Find the Best Forex Broker for Your Trading!

Below is a list of seven key factors to consider when searching for an online Forex broker.
These apply to both investors and the active trader looking for an Australian regulated online foreign exchange broker.

There are three prices of financial markets:

• Market price
• Buy (Bid) price
• Sell (Ask) price

The sell and buy price difference is known as a spread. It’s a simple idea that you see in trading financial markets, and could have a major impact on your trades’ profitability.

Why is the spread important?

Smaller spreads generally mean lower trading costs, assuming all else is equal. The spread should always be classed as a cost of trading, although many often don't realise the true cost of the spread and the importance of having tight spreads.

How is the spread set?

When you trade the primary or spot markets like Forex, commodities or equities (shares), the spread is dictated by other market participants, and hence called the "Market Spread". If taking a trade at the market price, then the offer/sell price is the lowest price at which you can buy off a seller of the asset, and the bid/buy price is the highest price at which you can sell an asset to a buyer for, at that point in time.

When trading derivatives like contracts for difference, your CFD broker will often add their own spread on top of the market price. When both spreads are added together, this represents the cost a trader is paying to trade Forex CFDs.

When you become a trader, you probably dream of making good money. However, this can only be done if you make sure to follow the right rules and mindset. When it comes to rules, there are 10 of them to keep in mind. What are they?

Develop and Use Your Trading Plan

It’s important to develop and use a trading plan, which consists of written rules that lay out when your entry and exit strategies are. It also dictates what your money management standards are. It should be noted that developing a trading plan takes time… a lot of it, so don’t rush it!

Thanks to today’s technology, it’s never been easier to test trading ideas before you risk actual money in a venture. Traders can use back-testing, which means using trading ideas against historical information, to help them figure out if they have a viable trading plan. Will it work as they expect it to?

After you’ve created your plan and tested it out with positive results, you can use it in real trading situations. If it’s to work fully, you need to stick by the plan. If you take trades outside the plan, even when they turn out favorably, it’s regarded as bad trading and could damage the plan’s anticipated results (expectancy). Remember every trading plan must show positive expectancy to make a profit.

Look At Trading As If It’s A Business

If you want to be successful, you should consider the notion that it’s a part-time or full-time company – not a hobby, not a job. A hobby means you have no commitment to learning something, and trading can be an expensive thing. With a job, you expect a regular paycheck; that’s not what you get with trading.

View trading as a business that includes expenses, taxes, losses, risk, anxiety and uncertainty. Traders are a small business owner, and the only way to get the most from the business is to do some research and planning ahead of time.

Make Use Of The Broker's Technology

It’s important to remember that trading is highly competitive, and it’s safe to say that a person making a trade is using every technology at their disposal that they can. For example, they may use charting platforms that give them an array of techniques (such as technical analysis) to look at and investigate the markets.

Back-testing ideas using prior information before taking risks can help save your trading account as well as ease stress and aggravation you could have. Use your smartphone to get market updates anywhere you are. A great place to start is with a demo account offered by many online brokers.

It’s interesting how people have grown accustomed to technology but take it for granted (high-speed internet, anyone) without realising its true value. Make technology work for you and stay on top of the latest trends to continue your successful trading behavior.

Protect Yourself and Your Capital

It can take a lot of time and effort on your part to save money to fund your trading account. And, it doesn’t always get easier to do the next time you make trades. Keep in mind that protecting trading capital does not correlate with not losing trades, as that’s going to happen regularly. That’s the way the business goes.

Protecting capital means not taking certain risks you know are bad, trading where the probabilities are in your favour and using risk & money management strategies to protect yourself and your business.

Learn About The Different Foreign Exchange Markets

When it comes to successful trading, it’s a good idea to continue your education and learn as much as you can each day about the markets. Many ideas come with the knowledge you should have some idea about, but really knowing the markets to ensure success is a continuous process.

With more than sufficient research, FX traders learn facts such as what each economic report means. This information, commonly supplied by brokers or the trading platforms they offer provides traders the ability to hone in their instincts, helping them to make better trades based on the reports affecting the markets they are doing business in.

