Normally, access to this kind of market has been only open to hedge funds, major corporations and several other institutional investors. Some of the worlds major banks have been involved in foreign exchange markets for years. Back then, the individual trader had no way to access Forex since there were no methods of competing with the big boys on an even playing field.

The foreign exchange market was finally able to open its doors to retail clients in the 1990’s. Makers of online Forex market even opened the gates and made a fortune by breaking huge trading positions into small-sized chunks that several individuals could buy and sell.

What this means is that individuals can now make trades alongside the largest banks in the world. More so, they can even use the same strategies and techniques that other professional traders use. The landscape of trading has changed suddenly and traders obtained a new alternative to future and stock markets.

The Big Money and Forex

The Forex market, or sometimes called FX, foreign exchange, currency market, and global market, may seem like the newest player on the trading world. However, it has been the choice of market for institutional investors and global hedge funds for several years. The big money has always traded Forex since the large size of the market permits these kinds of traders to enter and exit large trades without making price alterations and upsetting the exchange rates.

During the past few years, the popularity of foreign exchange has taken off. The daily volume of Forex market is estimated at about $1.9 trillion and still growing. This number is still unmatched by any kind of trading market available in the world.

Moreover, traders in Forex have the capability to utilize remarkable leverage, which can be bigger than 200-to-1. The leverage allows traders to expand their trading positions and may also serve to amplify gains and losses. Due to the superior leverage in Forex, the barriers for traders are very low. Traders in Forex markets can open account with as little as a few hundred dollars.

Making Money in the Forex Market

Traders of currency basically place an effort to profit from the changes in exchange rates. Since Forex markets have tremendous leverage, there is a small chance that the change in the exchange rate can cause a large profit or loss. Wealth can be made or lost rapidly in the Forex market; even a shift in the exchange rate that is equivalent to a few hundredths of a penny can be amplified into a significant loss or gain.

There are two kinds of traders in Forex markets: the technical and fundamental traders. The technical traders main focus is on technical analysis. Such analysis is mainly the study of charts and indicators. These kinds of traders believe that all the pertinent information required to put a trade is contained within a chart.

On the other hand, the fundamental traders employ fundamental analysis. This can be loosely described as the study of economics, focusing on interest rates. Such traders believe that the currencies will eventually gain or lose strength depending on their economic strength and weakness and because of the changes in monetary policy and interest rates.

Trading Currencies in Pairs

The subject of currency trading in pairs can be confusing for beginners at first. Whenever an individual enters a currency trade, it entails two currencies. However, even if there are two currencies involved in trading, there is only one exchange rate. Thus, every transaction or trade involves two currencies and one exchange rate.

The value of the currency itself does not change but its value relative to another currency can change. For instance, a single dollar you may have today would still be worth $1 dollar the next day; although, the value of that dollar constantly fluctuates relative to other currencies. This is the main reason why there is a need to trade currencies in pairs in the Forex market.

The 24-Hour Trading and Trading Sessions

Forex markets are synonymous to seamless and 24-hour trading markets; there are no rigid schedules. The market allows traders to decide for themselves when to trade regardless of the time of day. There are even part-time traders, with full-time jobs, who can trade Forex. More so, wherever the individual is located or whatever hours he or she keeps, the individual can still trade in the Forex market.

Since the market is open 24 hours each day, no one can really tell when the market opens and closes at a specific time of day. It is important for traders to designate a particular time of day as a benchmark.

Several traders begin trading at 5:00 p.m. Eastern U.S. or New York time, 10:00 p.m. London time. Since the Forex market trades 24 hours, the trading day also ends at the same mentioned times of the day.

During that time of the day, the three largest Forex trading centers, namely the United States, Great Britain and Japan, are quiet. However, the New Zealand and Australian dollars may witness some action during those hours.

The trading sessions for Asia starts a few hours later, at around 7:00 p.m. Eastern U.S. time, London midnight time. For the European session, the trading begins at around 3:00 a.m. Eastern U.S. time. Lastly, the U.S. session starts at 8:00 a.m. New York time, which is halfway through the trading session of London.

