Yen today once again demonstrates the growth and Sean Kallou, currency strategist Westpac, notes that, while this can be partly attributed to the liquidation of short positions against the backdrop of falling stock market, is also to draw attention to the fact that cash flows have recently become more positive for the Japanese currency. He drew attention to the fact that the Ministry of Finance of Japan indicated to reduce the interest of Japanese investors for foreign assets, while the Japanese assets in the recent demand from foreign accounts. Meanwhile, according to Kallou in the coming weeks we will probably see another bout of unrest on the prospects of strengthening the world economy that would support an increase in volatility in the market. The latter would be a very positive development for the Japanese currency, although it is noteworthy that in a couple of the dollar increase in the yen may be not so active. Moreover, Kallou drew attention to the fact that the historical volatility of the dollar, with an increase in the use of the Great location bulls than the yen, the U.S. currency was still enjoys great popularity as a safe haven asset, and another wave of risk are likely to support the growth of the dollar / yen

I've noticed that the Forex markets move both fast and slow.If you are busy sinking money into some carry positions, the market might suddenly decide to go sideways, or perhaps down, for the next week. So, you go underwater and don't get to lighten your load on subsequent upswings.However, if you are light in the market, a piece of news will drop and leave your jaw on the floor as you miss out on a quick 100 pip swing. Obviously, if you play the news, it will come in on the wrong side or the market with interpret it in a way that surprises you in order to throw you under the wheels of the money train.In short, it's not easy getting into the market safely with any quantity of net asset value.The problem really arises when you take small bites, getting into the market without risking all that much, and then find out that you were wrong. The market will wiggle around a lot, near your entry price, enticing you into thinking it will eventually recover, and then sink a bit more. If you put in a stop loss, the market will hit that, then bounce back up -- taunting you with a profit that you can't participate in.It's simply devious.So, how do you get into the market? How do you accumulate a set of carry positions that are in profit? When do you enter the market? What signals should you be following? As I've noted before, technical analysis of the carry pairs is very tricky, as they are driven by market movements. These pairs are happy to run roughshod over your trend lines any time the markets are euphoric, nervous or calm enough to lure you in.My suggestion is for you to work out the resistance points. As you approach a resistance point you can see how the pair reacts. If it stops or starts to bounce, you might feel it worthwhile to enter a position. You are basically risking the pip spread plus the distance to your stop loss. You simply have to risk a small amount of capital in order to play.The key is pick your entry points when you have the best chance of seeing an upturn. It's not easy.

Well, things have gone poorly just lately. Not because of anything that I've been responsible for, but because I was the recipient of an "insufficient funds" check. As the money I was planning to use over the holiday period was rudely removed from my account I was forced to withdraw a large portion of my Forex account.I'm quite peeved!Especially since I had some good in-profit positions protected by a stop loss. After I had to unload for a small profit the market continued to rise for a couple of days. Of course, if I was still in during the Thursday evening sell-off, I would have been taken out for sure, it still would have been at a higher profit level.Oh well. There isn't much I can do about it. As it is, I'm searching for a job and hoping to soon be playing the Forex in a serious way. Up until now I have only been working with an extremely small capitalization. Upon resuming my career, which I expect to happen early in the new year, I'll be able to accumulate a reasonable stake and put my recent "education" to work.

Forex trading isn't easy, it's about as risky a financial endeavor as you can legally participate in.Wait, let me rephrase that... foreign exchange trading is easy, success isn't. Yeah, that's right, that's my tag line. It's true.If you are looking for the easy button, here are some platitudes for you:
Buy low and sell high.
Have inside access to national economic reports.
Witness a major international incident prior to the news reports.

