Day Trading & Forex Forum

First Steps

We all have to start somewhere - the beginning is as good a place as any! If you know a little about trading already you can skip this section – but for those with minimum trading experience the following pages should keep you out of trouble.

	General Article Article: What Style of Trader Am I? by Don Dawson - Jul 6, 2009 Avg. Rating: 8.2 (27 ratings) One thing I have found is that one strategy does not fit all. We all have different risk tolerances and monetary goals. So...
	General Article Article: Goal Setting - As Important as your trading plan by Don Dawson - May 4, 2009 Avg. Rating: 8.8 (28 ratings) Every year at New Year we hear of people making resolutions of all varieties. Have you ever noticed that these resolutions...
	General Article Article: The Cycle of "IT" by Sam Seiden - Apr 28, 2009 Avg. Rating: 8.8 (61 ratings) I have often wondered and speculated on the difference between those who achieve success and those who fail. For me, the...
	General Article Article: Technical or Fundamental Trading? by Anna Coulling - Apr 13, 2009 Avg. Rating: 6.8 (11 ratings) Part of the learning process is for you to understand the different types of traders. In essence there are two, and these...
	General Article Article: How NOT to Blow your Day-Trading Account by Jea Yu - Feb 16, 2009 Avg. Rating: 8.4 (94 ratings) Proper trading means pacing your flow with the market. When the market is running fast out of the gate, so should you....
	General Article Article: Three Trading Losses by Lance Beggs - Feb 9, 2009 Avg. Rating: 8.4 (60 ratings) Three losses in a row are tough. That's about the most consecutive losses that novice traders are psychologically...
	General Article Article: Price Analysis - A tops down approach by Lance Beggs - Jan 12, 2009 Avg. Rating: 8.8 (43 ratings) Analysis of the markets can involve monitoring price action in order to gain an insight into the short term sentiment of...
	General Article Article: The Trading Game Plan by Carley Garner - Dec 29, 2008 Avg. Rating: 7.1 (28 ratings) There are an unlimited number of ways to skin a cat and trading is no different. Despite your strategy, risk tolerance or...
	General Article Article: Trends, Gaps and Probabilities by Sam Seiden - Dec 22, 2008 Avg. Rating: 6.7 (22 ratings) Trading is the one form of speculation on the planet that allows you to stack the odds in your favor before putting any of...
	General Article Article: 3 Ways to Flawless Execution and Improved Trading Performance by Steve Ward - Dec 15, 2008 Avg. Rating: 7.8 (53 ratings) The two key variables to achieving trading profitability are having a trading strategy with edge. Assuming you have the...
	General Article Article: Looking at the Big Picture by Joe Ross - Dec 8, 2008 Avg. Rating: 8.1 (41 ratings) When you begin trading, the one thing you want is success. Most traders first starting out feel unsure as you're...
	General Article Article: Trading Systems - A Complex World with Simple Answers by Sam Seiden - Nov 17, 2008 Avg. Rating: 8.9 (98 ratings) One of the many recipients of faster and stronger technology is system trading. In the world of professional money...
	General Article Article: Trading on Borrowed Time - Part 2 by Jea Yu - Sep 15, 2008 Avg. Rating: 9.1 (66 ratings) Part 2 of last weeks article. Most day traders are going to blow out their accounts, they just don’t know it yet. The...
	General Article Article: Trading on Borrowed Time - Part 1 by Jea Yu - Sep 8, 2008 Avg. Rating: 8.9 (57 ratings) Any trader, including you, could at some point find yourself in a proverbial minefield with huge intra day losses. In a...
	General Article Article: Trading Plan Tips by Sam Seiden - Sep 1, 2008 Avg. Rating: 7.5 (39 ratings) I can honestly say that I have never met or seen one trader be able to sit down in front of a screen each morning without...
	General Article Article: Top Ten Tips for Traders by Malcolm Pryor - Aug 4, 2008 Avg. Rating: 8.5 (74 ratings) In order to be a successful trader – and not fall into the trap of so many – it is important to take good advice and...
	General Article Article: Avoid Stress when Managing Exits by David James Bennett - Jul 21, 2008 Avg. Rating: 8.1 (22 ratings) Traders spend most of their time researching setups for trade entries. However, if finding good entries is the most...
	General Article Article: Break Free of Old Trading Ideas by Richard Ratchford - Jun 9, 2008 Avg. Rating: 3.7 (14 ratings) Should old and proven ideas ever be pushed aside? Or are the old 'tried and tested' methods the best? What...
	General Article Article: Trading the Morning Gap by Sam Seiden - Apr 28, 2008 Avg. Rating: 8.1 (81 ratings) One of the lowest risk and highest reward trades each day is typically the opening gap entry. It can be a fantastic...
