How to Choose the Best Forex Trading Course

Before a person drives a car they learn how to drive. Before they achieve a professional license such as those needed by doctors, lawyers, insurance agents and real estate agents, a person must have training and education. It only makes sense that a person involved in the serious financial world, such as those involved in foreign currency trading, should gain knowledge and the best way for most people to do that is through a forex trading course that teaches the basics.

Just a few years ago the only people involved in forex trading were the financial elites. Now the world of forex trading and the large potential profits that can be realized from it are open to all investors if they simply have a home computer and access to the Internet. But having the ability to engage is forex trading as an investment option doesnt do a person very much good if they are ignorant of the market trends, the strategies and the options available in the market. These skills can be learned with a forex trading course, and these courses are often available online, using that indispensable tool of forex trading, the Internet.

What do you learn in a forex trading course? You learn how professional traders makes profit in the currency market. You also learn the differences in trading techniques that separate the professionals from the amateurs. Forex trading allows an investor to trade at all hours of the day or night, 24 hours a day. It also offers the ability to gain a 100 to 1 leverage on money invested. Very few other types of investment have the large profit potential of forex trading, and the ability to multiply investments many times over in a short period of time. With so much at stake, it only makes sense for a serious investor to take a forex trading course.

Forex-Resource-Pro.com - The Internet's Ultimate Forex Resource!

The 3 Types of Income Taught By Adam Khoo

The 3 Types of Income Taught By Adam Khoo (self-made millionaire) are:

Earned Income - obtained from working for someone or a company.
Passive Income - income generated from business.
Portfolio Income - income generated from investments.

Earned Income comes from having a job in a company or in someone elses business. You get paid for your time and services rendered.

This indicates that the income an employee can generate from working for an employer is limited. There is the possibility that an employee may devote extra effort thinking the employer will pay him/her more.

Whatever additional profit gained by the employer as a result of the employees extra effort, the employer will get the bigger slice of the pie. You are, in effect, making someone else rich through your added effort.

Im just stating a fact. Its likely that you will be telling yourself mentally: Hey, thats not fair. Fair or not, thats the way life is, when you work for money.

If you are an employee, you get your money or paycheck after everything else. If the amount is not enough, you are bound to borrow, which makes you debt-ridden if it accumulates. Now, this is one big mistake. Dont ever get debt-ridden. It is the quicksand to poverty.

Earned Income is a safe way to generate an income. There is not much thinking to do. Except for a few high paying, high profile jobs, your work is mostly concentrated on a few things where you keep repeating the same functions. Unconsciously, this discourages creativity, so boredom starts to set in.

It is because of this boredom that getting to work every morning is such a drag and you keep on looking forward to weekends, holidays, and vacations.

Unless you really love what you do without consideration to the income it generates, or unless you are highly paid, or unless there is a lot more to learn in your job, or unless financial security is of no importance to you, there is no reason for you to stay long in the rat race.

The earlier it is to get out of the trap, the better chances you will attain financial success.

Passive Income is generated from businesses. You can sell products or offer services, or a combination thereof. Examples are buying/selling real estate, trading merchandise as in wholesaling and retailing, etc. In many cases, you need not be physically present in your place of business.

There are also small businesses like vending machines where you hardly require an employee to visit those machines for refill (since you can do it yourself). You can also go with franchising; either be a franchiser or a franchisee. The list is endless as long as you do what you love to do.

The beauty of going into your own business is that you work for you, not for someone else.

Another advantage of going into business, especially in your own corporation, is that you earn and spend before tax is deducted, unlike being an employee where you are taxed before you spend.

Portfolio Income, just like passive income, is making money work for you. Portfolio Income is generated from paper assets like bonds, stock market, certificate of deposits, and mutual funds. They are called paper assets because literally, they are businesses that revolve on papers.

It is in portfolio income where financial knowledge is of vital importance. Your intellect interacting with creativity can either unmake or make you rich.

Ben Rosario is an aspiring entrepreneur and independent NLP enthusiast. If you found this article interesting and would like to learn more, please visit: Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires by Adam Khoo.

Forex2u Forex Strategy On Successful Forex Trading

The essence of the FX2u Forex strategy is that it does not have any Forex trading system but could forecast the market trend accurately.

