10 reasons to trade with forex.com

10 REASON TO TRADE WITH FOREX.COM

1.Trade on spreads as low as 1-2 pips, commission-free

Trade on dealing spreads as low as 1-2 pips on the most widely traded currency pairs. As always, you pay no commissions at FOREX.com, only the bid/offer spread. And with our fractional pips, you gain an extra digit of precision so that you can take advantage of smaller price movements. Plus, you can enter orders at any price - even inside the spread - and trade around news events, major economic announcements and other times of high market volatility. For traders who prefer to trade in a fixed spreads environment, that option is also available.

Learn more about pricing and spreads

2.FUlly automated click & deal trading, with instantaneous fills

At FOREX.com, we've always automated processing for all click & deal forex trades. When you click BUY or SELL, our systems perform a real time margin check and, if accepted, immediately respond with a trade confirmation. Why is this important to you? First, you benefit from an unbiased trading environment that is not subject to human intervention. Second, automated trade processing improves our efficiency, which lowers our overhead and allows us to pass along the saving to you in the form of tighter spreads

3.Flexible account types and leverage

» Standard accounts, with a default lot size of 100K and leverage of 100:1 (1%), are well suited for active forex traders. » Mini Accounts feature smaller, 10k contract sizes and leverage of up to 200:1. For traders new to the forex market, a mini account is a great way to get started trading in a live environment. Get Started Now.
Open a FOREX.com trading account.

4.Award-winning forex trading platform

We pioneered our signature "one-click" dealing in 2000 and have been nominated as Best Forex Brokerage by the readers of Technical Analysis of Stocks and Commodities for the past two years. Our proprietary trading platform, FOREXTrader, successfully combines ease-of-use with remarkable flexibility. FOREXTrader offers a highly intuitive user interface, advanced customization features, and a full suite of professional charting and order management tools. Take a closer look at FOREXTrader

5.Advanced tools & research

As a FOREX.com client, you'll have access to a variety of resources and unique trading tools that can help you make more informed trading decisions.
•
Full suite of daily and weekly forex research. Whether you're interested in fundamental analysis or technical trading methods, you'll have access to a wide variety of institutional-grade Forex market analysis as a FOREX.com client. And, tune in to our Weekly Market Call for timely trading ideas and analysis from Brian Dolan, our Chief Currency Strategist.
•
ForexInsider streaming market commentary: Our exclusive FOREXInsider delivers actionable analysis of news, events and technical levels that impact currency prices, in real-time, to your trading platform. Updates are published as often as 20 times an hour, so that you can act instantly on new market intelligence.
•
FOREXCharts by eSignal: Access eSignal's professional level charting package with over 30 analytical tools and indicators, a complete selection of drawing tools, and choice of real-time data feed. Preview FOREXCharts by eSignal

6.Guaranteed fills on stop loss and limit orders

During FOREX.com's trading hours, all stop and limit orders up to $2 million are guaranteed to be filled at your price. We understand that stop loss and limit orders are an important part of every trader's risk management strategy, and so we take this policy very seriously. This policy does not apply during major fundamental announcements, or outside FOREX.com's normal trading hours.
Negative account balance protection At FOREX.com, your risk is only limited to funds on deposit. Our margin policy eliminates concerns about debit balances by guaranteeing that you will never owe more than you have in your account.
Support for automated (API) trade executions For clients utilizing an algorithmic trading system or their own black box strategy, FOREXTrader supports fully automated trade execution via a standard FIX protocol or web-services API. The API provides users with the ability to receive a real-time rate feed, submit trade requests, set and modify stop-loss and take-profit orders, and receive automated confirmations of trade activity. Developers can request access to a testing environment in order to test their systems in real time before using the API in a production environment. Find out more about API trading.
Wireless trading and account access As a FOREX.com client or registered practice account user, you can access the currency markets via virtually any Internet-enabled wireless device. Keep on top of the market from anywhere – you can view real-time forex quotes, news and commentary, and charts and set rate alerts. You can also monitor your open positions, leave orders, even buy and sell at the market. There are no extra fees, and no special sign up. All you need is an Internet-enabled wireless device. Learn more about FOREXTrader.wireless.
Trader education, mentoring services, and more FOREX.com delivers hands-on forex training through a variety of educational programs and events. For traders just getting started in the Forex market, we offer one-on-one platform walkthroughs, online training courses, as well as live, introductory web-based seminars ("webinars"). Exclusive client-only events cover more in-depth trading techniques and strategies and include an interactive Q&A with our senior analysts and currency strategists. As a FOREX.com client, you can also take advantage of our professional mentoring services. During your one-on-one consultations with a senior forex specialist, you can discuss the latest market research report, ask for a second opinion about your trading plan, or just bounce ideas around. Contact us to learn more about our mentoring services.

