Getting Started in Currency Trading Winning Today's Forex Market

THE FOREIGN EXCHANGE MARKETS

The FOREX Landscape 
Introduction—What Is FOREX? 
What Is a Spot Market? 
Which Currencies Are Traded? 
Who Trades on the Foreign Exchange? 
How Are Currency Prices Determined? 
Why Trade Foreign Currencies? 
What Tools Do I Need to Trade Currencies? 
What Does It Cost to Trade Currencies? 
FOREX versus Stocks 
FOREX versus Futures 


A Brief History of Currency Trading 

Ancient Times

The Gold Standard, 1816–1933 
The Fed 
Securities and Exchange Commission, 1933–1934 

The Bretton Woods System, 1944–1973 
The End of Bretton Woods and the Advent of Floating Exchange Rates 
International Monetary Market 
Into the Millennium 
Arrival of the Euro 
The CFTC and the NFA 


Two Ways to Trade FOREX 
Introduction—Futures Contracts 
Currency Futures 
Contract Specifications 
Currencies Trading Volume 
U.S. Dollar Index 
Volume and Open Interest 
Where to Trade 
FOREX Futures 

GETTING STARTED

Regulation: Past, Present, and Future 
Regulation in the FOREX Market 
Regulation Past 
Regulation Present 
Regulation Future 


The FOREX Lexicon 
Currency Pairs 
Major and Minor Currencies 
Cross Currency 
Exotic Currency 
Base Currency 
Quote Currency 
Pips 
Ticks
Margin 
Leverage 
Bid Price 
Ask Price 
Bid-Ask Spread 
Quote Convention 
Market Maker and ECN 
Transaction Cost 
Rollover 


Trading Tables 
Pips 
Profit and Loss 
Margin 
Leverage 
The Bid-Ask Spread 
Profit Threshold 
For Futures Traders 


A Guide to FOREX Brokers 
Broker-Dealer Due Diligence

Demo Accounts 
Market Maker or ECN? 
FCM or IB? 
Platform Capabilities 
Trading Tools 
The Trader’s Desktop 
News 
Platform Stability and Backbone 
Historical Data 
Data Feed 
Orders 
Margin Requirements 

Order Backup 
Account Minimums 
Pairs, Crosses, and Exotics 
Deposits and Withdrawals 
Transaction Costs 
Trading Hours 
Customer Service 
Documentation 
Requoting 
Stop Harvesting 
Ballooning Spreads 
Financials 
Rollovers and Interest 
FOREX Broker-Dealers 
Popular Broker-Dealers 
The Big Three 
For the Professional 
Fraud, Scams, and Off-Exchange 
Broker-Dealer Due Diligence Form 


Opening a FOREX Account 
Account Types 
Opening the Account: Steps 


Making the Trade 
Orders 
Market Orders 
Limit Orders 
Stop Orders 
Combination Orders 
Specialty Orders 
Order Placement 
Order Execution 
Order Confirmation 
Open Orders 

THE TOOLS OF THE TRADE

Fundamental Analysis
Supply and Demand 
Interest Rates 
Balance of Trade 
Purchasing Power Parity 
Gross Domestic Product 
Intervention 
Other Economic Indicators 
Forecasting 


Technical Analysis

Bar Charts 
Trendlines 
Support and Resistance 
Recognizing Chart Patterns 
Reversal Patterns 
Continuation Patterns 
Candlestick Charts 
Point and Figure Charts 
Charting Caveat—Prediction versus Description 
Indicators and Oscillators 
Relative Strength Indicator 
Momentum Analysis 
Moving Averages 
Bollinger Bands 
Indicator Caveat—Curve-Fit Data 
Wave and Swing Analysis 
Cycle Analysis 
Trading Systems 
The Technician’s Creed 

A Trader’s Toolbox 
General Principles 
A KIS Toolbox 
A Chart Interpretation Technique 
GSCS Rules 
The Nofri Congestion Phase Method 
Pugh Swing Chart Formations 
A Moving Average and Oscillator Battery 
Contrary Opinion 
Volume and Open Interest 
Heuristics 


The FOREX Marketplace 
Organizing Your Bookmarks 
Portals and Forums 
Charting and Technical Services 
FOREX Education 
News and Calendars 
Live Data and APIs 
Historical Data 
System Development Tools 
FOREX Managed Accounts 
Peter Panholzer 
Advisory Services 
Online Reference Guides 
Spread and Binary Betting 
Periodicals—In Print and Online 


Retail FX Platforms 
Professional FX Platforms 
Trading Platform Features 

THE COMPLETE FOREX TRADER

The Plan! The Plan! 
Parts of the Plan 
Plan Materials 
Mission-Critical Information Sheet 
Biofeedback Form 
The Snowflake Method 
Trade Heuristic Worksheet 
30 Trade Campaign Worksheet 
Continuation Charts 
SnagIt
Performance Diagnostics 
Record Keeping 
When Things Go Wrong 

Money Management Simplified 
Breaking Even—The Belgian Dentist 
Expectations 
Trader Profiles 
Parameters for Trader Profiles 
The Trade Campaign Method (CTM) 
Calculating CTM Profit and Loss 
Protecting Profits 
Stop-Loss Orders—Physical or Mental? 
Selecting Currency Pairs to Trade 

Psychology of Trading 
The Trading Pyramid 
Fear and Greed, Greed and Fear 
Profiling Performance 
The Attitude Heuristic 

Characteristics of Successful Traders 

Improving Your Trading Skills 
Techniques 
Skills 
Trading the News 
Summary 

EXTRA FOR EXPERTS

Options and Exotics 
Options 
An Options Primer 
Basic Options Terms 
The Pros and Cons of Options 
The Four Basic Options Strategies 
Purchasing and Writing Options 
Advanced Options Strategies 
The Greeks 
The Retail FOREX Options Landscape 
Options for Trading 
Options for Money Management 
Exotics 
Trading Exotics 

Computers and FOREX 
Technical Analysis 
Expert Advisors 
Automated Trading and BOTS 
High-Frequency and Ultra-High-Frequency Trading 
Into the Future of FOREX 
The Trend Machine 

Arbitrage 
Pros and Cons of Arbitrage

How the FOREX Game Is Played 
Market Makers and ECNs 
A Peek under the Hood 

List of World Currencies and Symbols 

Time Zones and Global FX Trading Hours 287
Central Banks and Regulatory Agencies 289


FX Calculation Scenarios 297
Calculating Profit and Loss 297
Calculating Units Available 303
Calculating Margin Requirements 305
Calculating Transaction Cost 306
Calculating Account Summary Balance