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Tuesday, 6 December 2011

7 Steps to Improve your Forex Trading Today


I get a lot of emails from beginning traders asking questions such as “I’m new, can you give me any tips?” or “are you really a full-time trader? How can I get started doing that?” Well, I’m sure this won’t answer all question but I started this blog to be a learning experience for other traders and myself as well. Below let me share with you some of thoughts on how to succeed in the Forex Market and how to be a successful currency trader.
First off, if you are new and frustrated let me tell you I know exactly how you feel. When I started out I made every mistake you could. First I tried scalping (I didn’t know that was what it was called then, I just sold if I saw a huge green stick and bought if I saw a huge red one). I made a few pips at a time. If I got too far under I just bought more lots to get a “net position”. That worked great for a few weeks even until a one giant trade where I had bought four extra lots to “get a net position” wiped out all of my profits and then some! Big mistake. Next I tried trading the news. There was always a rise or fall with interest rate changes and all you had to do was buy or sell in the right direction, right? Sounds simple. In practice it is a little bit harder. Liquidity drops like a rock. The market tends to whipsaw, knock out stops or even go in the wrong direction you would expect it to. Again, Big Mistake. Lost a hundred pips on that one too.
And this a regular lot sized account, too, not a mini-lot account. Ouch.
Many new traders at this point give up and go back to their day jobs. Maybe I was smart, maybe it was dumb of me to stick with it but I did and I’m glad every day that I did. I went back to my demo account and figured out some trading systems that worked for all occassions. I read some books, took some online classes and kept plugging away at the demo account. After I felt confident enough that I knew what I was doing I started slowly trading real lots again. And I started winning.
Occassionaly I still will go back to demo accounts every once in awhile if I suffer too many losses and I lose confidence. Usually though I just keeping using the same systems I know to be profitable in the long-term and it works!
That being said, below are some things I’ve learned along the way that have helped me go from a horrible trader to a consistently profitable one. If you can master these I think you can make it in the currency exchange world too:
1) Use a demo account – and go back to a demo account every time you start to lose confidence or a significant portion of your equity – you should use a demo account until you’ve got your trades down to a science. You should get your trading style down to a consistent, systematic approach. Do the same thing every time. The hardest thing about trading real money is the emotions. When using demo account it is no problem to trade 2 lots with a 50 pip stop – the setup and risk/reward looks good right? When you start trading real money all you can think of is that you have 2 50-pip stops (or $1000) at risk that you don’t want to lose. Practicing over and over with the demo account gives you the confidence to say: “I’ve seen this chart setup over and over, I know that it will probably move in my favor. If it doesn’t and I take a loss I know that this trading technique is solid enough that over time it will be profitable.”
2) Keep a journal of every trade – and review them once a month or once a week. Preferably take a screen shot of the chart when you make the trade so that when you go back to review them you can see what you were looking at when you made the trade. Write about what was good about the trade and what was bad. If you keep doing this you will find that you start making less bad trades and more good trades. You will also hone what techniques you like and what works for you.
3) Take a loss as a learning experience. Write about in your journal what went wrong and what was right. Start making less bad trades and more of what you know to be a good trade. Remember that failure, if analyzed and learned from, is just a stepping stone to greater success.
4) Always use stop-losses. Every trade you enter you should have a stop loss. You should also at a minimum know what your goals (limits) are. If you are a beginner you should have both a predefined stop-loss and limits. Don’t be sorry if you miss out on some pips because of it. Write it down in your journal as far as what went right and what you could have done better. Remember this too: if you stop at at 40 pips and the currency continues to go against your prediction for a total of 80 pips you can always buy or sell then and skip the whole being 80 pips in the hole. Now you are only 40 pips in the hole! Only do this though if your original and follow-up analysis still hold true (for example, that the trend you were trading with has not been broken).
5) Educate yourself. Read some books. Take some online classes. One of my favorite books is “Forex Patterns and Probabilities:Trading Strategies for Trending & Range-Bound markets” by Ed Ponsi. I keep this one on my desk at all times in case I need to consult it.
6) Win at least 2:1 pips than you lose. Not in terms of number of trades (some great traders lose more than 50% of trades) but in terms of pips. This is called money management. If your wins are twice as big as your losses you will be profitable winning just 50% of your trades. If you in a setup you can’t win twice as much as you are risking don’t trade it. There are always other opportunities. For example, if you make 4 trades and only two of them are successful that is a 50% win rate and doesn’t sound great. But if you earn 100 pips on the wins and lose only 50 on the losses then you just netted yourself 100 pips profit (100+100-50-50=100)!
7) Rinse and repeat. Keep at it! If you lose confidence, go back to demo trading until you feel confident in what you are doing. Keep journaling every trade so that you can keep learning and improving. Keep reading books and other people’s analysis like that ofPipHut.com. Try to see the charts how I am looking at them and understand support/resistance and candlesticks. Come to your own conclusions about chart setups and try them out on your demo account. Check other site’sm analysis and see how they look at the charts.
These are just my simple 7 rules. The big idea is to educate yourself to the point where these rules make sense to you. Once you know how to look at technical charts, read indicators and draw support and resistance lines try doing some real trades. After you’ve done that these rules will probably make a lot more sense to you, but for me these are the guiding principles.
Just my two cents and I hope this helps!
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Top 7 Leadership Skills for Business Success


In any business, exceptional leadership skills are needed in order to succeed. Whether you own the business, manage it or are an employee looking to make his or her way up the corporate ladder, the right leadership style is essential in order to reach your goals. It can be said without argument that well-honed leadership skills are the most important component of being a success in the business world.
Below are seven leadership rules to live by that will help you reap the rewards of contributing to your business or company effectively in the 21st Century:
  1. Adaptability. 

