Most of us are familiar with various online trading platforms and charting software packages, most of which are complex and overwhelmingly difficult to use. In addition to that, we also need to make sure that we do use the best, most suitable broker. There is no way to tell if a broker is suitable for day trading or swing trading just by looking at their trading platform, so who can we ask for advice?

The best we can possibly do is find a trading mentor, one that will provide us with impartial trading education and valuable guidance in choosing the right broker. The problem with many so called trading educators today, is that they simply do business with any given broker. And deep down, all they want is to teach you nonsense. That is usually a high frequency trading system that makes the broker a lot of profits in commission charges.

That’s not what you want as a trader, rather you have to stick with the best out there, real market mentors who will let you choose among the best of the best, both a charting package and a broker. These real trading mentors are impartial, and their trading system has nothing to do with what the broker wants. They do however take into account certain brokers’ weaknesses, such as delays in filling orders, bad filling price, slippage and any kind of suspicious behaviour.

Don’t let anyone influence you with their self serving ideas. I have seen brokers for example who charge very high commissions and other who charge much, much lower commissions, one has to think however, ok commissions are a big operating cost in the trading business, but is not the biggest concern. What if the low cost broker ruins your trading by filling you at a very bad price? You saved $10 in commissions but you actually lost $100s because of the bad filling price, so really, you could have been better off sticking with an ‘expensive’ broker after all!

This kind of cunning broker behaviour is more evident in day trading than longer term trading. This is where you test if the broker is good or not! And please note, don’t bother with simulated, virtual money trading, only real money trading can reveal the real nature of each broker. And being in the futures business, you really have to realize that commission costs is really a minor detail, as long as everything else works fine, don’t trade off execution speed and quality for anything else, it’s not worth it.

Futures trading can be risky and an enormously stressful activity, particularly day trading futures contracts. When you attempt to trade a market, any market, without having an exact plan as to how long you are willing to stay in the trade or at what level to get out, then you are a weak minded person who makes trading decisions on wishful thinking. This is the hard truth you have to hear.

Futures trading is a great oportunity, it provides excellent leverage and high risk but if you use it together with a strict trading plan and some education on how to trade futures, then the markets cannot move much against you. A lot of good day traders never wait for more than 25-30 minutes for the trade to prove itself. If you have counted 30 minutes on your trade and you still want to wait for things to get better, then you are a weak, emotional trader. 30 minutes becomes an hour, then half the session, by that time you are losing 20 times more money, then finally comes the closing bell and you don’t have to worry anymore, the contract is closed.

You have to realize that futures are not like options or long term stock investments, they are much more volatile, and subsequently the emotions that come with it are also much more volatile. Futures trading is a lot about volatile emotional trading, and this is a kind of contradiction. How can one become emotionless when they are willing to play with a source of emotions?

The fact is that it is still difficult even for experienced traders to get rid of all emotions, but overall they manage to do just that. Not only are experienced trades calm with their trading, they are also calm with the way they drive, they don’t get mad at other drivers mistakes and bad manors. They are willing to give in, in many aspects of life because they feel a sense of guilt, they feel that all the millions they have made trading has come at the expense of society so they owe to somehow thank society for that.

Futures trading is a testing ground for the psychology of all people, I can always tell who can possibly win and who will certainly lose at futures trading, just by looking at they way they talk and they way they drive, nothing else! The emotions that come out of futures trading are really hard to manage, the volatility is hard to take.

If you really want to learn how to trade futures in an emotionless way, and also learn excellent money management techniques for your trading, then you really have to find a trader who is already a big winner. One that feels a lot of ‘guilt’ for making a lot of legal money without the 9 to 5 hard work, but rather by using advanced intuition and mental devotion. Believe me, the traders that made big money are not the sort of people you suspect, they are definitely not the people who believe that their car is a reflection of their wallet, so they drive normal, middle class cars. They don’t want to impress anyone in the city, they might however have their own yacht, their own villa in some exotic island. On the contrary, a social, poser kind of person who flashes his money IS addicted to human emotions. He likes people staring at him, he likes that feeling, and when he attempts to get involved in the markets and start trading futures contracts, he gets killed every time. He cannot think impartially and cannot see the truth.

Whoever you choose to be your trading mentor, make sure they are they ‘guilty’ low profile kind of person and not the poser, in fact you won’t find any posers in the stock market, the market is good at knocking them out fast.

