Forex System Traps - What to Look for

1. History - What kind of history does the system vendor provide? A good strategy method provider should be able to tell you the systems monthly results for at least the past year. If the strategy method hasn't been available for a year, you should ask what the back-test results were.

2. Draw-down - Drawdowns are unavoidable in trading forex. There are many forex systems making 1000's of pips every year, but they neglect to advise you that you could have lost all/most of your account before making those 1000's of pips. You should always ask what what draw-downs the system has had in the past and use this information to calculate your trading size to ensure your account is not wiped out. Think about the emotional impact of the draw-down, would you have stuck with it? 

3. Reviews - Search to see if others have traded the same forex strategy method. What are they saying about the system? Find out if the strategy method has its own forum and have a look at what kind of feedback the strategy method is receiving. Often existing users have experimented with the system and found a better way to trade it, ask if there are any new settings before you start trading.

4. Win Ratio - Professional traders often have a win ratio of only 50%. The profit is in how they manage the trade, by cutting losses short and letting profits run. A system with a high win ratio is not necessarily better and may be too good to be true.

5. Stop/Limit Orders - Find out that the strategy method uses stop orders. A stop order is set to minimize your loss if the trade does not go in your favour. With no stop order set you could face a huge loss.

6. Paper Trade - Before trading any strategy method with real money you should paper trade it, or trade it with a demo account. This will give you a chance to practise using the strategy method until you feel comfortable with it, and give you an idea if it is worth trading with real money. Many systems can also be back-tested to give you proof of how the strategy method performed historically.

7. Timing - Find out what time commitment the strategy method requires and study if this will fit in with your schedule. You should also ask what hours of the day you need to be at your computer to trade the strategy method.


8. Money Management - What kind of money management strategy method does the strategy method use? Systems that recommend you increase your trade size after a loss are not generally recommended by the trading community.

9. Additional Costs - Find out what additional costs you might incur to run the strategy method. Does the strategy method require a specific charting package or data feed to run?

10. Refund - Find out if a refund is offered and what the conditions are and if they can be met easily.

Good luck with your forex system comparison.

Money Manager

GCM has devoted considerable dealing and technological resources to accommodating fund managers and trading managers.

GCM's online trading software is designed to facilitate trading and managing multiple accounts from a single login window. The back office is fully automated for each sub-account and can be viewed individually online by each of the trading manager's clients. GCM offers both MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 4 Mobile trading platforms.   Both are industry standards for reliability and performance, customized with GCM's superior spreads, product offerings, and trading conditions.

Electronic Communications Network ("ECN")
Trading with GCM means you have access to over 50 currency pairs traded on our ECN.   Trades are executed by our pool of bank liquidity providers, with no dealer intervention, no requotes or delays.  ECN trading for money managers means that GCM is working with you to ensure that your trading is as profitable as possible.

Expert Advisors ("EAs") and Scalping EAs
GCM's ECN also facilitates the use of scalping EAs.  Our interest in working with you is in maximizing your profits and trading volume.  Host your own scalping EA on your computer, or use GCM's hosting facilities to ensure 24/7 operation.

Please contact us for further information on trading with GCM.

Long Term Forex Strategies

1. UnderstandStandard Deviation of the Price - Most traders don't understand this.Standard deviation comes from the math of statistics and it's basicallythe difference between data points. The reason this is important isbecause the data that comes in isn't going to be linear or contain allnumerical posts. That means there could be differences of 0.5 inbetween the data.

Basically to put that into the real worldyou're going to be using software like Forex Killer to handle tradesand you're going to give it variables on when to buy and sell. You needto understand that if the standard deviation is 0.5, than if you put ina number like 100.7, it's never going to get hit. 100.5 and 101.0 willbe hit. When we're trading forex we're talking about very little finechanges to the hundredths of a number. 0.5 is a significant amount ofchange if you have thousands of dollars in the game. You have to beaware of this or you're going to give up much of your gains by simplythe gap between data points.

2. Earn Slowly - Many traders getgreedy or get on a high of making money. They try to make as much asthey can as fast as they can. This is trouble. Rapid gains of currencyhappen, but they're not common. If it's not common, you can ride thewave, but eventually it's going to stop and you're going to burn. Takeit slow. Don't aim to get rich on one trade. Aim to get rich by slowlymaking money over time.
This are very good strategies for longterm forex gains. These work best if you're using software like ForexKiller which puts your forex business on auto-pilot. It's nice to viewthe graphs and have a piece of software calculate trends and allow youto work the standard deviation to your advantage.

Online Stock Investing

If you a regular investor in stock market, Internet has opened whole range of opportunities. In old days, one had to go through a bank or a broker. Now you can work on Internet and trade without any other interface. As early as 1999, more then 3 million people traded stocks online in USA alone. Now, this number has risen to 30 million people. Every year more and more companies are offering their services on Internet.

Online trading has many benefits and you can make lot of money within a short time. First benefit is that you need not pay any broker fee. This can save you lot of money as broker fee needs to be paid when you buy as well as when you sell the stock. So you save money on each stock that you buy and then sell.

Second benefit is ease of use. You can be anywhere in the world and still trade in any timeline. In case of a broker, you will need to be in contact with your broker through phone or physically. On internet, you can be mobile and trading continually.