	General Article Article: The Objective Filter for an Oscillator by Sam Seiden - Mar 17, 2008 Avg. Rating: 8.1 (54 ratings) You can spend a lifetime attempting to come up with the perfect set of indicators and oscillators with the perfect set of...
	General Article Article: Trading and Time by Sam Seiden - Feb 18, 2008 Avg. Rating: 5.0 (22 ratings) In this article we look at a trade taken on XLF which is the ETF for the financial service sector. Demand (support) level...
	General Article Article: Paper Trading and the Transition to Real Money Trading by Barry Lutz - Feb 11, 2008 Avg. Rating: 8.3 (55 ratings) Paper trading is widely discussed regarding its merits, and whether it is of value to a trader as they try to make the...
	General Article Article: How to Develop a Profitable Day Trading Strategy by Markus Heitkoetter - Dec 31, 2007 Avg. Rating: 7.2 (73 ratings) In this article Markus looks at five steps that will guide a new trader to develop a day-trading strategy.
	General Article Article: Backtesting and Data Mining by Scott Percival - Dec 24, 2007 Avg. Rating: 7.8 (21 ratings) In this article we look at two related practices that are widely used called Backtesting and Data Mining. These are...
	General Article Article: Portfolio Diversification: Truth vs Myth by Sam Seiden - Dec 17, 2007 Avg. Rating: 8.0 (14 ratings) Are you like many investors who go to sleep each night feeling safe and secure because their investment portfolios are...
	General Article Article: Objective Rule Based Trading by Sam Seiden - Nov 19, 2007 Avg. Rating: 8.4 (36 ratings) Does your trading lack the "trader's edge" needed to be a consistent winner in the markets? Do you find...
	General Article Article: Important Rules to follow by Sam Seiden - Oct 22, 2007 Avg. Rating: 7.7 (30 ratings) The most important thing in any type of trading is to have a set of rules and the self control to follow those rules....
	General Article Article: The Parable of Uncle Joe - How the Stock Market Really Works. by Anna Coulling - Oct 15, 2007 Avg. Rating: 7.6 (30 ratings) Uncle Joe widget factory does good business until a rival company set up in the neighbourhood selling cheaper widgets....
	General Article Article: Trading Discipline - Do you Have It? by Richard Ratchford - Sep 24, 2007 Avg. Rating: 7.5 (26 ratings) What is discipline in trading? Do you have it and are you able to follow a simple set of rules - or do you deviate from...
	General Article Article: What is Expectancy? by Chris Perruna - Aug 13, 2007 Avg. Rating: 7.9 (16 ratings) When traders talk about the 'Positive Expectancy' of a strategy or system, what is it that they mean? In this...
	General Article Article: A Day in the Life of a Trader by Anna Coulling - Jul 30, 2007 Avg. Rating: 5.7 (25 ratings) So you've decided to start work as a trader. But now you've got all day how should you go about structuring your...
	General Article Article: Market Action And Reaction by Richard Ratchford - Jul 23, 2007 Avg. Rating: 5.7 (15 ratings) They say that every action has an equal and opposite reaction, but what exactly are the 'actions' that effect...
	General Article Article: Technical Analysis: What you need to know before you start charting by David Thorpe - Jul 9, 2007 Avg. Rating: 7.1 (11 ratings) This is a very basic look at technical analysis for all newbie traders out there. It looks at what technical analysis is,...
	General Article Article: Choosing the Right Forex Broker by Hugh Gordon - Jun 18, 2007 Avg. Rating: 5.7 (12 ratings) As the online Forex trading market becomes increasingly saturated and the choice of brokers becomes wider, the choice of...
	General Article Article: Commodity Trading Blunders - My Early Days as a Novice Trader by Thomas Cathey - May 14, 2007 Avg. Rating: 7.3 (26 ratings) In this article the author takes a look back at his first days of professional trading - the mistakes and the triumphs.
	General Article Article: Options Pricing by Ryan Litchfield - May 7, 2007 Avg. Rating: 7.9 (11 ratings) If option pricing is a mystery to you, then this article will help to explain the basics of how it is put together.
	General Article Article: Understanding Equity Options by Anna Coulling - Apr 19, 2007 Avg. Rating: 7.2 (8 ratings) If you have ever wondered what options are and how to trade them, this article will explain the basics of Equity Options.
	General Article Article: History of the Forex Markets by David Thorpe - Apr 16, 2007 Avg. Rating: 6.1 (9 ratings) In this article we look back at how the forex market started and how it has evolved over the years.
	General Article Article: Shorting Stocks - The Basics by Chris Perruna - Apr 5, 2007 Avg. Rating: 6.0 (9 ratings) For all those new to trading this article looks at what 'shorting' a stock means and how it works.
