• Get Started

    • Month: September 2017

    Using Key Forex Indicators for easy trading

    Forex indicators are essential tools for traders and financial analysts to keep an eye on the movements occurring in the Forex market. The importance of these indicators cannot be underestimated. They need attention and a lot of practice to understand and decipher by a first-time trader. Many indicators are being currently used by traders; however, there are some that are used by a majority of traders involved in Forex trading. The main Forex indicators are described below.

    Gator Oscillator

    This tool was developed for Forex trading by Bill Williams. It is a powerful trend indicator and is used to represent strong directional market actions. The chart is divided horizontally into two sections. The upper section is large and displays the movements in price while the lower section is the indicator. The indicator consists of red and green lines and represents various conditions like Gator Eating, Gator Awaking, Gator Satisfied and Gator Sleeping. These different states are indicated by a variation in the red and green lines.

    This tool is highly complex and is a blend of three moving averages. However, due to its compact display, many Forex traders and financial analysts prefer this tool to keep an eye on the price changes. Also, the volatile tendency of the Gator oscillator provides a harmonious picture of the currency market.

    Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD)

    A very commonly used indicator, the MACD is used to measure the direction and strength of a continuing trend. It was developed by Gerald Appel in the 1960s and is a very straightforward and simple financial tool. The tool comprises of two EMAs or exponential moving averages and one trend line.

    A crossover of the trigger lines and the MACD is a signal that the trend will possibly change. Also, patterns of divergence and convergence in the tool are strong indicators of a change in the price trend.

    Being a universal tool of technical analysis, almost all trading software available to traders offers this indicator. One of the key trading software offering this indicator is MetaTrader 4.

    Elliott Wave Theory

    This is a very popular analysis technique that is applied by Forex traders for financial market analysis. The theorists believe that the price patterns that exist in the market are influenced by economic robustness, liquidity, and credit. These three aspects form a very important relationship and can influence the price patterns considerably.

    The theory was initially proposed by an accountant, Ralph Nelson Elliott, in the 1930s. The theory has been regarded as an effective technique for dealing with market uncertainties. The Elliot Wave theory is typically based on the cyclical nature of events that occur in financial markets.

    The market patterns are categorized in a hierarchy that allows for greater precision in all trade decisions, resulting in increased trader confidence. The key benefit of this indicator is that it organizes and condenses the price actions into simple trend lines that can be easily interpreted by Forex traders.

    These basic indicators are useful tools of analysis that are important while trading in the Forex market.

    5 Ways to Use a Forex Demo Account More Realistically

    Opening a Forex account is not at all difficult, but that does not make you a Forex trader. If you don’t know how to take advantage of a Forex account to the maximum, it is highly unlikely that it will lead you anywhere. So, for those who are just entering the Forex market, and learning the ins and outs of trade, a real Forex account is not their stop. What they need is a Forex demo account where they can practice trading before they start off with the real thing.

    There are several benefits of starting off on your road to trading with your IMMFX demo Forex account, and since it is free, there is no reason why you should not try your skills here first. This virtual account allows beginners to learn to trade in an environment exactly like the real trading market. The only difference is that the money you use is virtual, which protects you against any initial losses you might incur due to your inexperience.

    The more you use this virtual demo Forex account, the more experience you can have regarding the strategies used in the Forex trading market. However, there is one major downside to demo Forex accounts; they can make you lose touch with the real value of money. Since the loss of virtual money does not dent your finances, it starts becoming inconsequential. Incurring the same loss in real trade market can often leave you broke.

    So, here are some ways you can use your Forex demo account in a more realistic and practical manner to ensure that you keep a check on reality:

    1. Treat the Money as Real

    The very first thing to do is to treat the money involved seriously. Whether you make a profit or a loss, find the value of what it means to your bank account so that you can understand how, if the situation was real, it could have affected your life. Attach rewards or restrictions to your success and failures to realize their importance.

    1. Play with the Right Amount

    Often, the starting amount you get to trade in a demo Forex account is more than what you have in real life. Therefore, you should make sure that you get your starting amount adjusted to a sum near to what you can actually afford so that you can get a far more clear idea of your profits and losses. You can ask a broker to adjust the amount of your account accordingly.