Every set of Forex trading system available has its disadvantages. The market trend could not be forecasted. If the market could be forecasted, by depending on the RSI, PAR, MOM analysis techniques and some other theories, Forex traders could easily make a fortune.

Many Forex traders could not obtain the anticipated outcome by using these analysis tools, and suffer huge losses. The main reason is relying on some imperfect tools to forecast the unpredictable market trend is just a waste of effort. Therefore the FX2u Forex strategy spirit is to abolish the entire subjective analysis tool.

To survive in the market is to follow the market trend, following the market trend is the essence of the FX2u Forex strategy. By using the opposite theory to enter the market, will only lead to lost. The reason is that if the market rises, it may continue to rise. If the market drops, it may continue to drop. No one is able to forecast when the market trend will stop.

By following the market trend, the market risk could be reduce to the lowest, the FX2u Forex strategy will advance the following the ten principles:

fully understand the how market function and the market trend, else dont trade

After entering the market, the Forex trader MUST immediately put a market stop.

If the stop order has been hit it MUST be executed immediately, NEVER make changes by lowering the stop order price.

If the forecast is wrong, Forex traders should leave the market immediately, then analyze again.

If the forecast is wrong, Forex traders should stop loss and should not increase trading.

Forex traders should admit mistakes, do not continuously make mistakes.

All analysis tools are imperfect, mistakes could always occur.

If the market rises Forex traders should buy, if the market drops Forex traders should sell, always follow the market trend.

Forex traders should not forecast the market price because such forecast will not be as easy as forecasting the market trend.

If the forecast is wrong, once the loss reach 10%, Forex traders must stop loss immediately, do not let it surpasses 10%, otherwise it would be difficult to recoup the capital again.

Alvin Han is the editor of http://www.forex2u.com; http://www.forex2u.com/fx2u-forex-strategy.html

How to Get Non-Reciprocal Links and Improve Your Page Rank

Ever since Google began placing importance on its Page Rank system, website owners have been scrambling to get incoming links to their websites, usually through the means of trading links. Incoming links are important in the Page Rank system, because they are seen as votes for your site, and the more votes you get, the more important your site is considered, and the higher it is placed in Googles search results. However, if you study the details of the Page Rank system you will find that not all incoming links have the same weight, and that the non-reciprocal links to your site, the ones you didnt have to trade for, are given more importance. So, website owners should also spend some time building up these non-reciprocal links. Here are five methods you can use in this effort.

1. Get your site listed in the major directories: The two most important directories at the present moment are Yahoo and the Open Directory Project (www.dmoz.org). Yahoo is the old stalwart of the Internet and despite the rise of Google, the addition of a hefty $299 fee, and changes in the way they display their listings, a link to your site from Yahoos main directory (and its regional variants) can boost the standing of your website much more than a few links from an obscure website.

The other major directory, the Open Directory Project is free of charge and is edited by volunteers. It is sometimes difficult to get a listing because they scrutinize listings and do not list sites that dont offer original content. If your site consists only of affiliate links, then the editors will reject your application. In addition the volunteer editors have been unable to keep pace with the amount of sites to be reviewed and they can take months to process your entry. Compounding the problem are technical glitches which sometimes make it difficult to even submit the form. Despite the problems inclusion here is well worth your effort, and you should persist. Inclusion in both Yahoo and the Open Directory Project can mean the difference between a page one or a page five showing for your site in search results, especially in competitive categories.

2. Get your site listed in directories relevant to your particular product or service: There are many resource directories that serve particular areas of interest. If you offer software that would be helpful to webmasters, for example, then do a search for webmaster resource directories and you will find sites where you can add your URL. Do you have a hotel? Then, find travel directories, and apply to be listed. You will have to spend time, but once again persistence will pay off, not only in improvement of your page rank but listing in specific industry or product oriented directories will bring you targeted trafficpeople particularly interested in what you have to offer.