	General Article Article: A Beginners Guide to Spread Betting by David Thorpe - Mar 29, 2007 Avg. Rating: 4.9 (10 ratings) If you're new to trading you may be wondering what 'spread-betting' is all about. In this article the...
	General Article Article: Fibonacci Tell Few Lies by Gabe Velazquez - Mar 26, 2007 Avg. Rating: 3.4 (17 ratings) In this article we take a brief look at how Fibonacci retracement values can be used in respect of the current stockmarket.
	General Article Article: Placing Better Stops in Forex Trading by Scott Percival - Mar 15, 2007 Avg. Rating: 7.9 (52 ratings) Does placing your stop just above resistance or below support sees you taken out of a trade more often than not? In this...
	General Article Article: Risk Management Notes by Fernando Gonzalez - Feb 8, 2007 Avg. Rating: 5.2 (11 ratings) Risk management isn't just about adhering to 'stop losses', so what else is it?
	General Article Article: Trader Self Sabotage by Jay Lakhani - Feb 1, 2007 Avg. Rating: 6.4 (15 ratings) Have you gone out of your way NOT to take care of your Trading results? Why would some traders deliberately hamper their...
	General Article Article: Forex Stop Hunting - What is it? by Scott Percival - Jan 30, 2007 Avg. Rating: 5.7 (38 ratings) We've all heard bout the market makers hunting out stops, but how do they actually do it. In this article we look at...
	General Article Article: Let Your Profits Ride by Frank Kollar - Jan 25, 2007 Avg. Rating: 5.5 (22 ratings) One of the main problems traders have is letting their profits run. In this article we look at how you need to tune out...
	General Article Article: The Stock Market: A Beginners Guide by David Thorpe - Jan 8, 2007 Avg. Rating: 7.6 (13 ratings) Here we take a basic look at what the stock market is and how it works.
	General Article Article: Forex Scams - How to Spot them a Mile Away by John Bekian - Dec 21, 2006 Avg. Rating: 7.1 (42 ratings) Today there are many scams involving forex and a great number of us will have seen emails or websites promising untold...
	General Article Article: The Basics of Technical Analysis by Justin Small - Dec 18, 2006 Avg. Rating: 5.0 (14 ratings) A beginners look at some of the basics of technical analysis in trading.
	General Article Article: Trading and Ego by Martin Laurence Kemp - Nov 27, 2006 Avg. Rating: 6.8 (10 ratings) How does your ego affect your trading? Do you start to overtrade after a couple of good wins? In this article we look at...
	General Article Article: The Market Holy Grail: Fact or Fiction by David Thorpe - Nov 13, 2006 Avg. Rating: 7.6 (31 ratings) Is there actually a trading 'holy grail', or it is a combination of our own hard work and experience?
	General Article Article: A New Trader's Journey to Success by James Okada Lee - Nov 6, 2006 Avg. Rating: 6.6 (25 ratings) There are stages in learning to trade, just as there are in everything. So what are they are where are you in them?
	General Article Article: 10 New Trader Pitfalls You Can Avoid by John Forman - Nov 2, 2006 Avg. Rating: 6.2 (29 ratings) John Forman looks at ways in which to avoid the major pitfalls that all new traders can face.
	General Article Article: The Woodchuck and the Possum by Rob Booker - Sep 28, 2006 Avg. Rating: 7.6 (35 ratings) A cautionary tale of why most people lose money in the forex market.
	General Article Article: Don't Buy Stocks Based on P/E Ratio Alone by Chris Perruna - Sep 18, 2006 Avg. Rating: 5.2 (9 ratings) In this article we look at the fundamentals behind stock prices and why the P/E ratio is not perhaps the best indicator.
	General Article Article: How to Avoid Certain Death by Brian McAboy - Sep 14, 2006 Avg. Rating: 4.5 (28 ratings) In this article the author looks at the traps new traders can fall into when trading commodities.
	General Article Article: Trading for a Living by Geoff Turnbull - Aug 31, 2006 Avg. Rating: 7.3 (25 ratings) What are the key things you need to consider if you're thinking of leaving your job and starting to trade for a living?
	General Article Article: Seven Deadly Trading Mistakes by Harvey Walsh - Aug 24, 2006 Avg. Rating: 8.8 (73 ratings) The seven deadly sins of trading. In this article the author examines what they are and looks at ways of overcoming them.
	General Article Article: The "Not So Simple" Rules of Trading by John Mauldin - Jul 17, 2006 Avg. Rating: 8.7 (80 ratings) What rules should you trade by if you want to be successful? The author looks at rules that seem simple, but are difficult...
	General Article Article: Candlesticks And Crossovers by Cornelius Luca - Jun 22, 2006 Avg. Rating: 6.5 (28 ratings) The author gives a general look at how candlesticks can be used with MA's to give trading signals.