There are two types of online channels you can sue for stock trading:
* Discount : These are individuals who take no fee from, you but will not advise you either. They just take your order execute it. They make money by playing with large masses of stock.
* Full service : They are your agents and in addition to buying stock for you, they will give advice, manage portfolio and assist you make quick money. Their services do not come for free and may come in as fixed cost or a share of your profits.

Full service firms will deliver adequate research for you so that you can make informed decisions while picking up stocks. If you pick right stocks there is no reason why you won't get great returns in shortest time period. When you are trading on Internet, you will find information easily. Things such as balance sheets, press reports, past growth patters are all there for almost every company listed on stock exchange.

Third benefit is anonymity. Trading on internet also gives you certain measure of anonymity. You can trade on internet sitting at home or from your office chair.

Funding trading accounts is also very easy on internet. Most banks allow transfer of funds to and from bank accounts, so you can withdraw money, as well as send money to your trading account immediately.
Internet also offers unlimited literature on trading strategies. You can read them whenever you are online to gather good tips, advice and strategic direction.

Internet has made trading easy for everyone. You can make quick money by researching various stocks and investing online. It is cheap and easy to invest on Internet. Investing in stocks is interesting and with practice you can make so much money every day. So, get start involve in online stock invest with GCM by clicking here. There are many people who have mastered various strategies and now trade online to earn money quickly.

Rules Of Stock Market Investing

Stock Market gives immediate returns to people who invest wisely. If you are looking forward to make quick money, you can work in stock market. Stocks are financial instruments which make you part owner in the company or the firm. When you buy stock of a company, you are a passive owner of the company. Almost all corporations issue shares to public and can be traded on stock exchanges around the world.
As an investor you should follow some golden rules of investing. Some of these important rules are listed here,

* Buy when low and sell when high : This is a simple concept, but often eludes practice. Your entry in every stock should be at the low, not at a high. As a general rule, you should buy when every one else is selling while you should sell when everyone else is buying.

* What goes up comes down : If you are consistently observing that prices for a share are going up, it will come down surely. The reverse is equally true. If you begin looking for a reason why market is down or up, you will waste time and energy. Market as whole moves up and down due to a wide variety of reasons, and
as a retail investor you have very little control over it.

* Information flow in Stock Market : Understand that, if you learn a clear tip about some stock, million other investors would have heard it too, so they also will be doing what you want to do. This action will never give you profits. Profits are generated when you move against the heard with information with no one or very small group of people have.

* Understand market sentiment : As a navvy investor, you can try and understand the nature of market. To understand the nature of market there are three sets of theories, Fundamental Analysis, Technical Analysis and Risk / Money Management Techniques. Read all of them.

* Disciplined trading : You should always trade with a discipline. Cut your losses quickly and reap profits. As an investor out to make money in short time, as soon as you see your profit, exit the stock.

* Belief in efficiency of market : Remember that markets are not efficient and when you invest in stock market, there is no way that you will have all the information about the company. So, your trading strategy should be based on partial information not on a belief that you have all the information required for trade.

* Advice from other people : Advice from friends, brokers and trading firms at Wall Street is very good to listen, but what you do should always be based on your own judgement. The key is your own logic and wisdom as the firms out there will loose nothing in case your stock looses value. In fact, if you list to their advice and trade through them, they will make money irrespective the fact that you loose or make profits.

If you remember the points mentioned above, you can make quick money on stock markets easily.

Sell At The Right Time

You can lot of money in no time by selling stock in market by trading at right time. Stock Trading is all about right exit and right entry in the market. As an investor you should always invest carefully and you will make money. We will look at some points which will help you plan an exit from stock so that you do not incur losses and on your whole portfolio make some profit.

The fist impact on an investor happens when he / she finds too much change in price of stock. If the price is at high sell. In case you see that price is going down sell it, when it's at bottom you can rebuy and sell it later on. If you observe no change in price then you sell. Stagnant stocks give no return so you can exit if there is no activity. When you buy a stock you should keep a target point in mind. If the stock has hit that target point, immediately exit. Take your profits quickly and cut your losses even quicker.
Securities and Exchange Commission will give you updated information on financials of every company in your portfolio. Do not forget to check regularly there. In case you see any red flag you can exit. If you see any good news, increase you're holding or postpone your sell decision.

Fundamentals of the stock are not defined in stock prices alone. If you think that company as a whole is good and will grow irrespective of a peak in price you should not exit the stock. Earning trends, management changes, revenue growth are some indicators of financial health of a company. As an investor if you keep track of these for each stock in your portfolio, you will never loose and will surely make money in no time.
ValueLine, Standard & Poor's are two companies which publish excellent reports on various companies traded in stock exchange. They are complied by experts so you can take their help before planning a buy and sell decision. They project which way each stock price will go. This will help you plan your entry and exit.

If you see that the company under consideration has got many competitors and may not be able to hold its market share, you can sell it off. Keeping track of your firm in the industry is very important.
If you see that a particular product line is old and company is not replacing it, growth will be limited so you can sell the stock. Stock profits come from growing companies, which are seen and known to be a growth trajectory. Staid product lines and falling growths will hammer stock prices badly.
As an investor you should not hold on to any stock because of your ego. Remember entry and exit points in this market will make or mar your profits. So, to make good money sell it at right time.