The U.S. Dollar and the Canadian Dollar

Back in the year 2002, travelers would have received an estimated C$1.60 in Canadian currency for every U.S. dollar. It is safe to say that the exchange rate during that year for the U.S. dollar and Canadian dollar was about 1.60 Canadian dollars for each U.S. dollar.

Years that followed resulted in a dramatic change in the exchange rate and by the year 2006, the rate had fallen to 1.10. This only means that a traveler from the United States would only receive about C$1.10 in Canadian currency for every U.S. dollar exchanged.

The measurement of very small changes in this exchange rate can be expressed using 1.1000. If so, the U.S. dollar significantly depreciated against the Canadian dollar during the early part of the twenty-first century.

Eventually, the rate of the Canadian dollar approached parity with the U.S. dollar. U.S. citizens were also less likely to visit Canada, because if they did, they were more likely to spend more than they would have in the past, when the exchange rate was more favorable. On the other hand, travelers from Canada were more likely to visit the United States, since their currency bought more U.S. products than it had previously.

The U.S. dollar and the Euro

The rise of the Euro also created a similar situation to that of the Canadian dollar. In 2002, 2003 and 2004, the Euro created dramatic gains against the U.S. dollar. Additionally during those years, the value of the Euro rose from US$0.85 to above US$1.35. Because of this movement in the exchange rates, citizens from the United States found that vacationing in Europe became very expensive. This kind of change caused a huge influx of shoppers from Europe traveling to the United States, especially during the Christmas season.

There is no doubt that fortunes were made and lost on huge movements, such as those mentioned. However, it is important to remember that even the tiniest shift in the exchange rates can also result in substantial gains and losses.

Understanding the Exchange Rate

An easy way to understand the exchange rate is to think of the base currency as the number one. For instance, assume that the exchange rate for the EUR/USD pair is 1.2904. Since the base currency is Euro, that is also the first member of the pair. Thinking of Euro as the number one will only mean that one Euro would be worth approximately $1.29 U.S. dollars.

But how do these movements in the exchange rates translate to the Forex traders bottom line? With trading a pair, like the EUR/USD, the U.S.-based trader will note that the pair has a fixed value of $10 per pip. This is also true for all pairs that have USD as the second currency. Hence, in any currency pair containing USD as the second currency, a flattering movement in the exchange rate of 10 pips will make a gain of $100; unfavorable movement of 10 pips would cause a loss of $100. In the case of the EUR/USD pair, a gain or loss of 10 pips can happen easily since the pair moves about 100 pips each day on average.

Terminologies in Trading

A non-trader or a beginner can get easily confused around traders, since they mostly use their own language. This kind of language is easily synonymous to a secret handshake, which would let others know that they are a member of the group.

First trading terminology is going long. Whenever you hear this come out of a traders mouth, it only means that he or she is placing a trade that will only be profitable if there is an evident rise in the exchange rate. selling short, on the other hand, means that the trader will be placing a trade that will only be profitable if the exchange rate falls. Flat means that the trade is neither long nor short. More so, the trader saying this has no open positions in the market.

Another trading term is the pip.

By definition, the pip is the smallest increment of price in Forex markets. It is also an acronym for the phrase percentage in point. An example for this term would be when supposing the exchange rate for a pair rises from 1.1000 to 1.1001. It is safe to say that the rate rose by one pip.

Included within the trading terminologies are the major currencies, such as: EUR for Euro, GBP for Great Britain pound, JPY for Japanese yen, USD for U.S. dollar, CAD for Canadian dollar, CHF for Swiss franc, AUD for Australian dollar and NZD for New Zealand dollar.

Nicknames are also used in trading. These are slang terms that several traders like to use. Several examples of these nicknames are: cable or sterling for the British pound, greenback or buck for the U.S. dollar, single currency for the Euro, Swissy for the Swiss franc, kiwi for the New Zealand dollar, loonie for the Canadian dollar, and Aussie for the Australian dollar.

Learn Forex Trading

The investments placed on Forex markets normally deal with the four major pairs, namely EUR/USD, USD/JPY, GBP/USD, and the USD/CHF. These pairs are also considered as blue chips.

Additionally, the foreign exchange market is unique due to several aspects, such as: the trading volumes, extreme market liquidity, the large amount and variety of traders, geographical dispersion, 24-hour trading, the factors affecting the exchange rates, and the low margins of profit with other fixed income markets.

