The trading tools you need to have by your side Just like in any profession, you need certain tools to . For instance, a plumber without channel locks and a pipe wrench, it would be hard to complete the task assigned to him. For a moment, think of trading without any tool while analyzing the market. What will be the outcome of your trading? Will such trading be successful? Your thought will be as good as any professional trader. 

How can you best position yourself to profit from forex trading One of the principal reasons why every , whether beginner or advanced, is in business, is to be able to make a good profit from trading while investing minimal efforts, and expenses along the line.

Join renowned forex educator, Barry Norman for an exclusive on technical analysis and how it can be a game changer for your trading strategies When it comes to technical analysis, many traders automatically think of just indicators and oscillators. However, these tools constitute a small field in a truly wide overall study of technical analysis. Join Barry Norman, Founding Director of Investor Trader Academy, for a live webinar as he takes a deep dive into the field of technical analysis. By providing you with the most comprehensive understanding of price actions and their subsequent interpretations, you can take your trading to the next level. Sponsored by FBS, the live webinar will take place on September 23, 2020 at 14:00 GMT. This is one webinar you don't want to miss The presentation is jam packed with trading techniques and methods that will explore the potential of technical analysis. The webinar will also touch on the advantages of technical analysis and how it can impact your overall trading. Additional emphasis will also be paid to how these techniques compare to other existing strategies. The webinar is highly relevant for today's markets, given the swings and volatility seen in 2020. The goal of the webinar will be for attendees to culture a better understanding of technical analysis, while also becoming informed about what the field has to offer for both novice and veteran traders. With markets already in overdrive this fall, this is one webinar you do not want to miss. Learn more about FBS' presentation and join the conversation by accessing the following webinar link.

How exponential moving averages work There is a debunked myth that banks are following some kind of 'magical moving average.' They think that somewhere there is a moving average that cannot miss. But nothing could be further from the truth. Like anything else, a moving average is a tool that traders use to define a trend and perhaps look for potential support and resistance areas. The EMA EMA means Exponential Moving Average. And to know more about this, we need to understand first the simple moving average. The moving average is the plotting of the average price over the last defined number of candlesticks. Likely, it is the average price in the previous 20 candles, 50 candles, 100 candles, etc.  The trader can choose the number of candles they wish to look back at. As moving averages can use the open, high, low, or close price of the candlestick, 99.9% of the time, some people will use them applied to these candlesticks' closing prices. Then, the simple moving average or SMA is the straightforward version of moving average calculation. To elaborate, if the 20 SMA is plotted on the chart, it will show the average price at the closes of the previous 20 candlesticks. When the market advances to generate another candlestick, it would adjust the calculation to include only the immediate last 20 candlesticks, and so on. As they take the average closing prices, add them, then divide them by 20, the SMA shows its calculated value. After that, it would plot the chart's calculation, making a line through the dots to make a longer line across the chart's width. With that, the EMA in forex trading is similar, except the formula is mathematically weighted to have more emphasis on the most recent candlesticks. This causes this kind of moving average to be more immediately sensitive to price fluctuations. Thus, it would change direction faster. How It Works There are different ways to use EMA in forex online trading. And to be honest, one's imagination might be the only limit. As a Measurement of Trend In the most basic form, traders typically use the EMA as a measurement of the trend. To put it simply, if the moving average is increasing over time, then it is assumed that the trend is also very positive. On the other hand, if a moving average is shifting lower over time, then the market is being bearish or negative. As Dynamic Support or Resistance Several traders will use specific EMAs as dynamic support and resistance. And this is because there are a few very widely followed Exponential Moving Averages. Generally, they harken back to the days of stock trading. Now, some of the most common ones are the 20-day EMA, 50-day EMA, 100=day EMA, and 200-day EMA. Using these specific round numbers is psychological and goes back to the early years of technical analysis. So, it is more or less a convention than anything else. As traders go on in their online trading career, they see moving averages that people insist perform better than others. But in the end, it would always be a personal preference issue. Shorter-term traders tend to go on smaller numbers line the 9 EMA. And this is because it is so fast to react in comparison to something like the 50 EMA. But for the longer-term traders, they must pay more attention to higher numbers because it gets much more details and movement to change the direction of the moving averages. Therefore, it keeps the trade for much more extended periods of time. As a 'Dragon' Some traders use this type of set up to guarantee that they are trading with a number of traders as far as the trend is concerned. Also, they would only trade in the direction of all moving averages and only if they are moving in the same manner. As a Crossover System One more way to use the EMA as an indicator is through a crossover system as a trading strategy. This has become one of the most basic online trading systems existing. And by its very nature, it must have a trend to be profitable. They do this by using two moving averages: a short-term moving average and a longer-term moving average. The concept is that if the shorter moving averages cross over the 200-day EMA, traders should look to take long trades. Contrarily, if the 50-day EMA crosses below the 200-day EMA, traders should go for the short trades. Other traders use this as a mechanical system to simply make trades with no filter whenever the crossover happens. The main issue with this is that it requires a strong trend for it to work. And in a ranging market, there are many whipsaw trading - causing repeated small losses. However, this would eventually get a strong trend and generate more enormous profits. It takes a specific type of psychology to trade with this system over the long term. This article was submitted by Uptos.

