With the launch of a brand-new FX offering that promises huge cost savings for traders, TIOmarkets has put together the 4 surest ways to keep your trading costs low and your potential for profit high Traders often come across what they associate as 'endless possibilities' in the world of trading. Interestingly enough, displayed across the bottom of most retail trading sites is a disclaimer that reads something like, "76% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading". The number for each broker is different - it's based on the performance of their clients - but it's usually pretty high, ranging from the high 70s to the 90s. That's why choosing the right broker is the only way to stay one step ahead. Brand-new FCA-regulated, innovative FX firm, TIOmarkets, has put together a guide on how to keep trading costs to a minimum amid an incredibly volatile market. From commissions to spreads, to account funding and withdrawal policies, all of these factors have a say in how much you lose and how much you earn. TIOmarkets is launching full throttle onto the forex scene on the 28th of May, fully loaded with its unique subscription packages. But, to get started, here are some basic rules that can save you potentially thousands of dollars on the cost of trading. Rule #1 - Keep your commissions low For every transaction that takes place, the broker will charge a commission. From the moment a position is open, the first thing that is deducted from the trader's account is the commission the broker charges. In order to make a profit, the position should move in the right direction by minimum the amount taken for paying the broker's commission. But the trader should remember that commission goes up with volume! The bigger the volume traded, the higher the absolute commission charged. In other words, if a person trades 0.1 lots and their commission is 0.9 USD, on one lot, they can expect the commission to be proportional. While commissions cannot be escaped, given that brokers will naturally need to charge something for their services, traders should learn how to interpret a commission and incorporate it as a regular cost that comes with any transaction. At TIOmarkets, their best and most elite subscription takes zero commissions for a small monthly fee. Meaning the trader only pays once, and then never has to factor in commissions for any of their trades for a whole month. Rule #2 - Find a broker with low spreads Low spreads = more money for the trader. Even without commissions factored in, the trader will start every trade "in the red", or making a loss. In order for a trade to become profitable, the trader needs to cross the spread in the direction they are trading. For example, if you buy EURUSD at 1.23150 and their spread is 1 pip, they need to wait for the price to move up to 1.23160 for them to break even and not be losing on their trade. For this reason, lower spreads are important to move out of the red and into the profit zone quickly and more often. It's especially important for day traders and those who open and close multiple positions per trading session. Be careful though, as many brokers who advertise "low spreads" compensate by charging high commissions on each trade, or by requiring a high-deposit account. No-nonsense FX firm, TIOmarkets, is offering the same low spreads to everyone, and don't sneak in hidden charges either. Their trading fees are some of the lowest on the market. That's low spreads across all major, minor and exotic currency pairs. Rule #3 - Do your homework As mentioned above, there's no point being sold on "low spreads" or "low commissions" only to be hit with high and unexpected charges somewhere else. Traders must do their research. In order to consistently perform as a trader, they'll need to understand all of the charges involved. Traders are encouraged to know exactly what charges they're in for - spreads, commissions, deposits, withdrawals, support - be in the know to avoid being suddenly short on balance. Once the trader has done all of their homework, signed up for a demo account, done their practice, and, most importantly, put a trading plan in place, it's time to go live. Once the trader is on the right track, it's time to start trading with real money. Although, it's strongly advised to start small when going live! Make a deposit, a few trades, and a withdrawal to uncover any hidden charges. TIOmarkets promises no hidden charges. Instead, they're offering one low monthly fee in return for huge cost savings on the other side, and other exclusive benefits. Rule #4 - Find a reputable broker Forex trading is booming. And while the number of online and mobile trading platforms continuously increase, we slowly see the barriers to entry decrease. And this is the exact reason why partnering with a reputable broker is crucial, because it's the only way for a trader to protect themselves against malpractice that could wipe out their account. It's no secret that the unregulated forex market is full of bad actors who are looking to profit by offering a poor or rigged service. These brokers are able to manipulate prices and spreads to ensure traders don't make a profit, or find reasons to withhold their withdrawal. Traders are encouraged not to fall for the scams scattered across the forex market. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. So once traders have researched and compared the market, no doubt they'll stumble upon TIOmarkets. The fresh new firm, TIOmarkets UK Ltd, holds a license from the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). So now traders can trade with confidence and with no compromise on trust, security and transparency. Navigate your way to profit It's turbulent waters out there. If a trader isn't careful, they'll be drowning in a sea of unwanted charges. Instead, traders are encouraged to come up for air, fill their lungs, and trade with a broker they can trust. TIOmarkets is a regulated broker offering unique FX and CFDs trading subscriptions and a treasure-chest of benefits for one low monthly or quarterly fee. Winning with their best plan, VIP Black This subscription offers: 0 CommissionsPay nothing in commissions, no matter how large your volumes or how frequently you trade. Low SpreadsUnlike other "0 commission" brokers, they don't squeeze you with higher spreads to compensate. Zero commissions, low spreads, no trade-off. TIOreimburse - Get 50% back of your first depositIf a trader is stopped out within one month of signing up to trade with TIOmarkets, they'll give you 50% back of your initial deposit, no questions asked. TIOshield - Your trading armorFor when trades go wrong, they offer an insurance service that lets you reverse bad trades within 60 minutes in order to get your money back. And much more. Start Saving - 3 Months Free OfferTIOmarkets is celebrating with three months free of their best package, VIP Black, to the first 10,000 sign-ups. That's $150 of immediate savings, plus untold other savings depending on your trading volumes. But hurry, the clock is ticking! They'll soon be closing their 3-month free exclusive trading offer and officially open the doors for trading. ForexLive When do the doors open for trading? TIOmarkets will cut the ribbon on the 28th of May! But they've got even more good news ladies and gents, they'll be unveiling their impressive new website on the 20th of May whereby traders will have an exclusive look at the company's offerings and the chance to play around. Sign up here for their straight talking, no-nonsense trading. You're guaranteed a number of reasons to smile.