    1. Make a Journal

    In order to remember all that you learn from your demo Forex account, it is very important that you keep a record of it. Make a journal that clearly states your goals, and write down strategies you made and the results you got when you implemented them. This way you can keep a track of your performance and analyze practices that play a part in leading you to profit or loss repeatedly.

    1. Try Several Leverage Ratios

    In Forex trading, there are several leveraging options available to you that can have a huge impact on your finances. Using a demo Forex account, make sure to try as much leveraging options as you can and record their results in your journal. Since you don’t stand at the risk of losing money, you can experiment as much as you want until you get a leveraging range best for you.

    1. Take Note of Risks

    Risk management is one of the most major things you have to learn about Forex trading and a Forex demo account is quite helpful in this regard. You can try different risk strategies when using this account by dividing the total of your amount into several mini-lots. This can help you learn more risk management strategies to safeguard you against losses when you start live trading.

    Best ECN/STP Forex Provider 2017

    In September 2017, our company put yet another trophy on its wall of recognizing. The “Wealth & Finance international”, one of the highly recognized financial magazine, awarded IMMFX the ‘Best ECN/STP Forex Provider 2017‘ for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, which is assumed to be among the most remarkable awards in the financial world.

    Various brokers took part in the exposition and their performance was judged by prominent traders and highly expert private investors. However, among several international brokers, IMMFX was given the honor to become the winner of the status ‘Best ECN/STP Forex Provider 2017’.

    The inspiring Award from Wealth & Finance International proves that IMMFX has achieved fair financial leadership in the industry providing its clients with quality services and flexible trading conditions, handy tools for market analysis, and better customer support.

    What Factors Can Impact on the Forex Market?

    Forex markets typically deal with foreign exchange currencies. Like any other market, the currency market is also largely driven by and affected by the element of supply and demand. Many factors can have a strong impact on the Forex market. Some of the key factors are:

    Economic News

    This is one of the major economic factors that are capable of affecting the foreign exchange market. The impact of economic news is felt globally. If a country releases any important economic news at any time, it can have a positive or negative effect on the exchange rate of the country’s currency.

    Real Estate Information

    For any country, housing information is very important and can play a major role in the fluctuation of the foreign exchange rate. For instance, the US ministries release housing information of the country on a monthly basis that includes the information regarding houses that have been sold or those that are still under contract. The information regarding the increase in the inventory of houses can also be found on these releases. This information is extremely important as it indicates how the economy is currently performing. The growth and good performance of the real estate market act as an indication that the economy is performing well too. This plays a major part in determining the Forex rates.

    Investors

    Investors are strong players in the economy. Their beliefs and actions can swing the Forex market completely. If the investors are of the opinion that the dollar is performing well, the value of the dollar will grow positively in relation to other currencies while trading Forex. In case they are not very optimistic about the dollar, its value will dip in comparison to other currencies in the Forex market.

    Trade

    Importers in many nations import goods and services that they require from other countries. To pay them, they need to buy the currency of the country selling them the goods. This will keep the currency of the selling country in demand. Those countries that have a surplus of trade and can export their excess goods and services will always have a stronger currency in relation to those countries that have trade deficits.

    Level of Risk Acceptance

    People in different countries have a very distinct attitude towards risk. Some are risk-averse while others are very accommodating of risky situations. When countries are trapped in uncertain scenarios, people in risk-averse countries would move towards safer investment options like government bonds, etc. This creates great fluctuation in the currency rates of a country.

    Political Stability

    Political stability is yet another factor that can have a great impact on a country’s currency exchange rate. If a country is undergoing political turmoil or is facing political instability, the Forex market will be significantly affected by such events. For instance, if a country’s government changes, the currency of the country will be affected as well. Also, the currency of the neighboring countries, as well as the countries that are in business with the respective country, will be affected.

    Top Four Fundamentals of the Currency Market

    Do you have a strong investment instinct? Are you wondering which market to trade? If yes, then you should definitely try your luck at trading forex.

    With over 3.2 trillion turnovers every day, the forex trading market has become the fastest growing, most sought after and highly liquid financial market worldwide.

    To become a professional forex trader, you need to master the art of how to make the right currency trading decisions at the right time to maximize profits and minimize losses. For this, you must be aware of the forex trading fundamentals.

