Normally at this time of day I’m done trading. Close some trades, make phone calls, tie up loose ends and scribble something here. TV is turned on, but I mostly just listen to it. It is tuned to History Channel International right now, rather than CNN or CNBC. My head is bursting with financial news and I don’t think any additional peace of info will do me any good. So here I’m putting finishing touches to my day when I hear something about joining “exciting world of Forex trading”. One of Forex brokers has an all out commercial on a HCI! What the hell? If it was CNBC or something like that, I wouldn’t be surprised. They have been aired for some time now, only not very often. But this is first time for me to encounter Forex broker’s add on somewhat of a mainstream TV channel, one that is not really suited to this kind of campaign. But what do I know about advertising? Maybe people who watch History, Discovery and similar programming are good targeted audience? Interesting. It just surprised me a little bit, that’s all. Come to think of it, we always need new blood in the markets, with disregard to where it comes from, right? Perhaps new traders will have more understanding of why things happen one way or the other.
For example, earlier today Sweden’s Riksbank cut its main interest rate by a smaller-than-expected 50 basis points. The central bank cut its repurchasing rate to 0.5 per cent from 1 per cent and said it expected the rate to remain at this level at least until the beginning of 2010. Swedish Krona responded by rallying against other currencies, including USD and EUR. Cutting rates was good for that currency. Few hours later Bank of Canada surprised markets by cutting its benchmark rate by a quarter of a percentage point to a historic low of 0.25 per cent. This move move resulted in Canadian Dollar… loosing ground. Go figure. I know, we can dive into it with a scalpel and magnifying glass and find reasons why, but I’d like to meet one person who predicted both of these outcomes correctly before the day started. Not that it really matters to me, I don’t trade news, but a lot of people do. And new traders brought to markets by persistent brokers will surely have interest in these kind of news and predictions.
The Yen conundrum, from Saturday, included few potential trades in JPY. Yesterday I wrote only about GBP-JPY, but the other ones were also taken. They were all closed at the same time, within couple of minutes of each other, the exits were good for the whole lot. The really interesting one was NZD-JPY, where I used weekly chart for analysis. This is the same chart from yesterday, right after I closed the trade.
Today, of course, chart looks much different. Kiwi had a strong rebound. I considered the gains good and took profits yesterday. Same for AUD-JPY, but the take was smaller there. Yen has been weaker all day Tuesday, so all those pairs regained some ground. I’m waiting for more price development before deciding what to do next.
Trade described yesterday, buy in EUR-GBP, didn’t happen. Price came very close to triggering the order, in fact it might have done so on some platforms, but not the one I used. At this time, order is still valid, even though price dropped. I keep it open for now.
Don’t see too much interesting at the moment, something correct for this blog. This is a possible exception.
Looks like AUD-CHF, 4H chart, is developing a topping pattern. This looks rather elaborate and could take some time to complete, but after this very strong run up, this pair may be due for correction. Sell order was placed at 0.8115, with a target of 150 pips. I doubt it will happen tomorrow, maybe not for few days. Back to waiting game.
[...] Original post by fxmadness.com [...]
Yeah, well when the mainstream show up and try to wrap their heads around the lingo, the “graphs,” and how much smarter currency people are than who they’ve been competing with — And I think there’s enough fear and mistrust that finding a new broker… Basically, I think the learning curve is too high for most people to have the patience for. Personally, I’m enthralled.
That’s very funny. Just remember that a broker will give them, say 200:1 leverage, which means 50 pips move can double the account. Those who are really adventures can trade 400:1, so average hourly swing can wipe them out. Plenty of books now, which make it all seem so easy. And, of course, all those “guaranteed returns” systems floating around internet…
You are right, learning curve is high, but mostly expectations are too unrealistic. And people who currently flock to Forex are disgruntled stock “traders” who for a few years maybe managed to make money because the MARKET as a whole was going up, not really becuase of any skill. They can’t make it now, in rough environment, so they look for other venues. But everybody starts somewhere.
[...] news by admin « Forex Trading Courses – 7 Tips On How To Choose A Good One! FOREX INFO: Forex [...]
No, you’re the funny one; you just described me to a T.
CMC Markets does heavy marketing in Swedish television and even on the tube in Stockholm I’ve heard. They have got lots of criticism for their commercials though. Depicting the leveraged CFD trading as something which you can do from your TV sofa just with an remote control and lots of blinking indicators all over the place…
They pulled out of US market last year (CMC. My first Forex broker. Anyway, here we’ve been used to heavy promotion by software vendors, notably “Forex made slEasy”. Brokers not so much.
I remember 4x made easy, but it’s been a while. Are they out of business?
Rumour has it they morphed into Wizetrade Forex or something like that. Don’t know for sure.
[...] More: Forex goes mainstream. | fxmadness.com [...]
I got into trading Forex because it seemed so easy and you could make a lot of money fast (margin). What a joke. What you call mainstream people they give it a shot, half hearted, decide Forex trading is a rip off and that’s it. No dedication, patience. No chance.
One needs to put some time in. And some work, too.
FX has gone waaaaaaay mainstream in Japan. That is what 16 years of an upside-down stock market will do. Where else are you going to put your money in zero interest Japan? CDs? Bonds?
So here you flick on the TV or you get on the train and you see FX ads one after the other. And the FX section at the bookstore dwarfs the stock market books.
The comment from R talks about CFD’s? What are they? some Forex product? Anybody?
Stan, for more info on CFD’s look here
http://www.thecfdtrader.com/
That’s what I heard, Paul. Almost a national sport. People trading from cell phones and such. Good for the industry.
Mike, I actually have a friend who trades on his cell phone at work! Daytrading “the Beast” on his cell phone at work. He says the cell phone charts are good because you can’t really make out the tiny candle shapes well, so you just concentrate on the gentle waves the price makes. Amazing…
Sounds a little like an obsession, hope he makes money.
[...] gold standard. Yet. There are still some orders left from last week, for example AUD-CHF featured inForex goes mainstream. They are valid. I want to wait to see what Yen pairs are doing, before deciding on course of [...]
[...] I mentioned that a trade in AUD-CHF was under way. It was first suggested last week in “Forex goes mainstream” post. Quick reminder, premise was to sell AUD-CHF at 0.8115 and look for 150 pips gain. [...]
Great tip, I like AUD/CHF also, I think this will be a good trade.
Stan there is also a pretty useful definition on cfds here
http://www.igmarkets.co.za/cfd/what-is-a-cfd.html