Your habits will determine your success It's always wise to get the best of the other people's experience. Trading is no exception. They say that it takes doing something for 21 days in a row to form a habit. Isn't it time to get going? Below you can find a list of recommendations that will have a positive impact on the results of your trading. 1. Set goals It's hard to invent something better than a goal-driven approach. Make sure though that you set yourself the right kind of goals. We don't recommend you to have a daily profit target: a day may be full of interesting profit opportunities or it may not. If you try to reach some specific amount of profit every day, you will feel loads of the unnecessary stress. The odds that you will hate trading at some point will get high in this case. Consider having monthly and annual targets instead. They will be able to keep you motivated and help you track your performance without too much pressure. Make sure that setting a goal is not a one-time event for you. Work with your goals on a constant basis.   2. Keep a journal It's a piece of advice you will find everywhere. Yet, it's not possible to omit this point. After all, your own experience is the key source of your knowledge about the market. As a result, it's necessary that you make the most out of your past trades, no matter good or bad. A journal will help you to keep track of your successes and mistakes and improve. 3. Manage your risks If you want to stay in the market for a long time and capitalize on your trades, then risk management should be your key habit. Check that your risk exposure is reasonable in every trade. Never make trades with random parameters. Always control your position size and your risk/reward ratio. 4. Control the time you spend on trading This is important especially if you are a full-time trader. The longer you sit in front of the monitor, the lower your ability to remain in attention and think clearly will become. Get used to assign yourself specific time intervals for trading. This will help you achieve the maximum efficiency in trading and manage other tasks in your life as well.  5. Change your environment Routine can be a mood killer for everything. When you are a trader, you can enjoy a certain level of mobility, so make sure that you change your position in space from time to time. 6. Use the weekends The end of the week is a great time. Use it not only to restore energy and spend time with your loved ones but also to review the past trades and strategize ahead of the new week. It's a great idea to devote an hour on Saturday or Sunday to looking at the weekly charts, checking the upcoming events in the economic calendar and reading financial media. Be prepared! This way you will feel confident and ready to act on Monday. 7. Socialize Trading can be quite lonesome when you are focused on your ideas and strategies. Take time to communicate with other traders. This will broaden your horizons and bring you the joy of interacting with others. Nowadays there are plenty of social media and platforms that will help you accomplish this task.  8. Keep learning Even if you understand that learning is a lifelong process, you should be very practical about it. Assign a fixed amount of time a day or a week to some educational activity, for example, attending a webinar, reading a textbook, completing a distant learnings course. This way learning won't be just an abstract idea for your and you will really improve your trading skills. It's not easy to develop good habits. Don't think of the tasks above as something unpleasant. Think of them as things that will make your life easier. If you embrace them without resistance, you will see that your trading becomes more consistent and successful after 21 days or likely even earlier. This article was submitted by FBS.

