Anyone here into FOREX?

[Music_Producer]

Wait, what was the spread on Oanda? Anyone traded on oanda? My charts show a 200 pip spread.. 😕 I don't think thats possible.

Edit : Never mind, it was 20 pips.. but at 5.29:12 .. for a few seconds, it went up to 200 pips. Lol.. probably to hit the stops of all the scalpers!!

 

[nhallmark]

...(crickets) ... uh, so I lost 60 dollars on NFP on friday. Yep, didn't pay attention and I learned my lesson. GBP/USD seemed determined to stay below 1.9750 on thursday and friday. Oh well...I made 4 dollars on the AUD trade balance.

I checked this forum friday morning but there were no new posts and after I lost my money, I come back and MP is saying "dont trade NFP!!"😛

That really needed to happen because Ive learned a lot from it. I was at barnes and noble this weekend and I picked up "the winning investment habits of warren buffet and george soros".

It deals alot with the psychology of it all. Its pretty good. Anyway, we'll see how this week goes...

 

[Music_Producer]

...(crickets) ... uh, so I lost 60 dollars on NFP on friday. Yep, didn't pay attention and I learned my lesson. GBP/USD seemed determined to stay below 1.9750 on thursday and friday. Oh well...I made 4 dollars on the AUD trade balance.

I checked this forum friday morning but there were no new posts and after I lost my money, I come back and MP is saying "dont trade NFP!!"😛

That really needed to happen because Ive learned a lot from it. I was at barnes and noble this weekend and I picked up "the winning investment habits of warren buffet and george soros".

It deals alot with the psychology of it all. Its pretty good. Anyway, we'll see how this week goes...

See what I mean nathan? When you trade the most-traded report in the world, there is always a good chance to blow up all the profits made in a couple of weeks.. because it moves a lot. On top of that, there are spread increases, platform outages, etc. So why bother trading that one stupid report? I'd rather stick to the other, regular reports. NFP seems to lure ever trader.. it's like a death trap 😱 Btw, I gave the NFP warning before the report.. you probably didn't refresh the page or something 😛

The only reason I trade NFP is for the fun bit, I can afford a little loss.. I trade a very small size.. but this time, after reading all those rumors about revisions, etc.. *and* seeing the gbp/usd jump up before the report actually came out.. I knew something was wrong, so I stayed out and faded the spike instead.

I traded the AUD retail sales today, and made 10 pips.. it did go down more after i exited, but all i needed to start the day was 10 pips, and that was good. Don't worry about the loss nathan, you'll recoup it.. just trade smart, and stay away from the risky ones. Avoiding a loss is as good as making a profit.

 

[nhallmark]

yeah, there really is no reason to trade it, especially when I dont know what Im doing.

I made 7 pips on AUD retail sales and 9 pips on GBP Services PMI which is a minor report so I traded it with 1 cent a pip on oanda and they didn't raise the spread...this time.🙄

 

[nhallmark]

oh..and thanks for the encouragement. I really do appreciate it.🙂

 

[Music_Producer]

oh..and thanks for the encouragement. I really do appreciate it.🙂

Of course, in fact.. just like you said.. a minor loss is necessary to get us back in place.. and trade correctly. Imagine if you had built up a balance of $20,000 or so and lost everything on one NFP trade. Now you're fully insured against such horrific trades 😀

 

[Music_Producer]

10 pips on the US ISM non manufacturing index.. how did you do nathan? The gbp/usd didn't move that much (like 30 pips or so) so gains were limited.

 

[nhallmark]

i fell back asleep and missed it😡 its probably because I woke up at 2:30am and stayed up until 5:45 and then tried to get up at 6:45. Oh well..

 

[nhallmark]

Ive got a question...on ISM index, the # was good so GBP/USD originally fell, but then it retraced and went up for quite awhile.

Is this because ISM prices came out bad, which would mean inflation is lower, so less chance of a rate hike, etc.?

Or is there some other reason?

 

[Music_Producer]

Ive got a question...on ISM index, the # was good so GBP/USD originally fell, but then it retraced and went up for quite awhile.

Is this because ISM prices came out bad, which would mean inflation is lower, so less chance of a rate hike, etc.?

Or is there some other reason?