11 Advantages Of Mini Forex Trading

The traders were exposed to the world of currency trading with not that high a risk with the development of Mini forex trading accounts that requires a minimum account size of $300. Also, the mini forex trading account holders can trade 1/10 currency lots instead of the entire currency lots.With smaller lot sizes, the traders are exposed to real life trading with comparitively lesser market and risk exposure because,the value of one mini pip is the same as one dollar.

The traders are exposed to the trading and are made aware of the reliability and the quality maintained in the trade practices and also the stability of the forex trading.Individuals who are wanting to develop their own strategy and build on their confidence in this particular industry will be benefited by mini forex account trading.

The advantage of mini forex trading is that, the traders in this segment have the liberty to enjoy the benefits that are applicable to the full size holders as well.

1. Mini forex trading uses the exact same state of art resources and tools as that of standard account.

2. The traders will continue to be exposed to the world's biggest liquid market.

3. Traders receive a complete free streaming, live and double sided quotes

4. It provides immediate fill reports 

5. The trades are not commission based and the traders are able to check their accounts live.

6. Another important advantage in case of mini forex trading is that the traders are able to create a strategy on forex trades and they also improve their discipline and at the same time, not giving more importance to their profits and losses.

7. A trader can fixate on the fluctuations of his equity, if he can trade a full size currency of 100,000 units. This can be done by traders who have small balances.By doing so, the decision making capacity of the trader can get affected, as it is highly based on the emotions of the traders.

8. The traders usually do not close out those trades that do not result in profits, as they continue hoping that the market would infact favour them.It is the instinct of the traders to make immediate profits with the market movement, rather than maximising gains by allowing free flow of profits.

9. The training methods developed in case of mini forex trading, gaining the confidence of a particular trader who is successful, helps one to sustain the distractions, pressure and the anxiety in case of occurrence of any P&L swing.

10. It is not always necessary to use all currency units when starting a mini forex trading account. The lots can be utilized as and when required when a trader builds his confidence level, in order to increase his profits. The lot of 10,000 is available for a trader to customise the size per deal that might suit his needs and requirements.

11. Another good point in case of mini forex trading is that, a trader would not be too stressed out in case of a loss. It depends on the trader's ability to stick to his strategy and to maintain discipline in order to perform well in the future. For example, a loss of 50-pip on a position of 100,000 EUR/USD is the same as $500 loss, however, it would only be $50 in case of a 10,000 EUR/USD with respect to a mini account.

One has to have the guts and the will power to face losses in a forex trading industry;however,if one can perform making use of the platform that is similar to the standard account, why not go for mini forex which gives an individual it's unlimited benefits.

Stock Market Tips Before Engaging In Stock Broking

The stock market is one good way to earn money especially in the time of global financial crisis. Investing in the stock market is commonly done by stock brokers since they are the individuals who are good in the buying and selling of stocks or shares in a stock market. The stock market on the other hand is the place where financial stock brokers can purchase shares from stock corporations.

A stock corporation is a financial institution where stocks or corporate shares are being issued or sold. The person who purchases shares will have the opportunity to earn dividends when the company acquires profit and sales. A non-stock corporation however does not distribute shares since they are non-profit institutions but earns profit for charitable purposes instead. A stock broker purchases shares from a corporation and it is up to them if they would want to sell the stocks to another stock broker or just wait for the company to earn profit in order to acquire dividends from the stock.
Some people have a wrong concept about investing in the stock market that they think that earning money is hard in this kind of activity. Investing in the stock market doesn't require a large amount of capital since even an ordinary professional can purchase stocks or share from a company. There are two kinds of stock and these are the common stock and the preferred stock. Both of these stocks earn dividends when a company earns profit. A common stock however have qualities that a preferred stock do not have and one of these qualities are giving its possessor the right to vote during certain corporate meetings. One of the best advantages of a common stock is that a common stock holder is given major prioritization in terms of distributing dividend. A preferred stock on the other hand gives its owners the right to vote during corporate meetings regarding concerns about the shares of a company and in voting of a board of director.

Investing in the stock market is one good way to earn a lot of money especially during times of economic boost in a country's economy. A stock broker is the individual that buys and sells stocks in the stock market. Before buying stocks, decision making is very essential before purchasing shares from a company since investing in stocks is very risky because this kind of activity is very unpredictable. The performance of a company in the economy plays a major role affecting the value of the corporate share.
The economic status of a country on the other hand is also responsible in the liquidity of the assets of a company and part of a company asset is its stocks and shares. Before buying a share from a stock company, a stock broker must first evaluate the current performance of the company in the stock market. The risks are very high and there is no space for a bad decision in investing in the stock market.

How to buy futures

Futures are speculative, leveraged instruments and aggressive traders can lose big, but these derivatives also can be prudent ways to diversify portfolios and hedge against losses in volatile markets.

Commodities, stocks, Treasury bonds, global currencies — even the weather — are among the many types of investments tied to futures. Buying and selling takes a high level of sophistication, and that's why futures are mostly a tool for institutions, hedge funds, trading firms and wealthy investors. 

At the same time, opportunities for mainstream investors to tap the futures market are more present than ever.