Learning to assess central bank focus In George Orwell's animal farm one of my favourite lines is 'all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others'. It is a phrase that encapsulates a critique of communism, namely the inherent corruption of the human soul. What started as an ideal sharing of all, becomes a tyranny no less wicked than the one it sought to replace. So, how does this relate to trading? Not all central bank comments are equal The latest RBA minutes reminded me how much it helps those starting out on their trading journey to realise this point: All central banks comments are reported  but not all central bank comments are equal The RBA's focus With the RBA their focus is made clear at the end of their statement on Monetary Policy. See here for the full report. Their focus is here at the bottom of the report, here. Labour market is their key focus, and so it should be ours too. By knowing what the RBA are looking at, we see some of their triggers that will impact their monetary policy. Strong jobs, bullish. Weak jobs, bearish. The bank is focus, the market is focused, so this means greater impact on the employment data release.  Employment data  So, armed with this knowledge we can know that the employment data out next week on Thursday May 16 will be key. The central banks focus, should be our focus. All  central banks comments are reported  but not all central bank comments are equal. Have a great day folks :-) ForexLive

How you can use the trading ideas of others to your advantage Would you like to make a profit whether the price of your favorite asset goes up or down? Or maybe you'd like to start benefiting from developing financial markets but don't want to invest much money? If the answer for any of the above is  "yes," SimpleFX is the platform you are looking for. Here's why. If you lack funds or wouldn't like to risk too much, but still are quite sure about the trend on the market you are following, SimpleFX lets you trade with high leverage that goes for some assets as high as 1:500. It means that with just one dollar you can open a five hundred times bigger position. SimpleFX also supports multiple payment methods (including cryptocurrencies) and has no minimum deposits. You can start trading with any amount. For many removing these two substantial obstacles is still not enough to start trading. No wonder, financial markets may seem complicated for a beginner. That's why social trading is so popular. SimpleFX allows social trading with its new Trading Ideas feature. Follow experts and be followed Trading Ideas is a tool made for both sides of the SimpleFX community. On the one hand every day new people register to try the best mobile trading app and see how easy trading CFD can be. On the other, there are professional and semi-professional individual traders that have already developed their successful strategies of entry and exit points and now would like to scale their efforts up without investing too much time in it. This group can easily create and share their Trading Ideas with SimpleFX. All the attention and recognition they get will be converted to real lifetime revenue streams. Each Trading Idea they create with SimpleFX WebTrader has a referral link embedded in it. This means that whenever somebody clicks in a trading recommendation and registers to SimpleFX the newly created account will be linked to the expert's affiliate network. The master traders that are willing to share their Trading Ideas will get up to 25% of the revenue share ever generated by their followers! Now let's go back to the beginner traders willing to learn. They can browse through the profiles of people publishing their Trading Ideas and follow the best. Each Trading Idea has a short description, recommendation what position to take, and a screen of the chart. It's effortless to read, understand and act accordingly. Hedge fund managers' Trading Ideas for 2019 The world of finance and investors is all about following the best and learning from them.  If you'd like some more open trading inspiration, you may follow the 24th annual Sohn Investment Conference this week in New York. Here are some of the predictions made so far: Netflix Inc will break through the $1,000 barrier in the next 2-4 years (Daniel Sundheim) Bet on interest-rate volatility (Jeffrey Gundlach) The end of the plastic industry is near (Scott Goodwin) Bet against 3m Co. (Larry Robbins) Long on aircraft leaser AerCap Holdings NV and short on rail-car leaser GATX Corp. (David Einhorn, Founder of Greenlight Capital) The Canadian cannabis industry has "enormous" downside due to the limited supply (Daniel Sundheim, Founder of D1 Capital Partners) It's hard to bet against Elon Musk (Daniel Sundheim) "Overall it's a pretty good environment for stocks" (Gabe Plotkin, Founder of Melvin Capital Management "The sun is setting on the age of plastic packaging and Plastipak is the best way to express this short" (Scott Goodwin, Managing Partner, Diameter Capital Partners) Buy interest-rate volatility on long-maturity U.S. Treasuries (Jeffrey Gundlach) You can follow the advice of the famous hedge fund managers, but as you can see it's not so easy to act upon them. SimpleFX Trading Ideas are much more understandable. Give them a try. Log into SimpleFX and try following the advice with a free demo account or a live account with no minimum deposit limits. This article was submitted by SimpleFX. ForexLive

How to evaluate the market Trading is a process that can be broken in 2 stages: market analysis and the trade itself. To the latter we attribute things like opening an order, choosing position size and making sure that your actions conform to the rules of risk management. This part of the process is very important. However, you shouldn't underestimate the relevance of market analysis as well. In this article, we have gathered recommendations regarding the fundamental and technical analysis of the currency market. Tip 1. Analysis first, trading second  It often happens that those who only start their trading career form some random trade ideas in their minds and then start looking for the arguments that would justify their thoughts. This is a very wrong approach. It's the market analysis that should provide you with trade ideas and not the other way round. When you reverse this order, you lose the ability to think objectively. You will interpret everything you see on the charts as confirmations of your initial idea. There's no point in such analysis because it doesn't really prove that this idea was good. Make sure that when you approach the market you have as clear and free mind as possible. This will allow you to grasp the real profit opportunities. Tip 2. Confirmations Once you have the idea, make sure that it's valid. Of course, there's no way to be 100% sure that a trade will bring profit. Yet, it's possible to increase the probability of success. Most trading systems are based on the simple principle: there's a certain sufficient amount of clues you need to gather in order to