If you are willing to work hard, be patient, and work to preserve your capital, then here are some more helpful suggestions:
Wait for a buying opportunity before entering a market.
Manage your risk via position size and stop loss orders.
Learn to recognize when you should not be trading.Waiting For A Buying OpportunityIf you don't know how to recognize a buying opportunity, then you need to be playing with funny money still. Perhaps there has been a big movement recently. Perhaps there is a news release on the way. Perhaps you have noticed a trend and your indicators are giving you signals. Whatever the case, don't just throw your money at the market and hope for a profitable move.Managing Your RiskIt's easy to get fully invested. Heck, if you are careless you can do this in one trade. If you aren't careful you can blow up your entire account within minutes. Sure, you do have to take a risk every time you enter the market, but you don't have to take huge risks in order to achieve significant returns on your money. Make sure you are around for the long haul because eventually the market will make a move in your direction.

Generally, when you are having a bad day, whether because of the markets or otherwise, it is a good time not to trade. If you are bored, stressed, emotional, desperate , depressed, or angry, you are very likely to make poor decisions. All it takes is one unlucky rash decision to lose your capital. The forex trading game is one that requires vigilance and discipline. Know yourself.Anyway, today is Sunday, so I can't trade just yet. What do I do on Sunday? I think about potential trading strategies. I look forward to the day when I have real capital in the markets and am making a serious income. I review my previous ill fated forex trades. I write in my blog.

Today's traders must keep informed of world events which impact the Foreign Currency Market moment by moment. We have compiled the following continuously-updating worldwide list of Forex Headline News.A very convenient way to jump directly to this page on a regular basis is from our Gift Screensaver (left menu). With inspiring quotes illustrated by beautiful nature photos, this quality screensaver provides a one-keystroke method for traders to stay up-to-the-minute with all Forex News (Hitting the F1 Key brings you instantly back to this news page, anytime the screensaver is on your screen -- which is not when you are in a trade hopefully).

This must be one of the questions that confound people who believe deflation is coming. I am not one of them, as I look at the 3-year weekly chart of crude oil.The chart looks very bullish. On a weekly chart, exponential moving averages (13-EMA and 34-EMA) seem to work well; their crossovers seem to indicate a new trend well. The crossovers of these moving averages also coincides with very slow stochastics (60, 3) crossing 50.Right now, 13-EMA is just about to cross above 34-EMA, and both EMAs are turning UPWARD. RSI looks well supported at the trend line. I don't like slow stochastics still very far from 50 and turning down slightly, but since this is a weekly chart I'm willing to give it several more weeks.Besides, the formation since the last EMA crossover (September 2008) looks like a cup and handle, with the handle forming above 50% (barely, but still above) retracement from the bottom to the price immediately before it started to tank in earnest.If this formation breaks out of the handle, the target price would be the handle high ($73.90) plus the depth of the cup ($38.77), which will take the crude oil to $112.67, a 69% increase from today's close at $66.73.With dismal news all around us again, this number looks literally fantastic (i.e. that which exists only in fantasy). Or crude oil price movement is telling us it is inflation, not deflation, that's coming our way

Yen reached their highs for the past two weeks, after the emergence of that economic statistics in Japan had fallen short of expectations, and regulatory authorities in the United States closed the five banks. As a result, investors started to close long positions in the yen crosses from within the traditional flight from risk. The most significant Japanese currency strengthened against the Norwegian krone and the Australian dollar. The negative trend in equity markets also contributed to the denial of risk transactions. "It is clear that the currency markets following the stock indexes," - note the dealers. "When stocks are falling, people are buying yen." However, at present euro / yen was confronted with a demand of 132.80, following a breakthrough will result in the movement to the base of the cloud Ishimoku at 132.50.Soglasno average forecast in a three-month dollar / yen could reach the level of 100.75, while euro / yen - 136 .

The British currency remained under pressure across the whole spectrum of the market, while paired with yen this helps the overall strengthening of the latter against the backdrop of rising tensions in the equity markets, and now the pound / yen traded around Y154.39. Bulls managed to find support around Y154.20, but currency strategi Nordea sees risks preserving the dynamics of a pair of negative and point out that growth is now trying to use to find opportunities for sales. The bank previously opened a short position of the foot, at Y155.63 from Y160.50, and the original intent of the area Y148.00.

