How to Partner with a Forex Broker That Fits Your Trading Style - Toshi Times

How to Partner with a Forex Broker That Fits Your Trading Style - Toshi Times
How to Use the Weekly Time Frame in Forex Trading - DailyForex.com
5 Tips To Help You Choose A Reliable & Safe Forex Broker In 2020 - Legal Gambling News
Forex Trading Hours • Benzinga - Benzinga

Posted: 19 Feb 2020 12:00 AM PST

A Forex broker is key to your Forex trading success.

Unfortunately, finding a broker that's reliable and exceptionally considerate is not an easy job. It's a painful experience.Forex traders—just like you—need to find a simple way of partnering with brokers.

Not any Tom, Dick, and Harry broker, mind you. But a business-savvy one that fits a trader's trading style. The reason why? It's through a good broker that good decisions are made, excellent trades are won.

As a trader, you need to not only find a reliable broker. You also need to partner with a professional one to help with your trading needs and aspirations. This article walks you through a number of helpful tips for partnering with a Forex broker that fits your trading style.

1. What are your broker's policies?

Finding a Forex broker is not something you can do in one sitting, especially if you're Australian looking to trade BTC with Australian Forex brokers.

In fact, partnering with one that matches your trading style is far from easy. You have to invest tons of hours of time to research, review, and dig through the profiles of as many Forex brokers as possible. You need to do this to ensure that you do business with a reliable one that matches your trading style.

Yes, your trading style is important. Assuming you're a short-term trader who often scalps a few pips here and there… Partnering with a broker that allows scalping and provides Currenex account will fit your trading strategy. And it will be vital for your success.

Even if you're a long-term trader, more concerned with overnight interest rates that brokers offer… Reviewing your prospective broker's overnight rates and business policies is important before making a decision to do business with them.

2. Is your trading strategy in line with what your potential broker offers?

Every FX broker is different: You have a different mindset, different goals, and different strategies from your other colleague.

For this reason, both you and your colleague may require a different Forex broker. For example:

Self-directed traders prefer brokers that provide technical analysis to help with their trading decisions.

Australian digital-savvy traders that want to trade BTC with Australian Forex brokers, for instance, may prefer brokers that provide digital currencies and tools that are in-built in their trading platforms.

Algorithmic traders, on the other hand, prefer brokers that provide Virtual Private Servers (VPS) that powers their trades.

Take your time. Find a broker that suits your trading strategy. It doesn't matter how long it takes you. The goal is to find the one that can help you succeed in your Forex trading business.

3. Does your prospective broker offer social trading?

You're not a robot. You can't handle the intricacies embedded in Forex trading and still have free time to connect, engage, and socialize with other FX traders.

The solution?

Subscribe to social trading. "It's a growing movement,"ConnectFX's Gino D'Alessiosays about social trading. "[It's also] a great way of sharing knowledge and building community amongst forex traders."

Therefore, to double your Forex trading success, partner with a broker that provides some sort of social trading facilities and digital currencies and tools, so that when you intend totrade BTC with Australian Forex brokers, for example, you can do that with ease.

In this case, eToro comes to mind. The platform has the largest social trading and a huge user base plus other valuable perks. For instance, eToropays you when other people copy your trades.

Conclusion

Finding a credible Forex broker to partner with isn't as difficult as you may think. If you apply the right tips, use professional advice, and do your homework, you can find and connect with a credible broker in record time and see a boost in your trading success.

To begin the hunt for a broker, start by:

Reviewing their policies.
Analyzing what they offer.
Checking to see if they have a social trading feature.

It's about ensuring that you partner with the right broker that fits your overall trading needs. This is the crucial first step because, to paraphrase Kathy Lien, the journey to becoming a professional and profitable trader can be a long and lonely road, she says. You need to partner with a broker that understands your business strategies.

How to Use the Weekly Time Frame in Forex Trading - DailyForex.com

Posted: 28 Feb 2020 02:11 AM PST

One of the main reasons why most Forex traders lose money is a failure to trade based upon longer-term, higher time frames such as the weekly time frame. This article explains why and how to use the weekly time frame in your Forex trading, and outlines both rules and actual historical performances of a few weekly time frame trading strategies which you might use or adapt.