The Vantage FX demo trading contest comes to a conclusion Leading regulated global forex broker, Vantage FX, has announced the end of their two-week trading contest. The competition which had thousands of contestants from over 70 countries, commenced on 27th July and ended on 8th August 2020. During the contest, many of the contestants were quite active in trading the DJ30, DAX30 and SP500 indices, which are some of the most popular products among traders recently. The traders were required to complete at least three trades within the two weeks for a chance to win the grand prize of USD3000.  While speaking with reporters on Monday, Janice Shi, Senior Marketing Manager at Vantage FX expressed satisfaction over the impressive number of participants in the recently concluded trading contest and congratulated the winners on their notable accomplishments. ''Vantage FX has been recognised as a top forex broker offering industry-leading indices spreads and over 200 carefully-selected tradable instruments from some of the largest global companies listed on the United States, Hong Kong, Europe, the United Kingdom, and Australian stock exchanges. With Vantage FX, clients can trade smarter and access global indices markets at the lowest costs in the industry'' she said. Traders interested in trading NAS100, DAX30, DJ30, FTSE100, SP500, and other indices with Vantage FX, can now access new and better spreads than those previously offered. The new development is to ensure clients of Vantage FX are provided with much lesser trading costs (as low as possible) through greatly reduced indices spreads. For example, DJ30/DAX30/SP500 have been reduced by 54.3%, 40.5%, and 16.7% and the new spreads are 1.3, 1.3 and 0.3 respectively. Recent market research indicates that many competitor brokers have a sizable difference between ask and bid on their indices products. With numerous tradable instruments on offer through MT4 and MT5, Vantage FX presents traders with sufficient options for trading. New traders can also take advantage of the generous 50% welcome bonus they will get the first time when they fund a live account to start trading with Vantage FX. This article was submitted by Vantage FX. For bank trade ideas, check out eFX Plus

What are the most effective indicators for day trading? The first thing to point out is that there is a specific amount of personal bias in determining the best forex indicators. And this is done by a prism of experience over anything else, and remember that trading is a personal thing. But here, it would explain some of the most effective forex indicators. Repainting Vs. Non-Repainting Indicators To understand better, people reading this need to know the things attached to it. If someone refers to an indicator as being 'repainting' or 'non-repainting,' it indicates whether or not the calculation changes over time. Usually, it involves taking a calculation that looks back and calculating some kind of average or oscillation to plot where the market may or may not go. The number one problem with a repainting indicator is when it gets skewed over time. For instance, if the indicator tracks the last twenty candles, that indicator will be influenced by new candlesticks from the market over time. It does not really look back at major points in history, nor does it look forward to the market's possible behavior. With that, one of the biggest problems about repainting indicators is they always back test well, at least at first glance. If the indicator corrects to fit the marketplace, then it looks better the longer it runs. But during the moment's heat, it does not necessarily mean that the indicator gave all the information needed. Just like with other indicators, never look at the signal from one specific indicator as a reason to enter a trade. It's just a confirmation of price action hoping to achieve. Classic EMA Though this might sound a slightly passé, but one of the most efficient indicators is the humble moving average. Many other traders follow the EMA (exponential moving average), so it lends a certain amount of credence to its use because a lot of other people are keeping a close eye to them. Also, it goes somehow beyond that as it provides an idea of the trend for the time frame being traded. Traders can use an exponential moving average to know the longer-term trend. But they could also wait when the favorite shorter-term exponential moving average is lined up with that bigger one. Relative Strength Index The Relative Strength Index or RSI is an indicator that measures exactly what it says it does, relative strength. Essentially, it takes the momentum used by technical analysis practitioners to measure the latest price change in a currency pair to know if the market is going to be thought of as overbought or oversold. Also, it is an oscillator that shows on the bottom of the chart, with reading from 0 to 100. This exists for about fifty years, and many traders use it in different time frames. The basic idea with this indicator is that trends tend to be a bit overdone at times. With that, traders must see an occasional reversal if things have become out of hand. Then, there is the 'look back period,' which is typically 14 candles. Traders could change this, but that number is the standard.  In addition to that, the RSI will measure the percentage gains during the last 14 candlesticks, measuring an average. Let's say a currency pair has closed 10 of the last 14 days with an average gain of 1%. The other four days had an average loss of -0.5%. The indicator will calculate the corresponding figures and plants it on the oscillator below the chart. Then, the indicator will go up as the number of positive closes increases along with size, and it would fall when the number and size of losing candles increase. With a smoothing algorithm, the indicator will determine if it's overbought or oversold. If the indicator reads more than 70%, the market might become overbought. On the other hand, if it indicates below 30%, it is in danger of becoming oversold. In this event, traders may begin to look for opportunities in the opposite direction. Also, they might make a profit if they are already in that trend. So, this is a repainting indicator as it moves its calculation along with the previous 14 candles - that means the next candle will cause the drop of one of the last candles, and it looks back a static amount of distance. This article was submitted by AussieTrust. For bank trade ideas, check out eFX Plus