While reading a recent CNBC article about current events something clicked for me.Here is the passage:
The dollar rose broadly on Thursday as yields on 10-year U.S. government bonds jumped more than 50 basis points in the last two weeks, drawing Japanese investors into overseas assets like global semi-conductor stocks, banks and U.S. junk bonds, according to Reuters.Do you remember the massive unwinds that occurred during the past year? Do you remember all the talk about money heading towards Japan due to risk aversion?Pay attention, this is significant. It's also backs up my much touted long term notion that carry trade currency pairs are in for a recovery.Given the quote above what do you think will happen once the jobs numbers start to turn around in the US economy? I'll tell you what I think. I think interest rates and yields will start to rise. What do you think all that money sitting in Japan will do if there is a hot US economy paying good yields? I suspect that it will leave Japan in order to earn good returns.Guess what that will do to the Yen? That's right, it will drop like a stone. When that happens you'll see carry trading pairs rise massively.Okay, I realize this may be a year to two away, but as long as we do eventually get a worldwide economic stabilization this is what is in store for us. Anyway, if you are a rookie, be careful, as you can't simply make long term bets willy-nilly. The market can always move against future expectations long enough to blow up your account and it often does so as soon as you throw caution to the wind.What this means for me is that I may be more willing to accumulate carry trade positions at moments of opportunity. Keep an eye out for fundamentals and watch leading economic indicators such as the Baltic Dry Index or the price of copper.As you can see these indexes are rising. However, they are still at historically low levels. Are we just in a bounce with respect to worldwide economic activity or are we simply coming up from a recent bottom? You decide.

QMan at Tickerville reminds you to trade the traders, not the macro fundamentals...
Here's the weekend Tape Talk.Some of the sectors he thinks attractive happen to coincide with mine. Specifically, he seems to be looking at sectors which have been dismissed or neglected by traders: commercial real estate (people just want to short), financials, commodities (industrial metals, oil, but NOT ag). He likes retail, too. NOT because of fundamental reasons but market psychology (i.e. other traders).If you haven't noticed, in this 2-week rally, commercial real estate and financials didn't materially participate. Check the charts of ETFs - IYR for commercial real estate, and XLF for financials. They basically went sideways.I have NRO (commercial real estate) and FAS (financial 3x long), and I've been sitting on MTL (iron ore) and DXO (oil). I hope Qman's right.In the video, he said one interesting thing. He said the bearish patterns like head and shoulders ended up breaking to the upside, instead of down. Maybe that's a sign of a bull rally. Or maybe it's because of High Frequency Trading feeding frenzy...If this rally has more legs, "everything will go up, at least initially", according to Quint. I agree. Just know when to quit. (If that's easy....) Whatever will be, will be

Major indices ended the day in red, although S&P 500 momentarily popped into green. But that didn't deter financials, and particularly those financials whose share prices have been reduced to bit sizes in the past year. If you owned any of these stocks, congratulations! (I hope you bought them in the past 4 months, though.)

Those of you who held on to FRE (and FNM to an extent) despite a dump on Friday, congratulations again.FRE (Freddie Mac) had the most violent 5 trading-days since it was virtually nationalized in September last year. Monday's jump was due to the earning report AH on Friday last week (FRE made profit, for a change), but the stock kept going up AH Monday and ended at $1.81, 200% up (or triple) from Tuesday last week.Freddie and sister Fannie are practically bankrupt. And yes, there's an encouraging (I suppose) talk of setting up an entity to absorb Freddie and Fannie's bad assets. But this is just a talk at this point. I have no idea where FRE or FNM will go from here. Their longer-term charts don't mean much, because, as I have just said, they are practically bankrupt and technical analysis means nothing.Retail investors who are holding FRE and/or FNM are irrationally and extremely bullish, saying their stocks will go to $5. That sounds wild, but FRE was indeed $5 one year ago