Can computers really replace humans in doing delicate and extremely difficult tasks such as trading? I believe the answer is no, certain tasks such as translation, problem solving and trading can be aided by computers and have been to a great extend, but they can never be carried out exclusively by computers. That being said, you have to realize that forex trading is not the rocket science you think it is, it’s easy to simulate, and easy to design algorithms and computer programs for. The task is to save time, and not sit at a computer screen all day long, let alone that the forex market trades 24/5 so one day is not enough, you would have to trade 24h to be as efficient as these forex robots.

80% of the time the forex market doesn’t go anywhere. And that is why automated forex trading is so powerful.

That’s right! You can find out for yourself and see that it is real. Watch a currency pair on a 5 minute bar chart, (each bar represents 5 minutes of trading) watch it for 2 hours or just mark one point, and after 2 hours go back and check, count the number of bars from that point on. What you will find is that out of the total 24 bars of the 2 hour period, only 4-5 bars show price trend!

Only 20% of the time it trends. That’s really boring to wait for. This is really boring for active forex day traders, fair enough they can wait for news release times where volatility will be higher but even then it can take as long as 3 hours waiting time to capture just 3 trades of only 10 pips each, a total of 30 pips, not counting the frustration and the actual cost of these 3 hours. If the trader made $30 on these 3 hours, that is not a good deal! He took a risk to make this $30 and his 3 hours are also worth at least $20. Even if he worked at McDonalds he would have made a sure, stress free $20 for that time, and at least he would have the chance to date one of those lovely girls working at McDonalds, instead of growing older in front of his computer!

For that remaining 20% of time where the forex market will make its moves, and these can often be really wild moves of 80 and 200 pips, this is where the forex trader wants to automate things. A good forex robot can pick up 30% of these 80 or 200 pips, no matter if they happen at night or while you are away in another job. That is around $24 to $60 per eligible 24h period, at virtually no risk! I say per ‘eligible’ 24h period, because certainly there will be days where no opportunity will show up, the markets may move but the move is not tradable, so you have to be realistic in your expectations.

Automated forex trading cannot make you rich, but it can provide you with a second salary! It will help you get your social life back, which I have found is the hefty price we all pay in many high paying jobs, so why live in front of a computer?

Have you ever thought of trying Forex Day Trading, and learning the tricks of the trade from the very best? This article attempts to explain why forex trading is such an interesting concept, and why day trading in particular is so fast an exciting.

Generally the Forex market offers opportunities and technical setups that to the untrained eye, can be impossible to spot. Furthermore, the new trader just doesn’t know the differences from one currency pair to another, the presence or absence of liquidity, and the presence or absence of particular factors that may turn the daily trend upside down!
But knowing how to spot those, does make all the difference!

Common facts and myths about the Forex market that most new traders don’t know:

Forex day trading attempts to deal with the intraday market fluctuations, but let’s be realistic here, attempting to catch a 60 or even a 150 pip movement that you being setup on the charts is often harder than it seems! Bear in mind that charts alone are not enough in order to figure out market direction. Only the educated mentors of few and well established trading and trader-mentoring firms have the experience to read these technical charts, as well as other data and make sense of it all!

I remember when I first started trading forex, I was very excited. I did have a few winning trades that made me want consider forex trading much more seriously!
I made more than $400 in 3 days, way more than my day job paid, and certainly this excitement made me behave irrationally. I used no trading mentoring services, not an analysts opinion, only a public opinion poll.

As crazy as it may sound, all I did believe in, was that public opinion poll, after all it had been proven right, time and again. But that suddenly changed, and that’s when I started losing money day trading the forex markets. Then my whole trading method just fell apart, nothing seemed to work anymore, my ‘winning’ system had only lasted for a week or so, then market conditions completely overpowered it.

So now, I have come to realize that there is so much more to trading than just a quick glance at a price chart… The only way to really know when public opinion is right, when is wrong, when the central bank will be right, or when even the central bank can be wrong is to perform extensive market analysis, before the trading day! Good forex traders have learned techniques from their own mentors to do that, and I assure you they know beforehand how much money the markets will allow them to make on that day. Even thought the forex markets appear to be setting up for a 200 pip move tomorrow, you can only really catch 40% of it. Try catching more, and you will lose! But why risk more? If the mentors tell me that these 80 pips will be during the time of the best liquidity and volatility, that’s all I want! I will trade on these 80 pips with more money, I will still make $200 on that day even though I will have ‘missed’ 60% of what appears to be a tradable move.