adopt a trade idea. Each trader has his/her own view on what "sufficient" is. In our opinion, at least 3 clues are necessary and these clues have to be of different nature, for example, a clue from price action, a clue from a technical indicator and a clue from fundamentals. Tip 3. Fundamental or technical approach? There are still a lot of people who like debating which type of analysis is better. At the same time, ask yourself a question: should we really set limitations here? After all, these types of analysis are very different. The fundamental analysis represents the study of the forces that are driving the market. These drivers become very important when you trade trends. On the other hand, fundamental analysis won't allow you to make precise market entry, while often enough every pip counts. That's where the technical analysis chimes in. It also offers visual insights in the psychology of market players. For example, a "Head and Shoulders" pattern clearly shows that bulls lose their ability to push the price higher. Many traders recognize this distinctive shape of the price action and act accordingly thus making the pattern a self-fulfilling prophecy. So, seeing merits in both fundamental and technical analysis, we propose an evident solution: combine the two! You may say that that's too general a recommendation and you will be right. How about the following scheme: for short-term trades, make your decision based on technical analysis but consult fundamentals in the economic calendar as they can make a big impact on your trade; for longer-term trades, use fundamental analysis to identify a trend to follow and then apply technical analysis to find good entry and exit levels. Tip 4. Multiple timeframes save the day Some traders go as far as to perceive timeframes as different trading instruments. Don't make this mistake! Timeframes represent merely a set of lens for different perspectives and allow a trader to get a better look at the market. Alexander Elder has established a classic approach by introducing a triple screen system that uses 3 timeframes. A trader should start with a bigger timeframe (locate the overall trend), then switch to a smaller one (find the point where a counter-trend move ends) and finally open the smallest timeframe (make a precise entry). In any case, going from a larger timeframe to a smaller one is the correct approach because otherwise you will risk falling victim of the situation we described in tip #1. So, no matter whether you are a scalper or a position trader, make sure you reap the benefits of analyzing several timeframes. Tip 5. Remember about correlations      Forex market doesn't exist in the void. Remember that currencies represent just one of the ways for investors to store their funds, for speculators to get profit and for hedgers to protect themselves from big changes in the exchange rates. As a result, currencies compete with other assets, such as stocks and commodities for public attention. The prices of other instruments are denominated in currencies and this forms yet another tie (that's why gold/oil are so sensitive to the dynamics of the USD). Finally, currencies are naturally connected to the performance of respective economies. The latter interact as well, so no wonder that problems in China will pressure the AUD: China is Australia's key trading partner.  As a result, it's necessary to have a broad view of the market, follow the general newsflow related to currencies and global economy and be aware of especially strong direct and inverse correlations. Examples of direct correlation: AUD/USD and NZD/USD, XAU/USD and XAG/USD. Example of inverse correlations: EUR/USD and USD/CHF.        All in all, market analysis should be an area of constant improvement for a trader. It's a key skill both to make your own trades or to evaluate the ideas of others. Check Forex news and market commentary at FBS website: we surf through tons of info to serve you the brief and sharp summary of the most important things. Good luck in your market analysis and trading! This article was submitted by FBS.

What to look out for in a forex third-party signal provider? When choosing a third-party signal provider for your forex account you need to be careful. Here are a few tips and things to look for when making your decision. With the growing popularity and easy access to the foreign exchange market, more and more people are drawn to it as their financial vehicle of choice. Along with this popularity comes all the extras.  This includes all kinds of software, trading systems for sale, books, videos, and third-party signal party providers. Today this article is going to touch on a few points when seeking out a third-party forex signal provider. What is a third-party signal provider? Before we get into choosing a provider we need to have a good understanding of what a third-party signal provider is. A signal provider is a trader or analyst that generates trades that in turn get placed on your account. You can have several signal providers trading your forex account or just one.  Like anything else, all third-party signal providers are not created equal.  At first glance a trader may look like a home run. That same trader may well end up completely torpedoing your entire account in one afternoon.    To help make sure this doesn't happen we'll set down a few guidelines. These guidelines will give us something to look for when choosing our third-party signal provider. 1.  The first thing to look at is weather the trader is a winner or a loser. This may seem obvious to nearly everyone, but often it's normal to see losing signal providers with 50-100 people trading their signals. 2.  The next thing to look for is how long they have been a winner. If a trader has been winning for a week that means nothing. We recommend that you don't trade any signal provider with less than a few months of results to show you. Anyone can place a few good trades one week and get lucky. If you are going to be trading this trader's signals they need to be established. 3.  Look at the max draw down. This is the largest peak to trough draw down in equity that the trader has historically had. Some traders refuse to take a loss. This causes them to hold on to losing trades forever or until they turn to a winner. Turning a loser into a winner sounds great, but it will eat up a huge chunk of margin and may never turn around. If it doesn't turn in your direction, you will have your entire account destroyed by a trader that could have taken a 30-pip loss but held on until it was an 800-pip loss. 4.  The first three are easy to look at. They will be displayed right on the main screen of signal providers to choose from. Once you get a few signal providers you are thinking of using, it's time to dive a bit deeper into their history. a) Look at their actual trades. Do they have a good win rate because they have opened a ton of trades all at the same time on the same currency pair? They may have 20 winners in a row.  