setup, which, unfortunately, can happen.

Example A

Let’s look at example A. This is the basic pattern you would expect to see on an ascending pennant pattern.

Example B

Now let’s take a look at this setup in a little more detail in example B. Initially we can see that there has been a period of consolidation, where price action is conforming to an area of support and resistance at positions A and B, and where price action remains above a key moving average, which is gradually moving higher, in line with price action, which eventually breaches the area of resistance at position A and a short while after finds support at that level, before continuing higher.
At the top of our charts, at position D, we have a wedge shape formation, which confirms our bullish Pennant chart pattern. Price action has consolidated within the wedge and is beginning to break out from it in an upward direction. From this setup, we would have very good technical grounds to believe that the buyers have got hold of this pair at the current time and that break from price consolidation within the D shaped wedge is likely to be higher, in continuation of the overall trend.
Had you not already been buying into the trend, this is the point at which you might want to seriously consider buying the potential continuation.

Example C

In Example C, we are going to implement our hedging strategy with an immediate buy order at position 1, and a stop loss at position 2.

Example D

In example D, we are going to set up our backup trade in the event that our first trade reverses.
First of all, we are going to put a sell limit order just below the stop loss of our first trade at position 3, and we will place a stop loss for this second backup trade just above our entry of the first trade at position 4. We need to place a take profit at around the area or position 5, which would be equal to at least the amount that we lost in our first trade in order to rebalance our profit and loss. In this a hedging strategy, we have covered all the bases regarding strict observation of technical analysis, and we have carefully placed our orders in order to capture the breakout from this ascending

pennant set up. We have also carefully mitigated against the risk of a price reversal by incorporating a backup trade.

Tags Forex, Hedging, trading

Forex Course

79. Is Indicator Based Trading For You or Not? (Pros & Cons)

Post author By Reddy Shyam Shankar
Post date 12 March, 2020
No Comments on 79. Is Indicator Based Trading For You or Not? (Pros & Cons)

Introduction

In the previous course article, we have briefly discussed the basics of indicator-based trading. We have also understood the different types of indicators. Before considering how to trade using these indicators, let’s see if indicator based trading is for you or not. For that, we will be listing down some of the significant pros and cons involved in indicator-based trading. After going through this article, we will know why we should be using indicators to trade the markets and what we should be cautious about while using these indicators.

Pros of using Technical Indicators

Simplification

As discussed in the previous course article, Indicators mainly present the existing price and volume data on the price charts. For novice traders who have less knowledge of reading this data, can take the help of indicators to understand the price charts in a more precise way. Also, indicators act as a great tool to identify market strength.

For instance, using the Moving Average indicator, the direction of the trend can be found. By using the stochastic indicator, overbought and oversold areas can be found. These cannot be easily identified by the novice traders if not for these indicators.

Swift Decision Making

Since you aren’t entirely aware of most of the indicators, we would like to give you an example of the indicators we have learned till now. If you remember trading Fibonacci levels, we have taken our entries right after the price bounces after touching the respective Fib levels. It is impossible to make such swift decisions in the absence of these indicators. Hence we can say that indicator based trading allows us to make quick decisions comparatively.

Confirmation Tool

Indicators act like an excellent confirmation tool for experienced traders as well. For example, a technical trader identifies a candlestick pattern and wants to take trades based on that pattern. To confirm if the signal provided by the pattern is accurate or not, he can take the help of any technical indicator like RSI or Stochastic. If the indicator supports the signal provided by the pattern, the trader can confidently make trades.

Combination Capability

Indicators can be combined to understand the market more clearly. For instance, Moving Averages can be combined with Fibonacci levels, and Stochastic can be combined with many other reliable indicators to generate accurate signals. If we wish to, we can even add an end number of indicators, but these additions should able to simplify the price chart rather than making it more complex.

Cons of using Technical Indicators

Unawareness of the complete picture

Novice traders who get used to trading with these indicators can never get an entire background on what’s happening behind the charts. If they get used to this, they can never become a professional technical trader. Also, they won’t be able to identify if the signal generated by the indicator is accurate or not. Hence, it is always crucial to understand why the indicator is moving the way it is so that we can make better trading decisions.