Sometimes I think I would have loved to have found a mentor early in my trading career, it would have saved me a lot of trouble and frustration when I needed it most! Yet, much like the majority of traders I ended up learning the hard way, losing, and losing again, blowing my trading account many times only to eventually do the right thing, that is go to a mentor! After learning so much from the trading mentors I look back at my early trading, and sometimes I feel embarrassed by the stupidity of the early, childish trading of mine.

Bad trading is a natural phenomenon, it’s very similar to other forms of irrational behaviour that we often do. We are not rational beings, and that is why TV commercials work after all, that is why many fake things in life work, such as services that sell false information, horoscope providers and all sorts of gurus who will take you for a ride.

In fact it has been found that consumers buy purely on psychological grounds, they buy things they do not need just to satisfy their consumer psychology. Then they try to justify with reason! Believe it or not, most of the products and services you are being offered are carefully designed to satisfy your consumer psychology and make you desire them. They have little or nothing to do with real logic. It’s the same with financial products and self claimed market gurus who also want to get you excited and take you for a ride in some kink of wonderland, where big effortless profits are possible.

Here are some facts that prove how stupid we consumers are, and how naïve we are when it comes to the real profitability of the financial markets:

Traders International are a trading education firm that will help you remove this and other similar forms of hallucination and distorted reality, they can teach you how to trade from a real world perspective, and where to look for overlooked trading opportunities in the markets. Take the opportunity to learn about the real thing now!

These days the internet is filled with adverts and premium content that brags about forex trading and the how their unique trading system has beaten the markets, often promising 100% or even 500% monthly returns. Others promise lower, more realistic figures, but again how can you put these claims to the test? Is there anyone really who can consistently beat the forex markets?

No one can fully understand the risks of the forex market. No matter what trading system you choose the risks are always there. The only difference between a new trader and an old, seasoned forex trader is their way of dealing with the unknown. But even seasoned traders still have losing trades. Also the old winning trader has the confidence of his past winnings, new traders don’t have that, rather they are drawn into the trading game by an urgency to make some money soon, just for the sake of covering some immediate living costs.

Traders, this is not for you! If you are thinking about easy, effortless money then this is not for you at all! The forex markets do give away money, but only to those who are patient enough to wait for it, and to those who have the patience to sit down and learn from trading mentors.

It’s much like going to a casino, if you are looking for quick fun just to kill some time, then it’s fine, there’s no need to do any homework. But if you are serious about it, and want to go and ‘break’ the casino, then you have to have the passion and turn this desire into a profession, a life long profession. Beating that casino comes down to planning, learning from some older players, and then either developing special skills, specific to the game you wish to play, or devising a scam that can fool players and the casino alike. Both of these are possible!

That’s how I have looked at the forex markets too, even though it’s not possible to fool and scam the forex markets it’s still perfectly possible to learn from old traders! Now, in regard to probability of winning and monthly return figures, I have found that in forex day trading, it can be up to 40% a month. It is possible to make up to 40% a month day trading currencies. Using nothing but your imagination combined with the know-how of seasoned traders, ones that are willing to mentor you and help your trading!

These mentors’ techniques are rather simple and easy to follow, but you will be amazed how many obstacles they will help you overcome. Once done with the first stage of learning you can be more risk-taking than they are, after all they have to play it safe for the sake of educating you. It’s kind of like a car driving instructor that doesn’t speed over 25Mph, this doesn’t mean he can’t teach you how to drive at 200Mph!

Have you ever wondered how seasoned day traders do it?

According to some very experienced, and very observant floor traders, trading the markets on an intraday basis, is much easier to accomplish at home, in your own living room, than on the trading floor!

Facts about most, deep pocket, floor day traders. Exactly as described by their own, less rich, fellow traders!

1.    ‘Most floor, big contract size, day traders are thickheads, they just jump here and there for few minutes, without any indication or reason behind the trade.’

2.    ‘Most of them, consistently lose, while some others do win, but again, it’s no planned trading, rather it’s just, running and grabbing what is available for a few seconds.’