This looks great, but if you look a bit deeper you will see that its really only 1 winning trade places 20 times. Not as impressive is it? b) Look at their draw down on individual trades. Do they let a trade go 300 pips against them and then close it out when it hits 5 pips of profit? This is a trader who lets their losses run out of control and cuts their winning trades short. It's not a trader that you want in control of your money. c) Do they add to losing positions? A trader who constantly adds to losing positions hoping it will turn for them is not someone you want trading your account. 5.  Choose a signal provider that suits you. Some traders may provide larger returns over time, but take bigger risks leading to bigger draw downs. This might be OK with you. If you are more conservative and cannot stomach large drops in equity you probably should choose a more conservative trader.  These are just a few things to look for when choosing a third-party signal provider to trade your forex account. You should always trade a demo account before opening a live account with real money. Remember it's your account. In the end you choose the signal providers, and you are responsible for what happens. This article was submitted by UBCFX. ForexLive

Here's what you need to know about the big change in the auto industry We are at the gates of probably the most significant transport revolution in history. Tesla, Toyota, Volvo, Renault, Apple, Google, and Nvidia - all these companies will be affected by the technological innovation that will come to life. You can trade the companies directly involved in the electric and autonomous car race with SimpleFX WebTrader. Follow the news, and make sure you have your account funded and ready to open the right position when the decisive news arrives. Autonomous vehicles are just behind the corner. Elon Musk, Tesla's CEO predicts we are "probably two years from now we'll make a car with no steering wheels or pedals," while Reuters reveals proof of Apple's advanced engagement in the self-driving car race. At the same time it more and more electric cars are being sold globally. Of course, the combustion dominance is still a fact, but no one knows when the electric vehicles will reach a critical mass, and replace traditional automobiles. Did Apple join the race? A minimum of four companies has been in talks with Apple as the potential suppliers for next-gen lidar sensors for self-driving cars, according to a news story by Reuters. Apple is assessing the technology from the companies as well as developing its units, according to insider information from three people. This effort to develop sensors shows Apple's desire to create the hardware that's needed to guide self-driving vehicles, joining car manufacturers as well as investors in a race to uncover the best new technologies. This gives fresh evidence that Apple continues to have desires to get into the self-driving vehicle race, also known as Project Titan within the company. The focus of the talks is the next-generation sensor which gives a 3D view of the road. Elon Musk, chief executive of Tesla Inc, said that self-driving "robotaxis" would be available in some US markets next year. He continues his habit of making bold announcements, which excite investors yet often fail to meet their deadlines. Microchips and sensors A crucial part of his new claim is a microchip designed for autonomous vehicles that he unveiled on Monday in a web-broadcast presentation. The chip, which is made by Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. in the U.S. state of Texas, is hoped to give an edge to Tesla against its rivals, showing its substantial investment in self-driven vehicles. The exec has described it as "basically our entire expense structure. Musk reiterated that this new chip is the best in the industry as it is dedicated solely to autonomous driving, whereas others, such as Nvidia Corp, has developed chips for multi-function use. Musk began pushing the model and its potential after his launch at the event with technical descriptions in great detail of the progress Tesla has made on software and hardware by top execs. Car manufacturers globally, start-ups and large tech companies are working on self-driving, including Uber Technologies Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s Waymo.  However, experts claim that it is years yet before these systems are set to go. Observing the upcoming tech revolution is a fascinating thing to do. Additionally, you can capitalize on the knowledge you acquire reading about it. Prepare your SimpleFX account for the next groundbreaking news. Make sure you star all the companies involved and have some funds ready to make the right order.This article was submitted by SimpleFX. ForexLive

Expectations are what influences the way market participants react ForexLive You can try as much as you want to argue about facts and what is right or what is wrong in financial markets but the only thing that matters at the end is what everyone else perceives it to be. There's an old trading adage that the market is never wrong. And that's something I quite agree with. If you want to play the game, you have to accept the rules as they are. You may not always see eye-to-eye with everyone else but it doesn't mean that they are wrong to stand on the other side of line. At the end of the day, what drives movement in markets is where the majority of the people stand. And in that sense, it's important to try and understand why they are standing there i.e. what are they expecting? In learning to gauge that, you'll understand how markets come to decisions on "selling the rumour, buying the fact" or even why certain economic data points/central bank events have particular importance. A simple analogy I like to use in relation to economic data releases is a football-related one: Just take a Man Utd vs Man City game in 2003 and compare it to a Man Utd vs Man City game in 2019. It's the exact same match-up with the exact same teams but the circumstances and situation surrounding the match-up has changed dramatically.In 2003, Man Utd were the dominant force in English football and you would expect easily brushed aside Man City. But in 2019, Man City has improved by leaps and bounds and is now the team to beat while Man Utd has been struggling for years so you would expect them to crush Man Utd when they square off now.The important part here is that expectations have changed and that means the reaction to the results of the game will be different. And that's the same thing with economic data releases such as the US non-farm payrolls if you compare it now to the same release back in 2013. That is why markets move by 300-400 pips back then and barely 30-40 pips today. I talk more about this in the posts below so I hope they can help you with your trading. I'll pop in again if there are any notable happenings during the day but if not, have a good remaining Easter break everyone! Sizing up market expectations in trading is more important than you thinkCentral bank speakers... how to prepare for them?