Futures are a way to profit from securities' short-term price movements and trends, both up and down, without actually owning the underlying asset. A futures contract gives you the right to buy a certain commodity or financial instrument at a later date, and you agree to keep that promise.

Here are the main items to watch out for in futures trading:

• High-pressure brokers, pitches and high-cost commissions: Don't be tempted by these danger signs. Run; don't walk, if a futures trading strategy sounds too good to be true.

• Inadequate capital:: Seed a futures trading account with at least $25,000. Even better would be $50,000 in case you're forced to meet margin requirements.

• Thinly traded markets: Futures markets that are more actively traded enjoy greater liquidity, allowing you to buy and sell quickly and often at a better price.

• Lock limits: Futures markets impose limit moves to prevent one-day collapses and to contain volatility. If prices have gained or lost the daily limit, contract activity is essentially frozen, a situation known as a "lock limit" market.

Forex Vs. Stocks

Differences Between Forex and Equities 

A major difference between the forex and equities markets is the number of trading alternatives available: the forex market has very few compared to the thousands found in the stock market. The majority of forex traders focus their efforts on seven different currency pairs. There are four "major" currency pairs, which include EUR/USD, USD/JPY, GBP/USD, USD/CHF, and the three commodity pairs, USD/CAD, AUD/USD, NZD/USD. Don't worry, we will discuss these pairs in detail in the next portion of our forex walkthrough. All other pairs are just different combinations of the same currencies, better known as cross currencies. This makes currency trading easier to follow because rather than having to pick between 10,000 stocks to find the best value, the only thing FX traders need to do is "keep up" on the economic and political news of these eight countries.

Quite often, the stock markets can hit a lull, resulting in shrinking volumes and activity. As a result, it may be hard to open and close positions when you'd like to. Furthermore, in a declining market it is only with extreme ingenuity and sometimes luck that an equities investor can make a profit. It is difficult to short-sell in the U.S. stock market because of strict rules and regulations. On the other hand, forex offers the opportunity to profit in both rising and declining markets because with every trade, you are buying and selling at the same time, and short-selling is, therefore, a part of every trade. In addition, since the forex market is so liquid, traders are not required to wait for an uptick before they are allowed to enter into a short position, as is the rule in the stock market.

Due to the high liquidity of the forex market, margins are low and leverage is high. It just is not possible to find such low margin rates in the stock market; most margin traders in the stock market need at least half of the value of their investment available in their margin accounts, whereas forex traders need as little as 1%. Furthermore, commissions in the stock market tend to be much, much higher than in the forex market. Traditional stock brokers ask for commission fees on top of their spreads, plus the fees that have to be paid to the exchange. Spot forex brokers take only the spread as their fee for each trade.

By now you should have a basic understanding of what the forex market is, how it works and the benefits and dangers all new forex traders should be aware of. Next we'll take a closer look at the currency pairs that are most widely used by traders in the forex market.

Trading - Chart Basics (Candlesticks)

Now that you have some experience and understanding in currency trading, we will starting discussing a few basic tools that forex traders frequently use. Due to the fast paced nature and leverage available in forex trading, many forex traders do not hold positions for very long. For example, forex day traders may initiate a large number of trades in a single day, and may not hold them any longer than a few minutes each. When dealing with such small time horizons, viewing a chart and using technical analysis are efficient tools, because a chart and associated patterns can indicate a wealth of information in a small amount of time. In this section, we will discuss the "candlestick chart" and the importance of identifying trends. In the next lesson, we'll get into a common chart pattern called the "head and shoulders."

Candlestick Charts 

While everyone is used to seeing the conventional line charts found in everyday life, the candlestick chart is a chart variant that has been used for around 300 years and discloses more information than your conventional line chart. The candlestick is a thin vertical line showing the period's trading range. A wide bar on the vertical line illustrates the difference between the open and close.

The daily candlestick line contains the currency's value at open, high, low and close of a specific day. The candlestick has a wide part, which is called the "real body". This real body represents the range between the open and close of that day's trading. When the real body is filled in or black, it means the close was lower than the open. If the real body is empty, it means the opposite: the close was higher than the open.

Just above and below the real body are the "shadows." Chartists have always thought of these as the wicks of the candle, and it is the shadows that show the high and low prices of that day's trading. When the upper shadow (the top wick) on a down day is short, the open that day was closer to the high of the day. And a short upper shadow on an up day dictates that the close was near the high. The relationship between the day's open, high, low and close determine the look of the daily candlestick.

After viewing it, it is easy to see the wealth of information displayed on each candlestick. At just a glance, you can see where a currency's opening and closing rates, its high and low, and also whether it closed higher than it opened. When you see a series of candlesticks, you are able to see another important concept of charting: the trend. 

Trading Rules - Never Let a Winner Turn Into a Loser

Repeat: Protect your profits. Protect your profits. Protect your profits. There is nothing worse than watching your trade be up 30 points one minute, only to see it completely reverse a short while later and take out your stop 40 points lower. If you haven't already experienced this feeling firsthand, consider yourself lucky - it's a woe most traders face more often than you can imagine and is a perfect example of poor money management.