3.    ‘They are definitely not as clever as you think, they never plan ahead, they have no plan, no patience and no trading intelligence. Their only edge is their deep pockets. By trading massive size, they can often profit from tiny market moves.’

That seemed odd to me, I always thought that floor traders were all winners who knew everything, but I was wrong. Seasoned floor traders often laugh at the actions of these selfish rich traders, who made their money elsewhere, but are now in the market, and think they can buy their way into anything. In fact, it does make sense, as many non self-made millionaires, are under the illusion that money can buy anything on this planet. And when they start losing in trading, it only makes them want to risk more and more, so they just keep on losing and getting more mad every time.

And then, think about it, the floor is open to anyone; standing on the trading floor doesn’t make you a seasoned trader. All the clever traders I know are well aware that no amount of money can make you successful, if you don’t have a trading plan. And even though they trade on the floor too, they have done their homework the day before, they risk much less money, but they capture far more points!

I then asked, ok, how can I profit from the mistakes of these deep pockets? After all, I do hate celebrity riches. I mean these people spend millions of dollars just to buy an engagement ring to their girlfriend, I’d feel blessed if I could profit from their trading mistakes, even by just $100,000.  And that’s the kind of losers that provide very good trades for us. The trader then said, ‘listen to the charts, do your homework and you will see a lot, in fact you will start to understand when dumb-deep-pocket money has moved into the market’. He explained to me, that it’s not easy to profit directly from their mistakes because other clever traders, move in first. However, the way these losers trade is often, in conflict with technical indicators, hence a divergence or a false breakout may occur, that’s when you need to fade their move! A good portion of their trades can be spotted this way, and traded, but not every trade.

I was very surprised to hear all this stuff about these rich traders, they overall always lose, and that’s a fact! And their millions end up in the pockets of clever, educated traders, many of whom are trading from their own living room! And not to worry about these pockets ever getting dry, as soon as they lost everything, it’s one call to daddy and they will have even more millions to lose, after all, what is it for them to lose $10 million every year on the floor? They are just downright stupid, and I love the way they lose! They think that they can drive the market the same way they drive their Mercedes or Ferrari. Well unfortunately the market is not very cooperative with someone who doesn’t know how to look at an oscillator.

Take the opportunity to profit from the mistakes of these arrogant losers, become a seasoned day trader, set up your own trading room in your house. You can do it by allowing proven mentors, teach you how to read the market, plan your trade, and just nail it at the right moment! Knowledge and experience win over deep pockets! Deep pockets on the other hand can’t be trained, because they never sit down to learn anything, they don’t have the patience.

What are the simplest day trading tips every trader should know?

I once met a day trader who has been very successful in the markets, and I asked him if there were any golden rules I should apply to my trading.

He told me that there were many rules, but I would not be able to apply them in practice, even if he told me.

Finally I convinced him to let me in on some of his secrets, and he told me, but emphasised that it takes a lot of practice to be able to work with them.
Here are the excellent tips on day trading that he gave me:

And then I thought, that sounds good, but how do I use the trading calendar to predict volatility, and how do I find a mentor that knows all of this, and can answer my every question?

After looking around and talking to many serious traders, I finally decided that I needed some education. I new what I wanted, and finally I found a great educator. Not only do they have a serious and very effective training program, but they also were able to answer so many difficult questions. Questions like how do I make sense of the trading calendar, how do I spot dumb money moves, how do I deal with conflicting indicators and many more questions.

Getting educated helped me out a lot, even though I have moved on from their original trading strategy, as I have slightly changed their rules. I combine everything they taught me together with what I learned from others and the results are great.

In fact, the rules mentioned above, are not to be used as hard and fast golden rules. For example I will now trade on FOMC meeting days, but I know that the early session trends to have 90% probability of fizzling out, in fact the whole day will be nothing but false moves.

To a new trader, FOMC meeting days can be so intimidating. Imagine expecting a massive rally to take place, and buying big, only to find that it goes nowhere. Imagine how many unnecessary losses this trader will incur that day.

Getting educated was my best choice ever, it was the best-spent money in my life, and it has REALLY paid off ever since! And it’s not just the money, they also saved me a lot of frustration. After attending the mentoring program, I can make a full living trading the markets, just 2 days a week. Only 2 days a week! There are others who think, that they have to trade all day long and 7 days a week. And guess what, they give back most of their gains, They make less than they would in my 2 day trading strategy!