Post: #1

The Foreign Exchange market, also referred to as the "FOREX" or "FX" is the largest financial market in the world, with a volume of over $4 trillion A DAY. If you compare that to the $25 billion a day volume that the New York Stock Exchange trades, you can easily see how enormous it really is.

First read this introduction. http://www.babypips.com/school/
Then, start by learning price movement,support/resistance & trends. Its the basics that are also relevant to any other trading.

http://www.investopedia.com/articles/tec...061801.asp
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/tra...dlines.asp

Next step is start trading on a demo account for few months, its totally free and you get access to the full platform. Many, many brokers are offering it.

http://www.fxopen.com/Download.aspx?name=fx4setup.exe

Post: #2

L'Étranger,

Cool post, I will check it. I have never been big on Forex.

Post: #3

Isn't forex trading one of the riskiest ways to invest?

Post: #4

" Isn't forex trading one of the riskiest ways to invest? "

Yes. Not for the faint of heart or the beginner.

However, in investing (and many times in life), the greater the risk, the greater the potential reward.

Post: #5

Have you guys hear of this book, "Bird watching in lion country"? I've heard mostly good things.

http://www.goforex.net/forex-trading-explained.htm

http://www.goforex.net/forum/showthread.php?t=8

Post: #6

(01-18-2010 12:12 PM)thegmanifesto Wrote:  However, in investing (and many times in life), the greater the risk, the greater the potential reward.

Hopefully G will not steal anymore punchlines frome me... (I doubt so)

Just to give you a taste of freedom: http://championship.mql4.com/2008/

Yes, that's 10k$ to more than 150k$ in 3 months (and its not even manual trading, its a robot software automatically buying and selling). Last phrase is in parenthesis so you don't get too shocked and leave your current job tomorrow.

Notice how half of the top players are from Eastern Europe. When McDonald's is considered the best employer in your country, I guess you don't have much choice.

Post: #7

"Hopefully G will not steal anymore punchlines frome me... (I doubt so)"

Ha. Did I bite that one from you?

Its possible, but keep in mind, I have done a tour of duty in the commodities world. I got tons of financial lines stored in the back parts of my brain waiting to re-surface.

Post: #8

Speculating in forex (or stocks, for that matter) as an amateur is just plain stupid. You have no information advantage. You are climbing into the ring with ranked heavyweights. They will eat you. It's time and energy much better spent developing revenue in an area where you DO have information advantages.

I sank time into developing an equity statarb model, which worked for a while. Then it stopped working. In the end it was a waste of time and I should have just been working harder on business.

The only viable use for a personal forex account is to hedge currency risks, because you do business across currencies, or whatever.

Having read widely and dabbled much with speculation I have come to the conclusion that Harry Browne's permanent portfolio model is all anyone should be doing. Allocate equally between equities, bonds, gold, and cash (money market). Re-balance annually. Try to diversify internationally, which is easy to do now: just pick a good global stock fund and a good global AAA sovereign debt fund. Keep some of your portfolio outside your home country. My gold is in a vault overseas.

This portfolio will grow or stay flat in any of a deflationary, inflationary, or boom environment. It has a great 200 year track record. Any time spent trying to beat this portfolio is time you could spend better making money in business.

Post: #9

"time and energy much better spent developing revenue in an area where you DO have information advantages."

Great point. I will only step to stocks where I know much, much more about than your average bear. So to speak.

Post: #10

Kingkong you didn't read Zurich Axioms, didnt you.

To diversify your portfolio is the safest way to make money. But also the safest to not get rich. "Neither rich nor poor, the middle class".

Post: #11

I am advocating "going all in" on a revenue producing business venture. "Diversifying" away from business into active speculation is stupid, because there is much lower hanging, lower risk, higher return fruit.

Harry Browne's "Permanent Portfolio" is an excellent low distraction way to preserve and grow what capital you have that is not tied up directly in your business endeavors. It is excellent at avoiding volatility while achieving decent returns, and the businessman cannot afford the distraction of volatility.

Post: #12

Today we had a great day.

The Euro tanked. Hard.

I personally almost made a profit in the 5 digits, this one day only, thanks to the power of leverage.

The trade was a short on the Euro/Yen for those interested.

Post: #13

Interesting thanks for the info LÈtranger

Post: #14

L'ETranger,

May I ask about your story of how you got into trading? How well your doing--no need for numbers. I think some of us may learn a thing or two. Especially since all of us here like to travel and trading is something that can be done anywhere.

Or anyone else who might be successful with trading. I have always been interested in this area and it would be a dream to become a great trader and travel abroad at the same time. Thanks,

Post: #15

(04-02-2010 08:00 PM)loosewin Wrote:  L'ETranger,

Or anyone else who might be successful with trading. I have always been interested in this area and it would be a dream to become a great trader and travel abroad at the same time. Thanks,

Simple. Don't trade. It's a zero-sum game where (as kingkong previously said better than I) you will lose. Are you smarter than the quants playing with house money at hedge funds? I'm not, and I recognize that.

While I won't recommend it, you may want to look at online poker. I've met a poker player from Scandinavia whose gig was to beat drunk Americans when they came home from bars and then played poker online. YMMV, but if you can do it legally (foreign countries) then it *may* be worth checking out.

Post: #16

Thanks Amish.

