2016: Make This Your Year To Become A Forex Pro

With increased globalisation, economies and currencies are more interdependent on each other than ever –– presenting an opportunity for investors to become savvy forex professionals. Becoming a pro forex trader will probably take some time and needs a great deal of effort, but you should not be discouraged because ups and downs are normal. The best part is that you can sit in the comfort of your home with your laptop to trade in forex and still make a ton of money. Once you get the basics right, you’ll soon realise that forex can make you a lot of money, so give it a shot in 2016 and become a forex pro with these simple steps:

Learn The Basics

If you’re new at forex trading, then learn the market before undertaking any trading. Understand the concepts of currency trading and how existing traders sell and buy currencies. You need to learn about currency trading and the currency market. Watch online videos, read articles, talk to existing forex traders to dig deeper into the forex trading industry.

Understand Trading Systems And Platforms

You must understand trading systems and platforms used to analyse currency markets for locating trade setups. As a beginner, you’ll ideally want platforms with user-friendly information and depths of information for analyzing price charts and trade setups, backed by strong support and competitive pricing. Learning and understanding these trading systems and platforms will help tune your mind to your goal of ultimately becoming a forex pro.

Start Demo Trading

You will need to practice trading with a demo account. Demo trade for at least a few months before you are ready to undertake live trading. You must build your forex confidence with demo trading before opening a live trading account with your broker or trading platform.

Begin Live Trading

If you’re confident with your demo trading, then it’s time for you to enter the real world and start live trading. It’s important to choose a good platform and broker because you’ll want access to large numbers of currency pairs and emerging market currencies. Keep in mind that you should trade with your live account in the same way as you would trade with your demo account. If you start making real money, stick to what you’ve been doing and don’t deviate because you could end up losing money eventually.

Enjoy What You Do

While the thought of handling money can be stressful to some people, it’s important that you enjoy what you do. Remember to keep your calm and treat this as impartially as you can, so that you end up making sound decisions based on facts and not emotions.

If you’re looking for a reliable online trading platform to begin your forex trading career, then check out CMC Markets to meet your every forex need. They have over 330 currency pairs that are also available for trading as CFDs.

source: 20smoney.com

Asian shares mixed as US jobs report looms, ECB soothes

SINGAPORE/TOKYO - Asian shares were mixed on Friday as caution about a U.S. jobs report jostled with signals from the European Central Bank that it is willing to take further steps to shore up the European economy.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.2 percent after rising in early trade. They've fallen 3.4 percent this week.

Japan's Nikkei fell 0.9 percent, extending losses this week to 6.0 percent.

Wall Street shares ended up on Thursday, though they pared back much of earlier gains.

The S&P 500 gained 0.1 percent but the Nasdaq Composite ended 0.4 percent lower.

"Markets sold off after the early bounce in accordance with the U.S. equity markets," said Nicholas Teo, analyst at online trading platform provider CMC Markets in Singapore. "Only one theme on every trader's mind today - U.S. jobs report tonight. And how that may possibly play on the Fed’s September rate decision."

A strong jobs number could cement optimism on the global economy and boost share prices but it could rekindle speculation of an early rate hike, which could hurt risk assets, particularly in emerging economies.

Economists polled by Reuters expect the U.S. economy to have produced 220,000 new non-farm jobs last month, continuing the robust employment creation of the past five years, while average hourly earnings are predicted to have risen by a modest 0.2 percent, as they did in July.

A drop in average prices charged by U.S. service businesses in August after 25 months of increases supports the case for a delay in rate hikes even though the overall service sector expanded at the fastest pace since May.

While the Fed has so far stuck to its script that interest rates will likely be raised this year, the ECB is tilting towards more easing.

It cut its growth and inflation forecasts on Thursday, warning of possible further trouble from China and paving the way for an expansion of its already massive 1 trillion-euro plus asset-buying program.

For the first time, ECB President Mario Draghi also said explicitly the bond-buying program may run beyond September 2016 and the bank may adjust its size and composition.

"It looked as if the ECB is preparing stimulus," said Masahiro Ichikawa, senior strategist at Mitsui Sumitomo Asset Management. "As it cut its growth projections and uncertainty over emerging economy is rising, it probably had to show that it is ready to take action."

That pushed down German 10-year yields, the benchmark for euro zone borrowing costs, to 0.725 percent, compared to a two-week high of 0.82 percent hit on Monday.

The euro also fell to a two-week low of $1.10875 and it last fetched $1.1128. Against the yen, the common currency hit three-month low of 133.135 yen.

In commodities markets, which have been battered by fears of a hard landing in China, trade remained highly volatile.

After gains in early trading, Brent crude futures slipped 0.5 percent to $50.44 per barrel.

Copper fell 0.8 percent to $5,203 per tonne after surging to $5,314 on Thursday, its highest in over three weeks, as bearish investors closed out positions ahead of U.S. job data.

Aluminum also shot up, touching a one-month peak on the London Metal Exchange on Thursday.

China's financial markets were closed on Friday for a national holiday.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com