Both poker and trading can be considered financial ‘games’. Games where insights into human nature are crucial, and especially insight into our own emotions. The good trader/player knows when to push hard, and when it’s time to retreat. Alertness, relaxation, detachment and other complex mental traits have to develop if one is to succeed in the long run.

This article considers one strategy – called “tight” in poker and compares it with trading. In poker almost every table has a very tight player. They only open with aces suited or a high pair. This is a reasonable strategy and mostly these players make small profits or break-even. They rarely make large gains though because other players know that once this tight player raises he has a good hand- and so everyone folds around them.

Trading has a similar type of player. Many traders wait for all the indicators(fundamental and technical)to line up and confirm that the trade will go in the expected direction. And usually it does. However, it may soon change direction. This is because everyone who was going to go long has already gotten on board. This is not to say that waiting is a bad strategy – it is a safe one that requires patience. Most of the time it is the best strategy. But sometimes, like on the poker table, we need to mix it up..

In poker our tight player gets dealt a pair of aces. This is what he has been waiting for and he comes out guns blazing. On the flop there might be some dangerous cards – such as 2 of the same suit – indicating that another player could have a flush draw….Another card with the same suit comes on the turn. But he ignores this and continues to bet. At the river the opponent turns over a 2,3 suited to the 3 table cards and wins with a low flush. Our ACES man is devasted. He had the much higher hand before the flop- it doesn’t seem fair! But poker is about the cards both now and in the future..

Likewise, the very patient trader often finds it hard to get out of trade once it goes wrong. He has spent much effort identifying the right trade and been so patient waiting for it to set up that he feels almost cheated if the trade turns wrong. He ignores what is occuring now because he is fixated on the past inputs. A bad result may be even more devastating for the trader: At least the poker player can know the odds, and understand that he may have had 70% likelihood of winning, but that he got unlucky. But such odds calculations are not available to the trader- he may be genuinely mystified. And the more emotion and money invested in the trade the more the effects are multiplied.

Part II (to be published soon)looks at gaining an edge.. Trading is not that different from the way a casino is run. There are a few hundred casinos and tens of thousands of players. Often the players get lucky but over the long run it is the casino that continually adds to its bank account.When I first started trading I made some good bets and took fast and large profits. It seemed easy. It only took a month before those first profits went and another three months before the remainder of the account disappeared too. I was playing like a typical gambler. What I gradually learned, the hard way, was that a successful trader becomes the casino, not one of the players. He finds an edge and works it, looking for consistent small increases in equity. Do you have an edge? if you are not sure what your edge is then it is likely you don’t. As they say in poker, ‘If you can’t spot the sucker at the table, then you are the sucker’. And remember, even slotmachine gamblers have winning streaks. If you have been winning do you have a real edge or are you only getting lucky..(To be continued).

The Forex Manager is a web resource for investors and traders.

TheForexManager http://www.theforexmanager.com

“Leaders need to be optimists. Their vision is beyond the present.” -Rudy Giuliani

Stocks are often categorized by the type of objective their companies are trying to achieve. Two of the most common goals are growth and income. In addition, stocks can also be distinguished from each other based on the type of payout their offer to their investors.

Growth Stocks. Companies which offer growth stocks do not offer dividends. They are characterized by an intense and aggressive rise in the value of their stocks. This allows investors to see a growth in their original capital extremely quickly. Growth stocks usually increase quicker then the stock market itself. This works great because the company and its investors can easily reinvest their profits to increase their rate of return. Reinvestment is an alternative to dividends which other types of stocks may pay out monthly or quarterly. A good example of growth stocks are those in the tech sector. Money made from investing is pushed back into the business to finance more research and hopefully development. Growth stocks are extremely popular because of their rapid increase in price.

