U.S. dollar weakens in currency trading

The trade deficit increased to its widest level since November 2008, and that is having the effect of helping risk appetite on the FX market. Why? Because a widening trade deficit indicates that Americans are getting ready to spend money. And when consumers start spending, the economy picks up. GFT’s Kathy Lien looks at the trade deficit in FX360:

The details of the report showed a pickup in external and internal demand that had nothing to do with commodity prices.

New tool to offer real-time trade signals for short-term currency traders

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., June 21, 2010 – GFT has introduced Autochartist Trade Ideas, a new, complementary application that helps short-term currency traders reduce the amount of guesswork involved when deciding what currencies to trade.

Autochartist Trade Ideas provides real-time trade setups that include all of the necessary information that beginner and intermediate traders alike need to confirm existing research and help them feel more confident in their trading decisions.

“We asked our customers, ‘What would help you become a better trader?’” said Gary L. Tilkin, president and CEO, GFT.

“These real-time trade ideas are the result of listening to both the market place and our customers and then taking action to deliver a great product that helps make price-chart patterns more meaningful to traders,” said Tilkin.

As a built-in, add-on feature to GFT’s award-winning trading platforms, DealBook

In the midst of the Eurozone debt crisis, forex investors have largely stopped paying attention to interest rate differentials and focused the brunt of their attention on risk. Soon enough, however, there will be a resurgence in the carry trade, at which point interest rates will return to the forefront of investors consciousness.
 
From the standpoint of the [...]

FXstreet.com (Buenos Aires) ‘

USD/CAD pressured in currency trading

The forex trading forecast expects to see the loonie test parity with the U.S. dollar again rather soon. Right now, it appears that Canadian trade is returning to normal, while the U.S. experiences a trade gap.

This difference is putting pressure on USD/CAD in currency trading. Indeed, as the economy picks up, we could see another test of parity from the loonie, reports Kathy Lien in FX360:

Canada has now reported the fifth straight month of trade surpluses, returning the natural to its natural trade behaviors.

There are many obstacles that prevent most traders that have an excellent trading plan from following it properly. Almost all of these factors are psychological.Review: Following the Plan

Let’s say you have made a detailed trading plan. You know the exact criteria or “rules” you will use to place a trade. You have a checklist to make sure you follow each of these rules. You have a money management strategy so you know how much you will risk on each trade, and you know what your risk:reward ratio must be. You know what time of day you will trade, what time frames you want to look at, and what currency pairs you want to look at. You have a spreadsheet ready to track each trade for further analysis.

The reality, is that this is the easy part. To give an analogy, there are many people who could learn an NFL offense. They could watch film, go to meetings, and learn which route each receiver will be running on each play. However, there are only a handful of people in the world who can execute these plays with a blitzing linebacker bearing down on them in a game situation. In other words, very few quarterbacks have the ability to execute.

Of course, the gap between learning plays and playing quarterback in the NFL is much larger than the gap between making a trading plan and following it. But the point remains that if we can’t execute the plan, then it doesn’t matter how great the plan is. It may seem easy to follow a trading plan, specifically if it incorporates all of the points I listed in the first paragraph. For those of you who have traded with real money, you know that this is not the case.

Currency trading on the FX market

The carry trade is unwinding quite quickly today, with risk aversion sending investors hurrying toward safe havens. A great deal of concerning news is weighing on the carry trade.

For the most part, investors remain fixed on the drama playing out in Greece. Moody’s is warning that another credit downgrade could be coming for the country if austerity measures aren’t adhered to. However, the government may find it difficult to adhere, since the public is protesting vociferously.

Another issue is the fact that Britain continues to struggle. National debt is mounting, and the Bank of England acknowledges that quantitative easing may be needed again going forward.

With all of these concerns, it is little wonder that the risky carry trade is being unwound in favor of more stable positions and safe haven currencies.

See AlsoEconomic Data and Forex TradingCurrency trading on the FX market

Trading psychology is the most important aspect of a trader’s success.Trading Psychology- Accepting the Risk

Accepting the risk of each trade is not easy, especially for inexperienced traders. Of course, there are some steps we can take to make it easier to accept the risk. First, it is very important to plan out each trade. This means we should know where we will enter the trade, place our stop, and place our take profit level(s). That way there are no decisions that need to be made once the position is entered. The human brain will view information differently once that position is entered and it thinks much more clearly before the position is entered. Additionally, if we know the distance between the entry and the stop, we know exactly how much capital we are risking. This is important because it is impossible to accept a risk when we do not know how large the risk is. After entering the pre-planned trade, emotion is inevitable, but at least it won’t impact the result of the trade.

Full Story Fx360.com

The popular social network site Twitter provides clues

If you are following @gftforex, @fx360 or @gftuk on Twitter, you may have noticed that they are up to something.

Here’s a sample of the tweets they’ve been sending lately:

Thousands will trade. Hundreds of thousand$ will be won. 5 more days #tradeGFT

Tweet. Win prizes. Trade. Win BIGGER prizes. 5 more days. #tradeGFT

Anyone can tweet. Anyone can trade. Anyone can win. 5 more days. #tradeGFT

Keep watching Twitter for exciting announcements…

Only three years ago, the first currency exchange traded fund (ETF) was introduced, enabling investors to trade the Euro without having to buy and sell the currency directly.