SigmaForex Fundamental Analysis

Most FOREX traders rely on analysis to make plan their trading strategy. This post will discuss fundamental analysis. The other common form of analysis is technical analysis. After reading this post you should have a better understanding of fundamental analysis and how to use it as part of your FOREX strategy.

Political and economic changes are the basis of fundamental analysis. These can frequently affect currency prices. Traders that take advantage of fundamental analysis will gather their information from a variety of news sources. They are looking for information about unemployment forecasts, political ideologies, economic policies, inflation and growth rates.

Fundamental analysis will provide you with an overview of currency movements and a broad picture of the economic conditions. Most traders then will combine their fundamental analysis with technical analysis to plot actual entrance and exit points as well as confirming the information provided by their fundamental analysis.

Just like most markets the FOREX market is controlled by supply and demand. Many economic factors can affect the supply and demand but the two most critical ones are interest rates and the strength of the economy. The over all strength of the economy is affected by changes in the GDP, trade balances and the amount of foreign investment.

There are many economic indicators released by government and academic sources. These indicators are usually released on a monthly basis but will sometimes be released weekly. These are pretty reliable measures of economic health and are closely followed by all traders.

There are many indicators that are released but some of the most important and commonly followed are : interest rates, international trade, CPI, durable goods orders, PPI, PMI and retail orders.

Interest Rates - can cause a currency to either strengthen or weaken depending on the direction of movement. In some cases high interest rates will attract foreign money, however high interest rates will frequently cause stock market investors to sell of their portfolios. They do this believing that the higher cost of borrowing money will adversely affect many companies. If enough investors sell of their holdings in can cause a downturn in the market and negatively affect the economy.

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All current and new clients are eligible to participate in this program. Qualifying clients earn up to 5% bonus credit on all new deposits received and credited to the account before the close of business day 31 December 2008.

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The Euro Bull - SigmaForex

As the EUR/USD breaks 1.50, investors should take another look at foreign exchange. 100/barrel oil, $1,000 gold, and $10/bushel wheat are not anomalies, nor is there a bull market in commodities. The US dollar is losing its value and its relevance as a world reserve currency.

What determines the value of a dollar? The common belief is that purchasing power determines the value of money, which is partially correct, but that is not the entire story. In a world of floating currencies, money is also valued in terms of other money. Simply opening a bank account in Europe, and gaining a few % per annum interest, would have returned a US based investor over a 50% return in 5 years. There are a few ways to look at that, but they all point to the same conclusion: the value of the dollar is declining. The other logical observation is that by NOT investing in the Euro, an investor is actually LOSING 50%. This is a difficult mental leap for many to make as they don't see losses in their bank account, but as we see $4/gallon gas, $3/gallon milk and skyrocketing commodity prices, many are noticing. They only have to realize the simple fact: prices are not increasing the value of US Dollars is declining.

Who is not affected by a declining dollar? The poor, debtors, manual laborers, and tradesmen (because you can continue to perform your trade for dollars, pesos, or bananas if need be regardless of the continuing slide of the dollar  tomorrow you may charge twice as much but so what?) But if you have any wealth; a house or a stock portfolio, denominated in dollars, the declining US Dollar should be the most important issue to you because that portfolio is losing value as the dollar does. In the worst case scenario, the Fed can default making US Dollars worthless overnight.

Best case, although unlikely it should be mentioned, the Fed could raise rates to 10%, Bush could declare a flat tax, open the borders to foreign investors by deregulation and providing tax incentives, pull out US Military from all foreign engagements, and be the banker of the world. This would catapult the US economy and the US Dollar to currently unimaginable success, but this is a farfetched fantasy. In reality, we are increasing our Military presence around the world, cutting interest rates, and regulating US markets, forcing even homegrown companies to look abroad.

Why Sigma?

1. Lowest spreads in the forex market, No other broker offers such competitive spreads .

2. Sigma is the only broker that allows you to customize your trading account as you wish.

3. Maintaining the security of your money is a major objective at Sigma.

Our devotion to our clients has made our firm a respected industry leader, that we have a strong commitment to maintain a long term relationship with our clients.

4. Low margin requirement.

5. Full Hedging capabilities.

6. Sigma is a registered financial institution, and registered with the European registration authorities. The regulations set out into notice by these agencies are created to help ensure the safety of our clients’ deposits.

7. We maintain enough liquid capital to meet the needs of the amount required to cover all client deposits, potential shift back and forth in the firm’s currency positions and outstanding expenses.

8. We put forward our financial information to regulatory bodies on a weekly and monthly basis.

9. In addition to all the above, Sigma holds all deposits with only highly reputable financial institutions. We are appreciate the trust of our clients place in us.

