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Anyone here into FOREX?

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Hey guys!

I haven't posted for awhile because Ive been busy learning to scalp as I dont have any way to news trade anymore.

n-abounds said:
Hey since this is the only thread where financially-minded people tend to hang out I hope you don't mind an off-topic question about margins...
If my stock's price is $53.5, and I invest $3531 (and another $3531 on margin) for a total investment of $7062, and I buy 132 shares...at what price will I get a margin call (assuming a maintenance margin of 30% and no commissions/margin interest charges)?

And now for the on-topic question... What does GJ stand for?
Click to expand...

Im not sure about your stock question, but G/J stands for GBP/JPY which stands for Great Britain Pound/Japanese Yen


joshmv said:
Welcome to the thread, hopefully we can get that group setup, I think it would be great.

Are you trading anything today or tomorrow?

AUD has some pretty important announcements coming out, I hope to trade the GDP announcement later on tonight.
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Who are you trading with right now and are you trading live?

I dont even pay attention to news anymore as I cant trade it so Im scalping 5 second charts on oanda now...still learning.

I'll get back to posting here in the next week or so.

Hope everyone's doing ok :)
 
I haven't gotten far enough into the thread but does anyone use technical analysis? It seems that mostly fundamental is used and it looks as though thats been a great success. Im going to school of pipsology right now and I have to really say Ive been through a lot of sources and have even read some books at BnN but babypips.com has been by far the greatest. Im not all the way through but the information seems easy and in depth. I also like the writing style.

Also let me guys know if you want me to get that ventrilo set up. It is Mac compatible and is a free download. I didnt want to pay the bill if no one got interested:
http://www.ventrilo.com/download.php
 
Also I saw for news that tradethenews.com was used I was wondering if anyone used RSS feeds? On another forex forum I got a good RSS feed setup from about 5 different sources. Ive been using it and it isnt bad the feeder I use sing a bell and pops up to give me the latest news although I don't know how timely they are. Let me know if you want the feeds,
 
nhallmark said:
Hey guys!

I haven't posted for awhile because Ive been busy learning to scalp as I dont have any way to news trade anymore.

Who are you trading with right now and are you trading live?

I dont even pay attention to news anymore as I cant trade it so Im scalping 5 second charts on oanda now...still learning.

I'll get back to posting here in the next week or so.

Hope everyone's doing ok :)
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I think we are both in about the same boat. I'm still using my Oanda practice account, but I'm in the middle of confirming my real money account, so I should be live later this week. I'm also learning how to scalp, so hopefully we can talk some strategy. Have any tips?

ctrackstar said:
I haven't gotten far enough into the thread but does anyone use technical analysis? It seems that mostly fundamental is used and it looks as though thats been a great success. Im going to school of pipsology right now and I have to really say Ive been through a lot of sources and have even read some books at BnN but babypips.com has been by far the greatest. Im not all the way through but the information seems easy and in depth. I also like the writing style.

Also let me guys know if you want me to get that ventrilo set up. It is Mac compatible and is a free download. I didnt want to pay the bill if no one got interested:
http://www.ventrilo.com/download.php
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I'm planning on doing some technical analysis, especially if I'm doing some carry trades with the yen, my goal would be to follow technical triggers, and if their wrong, I would still be making the interest.

I think it would be awesome to get Ventrilo set up, that way we could talk right up to the announcement and decide which way to go. It COULD even progress to where a group pitches in for Bloomberg and that way we could share the information seamlessly. That's pretty far fetched, but it could happen.
 
joshmv said:
I think we are both in about the same boat. I'm still using my Oanda practice account, but I'm in the middle of confirming my real money account, so I should be live later this week. I'm also learning how to scalp, so hopefully we can talk some strategy. Have any tips?



I'm planning on doing some technical analysis, especially if I'm doing some carry trades with the yen, my goal would be to follow technical triggers, and if their wrong, I would still be making the interest.