What is Time Frame in Forex Trading?

"Time frame" in Forex trading means the unit of time that the price chart you are viewing is based on. For example, in a weekly time frame Japanese candlestick chart, each candlestick represents one week of time. In a 5-minute time frame Japanese candlestick chart, each candlestick represents 5 minutes of time. Shorter time frames show much more detail of price movement over time, but longer time frames show wider, longer-term pictures of trends and ranges in the price.

Why You Should Use the Weekly Time Frame in Forex Trading

The most effective, profitable, and powerful tool you can use to trade Forex is to pay attention to whether or not there is a long-term trend or range in any currency pairs or crosses, especially the major pairs; and if so, in which direction that trend is going. Then, make sure that you trade in the same direction as that trend, or trade reversals from support and resistance when there is no trend and the price is ranging. Use a higher time frame price chart such as the weekly time frame to make these calls.

While you can use a daily time frame chart for the same purpose, you should use the weekly time frame in Forex trading for this because it is easier to judge the very long-term price action at a glance there. It is also a good idea to drill down and use at least one shorter time frame chart as well, such as the 4 hour or hourly time frames, to fine-tune your trade entries and exits to make them more precise, which also means more profitable.

How to Measure Trend with the Weekly Time Frame

The reason why the weekly time frame is the best time frame for trading Forex is because historical Forex data shows that when the price is higher than it was several months ago, it is more likely to rise than fall, and vice versa when the price is lower than it was several months ago. So, if you pull up a weekly chart, one easy trick you can do to create the best trend indicator, is count back 13 and 26 weeks from the current weekly candlestick. Is the price now higher than it was at those times? If yes, you have a long-term uptrend. If it was lower at both, you have a long-term downtrend. If the results are mixed, you have no trend. Forget all the fancy Forex indicators – this is a method which is both very simple and effective.

For example, the weekly timeframe chart of the EUR/USD currency pair below shows the current weekly candlestick, on the far right, clearly below the opening prices of the candlesticks from 13 and 26 weeks ago. So, there is a clear downtrend, and this week traders can look for short trades in this currency pair.

Weekly Time Frame: Long-term Downtrend

In another example, the weekly timeframe chart of the GBP/USD currency pair below shows the current weekly candlestick, on the far right, closing above the opening price of the candlestick from 13 weeks ago, but also below the opening price of the candlestick from 26 weeks ago. So, there is no long-term trend, and next week traders who want to trade this currency pair should look to trade reversals at support and resistance levels.

Weekly Time Frame: No Long-term Trend

Should You Use Only One Time Frame in Forex Trading?

Although a weekly time frame chart can show you a trading edge, in all except very limited circumstances (explained in more detail below in the "Trading Forex with the Weekly Time Frame Only" section), it is not smart to trade using the weekly time frame alone. In fact, using just a single time frame to trade Forex is usually a bad idea, whatever time frame you might pick. However, using higher time frames such as the weekly price chart, can at least tell you whether there is a long-term trend and if so, in what direction.

There are several reasons why trading using the weekly time frame alone is usually a bad idea:

It is just too long-term and slow to use on its own. While you might easily hold a good trade open on a short time frame such as 5 minutes for fifty candles, if you try holding a trade open for 50 weeks, you will encounter many problems.
Some Forex brokers impose a time limit on the duration of trades, forcing you to close an open trade after it has been open for typically a few weeks or months. Few brokers advertise this fact- you have to check the small print or ask the broker directly to find out..
All Forex brokers, unless you have an Islamic Forex broker account, will either charge or pay you a small amount based on the size of your trade and the interbank interest ("tom/next") rates of the respective currencies in the pair. Usually, it is a charge and not a credit – the system is biased against the trader and is a way Forex brokers can make money quietly from long-term traders. Even if the fee is typically small, such as a quarter of a pip per day, if you hold a trade open for a long time these overnight swap fees add up and can really eat away at your profit.
Professional traders always use a combination of long-term and short-term time frames. Typically, professional traders will have three timeframe screens open for whatever they are trading showing the daily, hourly, and 5-minute time frame charts.