Not for pure price action traders

Price action trading is also a part of technical trading. It is purely based on the price movements of the asset alone. So price action traders might find indicator based trading a bit redundant because they know why the price is moving the way it is moving. Hence we can say that indicators don’t add more value to pure price action traders.

Lag Issue

By now, we know that there are lagging indicators that portray what has already happened in the market. These indicators do add significant value to indicator based trading, but they can’t be completely used to take the trades.

Final Word

These are some of the pros and cons involved in using indicators for trading the markets. So the answer to the question ‘If the Indicator based trading is for you or not?’ is yes. It is for you. But we have to be cautious and understand the entire picture instead of blindly following the indicators. In the upcoming articles, we will start learning how to take trades using various reliable indicators in the market. Cheers!

Tags Cons, Fibonacci, Forex, Forex Course, Forex indicators, Indicator Based Trading, MACD, Moving Averages, Oscillators, Pros, RSI, Technical Trading, trading

Forex Assets

EUR/NOK – Everything You Should Know Before Trading This Currency Pair

Post author By Reddy Shyam Shankar
Post date 12 March, 2020
No Comments on EUR/NOK – Everything You Should Know Before Trading This Currency Pair

Introduction

EUR/NOK is the abbreviation for the Euro Area’s euro against the Norwegian Krone. This pair is classified as an exotic-cross currency. Here, EUR is the base currency, and NOK is the quote currency.

In this asset article, we shall understand what the value of this pair means, the volatility in different timeframes, the cost variations, and finally, the ideal way to trade this pair.

Understanding EUR/NOK

The value of this pair represents the value of NOK equivalent to one EUR. It is quoted as 1 EUR per X NOK. For example, if the value of this pair is 10.4373, approx. 10 Krones are required to purchase one euro.

EUR/NOK Specification

Spread

The difference between bid and ask prices set by the brokers is referred to as the spread on the trade.

There are two types of trade execution models in forex, namely, ECN and STP. The spread on both vary.

Spread on ECN: 55 pips
Spread on STP: 57 pips

Fees

For every position you take on your account, you are required to pay some fee for it. This fee is typically between 5-10 pips. Moreover, there is no fee as such in STP accounts.

Slippage

When orders are executed by the market, the trader will not receive the exact price at which he triggered the button. The difference between the actual received price and the triggered price is called the slippage.

Trading Range in EUR/NOK

A Trading range is a tabular representation of the pip movement in a currency pair for different timeframes. Below is the same table for the EURNOK currency pair. From these values, we can assess our profit/loss on a trade beforehand. All you must do is, find the product of the volatility value and the pip value ($0.95).

Procedure to assess Pip Ranges

Add the ATR indicator to your chart
Set the period to 1
Add a 200-period SMA to this indicator
Shrink the chart so you can assess a large time period
Select your desired timeframe
Measure the floor level and set this value as the min
Measure the level of the 200-period SMA and set this as the average
Measure the peak levels and set this as Max.

EUR/NOK Cost as a Percent of the Trading Range

This is an application to the above trading range table. By clubbing these values with the total cost of a trade, we can determine the cost variations for changing volatilities.

ECN Model Account

Spread = 55 | Slippage = 3 | Trading fee = 3

Total cost = Spread + Slippage + Trading Fee = 55 + 3 + 3 = 61

STP Model Account

Spread = 57 | Slippage = 3 | Trading fee = 0

Total cost = Spread + Slippage + Trading Fee = 57 + 3 + 0 = 60

The Ideal way to trade the EUR/NOK

Trading the EURSEK is similar to trading any other exotic-cross pair. This pair has pretty high volatility with liquidity lesser than major/minor pairs. This is the reason for its spreads to be at 55 pips. Yet, this pair can still be traded.

From the above cost percentage table, we can infer that the magnitudes are large in the min column and small in the max column. This means that the costs are more for low volatilities are less for high volatilities. It is neither preferable to trade during high volatilities nor when the costs are less, for obvious reasons. So, to maintain equilibrium between costs and volatility, it is ideal for entering this pair when the volatility is more or less near the average values in the trading range table.