    Forex Fundamentals

    Here are the top four fundamentals of the currency market:

    Interest Rates

    Forex is a dynamic market with round the clock buying and selling of currencies, five days a week. As a forex trader you need to be aware of money market fluctuations and activities in order to make profitable decisions.

    As forex trading is related to interest rate changes and speculation of its direction, a slight change in the interest rate can create waves in the forex market. Since interest rates have a significant impact on currency trading, it is one of the important fundamental factors that you must monitor closely to make good decisions.

    Economic Growth Trend and Expectations

    For novice traders, it is advisable to keep an eye on the GDP (gross domestic product) and the CPI (consumer price index) of the two countries you are planning to engage in currency pair trading in the forex market. These factors are the economic growth indicators that impact the currency value.

    The best way to forecast forex movements on the basis of these factors is to get growth expectation reports of the two countries. Compare and evaluate the reports on economic growth factors, and observe strengths and weaknesses of the two countries. This will help you devise a flawless trading strategy.

    Employment Factor

    Are you thinking what does employment have to do with forex trading? Well, according to professional traders this is one fundamental factor of trading that is often overlooked by everyday traders. When it comes to trading forex, you need to have a good understanding of the economic trends and environment of the country of which you are investing in the currency of. And employment is one of the many factors contributing to the stability and growth of the economy, isn’t it?

    Since employment directly affects consumer spending and inflation, it impacts the central bank’s decision of whether to increase or decrease interest rates, which impacts the currency value. In other words, the employment factor can help traders to forecast central bank decisions and eventually trade accordingly.

    Commodity Prices

    This is another fundamental factor that has a significant effect on currency value. To determine the value of a country’s currency, you need to analyze its exports and imports. For example, you could look at a country’s crude oil prices. If you are trading USD/CAD, then in this case Canada is considered to benefit more from rising crude oil prices. However, this does not mean you overlook the above factors and just trade on the Canadian dollar.

    When you open a forex trading account with your IMMFX broker, keep all the fundamental factors in mind to formulate a winning trading strategy, and then make your move.

    Good Luck!

    How Forex Trading Frustration can Improve your Trades

    Experiencing frustration during forex trading is nothing unusual. Whether you’ve just experienced a major loss after thinking you were onto a winner or watching a forex news release that went against your predictions, nothing is more frustrating.

    But experiencing frustration whilst trading forex is actually fairly important; it’s what teaches you to test yourself in a difficult situation, to discover what you’re doing right versus what you need to improve upon.

    Being up for the challenge is half of the FX trading game; if you are afraid to experience frustration (or any other combination of emotions) then you will be unable to trade to your fullest potential. You won’t worry excessively about making mistakes on the trading platform and will be up for the challenge no matter the conditions.

    Frustration during Forex Trading Leads to Learning

    In order to become a more successful as an online trader, you need to learn to be ready for the challenge that trading presents. Though losses (and frustration) are an inevitable part of FX trading, what counts is how you respond to each and every one of your trades.

    If you are currently experiencing a period of frustration on the trading platform it is vital that you acknowledge that feeling of frustration as a temporary emotion, otherwise you will hold it with you throughout every single trade that you execute.

    Though it’s acceptable to experience stress and frustration during online forex trading, it is not acceptable to define yourself as a trader by the frustration that you experience.

    By shifting your outlook and viewing frustration as a stepping stone towards learning, you will actively accept the challenges that the foreign exchange market throws at you, rather than being afraid of them.

    Each trade that you encounter is an opportunity to boost your forex knowledge and improve your skills on the trading platform. The most successful online traders take avid notes before, during and after each trade and reflect, daily, on where they went right or wrong. They learn from every single trade and maximise their opportunities for learning, which gradually contributes towards their successful forex trading mindset.

    Rounding Up

    By looking forward to the frustrations and market challenges rather than fearing them, your trading experience and mind set will shift, helping you to better engage with the markets each and every day, and boost your forex trading account balance as a result.

    The Benefits of Trading on Mobile Devices

    The Forex market has evolved to become the world’s largest, most liquid and transparent financial market in the world. Hundreds of thousands of people trade trillions of dollars on it daily and everyone associated to the market is reaping the rewards. From investors and brokers to affiliates and technology providers, Forex has provided opportunities across the board. One of its biggest success stories is a name almost synonymous with Forex – the MetaTrader 4 trading platform.