The exchange-traded foreign exchange future contracts were first introduced in the year 1972 at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Future volumes of Forex have grown rapidly in recent years, and accounts for about seven percent of the total Forex market volume.

From Stocks to Forex

Most traders in the United States are involved in stock trading. Within that environment, a trader who is following a trend for as long as possible would not have any difficulty in making money. The stock market is also a very forgiving market, which would bail out even poor traders. The only trick is to understand the difference between the good and the lucky. There are several talented traders who can falter when the conditions of trading become less then ideal.

Although both the stock and Forex markets involve risks, the latter is not conducted on a regulated exchange, thus there are additional risks correlated with Forex trading. However, traders previously involved in stock markets are transferring to Forex markets due to a number of benefits.

One is the greater leverage. Forex trading provides greater leverage compared to the traditional stock trading, which only allows traders to be in charge of larger positions with smaller amounts of capital. Greater leverage allows an individual to trade the same size positions that he or she might take with a stock broker, while leaving him or her with more available capital to trade more markets.

In Forex markets, there are no middlemen. When trading directly in Forex markets, the only players are the dealer and the primary market maker, or the trader and the buyer or seller of the currency pair; no extra parties are involved. On the other hand, the stock market involves the trader, broker and the exchange, who both charge commissions and fees.

Stock Market Headaches

There are a number of unpleasant events that a person must learn to deal with in life. After a while, these problems are no longer considered as a burden but instead a norm. As for traders, there are also unpleasant occasions that can be considered as normal or a part of the job.

One of these problems is the partial fill. The partial fill is a normal incident in stock trading. It occurs when a trader puts an order for a definite number of shares and instead receives only a portion of the order. The market will not be able to absorb an entire order if there are not enough shares available at a defined price. This can be frustrating for the trader, especially if he or she wants to pursue large orders. Still, this kind of event is considered as normal for equity traders.

Slippage is another problem that futures and stock traders encounter every day. By definition, slippage is the difference between the anticipated transaction costs and the amount actually paid. Slippage tends to cut into the traders profits and is a major headache for futures and stock traders.

Aside from those two, another hurdle that a trader must overcome is the specialist. A specialist is an individual who controls all the trading activity of a listed stock. More so, the specialist also controls the spread; he or she can widen or narrow the spread at his of her discretion. Hence, the specialist can either make your trade successful or make your life miserable.

The uptick rule is another frustrating obstacle that faces the success of an equity trader. Stock traders can place a trade that will become profitable if the stock rises whenever they wish. However, if they desire to place a trade that will become profitable if the stock falls, the traders must go through several machination processes that can be both costly and problematic.

Stock Market Headaches in Forex

Fortunately, the Forex market is less problematic compared to the stock market. The currency market is considered as highly liquid or thick. This is the reason why the partial fill headache evident in the stock market is extremely rare for all but the largest traders in the foreign exchange market.

Additionally, the slippage is also rare in the Forex market. Several foreign exchange market makers have a one slippage policy, thus giving currency traders a superior degree of certainty regarding the price.

As for the specialist, there are no specialists in the foreign exchange market. More so, the spread is often fixed in the currency market. This allows the trader to another greater degree of certainty.

Lastly, the Forex market has no uptick rule. The trader can buy or sell at his or her own will. Conversions, bullets or married puts are not required to be purchased.

After getting a series of winning trade or you scalp for a long time, as a human we tend to trade per our ego. Our entry rules might be relaxed and the forex signal not yet fully confirmed, we will jump into the trade.

and that’s what happen to me …

I reviewed some of the trades in my account and found that if I am applying the right strategy, my swap fee will be ZERO.

However, you see if I am paying the swipe fee, meaning I am holding it overnight or for certain duration. If my timing is right, I would have exit almost instantly when I enter the trade.

There are 2 trades which I do not follow the rule exactly, ran into trouble. I am having -30 to -40 pips losses in open trade. I could have lose more …

However, having a good forex strategies to model, you can still close the trade in profit. Lucky huh ?

I am switching all my domains to a new hosting.

As part of email marketing campaign, I have all the messages set in my autoresponder and follow up with my readers on a daily basis.