3. Write articles for Publication on Other Web Sites: There are millions of websites on the web, and many are hungry for quality content. As you have published your own website and have something to offer, that makes you an expert in your particular field. Use this expertise to write simple, but useful articles in your field and send these to other webmasters. If they publish your article, they will include your resource box with a link back to your site. The link will once again boost your Page Rank, but just as importantly, it will establish you as an authority in your field and will help brand your product or service. You dont have to write to hundreds of webmasters individually to get your article published, go to www.yahoogroups.com and do a search for Internet Articles Publishing and you will find many groups that will enable you to reach webmasters looking for articles.

4. Get Your Product or Service Reviewed by other Websites: Have you published an e-book or written software? Then offer a free copy to websites whose themes are similar to yours. If they write and publish a review, then you will get a link back to your site. In addition, you can publish their reviews on your own site, which will add a lot of weight to your own claims about the validity of your product or service. Look around for sites in your field and make your offer. In the process you will also build potentially important alliances.

5. Beef up the Content on Your Own Site: the original concept behind the Page Rank system was to try to highlight the websites that are really valuable, and offer something unique to the Internet. If you publish an Internet version of your company brochure, no one is going to link to you unilaterally. However, if your site is filled with interesting articles, reports, data and reference material then you will get links without even asking for them. You can add content to your site, by writing and publishing your own articles, the same ones that you will offer to other sites, as well as by publishing the articles of others. Once again, the article publishing groups at www.yahoo.com or sites such as www.articlecity.com will provide you with a wealth of material.

If you apply some of these methods you will not only get some high-quality non-reciprocal links but you will also boost the quality of your website in the process.

Donald Nelson is a web developer, editor and social worker. He has been working on the Internet since 1995, and is currently the director of A1-Optimization http://www.a1-optimization.com, a firm providing low cost search engine optimization, submission and web promotion services.

Facts of Day Trading

Are you thinking of entering the fast-paced world of day trading? Arm yourselves with the information from this fact sheet on day trading.

What is day trading?

Day trading is an investment tactic that does online daily stock trading with a relatively short investment. Those who do day trading usually buy and sell securities during the same market day and, as a general rule, do not hold stocks overnight. Many day traders make dozens of trades every market day hoping to capture profits that arise from small intraday price fluctuations.

How is day trading different from swing trading?

Day trading relatively holds the stock for only the day. After the stock market closes, a day trader has no stock in his hands. Swing trading holds a stock for at least a few days, waiting out for the best price before dumping it back to the market. Day trading is much more stressful and requires guts and a keen business sense. Once you get good at day trading, you can earn up to $50,000 from your initial investment.

How much capital would you need for day trading?

You need an investment equivalent to buy 1000 stocks. That is roughly around $20,000. Because the chances are small that you will find a marketable stock with a price of under $20, this is enough to get your day trading underway. However, you must remember that this is a 100% risk capital so do not worry too much if you lose this amount very early.

What are the general rules for day trading?

• Always trade with the trend.

• Cut losses short

• Never get emotionally involved in your trades.

What are the most suitable stocks to trade for day trading?

It is advisable to trade high volume stocks. Go with the trend with the popular stocks available. It'll be easier for you to sell those stocks at the end of the day trading.

How does a usual day trading transaction occur?

For example, at 10:00 AM a day trader might buy 1000 shares of stock XYZ just as the price begins to rise on good news, then sell it at 10:04 AM when it's up by 1/2 ($0.50). The day trader makes $500, minus commission. With today's cheap commissions of $29.95 or less per trade, that's a quick $440.10 or better, excluding taxes.

Most people who deal with day trading spend all of their time in front of the computer, watching the slightest change in the stock price. As the prices go up and down, the day trader must be alert as to when to sell his stock or wait for the moment to hold on it. This can be a very stressful lifestyle as a mere second could mean an increase of half the stock price and missing that moment for any person engaging in day trading could mean a loss on his investment.

Day trading is not a get rich scheme. It is serious business where you could lose everything within minutes because of wrong information. Before jumping into day trading, remember to do your homework first. Go to seminars on day trading, use simulations if possible and practice reading market indicators. To be a successful day trader, don't just need luck. Knowledge and experience counts. Welcome to the world of stock markets and investments!

