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Posts Tagged ‘Forex Trader’

Forex Charts: Tic, Line, Bar, Point and Figure

October 6th, 2011 Comments off

One of the best forex trader techniques for establishing positions in an online trading account involves analyzing exchange rate charts for a currency pair.  Technical forex traders might use a variety of chart types for this purpose, which can include tic or tick charts, line charts, bar charts and point and figure charts.

The following sections will discuss each of the aforementioned chart types in greater detail. Although Japanese candlestick charts are also very popular among forex traders, a discussion of that especially detailed charting method lies outside the scope of this article.

 

The Tic Chart

The tic or tick chart is one of the best forex trader tools for very short term trading strategies such as scalping, or for timing an entry into the market being analyzed. This popular chart type lacks a time frame and simply involves graphing a new tick each time that the exchange rate changes. Most forex traders operating in an online trading account via an online forex broker that supports a reasonably sophisticated forex trading platform like MetaTrader will also be able to plot both the bid and offer exchange rates on their tic charts, as Figure 1 below illustrates.

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Figure 1: A tic chart for GBP/USD showing the offered exchange rate in blue and the bid rate in red.

 

The Line Chart

The line chart is another useful tool that helps traders smooth out the price action and identify trends. This chart type includes a time component and typically involves graphing the closing exchange rates for each time period depicted and connecting the resulting dots with straight lines.

Most forex traders operating in an online trading account via an online forex broker that supports a reasonably sophisticated forex trading platform like MetaTrader will be able to plot line charts similar to Figure 2 below.

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Figure 2: A daily line chart for GBP/USD showing the closing exchange rate in black.

 

The Bar Chart

The bar chart is one of the best forex trader tools and provides much more information than the line chart. Like the line chart, the bar chart includes a time component, but it typically involves graphing a vertical line or bar between the high and the low exchange rates for each time period time depicted, as well as a left tick at the opening level and a right tick at the closing level.

Forex traders operating in an online trading account via an online forex broker that supports a reasonably sophisticated forex trading platform like MetaTrader will usually be able to plot bar charts similar to Figure 3 below.

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Figure 3: A daily bar chart for the GBP/USD currency pair showing its high, low, opening and closing exchange rates in black.

 

The Point and Figure Chart

The Point and Figure chart is considered the best forex trader tool by many professional traders and it focuses only on price action. A Point and Figure chart lacks a time component, and it usually involves graphing a series of X’s or green boxes to show an upward move and a series of O’s or red boxes to show a downward move.

These unusual charts are typically parameterized by a box size expressed in pips and the number of boxes required to show a reversal from X’s to O’s or vice versa.

Although primarily used by professionals who often create them by hand on graph paper, retail forex traders operating in an online trading account via an online forex broker might need to obtain a special indicator for their trading platform in order to be able to plot Point and Figure charts similar to Figure 4 below.

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Figure 4: A Point and Figure chart for the GBP/USD currency pair with X’s plotted in green and O’s plotted in red, and using a box size of 5 pips and a three box reversal. Resistance trend lines are plotted as green lines, while support trend lines are shown in red

 

Source: www.forexnewsnow.com

The Anatomy of a Forex Trader

April 7th, 2011 Comments off

MetaTrader 4 – The World’s Most Common Trading Software

October 22nd, 2009 No comments

mt4-forex

Off-exchange retail foreign currency (or forex) trading uses currency from a variety of countries to create a one of the most popular trading markets. We believe that traders-beginners, keen by passion, rush to trade without having a Forex trading strategy.

To view the full article, please visit: http://www.metatraderglobal.com/86/metatrader-4-the-worlds-most-common-trading-software/

What’s In Your Forex Trader Toolbox? MetaTrader 4

March 31st, 2009 No comments

by Richard U. Olson

MetaTrader 4 is a web-based trading platform which designed for the use of futures traders, CFD and Forex traders. MetaTrader 4 offers the convenience of an online interface for trading from the administration and support to the trading itself. MetaTrader 4 is a comprehensive trading platform.

The MetaTrader 4 features being involved with the potentials of the Forex marketplace and currency exchange. You have access to Expert Advisors or EA’s and use your automated trading program on this platform. This platform also features setting up a Forex robot to trade on your behalf night and day, whether you want to buy, sell or place stop-loss orders according to your preprogrammed specifications.

The MetaTrader 4 platform also provides a large number of market analysis and tracking tools which can help you to understand the patterns to the movement of the market.

You can view longer term trends and make accurate forecasts while using this online market analysis tool.

The MetaTrader 4 platform is designed from the ground up to work in a market which is driven by global events; these trends are as valuable for the trader to know as are the market internals.

Technical analysis of the markets has got nothing to do with “timing the markets”. It is assumed by platforms such as MetaTrader 4 that trading opportunities exist in any given time frame in the Forex market, as long as an appropriate strategy for buying and selling within that timeframe is put into play.

For instance, this platform can be used to analyze support and resistance in order to take profits. If buyers can be called “bulls” and sellers can be called “bears”, then “support” is defined as a place in an asset’s price movement where the buyers assume control of the price and don’t let it fall lower; and “resistance” is defined as that point where sellers take command of the asset’s price and won’t let it get any higher.

You can take advantage of other financial market principles when using the MetaTrader 4. These include, moving averages, trendlines, supply and demand, traders remorse, accumulation and distribution, the MFI or money flow index, Andrew’s Pitchfork and various others.

The Forex market is one of the most popular trading venues in existence. However, you do need to take in and understand a lot of information in order to be successful in Forex trading. Comprehensive market analysis and a basic understanding of economics is a must. Having software which can help you to simplify the complexities involved is something which should be at least considered by anyone who hopes to make a successful career in currency trading.