Another simple way to bring down your costs is by placing orders by ‘limit’ and ‘stop.’ When trades are not executed as market orders, the slippage is cut off. Hence, the total cost is reduced by a decent percentage. An example of the same is given below.

Spread = 55 | Slippage = 0 | Trading fee = 3

Total cost = Spread + Slippage + Trading Fee = 55 + 0 + 3 = 58

Tags Asset Analytics, EUR, EURNOK, Euro, Forex, Forex Assets, Lot Size, NOK, Norwegian Krone, Pip Value, trading

Forex Daily Topic Forex Price-Action Strategies

Price Action Trading: Let it go

Post author By Tareq Sikder
Post date 12 March, 2020
No Comments on Price Action Trading: Let it go

The Engulfing Candle is considered one of the most influential candles to indicate a trend reversal. Price action trading is closely related to identifying trend reversal for which price action traders give value to engulfing candles a lot. In today’s lesson, we are going to demonstrate an example of an engulfing candle, which does not work in favor of the traders. We try to find out the reason behind that.

The chart shows that the price heads towards the South with good bearish momentum. On its way, it makes a breakout and trades below the level for one more candle. The sellers are to keep an eye on this pair for the price to consolidate and produce a bearish engulfing candle closing below consolidation support. Do not miss the point ‘closing below consolidation support’.

The price does not consolidate. It instead produces another bearish candle. It may consolidate now. A candle like this attracts more sellers to go short on the pair. Let us proceed to the next chart.

The chart produces a bullish inside bar. This means the chart is still bearish biased. The signal candle may come out at any time. The waiting game gets intense. The sellers are to keep checking the chart since the next candle may be the signal candle.

The chart makes them wait further. It produces a bearish inside bar followed by a bullish engulfing candle. The chart is still bearish biased, but the chart may get choppy as well if the next candle comes out as a bullish candle. Let us wait and find out how the next candle comes out.

The next candle comes out as a bearish engulfing candle. Is this what the sellers want? Here is a question for you. Would you trigger a short entry?

If the answer is no, you are right. The reason behind that is this is an engulfing candle, but it does not close below consolidation support. Look at the line below. This is where both candles get rejection. Thus, we may consider this one as consolidation support. Even if we consider only their bodies (not the best way), the candle closes within that level as well. The equation is an engulfing candle does not make a breakout. Thus, traders may skip taking this entry. We need to make sure these four things are there before taking entry based on this setup.

Clear trend
Consolidation
Engulfing candle
Breakout

If a trade setup misses any one of these, be patient. Let it go.

Tags consolidation, consolidation support, Forex, Forex price action, Price Action, price action trading, suppotrt, trading

Forex Market Analysis

Daily F.X. Analysis, March 12 – Top Trade Setups In Forex – Brace for ECB Interest Rate Decision!

Post author By Ali B.
Post date 12 March, 2020
No Comments on Daily F.X. Analysis, March 12 – Top Trade Setups In Forex – Brace for ECB Interest Rate Decision!

The U.S. dollar strengthened versus its major peers for a second straight session, with the ICE Dollar Index bouncing 0.2% on the day to 96.60. The European Central Bank will announce its key policy rates (deposit facility rate at -0.5% expected). The European Commission will report January industrial production (+1.5% on month expected). During the U.S. session, the U.S. Labor Department will release February PPI (+1.8% on-year expected), and initial jobless claims in the week ended March 7 (220,000 expected).

Economic Events to Watch Today

EUR/USD – Daily Analysis

The EUR/USD fell 0.2% to 1.1263. It is reported that the European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde told European Union leaders that Europe is facing a major economic shock, and that ECB is looking at all of its tools for the monetary policy meeting due later today.

There are so high chances of a slowdown in the Eurozone, especially in Germany, in the wake of dangerous coronavirus. So, possibly the European Central Bank will go with another stimulus measure on Thursday to soften the economic fallout, which may hurt the shared currency very well.

The European Central Bank will announce its key policy rates (deposit facility rate at -0.5% expected). The European Commission will report January industrial production (+1.5% on month expected).