	General Article Article: The Big Picture Matters by Fernando Gonzalez - Jun 12, 2006 Avg. Rating: 5.8 (12 ratings) If you're only trading intraday, short-term time frames, why should you bother with what's happening on the...
	General Article Article: Three Trading Principles To Aid In Your Success As A Trader by Larry Pesavento, Leslie Jouflas - Jun 5, 2006 Avg. Rating: 7.9 (30 ratings) A brief look at three important principles that no trader should overlook, if they intend to be successful
	General Article Article: Demons on our Shoulders by Jerry Olson - Apr 11, 2006 Avg. Rating: 7.0 (47 ratings) Thinking about becoming a day trader - read this article first!
	General Article Article: Trade Management Q&A by Alan Farley - Jan 30, 2006 Avg. Rating: 7.9 (24 ratings) Alan Farley answers some of the questions he gets asked frequently in regards to trade management.
	General Article Article: The Top 10 Mistakes Traders Make and How To Avoid Them by Jim Wyckoff - Dec 22, 2005 Avg. Rating: 7.3 (49 ratings) Traders, new and experienced, make mistakes. Here are some of the biggest which can be avoided.
	General Article Article: Simple Swing Trading by Barjon - Dec 19, 2005 Avg. Rating: 7.7 (84 ratings) A straightforward discussion of swing trading by a practitioner.
	General Article Article: An Introduction to the Fixed Income Market by John Forman - Dec 8, 2005 Avg. Rating: 7.2 (13 ratings) This article is a basic introduction to the fixed income market from a trading perspective.
	General Article Article: Beware of Situations that Look the Same by Gary Norden - Aug 8, 2005 Avg. Rating: 7.3 (18 ratings) All traders must be aware of representation bias and its potential impact on their market analysis.
	General Article Article: 8 Types of Penny Stocks to Avoid by Peter Leeds - Jun 21, 2005 Avg. Rating: 5.4 (30 ratings) Learn about 8 types of penny stocks to avoid when making investment decisions.
	General Article Article: Different Types of Market Orders: Using Each for the Best Fills by Jim Wyckoff - Jun 7, 2005 Avg. Rating: 7.4 (14 ratings) An overview of the types of orders a trader has available and how they can best be utilized.
	General Article Article: Order Fees and Portfolio Performance by Michael Bellersen - May 31, 2005 Avg. Rating: 7.3 (10 ratings) This article examines the effect of various broker commissions on portfolio performance.
	General Article Article: Before you start, have you got what it takes? by John Bartlett - May 17, 2005 Avg. Rating: 7.6 (47 ratings) Each new trader needs to ask a number of questions of her/himself, and answer them honestly before taking on the serious...
	General Article Article: The Illusion of Traded Prices by John Forman - May 13, 2005 Avg. Rating: 5.5 (15 ratings) If you rely strictly on traded price for your analysis, you may be missing the real story.
	General Article Article: A Beginner's Guide to Elliot Wave Theory & Application by Matt Vann - May 10, 2005 Avg. Rating: 6.3 (25 ratings) A quick overview of Elliot Wave theory, a method which generates strong feelings amongst traders.
	General Article Article: The 10 Power Principles of Successful Trading Systems by Markus Heitkoetter - Apr 29, 2005 Avg. Rating: 6.5 (74 ratings) Markus presents a very straightforward method for evaluating trading systems.
	General Article Article: Trading Plan Template by Tim Wilcox - Apr 27, 2005 Avg. Rating: 9.1 (88 ratings) An informal, step-by-step template to help novice traders create a comprehensive trading plan.
	General Article Article: Combining Mechanical and Discretionary Trading by Jetheat - Mar 3, 2005 Avg. Rating: 7.1 (25 ratings) Mechanical trading systems may be missing one crucial element - brain power.
	General Article Article: What can I make in my first year trading? by Joe Ross - Feb 10, 2005 Avg. Rating: 7.8 (91 ratings) Too many beginners have unrealistic expectations of trading. Forget the dreams of instant wealth and take things slowly.
	General Article Article: Basics of Trading: Part 3 by Mark Williams - Feb 4, 2005 Avg. Rating: 8.3 (36 ratings) The final article of Mark's popular series outlines a basic trading strategy.
	General Article Article: The Basics of Trading:Part 2 by Mark Williams - Jan 20, 2005 Avg. Rating: 8.7 (68 ratings) Part 2 of Mark's popular guide to getting started in trading.
	General Article Article: Basics of Trading: Part 1 by Mark Williams - Dec 24, 2004 Avg. Rating: 8.6 (81 ratings) Long-standing member and site moderator Mark Williams (FTSE Beater) runs through the the main areas you will need to...