    As a leader, adaptability means reacting in an effective manner to shifting circumstances in your business environment. Everybody experiences adaptive challenges, but leaders are keen to resolve these issues with a carefully thought-out plan of action. If there is one trait that every business leader needs most in today’s business environment, it is adaptability. 

    If adaptability is not your strongest asset, then hone your skills by: 

    • Learning to accept difference as just that – difference, not a problem. 

    Developing ways to anticipate problems and prepare backup plans to effectively cope with those problems. 
    • Keeping an open mind and committing yourself to learning constantly, learning quickly and reacting accordingly. 

    • Adopting an approach of flexibility when faced with any situations that require adaptability. 

    Remember that if you design your work style around a plan that provides plenty of adaptability, you will be able to provide better support and leadership to your team or company. You’ll also be the person that others turn to for guidance when things change or an unexpected crisis arises. Lead by example – if you show them that you are adaptable, open-minded and flexible you’ll discover more opportunities opening up for you.
  2. People Skills. 

    Experts classify people skills as a term to indicate four sets of skills: 

    • The ability to observe people in your business. This gives you the insight needed to take the appropriate action required for the right result. 

    • The ability to communicate effectively. Contrary to popular belief, it is not easy to get ideas across to a group of people when attempting to make the right decision or reach a solution. A leader should be able to communicate effectively to everyone – not just some people – in order to be productive. 

    • The ability to motivate gives you the leadership edge to get the best out of those who work for you or with you. 

    • And as previously mentioned, adaptability. 

    Developing better people skills, specifically in the four areas highlighted above, helps you attain your business objectives much faster by working more productively with today’s very knowledgeable generation X and Y workforce. It is about genuinely connecting with those you work with and who work for you. When you connect well with others, you develop a trusting, productive relationship that benefits everyone.
  3. Self Awareness. 

    Leaders who are aware of how they’re perceived by others or how they impact the behavior of others are more likely to succeed than those who aren’t self aware. Most of us are guilty of believing we are better than we really are because of intent. Unfortunately, living our lives on intent and assuming others can read our minds or instinctively understand us can be a recipe for disaster. 

    Others can only judge us based on our behaviors, which can often lead to misunderstandings and miscommunication. You can not, as a leader, assume that everyone around you instinctively understands the “how and why” behind what you do. You need to practice self awareness in order to establish a more positive working relationship with your employees and coworkers. Identify your personal strengths and weaknesses and then determine what you need to do to overcome them, whether it is explaining things more clearly, being more willing to compromise or developing better team-building skills. Remember, even if you don’t see your flaws, those around you do. If you are self-aware, people will see that you are making the effort to overcome your faults – a very important trait of a great leader.
  4. Decisiveness. 

    Decisiveness is an exercise in good judgment, affording well-informed, fast and sound decisions when needed from a leader, but it is not to be confused with inflexibility. It’s often conspicuous, which sometimes makes it difficult for leaders to enforce their decisions comfortably. Everyone has some degree of fear of being liable for a conspicuous, albeit incorrect, decision. 

    However, the alternative is worse. Even though you are less conspicuous if you remain indecisive, the chances of facing more tragic consequences are higher – and will be remembered by others much longer. 

    Decisiveness is an important rule in leadership - the decisions you are willing to make will have a direct impact on how you’re accepted as a leader. Deciding by going with your gut feeling or intuition wouldn’t hurt either.
  5. Purposefulness. 
    Every business needs a vision to set its direction and every successful leader can tune into that vision to achieve success. Business books of yesteryears clearly advocate businesses using vision as a resource, but having a vision in the 21st Century may not be enough for today’s leaders. 

    What may be more advantageous today is the ability to own a strong sense of purpose and the ability to convey this purposefulness to your employees and coworkers. Purposefulness can be more powerful than a vision because it shares the ambition of growing your business with others. Understanding what the real purpose behind the vision is will inspire others. A vision, on the other hand, may make sense only to
  6. Collaborative Skills. 

    Technology has opened up new avenues for communicating and working in today’s work force. Today’s business environment benefits greatly from a culture of collaboration within your business and across all departments, both internally and externally. The Internet makes this extremely easy to do at a very low cost. 

