Top 3 Tips to Stay Organized when Trading Forex

When trading forex it is easy to become overwhelmed by the market. The countless charts to analyze, forex news to keep an eye on and price movements on the trading platform can easily make you feel overwhelmed, leading to feelings of frustration and disorganization.

But staying organized on the trading platform is vital if you want to make money over the long-term. If you aren’t organized, you run the risk of trading on emotion and interpreting the market incorrectly.

Listed below are three top tips on how to stay organized when trading Forex:

  1. Keep a Forex Trading Journal

Everything you do on the trading platform should be carefully recorded. Whether a good trade or a bad trade, it will always be useful to look back on previous Forex trading experiences and see where you went right – or wrong. In the heat of a good or bad trade, it is easy to look back on it at a later date with an exaggerated perception. By keeping a Forex trading journal you will be able to consolidate your FX trading experiences in an objective and organized manner.

  1. Have a Trading Plan

A trading plan is a perfect way to trade Forex in a logical and organized manner. It ensures that you execute each and every trade for a reason – a reason that has been well-thought-out and planned in advance. Though many online traders perceive a trading plan as a boring waste of time, it is far from this. Your FX trading plan is your ticket to long-term currency trading success and can be as interesting and creative as you want it to be. Include inspirational quotes, attainable goals and much more to help you stay on the right track to success.

  1. Think Before You Click

Last but not least is the critical (but often ignored) organization tool – think before you click. Never enter a trade until you plan your actions beforehand. This will ensure that you are completely organized when trading forex, thus avoiding all emotional trading. This also means that you are fully comfortable and accepting should a loss arise.

CFD Trading For Beginners

The fact that you have landed on our webpage and are skimming through this article is proof enough of your interest in this financial trading tool. CFD (Contract for Difference) provides several advantages against the traditional tradable instruments, the most important of which is that you don’t have to own the underlying asset. This one feature leads to numerous other benefits including the fact that it magnifies the return and minimizes the probability of loss. However, a CFD is not a magic wand that you just waive and it will fatten up your bank account. Alternatively, you can make it your magic wand provided you use it smartly.

Here are some tips on CFD trading that will help you make the most of this trading tool:

Set a Specific Goal

The first and most important thing that you should do before putting in your hard earned money in CFDs is to define your risk and return objectives. And remember, this should not be subjective! Analyze the market for the asset that you intend to buy or sell and set specific and realistic goals before you enter into any CFD or forex trading agreement.

For example, if you intend to buy the shares of a specific company through CFDs your investment objectives could be to achieve 15% return and maximum 5% loss. Let’s make it more specific. You decide to sell the shares as soon as the market value goes up by 15% or declines by 5%. This would give you an idea of how much you would make or lose, provided you follow your objectives strictly.

Use Stop and Limit Orders Smartly

Continuing with the example above, you can place a limit order to sell the shares if the price increases by 15%. At the same time, you can place a stop loss order to sell the CFDs if the price falls below 5%. Make maximum use of CFD orders, especially if you are a passive trader and don’t get time to monitor your positions.

Start Off With Small Investments

You may be thoroughly prepared and may have done extensive research and analysis on the asset you intend to buy. Nevertheless, if you are a new trader, then you are bound to make some mistakes. It is highly recommended to invest small in any new market you enter. Get to know the market mechanism and analyze the trading activities of experienced traders before putting in big money.

Never Act on Impulse

Sentimental analysis is the least reliable type of financial analysis. You may be tempted to invest in a highly lucrative asset that everyone else is investing in. Acting on impulse or sixth sense is not a sound practice, especially if you are a new trader. Conduct thorough fundamental and technical analysis before putting in any money.

Diversify

Whether it is forex or CFD trading, diversification is the best and most effective strategy to minimize the risk. Invest in a variety of markets and assets. Here is a simple tip: try and make a portfolio of assets with a correlation coefficient less than one. The less correlated your portfolio is, the more benefits you will get out of diversification.

Invest Smartly!

It is your hard earned money. Invest it smartly. The small efforts required to analyze the markets in order to make well-informed decisions could be the difference between winning and losing money.

Critical Steps To-Do when Forex Traders Lose Money

Forex Traders Lose Money is an inevitable part of the forex trading process, but many traders struggle to accept losses calmly and objectively.

FX trading is a challenging activity that requires a great deal of stamina, endurance and patience. To become successful over a long period of time you need to learn how to trade with little emotion. You also need to learn to accept losses, and to accept that losses are an inevitable part of online forex trading.

Responding To Losses

It is very difficult to accept forex trading losses with ease. A loss means that your hard-earned money is gone from your forex trading account for good, which can have a huge impact on a trader emotionally, mentally and even physically.

The desire to win and the human tendency towards loss aversion is often too strong for the ego. A trader’s nerves kick in, they become stressed and tense, their shoulders arch and they begin to sweat. For this reason it is essential to reduce losses as much as possible by following a forex trading strategy and trading plan.

Nevertheless, once you have incurred a loss from forex trading your goal is to remain calm, focused and disciplined. You need to accept that loss with grace and move on to your next trade.