Managing Your Capital

The FX markets can move fast, with gains turning into losses in a matter of minutes, making it critical to properly manage your capital. One of the cardinal rules of trading is to protect your profits - even if it means banking only 15 pips at a time. To some, 15 pips may seem like chump change; but if you take 10 trades 15 pips at a time, that adds up to a respectable 150 points of profits. Sure, this approach may seem like trading like penny-pinching grandmothers, but the main point of trading is to minimize your losses and, along with that, to make money as often as possible.

The bottom line is that this is your money. Even if it is money that you are willing to lose, commonly referred to as risk capital, you need to look at it as "you versus the market". Like a soldier on the battlefield, you need to protect yourself first and foremost.

There are two easy ways to never let a winner turn into a loser. The first method is to trail your stop. The second is a derivative of the first, which is to trade more than one lot.

Trailing Your Stops

Trailing stops requires work but is probably one of the best ways to lock in profits. The key to trailing stops is to set a near-term profit target. For example, if your "near-term target" is 15 pips, then as soon as you are 15 pips in the money, move your stop to breakeven. If it moves lower and takes out your stop, that is fine, since you can consider your trade a scratch and you end up with no profits or losses. If it moves higher, with each 5-pip increment you boost up your stop from breakeven by 5 pips, slowly cashing in gains. Just imagine it like a blackjack game, where every time you take in $100, you move $25 to your "do not touch" pile. (For more on this, see Trailing Stop Techniques.)

Trading In Lots

The second method of locking in gains involves trading more than one lot. If you trade two lots, for example, you can have two separate profit targets. The first target would be placed at a more conservative level, closer to your entry price, say 15 or 20 pips, while the second lot is much further away, through which you are looking to bank a much larger reward-to-risk ratio. Once the first target level is reached, you would move your stop to breakeven, which in essence embodies the first rule: "Never let a winner turn into a loser".

Of course, 15 pips is hardly a rule written in stone. How much profit you bank and by how much you trail the stop is dependent upon your trading style and the time frame in which you choose to trade. Longer term traders may want to use a wider first target such as 50 or 100 pips , while shorter term traders may prefer to use the 15-pip target. Managing each individual trade is always more art than science. However, trading in general still requires putting your money at risk, so we encourage you to think in terms of protecting profits first and swinging for the fences second. Successful trading is simply the art of accumulating more winners than stops.

International Investing

Trade Stocks from 20+ Countries

GCM offers access to foreign stocks, providing customers the ability to trade international equities alongside domestic equities via one central account. Most trades are just $7. And, with international stock offerings from foreign companies in various sectors and industries, Scottrade’s international investing opportunities might match your strategy.

Trading Foreign Stocks

GCM is dedicated to providing you with advanced research and trading tools to help you manage your investments on your own terms. Find international investing opportunities or get an online quote with our stocks screener. Or start your research online with news, charts and stock information for many international stocks, available free of charge with your GCM account.

Trading International Stocks via American Depository Receipts (ADR)

Owning shares in foreign markets expands and diversifies investors’ stock portfolios, and can play a part in achieving a balanced financial strategy. American depository receipts are receipts for shares in foreign companies that trade on the U.S. stock market. So you can buy or sell shares in companies from across the globe, and you can trade your ADR stocks from the comfort of your online trading account.

GCM offers companies in over 20 countries throughout Europe, Africa, South America, and Asia Pacific. Login to your online trading account, and use the stock screener to explore stocks that you can use to expand your portfolio's investments internationally.

Expanding Your Investments with Ordinary Shares (ORD)

Take your portfolio abroad. You can buy equity ownership in foreign companies through ordinary shares or ORDs. The ordinary shares of foreign-based companies are not officially listed on U.S. market exchanges, but you can trade ORD stock or trade funds that invest in ORD stocks through GCM brokerage account. Hunt for your next international investment with our stock screener when you log into your GCM account.

The Foreign Exchange Market for Beginners

Money Manager

GCM has devoted considerable dealing and technological resources to accommodating fund managers and trading managers.
GCM's online trading software is designed to facilitate trading and managing multiple accounts from a single login window. The back office is fully automated for each sub-account and can be viewed individually online by each of the trading manager's clients. GCM offers both MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 4 Mobile trading platforms.   Both are industry standards for reliability and performance, customized with GCM's superior spreads, product offerings, and trading conditions.

Electronic Communications Network ("ECN")

Trading with GCM means you have access to over 50 currency pairs traded on our ECN.   Trades are executed by our pool of bank liquidity providers, with no dealer intervention, no requotes or delays.  ECN trading for money managers means that GCM is working with you to ensure that your trading is as profitable as possible.
Expert Advisors ("EAs") and Scalping EAs
GCM's ECN also facilitates the use of scalping EAs.  Our interest in working with you is in maximizing your profits and trading volume.  Host your own scalping EA on your computer, or use GCM's hosting facilities to ensure 24/7 operation.
Please contact us for further information on trading with GCM.



The foreign exchange market or forex market as it is often called is the market in which currencies are traded. Currency Trading is the world’s largest market consisting of almost trillion in daily volume and as investors learn more and become more interested, the market continues to rapidly grow. Not only is the forex market the largest market in the world, but it is also the most liquid, differentiating it from the other markets. In addition, there is no central marketplace for the exchange of currency, but instead the trading is conducted over-the-counter. Unlike the stock market, this decentralization of the market allows traders to choose from a number of different dealers to make trades with and allows for comparison of prices. Typically, the larger a dealer is the better access they have to pricing at the largest banks in the world, and are able to pass that on to their clients. The spot currency market is open twenty-four hours a day, five days a week, with currencies being traded around the world in all of the major financial centers.Learn more about currency trading online.