Income Stocks. Income stocks belong to companies which are not growing but are extremely stable. They have reached the top end of their value and continue to maintain that value. These stocks to not fluctuate with the economy or the stock market and are extremely low risk. Income stocks pay monthly dividends to it’s investors. This is a way in which investors can actually live off their investments. A good example of income stocks are REITs or real estate investment trusts. REITs offer a rate of return just under 5% yearly.

Slang Terms. There are several slang terms for stocks that all investors should know both for historical purposes and just for the fun of it.

Blue Chips is a term that refers to company stock that has a long history of producing a stable and regular increase in the value of their stock options. These companies have been through the ups and downs of the economic and stock markets – and survived. The term originates from poker where the blue chip represents the highest amount of money. Current Blue Chip companies include WalMart, Coca-Cola, and IBM.

Penny Stock is a reference to stocks which are worth less then a dollar. Most of these stocks fall under the heading of ‘speculation’. Penny stocks usually belong to companies which are new, up and comers that financial speculators believe are going to be extremely successful. They can offer a great rate of return for investors but if things do not go well, investors can lose all their money they have invested.

The reason most trade is to make profits. Rarely do we do so for the sport of it. There are some, however, that do treat their trading as if at the game tables of Las Vegas. Those that do, unfortunately, are soon sent packing to their day jobs so that they can return with another stake to try again. But if you are one of those who think trading should be taken more seriously, keep reading.

Trading is difficult, and then again, it is really simple. Perhaps it should be said that trading is simply a state of mind. What may appear daunting a task to some may yet seem as a catwalk to others. The glass is half full, the glass is half empty, that sort of thing.

How does trading appear to you? Are you overwhelmed with all the news? Or is it all the technical indicators being tossed into your trading programs making your eyes go cross? Perhaps it is all the different trading programs themselves that have you looking dumbfounded out your office window, staring into space and making strange sounds from between your drooping lips.

Well, maybe some choice words here might help clear up that situation for you. A little perspective can go a long way to getting you to see the market in a whole new light.

If the markets moved haphazardly with no rhyme or reason, I would suggest to you to run for the hills and do not look back. Fortunately, this is not the case. With all the conviction in the world, I know for a fact that the markets are governed by natural laws that make it predictable in various degrees. What degree they are predictable is more dependant on who is doing the predicting and how.

The mere fact that the markets have a tendency to trend says a lot about how much randomness it contains…very little. Rather than acting like a scratched record, it moves with such harmony that displays an obvious mathematical relationship between its tops and bottoms. One need only to spend hours upon hours studying these charts to eventually see this to be true.

But the point is that the markets have a tendency to trend. And because this is the case, it is to your advantage to concentrate your trades with that trend in mind. A market moving higher is more likely to continue doing so then to move lower. And a market trending down is likely to continue doing that over moving up. At some point in time the trend will eventually end. But if you just look at your charts you will see that it takes a long time for this to happen.

Knowing this alone you can put the odds in your favor. However, unless you have the cash to withstand the trend corrections (the moves opposite the trend that is usually temporary), you may not last after one or two of those corrections. The issue here is that of TIMING. In other words, if you are buying you want to do so as close to the trend bottom or correction bottom as possible. That way you will not have to withstand any major draw to your trading capital and will have ‘stay-ability’. Ah, the feelings of being able to stay in a big trend and watch your account swell up like a tick on your dog. The better you can time your trades the less cash you need. It is a given.

So you know that you want to trade with the trend. And you know that the better you can time the market the less you have to risk and the more you can gain (because you can hold on longer in the trade as it goes your way). So how do you go about seeing the market in a way that is less intimidating, without resorting to using rose colored glasses borrowed from your 3-year old?

One way is to start from the top and work your way down. At your disposal are charts of different time frames. There are yearly, monthly, weekly, daily and intraday charts that you can use to view your market from top to bottom (no pun intended). Start from a higher time frame than you will be trading from. If you are looking to day trade, look at the daily chart to get an idea of the predominant trend for your market. If you plan to be in a trade for more than a day (position trading), then make sure to look at the monthly and weekly chart before you make your trading plan off the daily chart.