Multi Time Frame Trading with the Weekly Time Frame

Multiple time frame analysis is simply looking at two or more price charts for the same Forex currency pair or cross or other instrument, at the same time. You make a multiple time frame analysis by looking first at a higher time frame and using that chart to determine whether the price is trending (and if so, in what direction) or ranging, and also maybe to identify clear support and resistance levels. It is a top-down analysis, because once you have that information from the higher time frame, you then use a lower time frame to trade from that analysis, which will usually get you more precise trade entries and exits which should maximize your reward to risk ratio.

There are a few good Forex trading strategies which have historically been profitable on the weekly time frame, outlined below. You can use a shorter time frame as a tool to trade these strategies more effectively.

The results detailed below are from back tests conducted on sixteen major and minor Forex currency pairs over a very long period of almost 20 years, from 2001 to 2020. Thousands of samples were taken, increasing the statistical validity of the back test.

Weekly Multi Time Frame Breakout Trend Strategy

When a Forex currency pair or cross ended a week at its highest or lowest weekly close for 26 weeks (equal to 6 months), in 51.10% of cases the next week closed further in the direction of that breakout. However, on average the next week closed against the trend by 0.04%.
If we take only the USD currency pairs from the above example, in 53.94% of cases the next week closed further in the direction of the trend. On average, the next week closed further in the direction of the trend by 0.02%. Although this second statistic is not encouraging, by use of a relatively tight hard stop loss, trading long-term breakouts in USD currency pairs could be made into a profitable trading strategy, but you should use a shorter time frame to make your trade entries and exits more profitable.
Example trade: reusing an earlier image, we see the EUR/USD currency pair with a weekly candlestick making the lowest weekly close in 26 weeks – you can see there is not a single previous candlestick in the price chart with a lower close. Next week, look for short trades on a shorter time frame such as the hourly or 4-hour time frame.

Weekly Breakout Trend Strategy: Short Trade Entry

Weekly Multi Time Frame "Buy the Dips" Trend Strategy

This strategy and all the following strategies rely upon mean reversion. "Mean reversion" means that the price will likely revert back to its average after a sustained directional movement away from the average. You trade mean reversion just by waiting for a turn of direction back towards the average and opening a position targeting the average.
When a Forex currency pair or cross ended a week either above both its prices from 13 and 26 weeks ago, or below both, but the week's price movement from open to close was against that trend, in 51.71% of cases the next week reversed and went on to close further in the direction of that trend. On average the next week closed with the trend by a further 0.09%, so "buy the dips" seems broadly to work better in Forex than trading breakouts.
If we take only the USD currency pairs from the above example, the results do not improve. This means that the data shows that for USD currency pairs, the win rate has been better trading breakouts, but the overall trade expectancy for the next week was better when "buying the dips".
Example trade: we see the EUR/USD currency pair with a weekly candlestick closing up from its open – the green candlestick on the far right of the chart. However, this close is below the opening prices of the weekly candlesticks of both 13 and 26 weeks ago, so there is an opportunity here to "sell the rally" (the same as "buy the dip"). Next week, look for short trades on a shorter time frame such as the hourly or 4-hour time frame.

Weekly "Buy the Dips" Trend Strategy: Short Trade Entry

There are also two weekly trading strategies with good track records which can more safely be used with only the weekly time frame.

Trading with the Weekly Time Frame Only

These strategies produce trades which are meant to be entered just as a week ends, and held until the same time next week, without a stop loss. This can of course be traded more precisely by using a shorter time frame as well.

Weekly Time Frame "Buy the Strong Dips" Trend Strategy

When a Forex currency pair or cross ended a week either above both its prices from 13 and 26 weeks ago, or below both, but the week's price movement from open to close was against the trend by at least 2%, in 55.54% of cases the next week reversed and went on to close further in the direction of that trend. On average the next week closed with the trend by a further 0.41%, so this is historically the best-performing trading strategy outlined within this article.
This strategy does not produce trades very often, as a directional movement in Forex of more than 2% from a weekly open to a weekly close is relatively rare and has tended to happen in only approximately 3% of samples.
This strategy is powerful, because it is based not only upon the market's tendency to both trend and revert to its mean, but also upon volatility clustering.
Example trade: we see the GBP/AUD currency cross with a weekly candlestick closing down from its open – the red candlestick on the far right of the price chart below. By dividing its closing price by its opening price, we see the result is more than 1.02, meaning we have a strong enough move to generate an entry signal. Also, this close is above the opening prices of the weekly candlesticks of both 13 and 26 weeks ago, so there is an opportunity here to "buy the dip". You could either just enter long here just before the week closes, or next week, look for long trades on a shorter time frame such as the hourly or 4-hour time frame.

