Throughout the centuries, the currencies of the most dominant nations have been valued above others. From the Middle Ages to prior to World War 1, there was very little speculation in currency values.

During the 1930’s & 1940’s, the world’s currencies were in turmoil due to the Depression & WW2.  Because the U.S. escaped the War without major damage, it’s dollar became the currency by which all others were measured.

Several international agreements to set the way in which currency was traded were introduced and failed, until the current system was mandated by the International Monetary Fund in 1978.

The Foreign Exchange is a marketplace where currencies are bought and sold on the basis of their listed value in relationship to another currency.

In the “Spot Market”, major currencies like the British Pound and the Euro are traded based upon their value against the U.S. Dollar – i.e. it is the USD v GBP currency pair or the USD v EUR currency pair.

The FX Market is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average

turnover in excess of US$5 trillion — 30 times larger than the combined volume of all U.S. equity markets.

About 5% of the daily trading on the Foreign Exchange relates to products sold from one country to another. Profits made in foreign currencies must be converted into the local currency.

The remaining 95% is speculative trading – investors and traders who speculate on the direction of the price movement of a currency and who buy and sell currencies based upon this speculation.

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I was contacted by someone today who was caught up in the “Aussie Method” scam. It really annoys me when these offshore scams take advantage of people who may not have the strongest of financial educations.

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Brokers are the “intermediaries” between traders – using their trading software platforms to accept your trade and find another trader to complete an opposite trade (for each Buy Trade, there must be a Sell Trade and for each Sell Trade, there must be a Buy Trade).

These brokers charge you a fee to handle this transaction, often in the form of a commission or a percentage of your trade (depending on the tyope of product that you choose to trade).  These fees will vary depending on the broker, the product traded, the position size, as well as possibly the time you place or exit your trade.

Many Brokers will provide you with the means to analyse the Market, using a trading platform –a computer application that allows you view charts, as well as to place and close trading positions.

The very good trading platforms will have a “demo trading platform” which emulates the real time trading charts, but allows you to place “practice trades” with simulated funds, allowing you to learn without risking real money.

Choosing a Broker that suits your needs can be a large Key to your success as a Trader.

Don’t compromise when it comes to availability of charts and indicators, access to fast trade entries and exits, a reasonable pip spread that doesn’t steal all of your hard earned profits and reliability.

Many traders will tell you of their anguish waiting for their broker to accept their trade with the trade being high in the positives only to have it  turn around just as they were finally let in!

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Having an awareness of the Strengths and Challenges of each will prepare you to trade to best suit your skillset, your resources and your Trading Goals.

Fundamental Analysis

Trading based upon Market Conditions.

Analysing the impact of internal and external Socio Economic Factors, including Employment, Balance of Trade, Politics, to name a few.

To trade Fundamental Analysis, you will need to have instant access to fast and accurate information about these factors and their effects on each of the shares,  CFD’s, commodities or currencies that you trade.

Because of the level of information required, Fundamental Analysis is generally the playground of the “Big Kids” – Banks, Fund Managers

Technical Analysis

Trading based upon market strengths and weaknesses and levels of Support and Resistance in Indicator Charts.

Technical Analysts use a set of charts with different indicators that give a historical and current time record of trades – factors that can be analysed are points of Support (potential barrier to downward movement) or Resistance (potential barrier to upward movement) to price movement.

Technical Analysis is the preference of many private traders as; once you have an education, the information is relatively uncomplicated, to analyse to find strong potential trade entry and exit points.

Because these charts are standard across currency pairs, you can transition from one share to another, one CFD to another, one Mineral to another or one currency pair to another without needing to know fundamental factors for each product.

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As we started to evolve, fear was a useful tool to keep us safe and away from potentially life threatening situations.

When we are afraid, blood flow with vital oxygen is diverted from the brain to our muscles (so we can run away from a charging sabre tooth tiger). the effect of this decreasing blood flow to the brain is that most of our higher cognitive functions – the ability to make a rational decision is virtually non-existent.

Is “Fight, Flight or Freeze” Relevant to Your Trading?

In life threatening situations is more important that we run than we think about running…

In modern life with many life threatening situations no longer present, sometimes fear can overwhelm us in regards to perceived, (but not really dangerous) threats – disappointing your boss, speaking in public or losing all of your hard earned money on a bad trade.

An the fears that come up as trader are somehow magnified when we’re sitting in front of those charts – fear of loss, fear of making a bad decision, fear of looking bad, fear of success.

And I personally haven’t had to run away from a sabre tooth tiger in years!

But, the truth is, these situations are hardly life threatening and the fear is just a reaction to a POSSIBLE outcome – most likely not the actual outcome.

Dealing with Irrational Fear

There are different mechanisms you can use to minimise the stress associated with irrational fear.

Most of the time, FACTS KILL FEAR. Stop and take a moment. Breathe deeply.,.. this will balance out out adrenalin and cause blood to return to the decision making part of the brain and look at the ACTUAL circumstances and get clarity around the real potential threat.

Hardly in daily life are circumstances life threatening and a calm rational mind is generally all that is needed to get over fear.

Decide on a course of action with a clear head and follow that plan. Focus on your outcome, distract yourself from irrelevant, unlikely situations and take actions that are consistent with achieving your outcome.

Breathe.  Relax. Focus. You will be fine

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This is your Roadmap to your Goals, as well as a set of rules to follow in times of confusion, frustration, indecision and lack of focus.

The Elements of a Trading Plan

A good Good Trading Plan should take into account all of the key aspects of being a Successful Profitable Trader:

 Your Risk Management Strategy

 Your Pre Trade Routine

 Your Trade Set Up and Entry Rules

 Your Stop Loss ./ Take Profit Scenarios

 Your Education Plan

 Your Trade Analysis Rules

 Your Coaching Plan

 Your Mindset Management Strategies

Not addressing these key factors can weaken your overall strategy and diminish the probability of you trading PROFITABLY.

YOUR Trading Plan

You may notice that I used the word YOUR at the start of every aspect… That is because you will never achieve YOUR goals if you are copying someone else’s plans.

Now, using a structure for Your Trading Plan is a good idea – and seeking guidance from an objective third party that understands the elements and importance of Creating a Comprehensive Trading Plan is often necessary – for perspective and to include the elements that we may not want to deal with in our trading.

In my experience, leaving something out of your Trading Plan is the first sign that you have unresolved issues in that area that need to be addressed – ignore them and they will impact your performance as a trader and ultimately whether or not you will achieve your goals.

Creating Success With Your Trading Plan

Your Trading Plan is a living breathing document and should be read and updated regularly, as you transition through stages of your trading career.  The Plan that you write as a new Live Trader will have different structures than the one you wrote as a Demo Trader and will be different to the one that you use as a Proficient Profitable Trader.

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