Markets are impacted in all kinds of ways – world politics, economics, events and weather. It’s a dynamic environment, which means for traders to be successful, they need to learn about past and present markets. Utilise the demo trading accounts offered by many Forex brokers.

Risk What You Can Reasonably Lose

Remember, funding trading accounts is tedious can take a plethora of time to build up your capital. Before you start using real money, be sure that the money you have in your account can be used without breaking your bank. If you can’t, keep saving for a time when you no longer "need" the money.

Don’t save money in a trading account for a university education for your kids or paying on your home’s mortgage. Don’t “borrow” money from them. Be prepared that you could lose the money in the account because it could happen.

While losing money is bad enough, losing money you really need can be devastating.

Create A Trading Technique Using Facts

Be sure to create a trading technology that will be worth using. You may come across the "it’s so easy that you’re printing your own money" scams. However, base your techniques on facts rather than your emotions or desire.

Traders not in a hurry tend to have an easier time going through the information. Think of it this way: if you decide to start a new career, you’re going to need to study at least a year or two before you’re remotely qualified for a position in the field. Learning how to effectively make trades is no different, and should be based on research.

Apply A Stop Loss

You may be wondering what a stop loss is. It’s the predetermined risk amount you can accept losing on every trade. The stop loss can be a percentage, dollar amount or based on market structure, but whatever you decide, it stops the exposure in trades. A stop-loss removes some emotions out of the trading process, as it lets you know just how much money will be lost on trades.

It’s never good to ignore a stop loss, even if you ended up getting a good trade out of it. If you exit at the stop loss and lose a trade, it’s still considered a good thing because it falls under your rules. While it’s always good to leave a trade with profits, that’s not always possible. However, a stop loss reduces the risks and can mitigate against account destroying drawdowns.

The vast majority of online broker trading platforms offer the ability to add stop loss orders so there is no excuse not to use them!

Understand The Time To Stop Trading

Ineffective Trading Plan – This leads to much higher losses than what is expected according to historical testing. Markets could have changed, and volatility of a certain trading tool could have decreased, or it’s not performing as anticipated. Traders can benefit by staying businesslike and keeping emotions out of the situation. It’s important to look at reviewing the trading plan, making changes where necessary or developing a new plan altogether. If you are to succeed, you need to develop a trading plan that is successful.

Ineffective Trader – This is a person who cannot follow their trading plan, usually due to stress, bad habits, lack of discipline and more. Traders not in the right frame of mind for trading need to take a step back from the business to deal with their personal issues. Once they’ve been dealt with, a trader can start making trades again.

Have Perspective In The Trading Process

When trading, you need to keep focused on the end goal. You’re going to lose trades – that much is certain. Winning trades that are on average larger than your loosing trades means you’re on the right path for profits. The idea is to focus on the cumulative effect. Once you accept the wins and losses as the nature of doing business, you won’t let emotions have an effect on you and your performance. Yes, you can get excited about a profitable trade, but losing trades is a part of the business too.

Make sure you set realistic goals to keep things in perspective. If you have a small trading account, don’t think you’re going to get big dollar returns – it won’t happen! Be sensible about your goals, look at percentage returns instead and things will work out for you.

What To Remember…

For traders to have a good trading business, they need to understand trading rules and how they work together. It’s difficult but can be rewarding work, if you take the time to learn the rules, practice patience, utilise the tools offered by your online broker, and have some discipline. Do this, and you can be very successful in the highly competitive trading world.

Currency trading can be considered as the buying and selling currency on the foreign exchange ("Forex" or simply FX) market with the intent to make money, often called "speculative Forex trading".

How Does Forex Work?

The currency exchange rate is the rate at which one currency can be exchanged for another. It is always quoted in currency pairs such as the AUD/USD (the Australian Dollar vs US Dollar). Foreign exchange rates fluctuate based on many economic factors like interest rates, economic data announcements and geopolitical events. These factors will influence whether you buy or sell a currency pair.

The AUD/USD exchange rate represents the number of US Dollars one Australian dollar can purchase. If you believe that the Australian dollar will increase in value against the US Dollar, you may buy Australian dollars with US Dollars. If the exchange rate does rise, you can sell the Australian dollars back, with the aim of making a profit. Please keep in mind that Forex trading involves a high risk of loss and your capital is at risk.