All trades that take place in the foreign exchange market involve the buying of one currency and the selling of another currency simultaneously. This is because the value of one currency is determined by its comparison to another currency. The first currency of a currency pair is called the “base currency,” while the second currency is called the counter currency. The currency pair shows how much of the counter currency is needed to purchase one unit of the base currency. Currency pairs can be thought of as a single unit that can be bought or sold. When purchasing a currency pair, the base currency is being bought, while the counter currency is being sold. The opposite is true, when the sale of a currency pair takes place. There are four major currency pairs that are traded most often in the foreign exchange market. These include the EUR/USD, USD/JPY, GBP/USD, and USD/CHF.

GCM is an online currency trading firm that offers a free demo account to traders who are new and interested in the foreign exchange market. Registering for a demo account allows a new trader to download the online trading platform that is used by the company’s clients trading live accounts and make trades as if they were doing it with real money. The demo account is an excellent way to experiment with the foreign exchange market while learning your way around the trading platform. It allows you to experience every step of currency trading including choosing currency pairs, deciding how much risk to take, tracking the time and dates of placed trades, deciding how long to stay in the trade, and when to exit the trade. It also allows the placing of stop and limit orders on trades.

Information about trading and specifically about how to use the online trading platform can be found on the GCM webpage. In addition, GCM offers FREE interactive online seminars that are extremely useful to both new and experienced currency traders. These “educational webinars,” as they are called are run by experienced financial strategists and range in topics from trading specific news events to trading the Euro. In addition to the webinars, GCM also offers numerous online courses that teach investors how to trade the currency market.

Interest and Carry Trade in Forex

Rollover and Carry

Very "interesting"...

As individuals borrowing money, or keeping money in a bank account, we are accustomed to paying interest to the bank on borrowed money, and earning it on money on deposit.

The same is true of the forex market. Interest is paid and earned on currencies traded.

Remember, when a trader enters a forex trade, one currency is purchased while the other is sold. One way to think of this trade (and a fairly accurate one) is to consider the purchased currency to be owned and the sold currency to be borrowed for the duration of the trade. Just as is true with interest at banks, the 'borrowed' (or sold) currency in the trade incurs interest charges, while the owned (or bought) currency earns interest.

In forex markets, the interest owning or paid is calculated only on positions held overnight (with the close of day usually considered to be 5 pm North America Eastern time). If a trade is entered during a day, and exited before the end of the day, it neither earns interest nor incurs interest charges.

What actually happens, at least in theory if not in practice, is that all forex currency trades are closed at night, and re-opened the next day. This event occurs automatically for all trades that remain open at the close of trading. The event and practice is called 'rollover', while the net interest owned or paid is called "carry" (or sometimes "roll").

The interest rate paid on the purchased currency, or charged on the sold currency is based on the prevailing interest rate associated with each currency. For example, if a trader buys USD/JPY, the trade earns currency at the rate paid in the U.S.A., and pays currency at the prevailing borrowing interest rates charged in Japan. Those rates can differ substantially.

For trades held open for longer than the present day, the carry interest owned or paid can be an important consideration, and adds a dimension to forex trading for any trades held overnight. Some traders also look to carry interest for opportunities to profit.

Carry trade can also can offer opportunities for profit.

Carry Trade

Carry interest should be taken into consideration whenever forex traders hold currency pairs overnight. Some even consider carry to be an important ingredient of trading strategy.

Consider the following, rather unrealistic and exaggerated example.
A trader purchases a full size AUD/JPY at the start of the year. The trade at that point consists of an equal value of Australian Dollar owned, and Japanese Yen owed. Assume that the Australian interest rates are about 5.5%, and the interest rate for the Japanese Yen is about 0.5%. The trader keeps the trade open for a year, and (amazingly -for the sake of example) when the trade is closed Dec 31, the value of the AUD/JPY is unchanged. There is neither profit nor loss on the trade, that is, until the carry interest is considered.

For the year, the trader earned interest on the Australian Dollar, and paid interest on the Japanese Yen added to, and removed from the trader's trading account nightly (due to rollover). At the end of the year, the Trader earned 5.5% on the Australian Dollars owned, and had to pay just 0.5% on the Japanese Yen owed. Therefore, the net interest earned on the trade for the year was 5.0%, and the trader would have earned $5000 Australian Dollars in interest. If leverage on the account is 100:1, the amount of margin required for the trade would be $1000 Australian Dollars - and the return on that investment would be $5000/$1000, or 500%!

If only life was that easy!

Unfortunately, the reality is that the above example is exaggerated. In reality - both at the bank and with your forex broker-there is a spread in interest rates. You cannot normally borrow money and pay interest at the same interest rate that is paid when you invest funds. For that reason, the amount of carry paid is less than might otherwise be expected, and the amount charged might be higher than expected.

Other complications relate to the risk that the currency pair value will change. A relatively small unfavorable change in the currency rate can reduce or eliminate carry interest earnings.