When you look at a chart in a higher time frame, you get to see the big picture. Are prices moving lower overall on the monthly chart, forming lower monthly swing tops and bottoms? If so, then the major trend is down. And what should this suggest to you? That it is likely to continue down. Since you viewed this on a monthly chart, how do you think this will look on your weekly or daily chart? That downtrend on the major monthly chart will be a major, major down trend on your weekly chart. And on your daily chart it is going to be going down for a long, long time.

So if you happen to be planning your trades off a daily chart, you best be selling off each corrective swing top and get that idea of buying out of your head. If your trend is long-term up and your weekly is in its upward swing as well, then you better only think buying dips and nothing else on your daily chart.

By doing this, you will start to see the market in a much reasonable light. You will see the big picture and all the little noise will have less impact on your psyche. Once direction is known and it has been determined that you are going to focus strictly on buying or selling based on the trend, then you can look at ways of improving your timing further.

Rick J. Ratchford has been trading since 1989 and since 1996 is an Analyst for ProfitMax Trading Inc., a membership for traders specializing in the advance forecasting of market tops and bottoms.

http://www.profitmaxtrading.com
“Know Today the Market Turns of Tomorrow!”

One of the most motivating aspects about online day trading is the possibility of taking advantage of stocks that are breaking out and rising fast to new highs. Some stocks can go up 30% in a matter of minutes or double in price during the same trading day. Knowing how to pick these beautiful jewels can be worth a long lasting gold mine for any day trader.

This is why stock trading can be such a profitable activity. Your job as a trader consists in finding solid stock opportunities that are able to generate you the greatest rewards in the least amount of time.

Experienced stock traders are always looking for those potentially profitable opportunities while at the same time following a strategy that helps them reduce their risk. Knowing when to ” Get In ” and when and why to “Get Out” are essential for building long term profitability.

Stock trading doesn’t have to be complicated as many people perceive. But you do need to follow a well organized set of strategies and tactics that can help you take advantage of certain market scenarios, that once you master them, you can aspire to replicate profitable trades with consistency.

Always remember that people from many walks of life have made a fortune in the stock market. Could You be next ?

Let’s say you developed our purchased a trading system with a “winning percentage of 70%”.

What exactly does that mean?

It means that the probability of having a winning trade is 70%, i.e. it is more likely that the trade you are currently in turns out to be a winner than a loser.

Does that mean that when you trade 10 times you will have 7 winners? – No!

It means that if you trade long enough (i.e. at least 40 trades) then you will have more winners than losers, but it does not guarantee that after 3 losers in a row you will have a winner.

Let me give you an example:
If you toss a coin then you have 2 possible outcomes: head or tail. Probabilities are 50%, i.e. when you toss the coin 4x then you should get 2x head and 2x tail.

But what if you tossed the coin 3 times and you got 3 times “head”?
What are the probabilities of “head” on the next coin toss?
50% or less?

If you answered “less” than you fell for a common misconception. The probabilities of getting another “head” is still 50%. No more and no less. But many traders think that the probabilities of “tail” are higher now because the three previous coin tosses resulted in “head”. Some traders might even increase their bet because they are convinced that now “tail is overdue”. Statistically this assumption is nonsense and a dangerous and many times costly misconception.

Let’s get back to our trading example: If you have a winning percentage of 70% and you had 9 losers in a row, what are the probabilities of having a winner now? – It’s still 70% (and therefore there’s still a 30% chance of a loser).

It’s important that you understand this concept!

Markus Heitkoetter is a 15 year veteran of the markets. He is the CEO of Rockwell Trading, a company that was founded by five active traders to teach interested investors how to make money in the markets with trading systems.

