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You have traded Forex exchange market for quite a while now. You have read hundreds of Forex guides and ebooks or Forex trading advice widely spread over internet. Those gave you basic knowledge about forex. Now you know the terminology, rules, currency movement trends and all factors influencing whole Forex market.There is a lot to take at once.But let me tell you something here,Forex is something people learn all their lives and still there is something left.You have probably wondered many times before which tactic to take.Will I rely on technical analysis?Should I look at the bigger picture and consider all economic conditions?Will I trade news for quick profits or maybe invest long term.I believe you went through many demo trading accounts to try them out.If you picked up your strategy and you decided to go and trade technical chart analysis here is so much else left to consider. At this stage your knowledge should extend to whole terminology including: support, resistance, chart names. You should know about moving averages, Bollinger band, Fibonacci or Elliot wave theory, Pivot points etc. Now all you have to do is apply all the above rules on your chart and here we go happy pips. Well it is not as easy as it seems to be!There is one piece of advice that we would like to give you.Not all the rules apply to all the currencies. That is right. If you have had enough experience and spent thousands of hours watching charts moving you have probably noticed that almost every single combination of currencies have their own flings and this makes them difficult to predict. Not all pairs would create head and shoulders, double top or bottom to signal the potential major movement. Some of them will but that may mean nothing.Another combination would not necessarily bounce back from 55 or 200 hours moving average or follow pivot points. Other will not create hammers to indicate diversion. All above rules would apply to successful technical analysis trading.We strongly advise you to do your homework and research. Before you select certain rules for certain pairs make sure that there is a pattern to follow. Adjust moving averages, Play with a few values and backtrack to see where there is a rule that you could use in the future forex trade.There are many examples to learn from. If you study eurjpy and euraud pairs you will see how different they are. Euraud seems to have a strong trend on daily charts where eurjpy has not got one.Take also eurusd and we will see that there was strong head and shoulder with the bottom formed on 22 Jan 2008 and instead moving significantly up it did not. Compare the daily chart of eurchf which on the other hand follows nicely its double top and bottom pattern.We encourage all beginner traders to consider those factors before trading real money.Select your indicators to your pairs in the way they are most suitable for each one of them.Make sure it is backtracked and there is evidence for such a selection. Remember: plan your trade and trade your plan.

THE TREND IS YOUR FRIEND

Nothing ever said about currency trading is more true, powerful, and  profitable than this concept!

But what IS the trend and how do we define it?

 The trend, quite simply, is if a currency is going UP or DOWN.  I, however, am more interested in what it is LIKELY TO DO IN THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE !!

So I define trend in this fashion.  Anybody can look at a chart and SEE it going up, which would be an uptrend, or SEE it going down, known as a downtrend.

But as traders we MUST anticipate if the currency will CONTINUE to rise or if it is more likely to reverse and plummet. When looking at a downwardly moving currency, is it likely to CONTINUE going down or is it more likely to reverse and go up?

So how do you ANTICIPATE future trend directions? As a full time trader with over 10 years of experience, my business partner and I created two unique trend tools that are exclusive to our software. While we do sell this software for $2,000, we ALSO GIVE IT AWAY FREE! If you like what I have to say about what it is and how to profit from it, click on the links at the bottom of the page.

We measure the trends in two distinct ways.

 Market Breadth – Our FX Power Index tool analyzes all currency and shows you the percentage of them that are going up and down. Additionally, it gives you a PERCENTAGE of the strength/weakness.  For example, we can look at the EUR/USD (Euro Dollar), which is the most popular currency.  We look at the Euro against the British pound and have to evaluate if it is it going up or down against the pound. If its going up, the Euro is strong, if it falls, it is weak.  We do this same comparison using our advanced statistical tools against all other pairs.  So for example lets assume the Euro is going up against every currency (the Pound, the Canadian Dollar, the US dollar, the Japanese Yen, Australian Dollar, New Zealand Dollar, Swiss Franc, etc).

 For the Euro to go up it has to be strong and the US Dollar has to be weaker. So, when we do the SAME comparison against the US dollar, but the GBP/USD is going up, that means the USD is weak. When GBP/USD is going down, however, it means the USD is strong.  In conclusion, we’re looking for the US Dollar to be weak against the same aforementioned currencies.

 Instead of having to watch many charts to try to figure this out, our software does millions of calculations, analyzes the charts, and then simply gives you a percentage, green showing strength and red showing weakness.  You get this both on your charts and on your hotlist, which sorts the pairs and then automatically links them to charts. Also, we have made it even easier to find the best currencies to trade.  We plot the statistical strength/weakness ON THE CANDLES!  There are 11 different shades of green, with darker shades indicating strength. The same system is used for weakness, with darker reds showing increasing weakness.