Why Trade Forex?

Foreign Exchange is the world's largest market, with about 3.2 trillion US dollars in daily volume and 24-hour market action. Some key differences between the Currency and stock markets are:

1. There's 24 hour trading – you determine when and how you wish to trade.
2. It's possible to trade with leverage, but this can magnify potential gains and losses.
3. You can focus on just a few currency pairs rather than choosing from hundreds or thousands of shares.

Currency trading Isn't Something Everybody Should Do

There is always a level of risk with trading foreign exchange on margin, and it’s not ideal for everybody. So, before you attempt to try this kind of trading, you need to consider three things – risk appetite, experience level and investment goals. Always remember your capital is at risk and could lead to a total loss of your capital.

Again, don’t invest money you know you need and always read the broker or financial service providers product disclosure statement (PDS). And, if you need some assistance, be sure to talk to a financial adviser

Source: XE

Winners have another frame of mind that most people tend not to have. After all, they look at things in ways people never seem to acknowledge. For example:

• While knowledge is important, it’s not how much a person knows that garners them success.
• While hard work helps a person to attain things, it’s not about how much work they put into something.
• While experience can help you to become an expert in your field, it’s not the depth of it that gives you success.

That’s according to author Colin Nicholson in his “Building Wealth in the Stock Market” book. Psychology plays a huge role in an investor’s success.

What Psychology Mindset Do You Have?

If you’re going to be a successful investor, you don’t want to overlook the psychology factor of trading. After all, how you think, what you believe and how you react can have an impact on your investments – be them subconsciously or consciously. If you don’t control the mixed bag of emotions you can have – pride, fear, anxiety, etc. – they will control the investments you make – good and bad.

The majority of investors believe they just need to find the perfect strategy, set up an investment and carry out their plan for it to be successful. Wrong! Saying it is much easier than doing it. For instance, you can make your investments and develop a well-thought-out plan, but a key correction in the market means a loss in money.

How will you react and feel?

The majority of novice traders and some knowledgeable ones watch the downward spiral of their investments and allow the emotion “fear” to make the decision to hold onto it, hoping it recovers.

According to various studies, people suffer two times as much pain when they lose a $1 as they feel happy when gaining a $1. This is what encourages traders to stick with a losing position instead of selling it to preserve the money to invest in another day. By letting emotions rule, it hinders traders from making good decisions. In a person’s mind, they know to cut their losses early on, but can’t get beyond the “hope” that it’ll turn it around.

You need to think rationally, but traders tend to make emotional ones instead. If you can understand how you think and realize what your flaws are, you can discipline yourself to fight the negative emotions. This will help you to become a more successful trader.

3 Common Mistakes People Make In Their Investments

Overly Attached To Investments

Everybody has a stock they prefer, but they can become too attached to the investment, which clouds their judgment. When too attached, you ignore your own rules and the negative data the market is “screaming” at you. You allow decisions to influence you, which can lead to disaster.

Your attachment should be to your investment plan – a careful and meticulous plan with an enter and exit strategy.

Not Prepared In The Possibility Of Losses

Your investments will not always go according to plan. And, losses are going to happen – accept it! When creating an investment, realise what your reasonable maximum loss is. Be sure it’s an amount you can live with. If two percent is too much, lower it to a percentage you can be happy with. If you’re going to be successful, you can’t afford to lose a lot.

Manage the risk, taking losses when the plan dictates and not allowing the small losses to become bigger ones. Remember, losses are inevitable and are a part of doing business. Protect your capital as much as possible and invest whenever you can.

Looking for the Holy Grail

Many novice traders look for tips, guides and strategies to help them score some investments, but after several losses, they forgo the strategy, claiming it doesn’t work. They then look for their next Holy Grail tip or strategy. This is known as a beginner’s cycle and is the biggest mistake that can be made.

If you’re to be successful as a trader, you need to recognise when you’re on the merry-go-round and get off it. You need to accept the fact that investment strategies don’t always work out like you want, handling the wins and losses in the best way possible, so you are successful.

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