Please be aware of brokers that guarantee the safety of your funds or that claim that your funds will receive special protections such as FDIC insurance. Nobody can guarantee profits in Forex trading

You Need A Real Forex System in Forex Market with SigmaForex

Although it has been some years since I was actively involved in trading, I have just returned to the markets and have begun to trade a small account on my own behalf. This has perhaps given me a slightly skewed perspective of the markets, almost like a new entrant, but one with a lot of experience.There have been some big changes whilst I have been inactive, not least in the number of online brokerages fighting for every dollar.

But many things stay the same, at the heart of which is one, I guess, unbreakable truth. Trading is basically a very simple business, with any trading stocks, options, FOREX, whatever only really involving three steps:1. Find several possible trades evaluate them and decide which to go for,2. Calculate how much to trade, and decide at what points to enter and exit the market3. Keeping an eye on, or monitoring, open market positionsNow, these three steps were basically all there was to it a few years ago, and they still And, guess what, people are still getting totally bogged down right here, at this early stage of the trading process, generally, for one of two reasons.The first possible reason is that they simply are not aware that these are the steps involved in the trading process, or (the second reason) they have no clearly defined rules for actioning these steps. Thus, less experienced, more nervous, traders can often take hours to evaluate a small number of potential trades.

Experienced day traders, on the other hand, are fully aware that, with little time available to execute their trading, they must have a process plan and they must stick to it.A day trader will set out his (or her) plan of action something like this:1. Recognize the opportunity, enter the market2. Stay in the trade for as long as possible if it is going for him or3. Get the heck out of there with minimum losses, as soon as it is clear it is going to go the wrong wayThat s it! That s essentially what a day trader in any market was doing years ago, and that is what a day trader is still doing today, with little or no change to their working practices brought about by the vastly more advanced technology of today.Savvy day traders learn very quickly that they must plan ahead of time, so that they are in prime position to take full advantages of the opportunities that occur in real time.Thus, day trading, which on paper at least is a pretty dangerous and risky manner of working markets is, in fact, one of the most disciplined trading schools! By the nature of market movements and the way they operate, day traders simply cannot afford to run their trading business on a wing and a prayer!

Practice Competition

Sigma Forex Ultimate Forex Monthly Champion

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It begins at the beginning of each month.

After recieving your request we will provide you with further details and with your Practice account login information which will be used in the trading contest.

Also you have to download Sigma Forex Platform to login with the account number and password after receiving them.

7 Tips to better Currency Trading with SigmaForex

Currency trading training is not over when a trader finally sees the equity increasing in their account.

The Forex market is a very demanding environment and for a trader to maintain a success level, constant currency trading training is necessary.
The following 7 favorite tips can be used as timely reminders and need to be read and absorbed on a regular basis:

#1 - Take Responsibility
"The buck stops here." Don't blame the markets, or a host of other factors for a losing trade. You entered it for whatever reasons you had at the time. Take responsibility for it.

#2 - Use Each Losing Trade As A Stepping Stone
You lost a trade? Good. It will help you focus on a potential problem in your trading method. If after careful analysis you are satisfied you worked according to your plan, fine. Move on.

#3 - Never Become Impatient With The Market
New traders in the early stages of their currency trading training can be eaten alive by the market. During periods of consolidation with little liquidity the anxious impatient trader will force trading opportunities where there none.
Learn to accept the fact that around 70% of the time price will be in a consolidation channel.

#4 - Focus Daily On Improving Your Trading Skills
Currency trading training is an ongoing process. Day by day, step by step the trader improves. So rather than be preoccupied with profits and losses, concentrate on developing the skills. Your account will start to reflect your focus in time.

#5 - Be Pleased With Well Executed Trades Whatever The Outcome
Is this possible? Yes. You can feel well pleased even with a losing trade if you stuck to your methodology and executed the trade well. It is dangerous to feel good about a winning trade when you went against your trading method to achieve it. Your elation is likely to be short lived. Learn to execute the plan!

#6 - If In Doubt Stay Out
The feeling of regret can drain a person mentally and emotionally from entering a poorly considered trade. Once the trigger has been pulled and the trade starts going wrong, the agony of watching it inch towards your stop should renew in the trader the determination to stay out when in doubt!

#7 - Always Have A Good Reason
Currency trading training involves careful analysis of reasons for entering a trade. Just because price is high is not a reason to go short or long if price is low. Price will do what price wants to do so rather than trading from gut reaction, e.g. "Price can't go any higher (or lower)" learn to detach emotions and use pure technical analysis to establish a number of reasons why you should take a trade.

