Currency trading success depends on several factors but they all stem from one specific factor – If you don’t have it, you will probably join the 95% of losers. It’s a common error made by novice traders, so let’s look at it:You need confidence in the method you use. This requires some more explanation. It’s a fact that most traders don’t have ultimate confidence in their method because they do the following: They try and buy a method from someone else and don’t understand the logic it is based upon. Because they don’t fully understand the logic, they fail to follow it through losing periods and throw in the towel. If you want to succeed in FX Trading you need to follow a method with rigid discipline, through inevitable losing periods.
If you don’t, you don’t have a method in the first place!Furthermore most systems sold are junk. There sold by writers, or failed brokers and simply don’t work. These people rely on hypothetical track records and the greed of buyers, to make them think they will win, but of course they don’t. So how do you get confidence in the method you use? 1. If you are buying a system Only look for a track record in real time of 2 – 3 years duration – this proves that the logic of the system is soundly based. By looking for a real time track record you can get rid of 95% or more of FOREX trading systems that are sold. 2. Understand the logic However, even with a FOREX trading system that has worked in the past you still need to have confidence in it and that means understanding why it in depth, so you have confidence. You also need to be happy with the drawdowns it incurs some traders can take for example 50% drawdowns - others can’t.Look at the worst peak to valley drawdown and time to recovery. Make sure your happy with it and that you can follow your system through drawdowns of similar magnitude. 3. The best way to achieve currency trading success is to: Devise your own FOREX trading method. While this may sound daunting, it’s easy to do. You can build the system and test it and as it’s yours you will have total confidence and the discipline to follow it when the going gets tough. Building a system is easy, if you do a little research and we have in our other articles shown you how to do this. Many people think they can trade FOREX and have no real drawdown, but that’s not real life. Drawdowns are emotionally and financially draining and confidence gives you the discipline to stick with your system.
By: kelly price
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Currency Trading – Success Depends On One Critical Factor
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Stock Quotes – Things to Know
Stock quotes are the information about the price of stock at a particular time. They provide most valuable information about stock and stock market changes. They are also the primary tool for traders to trades. A stock trader can find stock quotes from a variety of resources.
Stock quotes are the information about the price of stock at a particular time. They are displayed either as fractions or decimals. Stock quotes provide most valuable information about stock and stock market changes. They are also the primary tool for traders to execute trade. Quotes are also available for other derivatives like futures, options, forex currencies etc. Stock quotes can be grouped into various types as historical stock quotes, delayed stock quotes and real-time stock quotes. Historical stock quotes are stock prices and change patterns before certain period of time - useful to understand and determine periodical stock trends. Delayed stock quotes are usually free stock quotes provided by various institutions, journals, portals, etc. which have 15 or 20 minutes delay. They are useful for most stock market investors and small scale traders. Real-time stock quotes, also known as live stock quotes or streaming stock quotes, are provided by specialized quote sites and through stock market trading systems with less than a minute delay.
Live streaming stock quotes are vital for online day traders trading according to very small changes in stock prices. The presentation of stock quotes can vary greatly, they may be graphs with values, simple line of phrase with alphabets and decimals, or tables showing values. Similarly stock quote presentation of different sources may also vary from single ‘last price‘ value to full details including the price change of the day, the trading range of the day, 52 week (one year) range, the volume of stock traded, the average volume of trade, market capitalization, earnings per share (EPS), dividend yield, P/E ratio, closing price, highest price of the day, and lowest price of the day. By theory, a stock has a set of stock quotes as 'bid price' and 'ask price'. The bid price is the price which market makers or specialists are ready to pay for the stock and ask price is the price at which the market maker is ready to sell the stock. The difference between the ask and the bid price is the spread, which is mainly responsible for liquidity in low priced stocks. The need of ask and bid prices in a stock quote is purely because the market need a market maker to buy the stock whenever one trader sells it and to sell the stock whenever on want to buy it. A stock trader can find stock quotes from a variety of resources. Free delayed stock quotes are available from newspapers, journals, company websites, stock market, market maker and stock broker websites, popular search engines and portals like Yahoo! Finance and MSN Money, and various financial websites. As told earlier real-time stock quotes are paid services. These services also provide timely alerts and triggers to automate and better execute traders, and are integrated with powerful mathematical and visual tools to formulate right trading strategies. Recently Google and CNBC have presented their readiness to provide free real-time stock quotes of NYSE stocks to SEC, which if come true will be an added benefit to all type of traders.
Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Praveen Ortec works for NobleTrading.com, an online investing broker offering live streaming stock quotes on different online stock trading software.
Monday, April 9, 2007
The Humility Advantage - How Less Ego Creates More Sales
See if this applies to you or your team members in your organization: You've been working in your industry for several years. Your responses to requests from customers, prospects and co-workers are fast and accurate. You know your stuff and your product knowledge is one of your greatest strengths. If this is the case, then the bad news is that your extensive knowledge may also be one of your greatest weaknesses. The reason - you may be inadvertently coming across as being arrogant and insensitive. I'm not suggesting that you have a holier-than-thou attitude or that you are unfriendly. It's just that you are so quick with your answers and recommendations that others feel like you haven't really been listening to their needs (even though you have). In other words, the greater your expertise, the more likely it is that you are unintentionally rubbing people the wrong way. The good news is that there's an easy way to prevent this misconception that I call The Humility Advantage©. Working with over a hundred sales and service teams over the years, I've found there are at least seven key opportunities where a little employee humility pays-off substantially. Here are three that I often share in my Influence with Ease® speeches and seminars.
1. Mention your Homework Several years ago, a couple of branding consultants approached me about enlisting their services. My first thought was that these folks knew nothing about my company or my industry, so why on earth should I pay their sizable fees. I only agreed to meet with them because a colleague said they'd done good work for his firm. When I sat down with the consultants, they did not start asking me lots of questions about me and my industry. (That would have confirmed to me that they really didn't know my business world and would have ended their chances of selling me their services). Instead, they began the meeting explaining that, by way of preparation, they'd been chatting with some of my colleagues and customers to find out their impressions of my company's services. Then, they asked if I would like to hear the word-on-the-street. As you can imagine, that got my attention. And the ensuing conversation led me to engage their services. When you talk with potential customers, do you begin the conversation by mentioning the homework you've done on their company? If not, you're missing an opportunity to let them know that you are truly interested in them. Rather than starting a sales conversation by asking about their needs, try commenting on something you saw on their website or read about them in an industry journal. It's a powerful way to confirm to others that you're knowledgeable without coming across as one who brags. It's one of the first steps in applying the humility advantage. 2. Confirm your Understanding If you've participated as an audience member in one of my live presentations, you might have seen me step off the stage pretending to be a waiter taking food orders from several audience members as if they're at a restaurant. During this skit, rather than order directly from a menu, each patron has a special request such as, “I'll have the salad with the meal.” or “I'd like to have fruit instead of fries,” etc. As the waiter, I don't write any of this down, and as you've likely guessed, when I walk away, the patrons assume that there is no way I'm going to get all the orders straight. There's the problem. I may have listened accurately to each request, but the emotions I left with my customers are worry and lack of confidence in my service. As an experienced professional in your industry, you may be a great listener, but are you perceived as such? Being regarded as a poor listener is a surefire way to kill a sale or curtail your career. Fortunately, by using a little humility, this is easy to correct. In the waiter demonstration, I redo the same order-taking scenario, except the second time after taking the orders, I say, “Let me make sure I've got this straight. You would like yours with fruit instead of fries...” (I then confirm everyone's special request accurately). Suddenly, the restaurant patrons feel good about the quality of my service. Here's the key; I repeated my understanding of their needs with the phrase, “Let me make sure I've got this straight.” Fact is, I knew I had it straight, but the customer didn't. The catch is, if my ego were running my life I'd never say, “Let me make sure I've got this straight.” Hence the Humility Advantage. Here's one more application: 3. Ask Permission to Present You've probably heard the expression that people don't like to be sold-to, but they love to buy. That means that before you present the benefits of your products or services, remember to ask for permission. When you thread all these techniques together, a sales conversation might start by pointing out the homework you've done on the other person. Then ask about their needs, confirming your understanding with, “Let me make sure I've got this straight…” Later, ask permission to present with, “Based on what you've told me, I do have some thoughts. Would you like to hear a couple of options that I think would fit for you?” Once the other person agrees, they'll feel less like they are being forced, and more like they are being helped.
About The Author
This article is based on the critically acclaimed book, Becoming a Service Icon in 90 Minutes a Month, by business strategist and international speaker Jeff Mowatt. To obtain your own copy of his book or to inquire about engaging Jeff for your team, visit http://www.jeffmowatt.com or call 1-800-JMowatt (566-9288).