The Baltic Dry Index, which tracks shipping costs and is viewed as leading indicator for commodity prices, has had its worst week since the peak of the financial crisis last October, as Chinese demand slowed."The index fell from 3,350 to 2,772 this week – a fall of 17.2pc - as imports of iron ore and coal slowed down. The index is now 35pc lower than its 2009 high, hit on June 3."Earlier this week Ian Ashby, head of iron ore at miner BHP Billiton, said at the Diggers & Dealers conference in Australia that Chinese restocking of iron ore was at an end."Mr Ashby said that supplies at the country's ports were enough to sustain a month of consumption."However, some believe that imports have slowed down as Chinese steel mills are still locked in talks over the pricing of iron ore imports over the next 12 months."Hmmm.. I still have MTL, a Russian iron ore company, which seems to be stalling at $12. It passed that point in June, only to head back down, and back up again and headed back again in early August. I still don't see anything technical wrong with the stock, but with the macro information like Baltic Dry Index and Chinese hoarding to end, I'd better be careful, and not be too greedy.

During the last few weeks of topsy-turvy price movements I've been playing it safe. I like to buy carry trade pairs, but they've been heading down a lot.Now, the big question, when will things start to turn around? A few of the pairs are getting into historically low valuations. For example, take at the GBPJPY pair on google finance -- click the 5yr option when it loads.Sure, we could set new lows, perhaps for a months or years, but the odds of the UK having lower interests rates than Japan seems rather extreme. At some point, when things do finally settle down in another year or more, the GBPJPY will start to get attractive.Other pairs, such as GBPUSD or EURUSD, which represent a bet against the US dollar make me nervous. While there is a possibility that some parts of the world, notably Australia, New Zealand and Asia, can avoid a recessionary period it's also very possible that the sinking US dollar will create a large enough trade advantage to shift the slowdown from the US to other countries as their own companies find it harder to compete internationally.Anyway, I don't know how it will play out and from what I've learned buying a currency without having a clear notion of what you expect to happen is akin to gambling. Sure, you can be wrong when you believe something, but at least then you aren't throwing your money at the toss of the dice... and often it is possible to figure out what is going on to some degree.So, for now, I'm keeping an eye on the JPY crosses. Perhaps the AUDJPY, EURJPY, GBPJPY and CADJPY will find themselves showing up in my account?

If you are a beginning forex trader you might be wondering what exactly a pip is. Everyone throws around the lingo but hardly anyone ever stops to give a good explanation that makes things clear for the aspiring trader.Generally, a pip is explained as the least significant digit of a price quote.So, if the US Dollar (USD) trades at 120.19 JPY (Japanese Yen) then each unit of change, such as a an increase increase in value of the USD to 120.20 JPY, involves a one pip change in price.I'm going to step out on a limb and say that a PIP is a price increment point. However, the more confusing official terminology is apparently percentage in point. Which is less confusing? Either way, it's a single point of change in the quote price between two currencies. Now, while this is very simple, it can be confusing at first when you find out that different currency pairs are quoted to a varying number of digits.By way of example, here are some relatively current price quotes for various currency pairs:
AUD/JPY 093.29 AUD/USD 0.8574 EUR/USD 1.4668 EUR/JPY 159.62 GBP/JPY 198.05 GBP/USD 1.8204 NZD/USD 0.7001 USD/CAD 1.0635 USD/JPY 108.75 ,Unfortunately, it is possible that your trading platform will display partial pips! If so, I'd recommend turning that extra level of detail off when you are just getting started. Being clear on currency price and profit/loss calculations will be much more important to you as a beginner than worrying about price moves in the partial pip range.Why such a feature is enabled by default is something that mystifies me. I guess people in the forex industry soon forget what it is like to be at the beginning of your trading experience -- things can be confusing at first.