Weekly "Buy the Strong Dips" Trend Strategy: Long Trade Entry

A back-test equity curve of this strategy using weekly moves from open to close greater than 2% in value trading 16 Forex currency pairs and crosses from 2001 to 2020 is shown below. Trades were hypothetically entered at the end of a qualifying week and held until the next week's close. Spreads and overnight financing payments/charges were not included.

Weekly "Buy the Strong Dips" Trend Strategy: Equity Curve

Weekly Time Frame "High Volatility Mean Reversion" Strategy

This strategy is exactly the same as the previous strategy, just without the trend element.
All you are looking for is for a weekly candlestick to close with a price movement from its open to close of at least 2%. Then you enter a trade in the opposite direction and sell at the end of the next week, regardless of the trend. In 50.73% of cases the next week reversed direction and closed up. On average the next week was a winner by 0.20%.
Example trade: the example above can be used as illustration; you just don't need to check whether the price is above or below any previous candlesticks: a move from open to close greater than 2% is enough to trigger a trade entry signal.

Final Thoughts

Forex traders will find they can trade much more profitably by using the weekly time frame to find trending or ranging conditions, and then trading in line with those conditions by drilling down to a shorter time frame to execute precise entries and exits. The 4-Hour or 1-Hour time frames are ideal.
In Forex, trends tend to be most accurately identifiable over 3 months and 6 months.
Traders wanting to trade a strategy using only the weekly time frame are well advised to trade without leverage, and also to consider using a consistent hard stop loss, as the maximum drawdown of this strategy on 16 Forex currency pairs and crosses observed over the past 20 years was approximately 38%.

5 Tips To Help You Choose A Reliable & Safe Forex Broker In 2020 - Legal Gambling News

Posted: 06 Feb 2020 12:00 AM PST

Choosing a forex broker

The global forex industry continues to grow at a rapid rate as forex brokers from around the world continue to increase. These forex brokers invest heavily into their marketing and advertising campaigns as they go after new customers and focus on increasing their market share.

New forex investors can often be overwhelmed when it comes to choosing a forex broker. The one thing that you should not do when it comes to choosing a forex broker, is carry out a simple Google search and choose the first forex broker link that shows up. This is because there are many shady forex operators who advertise their services and dupe new customers.

We give you five tips that will help you choose a reliable and safe forex broker in 2020.

#1 Find A Licensed Broker

While this seems very obvious, many new investors ignore this fact and are willing to take the risk of doing business with an unlicensed forex broker because their terms and conditions might be a lot more appealing. However it will be difficult for investors to get their money back if they get into a dispute with an unlicensed operator. The right thing to do is to check if the forex broker is regulated by the financial regulator in your country.

#2 Broker Solvency

The forex market has hundreds of new brokers who all offer lucrative bonus offers and promotions to get new customers. It is always safer to find a broker who has a strong financial standing as it gives you the assurance that your money is safe. If you decide to go with a broker who has little to no financial standing, it might be difficult for you to recoup your money in case the broker winds up their operation.

#3 Don't Be Fooled By Bonus Offers

Many forex brokers tend to offer lucrative sign-up or welcome bonuses to attract new customers and get them to create an account. While these bonus offers are definitely appealing, don't be swayed by them. It is more important to find a reliable and licensed provider to protect your money in the long run than setting on a lucrative promotion for the short term.

#4 Different Accounts

Find a forex broker who gives you the option of opening different accounts. Most of the reputed brokers have standard, mini and premium accounts. Each of these accounts comes with different options and you can choose one that suits you best.