I think it would be awesome to get Ventrilo set up, that way we could talk right up to the announcement and decide which way to go. It COULD even progress to where a group pitches in for Bloomberg and that way we could share the information seamlessly. That's pretty far fetched, but it could happen.
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Are you aware of oanda's spreads during news? I did good on demo with them back in december but as soon as I went live...20 pip spreads on every report.

That's why we were all using CMC for awhile but they started playing games also. Music_Producer moved on to currenex which seems to be the only option left but their minimum is $50k.

...thats why Im scalping now...based on this method : http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=38436

And be careful about piling in a carry trade right now with all the subprime issues still unclear.

Also, read this...

http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?p=1446922#post1446922

It was posted about a week before CMC stopped letting me in. I dont know that its over because I think MP is still news trading on currenex but its interesting anyway.
 
Yea ill get the ventrilo set up. Ill hand out IPs to the "active" people and also upon request will give it to people who PM me. You are more than welcome to bring your friends or whatever. Ill start with a 30 user as I have some others that are learning with me.

I haven't been on the Mac platform for a while but perhaps even setting up something there. The cool thing about getting the ventrilo set up is people can have there charts up and discuss. A news item hits you can talk about it. I just think why go at it alone there could be so much you miss and I mean were talking money.

Like I said Im not all that familiar with the Mac format and what it offers. Im sure theres something built in that blows away ventrilo as well as has video functions, some real time chat function, and scratches your back but the good thing about vent is the simple fact you can network both Mac and PC people(maybe even some linux :D )
 
nhallmark said:
Are you aware of oanda's spreads during news? I did good on demo with them back in december but as soon as I went live...20 pip spreads on every report.

That's why we were all using CMC for awhile but they started playing games also. Music_Producer moved on to currenex which seems to be the only option left but their minimum is $50k.

...thats why Im scalping now...based on this method : http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=38436

And be careful about piling in a carry trade right now with all the subprime issues still unclear.

Also, read this...

http://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?p=1446922#post1446922

It was posted about a week before CMC stopped letting me in. I dont know that its over because I think MP is still news trading on currenex but its interesting anyway.
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Thanks for the tips, and the threads, I'll be reading through them soon.

I actually just bookmarked CMC a little while ago, and was wondering if they were still reliable with their tight spreads. We all wish Oanda would stay tight on a consistent basis, but I guess until I find a reliable place, I'll have to stay there, and if I see the spread widen a lot, I'll just have to wait it out and try to scalp off of the moves once it calms down.

Who would you currently recommend other than curranex?

Also, if we want a forum, I have a small one on my website and could add another section very easily. You can look at it here: http://www.mycreditstrategy.com/forum

If you guys would like one before we get Ventrilo set up, just let me know.
 
joshmv said:
Who would you currently recommend other than curranex?
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There's several...FXall, EBS, Reuters, BARX, and maybe Hotspot FXi...all of them have higher minimums than currenex though.

I checked out your website...I actually did an "app spree" back in june and I got declined on 12 cards with a score above 700.

Im 21 so its probably my lack of credit history(2 year old car, 3 $500 cards-8 months old)

I got 17 inquiries on my credit from that, but I learned a lot in the process lol.
 
nhallmark said:
There's several...FXall, EBS, Reuters, BARX, and maybe Hotspot FXi...all of them have higher minimums than currenex though.

I checked out your website...I actually did an "app spree" back in june and I got declined on 12 cards with a score above 700.

Im 21 so its probably my lack of credit history(2 year old car, 3 $500 cards-8 months old)

I got 17 inquiries on my credit from that, but I learned a lot in the process lol.
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I learned at an earlier age too. Im 22 now but im glad I learned when I did. I own my own business now and pretty much have to pay cash for everything. Although I do get credit on some things Id rather just pay for it and not have to worry about it.
 
ctrackstar said:
I learned at an earlier age too. Im 22 now but im glad I learned when I did. I own my own business now and pretty much have to pay cash for everything. Although I do get credit on some things Id rather just pay for it and not have to worry about it.
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What's your business if you don't mind saying?
 
nhallmark said:
There's several...FXall, EBS, Reuters, BARX, and maybe Hotspot FXi...all of them have higher minimums than currenex though.