As I've written before it is quite easy to become a currency trader. The harder part is being a currency trader that doesn't lose money. You see, according to the scuttlebutt on the forums, about 90% of new traders end up losing their money to the market.Are you thinking about trying your hand?I'm not here to talk you out of it. I myself am a part time currency trader. By day I work at my office job and by night I fight crime with a mask and cape. Wait, no, that's not right. By night I trade online when family duties allow me to squander a chunk of time.Trading part time has it's challenges. You will see endless market movements that you did not participate in. You will miss opportunities to open or close a position even though your ideas about what would happen next were proven right. In fact, a very large part of trading well involves being able to deal with the psychological aspects of trading, whether part time or not.If you read other posts in my blog, such as this one , you'll see that I recommend working with very small trades. If you take larger trades, relative to your available capital, you'll find the emotional stress greatly magnified. It is very difficult to make good decisions as you watch your capital evaporate before your eyes.Nothing will drive you from the market quicker than watching your capital shrink, panicking and saving what little you can, and then watching the market reverse leaving you without a stake. Or, perhaps worse, you do get back in after seeing a healthy rise, only to watch the market reverse yet again and wreak havoc on your capital once again.It happens. I'm sure it happens a lot.Did I mention that I'm not trying to talk you out of becoming a currency trader? It certainly isn't impossible to trade successfully but you really have to understand that there are many different ways to be unsuccessful. One very easy way to fail is to enter the market during a period in which it is easy to understand market behavior, think that trading is quite easy, and then have the market turn upside down and brutally fleece you.Let's see. Yes, another painful lesson is developing the discipline to set stops and then have them tripped trivially, while the market does in fact go in the direction that you expected. Of course, this sets you up for the opposite, hanging on to a trade endlessly expecting to go as you expected, while it sucks up more and more capital.My advice, do become a currency trader. Take your time. Learn with a practice account. Eventually, switch to a micro or nano account and trade with very small amounts of money. Continue to play with very small capitalizations until you have blown up your account once or twice -- this happens when you get a margin call and all your funds (except active margin) are forfeited.Take the long view. There is always going to be another opportunity. No currency pair moves only up or only down. When trading part time you must either make accurate predictions or tread softly enough that the market can't move far enough to cause a margin call.Anyway, to get into some information you can act on, if you are totally new to the game you'll want to know the following:
Most, if not all, companies that offer online foreign exchange trading provide free forex demo accounts. These practice accounts are the same as live accounts except of course that you don't trade real money.
A currency trading platform is simply a fancy name for what is usually branded currency trading software. This software will let you view charts for various currency pairs, add indicators and execute trades
Forex trading is global. You can trade starting on Monday moring in Asia until Friday night in New York. Trading is 24 hours a day during this period though each trading session will offer differing market volume and behavior.If you are looking for a place to open your first forex demo account I'd suggest Oanda. To ensure that you don't think I'm compensated to say that I'll ask you to search Google to find them. They are a reputable company that allows you to trade with very small amounts -- which is great for starting out.

GOLD continues to be a popular form of investment right for a very long time. People prefer to invest in gold because the returns are usually high and above all gold is a very famous ornament. Even if they don't get good returns they wont face losses because their cosmetic purposes will be served. Some tend to posses gold even as a matter of prestige. It is regarded to be a good source of investment as it controls inflations and even helps you to raise finances in the future.
Gold Markets!
Gold is traded in many markets around the globe. London and New York are supposed to be large markets for gold and they function through the day. It is worth mentioning that Kong Kong and Zurich market are also open to trading for 24 hours. The gold market functions like a stock exchange in l aspects of buying selling and determination of prices though the fact remains that different factors influence the price.

Gold is currently trading at a pivot point and will most likely make a sharp move higher or lower from here. This has many traders on edge right now. I prefer to stay in cash during times like this and jump on the wagon once a direction has been confirmed and I have a low risk setup.

Learning how to trade gold and gold stocks can be done very easily if you know what to look for and have patients. I don't trade gold every week but that's what I really like about my trading model. It's simple and I don't have to be glued to the computer every day.
I can quickly look at the charts and know if I could have a potential buy or sell signal with a few days. If I do then I watch the charts, if not I focus on answering my members trading emails and look for other possible trades in other sectors like the Nat Gas and Russell 2000, etc…
As you can see from the charts above gold is at a crucial pivot point and only time will tell before we know where gold is headed. Once we have a direction I will be looking for a low risk setup which is a trade with less than 3% downside risk for putting our money to work.