Considering the slowdown in the economy, the markets are expecting a cut in the deposit rate, which currently stands at -0.5%. Therefore, the EUR could see a sharp rise if the central bank keeps rates unchanged. The traders are keenly awaiting the ECB rate decision to take new directions. The Italian Quarterly Unemployment Rate, Industrial Production m/m, Italian 10-y Bond Auction also will be key to watch.

Daily Support and Resistance

S1 1.106
S2 1.1176
S3 1.1218

Pivot Point 1.1293

R1 1.1335
R2 1.1409
R3 1.1526

EUR/USD– Trading Tips

The EUR/USD is trading with a mixed bias around 1.1305 on Thursday as it seems to extend the bearish trend even after completing the 38.2%% and 50% Fibonacci retracement levels around 1.1350 and 1.1275.

The EUR/USD is currently trading around 1.1305, and it’s forming lowers low pattern on the 4-hour chart, which mostly drives a continuation of a selling trend. On the lower side, a continuation of a selling bias can extend sell-off until 1.1200 and 1.1095. While the bullish breakout of 1.1350 can drive more buying until 1.1454 area. Consider staying bullish over 1.1275 and bearish below the same level today.

GBP/USD– Daily Analysis

The GBP/USD dropped 0.7% to 1.2817. The Bank of England slashed its benchmark rate by 50 basis points to 0.25% after a special meeting, citing economic shock from the coronavirus. On the other hand, official data showed that the U.K.’s GDP growth was flat on month in January (+0.2% estimated), and industrial production declined 0.1% in February (+0.3% expected).

Whereas, the U.S. 10-year Treasury yields failed to continue the previous day’s run-up, current down by 8-basis points (bps) to 0.67%.

The U.K. Office for National Statistics will report January monthly GDP (+0.2% on month expected), industrial production (+0.3% on month expected), manufacturing production (+0.2% on month expected) and trade balance (356 million pounds deficit projected).

At the U.K. front, there are fewer chances that the British PM Johnson will announce any major stimulus after the BOE joined the budgetary push to defeat the virus the previous day. However, Traders should wait for the final announcement because we all know that the Tory leader is famous for providing surprises.

Looking forward, the US PPI and Jobless Claims will likely entertain the momentum traders. The overall PPI was likely lower due to the weakening in energy prices, similar to the pattern in the CPI (TD -0.2%). The core measures were probably moderately weak as well after the above-trend readings in January.

Daily Support and Resistance

S1 1.2523
S2 1.2695
S3 1.2758

Pivot Point 1.2867

R1 1.293
R2 1.3039
R3 1.3211

GBP/USD– Trading Tip

On Thursday, the GBP/USD continues to trade in a bearish mode due to the BOE rate cut decision. The GBP/USD has dropped further after violating the immediate support level of 1.2850, which is now working as a resistance.

Continuation of a selling trend can lead the GBP/USD prices towards 1.2740 and 1.2720. On the higher side, the GBP/USD is likely to trade bullish until 1.2840 level, and bullish breakout of which may drive further buying until 1.2910 level. The MACD is consistently forming bearish histograms below zero, supporting the selling trend in the GBP/USD pair, which is why we should consider selling below 1.2825 today.

USD/JPY – Daily Analysis

The USD/JPY currency pair hit the bearish track and dropped below the 104.00, mainly due to a sharp decline in the equity market. U.S. President Donald Trump failed to ease the fears about intensifying coronavirus slowdown in the global economy, which later boosted the safe-haven Japanese yen and sent the USD/JPY pair lower near the 103.30. As of writing, the safe haven pair is trading at 107.30 and consolidates in the range between the 103.09 – 104.81.

Trump said during his speech that the U.S. would ban all flights from Europe to the U.S. for the next 30 days effective Friday at midnight. While also says that travel bans will not apply to the U.K., He said that the U.S. would take emergency action to provide financial relief for workers who are ill, hospitalized, or caring for others due to coronavirus. Whereas also says that we will provide capital and liquidity to the small firms which are affected by the coronavirus, provide low-interest loans as well. Trump promised to provide $200 billion in additional liquidity in the fight against coronavirus.

As we already mentioned that the investors were expecting a more potent stimulus and sold risk after Trump’s speech. The S&P 500 futures, which traded 0.5% lower ahead of President’s address, are now reporting a 2.4% decline. Meanwhile, the yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury registering losses by 5-basis points at 0.76%.