Not really.. the only reason being.. profit taking. If you noticed.. the GBP/USD had already fallen quite a bit.. and then the ISM #s came out good, hence the reaction was muted i.e. gbp/usd fell by 10-15 pips. There was just no momentum left anymore for it to continue its downward trend.

Had the ISM #s come out worse than expected, you would have seen a 70-80 pip spike upwards in gbp/usd. The amount that a currency deviates depends on where the level is pre-report. For e.g. .. even before the nfp.. gbp/usd jumped up by 40 pips, so i knew that when the actual report comes out, and if the # is bad, it can only rise by about 20-30 more pips.. and then it will come down.. so I faded the spike.

 

[lagunacat]

Shout out to Music Producer

MP, I stumbled across this site doing a Google search for 'Mac and Forex'. I have been reading your posts for a couple days now and have been very captivated. Few weeks ago I decided to get into Forex and have been reading forums, blogs and bought one book (M. Archer). I have learned alot more from reading your posts than any of the other sources so I wanted to send props to you.

I am still reading your posts from August so have quite aways to go to see your progression in the last 6 months.

I am still playing with the Oanda game and not nearly ready to play with my hard earned cash.

Anyway, wanted to say thanks and looking forward to reading more...

 

[Music_Producer]

You're welcome Lagunacat 🙂 Keep playing with that game account till you see some solid gains!

Nathan, i just noticed that gbp/usd went back to 1.9700 + today (went to 1.9715) GBP wants to touch 2.00, but that would create an outcry.. kinda like a Brit 'invasion' 😛

 

[lagunacat]

You're welcome Lagunacat 🙂 Keep playing with that game account till you see some solid gains!

I actually just started playing today, conservatively, put in reasonable stop/loss on 3 different buys. Closed one out after an hour, made $25. Watched another Eur/jpy until I made 21 pips and still watching a 5 pip gain on Eur/usd. So enjoying this so far.

I do have a couple questions. What is the margin that is set on this game or where do I find that?

Also, I read an earlier post that you said a PC isn't needed for running the news service? What is Parallels?

I have never used a PC and have gotten by with Virtual PC all these years. As you know it is painfully slow so I need to upgrade when I decide to play for real. My current Mac is not Intel. I have been waiting for Leopard before I upgrade.

Last thing, have you kept up your great record with no losses (like i said i am still reading Aug. posts)?

 

[lagunacat]

Which browser for Oanda game?

I am having issues with my preferred browser Firefox. When I try to use any of the drop down menus, ie: time intervals ( 5 sec ) , close price, etc., all of my windows associated with the game (including the main game window) collapse into the Dock. When I tried in Safari it causes Safari to crash.

Anybody else have these issues? I really DON'T want to use IE or Netscape.

 

[nhallmark]

Hi lagunacat,

How old is your Mac?

Oanda runs on java, so maybe try installing the latest version from sun, or search for it on apple's site.

If you've already done this, sorry.

 

[lagunacat]

Hi lagunacat,

How old is your Mac?

Oanda runs on java, so maybe try installing the latest version from sun, or search for it on apple's site.

If you've already done this, sorry.

I am running Panther on an Imac. The Oanda game runs fine except for the drop down menus (in Firefox). I have managed to get the drop downs to work in Safari but I really hate using that browser.

 

[nhallmark]

...I would say, try camino but its based on the firefox engine.

You could try opera...

http://www.opera.com/download/?platform=mac

Ive never used it, but some people swear by it.

Other than that, Im out of ideas. Maybe contact oanda and ask them?

 

[Music_Producer]

Laguna.. maybe its panther.. safari on my mac (tiger.. macintel) works great with oanda.. drop down menus, etc. Firefox is a little annoying .. it minimizes all the time, just like it happens to you.

Parallels is like virtual pc, except.. much much better! Windows xp on parallels runs faster than windows on my pc. Upgrade to an intel mac as fast as you can 😛

So far, no, i have not had any losses.. ever since I have started trading sensibly. i.e if I miss a trade.. I don't go crazy and enter anyway.. I just let it go. I know there will be another opportunity. Once there was a platform crash, and my trade had already been executed. Well I recouped my losses by carrying out a few trades within a few minutes.