About The Author
Michael Sanford For More Information and articles about day trading check out http://www.forex-trading-center.info

How To Make Money Trading Forex

To make money trading forex requires a forex broker to have discipline in following the rules of the game. If you can stay focused and follow a system regardless of the market conditions, then you can make money trading forex.

Forex trading as with other types of financial investing is risky. Since the FX market is volatile, it can be difficult to predict whether the market is going down or up. That is why proper financial practices is important specifically your money management skills.

In my opinion, many new traders often fail to make money trading forex because they are lured by the easy prospects of making millions of dollars and are confused over the hundreds of indicators and forex financial terms. With tons of data and indicators constantly changing, it can be difficult for new traders to grasp the underlying trends and that will lead to poor trading decisions.

In general, the forex market is easier to predict in the long term than in the short term. However, most new traders often lose sight of the big picture and instead concentrate on recent upward and downward trends. They get too caught up with the latest news and focus on the 1 hour and 4 hours charts believing easy money is made by seizing the right opportunity. That in my view is more like gambling and not investing.

Though the forex market is volatile, very rarely do currencies devalue to the point it becomes worthless, therefore if you have deep financial standing, you can easily wait for the currency to rebounce and make a profit. Sometimes, it may take weeks, months and even years. That is why savvy traders often make a large part of your money liquid rather than tied down by anyone currency.

Another mistake some new traders make is believing there are insider secrets or information that can make them rich. Due to the nature of the forex market which is liquid and having such huge transactions (trillions of dollars are transacted each day), it is almost impossible to have any kind of insider information. Plus, with rapidly changing data and indicators updated almost instanteously, there is no chance of even an insider secret.

If you want to make money trading forex, start to take a long term view of forex trading instead of being the opportunistic investor.

Ricky is the owner of learn-forextrading.net where he teaches new traders how to make money trading forex.

My Experiences Trading Cotton and Lumber Commodity Futures Contracts and Options

Cotton Futures and Options

COTTON futures and options trade on the NYBOT. (The New York Board of Trade) Cotton has low to medium volume and liquidity; just enough to get by. An account margin of $1300 controls 50,000 pounds of cotton, worth about $30,000. One full point of price movement equates to $500.

Day trading cotton futures can be difficult. At times, the short-term charts can make little sense. Cotton futures fills (order execution price) often have significant slippage while the option fills are slow coming back from the floor. Market orders will get you filled immediately but you may not be happy with the results. Obviously, the main problem with short-term trading cotton is liquidity.

Liquidity is not really a problem with long-term cotton position trades lasting weeks in duration. Low liquidity will make little difference in your overall results because of infrequent entries and exits. Effectively using limit orders in cotton will solve the slippage problem, but makes entry and exits more challenging.

Normal moves of five to ten cents are common in cotton. ($2500-$5000) Over the last few decades, the cotton market has cycled within a large price range. The extreme lows are 28 cents to highs of $1.17 a pound. The goal of many long term traders is to catch big moves like this.

Weather is always a consideration when trading cotton. Droughts, floods, disease and insect infestation (boll weevils, etc) can propel prices. There's times when cotton trades counter to the other grains. (wheat, soybeans, corn, etc) What may be good growing conditions for cotton may be adverse to the other grains and visa versa.

LUMBER

LUMBER Futures and options are traded on the (CME) Chicago Mercantile Exchange. An account margin of $1700 controls 110,000 board feet of lumber worth about $27,000. One full point in lumber equates to $110.

Lumber's forty year low in the 1970s was $94. It's all-time high was $493.50 after the Mt. St. Helens volcanic eruption blew out vast amounts of timberland. A $100 move in lumber over several months is typical. ($11,000 a contract) Limit moves up and down are a very common occurrence. The liquidity in lumber futures is a problem but tolerable. Market orders are sometimes necessary, but there is a big chance of slippage.

Lumber options are illiquid. They are hard to buy and sell. A series of limit moves in your direction will help you liquidate with a nice execution price and profit. Effectively using limit orders in lumber will solve the slippage problem, but makes entry and exits more challenging

Lumber prices can trend well since supply and demand are based on various long-term trends. These include U.S. housing demand and the supply trade agreements with Canada.