Daily Support and Resistance

S1 99.41
S2 102.11
S3 103.7

Pivot Point 104.81

R1 106.4
R2 107.51
R3 110.21

USD/JPY – Trading Tips

The USD/JPY is trading at 103.800 and has already violated the double bottom support level of 104.100. Closing of 4-hour candle below this level confirms the chances of further selling in the pair. The recent candle on the 4-hour chart is bearish engulfing in nature as it’s covering the full body of the precious candle, and it signifies the chances of further selling in the USD/JPY pair.

Below 104.250, the selling trend continuation can lead the USD/JPY prices towards 101.670, whereas, further buying over 104.250 can lead the USD/JPY to 106.250 area.

All the best for today!

Tags Daily Brief, EURUSD, Forex, Fundamental Analysis, GBPUSD, Technical Analysis, trading, USDJPY

Forex Forex Brokers

eDeal FX Review

eDeal FX is a Saint Vincent and the Grenadines based foreign exchange broker. Their vision is to become one of the best forex brokers online, to inspire everyone by making the trading platforms readily accessible, and to continuously change and to be perfect professionals. eDeal FX also wants to provide an efficient and committed service and to provide fruitful indicators to their clients. Throughout this review, we will be looking into the services on offer to see if they manage to achieve these things and so you can decide if they are a broker you would want to trade with.

Account Types

There are 5 different accounts to choose from should you decide to sign up with eDeal FX, lets briefly look at their features.

All Accounts:
All account some with the following features: Forex currency pairs, spot metals, and oils, contract sizes of 100,000, no swap fees, no commissions, hedging is allowed, variable spreads, trade sizes starting from 0.01 lots. Use of expert advisors is allowed, there is also access to trading signs & alerts, one-click trading, use of the MetaTrader 4 trading platform and, access to live chat, email, and telephone support.

Professional:
The minimum deposit for this account is $5, it has leverage up to 1:500 and has a maximum trade size of 5 lots which a maximum of 150 open trades at any one time.

Extreme:
The minimum deposit for this account is $100, it has leverage up to 1:100 and has a maximum trade size of 60 lots which a maximum of 300 open trades at any one time.

Ultimate:
The minimum deposit for this account is $100, it has leverage up to 1:100 and has a maximum trade size of 10 lots which a maximum of 100 open trades at any one time.

Advanced:
The minimum deposit for this account is $20,000, it has leverage up to 1:300 and has a maximum trade size of 80 lots which a maximum of 400 open trades at any one time.

Prime:
The minimum deposit for this account is $100, it has leverage up to 1:100 and has a maximum trade size of 10 lots which a maximum of 100 open trades at any one time.

Platforms

eDeal FX uses MetaTrader 4 from the MetaQuotes company as their only trading platform. It is one of the world’s most popular trading platform and comes with a whole host of features to make your trading life easier. These features include a complete friendly interface for ease of use, news feeds every second to keep traders updated, ready state analytical tools for your requirement, various best in class charts and calculations, developing advises from experts to use them on the go, multilingual platform, anytime account statement, real-time fund details, a summary of portfolios, unrealized/realized profits and loss and allocations and, effective and efficient indicators to determine trade dependencies and trailing stop loss facility. MetaTrader 4 is available on multiple paltforms including desktop, mobile devices and as a trader on your web browser.

Leverage

The maximum leverage available depends on o the account type you are using, we have outlined them below.

Professional: Up to 1:500
Extreme: Up to 1:100
Ultimate: Up to 1:100
Advanced: Up to 1:300
Prime: Up to 1:100

Leverage is selected when first opening up an account. Should you wish to change it afterward, you will need to contact the customer service team with your request.

Trade Sizes

Trade sizes on all accounts start at 0.01 lots which are known as a micro lot, they then go up in increments of 0.01 lots. The maximum trade size depends on the account you are using, as it the maximum number of open lots/trades at anyone, time, so we have outlined them below.

Professional: 5 lots / 150 trades
Extreme: 60 lots / 300 trades
Ultimate: 10 lots / 100 trades
Advanced: 80 lots / 400 trades
Prime: 10 lots / 100 trades

We would suggest not trading over 50 lots in a single trade due to execution speed and slippage.

