Day Trading Strategies for Beginners

Introduction:

A day trader is a trader that buys and sells currencies many times a day and does not leave an overnight position. This means that a day trader usually trades within one time zone and does not cross into other time zones except maybe a trader in Europe where the afternoon session coincides with the American morning session. The concept of a day trader is to generate income on a daily basis using technical and fundamental analysis to facilitate this money making process.

Day trading Strategies for Beginners:

When starting out as a day trader a beginner needs to develop a simple trading strategy that enables the trader to have the opportunity to generate profits with a viable risk/reward ratio. To develop a strategy which meets these requirements the trader needs to learn about self-discipline, price charts, volume and price movements, technical analysis and fundamental analysis. In addition the day trader needs to learn about different candlestick chart patterns, volume movements and trend lines, all of which provide tools which enable the trader successfully day trade.

So the first pillar of a day trading strategy for a new forex trader is knowledge. The second pillar of a day trading strategy is an understanding of how the markets function. Elements such as when the highest volumes are traded, what type of economic data has the strongest impact on the market, what time frames are good for certain currency pairs, and the best time of day to trade?

The third pillar of a day trading strategy is to do with deciding how much loss you are comfortable with taking on individual trades. To do this you must establish the maximum loss you are willing to bear. This is something that must be done in advance and not on the fly as you trade. Before you actually make the trade you should decide on the risk/reward ratio for the trade and your loss limit. As soon as you reach your loss limit you should exit the trade. Never fall into the trap of not keeping to your strategy and stay in the trade hoping the market will turn. It invariably does not.

The next important pillar of a day trader’s strategy is the maintenance of documentation which record the day’s trades and the results of those trades. In this way you can gauge how effective your day trading strategy is and amend it accordingly. Documenting your daily trading will also enable you to repeat your successes.

The final pillar of your day trading strategy is hedging. Hedging is the act of selling and buying the same currency pair or the act of buying one currency pair and buying another currency pair which is historically inversely correlated to the original currency pair. Hedging in this way does not produce high profits but it does produce profits and reduces the likelihood of losses.

The above simple day trading strategy will enable day trading beginners to start a successful day trading career.

Read More

Market Makers

The participants of Forex currency market are divided into two groups by their activity and influence on currency rates: market makers and market users.

Market makers are large banks and financial organizations which determine the current level of a currency rate, owing to a significant share of their operations in a total volume of the world market. Market makers exercise a constant control of different trading instruments, and they also conduct trades with them. Market makers are market members providing liquidity of particular instruments, making buy or sell orders. These are big international banks and financial institutions, which run daily currency operations of buying or selling trading instruments for more than billions of US dollars. Every market has its own market makers. Similarly, every Forex broker has its personal market makers, the quoting rates of which are exploited by it and offered to its clients further on. Among the greatest market makers such as Deutsche Bank, Mizuho Bank, Barclays Bank, PBS, Citi Bank, Chase Manhattan Bank, Union Bank of Switzerland can be named. In order to define whether the organization is a market maker it is important to consider not only the size of a bank, but also its share in market operations and its capability to influence the market by setting a price policy.

As mentioned before, for a particular market there can be own market maker. Worth pointing out that for the USD/CHF trading instrument the main market makers are Credit Suisse Bank and Union Bank of Switzerland. For trading instruments comprising the Asian currencies the major market maker is the Standard Chartered Bank. As to the rouble instruments, here the top market makers are the International Moscow Bank and the Onexim Bank. The Central Bank of Russia can also play this role being one of the most active participants in setting up the quote rates of currencies vs. the rouble, making different currency interventions, if the rouble rate exceeds the regulated currency rate limits.

Market makers determine the current currency exchange rate by conducting trades with each other as well as with smaller banks, which are also market participants. That is the market makers who introduce quote rates to small banks, organizations and individuals. Thus, another notion emerges characterizing these participants - market users.

Market users are financial organizations, broker companies, small banks and individuals, who use the quoting rate set by market makers for their operations. Market users are not aggressive market players, though a total volume of their operations in the market can be significant, but the share of each one is minor. The role of small market users consists in either acceptance or not of the rates provided by market makers. Consequently, market makers make price and market users take it.

Read More