Short term trading is possible if you are nimble. Look for a five-dollar swings as an objective. ($550) If you get a limit move in your direction, you may want to get out of your futures contract. Reversals are common after big moves. However, if the move is supported by long term bottoms and major time cycles, you may want to hold on for what could be a big ride.

STRATEGY

Here's how I look for opportunities in the cotton and lumber markets: First I generate a TimeLine forecast that shows a strong move up or down in cotton or lumber. The TimeLine is based on time cycles and other preprogrammed patterns. I then determine if the move is expected to be choppy, trending, and for how long. This helps us focus on possible directional futures/option positions or writing options in a range, or even writing options with the trend.

Next I use automated option software to search for the best of 1600 strategies based on the expected market move. I compare these option to option combinations against futures to options combinations. At some point I will find a compromise between risk, profit and simplicity in one or two strategies. In hindsight there's always a best strategy we could have used. Keep this is mind when narrowing down the choices. When finished, we want to have one or two potential trades to work with. We call the selected few, "high probability, low risk trades."

Remember there is more to planning a trade than just coming up with a forecast. The market may move as predicted but we can still lose by choosing the wrong trading vehicles. Pick the right vehicles and strategies that will allow us to stay in the market without excessive fear, but still carrying calculated risk.

We NEED to take on calculated risk or the market will not pay us for our services. In addition, the vehicle has to move far enough to make a profit without letting the expense of protection eat us up. Excessive protection (risk avoidance) can come in the form of option premiums, too close-in stop loss orders - and overdone, complex spread strategies. Matching a forecast to a strategy is an important skill to succeed in commodity trading.

Good Trading!

There is substantial risk of loss trading futures and options and may not be suitable for all types of investors. Only risk capital should be used.

Thomas Cathey - 27-year trading veteran heads the managed futures division of Thomas Capital Management, LLC. View his market forecast TimeLine Trading charts and get his complete 44+ lesson, "Thomas Commodity Trading Course - all free." http://www.thomascapitalmanagement.com/commodity/welcome.htm Main site: http://www.ThomasCapitalManagement.com

Dedicated Support - Superior Products - Software Company Still In Business After 20 Years

Twenty years is a long time in the investment software industry. What is the key to AIQs success?

Much of the success of AIQ is due to the dedication and experience of our staff; they are key to providing outstanding support to our clients and to building better products. The average tenure of AIQ staff members of over 10 years is a reflection of the commitment of the AIQ staff to the company. AIQ has always been more than just a software vendor. We strive to provide the best service possible to our clients by listening to their needs and acting on those needs as quickly and efficiently as possible.

We dont bake cakes or build cars; we provide powerful trading tools and trading systems and support these tools with educational newsletters, seminars, tutorials and webinars (online seminars). Our goal is to help our clients become better traders and investors.

How have AIQ products evolved over the years and was this crucial to the company's success?

AIQs first product, StockExpert, was introduced in 1987 and provided basic charts, Expert Ratings, and some technical indicators. MarketExpert, a market timing system, quickly followed. Each of these packages included one of AIQs signature features, the Barometer Control Panel that gives a quick visual assessment of each of the technical indicators. Demand for derivative software les to the creation of OptionExpert and IndexExpert being added to the product line solely for options analysis. All of these products were very successful and provided the impetus for the development of TradingExpert.

Critical to AIQ's success was the decision to combine many of our packages into one suite, similar to the approach Microft does with Office. With the advent of TradingExpert, AIQ combined the strengths of MarketExpert and StockExpert into one powerful package and added group and sector analysis, a revolutionary concept at the time. Finally, a Portfolio Tracker was included and AIQ had one of the first really comprehensive trading packages on the market. Over the years, more and more powerful features were added to TradingExpert, including the Expert Design Studio, AIQs trading system writing and testing tool. This tool allowed our users to create their own trading systems and their own custom indicators.

In the late 1990s, AIQ merged all the add-on products into the TradingExpert software to create a power package that became known as TradingExpert Pro. While TradingExpert continued as a basic analysis tool, most of AIQs clients moved to the new combined systemTradingExpert Pro. Today, some 10 years since TradingExpert Pro was first introduced, it remains our premier package.

How has your industry changed over the years?