Made a profit of 14 pips on the NZD/USD trade today (1.45 pm PST) and 10 pips (I entered a little late) on the AUD/USD trade (4.30 pm PST)

 

[Music_Producer]

13 pips on the UK interest rate statement.. they kept the rates the same. They carried out a surprise rate hike last time, so it was certain that they wouldn't do anything to the rates this time.. but still, apparently the markets were expecting a rate hike. Oops, as i type this.. it just fell by 15 more pips.

Euro interest rate statement is next. I have a weird feeling about this one, maybe they might hike it. No fundamental reason really.. but i just feel that their current 3.5% rate seems to be too low. They should hike to 3.75 to attract more investors. If they keep the rates unchanged, then it will be a no-trade as the ECB never really surprises when it comes to rate decisions.

 

[lagunacat]

Laguna.. maybe its panther.. safari on my mac (tiger.. macintel) works great with oanda.. drop down menus, etc. Firefox is a little annoying .. it minimizes all the time, just like it happens to you.

Parallels is like virtual pc, except.. much much better! Windows xp on parallels runs faster than windows on my pc. Upgrade to an intel mac as fast as you can 😛


Made a profit of 14 pips on the NZD/USD trade today (1.45 pm PST) and 10 pips (I entered a little late) on the AUD/USD trade (4.30 pm PST)

MP,
I've managed to get Safari to work properly (little Oanda tech help).
I don't plan on getting the new Intel until Leopard comes out (couple months I think) which is fine because I am not planning on going live before that. I am up $1400 on my game now after 3 days🙂

I noticed you posted the time you traded the NZD/USD, is that the time to watch that pair? I remember seeing a chart which showed times for trading certain currency pairs, do you use that?

Also, I read a few pages back in this thread that you stopped using Oanda. Who do you use now? Where are you in CA? I am in the Monterey area. Thanks for your help!

 

[~Shard~]

Hi ~Shard~ 🙂

Hi. 😉

Shard, let us know how the tech analysis stuff goes.. and what method works. There are so many systems out there, and every time I see a chart loaded with indicators I just want to close it 😛

Will do - I'm in the middle of backtesting a couple methods right now. As I said, I've had some success with them in the stock market world, so I'm trying to see if they are applicable in the forex world. It will be interesting to see, as my methods are usually longer term, using daily results (highs/lows/candlesticks) as data over a 1-4 month period. As a result, I think that approach is a good thing, since it isn't a "day trading" method (since things can move so much on an intraday basis and is hence unreliable due to fundamentals) and as a result of this, "huge" swings due to actual news releases have a somewhat more minimal impact on the overall chart when looking at it over several months, thus providing a bit of relaibility to the method.

Back to the "lab" for now though... I'll return next week... 😎

 

[Music_Producer]

Sneak out of your lab sometimes and give us a friendly hello sometimes Shard 😛

I lost 14 pips today on the GBP trade balance report 😡 The news came out bad for the GBP/USD (didn't deviate by that much) and I sold rightaway.. it did drop by 6 pips.. but all of a sudden it shot up by a couple of pips. Usually I'm very quick but this one was a surprise.. I expected it to go down 20-25 pips.

Anyway, I think there must have been a couple of stops placed at that level, so the banks tried to prevent the gbp from falling. I exited the trade with a 14 pip loss thinking I didn't want to risk it.. and then the bloody thing fell down.. gradually.. by about 50 pips. Had i been a little more patient (like even a second) I would have made a nice profit.. oh well.

Now, the exciting part. A whopping 55 pips on the USD/CAD trade 😀 Canadian employment report came out way better than expected, I love the deviation - it was huge. Expected number was 25 k, came out at 89k. So I recouped my gbp loss and made up by more than enough pips.

I'm pretty glad that I got out of the GBP trade (even though i made a loss) because there is no telling what could have happened. It could have gone up by 20 more pips.. and I would have lost 34 pips in all. A small loss doesn't make me upset, because I know I can always recover, and make profits on more reports.

Next week, there are a ton of reports.. should be fun. Have a good weekend guys! 🙂

 

[Music_Producer]

MP,
I noticed you posted the time you traded the NZD/USD, is that the time to watch that pair? I remember seeing a chart which showed times for trading certain currency pairs, do you use that?

