Taipan is a retired commodity broker, forex trader and portfolio manager who after many years of active involvement in trading activities still enjoys following the forex, stock, and commodities markets and drawing upon his 40 years or so of trading experience to post articles to a series of blogs.

While Taipan is not always right with his forecasts he usually offers some interesting insights into markets. Actually if he weren’t so modest he would tell you that in the big strategic picture he is almost always right. Taipan is very distrustful of statements made by stock brokers, stock analysis, so called forex experts, and in general talking heads.

The investor who thinks that the playing field is level and that he can depend upon MSNBC and CNN for inside trading information has got to be at least a little nuts. If you want to trade well you had better develop your own style and your own sources of reliable information.

This blog will attempt to provide market trading information that will be helpful. However, always keep in mind that any decisions made to trade using this information are your sole responsibility. Taipan has been around long enough to know that the markets can make a fool out of anyone so never blindly follow what someone else suggests. To trade well you have to think well and the thoughts need to be your own.

To visit another one of our interesting family of financial related blogs go to Taipan Investor

Tweet This Post

To receive live quotes on a frequent basis may we suggest that you open at least a practice account with one of the major online dealing firms. There are a number of them that will allow you to open an account and use their trading platform to see how well you like and perform using their system.

It’s a good way to get used to the forex trading software before putting your own money at risk.

You should also get a good idea as to the service that you will receive from the firm. If you are a new comer to trading forex starting out with a practice account is a very good idea.

Tweet This Post

One of the primary reasons for the NFA’s interest was that with the growth of online trading companies there was for a number of years a large number of unregulated questionable operations, many operating outside of the United States,  that were involved more in separating their clients from their money than in legitimate trading operations.

The efforts of the NFA and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission ( CFTC ) have gone a long way to clear up the abuses that were all too common in the online forex trading industry only a short time ago.

However, as new traders are constantly entering the forex market and may not be aware of the potential for abuse the NFA continues to monitor the industry and publishes guidelines as to how traders can better protect themselves.

A very useful and informative Forex Online Learning Program is free to anyone online who wants to review the information. This is an excellent resource that I am pleased to recommend to you.

It makes for interesting reading even if you are an experienced forex trader.

Tweet This Post

Well, after all I was a finance and real estate major. And I did read, or at least look at, a few other famous non financial publications of the day.)

Today forget about the print media. Forbes and other print media publications that have withstood the test of time have finally figured out that they had better have a sharp web operation to operate and stay afloat in the 21st century.

The Forbes web operation covers a good number of markets including currencies and commodities. As you would expect from Forbes there is extensive stock market coverage.

Take a look. The Forbes folks seem to have worked hard at putting together a creditable online operation.

See what you think.

Tweet This Post

The cost of Reuters, Telerate, and other services could easily be several thousand dollars a month. There was also the problem of finding legitimate banks or counter parties for your trades that would accept smaller accounts. And by smaller I mean anything less then seven figures.

Even then many banks would accept a forex trading account only on an accommodation basis. Which meant that you had to have a sizable amount of other business and deposits at the bank in order to be accepted for forex trading.

There were forex dealers, mostly out of Asia, who catered to the smaller client but most of these were bucket shop operations and best to be avoided.

As you can tell the good old days were not so good for smaller forex traders. How things have changed in the past 25 years.

Now you can run a search online for “forex trading” or “forex trading system” or just “forex” and find a large number of firms eager to accept your account and forex trading business, even if it is small potatoes.

Your choice of a good forex broker or dealer is important to you. Take your time to research each firm of interest. The following are a few things to consider:

1.) Make sure that the firm is registered with the appropriate regulatory body in its country. In the US look for a firm to be registered as a Futures Commission Merchant and a member of the National Futures Association. In the UK make sure that the firm is regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

2.) Check out the forex trading platforms. You will find web based systems as well as software to download. Most firms will allow you to set up a free test account that will let you use the software before funding your account. Some of the software programs are so-so, some are excellent. Take the time to see what is good for your needs.

3.) Open an account with an established firm, one that is easy to check out. Again look for a firm that is regulated.

4.) Make sure that up to the second pricing is offered. The trading platform should make it very easy to make trades at current prices.

5.) look for a firm offering narrow spreads between bid and asked prices. With advances in trading activity regulated firms are now generally offering from one to three pip spreads.

6.) Look at the way accounts are funded and how withdrawal requests are handled.

7.) Make sure there is someone at the firm that you can talk to on occasion. At times the Internet may not be available to you due to a power failure, network problems, or computer failure. If you have open positions on when this occurs you will want to have a trading desk telephone number that instantly connects you with a real person. With proper stop loss positions in place the urgency of such a call will be considerably reduced.

8.) Closely examine the firms stop loss policy. Some firms will guarantee you a fill at exactly your stop loss price. This is a big plus in fast moving markets.

9.) Take the time to speak with a dealer or account representative at the firm. Getting to know the folks on the trading desk will serve you well as you move forward with a trading program.

10.) Carefully read the firm’s research reports and trading comments and if offered advice. The quality can vary significantly from firm to firm.

Like any investment you should complete your own research before jumping right in. Trading forex consistently at a profit requires trading skills and good judgement. When you trade with a firm that has the resources to help you develop as a successful trader your learning curve will be a lot more manageable and pleasant.

Tweet This Post

And why not?

Videos pack a great deal of information into a brief viewing period. If you want to see exactly how things look on the ground just down the block or a half world away videos do an excellent job of passing that information before your own eyes.

Increasingly videos are being used to convey business and economic news. To ignore that trend in a new website that is all about forex trading would be foolish.

I have therefore set up a business news feed from TheNewsRoom. You will find it at our dedicated forex trading related video page.

Tweet This Post