Therefore, a trader must be very cautious when looking to carry as a reliable source of earnings in forex trading.

How To Place Orders With A Forex Broker

When you place orders with a forex broker, it is extremely important that you know how to place them appropriately. Orders should be placed according to how you are going to trade - that is, how you intend to enter and exit the market. Improper order placement can skew your entry and exit points. In this article, we'll cover some of the most common forex order types. 

Types of Orders:

Market Order 

This is the most common type of order. A market order is used when you want to execute an order immediately at the market price, which is either the displayed bid or the ask priceon your screen. You may use the market order to enter a new position (buy or sell) or to exit an existing position (buy or sell). 

Stop Order.A stop order is an order that becomes a market order only once a specified price is reached. It can be used to enter a new position or to exit an existing one. A buy-stop order is an instruction to buy a currency pair at the market price once the market reaches your specified price or higher, which is higher than the current market price. A sell-stop order is an instruction to sell the currency pair at the market price once the market reaches your specified price or lower, which is lower than the current market price. 

• Stop orders are commonly used to enter a market when you trade breakouts.

For example, suppose that USD/CHF is rallying toward a resistance level and, based on your analysis, you think that if it breaks above that resistance level, it will continue to advance higher. To trade this opinion, you can place a stop-buy order a few pips above the resistance level so that you can trade the potential upside breakout. If the price later reaches or surpasses your specified price, this will open your long position.

An entry stop order can also be used if you want to trade a downside breakout. Place a stop-sell order a few pips below the support level so that when the price reaches your specified price or goes below it, your short position will be opened.

• Stop orders are used to limit your losses.

Everyone has losses from time to time, but what really affects the bottom line is the size of your losses. Before you even enter a trade, you should already have an idea of where you are going to exit your position should the market turn against it. One of the most effective ways of limiting your losses is through a predetermined stop order, which is commonly referred to as a stop-loss.

If you have a long position on, say the USD/CHF, you will want to the pair to rise in value. In order to avoid the possibility of chalking up uncontrolled losses, you can place a stop-sell order at a certain price so that your position will automatically be closed out when that price is reached.

A short position will have a stop-buy order instead.

• Stop orders can be used to protect profits.

Once your trade becomes profitable, you may shift your stop-loss order in the profitable direction so as to protect some of your profit. For a long position that has become very profitable, you may move your stop-sell order from the loss to the profit zone to safeguard against the chance of realizing a loss in case your trade does not reach your specified profit objective, and the market turns against your trade. Similarly, for a short position that has become very profitable, you may move your stop-buy order from loss to the profit zone in order to protect your gain.

Limit Order

A limit order is placed when you are only willing to enter a new position or to exit a current position at a specific price or better. The order will only be filled if the market trades at that price or better. A limit-buy order is an instruction to buy the currency pair at the market price once the market reaches your specified price or lower, and is lower than the current market price. A limit-sell order is an instruction to sell the currency pair at the market price once the market reaches your specified price or higher, and it is higher than the current market price.

• Limit orders are commonly used to enter a market when you fade breakouts.

You fade a breakout when you don't expect the currency price to break successfully past a resistance or a support level. In other words, you expect that the currency price will bounce off the resistance to go lower, or bounce off the support to go higher.

For example, suppose that based on your analysis of the market, you think that USD/CHF's current rally move is unlikely to break past a resistance successfully. Therefore, you think that it would be a good opportunity to short when USD/CHF rallies up to near that resistance. You can then place a limit-sell order a few pips below that resistance level so that your short order will be filled when the market moves up to that specified price or higher.

Besides using the limit order to go short near a resistance, you can also use this order to go long near a support level. For instance, if you think that there is a high probability that USD/CHF's current decline will pause and reverse near a particular support level, you may want to take the opportunity to long when USD/CHF declines to near that support. In this case, you can place a limit-buy order a few pips above that support level so that your long order will be filled when the market moves down to that specified price or lower.

• Limit orders are used to set your profit objective.

Before placing your trade, you should already have an idea of where you want to take profits should the trade go your way. A limit order allows you to exit the market at your pre-set profit objective. If you long a currency pair, you will use the limit-sell order to place your profit objective. If you go short, the limit-buy order should be used to place your profit objective. Note that these orders will only accept prices in the profitable zone.

Execute the Correct Orders

Having a firm understanding of the different types of orders will enable you to use the right tools to achieve your intentions - how you want to enter the market (trade or fade), and how you are going to exit the market (profit and loss). While there may be other types of orders, market, stop and limit orders are the most common of them all. Be comfortable using them because improper execution of orders can cost you money.

The Best Investments: FOREX Investing Plans, Options, Strategies| Currensee

Finding The Best Investments For You

They say that the best things in life are free.  So when it comes to investing, what are the best investments to choose from? If you're new to investing, the options can seem overwhelming, so you need to choose carefully so don't wind up losing money.

Here are a few tips for finding the best investment for the money:

• Look for low risk opportunities that provide the potential for high returns
• If you're a specialist in a particular area, you may want to look to your industry since you already have a knowledge base -- collectibles are a popular choice for many investors.
• Be wary of "get rich quick" or "no risk" claims when researching the best investment strategies. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
• Don't be afraid to explore new territory - sometimes the best investment plans lie in a niche or an area you may not be familiar with. In these instances, having a global network of experts to guide you is key.