Also, I read a few pages back in this thread that you stopped using Oanda. Who do you use now? Where are you in CA? I am in the Monterey area. Thanks for your help!

No lagunacat, I don't trade technicals.. or looking at the charts. That was the time that the New Zealand Unemployment Report came out. I only trade news reports.. I do not trade on 'peaks' and 'bottoms' I look at the economic calendar (available on most forex sites) and see what the important reports are going to be - what day they come out, and what time. I get ready to trade those accordingly.

Don't get me wrong. Traders make a living by trading technicals.. but that's just not my style. I am good at rapid executions, so I trade the news.. and I'm a complete moron when it comes to technicals. Well, not a moron.. but I guess I'm just not lucky.. and I don't have the patience to hold on to a position for a couple of days. I need instant gratification 😀 $800-$4000 in 3-5 seconds is what drives me 😛

I'm in the high desert, near Victorville.. I want to move further away from the coast though (or rather the San Andreas fault which is like 10 minutes away!) I'm petrified of earthquakes 😱

You might do well on a game account but remember that it's a completely different ball game when you're trading with real money. You get a lot more involved, tense.. impatient.. etc. with a real account. That leads to mistakes.. so as long as you trade smart and have a solid strategy (whatever method you are working with, or 'gut feeling') you should do good. Losses always exist, but make sure those don't exceed your profits.. obviously.. by following a few simple trading rules.

I used Oanda today for the USD/CAD trade.. the spread was only 8 pips. I use CMC most of the time, but they give me re-quotes most of the time, so I use them only for very important reports and Oanda for everything else.

 

[lagunacat]

You might do well on a game account but remember that it's a completely different ball game when you're trading with real money. You get a lot more involved, tense.. impatient.. etc. with a real account. That leads to mistakes.. so as long as you trade smart

MP, I am well aware that paper trading is not the same as real trading, that is why I have no intention of going 'live' until I feel some what confident. I am the first one to admit I have a lot to learn.

Also on the issue of Firefox windows minimizing, I got this tech advice from Oanda

'Since our last correspondence I've learned that this is a known issue with Firefox on Mac. We have filled a bug report tot he Mozilla Foundation who develops Firefox and have recently heard backfrom them.

The problem lies in a component called Java EmbeddingPlugin (JEP). You can check what version of JEP is currently bundledwith Firefox by typing "about😛lugins" (without quotes) in the URL bar.

Versionsprior to 0.9.6 are affected by this minimizing problem. The MozillaFoundation has confirmed that JEP0.9.6 will be bundled with Firefox2.0.0.2. Until this release, you have with 2 options. You can either:

1.download JEP 0.9.6 separately and follow the installation instructionsin the Readme.txt file (we've done it and it works, but we don'trecommend it to clients who are not used to tweak their computer):
http://downloads.sourceforge.net/javaplugin/JavaEmbeddingPlugin0.9.6.zip

2. temporarily use our FXDesktop version of FXTrade:
https://fx1.oanda.com/java/fxdesktop/index.shtml ' (end Oanda)

Ok, I downloaded the updated plugin but got lost during instructions with the timestamp thing. I felt the instructions were incomplete. Possible someone from this forum (and more tech savvy than me) can figure it out.

 

[nhallmark]

Uh...I haven't posted for a few days because I was looking at a thread on forexfactory about taxes and I found out a lot of stuff I didn't know.

Supposedly, income tax is illegal but it gets a lot deeper than that. According to a video I watched the US, Canada, and Mexico will be one country by 2010.

Here's the video...

http://video.stumbleupon.com/#p=7m377tk3cl

Its 2 hours long so I understand if you don't watch it, but if you do, what do you guys think about that?

I know its off topic, but I had no idea about the central banks. And, my thinking is that if there is a world government, there is no more forex because everyone uses one currency.

And then it goes on and on about the microchips,etc and Ive just been in a state of denial, confusion, and shock over the past few days.

In other news, I lost 30 pips on the AUD employment change, but then I made that back, and my money from NFP and $75 from the UK trade balance😀

Nathan

P.S. Im usually not all fanatical about all the conspiracy theories but the peices seem to fit together too perfectly with this.