    Collaboration is a technique that can quickly add to your bottom line if you’re able to develop a system where everyone can play their part in contributing ideas or increasing sales.
  7. Innovate And Execute. 
    Another advantage of inculcating a culture of collaboration is the constant exchange of innovative ideas within your organization. To be a great leader, become the person that everyone approaches when they have a new idea or innovative approach to a problem. Leadership means understanding that you don’t have to come up with ideas yourself – you can also nurture growth and innovation in others that will benefit everyone.
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How to Improve Editing Skills


    • 1
      Read the content to be edited. For example, it may be the first draft or a later revision of a business letter, website page, or article. Read it slowly to understand the content, while also reviewing the flow, grammar, and spelling.
    • 2
      Read for the big-picture issues such as the logical organization and quality of the content. Consider the target audience, and whether the article appears to be informative with a useful takeaway. Make corrections or take notes of needed changes while you read the content.
    • 3
      Use a dictionary and spell check to correct spelling. Memorize the most common grammar mistakes and review your writing for grammar. Use a thesaurus to replace redundant words. Synonyms add variety and interest to your writing.
    • 4
      Edit the introduction paragraph and conclusion. Grab the reader's attention with an engaging introduction and finish with a strong conclusion.
    • 5
      Confirm that the rest of your writing supports your story -- include specifics, details, and examples for a more credible and interesting argument. Add transition words to start each paragraph for a logical flow. Remove unnecessary or redundant words for tighter writing.
    • 6
      Put the writing aside for a few hours or days. Return to it for a second revision and fresh perspective. Repeat Steps 1 to 5.
    • 7
      Ask for feedback and editing help from friends or colleagues. Note any mistakes you make, and aim to avoid them in the future.
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How to Improve Business Communication Skills

Good business communication skills are what often sets apart a rising corporate star from an also-ran. If a person can effectively sell ideas to others, that skill can catapult you to the corner office. But good business communications skills are often learned, not a part of your DNA. Here are some ways to make it to the corporate heights by improving your ability to communicate effectively





Instructions

    • 1
      Find a mentor who exhibits the ability to communicate well at your company, soon after you are hired. Tell him that you want to improve your ability to communicate and that you are impressed by his skills. Ask him to share what he did to hone them. Finally, ask that he keep track of your progress and give you pointers on how you can improve. As you become a "seasoned employee" who is on the rise, volunteer to become a mentor to someone who has just been hired.
    • 2
      Improve your ability to listen, and you are halfway to being a good business communicator. You may think that you listen well, but the chances are you are actually figuring out what you should say next. Ask good questions, and then listen well to the answers. You are likely to break through someone's "hidden agenda" and learn what is really important to her. Above all, remember there is often a difference between what someone may say and the opinions she might actually have.
    • 3
      Practice your business communications skills as frequently as you can. Start by writing memos and emails. Always write your findings, recommendations and other requirements of your job, even though you normally offer them face-to-face. Curry favor by offering them as an adjunct to your oral presentation. It demonstrates both professionalism and forethought.
    • 4
      When you attend a meeting, be sure your presence is felt by the questions or answers you give. If necessary, force yourself to do this until it becomes second nature. When you are asked to present your views to a group, prepare a formalized presentation then practice it beforehand. Increased familiarity will ease presenting to a group.
    • 5
      Take communications courses that your company may offer, or request permission to attend sessions by Dale Carnegie Corporation or something similar. Also, learn how to address an audience by becoming a member of Toastmasters International, an organization with chapters across the country.
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IMPROVE YOUR BUSINESS SKILLS


Choose two methods which you use most often.


42% of the voters prefer to read books and research on the web in order to improve their business skills. These two methods are probably the most popular because it is less costly than the other methods listed with the key advantage of reading topics of interest at our leisure. Or is the real reason it feels safer to be comfortably hidden in our own home or behind our computer?
The interactive method of communicating by exchanging information with friends and colleagues totaled 32%. This is what networking is all about, to be open-minded, sharing information and to come up with fresh ideas. This is a fun way of learning as this does not feel like ‘work’ and you go back home fully energized.
Enrolling in business classes totaled 8%. The cost, the commitment or just the idea of studying have to be taken seriously before taking the plunge. However, this could be necessary especially for one wanting to change fields.
Hiring a personal coach and participating in a Mentoring program each had a response rate of 8%. It could be possible that many do not even inquire about these methods and are not aware of the amount of help they offer. These methods are particularly helpful when one realizes she needs to be pointed in the right direction but does not know where or how to go about it. You will find coaches and mentors very supportive and will answer your questions.
A mere 2% receive guidance from their boss. Is our boss too busy to spend time to give advice or share their expertise with us? Are we afraid to approach and ask our boss for guidance thinking it would affect our bonus or promotion as this could mean that we are not able to fulfill our job requirements?
There is no single way to get information and varying circumstances in our lives and career force us to incorporate each method to answer our specific needs. The important goal is to keep informed and continue to develop new skills.
The good thing for us at EuropeanPWN, is that we cover most of the methods listed above to improve our skills with monthly networking events, mentoring programs and our website full of information. Helpful findings are at our fingertips from our very own proactive and benevolent members; the Think Tanks Group offering helpful tools and tips on specific topics; postings of information, articles and job offers; the Business Xchange allows you to find a particular service or product; and new features are created on the platform on a continuous basis. I encourage you to log in frequently and make full use of the information available to you. You may participate at your leisure and be involved as much or as little as your busy schedule allows you to be.
Ingrid Loren
Community Manager

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