What works best for you will of course depend on your own personal financial situation and the level of risk and ramp-up that you're comfortable with. Regardless of your choice, earning the best investment returns possible are much more likely if you are knowledgeable about a particular investment strategy.

The Best Investments Outside the Stock Market

The first place most investors turn when investing capital is the stock market, due to its potential for high returns. Unfortunately, with the best investment returns usually comes high risk, and when the stock market falls off a cliff (as it did recently), this can spell financial disaster for investors.

Diversifying your investment portfolio to include other asset types is a smart way to help lower your risk and boost the likelihood that you will turn a profit.So which investment type is the ideal? With its lack of correlation to the stock market combined with a potential of good returns, specific niche, and ability to be profitable in any economic climate, foreign currency exchange trading, or FOREX trading, is one of the best investments 2011 has to offer.

Here's why.


With FOREX trading, you:

• Don't have to be an expert right out of the box. You can have a Trade Leader account that has many advantages over a Forex managed account.
• Have peace of mind knowing that if the stock market crashes, your funds are in a differet investment vehicle and uneffected, enabling you to trade even during a crash and have the potential to turn a profit.
• Have immediate access to your funds and are always in complete control.

If FOREX trading is so lucrative and one of the best investments, why isn't everyone doing it?

The truth is, most investors don't know much about FOREX trading and are intimidated by the idea. As we mentioned before, the last thing you want to do when exploring a new investment strategy is blindly invest your money without the education to back your decisions.

Luckily, FOREX trading with the Trade Leaders Program frees you from this worry.

Exploring the Best Investing Options With Currensee

Currensee's Trade Leaders Investment Program allows you to engage in foreign currency trading by leveraging the knowledge and experience of proven, successful industry traders.  With the Currensee Trade LeadersTM Investment Program:

• You take advantage of the expertise of some of the top traders in the world with FOREX experts - By investing with hand-picked, carefully screened professional FOREX traders, you can approach FOREX trading with confidence. Your success is tied to their success.
• You're in Control  - You choose the Trade LeadersTM based on their performance and risk management.
• You Have Flexibility - You get to see your investors' real performance in real time and can change your portfolio or stop following a trade leader at any time.

How do I get Started With Currensee's Trade Leaders Investment Program?

FOREX trading through Currensee is EASY and one of the best investing strategies, and you can get started in three simple steps.

• Fund - Open your trading account with a partner broker and link your account to Currensee.
• Build - Select the Currensee-vetted Trade Leaders you'd like to follow based on their experience
• Manage - measure your results and control your portfolio of Trade Leaders and Investments however and whenever you want.

Trading with the Forex Markets

Forex trading is the act of trading currencies against each other. If you've ever heard of someone needing to change their money over before traveling overseas, that is using foreign exchange.

In what is now becoming the distant past, only banks and some of their wealthy clients had true access to the foreign exchange market. They would make their trades and watch their wealth grow. Today forex has exploded into a rapidly expanding industry. The downside is that during this expansion, it has been sold to many as a "get rich quick" method. This has led to some messy entries to forex for traders jumping in, looking for a way to grow riches very quickly.

Forex trading should be viewed as another investment vehicle similar to stocks, or bonds. The main difference is easy access to tools that can kill your account quickly. When you trade forex, you have access to forex leverage, which means you can trade many times more than what is in your account. This can lead you to an easier way to make large gains, but it also helps you with the flip side of that which is giving you an easy way to make large losses. On most websites for the sale of forex products, the potential gains are huge on the page, and to comply with the law, in small print at the bottom is a risk statement letting you know that losses are possible.

In any case, there are some things you need to do in order to get going and start trading and potentially making money.

Find A Forex Broker

You'll need to go out and find yourself a forex broker that you feel comfortable with. This will likely be a long term relationship for you, so don't rush it. Shop multiple brokers, check out theforex spreads that they offer, and read forex broker reviews to see how their current and past clients feel about them.

Open a Forex Trading Account

Obviously, you need to open an account so you can trade. One thing that I think is a great benefit to forex trading is that all brokers offer forex trading demo accounts so you can get in practice with play money, while using the live market.

Decide on your Forex Strategy

Find a forex strategy that works for you. Test out different techniques and trade on a demo account. You might before technical analysis, or you might want to analyze the market using fundamentals. Some traders like to hybridize systems that utilize both.

Work on Risk Management

Forex risk management strategies are comprised of several aspects. You need to master managing risk before you get too far into trading. Aside from trading with a reasonable trade size and using good stop management, you need to keep your emotions in check. This is really a topic for another article, but none the less important. Your emotions can help you lose the game if you don't figure out how to deal with them appropriately. It does help to keep your risk low, but everyone has a different risk trigger that solicits an emotional reaction, so you won't get around it.

If you plan to be successful at forex, it's going to take some time. Take your time to learn the ropes and make your plans. Jumping in and trading like a cowboy will earn you a quick route to a busted account. Taking your time, learning the correct approach, and practice, practice, practice, will bring you success. Sometimes downswings happen in performance and that is to be expected. The key is always figuring out what is causing the problem and make a correction.