7.Negative account balance protection

At FOREX.com, your risk is only limited to funds on deposit. Our margin policy eliminates concerns about debit balances by guaranteeing that you will never owe more than you have in your account.

8.Support for automated (API) trade executions

For clients utilizing an algorithmic trading system or their own black box strategy, FOREXTrader supports fully automated trade execution via a standard FIX protocol or web-services API. The API provides users with the ability to receive a real-time rate feed, submit trade requests, set and modify stop-loss and take-profit orders, and receive automated confirmations of trade activity. Developers can request access to a testing environment in order to test their systems in real time before using the API in a production environment. Find out more about API trading.

9.Trader education, mentoring services, and more

FOREX.com delivers hands-on forex training through a variety of educational programs and events. For traders just getting started in the Forex market, we offer one-on-one platform walkthroughs, online training courses, as well as live, introductory web-based seminars ("webinars"). Exclusive client-only events cover more in-depth trading techniques and strategies and include an interactive Q&A with our senior analysts and currency strategists. As a FOREX.com client, you can also take advantage of our professional mentoring services. During your one-on-one consultations with a senior forex specialist, you can discuss the latest market research report, ask for a second opinion about your trading plan, or just bounce ideas around. Contact us to learn more about our mentoring services.

10.Wireless trading and account access

As a FOREX.com client or registered practice account user, you can access the currency markets via virtually any Internet-enabled wireless device. Keep on top of the market from anywhere – you can view real-time forex quotes, news and commentary, and charts and set rate alerts. You can also monitor your open positions, leave orders, even buy and sell at the market. There are no extra fees, and no special sign up. All you need is an Internet-enabled wireless device. Learn more about FOREXTrader.wireless

Forex Resources That Will Make You a Better Trader

Getting started in forex will, put plain and simply, make your head spin. There is alot of garbage out there, and even more dead ends than there are culdesacs in suburbs. I won't begin to tell you which broker to choose because that is another post for another time. But I can point you in the right direction to online resources that I have stumbled upon during my countless hours of forex research. I can't emphasize the word research enough to the new trader interested in forex. The following sites have proven priceless resources on my journey.

1. Forex Factory

There is one website that I go to every single day for my forex news and economic calendar that I can always trust to be accurate and timely. Forex Factory has the most comprehensive forums, with great traders who can get you pointed in the right direction. The forums include everything from trading systems to programming lessons and files for the Metatrader platform. Many well respected traders unselfishly post their trading systems and back them up with lessons as to why they make the trades they do. Easily and A+ on my grading scale. Another forex forum that gets an honorable mention from me is Money Tec.

2. Fresh Pips

Fresh Pips is a site where readers can submit forex news stories that they like, and they gain recognition through a voting system. Too many articles to read, but I love it because I discover new sites all of the that I would have never found. It's like a news aggregator just for forex. They also run the site Baby Pips which is ground zero for new traders who want to get into the game. Baby Pips presents forex in a fun, very easy to understand manner.

3. Tip'd

Tip'd is a brand new player in the financial world, and is essentially the exact same site as Fresh Pips but includes other financial categories like commodities, stocks, real estate, currencies, etc. There is a voting system, and you can see at the top left of all of my posts that I am submitting to the site and searching for you vote (hint hint!).