As currency trading training is a long term commitment, skills and disciplines learned can sometimes be forgotten as bad habits creep in.

Sigma Services

As a professional online trading service Sigma strives to give an eminent beyond comparison of professional and individualized trading services, Sigma also provides several facilities for all kinds of traders.

Sigma helps private and institutional clients achieve their trading goals by offering an inclusive forex trading package, along with the state-of-art trading platform, real-time news and wireless access. We relegate to meeting and exceeding our customers' expectations with the utmost professionalism and integrity.

Sigma provides appropriate services satisfying the needs of all business partners’ specified requirements. A client's profit is our success and a client's loss is a significant call of action for us, we consider every client as a special case and a partner.

Sigma's Customer Support is our business core, as we provide 24/7 customer support. We keep in touch with all our clients to make sure that we are on the right pass.

Understand This Equation for Success and Win in SigmaForex

Most forex traders lose and the reason they do, is they don't understand the simple equation for forex trading success enclosed in this article.

So learn it as part of your forex trading education and get on the road to currency trading success. Here is the equation and we will discuss its significance in a moment. Robust Logical System + Confidence in = Discipline to Apply = Forex Trading Success Now that's nice and simple - but most traders fail to understand it's significance.

Of course, some traders simply get the wrong forex education, try and apply it and lose - here are some common beliefs of losing traders: - Believing forex day trading or scalping works - Believing prices move to a scientific formula - Trying to predict forex prices in advance - Trusting their money to a forex robot with a simulated, paper track record Believe any of the above and you will lose at forex trading. To win you must understand that having a logical robust forex trading system is not enough, you have to apply it with discipline.

This means you must have confidence in the logic, because you are going to have to apply it with discipline and remember - if you can't apply your forex trading system with discipline, you don't have a system! Most traders hear about the word discipline but have no idea what it means and how important it is and it's a hard trait to acquire. You need to hold your discipline when your trading system is taking loss and after loss (this happens to even the best traders) and keep executing you're trading system with discipline. In a famous experiment, David Carter taught a group of traders who had never traded before to trade and he did it in 14 days.

The trading system taught was basically simple (a long term breakout system) but Carter didn't just tell them to follow it blindly - he taught them to have confidence in the logic, so they would have the discipline to apply it. The result was stunning - these traders made over $100 million dollars in just 4 years and went down as trading legends.

When Carter taught the group, he knew the importance of mindset and sticking with a plan through short term losing periods, to make long term profits and you must to. Discipline is not easy, but if you get the right forex trading education and have the right mindset, you can enjoy forex trading success and you will be doing what over 90% of traders fail to do. The rewards in forex trading are huge and you can generate a great second or life changing income, you must however be prepared to take your losses to get your profits. All successful traders know this and you must to.

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PIP VALUES | SIGMAFOREX

Pip Values

In most cases, a pip is equal to .01% of the quote currency, thus, 10,000 pips = 1 unit of currency. In USD, 100 pips = 1 penny, and 10,000 pips = $1. A well known exception is for the Japanese yen (JPY) in which a pip is worth 1% of the yen, because the yen has little value compared to other currencies. Since there are about 120 yen to 1 USD, a pip in USD is close in value to a pip in JPY. (See Currency Quotes; Pips; Bid/Ask Quotes; Cross Currency Quotes for an introduction.) Because the quote currency of a currency pair is the quoted price (hence, the name), the value of the pip is in the quote currency. So, for instance, for EUR/USD, the pip is equal to 0.0001 USD, but for USD/EUR, the pip is equal to 0.0001 Euro. If the conversion rate for Euros to dollars is 1.35, then a Euro pip = 0.000135 dollars.

Converting Profits and Losses in Pips to USD

To calculate your profits and losses in pips to your native currency, you must convert the pip value to your native currency. The following calculations will be shown using USD as an example. When you close a trade, the profit or loss is initially expressed in the pip value of the quoted currency. To determine the total profit or loss, you must multiply the pip difference between the open price and closing price by the number of units of currency traded. This yields the total pip difference between the opening and closing transaction. If the pip value is USD, then the profit or loss is expressed in USD, but if USD is the base currency, then the pip value must be converted to USD, which can be found by dividing the total pip profit or loss by the conversion rate.

Example—Converting Pip Values to USD.