A tip in managing expectations to improve your trading efficiency I often come across many new traders basing off their trading day on key central bank speakers like ECB president Mario Draghi or BOE governor Mark Carney, thinking that their speeches will contain something to heavily influence the respective currencies involved. But a less common talked about topic is how to prepare and manage your expectations ahead of such speeches. On most economic calendars, you'd find that these speeches tend to have a so-called "High Impact" rating attached to it because of the nature of the person speaking. However, it is important to also know the context of their speech because it plays a big role in determining what they will be speaking about. There's plenty of ways to find out information on what central bank speakers will be talking about beforehand and that's the best way for you to prepare and manage your expectations surrounding the event. For example, the ECB lays it all out for you in their weekly schedule which can be found here. ForexLive Here's an example of how two recent events involving ECB president Mario Draghi where he was scheduled to speak during the European trading session. The first being on 22 February and the second being on 27 March. Without any context, most traders will just go about their trading day expecting a key risk event to take place as Draghi will be due to speak. And that will affect the way they trade and their view/position on the euro. However, if you know about what he will speak of or what the event he is attending is related to, you will get a better gauge on how to manage your trading expectations and adjust your view/position accordingly. The phrase information is power would be most appropriate in instances like these. I provided previews on what his speeches will be about at the time and this was what his 22 February speech covered: Meanwhile, this was what his 27 March covered: And sure enough, he didn't touch on anything too important related to monetary policy on 22 February but made some commentary related to that and the economy on 27 March here, which gave the euro a bit of a nudge higher. TLDR: It's important to understand and know what central bank speakers will be speaking about as it is knowing who will be speaking on the trading day. However, much like trading economic news releases, there is no guarantee that you won't get rare days - although these are indeed very rare - where central bank speakers surprise with their comments on events not related to monetary policy. But you can learn to take control and minimise those risks and apply that to your trading arsenal rather than be lazy and ignore what they are about.

Jeopardy! winners and winning traders have lots of things in common Jeopardy! is a  game show where three contestents compete in providing the question to answers under topic headings.   Since you need to answer with a question, you need to form your response in the form of a question like "Who is Alex Trebek?"  That would be in response to "He hosts the long running game show where contestants answer in the form of a question". Another response, "Who is James Holzhauer?", would be the response to the answer "He is on pace to becoming the highest earner in Jeopardy! history" The last 10 days on the show has seen a professional sports gambler named James Holzhauer race through the games without much competition.  His 10 day total winnings are $697,787 or $69,778.70 per day. That pace is more than double the all-time record holders average.   That record holder won 74 consecutive days and amassed $2.52M over that period.  That comes to $32,054 per day If Holzhauer were to go 74 days without losing, he would win $5.16M.   Judging from his results to date, it may become his full time job for the entire year.  He is without competition.  No one is close.  The Game. In Jeopardy!, the subject categories are broad in topic like "Shakespearean Plays".  They could also have clever/fun topics.   For examples, the category heading might by "All my Ex-es" and the contestants will be told that the answer all start with letters "Ex".  There are categories that suit the contestants skill, and other that don't. There are two rounds with round 1 having values for correct answers from $200 to $1000 or $15,000 in total on the board.  Round 2 has values from $400 to $2000 or $24,000.  If a contestant were to answer every question correctly, he would win $39,000.  So how can Holzhauer haul in $69,778.70 per show so far? Leverage.   The cumulative totals can be leveraged higher as there is one Double Jeopardy question in game one and two Double Jeopardy questions in game 2 (three in total). Those questions allow the contestant - who is in charge of the board (i.e. answered the last question correctly) - to wager up to his current winnings.  So if the contestant has $5000, he/she can in effect wager $5000 (and double his/her total). The game ends with Final Jeopardy question - another leverage opportunity -  where the contestants can wager all or part of their total winnings (again on a determined topic).  The winner is the one with the most money after Final Jeopardy.  The winning process To  win the game, you need to have broad knowledge on many topics.  You also need  to be ready to press a button with your thumb, on a hand held devise as soon as Alex Trebek finishes  reading the question, and do that ahead of the competition (i.e, you need to anticipate and react).  In effect the game process involves Anticipating responses from the topic chosen, Reading the question,  Listening to the question audibly, Processing the information quickly, and Anticipating with an action (press the button at the right time).  Before game requires: A plan on how to  play the game Immense knowledge Practice. Practice. Practice.  