4. FX Street and Daily FX

I bundled FX Street and Daily FX together because they are both great news sites. These are the best of the best, with the world's top analysts writing for them. Very up to date, and very helpful for the new trader who has no idea as to why the market just moved 100 pips after a news release.

5. Forex Peace Army

I have to mention Forex Peace Army because their hate for forex fraud is just as strong as mine. When your slogan is Scammers pray that you don't join us today, then you're alright with me. This site will help you with scam recovery absolutely free. They are the police of the forex world. This site also has an extensive repertoire of forums, and they also provide a free daily forex signal from Sir Pipsalot that is based on trading around news releases.

These are the sites that I recommend visiting if you want to become serious about trading forex. I read more books and websites than I can remember. I also had the discipline to paper trader for over 5 years before jumping into the market. Therefore, I feel I should pass on my experiences to save you time and effort, and maybe this will streamline your effort towards taiming this exciting game. Make sure to sign up for my RSS feed for daily updates. Cheers.

Essential Elements of a Successful Trader

Courage Under Stressful Conditions When the Outcome is Uncertain

All the foreign exchange trading knowledge in the world is not going to help, unless you have the nerve to buy and sell currencies and put your money at risk. As with the lottery “You gotta be in it to win it”. Trust me when I say that the simple task of hitting the buy or sell key is extremely difficult to do when your own real money is put at risk.

You will feel anxiety, even fear. Here lies the moment of truth. Do you have the courage to be afraid and act anyway? When a fireman runs into a burning building I assume he is afraid but he does it anyway and achieves the desired result. Unless you can overcome or accept your fear and do it anyway, you will not be a successful trader.

However, once you learn to control your fear, it gets easier and easier and in time there is no fear. The opposite reaction can become an issue – you’re overconfident and not focused enough on the risk you're taking.

Both the inability to initiate a trade, or close a losing trade can create serious psychological issues for a trader going forward. By calling attention to these potential stumbling blocks beforehand, you can properly prepare prior to your first real trade and develop good trading habits from day one.

Start by analyzing yourself. Are you the type of person that can control their emotions and flawlessly execute trades, oftentimes under extremely stressful conditions? Are you the type of person who’s overconfident and prone to take more risk than they should? Before your first real trade you need to look inside yourself and get the answers. We can correct any deficiencies before they result in paralysis (not pulling the trigger) or a huge loss (overconfidence). A huge loss can prematurely end your trading career, or prolong your success until you can raise additional capital.

The difficulty doesn’t end with “pulling the trigger”. In fact what comes next is equally or perhaps more difficult. Once you are in the trade the next hurdle is staying in the trade. When trading foreign exchange you exit the trade as soon as possible after entry when it is not working. Most people who have been successful in non-trading ventures find this concept difficult to implement.

For example, real estate tycoons make their fortune riding out the bad times and selling during the boom periods. The problem with trying to adapt a 'hold on until it comes back' strategy in foreign exchange is that most of the time the currencies are in long-term persistent, directional trends and your equity will be wiped out before the currency comes back.

The other side of the coin is staying in a trade that is working. The most common pitfall is closing out a winning position without a valid reason. Once again, fear is the culprit. Your subconscious demons will be scaring you non-stop with questions like “what if news comes out and you wind up with a loss”. The reality is if news comes out in a currency that is going up, the news has a higher probability of being positive than negative (more on why that is so in a later article).

So your fear is just a baseless annoyance. Don’t try and fight the fear. Accept it. Have a laugh about it and then move on to the task at hand, which is determining an exit strategy based on actual price movement. As Garth says in Waynesworld “Live in the now man”. Worrying about what could be is irrational. Studying your chart and determining an objective exit point is reality based and rational.

Another common pitfall is closing a winning position because you are bored with it; its not moving. In Football, after a star running back breaks free for a 50-yard gain, he comes out of the game temporarily for a breather. When he reenters the game he is a serious threat to gain more yards – this is indisputable. So when your position takes a breather after a winning move, the next likely event is further gains – so why close it?

If you can be courageous under fire and strategically patient, foreign exchange trading may be for you. If you’re a natural gunslinger and reckless you will need to tone your act down a notch or two and we can help you make the necessary adjustments. If putting your money at risk makes you a nervous wreck its because you lack the knowledge base to be confident in your decision making.