What are moving averages and which are the ones you need to know The moving averages might be the most fundamental indicator used by most technical analysts. Then, the simplest of which is the simple moving average (SMA or MA for short). And this nearly averages out the closing prices at the picked time frame and shows as a line over the current price action. Let's say an analyst is looking at a 1-day chart of the EUR/USD pair, and they apply 10-period moving averages. The analyst gets a line representing the average of the past 10 closing daily prices plotted over the current price. This smooths out the jagged peaks and troughs to provide a clearer idea of the general trend, stripped of all that short term 'noise.' Exponential moving averages or EMAs is nearly the same thing, just a little more complicated. EMAs react faster to unexpected moves by putting more emphasis or 'weight' to more recent closing prices. Therefore, it follows the current price more closely compared to SMAs. Now, some famous averages include 10, 20, 50, 100, and 200-period moving averages. The higher the number of periods factored in the calculation, the flatter the line is, the slower it will respond to changes in price, and the longer it will trend. Simple Strategy Now, the simplest kind of moving average strategy is to purchase if the price goes across the moving average from under to above and to sell as it crosses it from above to below. Several strategies indicate that you must get a close above or below the given moving average to make the buy or sell signal valid. As this might look too simple to yield any real benefits, this could be a great and effective indicator in some markets. Then, longer-term moving averages can also be used to signal changes in trend - for example, if a bull market did not find support above a moving average or if a bear market break resistance above it. For Crossovers Furthermore, a more complex type of moving average strategy is plotting two moving averages - one short and one long (like a 20-day period and a 50-day period). As mentioned, a shorter moving average will react faster to current changes in price as it takes lesser closing prices into account in the calculation. The longer moving average will then react slower as it's average more closing prices from further back. And that means all current closing prices will have less of an effect on the entire average. For using multiple moving averages, technical analysts are looking for the so-called crossovers. Rather than searching for the price action to close above or below a single moving average line, they look at the interaction among the two moving averages they plotted. With that, as the 20-day MA crosses over the 50-day MA, it is considered a bullish cross. But when it crosses under it, it is regarded as a bearish cross. Major Concerns There are some significant issues in depending exclusively on strategies structured around moving averages. First, moving average strategies are hugely vulnerable to fakeouts. Seldomly, the price could break convincingly above or below a moving average - giving buy or sell signals, only to reverse again and continue trading in the reverse direction. Second, moving averages are most helpful if the market is trending strongly in a single direction. The 20-week strategy has historically worked well because Bitcoin has experienced some strong and clearly defined bull and bear markets. Meanwhile, if the price action looks choppy instead of strong trending, moving averages will provide a lot of false buy and sell signals that don't yield any real gains and mostly affect churning the account. Third and last issue, moving averages necessarily lag behind the price action as they are completely based on averaging-out previous prices. The said lag might be more pronounced while they employ crossovers strategies because these depend on the position of one moving average in relation to another. Also, these move slower compared to the actual price.  This article was submitted by AussieTrust. For bank trade ideas, check out eFX Plus

Join ACY Securities' Alistair Schultz for an exclusive webinar detailing the best ways to optimize your trading strategies Every trader knows how satisfying it is when you apply your fine-tuned system and generate a return you know you are capable of. But is your trading strategy fully optimized to maximize profits? Join Alistair Schultz, Chief Market Analyst at ACY Securities, for a live webinar as he takes you through his best entry strategies and multiple exit concepts. By providing you the most critical parts of a complete trading system, you can then design a strategy you are confident with. The webinar will take place on September 16, 2020 at 19:00 Sydney AEST. Why you need to attend The detailed presentation will aim to identify the best types of entries for your style of trading while also applying multiple exit ideas to cover all market types and timeframes. Furthermore, an emphasis will be paid towards the foundation of money management to all your trades. The goal of the webinar will be for viewers to garner a blueprint for all the critical components of current and future trading plan as well as fostering new ideas for entries and exit strategies. Mr. Schultz boasts over 15 years of comprehensive trading experience in both the FX and equities space. This is one webinar you do not want to miss. Learn more about the one-of presentation and join the conversation by accessing the following webinar link . For bank trade ideas, check out eFX Plus