Here is something cool.

In my autoresponder messages, I promote my own How to Approach Women course but my readers not able to access the website because DNS not populated fully.

Since all my redirection was handled by Affiliate Shield, it automatically switch to another affiliate program which I set as an alternative.

Take a look at the alert email generated by Affiliate Shield.

Subject: AffiliateShield Alert – site down
Date: Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:05:37 -0700
Alert!

Site http://www.approachingwomentips.com/main.html is down (04-Sep-2008 [16:05:17]).

Switched target to http://www.artofapproaching.com/main.html

Don’t you think it is great ? By using Affiliate Shield , I can protect myself from lost of revenue as the result of the site I am promoting is unaccessible.

However that’s not my main reason using Affiliate Shield. It has other great feature that are more promising …

Google: 5
Yahoo: 1,233
AltaVista: 669
AllTheWeb: 601
LR Score: 2

So sad … however, I tested on a few other domains majority are 1. Now, the question is, how reliable is this tool ? Anybody tested ?

The problem, in terms of actually seeing any profits from your E-Book, is that the market is overwhelmed with E-Books, and many of them are not worth the time it takes to download them. Just because the ability exists to easily produce an E-Book, doesn’t make it good writing.

Make sure your book does not simply rehash old material. You will injure your credibility as an author by claiming to offer valuable new insights and disappointing your audience with material they’ve read a zillion times before. So spend enough time writing and revising your book to make sure it’s of the highest quality and presents the most current information. A good book will eventually sell itself; false claims about your book will make it extremely difficult to sell any future books you may write.

Assuming you have determined that you do indeed have a quality product that answers some question or need of your target audience with NEW information, how do you know how much to charge for it? Rule number 1: Set a price for your book equal to its value. An under-priced book will only give the impression that your book isn’t worth very much.

To figure out a fair price, estimate how much time you put into creating it and how difficult it was to transform the necessary information into understandable and engaging writing. Figure out how much your time and effort is worth, and then price it accordingly. The goal is for you to be adequately compensated for your talent, your time, and your effort.

Once you’ve figured out a price that is high enough to convey the value of the book, but not so high as to be out of the reach of your target audience’s mean budget, then it’s time to offer it for sale on your website. To attract sales, you will need to develop a promotional campaign, particularly if you are an unknown author.

There are multitudes of books about self-promotion that will guide you in your efforts. Choose a plan that is both creative and professional. Learn how to write a catchy yet informative press release, and send copies of your E-Book to sites that specialize in E-Book reviews.

Learn how to write powerful sales copy, or hire someone to write it for you. This is an essential. You absolutely need excellent sales copy to sell your book. Make sure the copy includes all the reasons your target audience needs your book, and the benefits they will derive from buying it.

Use graphics in your promotional materials. Beautiful graphics have the power to instantly convey the quality and value of your E-Book. Graphics can also convey the amount of valuable information the book contains, and your careful attention to detail. Professional graphics sell professional books. They reassure the customer that the product is what it claims to be.

Consider excerpting chapters for articles. You can offer these tidbits for free on your website as a sort of demo of your book. Include an order form for your E-Book at the end of the excerpted articles.

Finally, when you set-up your download link, make sure to simplify the process. It’s a good idea to offer a few bonuses that make your book even more enticing to purchase, but make sure the bonuses are valuable and high quality. Too many bonuses that are basically a load of useless stuff will compromise the impression your audience has of your E-Book. The goal is to convey to your audience that they are getting a quality product for a good deal. That means applying restraint, especially when it comes to adding bonus items. Too much free stuff offered diminishes your credibility.

Make sure your book is a quality product. Make sure it is relevant and current. Develop an effective marketing plan that includes excellent sales copy and excerpted articles. Then offer your book for sale, and wait for your audience to discover you!

First, you have to write a quality book that has a clear target audience. And your book must answer a common problem or need that audience shares. Then you have to develop a marketing plan, and stick to it for at least two years.

Let’s begin with the process that should commence before you write your first word. Begin by reading A LOT. Read both books you passionately love and books you can’t seem to make it past page five. Then figure out what the author did in the book you loved, and what was wrong with in the book you couldn’t finish. Write down these points so they are crystal clear to you. Read other people’s books for inspiration and to discover what you should avoid as a writer.