  Now this is only HALF of what we do to help you succeed trading!

 We have another tool called the FX Multimap, which shows you the INTENSITY of the trends. This is a proprietary tool that shows you the statistical intensity of the strength/weakness of the currencies.  We also compare all the currencies to each other and measure statistically how strong/weak each one is.

 Readings that indicate the size of a trend are represented on a scale from 0 to 50.  0 to 10 indicates a small trend, while 20-30 is moderate a moderate trend that usually continues, and 30-50 is an INTENSE trend that is VERY likely to continue.

 OK, so I know what your tools do, but how do I use them to make money?

 This is the easiest part, as we’ve done 95% of the work for you. Finding the currencies MOST likely to continue going up or down in the FUTURE allows you to easily find and place trades.

 First, let me be completely honest with you. You will inevitably have losing trades.  It’s a fact of trading!  To think there is a holy grail out there that never loses is moronic.  That being said, the KEY TO MAKING MONEY TRADING is having small losses, lots of break evens, and a few big winners.

 Our methods tend to work 60% of the time. Though we don’t always win, our wins are as high as 30 to 150 pips, while our losses are usually held between 5 to 12 pips.

 So even if you are wrong 6 times out of 10, you will still have a profit. Say on your bad trades you lose 5, 7, 10, 12, 10, and 12 pips.  That’s 6 losses totaling 56 pips. On the 4 winning trades, however, you have wins of 12, 15, 30 and 50 pips.  That is a net gain of 51 pips!

 So even though you were successful only 40% of the time, you made a 51 pip Profit!

Here’s how you find the EXACT places to buy or sell using our trend tools. When our software finds strong currencies going up, you WAIT for a tiny 10 to 20 pip counter trend move down. Draw a trend line over the highs of the downward move, and as SOON as the price goes back above the trendline you BUY!  You place your stop 5 to 12 pips away from entry RIGHT UNDER the last swing low.  Our exit methods are just as simple, and we teach them in our complimentary forex classes that all our new traders get for a week after opening a brokerage account.  It’s hard to explain these concepts without pictures of our charts, but we use Support/Resistance tools for exits, Fibonacci Profit Targets, Chandelier trailing stops, and also trendlines.  Many of these trends explode in your favor, and you will often execute 30-100 pip moves.

For trading weak currencies, simply do the exact opposite.  Wait for a 10 to 20 pip counter trend upwards, and draw a trendline under the lows of the up move. Quickly get in as soon as price breaks this trendline.

 

Here are some tips to help you start trading Forex profitably:
There’s so much information about Forex trading online that it’s understandable for the novice trader to feel overwhelmed. Here are some guidelines on how to get started in the Forex market.
First of all, study. Read everything you can find on the basics of the Forex market, starting with these articles and continuing with whatever else you can find. With all the free information about the Forex market currently available online, you shouldn’t have to purchase anything at this stage.
When the data makes sense to you, choose a broker. This decision should be based on your trading needs. If money is going to be tight, find a broker that offers a micro account, so you don’t blow your entire trading budget in the first week.
Also, make certain there are no hidden fees. If you’re trading on a small account, it would be inconvenient, to say the least, if your entire monthly profit was eaten up by a maintenance charge.
When you’ve found the perfect brokerage, open a demo account with them. This gives you access to their live feed, with up-to-the-second price quotes and charts and your choice of indicators, and his economic calendar and knowledge base.
Of course, with all this fresh information, you’ll want to read it, too. While you’re studying, get to know the brokerage’s online trading platform. You should be able to open the chart of the currency pair that interests you, add and remove indicators, change the time frame of the chart and the parameters of the indicators, and use the graphic interface to draw trend lines. You should also be able to open market and entry orders, add and change stops and limits, manage a trailing stop, and close a trade quickly should the market be moving against you.
Then paper trade using the technique of your choice. Pick one currency pair for in-depth study; many people choose the EUR/USD or GBP/USD, because their volatility creates a lot of trading opportunities. But be aware that the best trading opportunities will be during the hours that market is open; for the European markets, that’s five to seven hours before the United States, depending upon your time zone. Getting up at three in the morning to watch charts can get old fast, especially with a job or family. If that’s the case, consider working with the USD/JPY, the Japanese yen, as Tokyo’s trading hours begin during our evening.
Watch the chart of your selected currency pair for the parameters that signal a trade using your technique. Remember to start with the long-term charts before moving to the short-term. When it seems right to you, enter the trade.
Realize up front that paper trading doesn’t involve that “Yikes!” feeling you get when real money is involved. In that sense, it’s not realistic, but it will teach you the mechanics of working in the Forex market.
Don’t quit paper trading until you reach the number of pips you’ve set as your goal more often than not. This is a very important step; if you quit paper trading too soon, you won’t know enough to trade successfully in the “real world” of the Forex market.
When you do deposit funds into your brokerage account and begin trading with real money, start small to give yourself a chance to adjust to that added stress. Don’t increase the stakes by adding additional lots or by stepping up to a larger account until you’ve learned to adjust for your emotions and again become an efficient trader.
When you feel comfortable with these simpler techniques, go on to study Fibonacci retracements, Bollinger bands, candlestick chart patterns, and the Elliott wave theory.
Congratulations! You’re there!

