How a Stop Loss Can Work Against You in Forex Trading

Proper money management in forex trading is essential for long term successful trades. This usually means among other things, setting a stop loss to control losses. The tricky part is how much of a stop loss should you set? If you set too much of a stop loss you are exposing yourself to excessive risk and the possibility of losing a large amount if the trade reverses. On the other hand if you set too narrow a stop loss you run the risk of being stopped out of the trade if the temporary replacement goes beyond your stop loss and then resumes the original direction.

I learned the need for this on a trade I did today. The trade signals were strong and an entry signal was triggered. I entered the trade, set my take profit level, and set a narrow stop loss of about 15 pips. It was a long trade and it was going well and strongly moving in the direction that I wanted it to.

Then a correction came which always comes and usually is not a problem, however, being overcautious and conservative,it worked against me and the reversal was more than my stop loss. I was stopped out of the trade with a 14 pip loss. The trade then shortly reversed again and continued in the original direction. If my stop loss had been set at say 25 or 30 I would have been able to meet my profit objective on the trade.

Lesson learned: Set a wider stop loss. On the EUR/USD this should probably be at least 30 pips since most of the replacements are within this range.

The reason I set such a narrow stop loss is because of the fear of losing more than I was comfortable with. Remember, in a previous article I told you that this is one of the things that kills long term success. Here is a real life situation.

Of course, a wider stop loss is recommended in the Forex Trading Machine which is the system I am using. I thought I could do better by being more conservative. Then I realized that Avi Frister, the author, knows what he is talking about.

My trades have been successful, but I will get greater success closely following his system.

Mark Hines is a forex trader who discusses his and others experiences in forex trading. If you would like to look over his shoulder while he trades the market daily go to: http://mysimpleforextrading.blogspot.com/

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4X Trading - The New Gold Rush

If you were to ask the average person that you might meet during your day what the largest international market is today, they would most likely guess its the worlds stock markets. Their second guess would then be international commodities markets. Tell them its the international 4X markets and their next question would inevitably be, "what is 4X"? For decades now multinational corporations and large international banking institutions have been trading 4X and making huge sums of money, while most regular working people have looked to the worlds stock markets as the preferred place to invest their money. The problem with stock markets though, is that they are too vulnerable to undue influences that are difficult if not impossible to calculate.

Wagering on Personal Knowledge

4X trading is very different from trading in the stock market in a few very specific ways. When you invest in a stock you are, in a way, wagering on the success in a company for the coming future. When you trade in 4X, you are wagering on knowledge that you posses concerning impending changes in the value of a countries currency.

The Downsides of Stock Investments

While 401Ks do offer the benefit of tax deferment and employer contribution, the downside of them is that they are invested in the stock market. The problem with the stock market, is that it is like one big ship, in that no matter which end of it one runs to, if it is sinking they are going down with it.

Massive Profit Potential

The 4X market on the other hand always has opportunity for profit. By trading in the worlds leading currencies it is possible to generate huge profits even while the world economies are in decline. This is not theory but rather it is fact and people are doing it twenty- four hours a day, every day of the year.

Endless Possibilities

4X trading has a much higher potential for profits then the stock market. With margin and leverage rates available at up to 200-1 and currencies around the globe fluctuating daily, a person can potentially parlay a relatively modest investment into millions in profits is less than a years time.

Written by Samuel Gibsten. Get all you wanted to know about 4x Trading and even Automatic Forex Trading.

Reuters - The Group of Seven warned the surging yen posed a threat to financial and economic stability on Monday in the latest coordinated effort by the world's richest nations to contain worst financial crisis in 80 years.

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Online Trading - Breaking Through Trading Distractions!

In my opinion, the second biggest challenge that you face in your online forex, stock commodity or futures trading is distraction.

Now, I say the second biggest challenge, because the first challenge is to know what the heck you are doing in the first place! Frankly, if you don't know that- and most beginner and many intermediate level traders really don't- then you're going to need all the distractions you can get to keep you away from the markets so that you don't keep losing your money!

However, assuming that you do know what you are doing in the markets and have a sound plan, then the next major challenge that you face is distraction. It goes back to what we have discussed about the need for mental focus. However, the issue of distraction is wider ranging. When we spoke about focus, we were talking about the need to focus within all the vast variety of choices available to you in the trading world.