The next step is to plan out your book. Narrow down your subject, and then divide it into chapters. Each chapter should address a specific aspect of the problem your book is going to solve. In each chapter, break the specific aspect down into several parts. This will help your readers take in your information a bit at a time instead of overwhelming them with every bit of information clogging up the pages until they feel like they’re about to go blind. It’s not quite spoon-feeding the information to your readers, but it’s close.

The next two steps are obvious. Write your book and then revise it. And then revise it again. And perhaps again. Of course, writing is extremely hard, and writing a book can seem like an impossible task. There are many books out there that give you guidelines to help you become familiar – and even love – the process of writing and revision. Find a number of books about writing. Better yet, find a number of books about writing the specific type of book you aspire to write. These can serve as roadmaps on your writing journey.

Once you’ve written your E-Book and revised it at least twice, show it to someone else whose opinion you respect. If you’re lucky enough to know a good editor, see if you have something to barter for him or her to go through your manuscript. Or join a writing group and let the other members critique your work.

Then take all these ideas from other people, and revise your manuscript one last time. And then stop! Put down that pen! Get your hands off the keyboard!

One of the most important steps to actually producing a book is to know when to stop writing and tinkering with it.

You’ve finally written your E-Book! Pop open the bubbly! Give yourself a night out on the town!

Okay, now that this necessary celebration is out of your system, what do you do next?

Besides promoting your books assiduously online, there are several other strategies that can help you sell more books.

One is to give something away for free with your book, such as a valuable bonus item. Or bundle several E-Books under one price, which lowers the price for each E-Book if they were sold separately.

An effective technique for figuring out a price is to send out a survey to your current customers. If these customers have already bought an E-Book from you, ask for their opinion in terms of price. Do this by creating a sales page for the new book, but don’t include a price on that page. Instead, add a number of links to survey questions that ask pointed questions to aid you in assigning a price to your E-Book.

Another strategy is to test out prices by creating a number of duplicate sales pages with different prices on each page. Make sure your sales copy is exactly the same on every page, and includes your selling-handle sentence. Then figure out for each page the conversion ratio between visitors to your site and sales of your book. This will tell you what your optimum price is.

Ultimately, if you’ve written a book that solves a problem or presents a new technique, your book will bring in both traffic and profits. So be sure to write that selling-handle sentence that sums up what problem your book solves and what the benefits of your book will be to the customers who purchase it. And then watch your market come to you!

Decide if your goal is to get wide distribution and maximum exposure. This goal is aimed at drawing customers to your business or service, or to establishing the credibility of your reputation. If this is your main goal, you should aim to keep your price on the low side. Some authors have even priced their E-Books at a profit loss to draw a high number of new customers. The key is to find a price that maximizes your profits and the number of books you sell.

This is an excellent pricing strategy if you are looking to acquire long-term customers. Long-term customers are extremely likely to buy from you again and again as long as the first E-Book they buy is of exceptional quality and beneficial to the customer.

However, if your book contains valuable and more importantly NEW information, references, or techniques then you should aim to price it on the high end.

After you figure out your goal, you must figure out what your audience’s need is for your E-Book. For example, does your book solve a particular problem? If it does, and solves it in a way that hasn’t been written about in one hundred other E-Books, you will be able to achieve high sales at a high price. If your book solves a problem or answers questions in a new and unique way, you should price your book as high as you can go. You will achieve larger profits this way, but bring in fewer customers. Just make sure the question or problem that your book solves is one that is important and relevant to the majority of your market audience. If your ideas are not common knowledge, or you are presenting a brand new technique, you will be able to sell books at a high price. Just be prepared for your competition to undercut you on price as soon as they hear about your book.

Keep in mind that the above pricing strategy is temporary. Eventually, you will cease to sell books at this high price. So figure out in advance how long you plan to offer your E-Book at this high price, and when that time is up, change your pricing strategy.

If you want to see large profits over customer draw, aim for an audience that is looking for easy solutions to their problems at a low price. If your book is aimed at solving one particular problem rather than general advice, then you can charge more. Start at the highest price the market will bear to bring in the largest profits, and plan to discount the book a number of times throughout the year.