I checked out your website...I actually did an "app spree" back in june and I got declined on 12 cards with a score above 700.

Im 21 so its probably my lack of credit history(2 year old car, 3 $500 cards-8 months old)

I got 17 inquiries on my credit from that, but I learned a lot in the process lol.
Click to expand...

Sometimes its a mystery why they like some people, and end up declining others, but I'm guessing your "average length of account" had a lot to do with that.

I actually created the site because it has been a hobby of mine for a while, and I was looking for a subject for my first website. There was a lot of people trying it, and didn't know what they were doing, so they ended up ruining their credit score. I hope it's helping out some beginners now.

ctrackstar said:
I learned at an earlier age too. Im 22 now but im glad I learned when I did. I own my own business now and pretty much have to pay cash for everything. Although I do get credit on some things Id rather just pay for it and not have to worry about it.
Click to expand...

That's the main reason why I got into the credit card balance transfer game, I'd rather just pay cash for things I need, so when I figured out that I could make some easy cash with my credit, I figured why not. I'm usually making over $1000 a month just in interest.

Anyways, that's a subject for another thread, if anybody would like a seperate forum for our mac forex traders, just let me know.

I'm still excited to do some trading tonight
 
Good to see everyone active around here :p Hey Nathan, I tried a little technical trading (on my oanda account - with small lots) Had a few profits.. but then again some were losses.

Anyway, last week I traded the Aussie retail sales and trade balance report.. both were good.. and I bought aud/usd. Took the pair more than an hour or two to finally go up.. and up it went - by a 100 pips :)

I was quite tempted to jump into trading GJ when it was bouncing up and down.. the easiest way to trade that was.. any time there was a huge spike (or fall) it would eventually retrace to the 5SMA and then bounce right back. Again, since I'm not too confident with that strategy I just traded with minimal lots.. but found that it worked all the time.

The best trade was the Bernanke+Bush speech. Almost everyone at forexfactory.com was in a long trade on GJ.. because everyone assumed that both of them were going to calm the markets. Bernanke started with no mention of rate cuts.. and stated that the housing sector is pretty bad with possibility of it worsening, etc etc.

I shorted GJ and it tanked by a good 120 pips. It then stabilized before Bush's speech.. but he didn't say much 'We won't bail out lenders, investors and speculators' that was all GJ needed to tank another 100 pips or so.

So that was some good fundamental trading.. remember, there are not only economic reports to trade fundamentally.. but also when it comes to GJ (due to the current risk scenario) any reports of a major bank or hedge fund shutting down creates huge moves in GJ. So be careful if you're in a trade.
 
nhallmark said:
There's several...FXall, EBS, Reuters, BARX, and maybe Hotspot FXi...all of them have higher minimums than currenex though.
Click to expand...

So what are you currently using, I'm guessing still CMC?

If I'm going to start scalping, or trading on the news, I need to find the best option for tight spreads, and quick execution, but without a crazy minimum. I'll obviously have to sacrifice something, but hopefully we'll find the best available anyways.

What is the favorite over at forexfactory? It sounded like a lot of those guys were getting really low spreads.

Josh
 
Good to see you back MP!

Keep us updated on what your up to, you still need to guide some of us new guys:D
 
joshmv said:
So what are you currently using, I'm guessing still CMC?

If I'm going to start scalping, or trading on the news, I need to find the best option for tight spreads, and quick execution, but without a crazy minimum. I'll obviously have to sacrifice something, but hopefully we'll find the best available anyways.

What is the favorite over at forexfactory? It sounded like a lot of those guys were getting really low spreads.

Josh
Click to expand...

Im using MB. There's no way you could scalp with CMC...they have a strict policy against anyone making money lol.

With MB, the spreads are good, but you have to pay commissions, so when Im scalping I usually wait for the spread to go to zero before entering(which happens fairly often if the market is active)

There is no way in hell you can news trade with them though...you either get filled at the top of the spike with market orders or you never get filled if youre using limits.
 