Patience to Gain Knowledge through Study and Focus

Many new traders believe all you need to profitably trade foreign currencies are charts, technical indicators and a small bankroll. Most of them blow up (lose all their money) within a few weeks or months; some are initially successful and it takes as long as a year before they blow up. A tiny minority with good money management skills, patience, and a market niche go on to be successful traders. Armed with charts, technical indicators, and a small bankroll, the chance of succeeding is probably 500 to 1.

To increase your chances of success to near certainty requires knowledge; acquiring knowledge takes hard work, study, dedication and focus. Compile your knowledge base without taking any shortcuts, thereby assuring a solid foundation to build upon.

Common Sense Guidelines for the Average Trader

Look for a reputable broker

• Ability to trade effectively depends on consistent spreads and ample liquidity
• Anyone can establish a position
• Ability to close out a position at a fair market price is more important

Live to trade another day

• Apply prudent money management skills
• Avoid using excessive leverage that puts your investment capital at risk
• Always trade with a stop!

Don’t trade emotionally, stick to your plan and maintain discipline

• Establish a trading plan before initiating a trade
• Set reasonable risk/reward parameters
• Don’t override your stops for emotional reasons
• Don’t react to price action – means don’t buy just because it looks cheap or sell because it looks too high, Have supporting evidence to back up your trade

Don’t punt

• Don't punt( Punting is trading for trading sake without a view)

Don’t leave stops at obvious levels such as “big figures” (e.g. eur/usd 1.20, usd/jpy 110)

• i.e. JUBBS stops = stops at obvious levels and thus are more likely triggered

Don’t add to a losing position in unless it is part of a strategy to scale into a position

• In other words, don’t double up in the hope of recouping losses unless it is part of a broader trading strategy

Trading with and against the trend

• When trading with a trend, consider the use of trailing stops.
• When trading against the trend, be disciplined taking profits and don’t hold out for the last pip

Treat trading as a continuum

• Don’t base success on one trade
• Avoid emotional highs or lows on individual trades
• Consistency should be an objective

Forex trading is multi-currency

• Watch crosses as they are key influences on spot trading
• Crosses are one currency vs. another, such as eur/jpy (euro vs. jpy) or eur/gbp (eur vs. gbp)
• Crosses can be used as clues for direction for spot currencies even if you are not trading them

Be cognizant of what news is coming out each day so you don’t get blindsided

• Be cognizant of what news is coming out each day so you don’t get blindsided
• Beware of trading just ahead of an economic number and be wary of volatility following key releases

Beware of illiquid markets

• Beware of illiquid markets
• Adjust strategies during holiday or pre-holiday periods to take into account thin liquidity
• Beware of central bank intervention in illiquid markets

Jay Meisler, a partner in Global-View.com, says one problem of trading with too-high leverage is that one piece of surprise news can wipe out one's capital. "Those who treat forex trading as if they were in a casino will see the same long-term results as when they go to Las Vegas," he says, adding: "If you treat forex trading like a business, including proper money management, you have a better chance of success." …Newsweek International, March 15, 2004

Treat this business as a marathon and not a sprint so you avoid burnout and maintain stamina for the long haul.

Forex Money Management

Put two rookie traders in front of the screen, provide them with your best high-probability set-up, and for good measure, have each one take the opposite side of the trade. More than likely, both will wind up losing money. However, if you take two pros and have them trade in the opposite direction of each other, quite frequently both traders will wind up making money - despite the seeming contradiction of the premise. What's the difference? What is the most important factor separating the seasoned traders from the amateurs? The answer is money management.

Like dieting and working out, money management is something that most traders pay lip service to, but few practice in real life. The reason is simple: just like eating healthy and staying fit, money management can seem like a burdensome, unpleasant activity. It forces traders to constantly monitor their positions and to take necessary losses, and few people like to do that. However, as Figure 1 proves, loss-taking is crucial to long-term trading success.

