Profitable Forex Trading Strategies

As you know, the only way to make money in the forex currency exchange market is to have profitable forex trading strategies and good money management. Without these two skills, you will certainly fail as a trader and if you master these, you will be a very profitable forex trader.

It sounds so easy, doesn't it? Two simple rules to follow and you will be profitable in this business. The problem with this however, is that most people can't follow these rules. They let their emotions get in the way of their trading and make bad decisions. They may not take any trades at all because they're afraid they'll lose money. They may be in a profitable trade and decide to close it early to lock in their small profits. They may decide to let their losers run longer than they should because they "know" the currency is about to reverse and go in their direction. There are many reasons why people fail in this business and these are just a few of the examples.

Before you start trading, you need to learn about this business. You not only need to learn how and when to trade forex, but you also need to know when "not to trade". This is just as important. You also need to know how much "risk" you should take on any given trade. If you over leverage your account, you will lose money very quickly and you could actually blow your entire trading account.

Once you learn how to trade, the next step would be to open a forex demo trading account. This is the trading platform you would use from the forex broker of your choice to make trades in the market. Most forex brokers have all the charts and tools you need and the platform on which to execute your trades. Demo accounts allow new forex traders to trade fake money while trading the live market. You get to trade on a live trading platform but you risk absolutely no money. There aren't any businesses I know of where you can learn everything you need without costing you a dime.

Demo accounts are a great way for new traders to get a feel for trading the forex market without risking any money. But be careful. When you trade a forex demo account, and you know in your mind that you have no money at risk, you can start making stupid trading decisions. You may use poor money management skills and risk far too much money on each trade. You may double up on trades to make up for losing trades. These are bad habits, and the last thing you want to do in this business is treat it like a game. It's not a game. It's a real business and should be treated as such.

Before getting into trades, you should also know exactly what price you're getting in to the market and also know what your stop loss and take profit targets should be. If you don't know these three things, do not trade. Every profitable forex trading strategy you learn will have the rules for determining these entry and exit points. Also know that a profitable forex trading strategy does not have to be complicated. Most of the best forex trading strategies are very simple to learn and use.

If you follow the simple rules we mentioned above, you will see how profitable this business can be. It's no wonder why trading forex is becoming one of the fastest growing home businesses today. You get to work from your home using your personal computer and an internet connection. Pick up a great forex trading strategy and open up a forex trading account with a broker and you have everything you need to start trading.

Profitable Forex Trading Strategy - Candlestick Patterns

The Forex currency exchange is the largest financial market in the world and allows traders to capitalize upon currency trends to generate profits. There are many Forex trading strategies a currency trader could use to profit in this business. This article explains what specific candlestick patterns we look for to make some very profitable forex trades.

Candlesticks in Forex Trading - There are a few things you need to know when trading candlesticks. In my experience, the 30 minute charts are the best ones to use when trading candlestick patterns. You must always wait for the candles to complete to make sure the candlestick pattern is complete. Do not guess where the candle will close and try to get into a trade early.

There are many other candlestick patterns, however some are more dependable than others. The ones I use are called engulfing patterns. Specifically "Bullish Engulfing" and Bearish Engulfing". Both of these are reversal patterns and are considered to be some of the most profitable candlestick patterns to trade. When the candle body engulfs the previous candles body, this is called an "engulfing" pattern. Bullish engulfing patterns are found at price bottoms and bearish engulfing patterns are found at price tops.

How to Trade Engulfing Candles - To trade engulfing candle stick patterns, we're looking for an end of an uptrend or downtrend. This doesn't have to be a strong trend but it does need to have some momentum that looks like it's coming to an end. A good indication of a trend coming to an end is when the bodies of the candles are getting smaller in size. That means the momentum may be running out and this is when you should be looking for a reversal in price action. This could also be the beginning of a consolidation period, so we need to be aware of that.

In an uptrend, we look for an "up" candle immediately followed by a "down" candle, where the body of the "down" candle engulfs the previous "up"' candle. This is the setup we want to see so we take the short trade immediately following the close of this candlestick. Next, we count how many pips away the top of the highest last 2 candles are, including the wick, and add 5 pips. This is our Stop Loss. Our Take Profit target should be set to twice this value. For example, if our stop loss is 40 pips away, then our take profit should be at least 80 pips. Money management/risk to reward ratio, are key in this business. A long trade would be similar to a short trade except we're looking for a downtrend reversal to get into a trade.

You can search around the web for forex candlestick patterns and learn all you need to know about them, but remember there are so many of them, you need to just focus on a few. As I mentioned, the engulfing candlestick patterns are some of the best patterns to trade so if you stick with those, you'll do very well.