With distractions, the issue is much wider and potentially worse still. Here, we are talking about literally everything that can distract you from your online trading. If you are a private trader working from your home, this can be an endless list; the postman, your cat, the need to get some bills paid,the shopping,the fact that it's a sunny day and you'd rather be outside,surfing the internet, checking your email, the telephone, odd jobs around the house, and so on. If you are in this position, I am sure you can add to the list.

Even if you are an investment bank trader, there are still plenty of distractions. Some of the above- email and the internet for example still apply- and there are others. Chatter from your colleagues, meaningless bullshit meetings that you must attend and are not allowed to get out of, the endless stream of media "information" and more.

At least for the institutional trader, it is understood that trading is a business. It is literally his/her job. There is daily accountability involved and it cannot therefore be mistaken for a hobby and treated as one. However, for the person working at home, this is a much easier mistake to fall into, especially at the very start, when you may not have decided upon your trading routine.

Speaking personally, I have to say that distraction is something that I have a big problem battling against, since I do operate from home. The problem is that if your mind is not totally focused upon what you are doing in the financial markets, and getting the process right, the margin for error quietly widens and things can start to go wrong.

The key point to come back to is that trading has to be a business, if it is intended to be your primary source of income for yourself and your family. If that is the case, then it is imperative that you treat it with the seriousness that it deserves. That means that even though you may be working for yourself at home, you need to impose some business disciplines that you would find in a standard office environment.

If at all possible, you should establish for yourself a separate room for your online trading. Wherever possible, you need to give very serious thought to closing the door to family and pets in order to concentrate on what you are doing. (Now, I know that this is hard because my two cats basically have total access to me, and I can't see that changing. But as the saying goes: do what I say, not what I do!)

Let's not forget that neither your friends, your pets, nor your family would have access to you if you were working at an office job somewhere, would they? Hence, closing the door closes out an enormous source of distraction.

Use effective time management principles to deal with other distractions. In other words, schedule other things that need to be done appropriately so that they do not interfere with your trading. Maybe you need to fix upon a time when you check and deal with your email once in the day, or at most twice, but you certainly do not keep looking at it every five minutes or so.

Do you know what constantly checking your email all the time is like?

It's like going to your front door every few minutes to see if there is anyone there! Did you ever think of it like that? Well, if you would never do that, why check your email every 5 minutes?!

What's the big deal? Well, it takes time away from you focusing upon your business, which is trading, not email checking or chatting idly. When you break your focus, then it takes a certain period of time to restore it. If this keeps happening the whole time, your mind is working hard just to stand still, i.e. to keep getting back to where it left off last time.

That is why it is so vital to get this under control. If not, it is not the trading that is exhausting you, so much as the sheer amount of clutter that you have allowed to invade your own brain. They say that failing to plan is planning to fail. Hence, starting today, sit down and plan out what you can do to minimize the distractions during your trading day. Consider the email challenge. Consider too scheduling certain activities together, e.g. make all of your outgoing calls at the same time, when you go out to the shops, make sure that you get that post office visit done too. Try to handle pieces of paper that come onto your desk once, and don't keep coming back to them over and over again.

This is all about organizing you, and you are unique. Hence, it is impossible for me or anyone else to give you a list. You have to come up with it yourself, and then go to work to reduce the distraction to your trading. I've given you a broad hint in what we have been discussing, but it is ultimately down to you.

Remember, your online trading is a business, not a hobby. It will ultimately, if it is not already, be your primary source of income and that upon which your family depends. Hence, you owe it both to yourself and to them to get serious and to get professional, no matter whether you trade from home or on the proprietary trading desk of the biggest firm on Wall Street.

Discover FREE expert Trading videos, podcasts and articles packed with secret strategies to super-charge your Trading and rocket your profits. Dr. Asoka Selvarajah also offers you his critical FREE report, "The 7 Deadly Mistakes Of Online Trading". Visit http://www.OnlineTradingRebel.Com right now!

AFP - Bruised and battered Wall Street faces another test in the coming week with more data to highlight dire economic conditions and a Federal Reserve meeting expected to offer a fresh rate cut.

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