For more free articles and a free eBook “How to make money with trading systems” visit http://www.rockwelltrading.com and http://www.free-trading-info.com

Hollywood loves the stock market. The chaos of the stock exchange floor, the tension of boiler room day-trading, devious power brokers making back room deals; it all makes for great drama. Then you have the true-to-life stock market stories in the news: insider trading, big money IPOs, the dot com bust. All of it is enough to make you steer clear of the market for good and travel down a safer investment path. But don’t be frightened, history shows that long-term, there’s no better place to put your money to watch it grow. Here are a few tips to get you started.

Stocks 101

Simply put, when you purchase stock in a company, you become part-owner of that company. Along with other shareholders, you all combine as investors in the business, and therefore reap its rewards, or suffer its losses. Stocks are most commonly divided into separate categories depending on the size and type of the company (e.g., mid-cap, small-cap, energy, tech, etc.).
While speculation can drive stock prices in the short term, it’s long-term company earnings that determine a stocks gains or losses. Speaking of short term, that’s when stocks are extremely volatile. Over a span of just a few months or years, stocks can climb to astronomic heights or drop to pitiful lows. But, since 1926, the average stock has returned over 10 percent per year. That’s better than any other investment vehicle out there, and that’s why stocks are your best bet for long-term investment.

Picking Stocks

Before you dive head-first into the market, there are a few things you should know about picking stocks. First, the market’s performance as a whole is not necessarily a reflection of its individual stocks. Good stocks can keep growing even in a down market, while bad stocks have the frustrating tendency to drop or remain stagnant in a strong market.

Also, remember that history is not indicative of a stock’s future performance. Even solid stocks can slip from time to time. Remember that stock prices are based on a company’s earnings outlook, not its past performance. If the future looks bright for a company, a $100 dollar stock is probably a good buy. If earnings look less than promising, even a $5 stock can be a waste. Finally, investors determine a stock’s value by measuring a handful of primary criteria, most notably cash flow, earnings, and revenue.

“Diversify”

It’s the rallying cry of all smart investors. When compiling an investment portfolio of stocks, it’s smart to own shares in companies from several different industries. Consider it a “hedge bet”. When one part of the economy experiences a downturn, you’ll have other stocks in your portfolio to put your faith in.

When building your portfolio, the safest bet is to pick from financially strong businesses with earnings growth above the average. Surprisingly, that limits the lot to choose from, as only around 200 stocks today fit that bill. A solid portfolio features somewhere in the ballpark of 20 stocks selected from seven or more industries. A general rule of thumb is to invest in stocks with an above-average rate of growth and reasonable valuations.

Buy and Hold

Day trading is a great way to lose your nest egg, but quick. As we noted before, stocks over the short term are highly volatile. Sure, brokers today are offering cheap trades, but beware. There are a ton of hidden fees and taxes involved with day trading, not to mention the amount of attention required by you to monitor the blow-by-blow proceedings of the market. Our recommendation: buy and hold. A ten percent return over the long term is nothing to sneer at.

The general perception is that any and every person who is involved in the business of trading of currency or foreign exchange is a person who has a super high IQ. To hear words and phrases like liquidity ratio, central bank intervention and inflationary demand makes us feel as if we are back in the boring and inherently avoidable lecture on economics that we were forced to attend in our college.

However, all these preconceived notions apart, forex or currency trading is not the domain for the super intelligent alone.

There is no doubt that you need brains to get involved in forex trading. Then, I bet you cannot name a single sphere of human activity that does not need the application of one’s mind. A bit of brains and lot of research can help you make a tidy sum in currency trading.

Till recently, the forex trading market was not open to individual investors. To take part in the process of buying and selling of currency, you either had to be a big bank with lots of deposits and assets under your belt or you had to be a big financial institution that carried out the business of trading in forex as its primary activity. Today you do not need a lot of capital to earn money in currency trading. A few thousand dollars as the initial capital is sufficient to get you started.

The advantages of trading in currency are manifold. The biggest advantage is that the currency trading market is a market that remains open round the clock. No other financial market stays open and operation twenty-four hours a day. This round the clock functioning results in constant and immediate reflection of economic, political and social events. A smart investor can take advantage of the fluctuation to make huge profits.

