Forex Day Trading - Is it Right For You?

Forex day trading is something that appeals to a lot of forex traders and it's easy to see why. Currencies trade in quite a wide range every single trading day so there are always good profits to be made. However forex day trading is definitely not for everyone.

Trading in general requires immense discipline and this is particularly the case when trading over short time frames. Prices can move very fast during the day and it's very easy to make impulse trades based on nothing other than gut feeling. This is generally not a good idea and will usually only lead to disaster in the long run.

Day trading is no different to longer term trading. You have to have a solid and profitable system in place before you even think about entering a position. This means doing an awful lot of paper trading and back-testing until you find a system that could potentially make you money.

Day trading is extremely difficult because if you watch the charts of the major pairs every single day you will soon start to see that a lot of the price moves are simply noise. By that I mean random price moves that are an inevitable part of every trading session. You do get strong trends at times but a lot of the time the price just drifts up and down aimlessly.

This is why longer term trading is generally a lot easier because by using 1 hour charts and upwards, you are eliminating a lot of this noise. Therefore it's much easier to make consistent profits because the technical indicators that you use will generally be far more reliable.

Of course it is possible to make consistent profits from short term trading but it requires a high degree of skill and expertise. You generally need to have quite a high success rate because it's hard to let winning trades run on short time frames, and you need to learn how to accept losses because on these smaller time frames they are inevitable. You also need to keep these losses small and under control.

If you can do all this and are extremely disciplined then it is possible to become a highly successful forex day trader. It's certainly not for everyone though and my general advice would be to focus on longer term trading because it's so much easier than day trading.

Small Investors Turn to Forex

Liquidity Attractive Feature of Forex

A June 2nd story by the global news agency Reuters tells the story of investor Cenk Utkan who lost half his investment in emerging market hedge funds. The 33-year-old managing director of London-based Connexion Capital introduces institutional investors to hedge funds. After losing much of his investments Mr. Utkan turned to global currency markets citing their liquidity. Mr. Utkan stated, "In Russia, stocks got suspended. So I thought instead of locking my money up in a hedge fund, why don't I go to the most liquid end of the market, which is the currency market?"

Investments Hammered By Recession
Mr. Utkan now traces currencies daily for his personal account. Mr. Utkan is not alone. Many small investors are dumping stocks, real estate, and other investments that have been hammered by the worst recession since World War Two. For these new forex investors liquidity is king. The currency exchange market is the world's largest with over $3.2 trillion dollars traded daily. Currency exchange rates are always changing and forex markets are not subject to the same sort of regulations that govern stock and equity markets. Betsy Waters of Germany's Deutsche Bank stated, "Retail investors around the world, particularly in countries where you have more controls over the equity markets, are definitely turning to FX."

Number of Forex Traders Increases
At dbFX.com, the retail currency trading platform of Germany's Deutsche Bank, volume has increased 37% in the first quarter compared with a year earlier. Other retail forex companies report a 30% monthly increase in new accounts for the last six months. Betting on currency pairs is not for the faint of heart but by using the leverage available to retail forex investors the rewards can be astounding compared to what equity markets offer. Potential investors are cautioned that leverage can be a double edged sword.

Forex Rewards Great
Although forex markets can be volatile with currency exchange rates changing several times a day those willing to educate themselves about this dynamic market and exercise discipline can reap fantastic rewards. There are many free real time currency converters available online including the popular XE currency converter and the Yahoo currency converter. Both are popular among forex day traders.

Foreign Exchange Currency Converter

The foreign exchange market has recently been viewed by people as a new way to earn additional income. Trading foreign currencies is no longer as daunting as it was in the past. The reason for this is because of the emergence of trading robots and software which can tell inexperienced or under-experienced traders as to what their moves should be. But aside from these robots and software, traders who make it in the foreign exchange market should also make use of a trustworthy foreign exchange currency converter. There are a number of currency converters available online but the problem is deciphering which ones to trust and which ones to disregard. Get free daily Forex videos.

OANDA

The currency converter offered by OANDA makes use of data take from the top market data contributors. OANDA's converter is being utilized by a number of institutions and individuals including auditing firms, tax authorities and even a number of major corporations. Making use of this converter is also simple enough for a grade-schooler to understand. In the drop-down box labeled "currency I have" key in your starting currency while in the drop-down box labeled "currency I want" key in the currency you have to end up with. You'll be able to find rate details including the selling and buying prices and recent trends after your search.

XE

The XE universal currency converter boats of a simple yet direct-to-the point manner of converting currencies. You start with the amount that you have of the currency that you're starting with. Specify your starting currency with the first drop-down box and the currency that you want to end up with on the second drop-down box. For ease, the top ten currencies are listed first with the remaining top 85 following. Special units and precious metals are also found at the very bottom of the list.

Oz Forex

The Oz Forex converter allows for the conversion of more than 150 currencies unlike the other converters mentioned. The mechanism of using the converter is straightforward and easy to understand. The rates given are not selling or buying prices but mid-market rates which midpoint of the buy and sell rates of the same currency.

Now that you have all that information you will want to get the best and most up to date information on Oanda Forex Currency. That is how you stay ahead of everyone else and learn what the new opportunities are and will soon be. Find the best resources you can and go back to them over and over again to use to your advantage. There is inherent risk in trading Forex and you will want to do your best to reduce these risks and maximize your success rate.