    IMMFX MetaTrader 4 platform is one of the most popular Forex trading terminals in the world and its availability across various technological platforms is one of the biggest reasons for its popularity. It is offered for desktop computers, android phones, iPhones and iPads. The resulting mobility is cherished by investors, especially those who trade on Forex in addition to working a full-time job and find it difficult to be near a computer at all times.

    Account Control

    MetaTrader 4 mobile platform gives investors absolute control over their trading accounts to engage in Forex trading as they will. Such control eliminates the agent as a middle-man, providing greater reliability and security to the trader as they dictate every decision regarding the account and execution of trades.

    Multi-Tasking

    Possibly the greatest advantage offered by MT4 mobile platform is that it allows traders to multi-task. The Forex market is highly volatile and it is never wise to engage in trading as a full-time job as there are considerable risks of losing everything invested. Most investors, therefore, trade Forex as a second job but find it difficult to truly engage due to the demands of the regular job. Using the MetaTrader 4 mobile, they can keep an eye on their Forex accounts as they go about performing the tasks necessary to retain the day job.

    Trade Execution

    MT4 mobile platform provides all the features offered in the desktop computer version, making it invaluable for a trader on the move. Investors have real-time quotes of all the financial instruments as well as a full set of trading orders available on their fingertips wherever they go and can execute trades directly from the charts while maintaining complete and accurate trading history.

    High Convenience

    The MetaTrader 4 mobile platform offers a highly-convenient, well-designed interface that is extremely user-friendly. The convenience goes beyond ease of use of though, as it also offers the ability to chat with any registered MQL5.com user and access to all MQL5 community services. Furthermore, notifications from the desktop terminal can be pushed onto the mobile devices with a clear classification, categorized into Chat, Broker, Community, Terminal and Other.

    Technical Analysis

    The Forex trade has tremendous potential for profitability and success but it certainly isn’t easy to achieve those. It involves a plethora of financial instruments, some of which are extremely technical and need to be followed regularly to ensure investors do not miss out on trade opportunities. The MetaTrader 4 mobile trading platform provides thirty of the most popular technical indicators with real-time interactive charts and adjustable graphical settings to stay on top of all the happenings in the world of Forex.

     

    How to Avoid FX Trading on Emotion

    Online forex trading is by nature a highly emotional activity that can ignite any combination of emotions including stress, excitement, and anxiety. Forex trading on emotion is one of the greatest downfalls of even the most successful trader, as once the trader begins to trade on emotion and ignore the facts, their trades become sporadic, unplanned and impulsive.

     Top Tips on Eliminating Emotional Trading

    Trading forex should be a controlled activity in an environment that is highly volatile. An accomplished trader uses a range of trading tools to anticipate market movements, and may even closely follow forex news depending on their preferred analytical strategy.

    Accomplished traders also create solid trading plans that are designed to see them through even the most tumultuous market environment. The plan is tried and tested in a demo trading account until it is considered perfect in the eyes of the investor.

    Being able to persevere in the eyes of a trading storm is another key to reducing emotional trading. Essentially, an ‘unemotional’ trader will endure a volatile trade even though they know the odds are stacked against them. They will be confident that their tried-and-tested trading plan will help them to plough through that particular trade and come out the other side relatively unscathed.

    Finally, one of the best ways to avoid forex trading on emotion is to place stop loss and take profit orders. These are predetermined orders that indicate, in advance, when you are going to exit the market. They ensure that your trade automatically closes before its price drops too far, or before there is a risk that a positive trade could take a turn for the worse.

    Trade on Emotion at Your Peril

    As previously mentioned FX trading is a fast-paced and highly volatile activity that can easily ignite any number of emotions, from fear to greed. When you are in the midst of an exciting trade it is all too easy to persuade yourself to keep going in the hope of enhancing the number of pound signs entering your forex trading account. However, as soon as these thoughts begin to enter your mind your perception of the market becomes contorted and your trades, therefore, become haphazard.

    Conclusion

    For this reason, it is strongly recommended to follow the above tips closely in order to reduce the chances of FX trading on emotion and increase the chances of making a profitable return on investment. Any successful trader knows that trading through fear or greed is the easiest steps towards forex trading losses.