Further, the forex market works without any centralized exchange. There is direct interaction between the persons involved in currency trading over the telephone or electronic network.

However, just because it is easy to enter the currency trading market does not mean it is easy to make profit in the currency trading market. It is very important to possess knowledge of the forex market. You will have to grasp and establish your command over basic concepts. You will have to understand the significance of the technical indicators of the functioning of the forex market. Trying to gain complete knowledge of the currency market without actually entering into the field is like trying to learn swimming without entering the water.

By arriving at a judicious combination of knowledge, instincts and risk, one can make a lot of money in the currency trading market, or the forex market as it is known as, with very little initial investment.

Sara Chambers is a marketing consultant and an internet content manager for http://www.forextradingstrategiesblog.com

The stock market can seem like a confusing place, we have all seen different scenes of the exchange floor with people yelling, buying and selling. And there is some way people are making money during all this chaos. How do they do it? Let’s take a look at how the stock market works.

The purpose of the stock market is to move money. Some people need to use it and others have it to be used. A company’s decision to sell stock is usually based on their need for a large sum of quick cash. Usually it is for some type of expansion or building a new plant. Then the company will issue stock certificates. The common amount for a certificate is $1.00 to begin. The certificates are a piece of the company. When buying stock you are becoming a part owner. Often the people with the most stock will sit on a company’s board of directors and help to make the decisions about the company’s future. Everyone who owns a share of the stock has a vote in how the company is run. It doesn’t matter if they have one share or 1000.

When you decide you want to buy a piece of a company. The first thing you want to do is to research the company. Find out what they are about and find out their history of profitability. You want to make sure a company is moving in the right direction before you invest your hard earned money.

Then you need to find a reputable broker. A broker is in charge of your money while they have it, make sure it is someone you can trust or they might take your money and run. The stock broker is a go between. They match their clients with the available stock at a price they are willing to pay. You can determine the amount you are willing to pay per share. You might have to wait until it reaches that number but when it does your broker will buy for you. The same goes with selling, you can pick a predetermined number to sell and when it reaches that number it will be sold.

Usually when someone takes this approach they have a percent of profit they are interested in earning and are willing to wait until it happens.

You can also trade in stock online and be your own broker. There are many web sites that will allow you to do this and they will charge you a small fee for every transaction you make. There are some people who make their money by spending the day in front of their computers buying and selling. The amateur stock broker is called a day trader. They are usually only interested in the short term. Hoping to buy and sell at a profit within one or two business day.

E-currency trading is growing into a worldwide business. If you are looking for a growing business that will never let down E-currency is a great one. Dxinone is a very confusing system for a person that has never seen or used it before. If you have no idea how to sign up or start to fund your account you will miss out on a very good way of making money-using e-currency.

The web page they use offers no guide to helping you start using the Dxinone system. There are however VERY helpful guides that you can buy for a small price that teach you everything you need to know about Dxinone, and how to get start in e-currency.

Once you join Dxinone and make an account you can then fund your account with money using NetPay, E-gold, E-bullion, and a few others. Once you have funds in your account you can then start to make money in the e-currency system. You will buy digots with the funds in your account. These digots act like a share of stock would. A window will open in Dxinone, and you will see a list of places you can buy digots from. These digots will be how you are going to profit from the e-currency system.

Once you have used all the money in your dxinone account you now will see how the system works. Each night you can log into dxinone, and check up on your digots to see how much you made in profit. Everyone has a different way for buying his or her digots. Again buying and selling digots is just like buying and selling stock. You will see under your TDV Total digot value how much profit you have. You can also tell how much money you used, and how much you can take out of dxinone. Each night you will gain any where from .35% to .5% in returns as profits. The nice thing about dxinone is that your money is compounded daily unlike other investments that might only compound weekly or even monthly. Each night you are making money with e-currency.