Amount of Equity Lost	Amount of Return Necessary to Restore to Original Equity Value
25%	33%
50%	100%
75%	400%
90%	1000%

Figure 1 - This table shows just how difficult it is to recover from a debilitating loss.

Note that a trader would have to earn 100% on his or her capital - a feat accomplished by less than 1% of traders worldwide - just to break even on an account with a 50% loss. At 75% drawdown, the trader must quadruple his or her account just to bring it back to its original equity - truly a Herculean task!

The Big One

Although most traders are familiar with the figures above, they are inevitably ignored. Trading books are littered with stories of traders losing one, two, even five years' worth of profits in a single trade gone terribly wrong. Typically, the runaway loss is a result of sloppy money management, with no hard stops and lots of average downs into the longs and average ups into the shorts. Above all, the runaway loss is due simply to a loss of discipline.

Most traders begin their trading career, whether consciously or subconsciously, visualizing "The Big One" - the one trade that will make them millions and allow them to retire young and live carefree for the rest of their lives. In FX, this fantasy is further reinforced by the folklore of the markets. Who can forget the time that George Soros "broke the Bank of England" by shorting the pound and walked away with a cool $1-billion profit in a single day? But the cold hard truth for most retail traders is that, instead of experiencing the "Big Win", most traders fall victim to just one "Big Loss" that can knock them out of the game forever.

Learning Tough Lessons

Traders can avoid this fate by controlling their risks through stop losses. In Jack Schwager's famous book "Market Wizards" (1989), day trader and trend follower Larry Hite offers this practical advice: "Never risk more than 1% of total equity on any trade. By only risking 1%, I am indifferent to any individual trade." This is a very good approach. A trader can be wrong 20 times in a row and still have 80% of his or her equity left.

The reality is that very few traders have the discipline to practice this method consistently. Not unlike a child who learns not to touch a hot stove only after being burned once or twice, most traders can only absorb the lessons of risk discipline through the harsh experience of monetary loss. This is the most important reason why traders should use only their speculative capital when first entering the forex market. When novices ask how much money they should begin trading with, one seasoned trader says: "Choose a number that will not materially impact your life if you were to lose it completely. Now subdivide that number by five because your first few attempts at trading will most likely end up in blow out." This too is very sage advice, and it is well worth following for anyone considering trading FX.

Money Management Styles

Generally speaking, there are two ways to practice successful money management. A trader can take many frequent small stops and try to harvest profits from the few large winning trades, or a trader can choose to go for many small squirrel-like gains and take infrequent but large stops in the hope the many small profits will outweigh the few large losses. The first method generates many minor instances of psychological pain, but it produces a few major moments of ecstasy. On the other hand, the second strategy offers many minor instances of joy, but at the expense of experiencing a few very nasty psychological hits. With this wide-stop approach, it is not unusual to lose a week or even a month's worth of profits in one or two trades. (For further reading, see Introduction To Types Of Trading: Swing Trades.)

To a large extent, the method you choose depends on your personality; it is part of the process of discovery for each trader. One of the great benefits of the FX market is that it can accommodate both styles equally, without any additional cost to the retail trader. Since FX is a spread-based market, the cost of each transaction is the same, regardless of the size of any given trader's position.

For example, in EUR/USD, most traders would encounter a 3 pip spread equal to the cost of 3/100th of 1% of the underlying position. This cost will be uniform, in percentage terms, whether the trader wants to deal in 100-unit lots or one million-unit lots of the currency. For example, if the trader wanted to use 10,000-unit lots, the spread would amount to $3, but for the same trade using only 100-unit lots, the spread would be a mere $0.03. Contrast that with the stock market where, for example, a commission on 100 shares or 1,000 shares of a $20 stock may be fixed at $40, making the effective cost of transaction 2% in the case of 100 shares, but only 0.2% in the case of 1,000 shares. This type of variability makes it very hard for smaller traders in the equity market to scale into positions, as commissions heavily skew costs against them. However, FX traders have the benefit of uniform pricing and can practice any style of money management they choose without concern about variable transaction costs.

Four Types of Stops

Once you are ready to trade with a serious approach to money management and the proper amount of capital is allocated to your account, there are four types of stops you may consider.