You buy 10,000 Canadian dollars with USD, with conversion rate USD/CAD = 1.100. Subsequently, you sell your Canadian dollars for 1.1200, yielding a profit of 200 pips in Canadian dollars. Because USD is the base currency, you can get the value in USD by dividing the value by the exit price of 1.12. 10,000 CAD x 200 pips = 2,000,000 pips total. Since 2,000,000 pips = 200 Canadian dollars, your profit in USD is 200/1.12 = 178.57 USD.
For a cross pair not involving USD, the pip value must be converted by the rate that was applicable at the time of the closing transaction. To find that rate, you would look at the quote for the USD/pip currency pair, then multiply the pip value by this rate, or if you only have the quote for the pip currency/USD, then you divide by the rate.

Example—Calculating Profits for a Cross Currency Pair

You buy 100,000 units of EUR/JPY = 164.09 and sell when EUR/JPY = 164.10, and USD/JPY = 121.35. Profit in JPY pips = 164.10 – 164.09 = .01 yen = 1 pip (Remember the yen exception: 1 JPY pip = .01 yen.) Total Profit in JPY pips = 1 x 100,000 = 100,000 pips.Total Profit in Yen = 100,000 pips/100 = 1,000 Yen Because you only have the quote for USD/JPY = 121.35, to get profit in USD, you divide by the quote currency’s conversion rate:
Total Profit in USD = 1,000/121.35 = 8.24 USD.
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Hedging | SigmaForex

What Is Hedging ?

Basically, hedging involves the buying (or selling) of currency pair(s) in order to protect the hedger against unwanted currency fluctuations. Traditionally, hedging was used to protect the profits of multinational companies from unfavourable currency fluctuations.Hedging is a great way for these companies to protect their profits, but unfortunately many inexperienced Forex traders have incorrectly applied the same principles to their trading activities.Here’s how a Forex trader may try to hedge his position:Imagine that I buy the EUR/USD currency pair, and the market immediately moves against my position (i.e. prices went down). At this moment, I would be facing an unrealized loss. In order to ‘protect’ myself against further losses, I might sell the EUR/JPY currency pair in the hopes that any gain in the latter pair will partially offset the losses of the former pair.Essentially, I’ll be holding on to two simultaneous ‘long’ and ‘short’ positions for the Euro currency. Hedgers hope that the results of both positions will partially cancel each other out.

Why Hedging is A Bad Idea for Retail Traders ?

This method of hedging is a deathtrap waiting to spring. The original purpose of a hedge was to reduce the uncertainty of company profits.To the retail trader, however, this does the exact opposite!Such a hedging strategy simply leaves too many factors open to risk. Although the Euro price fluctuations may be some what muted, the ‘retail hedger’ now has worry about the USD and JPY currencies too! The EUR/USD and EUR/JPY pairs are not highly correlated and may end up causing an even larger total loss in the end.Many people like to hedge because they don’t want to admit that they made a bad trading decision. They try to ‘safely’ hold on to a losing position for as long as possible in this manner, but don’t realize that they’re actually exposing themselves to even greater risks!

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SHI Channel indicator | Sigma forex

How does the SHI Channel indicator work?

The SHI Channel indicator and as the all of the channel indicator uses the highest high and lowest low of the price to determine the upper and lower bands of the channel.In the SHI Channel The channel is calculated according to the given period of calculation and the time frame of the used chart, and the channel is self-adjusted (Like the Bollinger Bands).As you see in figure 1 there are two thick lines that indicates the upper and lower channel and a dashed center line.


The channel gives the overall direction of the price movement - up or down - and may change from time to time, specially if it used with a low timeframe (1, 5 and 5 minutes).

How to trade using the SHI Channel indicator?

Actually you can’t trade with the SHI Channel indicator alone, it will not tell you when to enter the trade neither when to exit, The SHI Channel indicator telling you the overall direction of the price trend and the channels with the middle line warn you how much the trend is strong or weak, however , you have to use another indicators to generate the entry/exit signals

So.. for entry and exit.. i will use chart pattern.. you don't have to be an expert in chart pattern.. to make hundred bucks a month in fx.. i only focus on double top or bottom pattern, head n shoulder pattern, inverse Head n Shoulder, Ascending and descending triangle (the breakout of these triangle at 4h can give you about 400 pips)

SigmaForex Technical Analysis

Technical Analysis is probably the most common and successful means of making trading decisions and analyzing forex and commodities markets.

Technical analysis differs from fundamental analysis in that technical analysis is applied only to the price action of the market, ignoring fundamental factors. As fundamental data can often provide only a long-term or "delayed" forecast of exchange rate movements, technical analysis has become the primary tool with which to successfully trade shorter-term price movements, and to set stop loss and profit targets.

Technical analysis consists primarily of a variety of technical studies, each of which can be interpreted to generate buy and sell signals or to predict market direction. Please see our Technical Studies page for a detailed description of these studies and their uses.