As you can see it can be very hard for someone to learn how to use or even start with Dxinone. This is a system that everyone should get to know, as it is a very profitable way of making money online with e-currency exchange.

Visit Mazu e-currency online for more information about dxinone and e-currency trading.

I used the mazu guide to help me get started in Dxinone. It also helped me take my $400 investment into Dxinone and turn it into $5,100 in 4 months. Visht Mazu E-currency Online to see how the mazu guide can help you.

Making Money with Stocks and Shares is far easier than making money with products or services.

Advantages include:

a) Less working capital is needed. With products and services, a large amount of working capital is used to buy goods and then store and deliver etc.

b) You’re not just paying for the product, you have to invest in the infrastructure to sell the product. We’re talking offices, employees etc.

c) Less wastage. With products, your will have a range. When that range diminishes, the remainder has less value unless you invest to further expand that range.

d) Sustainability. If your product is, for example, fashion related, you will be in boom one year and bust the next.

e) Services are more attractive than products, but again, investment must be made in employees, office space, training etc.

I look at stocks and shares as a market stall. Only it’s better. I can buy my product (the shares), wait for the price to rise and then sell. Immediately.

OK there is risk in deciding which stock to buy. But it is no more risky and much more controllable than deciding which products to put in my store.

Todays News

Bank unanimous on holding interest rates: A modest rise in interest rates appeared likely today after it emerged that the Bank of England had again raised fears over inflation. …

Fed expected to hold line on interest rates: WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve is expected to leave interest rates unchanged today for a second straight month, and many analysts think there won’t be any.

Learn more

Click to read daily comments and keep updated: http://www.wanttosaysomething.com/

You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made, the author’s name is retained and the link to our site URL remains active.

To many people that sounds amazing, and perhaps it is. It can be very profitable for investors and fortunes have been made by many. The incentive to learn forex trading is the oldest incentive by far, the incentive to make profit. If you learn forex trading you are learning how to make your money make more money for you, the goal of all investors.

If you choose to learn forex trading online you are not alone since thousands of people choose this method every year. If you learn forex trading online you have the benefit of choosing an instructor from almost anywhere in the world, or to choose multiple instructors. When you learn forex trading in this fashion your virtual classmates could be from England, Hong Kong, Singapore, Paris, or any other exotic locale that you may have only read about in the past. Obviously this diversity of culture and knowledge will be beneficial. During online chats and student discussions questions will be raised that you may not have thought of yourself, and you’ll be able to benefit by hearing the answers.

The ultimate goal of forex trading is to trade currency in a consistent manner that will result in profit. For instance, buying Euros with US dollars and then selling the Euros for more than you gave for them when the market changes. This is the oldest rule of business, buy low and sell high. If you learn forex trading you’ll be able to do this on a scale you never would have thought possible, limited only by the amount of investment funds you have and by market conditions.

Forex-Resource-Pro.com – The Internet’s Ultimate Forex Resource!

Imagine you are trying to do car repairs, and the only tool you have is a hammer. Sure, you’ll be able to get some jobs done, but they won’t be done properly and you’ll most likely break something else in the process. Trading stocks online is much like that. There are many ways to trade, but only some of them truly work. Sometimes, investors end up losing money because they didn’t take the time to find the proper investment method or tool. Here are some tips that can help you to trade successfully.

If you want to reduce the risk that comes with holding an investment, you will want to look into the practice known as hedging. One of the best ways to hedge your investments is to take any shares you have in a company and sell them to the company’s opposition.

For stability, you will want to look to investing a pre-arranged amount of money each month into one or more mutual funds. Mutual funds are composed of shares from approximately 10 companies, and often focus on a specific area of the market, such as energy, paper, or currency. Although there is still a risk that you can lose money through your mutual funds, they are much more stable and have a much higher chance of recovery, based on the fact that they center on stocks from more than one company. Be patient if the market takes a downturn; don’t sell your funds or stock immediately. History has shown that if a market goes down, it will also go up.