Oh, you also have to hope you are right as a correct answer is rewarded with a dollar value, but a wrong answer leads to a negative value. The higher the value, the higher the dollar risk.  Finally, it does help to utilize leverage opportunities.    Since getting hooked on the show this last week, I started to think if traders/trading relates to contestants/the Jeopardy! game? The answer is a resounding "YES!"  Let's go through some key similariities from the two. Hopefully it will help you up your trading game. 1.  The Game Plan  In my book, Attacking Currency Trends, I outline a game plan for traders. That game plan is to trade trends and keep fear to a minimum.   Trends are where the most money is made and lost. It is essential that you stay on the right side of a trend.  Don't do it, and you lose money...fast.  Look back on your biggest losses and I guarantee it was because you traded against the trend.   In Jeopardy!, the trend is "knocking it out of the park" in category topics that you know.  I am not great in "Famous baroque composers" but "The Masters" (as in the golf tournament) or "Technical Analysis", would be topics I would ride the trend with lots of confidence.    What about fear? In trading you define your risk, and limit your risk using technical tools.   A trend line or 100 day MA are implicit "lines in the sand" that say bullish above, and bearish below.  If you know that line is your risk line, and you look to limit your risk by trading near it, then do the final step of accepting the risk in your mind. Once you accept the risk,  your fear should disappear. Because you are doing that process, and your risk is limited, you have a greater chance to "make more than your risk".  All of which, should lower your fear. In Jeopardy!, the most successful players, like James, are defining, and limiting risk on each question read ("Do I answer it or not?"), and also accepting that risk every time the button is pressed (i.e. I am 80% sure but I accept that risk of loss).  A statistical fact from James Holzhauer's performance to date (CLICK HERE for interesting game facts and comparison to another super contestant), shows he has answered 341 questions correctly with 13 incorrect responses.  That is incredible win/loss percentage, and it does come with outright knowledge, but you can understand why he is so fearless. He has defined and limited his risk, and accepts the risk by pressing the button.2.  KnowledgeYou can't be successful in trading without knowledge, nor the desire to learn.   One of the more frustrating things I hear from traders is how they lost money buying some signal provider.  A signal provider is NOT knowledge. They tend to be the opposite of knowledge.  You need to learn to fish for yourself.   At Forexlive, we all try to teach, coach, and mentor, with not only timely information but trading knowledge. I could tell you to sell the EURUSD on a break of the 1.1282-84 area, but I also show you the chart that has the 200 hour MA and a swing area converged at that area.  Hence a break would shift the bias to the downside.   The price should go lower.  I post everyday using the same tools and trading decisions. I wrote about the "yellow area" and the 200 hour MA many times.   One of the things that James Holzhauer said when asked how he prepared, was that he "studied topics that he was most uncomfortable with".  He is already incredibly smart, but he had a desire to make himself better in things he was not good at.  He also said that there is a "limit to knowledge". You can't learn it all.  There is information that borders on the absurd in knowing.  For example, knowing all the Canadian birds in existence would be a waste of time, but knowing the Loon reside in every province and territory and is on the dollar coin, would be something too know, and a potential question (or answer).  In trading, if you know too much, you can lose track of the obvious.  You need to know enough to win the game but not too much to border on the absurd.   Know what you need to know in trading to win the game, and know it well.  3.  Practice. Practice. Practice. In trading, the longer you do it, the better you become.  For example, through practice,  You learn that Friday's can be the worst of the times to trade, while Tuesday's to Thursday's can be great times. You learn to understand non-trending markets and how to trade them. You learn how to recognize and trade trending markets. You understand how to target and what reaching a target, allows you to do with your stop. You learn to respect failures.  You learn when to trade bigger (leverage up) or when to trade smaller (or not at all).  As you start to trade, you haven't done enough practice. You have not been punched in the gut, made all the mistakes, learned from your mistakes.  There is an apprentiseship in trading (one can argue you never get to the finish line as well).   Reading about winners on Jeopardy!, one of the consistent tips the best contestants shared is to go over the same things over and over and over again.  By doing this, in the heat of the games battle, it will allow your brain to read or hear the question, and go right to the possible answer(s).    It is not good enough to read Romeo and Juliet, it is good enough to know by repetition the families are the Montagues and the Capulets.  It is not good enough to read Hamlet. It is better to know that Hamlet caused the deaths of Polonius, Laertes, Claudius, and two acquaintances of his from the University of Wittenberg, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.  In trading, if you look at enough charts and are consistent in your approach, you can see things more clearly.  In Jeopardy!, if you know Presidents and State Capitals and Shakespeare, and the most famous movie lines, you see things more clearly as well. Practice. Practice. Practice. 4.  Anticipation.In trading you need to anticipate.  In the hourly chart from above, it is easy to show - after the fact - what happened.  