Everything is changing The under-the-rader theme of 2020 is how so many correlations are breaking down. There's risk aversion today but USD gains since the height of the worries today are nearly erased. I wrote earlier about how the bond market move has been counterintuitive. There are different parts of the ebb-and-flow that you could point to for this but it follows other patterns that have been breaking down all year. I've been grappling with the belief that markets change for months; that correlations change; that how markets respond to news changes. Roughly every decade it changes and here we are in 2020. The risk-on/risk-off paradigm is shifting. That makes answers even harder on a day-to-day basis but the people who solve this riddle are going to be at the front of the line in making money on it. These are still early days but I think keeping an open mind is better than making a few pips in the short term. Today, the euro is back to flat after a rout on risk assets and the Australian dollar is higher. The Canadian dollar is at a session high with oil down 4.6% to compound everything. For bank trade ideas, check out eFX Plus

A look at how Covid-19 has impacted trading brokerage 2020 has seen widespread changes to the brokerage landscape. Consequently, the outbreak of Covid-19 has created both challenges and opportunities for all companies. ForexLive interviewed Keith Ioakim who is the CEO of EuropeFX for his perspective on the year and where the company is headed. 1. What makes EuropeFX unique relative to the competition, and how have you managed to stay ahead in 2020? As a company, we never rest on our laurels. We operate in a fast-paced, ever-changing environment, and client expectations are always changing. No matter how good our offer is, we're still in a constant process of upgrading. We firmly believe that anything can be improved, so we are always looking to improve our offer. That might be forward-facing systems or things in our back-office operations. I think our clients recognize this. We get a lot of feedback from our many traders worldwide, and we take this very seriously. I believe this sets us apart from our competition. We don't dictate a solution to our clients. We allow our clients to participate in the development of our offer actively. This development is an on-going process, but the results are very encouraging so far. This is one reason I think for our steady progress, even in what was admittedly, a very difficult 2020 globally. 2. EuropeFX offers a wide range of tradable assets. Have you noticed an uptick of certain instruments, such as your Pharma Stocks in light of Covid-19? Most certainly. Pharma stocks, in particular, are an excellent example of this. With vaccine tests for Covid-19 entering test phases at some major pharmaceutical companies, we saw this as an opportunity for our clients to enter a new segment at a very early stage. We recently added many of these new pharma stocks to our asset index. Our traders have very warmly welcomed these additions. This is a further example of how we build our offer, giving our clients a chance to trade companies they see mentioned in the news and press daily. 3. By almost any metric, more educated traders tend to be more successful. How does EuropeFX help improve trader education and market knowledge? We always say that knowledge is power. Trading might seem like a relatively simple proposition, buy low and sell high, but mastering trading can be a long and time-consuming process. We operate as an STP broker, so our income as a company comes from our clients' trading commissions. The more our client's trade, the more trading commissions we generate. We want our clients to be successful. To that end, we offer what I firmly believe is one of the most comprehensive libraries of trader education resources available anywhere online. Our clients have access to a library of training manuals and videos and some other excellent resources like our new interactive economic calendar. We also run regular webinars and live trading sessions for our clients to join. 4. Are there any new developments in the pipeline for EuropeFX, and what do you see for the rest of 2020 in terms of opportunities? I wouldn't want to go into too many specifics and spoil the surprise, but we do have some new products in the final testing stages. These are aimed mainly at new products in our asset index. Not so much an addition to an existing class as an entirely new set of instruments. These new additions are something our clients had been asking us about for a while now, so over the last two months or so, and we have been developing the whole process and functionality for this. I am sure this will be a big hit with our traders, and we look forward to unveiling this very shortly. 2020 has been a pretty dismal year so far. COVID pandemic changed the way we live our lives. Despite this, I think the most significant opportunity we have for the remainder of the year is through our clients' communication channels. Customer service has always been a critical focus for us, so improving this is one of the most significant opportunities I see moving ahead. 5. What challenges exist specific to 2020, and what measures has EuropeFX taken to overcome these challenges. Without a doubt, 2020 will always be remembered as the year of the COVID pandemic. As a company, we have a duty to our clients to provide the best possible service, regardless of the circumstances. We also have a responsibility to our employees to ensure they can do their jobs in the safest and most comfortable environment possible. Our hearts go out to all the victims of this terrible disease around the world. While the majority of our employees are now office-based, we still do have some home-based employees. We introduced a series of initiatives for our employees to work on flexible hours, and we cover the costs of any Covid-19 tests for our team. Despite the global pandemic, we have continued to develop. The team here at EuropeFX is growing. We're in a strong position and have managed to overcome all the challenges so far. Yes, we have to continue to work around the circumstances we're faced with, but the future looks bright.