Thanks for the info, it looks like I'll probably stay Oanda, and might experiment with MB if I decide to do some scalping.

Did anybody trade the AUD GDP announcement? I would have, but I thought it was at 10:00 and it ended up being 9:30 so by the time I got on most of the action was done.

Looked like it would have been fun though, I'm guessing MP made some easy money on that one ;)

I may stay up for the CHF GDP announcement in a couple hours, but I'm not sure how that will move.
 
Has anyone used:

http://www.interbankfx.com/

I was referred to that by someone who actually programs some of the stuff. I looked at there eco calender and saw that it was hosted by:

http://www.econoday.com/

Im assuming there structure is the same as the one you use music?

Looking at there calendar(http://www.interbankfx.com/News/EconomicCalendar.aspx) what events would you look at with wide eyes. I was actually surprised to see so much news because I heard of you talking about it but didnt know how much came out on a daily/weekly/monthly basis that was worth trading.

Also if people want I already have a ventrillo server up and running if you want to hop on and chat. I dont have the one that Ill dedicate to you guys. Just PM me though and Ill give you the IP.
 
Hey Josh.. hope you traded today :) Made some good pips on the UK Services PMI, the ADP report and the pending home sales report.

There was plenty of time and retracements to get in on these trades.. we eventually saw a 110 pip gain on gbp/usd because of pmi and disappointing ADP.. but that took a few hours to register.

Pending home sales report was a great one - I was watching GBP/JPY for that.. since it's most sensitive to any news about the US economy and news about the current risk environment.

I remember GJ was going up.. it hit 232.80 and as soon as pending home sales came out at -12% (lol) I shorted.. I got out at 232.20 since there was resistance there.. but it did dip up to 232.05.

Right now it's hovering at 232.50 or so.. nothing will happen till the London session. I'm really excited about the Sep 18 Fed meeting - I'm hoping they don't cut interest rates.. (and it looks like it although the markets are expecting a rate cut) If they don't cut.. I'll be shorting GBP/JPY with everything I have because I see it going in a free fall - 1000 to 2000 pips.

Be careful trading Aussie report today.. there's two of them.. employment change and unemployment report. Unemployment report usually comes out as expected.. but watch out for any changes.. dont trade the spike.. digest the news and trade accordingly.

Also remember that AUD/USD moves in a similar direction to all the carry pairs (GBP/JPY, USD/JPY etc) Since AUD/JPY is a big carry pair.. everytime that goes down.. AUD/USD is dragged down too. The current environment sucks for trading news at leisure.. it's great for trading GBP/JPY though.
 
Music_Producer said:
Hey Josh.. hope you traded today :) Made some good pips on the UK Services PMI, the ADP report and the pending home sales report.

There was plenty of time and retracements to get in on these trades.. we eventually saw a 110 pip gain on gbp/usd because of pmi and disappointing ADP.. but that took a few hours to register.

Pending home sales report was a great one - I was watching GBP/JPY for that.. since it's most sensitive to any news about the US economy and news about the current risk environment.

I remember GJ was going up.. it hit 232.80 and as soon as pending home sales came out at -12% (lol) I shorted.. I got out at 232.20 since there was resistance there.. but it did dip up to 232.05.

Right now it's hovering at 232.50 or so.. nothing will happen till the London session. I'm really excited about the Sep 18 Fed meeting - I'm hoping they don't cut interest rates.. (and it looks like it although the markets are expecting a rate cut) If they don't cut.. I'll be shorting GBP/JPY with everything I have because I see it going in a free fall - 1000 to 2000 pips.

Be careful trading Aussie report today.. there's two of them.. employment change and unemployment report. Unemployment report usually comes out as expected.. but watch out for any changes.. dont trade the spike.. digest the news and trade accordingly.