For many traders, stepping out of a trade when they should becomes difficult due to feelings of anger or anxiety. Such traders are unable to manage their emotional state in the heat of a loss. The trick is to keep your trading brain switched off and your emotional brain switched off.

How to Stay Composed and disciplined in the Heat of a Loss

The easiest way to respond to a loss is to take deep breaths. This reduces the impact of stress and calms your heart rate. When stress kicks in your breath naturally becomes more shallow and fast, so taking deep, slow breaths that are controlled helps to reverse the impact of stress and keep you more composed. This in turns helps you to remain more disciplined.

It is also important to take into account what’s going on inside your head at that moment. Try to take a step back and keep track of the thoughts you are having as the loss occurs. Instead of thinking: ‘I always lose; the market always goes against me’ ask yourself ‘what would an accomplished trader be thinking right now? How can I respond to this loss more objectively?’

Your ultimate goal is to deal with losses when they arise, focus your attention on the positive aspects and move on as quickly as possible. This will help you to become a successful, accomplished, long-term trader.

6 Features of a Top Online Forex Brokers

Choosing a forex broker is the first step in your forex trading career. For this reason, it is critical that you choose a broker among top online forex brokers with a positive reputation in the industry.

Since there are so many FX brokers to choose from the decision-making process can sometimes be a complicated one. Listed below are some unique features that you should look out for when selecting top online forex brokers:

Customer Support

Leading customer support is the cornerstone of a good forex broker, like IMMFX. Customer support must be available on a 24-hour basis through a number of channels including email, telephone, live chat, Skype and even personal visit where necessary.

The level of service must also be outstanding, helping you to deal with any problems quickly and efficiently, whether they are related to your account, the trading platform and so on.

Selection of Trading Instruments

In today’s trading environment it’s essential that you can diversify your trading portfolio if desired, therefore your online forex broker should offer a selection of trading instruments including currency pairs, precious metals, CFDs, commodities, indices, and stocks.

Excellent Trading Conditions

Learn more about the trading conditions before signing up. How fast is the execution speed? Does the broker offer re-quotes or slippage? How tight are the spreads? The wider the spreads the greater the fees you will be charged. Also find out whether there are any additional trading fees before signing up.

Further to the above, a range of trading strategies should be supported to ensure you are given a completely flexible trading experience.

Trading Tools

A range of forex trading tools as provided by your broker is important in keeping up with the markets and benefiting from all trading opportunities. Find out whether you can gain access to tutorials or webinars, technical analysis, fundamental analysis, a forex news feed, an economic calendar and more.

The Trading Platform

This is another critical component of your trading success. One of the world’s greatest FX trading platforms is the MetaTrader 4 platform, a flexible, customizable and easy-to-use platform.

Safety of Funds

Last but certainly not least is the safety of your funds. Since you will be depositing your own hard-earned cash it is essential that the money is deposited into a premium, segregated bank account and provided with compensation.

Summing Up

All of these factors and more will ensure that you are registering with a leading forex broker that is of a reputable standing. By choosing a broker who meets all of the above standards, you will enhance your chances of making a profit from forex trading.

Micro Trading: Benefits of a Forex Micro Account

When you trade forex you have the flexibility to choose from a number of trading accounts including a standard account, a mini account or even a forex micro account. If you are relatively new to forex trading or simply possess a limited forex education then it is advised to start off small with a forex micro account.

Forex Trading Today: How has the Trading Scene has Changed?

Traditionally, forex trading was exclusive to affluent investors who had strong relationships with banks. You could only enter the market with around $100,000 or more, otherwise you would not be eligible for online trading.

Today’s trading environment has changed considerably and there is a lot of flexibility with respect to forex trading. Thanks to the abundance of forex brokers you can now access a trading platform with absolute ease from a very small initial trading capital.

Further still, IMMFX allows traders to trade with leverage (also known as on margin). Through margin, traders only need around $2000 to trade a standard sized lot, which is far more advantageous than needing an initial capital of $100,000 to begin your trades.

To make online trading even more accessible to smaller investors, forex brokers set up mini trading accounts. Outlined below are some of the many benefits of opening a forex micro account with your favorite IMMFX broker.

Minimal Initial Deposit

A forex micro account is one step further from a demo trading account. Instead of trading with artificial money on a demo account you trade with real money on a much smaller scale, opening an account with a fifty dollar investment only instead of a few hundred dollars (as is usually the minimum requirement with a standard account).

Heightened Safety

A forex micro account offers similar advantages to a standard account but is far safer and less risky than a standard account. Since you are trading with less initial capital you have greater control over your account, as your trades are much smaller in size and therefore allow for much easier diversification.

Great for Beginners

If you are new to forex trading but want to try your hand on a live trading platform then a forex micro account is the ideal option. It gives you the opportunity to familiarize yourself with the IMMFX trading platform and practice trading in a live trading environment, without the added risk of losing thousands of dollars from an ill-executed trade.

Forex Micro Account Trading: Summing Up

If you are new to online trading but intrigued by the benefits then you should definitely consider opening a forex micro account before diving in head-first with a standard account. You will gradually learn the ropes and establish if FX trading is really for you before committing your hard-earned cash to a bigger trading account.