Times change, and few investment software companies have succeeded as long as we have. Product is shipped on CDs now rather than 5 inch floppies. Data is delivered over the internet rather than using computer modems. Todays computers are lightning fast, allowing retail investors to employ tools that were only available to elite institutional investors.

There is no doubt that charting is now a de facto commodity provided by almost every investing or trading software service. Many of the free charting tools available on the internet provide basic price bars, including even Candlesticks and moving averages. However, while these tools provide good looking charts, they lack the power tools that the informed investor and trader needs.

Most brokerage companies also provide some technical analysis tools for their clients. However, very few offer high-end analysis tools like those incorporated in AIQ TradingExpert Pro.

The industry has also experienced big changes in software and data prices. AIQs four stand-alone DOS products originally sold at about $1500 each. And to use the software you had to subscribe to a data vendor. In the early 1990s, data cost anywhere from $60 to $100 a month but fell in price steadily over time. The biggest change in pricing for AIQ came about in the late 1990s when AIQ first offered TradingExpert Pro bundled with myTrack as a monthly subscription service. The software no longer had to be purchased with data paid for separately. Instead, you paid one monthly fee for the data and software combined. And the other bonus was never having to pay for an upgrade again.

What do you consider are the strengths of AIQ and what have they contributed to the success?

The depth of knowledge and experience of the AIQ staff is our most invaluable strength. Our experience and knowledge has led to the development of many of the unique and powerful features in TradingExpert Pro.

Our industry group and sector rotation features were revolutionary when TradingExpert was released, and they remain unmatched today. We have powerful breadth management tools that are useful in identifying market tops and bottoms. Market Breath Builder and Breadth Analyzer allow users to create breadth and volume statistics on any set of stocks or any set of indicators. Other software packages now have back testing capabilities but none are as easy as AIQs. We realized most people dont like to program code, even if the language is supposedly easy. To that extent weve created over 250 pre-built rules that users can cut and paste as they create and test trading systems. Portfolio Simulation was another pioneering breakthrough that has given AIQ an edge. As many traders and investors have discovered, back testing only goes part of the way when youre developing a trading strategy. Something more realistic was needed, so our programmers developed a new tool called Portfolio Simulator. Portfolio Simulation does real life walk forward testing under real trading conditions. Only through this kind of testing can you prove that a strategy works for your trading style. What sets us apart is our desire for our users to become successful traders. We dont just give you the tools, we provide educational support and most of the support is free of charge.

We also offer a variety of webbased seminars every month covering a wide range of technical topics. Most of these webinars are free and are archived for viewing at your convenience. They are found at www.aiqsystems.com. Finally, this year we will hold our 18th annual Lake Tahoe Seminar October 1-3 at Harveys Resort and Casino at Lake Tahoe.

Where do you see AIQ going in the future?

Regarding analysis tools, AIQ is currently focused on two directions. First, we are in the final stages of rolling out an automatic Chart Pattern Recognition system. For each pattern found, the system generates supporting information such as strength of confirming volume, direction, and trend. Patterns are also stored historically for back testing as part of a trading strategy. Chart Pattern Recognition will be an add-on service for TradingExpert Pro users.

Second, we are incorporating many of our primary analysis tools into a browser environment so that it will be possible to access your AIQ analysis tools wherever a browser is available.

As our technical analysis tools have matured and advanced over the years, so have the features requested by AIQ clients. Every request is recorded and analyzed for suitability and desirability as a feature in a future release. We value all feedback. It is this feedback from our clients in conjunction with our own ideas that leads to the development of new power features.

Steve Hill is President of AIQ Systems. http://www.aiq.com For the past 14 years he has been involved in all aspects of AIQ Systems, from support and sales to programming and education. Steve is a frequent speaker at events in the U.S. and Europe, talking on subjects as diverse as Portfolio Simulation Techniques, Advanced Chart Pattern Analysis and Trading System Design. Steve is an avid martial artist and cross-country skier. currently holding the rank of Shodan (first degree black belt) in Shito-Ryu Okinawan Karate. He also serves on the board of the Ralph Parks Portfolio Trust.

AIQ Systems is a world leader in intelligent trading software. Their web site can be found at http://www.aiq.com