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OK, in our last installment I showed you how a sample of a Forex trading system with a high percentage of winning trades could still be a losing system overall.

The whole point of the exercise was to get you to take a closer look at the performance results of trading systems that you are interested in pursuing. Now that you know that it is possible to lose money trading a system with over 90% winners, you?ll be able to look at the next advertisement for a Forex trading system much more objectively.

Let?s take another look at our example:

Trading System A Performance

Number of trades = 1000
% of Winning trades = 92%
% of Losing trades = 8%
Average Winning trade = $180
Average Losing Trade = -$2100

A few quick calculations tells us that this trading system had Total Net Profit of -$2,400

The Total Net Profit is an important factor in any trading system although it doesn?t tell the full story.

Here?s how the Total Net Profit is calculated:

Total Net Profit = Gross Profit ? Gross Loss

In our example above these figures would be:

$165,600 ? $168,000 = -$2,400

As stated above the Total Net Profit for this trading system is negative. This is important to note. As you can see, if the only information you originally had Read more…

In the first part of our series ? Choosing A Forex Trading System ? Part1 we covered a few quick tips to get you a few steps closer to choosing the Forex trading system that?s right for you.

In Part2 we will take a look at a few other do?s and don?ts for choosing a Forex trading system. With that in mind here is ?don?t? number 1.

1) Don?t be overly impressed by a high percentage of winning trades

Often times you will see Forex trading systems advertising a high winning trade percentage. The ad might contain information a line like the following:
?Over 90% Winning Trades?

You might look at that and say, ?Wow, with numbers like that I?ll be rich in no time!?
Before you stop reading the ad to call your local real estate broker about buying that private island just realize that this one figure does not tell the whole story.

The fact is that most successful traders the world over have made their money with far smaller percentages of winners than many of the trading systems you will see advertised.

I would suspect that the reason the high winning percentages are advertised is to attract as many customers as possible. Many buyers believe that the closer the winning percentage is to 100% the closer the trading system is to being a ?sure thing?. In Read more…

If you plan to start trading FOREX online you will of course be using a software system. This system will make it easy for you to get information quickly about market prices and make trades. There are two types of FOREX software available, client based and web based.

As the FOREX market is a fast moving market and you will need up to the minute information to make informed transactions, it is up to you to see you have a high speed internet connection. Dial up internet access will absolutely not work for this. Another consideration could be the location of the servers used by your broker. If your broker’s servers are located quite a distance from you, say in another country, this could potentially slow down your transmissions. If you plan to trade online you will need a modern computer and high speed internet connection.

The next consideration would be which type of software, client based or web based? Web based software is housed on your brokers website. You will not have to install any software on your own computer. A web based software program will allow you to log in from any computer that has an internet connection. A client based software program, or one that you download into your own computer will limit you to transactions only on the computer it is downloaded on. Web based software programs are preferred by most brokers Read more…

As you start learning more about the Forex trading world and the many opportunities it can offer to traders of all sizes you will realize about the existence of many tools available to the Forex trader for analyzing the market as well as for buying and selling currencies pairs. These software tools are a necessity for the Forex trader because of the volume and volatility that characterizes the FX market.

In order to make successful trades, the Forex trader needs lots of information and current exchange rates, the most evident information you can find, are just the tip of the iceberg. A professional trader needs historical data as well as current information about political and economic conditions that could affect the behavior of currency prices.

Successful Forex trading is all about being able to predict whether a currency will fall or rise against another currency allowing the Forex trader to profit from those currency movements.

Most Forex trading can be characterized as speculative, this means the trader makes buying decisions based on predictions on how the market will respond to current political or economic events, and in order to be profitable with speculation the trader requires up-to-the-minute information and an analysis of current and historical conditions.

A number of tools are available to help you as a Forex trader, so you can minimize your risk and maximize your profits. For example:

Pivot Points, can be used to predict the up or down movements of currency prices. They are calculated as an average of the currencies high, low and closing prices. Pivot Points can tell you whether prices are inside the normal trading range or in the extreme trading ranges.

Risk Probability Calculator (RPC) can be used to identify trades that have more potential gain than potential loss. The RPC can also help you target exit points to end the trade.

Pip value calculators can tell you the actual profit or loss that will result from movements in the Forex markets.

Provided you have downloaded your broker?s trading station software, and once you have decided which currency pair to trade, you can log in to the trading station and then enter the desired currency Read more…