Trading Costs

There is no added commission on any of the accounts as they all use a spread based system, there is also no swap charges on the accounts. Please check the spread section of this review for overall trading costs.

Assets

eDeal FX has broken down their assets into two different categories, we will now outline what can be found in each.

Forex:
AUDUSD, USDKPY, EURJPY, EURGBP, USDCHF, USDCAD, NZDUSD, EURCHF, NZDJPY, CADCHF, CADJPY, AUDJPY, GBPUSD, EURCAD, GBPCHF, CHFJPY, AUDCAD, AUDNZD, GBPCAD, EURAUD, AUDCHF, NZDCHF, GBPAUD, USDSGD, USDHKD, ZARJPY, NZDCAD, GBPNZD, EURNZD, USDCNH, USDDKK, USDTRY, USDCZK, USDHUF, USDSEK, USDNOK, EURPLN, EURNOK, USDPLN, EURHUF, EURDKK, EURRON, USDRON, USDMXN, USDZAR, USDRUB.

Metals and Energies:
UK Brent Oil, US Crude Oil, Solver (EUR and USD), Gold (EUR and USD) and, US Natural Gas.

Spreads

Spreads seem to start around 2.1 pips, it does not look like there are many differences between the accounts, at least not stated in the contract specification or accounts pages. The spreads are available which means they move with the markets when there is a lot of volatility they will often be seen a lot higher than when the markets are calm.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit required to open up an account is currently $5, and this will get you the Professional account.

Deposit Methods & Costs

Unfortunately, it does not appear that there is any information about deposits, so we do not know which methods are available to use or if there are any fees for depositing. This can out of a lot of potential clients who need to know that they can use their preferred method to deposit.

Withdrawal Methods & Costs

Just like with the deposits, there is no information about withdrawals either, we do not know how we can get money out or how it will cost us. This will prevent a lot of people signing up and it is vital to know how you can get your money back out.

Withdrawal Processing & Wait Time

As there is no information about withdrawals we also do not know the withdrawal or processing times. We would hope that you would have your request fully processed between 1 to 7 business days from the request depending on the methods which are actually available.

Bonuses & Promotions

In regards to bonuses or promotions, there seems to be just the one available when we wrote this review, this is a Cashback offer. We have outlined what you can earn below:

Educational & Trading Tools

There are a few different resources in regards to education and tools, with the first being a simple page detailing information about what Forex is and how it works. There is a market news section, however, the page is not loading properly for us. There is then an economic calendar, and this details upcoming news events and also which currencies or markets they may affect. There is also daily technical analysis, weekly technical analysis, and blogs. Unfortunately, these were not working at the time we were looking at the site. There are also daily, weekly and monthly pivot tables available.

Customer Service

You can contact the customer service team via live chat, phone or email…the choice if yours. They have support in a number of different languages and locations including Hong Kong, the USA, Dubai, India, Australia, Qatar, and the Maldives.

USA Support:
Address: #13401, Metric BLVD APT 411, Austin, Texas-78727, United States of America
Phone: +1 513 746 1112

Demo Account

Demo accounts are available and it just takes a short form to get on up and running. You can select leverage up to 1:500 and a balance of up to 1,000,000. We do not know which account it uses the trading conditions from or if there is an expiration time. Demo accounts are a great way for you to test out the trading conditions and servers, it also allows you to test out new strategies without risking any real capital.

Countries Accepted

This information is not made readily available on the site, so if you are thinking of joining, be sure to check your eligibility with the support team prior to joining.

Conclusion

There is a lot of information missing from the eDeal FX website. We have no understanding of what the deposit or withdrawal methods are, and this makes it hard for us to build any level of trust. eDeal FX will be dealing with our money, we need to know how we can get it in, out and how much it will cost us. The trading conditions seem fine. The spreads can be a little high but there is no added commission or swap charges. In terms of tradable assets, there are enough currencies but not much else so it would be nice for there to be more instruments to trade. Because of the missing information, it is very hard for us to recommend eDeal FX at this point in time.

Tags Forex, Forex Broker, review