Support and Resistance Levels

One use of technical analysis, apart from technical studies, is in deriving "support" and "resistance" levels. The concept here is that the market will tend to trade above its support levels and trade below its resistance levels. If a support or resistance level is broken, the market is then expected to follow through in that direction. These levels are determined by analyzing the chart and assessing where the market has encountered unbroken support or resistance in the past.

For example, in chart below EURUSD has established a resistance level at approximately .9015. In other words, EURUSD has risen up to .9015 repeatedly, but has been unable to move above that point:

The trading strategy would then be to sell EURUSD the next time it gets close to .9015, with a stop placed just above .9015, say at .9025. This would have indeed been a good trade as EURUSD proceeded to fall sharply, without breaking the .9015 resistance. Hence a substantial upside can be achieved while only risking 10 or 15 pips (.0010 or .0015 in EURUSD).

On GCI's integrated charting system (GCI Multi-Currency Charts), the red support line shown above can be drawn by clicking on the "Trend" button at the top of the chart window, and then drawing a line by clicking the mouse once at the beginning of the line, and again at the end of the line.

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Salient Features of Forex Trading

There are certain features that make forex trading extremely appealing to individual traders as well as to other financial institutions and banks. These are:

• The market is open for 24 hours and for 5½ days in a week.
• It offers highest liquidity with ease of transaction with almost all major currencies of the world.
• Widespread volatile presenting huge profit opportunities.
• Can potentially cover risk exposures with various standalone instruments.
• You earn profit from rates going up as well as down.
• Good leverage with low margin requirements present high profit potential.
• Various options available for zero-commission trading.

How Price is Quoted

In forex trading , currency prices are always quoted in pairs. For example, on a particular date, the rate of EUR/USD is 1.0856 and if you buy 1000 Euros on that particular date, you will have to pay 1085.60 U.S. dollars. But, at a later date if this rate becomes 1.2082, which implies that the value of euro increased in relation to the USD, you can sell 1000 Euros and will receive 1208.20 dollars.

Therefore, you make a net profit of $122.60. So, as an investor, your aim should be to buy currencies at low price and sell those in future in higher prices. If you buy or sell a currency but do not sell or buy back the equivalent amount, it would be referred as open trade or open position.

Major Currencies Traded in Forex

In Forex trading, most of the currencies are traded against USD. The other prominent currencies are Euro or EUR, the Japanese yen or JPY, the British pound sterling or GBP, and Swiss franc or CHF. These five currencies are known as the Majors. The pairs are quoted like USD/EUR or CHF/JPY, where the first one is referred to as the base and the second as the counter or quote currency. The value of the base currency is always 1. All trading is done with currency pairs.

Pips and Spreads

Prices in Forex are quoted to the fourth decimal point (leaving JPY, which is quoted till second decimal point) and in pips or percentage in point. It is the smallest price increment and one pip is equal to 0.0001. When the bid for EUR/USD is 1.0856 and offered rate is 1.0859, it has a spread of 3 pips. Spread, in simple terms, is the difference between the bid and the ask price. The forex market is mainly operated by the brokers who do not charge a commission for their services. And, it is the spread with which they make their profit. For investors, therefore, the lower the spreads the more saving is made.

Margin

Margin is the minimum security that ensures that the investor can pay back the amount in case of losses. It is a deposit that covers any future currency trading losses. With margin, you can hold larger positions than you have in your account.

Leverage

The concept of leverage is also quite common in forex trading, which is the ratio of total available capital to actual capital. If, for example, the leverage is said to be 200:1, it means the Forex broker will lend you $200 for every $1 of your actual capital investment. Though leverage is very important for your trading, higher leverage exposes your investment to higher risks.

Common Methods of Forex Trading

There are three methods for common investors to trade in forex market. They are through the spot market, the forwards and futures market, and the options.

• Spot is the simple currency exchange processes. Here, the settlement date is the second business day after the day the deal or trade is struck.
• Forward transaction is the process where the deal is for more than two days. Future is a type of forward contract, which has fixed currency amounts as well as fixed maturity dates. These are traded in future exchanges and not through general foreign exchange market.
• Options is the process in which fixed currency transactions are carried out with mentioning some specific future date.

Risk Factors in Forex Trading

Although forex trading is extremely lucrative, it has several risk factors involved. Those are risks involving currency exchange rate, interest rate, and risks with credit and country. The average lifespan of a typical trade varies from 2 to 7 days. There are technical and fundamental indicators, which are to be consulted to decide the entry, exit, and other decisions, like order placement etc. You should have solid risk management features and disciplined trading strategies to earn profit in forex trading without risking your investment.

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