However, the most successful traders were already anticipating the potential break before it happened in that chart, and were "buzzing in" with a trade as it is breaking the 200 hour MA, or looking to lean against the level on a bounceIn trading, if you don't have an idea what the future looks like before it happens, you will be reacting too late.  You need to anticipate by being prepared on what to do.  Below is the minute chart of the price action from the EURUSD with the overlay of the 200 hour MA at 1.1282.  The price fell below the 1.1282 level on the weaker PMI releases to 1.1271 and then bounced to 1.1279 before moving lower again. Why do we see that specific price action?Traders, who anticipated, were waiting to sell below the 1.1282 and/or willing to sell on the correction against the 1.1282 (i.e. at 1.1279).  They were anticipating what might happen next after the break (with defined/limited risk too).  If the price moved back above the 1.1282 (say to 1.1288 oor 1.1289), they would likely bail.  The price never got there, and they rode the trade to the downside.  On Jeopardy!, the most succcessful contestants are already anticipating the answers under a topic. If it is Shakespeare, "Who is Rosencrantz and Guildenstern?" are right there in their brain.  If they are Masters golf experts, they are anticipating Jack Nicklaus, Butler's Cabin, Pimento Cheese sandwiches, Bobby Jones, Magnolia Drive, Amen Corner, Verne Lundquist, bikini wax (if you know the Masters, you can understand each of those).  Moreover, the best contestants are anticipating when to press the button.   Traders pressed the button to sell at 1.1277 to 1.1279 today.You need to anticipate.  5. Reading. Listening. Processing. Reacting. In trading, you need to read (both fundamental information and charts). You need to listen to "the market" through the price action.  You need to process, and finally you need to react.  Admittedly, most traders out there don't have the real-time headline news, but all do have the ability to read about other news that potential could move the market (Brexit, US China trade relations, etc). I read Forexlive, the first thing every morning. I read the WSJ and other news sites.  I don't want to overload, but I need to read.   Being aware is part of being a successful trader. You need to read and understand.  If you don't have a real time feed for news (seconds and minutes do matter a lot of times but so does anticipation of price action), you always have the charts in real-time. Charts do tell a story that may be influenced by something fundamental that you don't even know about yet - or quite frankly don't even need to know.   The price action will always fit the story in tomorrows paper (or on the internet).  Believe me.   Successful traders read stuff.  That can be fundamental or simply charts. Successful traders also listen to 'the market' through the price action and tools. The price action - and tools applied to the price action - do not lie.  If the price in the USDCHF is making new highs since March 2017, don't ask me "Is the USDCHF a sell?.  You are not listening to "the market", but are instead listening to the devil in your mind saying "sell because it is high". LISTEN to what is happening. If the story changes, the price action and tools will tell you. I promise.   Succcessful trader also process and react. Processing and reacting are what you need to do to trade.  If you can't process and react, you are not going to trade.  The same is true for contestants on Jeopardy!.  They need to read and listen to the question, process the answer and react, by pressing the button and answering in the form of a question.Read. Listen. Process. React. 6.  LeverageThe final thing I want to talk about is leverage.  I am a little hesitant to list this as most of you are not at the point where "leveraging up" is a good idea.   However, more experienced traders who have mastered all of the above, can successfully leverage positions.  In order to leverage a position, it should ONLY be with the trend. Occur when you already have great trade location (in profit) on an existing positionBe accompanied by fundamental bias in the same directionBe relatively early in the trend (you don't want to leverage up after 800 pips)Be entered on a retracement against a KEY, KEY level, or on the break of a KEY, KEY  level in the direction of the trend, Have risk that is well defined, and at such a key level that you are sure if breached, would send the price the other way.Be accepted firmly by you (no wishy washy).In Jeopardy!, the biggest differentiating factor with James that has allowed him to break all the 10 day records, is he has mastered 1 to 5 above.  James Holzhauer has a: Game PlanIncredible knowledgeHe has practicedHe anticipatesHe reads, listens, processes. and reacts.  He has all the skills. So that allows him to leverage up.Below are his statistics from the Daily Doubles over the first 10 days:A total of $218,199 of his $697,000 has come on Daily Doubles alone. That is leverage.  Those earnings have allowed him to have an average score at the end of the 2nd round $48,020 (remember there is only $39,000 on both Game 1 and Game 2 combined), and an average lead of $35,780.  His average wager on the Final Jeopardy question has been $22,361.  By that time, he has locked up a win on 9 out the 10 shows he has been on.  Excessive leverage is earned on Jeopardy! and it is earned in trading too.  ----------------------------------------------------------Success in trading, and lots of other things in life - even Jeopardy! - have a lot of similarities in common.   As you progress as a trader, a good exercise is to read about experts in things other than trading, and try a see the similarities in each.   You will find that you learn from them. That in turn will allow you to take the next step in your trading journey.Wishing all a Happy Easter and Happy Pesach.    ForexLive