Also remember that AUD/USD moves in a similar direction to all the carry pairs (GBP/JPY, USD/JPY etc) Since AUD/JPY is a big carry pair.. everytime that goes down.. AUD/USD is dragged down too. The current environment sucks for trading news at leisure.. it's great for trading GBP/JPY though.
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Thanks for that info. It helps me decipher in the real world what im reading. I recently finished a basic forex book that just gives an overview and im going to grab some economic text books to refresh my head on my classes.

Im learning the fundamentals while I have the chart up. I figure if I see lines move up and down for a while something will click. After I learn the fundamentals ill start practicing the technical side of it. Then just try to take them both into account. You think this is a good way to go about learning it? Im a pretty fast book reader and can push out 2-3 a day but I told my self to limit what I take in and just reinforce it.
 
Hey MP, I didn't actually trade today, but I was watching the charts when it happened.

Right now I'm learning a couple different methods, and that's taking away from my news watching, which I did for quite a while after originally reading through the thread. As you said, I think trading news has gotten really difficult for beginners, so I figured I better become fluent in a couple different strategies before putting my real money on the line.

I'm currently learning to trade with the long term trends correctly, swing trading with different indicators, and carry trading.

All of the things I'm learning will actually fit into one overall strategy, and anything I learn, including news trading, is going to help out with that in one way or another along the way.

By the time that interest rate decision comes out I will be trading with real money, so we will have to discuss that more as the time approaches.

Are you still just doing news trading, or are you expanding? I'm guessing you are experienced enough to know how to trade almost all of the news events at this point, but I've heard it's getting tough for even the most seasoned traders.

Thanks for your insight!
 
Still sticking to fundamentals and news reports josh :)

I traded the aussie employment report right now.. it spiked up about 35 pips.. and then retraced to 0.822. I bought a huge lot.. sold it at 0.8230... 8 pips.. but 2 million lots so $1600 profit.

Notice how it's giving up all the gains.. because GJ is still heavy.. so is AJ (aud/jpy) If none of this carry trade unwinding business was going on.. aussie would have gone up a nice 80 pips or so.

I was even thinking of shorting aud/usd at the top.. and I should have.. considering that it's dropped to 0.8215.

Next trade will be UK interest rate decision - doubt they will do anything but I'll be ready in the event they do.
 
ctrack.. technicals are good I guess.. but I don't use those. Somehow I always end up laughing at tech traders - a good example was today's pending home sales report. Most traders were long on GJ (since it was rising up as soon as the DOW opened) GJ shot from 232.30 to 232.60 and kept going up so everyone jumped in (candle has turned upward.. tech indicators etc)

And then home sales came in.. *wham* everyone's stop loss got hit. Lol.. sorry.. I can't help laughing.. but.. NEVER enter a trade based on technicals before a news report is due. You never know when it can go against you.

I am not entering any GJ or GU trades tonight until after the UK rate decision.. no matter how tempting. Check out forexfactory.com GJ thread.. everyone went short an hour ago.. (at 232.20 i think) .. it went down 20 pips.. and then went all the way up to 232.75.. hitting stop losses.

Whatever tech trading I've done.. I've had 50-50 chances of profit+loss. For me, personally, I don't like wasting my time waiting to see what happens. With fundamental reports.. I *know* what's going to happen
 
Yea I heard about that as being a mistake when trading technicals and not looking at news. Also for people who would like to be able to decipher the news and what it actual means heres free MIT coursework:

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/courses/courses/index.htm#Economics

I mean we dont all need deep understandings im sure but Im sure theres a lot of courses there that will help. Also from what I hear MIT is a good college but that can just be a rumor ;) .

I heard that knowing both fundamentals and technicals is good. I myself have dedicated myself to forex so I will have to master it one way or another. Eventually ill find my perfect system. I looked at forex once long ago but because of scams didnt get far. Luckily on one of my tech sites I met someone who was in it because he actually does auto trading and uses CPU power to crunch numbers. Hes a full time trader and actually wrote the program thats crunching. Ill just have pile up the books, watch the news and see what the chart does. Then one day ill find myself :cool:
 
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