1. Equity Stop

This is the simplest of all stops. The trader risks only a predetermined amount of his or her account on a single trade. A common metric is to risk 2% of the account on any given trade. On a hypothetical $10,000 trading account, a trader could risk $200, or about 200 points, on one mini lot (10,000 units) of EUR/USD, or only 20 points on a standard 100,000-unit lot. Aggressive traders may consider using 5% equity stops, but note that this amount is generally considered to be the upper limit of prudent money management because 10 consecutive wrong trades would draw down the account by 50%.

One strong criticism of the equity stop is that it places an arbitrary exit point on a trader's position. The trade is liquidated not as a result of a logical response to the price action of the marketplace, but rather to satisfy the trader's internal risk controls.

2. Chart Stop

Technical analysis can generate thousands of possible stops, driven by the price action of the charts or by various technical indicator signals. Technically oriented traders like to combine these exit points with standard equity stop rules to formulate charts stops. A classic example of a chart stop is the swing high/low point. In Figure 2 a trader with our hypothetical $10,000 account using the chart stop could sell one mini lot risking 150 points, or about 1.5% of the account.

Figure 2

3. Volatility Stop

A more sophisticated version of the chart stop uses volatility instead of price action to set risk parameters. The idea is that in a high volatility environment, when prices traverse wide ranges, the trader needs to adapt to the present conditions and allow the position more room for risk to avoid being stopped out by intra-market noise. The opposite holds true for a low volatility environment, in which risk parameters would need to be compressed.

One easy way to measure volatility is through the use of Bollinger bands, which employ standard deviation to measure variance in price. Figures 3 and 4 show a high volatility and a low volatility stop with Bollinger bands. In Figure 3 the volatility stop also allows the trader to use a scale-in approach to achieve a better "blended" price and a faster breakeven point. Note that the total risk exposure of the position should not exceed 2% of the account; therefore, it is critical that the trader use smaller lots to properly size his or her cumulative risk in the trade.

Figure 3

Figure 4

4. Margin Stop

This is perhaps the most unorthodox of all money management strategies, but it can be an effective method in FX, if used judiciously. Unlike exchange-based markets, FX markets operate 24 hours a day. Therefore, FX dealers can liquidate their customer positions almost as soon as they trigger a margin call. For this reason, FX customers are rarely in danger of generating a negative balance in their account, since computers automatically close out all positions.

This money management strategy requires the trader to subdivide his or her capital into 10 equal parts. In our original $10,000 example, the trader would open the account with an FX dealer but only wire $1,000 instead of $10,000, leaving the other $9,000 in his or her bank account. Most FX dealers offer 100:1 leverage, so a $1,000 deposit would allow the trader to control one standard 100,000-unit lot. However, even a 1 point move against the trader would trigger a margin call (since $1,000 is the minimum that the dealer requires). So, depending on the trader's risk tolerance, he or she may choose to trade a 50,000-unit lot position, which allows him or her room for almost 100 points (on a 50,000 lot the dealer requires $500 margin, so $1,000 – 100-point loss* 50,000 lot = $500). Regardless of how much leverage the trader assumed, this controlled parsing of his or her speculative capital would prevent the trader from blowing up his or her account in just one trade and would allow him or her to take many swings at a potentially profitable set-up without the worry or care of setting manual stops. For those traders who like to practice the "have a bunch, bet a bunch" style, this approach may be quite interesting.

Conclusion

As you can see, money management in FX is as flexible and as varied as the market itself. The only universal rule is that all traders in this market must practice some form of it in order to succeed.

By Boris Schlossberg, Senior Currency Strategist, FXCM

Reprinted with permission of Investopedia

Boris Schlossberg is the Senior Currency Strategist at Forex Capital Markets in New York, one of the largest retail forex market makers in the world. He is a frequent commentator for Bloomberg, Reuters, CNBC and Dow Jones CBS Marketwatch. His book "Technical Analysis of the Currency Market", published by John Wiley and Sons, is available on Amazon, where he also hosts a blog on all things trading.