That is pretty much were I am. I have always into the stock market but I got out of it because I just its too hard unless you have a lot of time on your hand, and are very smart. I know a few cats that have the right jobs on wall street and even those guys don't make consistent profits. But I do think there is a lot of potential for making a killing in the markets.

About poker. I've been playing recreational for a while. I'm just starting to take it more serious and I think I should stick with it because I know it a lot better than the market and it's also a big passion for me.

Post: #17

(04-07-2010 10:18 AM)loosewin Wrote:  Thanks Amish.

That is pretty much were I am. I have always into the stock market but I got out of it because I just its too hard unless you have a lot of time on your hand, and are very smart. I know a few cats that have the right jobs on wall street and even those guys don't make consistent profits. But I do think there is a lot of potential for making a killing in the markets.

About poker. I've been playing recreational for a while. I'm just starting to take it more serious and I think I should stick with it because I know it a lot better than the market and it's also a big passion for me.

I'm also into stocks - just as a buy-and-hold investor. Watching a company increase my ownership with stock buybacks or write me a dividend check is a pretty fucking cool feeling. That said, my experience has been that controlling your emotions and being patient are the best abilities one can possess. It's also crazy hard to actually do it well.

Post: #18

(04-02-2010 08:00 PM)loosewin Wrote:  L'ETranger,

May I ask about your story of how you got into trading? How well your doing--no need for numbers. I think some of us may learn a thing or two. Especially since all of us here like to travel and trading is something that can be done anywhere.

Or anyone else who might be successful with trading. I have always been interested in this area and it would be a dream to become a great trader and travel abroad at the same time. Thanks,

I never wanted a career. When I started technical school (electronics) my goal was to create a product and launch my own business. When I joined university, I was amazed at the low quality of the education : so much of PC bullshit for a small quantity of practical things.
Plus now everything is about IT, nothing has real value. Facebook is worth something like 11 billion.
Someone who take the standard path in life dont realize he is in a false economy when the government can say at anytime "oh ok we have too much debt, you are all fucked", just like in Greece. Next thing is civil war. I mean just watching the deadly riots overthere and it sure doesnt look good.

With trading you dont give a flying f*ck about the economy because you can be bearish (short) on any country. Since currencies represents countries. Just today, the Euro tanked by 1000 points, and I was happily helping the markets go down. With 1 standard lot, each point is worth 10$ btw.

Still its not all about the money. It's also that I despise the current feminist/marxist society. 2 birds 1 stone I guess. Oh and thanks to internet, you can trade from anywhere in the world. Perpetual travelling. 3 birds.

Post: #19

Just for the perspective.

Post: #20

(01-18-2010 10:10 AM)Roosh Wrote:  Isn't forex trading one of the riskiest ways to invest?

Isn't keeping all your money in U.S. dollars, undiversified across other currencies, one of the riskiest ways to invest?

Post: #21

If you ask to someone in the street, why we had this economical crisis, most of them will talk about how bad capitalism is and we should have regulated more. Problem is, we are closer to communism than a free market.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAnXK0_d_T8
(the guy is a bit weird but explains well)

Post: #22

(10-26-2010 10:49 PM)LÉtranger Wrote:  If you ask to someone in the street, why we had this economical crisis, most of them will talk about how bad capitalism is and we should have regulated more. Problem is, we are closer to communism than a free market.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAnXK0_d_T8
(the guy is a bit weird but explains well)

The thing is, the crisis came out of everyone trying to take advantage of the system. Bankers took advantage of the system because they knew they were too big to fail (and there was a lot of money to be made) and the government exasperated the problem because they were in the pockets of the banks.

In the U.S. we're neither living in a free market system or a controlled "communist" system. We're somewhere in between, but we are where we are, and other more-socialistic countries are where they are, because they want higher levels of living for the majority, unlike more free-market societies that end up with a very high level of life for the rich and few, and a crummy life for everyone else.

The only reason the "free markets" have such a following now is because we're exporting this low-level of life to other countries so that problems that led to socialism slowly fade away from our collective thought.

If the markets were free, as many super-rich want them to be, the quality of life of the majority wouldn't be where it is today.

Post: #23

(01-20-2010 09:50 PM)kingkong Wrote:  Speculating in forex (or stocks, for that matter) as an amateur is just plain stupid. You have no information advantage. You are climbing into the ring with ranked heavyweights. They will eat you. It's time and energy much better spent developing revenue in an area where you DO have information advantages.

I sank time into developing an equity statarb model, which worked for a while. Then it stopped working. In the end it was a waste of time and I should have just been working harder on business.

The only viable use for a personal forex account is to hedge currency risks, because you do business across currencies, or whatever.

Having read widely and dabbled much with speculation I have come to the conclusion that Harry Browne's permanent portfolio model is all anyone should be doing. Allocate equally between equities, bonds, gold, and cash (money market). Re-balance annually. Try to diversify internationally, which is easy to do now: just pick a good global stock fund and a good global AAA sovereign debt fund. Keep some of your portfolio outside your home country. My gold is in a vault overseas.

This portfolio will grow or stay flat in any of a deflationary, inflationary, or boom environment. It has a great 200 year track record. Any time spent trying to beat this portfolio is time you could spend better making money in business.

How is your portfolio doing lately? I'll check out Harry Browne's permanent portfolio model.

Post: #24

Hey L'étranger have you read the Black Swan by Taleb?

Post: #25

Those who "say" don't "know".
Those who "know" don't "say".