#5 Demo Account

Always choose a forex broker that gives you the option to create and trade with a free demo account. This will help you get familiar with forex trading and prepare you to take the step into real money trading.

Petar is the finance guru, if you need a good investment this is the guy you go to! Working majority of his days in the finance sector as trader, he has gathered plenty of insight on binary options and the forex markets

Forex Trading Hours • Benzinga - Benzinga

Posted: 12 Feb 2020 12:00 AM PST

Benzinga Money is a reader-supported publication. We may earn a commission when you click on links in this article. Learn more.

The foreign exchange market, or forex, covers over-the-counter trading of currencies from all over the world. Forex determines foreign exchange rates for every currency, from the Philippine peso to the Guatemalan quetzal. The foreign exchange market is where investors can buy, sell and exchange currencies simultaneously in hopes that one currency will strengthen against the other.

Just like buying and trading stocks, one of the first things you should do to start trading on forex is to find the right broker for you. A brokerage firm will help you make successful trades so you can start making a profit. Check out some brokers we recommend that specialize in forex.

The Four Main Exchanges

There are 4 major forex exchanges located throughout various time zones: London, New York, Sydney and Tokyo. Having these international time zones helps the forex market stay open for 24 hours since trades are conducted over a network of computers as opposed to 1 physical exchange at a certain time. Even if a currency closes at a certain rate, that's the rate at the time that particular market closed. The currency can be traded around the world even after closing hours of a particular exchange.

New York hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST

Tokyo hours: 7 p.m. to 4 a.m. EST

Sydney hours: 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. EST

London hours: 3 a.m. to noon EST

Most Important Forex Market Times

One thing you might have noticed about the 4 market hours above is that they overlap at certain times. Those overlapping times — when 2 markets are open simultaneously — is the most important time to make a move. That's because the trading volume greatly increases, adding volatility — the extent and rate at which equity or currency prices change. When it comes to the forex market, that high-risk environment makes for greater payoff opportunities once you get the hang of it.

Until your mastery, it could be a bit of a risk. According to a 2014 Citibank study, 30% of retail forex traders break even or do better during these busy times. That means 70% of traders and investors are losing money. It's a good idea to experiment with mock forex trades to see how it works before jumping into the mad money exchange.

Once you think you're ready, here's the most important forex market times to keep in mind:

New York and London exchanges open	8 a.m. to noon EST
Tokyo and Sydney exchanges open	7 p.m. to 2 a.m. EST
Tokyo and London exchanges open	3 a.m. to 4 a.m. EST

When are the Best Times to Trade Forex?

The best time to trade in the forex market is 8 a.m. to noon EST when the New York and London exchanges are both open and active. Interestingly enough, these 2 trading centers account for more than 50% of all forex trades. That makes this overlapping 4 hours a bit of a madhouse, but that means bigger profits if you're successful.

While it's important to keep these overlapping times in mind when trading currency, there are some variables to keep on your radar to ensure you're making smart moves. For example, even if you can trade U.S. currency when New York is closed, you'll get the best liquidity for this currency during the open market hours. If you have a particular currency in mind, you should most likely trade while the local exchange is open, avoiding unknown market factors that could negatively impact valuations you're unaware of.

News releases are another factor that shape investors' decided value on a currency's long-term prospect. You'll want to keep track of retail sales figures, unemployment rates, gross domestic product and many other factors to properly plan for possible outcomes. Keep in mind that sudden news can have a major impact on the forex market while you're asleep or at work.

Our advice is to maintain a consistent schedule for your trades. See what works best for you and pinpoint some important times. This can be when 2 markets are overlapping or when announcements are made.

The Market that Never Sleeps

If you're interested in trading currency for a profit, forex is the right market for you. With 4 different time zones, forex is always open. While this can be a little overwhelming at first, it helps to create a trading schedule that not only fits into your work and home life but also targets some key times in the forex market that make for bigger payouts.

Note when your chosen currency's local market is open to avoid unwanted surprises. And take advantage of the 4 hours when the New York and London markets overlap. Consider that forex's busiest times may be the most profitable but are also the most volatile.

Check out forex.com for research offerings and investing tools that will help you make the most out of the forex market.

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