Another online trading tactic is to look at the stock market and find good, stable companies whose stock has taken a downturn. The way to find them is to look for ones that have dividend yields. Pick several of these companies and invest equal amounts of money in buying stocks from each of them. Although there is risk involved with this method, the history and stability of these companies is often enough to pull them through the slump they may be experiencing. And when their stocks begin to rise in value, you will benefit from this wise trading investment.

When most investors hear the word forex, the words that flash through their brain are “risky,” “complicated,” and “tiny profit margins.” This is because the information on currency trading isn’t as available and easy to access as the stock market. A stock investor just needs to pick up the Wall Street Journal or turn on CNBC to instantly see what’s new and exciting. When you’re a stock investor, you can talk to your friends, neighbors, and co-workers about what you’re buying, share tips, and brag about your profits. Everyone is familiar with the stock market. Forex is a different beast. To find information, you have to turn to the internet or privately run newsletters. You can’t talk about forex with anyone in your everyday life because they won’t understand the lingo and will have no idea what you’re talking about. It’s a shame, because our game has some major advantages over stock trading. Maybe if forex information was more public, the average investor would realize the following 5 things to be true.

One thing that most people doesn’t realize is that there is no trading commission involved in currency trading. When you’re trading stocks frequently, even if it’s done online at $20 a pop, the fees start eating into your profits. If you’re trading options, you’re not only paying a commission on the trade, but you’re also paying additional fees per contract. Fortunately for forex investors, the only retail transaction cost is the bid/ask spread which is usually less than 5 pips (0.05%).

Secondly, the currency market is open 24 hours a day, 5 days per week. Unlike the stock exchange, which is only active between the opening and closing bells, you can trade forex first thing in the morning or in the wee hours of the night. There are people all around the world trading at all hours, so a trader can take advantage of any market condition at any time.

Another big benefit to the foreign exchange is the huge leverage opportunity. Leverage, also called margin, is when you borrow your broker’s money and add it to your own capital in order to make a larger investment. In the stock market, you have to pass your brokers strict guidelines to be approved for a margin account, and if you do, you’ll get a maximum of 2:1 (which means if you invest $10,000, you can borrow $10,000). In forex, a ratio of up to 400 is considered normal. If you use that massive amount of leverage properly and hit some big winners, you can make substantial money in short periods of time. Of course, the opposite is true as well. You can lose substantial money very quickly also. But you can’t get a better opportunity to use other people’s money.

A fourth advantage to currency trading is it’s size. Because the forex market is so huge and has so many traders active at all times, no single investor can corner the market. In the stock market, each equity issue has a finite amount of outstanding shares. For many small cap companies, a large investor could amass a large percentage of those outstanding shares, and because of the low liquidity, their choice to buy, sell, or hold will have drastic effects on the price of that particular stock. With currency, no single investor, not even a central bank, can accumulate a controlling amount of something like the dollar, pound, or franc.

The last great characteristic of the forex that we’ll discuss in this article is the never ending bull market. Forex is a zero sum game. A gain is only made when one currency rises in value in relation to another currency. So this means that if one currency is going down, another is going up. In the stock market, when a bear market hits, the vast majority of stocks are all going down. If Microsoft drops 5 points, that certainly doesn’t mean that GE went up 5 points. Sure, you can short stocks in a declining market, but the average investor isn’t too keen on the unlimited downside risk and probably doesn’t even have the margin to be able to make the trade. Just remember that something is always guaranteed to go up in the currency market.

There are dozens of other reasons why the forex is one of the best playing fields in the investment world. If you are an investor, do some research and see for yourself. Open up a demo trading account at one of the several online forex brokers and see how you do. You might just find that it blows the stock market out of the water.

This article is just a small piece of the free Forex Trading Course at forexgameplan.com Go learn about this incredible market and sign up today while the 30 day course is still free.