In a previous article I mentioned that my analysis involves monitoring price action, in order to gain an insight into the short term sentiment of the market. Determining who is in control at that time – the bulls or the bears. And assessing how they’re likely to respond to changes in the market.
I thought today I’d prepare a quick article to give an overview of how I analyze price. Those of you who know me know that I’m a great fan of candlestick charting. However, price analysis is much more than just watching for your favorite candlestick patterns. Too many people just teach the candlestick patterns, which are fine, but in my opinion there’s some essential analysis missing that an astute trade needs to consider BEFORE they look at price action and respond to every candlestick or bar chart pattern.
Let’s have a look at what I mean.
Price analysis for me is essentially a top down approach, working from the macro level of Market Structure (so we analyze the big picture first), then down to the current Trend within that structure, and only then do we look at the current price pattern, whether through candlestick analysis or whatever other method works for you.
So I basically start off with a wide view of the market, and drill down to the detail in the current price bar or pattern.
I prefer to do this over two timeframes.
The market structure is defined primarily on a higher timeframe. For me, as a daytrader, that’s the one hour charts. Of course, if you trade differently to me then that can be any other time period you wish. Just make it higher than the timeframe you trade on – I recommend by at least a factor of four.
Then on the shorter timeframe (what I call the trading timeframe) I refine the market structure a little further, analyze the movement and strength of the trend, and then assess the bullish or bearish sentiment based on the current price patterns.
For me, the trading timeframe’s anywhere from 1 minute to 5 minute charts, depending on the market and its volatility, and how well the price is flowing.
So, what do I mean by market structure, trend analysis and price analysis?
Firstly Market Structure:
• The higher timeframe chart is opened and any areas of major support or resistance are identified and clearly marked on the chart.
• Support & Resistance for me are areas of past price congestion, swing highs or lows, or gaps. That doesn’t include any ‘guessing’ at future support or resistance, via the use of pivots points or Fibonacci levels. I’m not a fan of these analysis techniques. Of course, if they work for you, good on you, keep using them.
• My expectation when I trade is that there is a higher probability of price stalling or reversing at these areas of major support or resistance.
• I then narrow my focus to the shorter trading timeframe and add to the market structure framework, by identifying areas of minor support or resistance. (Typically we look on the current trend first, but you may at times need to look back beyond the current trend, to previous market action, to find applicable areas of minor support or resistance)
• Once again, these come from areas of congestion, swing highs or lows, or gaps. That is, areas which are proven to stall price movement or reverse price direction. My expectation with minor support or resistance is for a higher probability of minor support holding in an uptrend, and minor resistance holding in a downtrend.
•That’s it for Market Structure – simply identifying a support and resistance framework within which price moves. Simple!
Having defined our market structure, or a framework within which price will move, we now focus our attention on the current trend. This occurs, as does all further analysis, on the trading timeframe.
• I conduct analysis on the trend to identify its strength. Is the trend moving strongly, in which case we can anticipate it being more likely to break through the next support or resistance levels, or is it weakening, in which case we have a greater probability of the support or resistance levels forming a barrier to further price movement?
• We determine the strength of the trend by looking at its proximity to the support and resistance barriers within the framework, and also gain clues from changes in momentum or volatility.
• Is the current price swing, faster or slower than preceding swings within that trend? Is the current price swing speeding up, or slowing down?
• Is the volatility changing? Is the average range of the price bars increasing or decreasing?
• These sorts of questions regarding changes of volatility and momentum can give you clues into the changing strength of the trend, and the likelihood of a reversal at, or continuation through, an area of support or resistance.
•If you want to get experienced at this, it takes time. Review price charts over and over, identifying how changes of momentum and volatility precede either a continuation or reversal of that trend.
Having gained an appreciation of the strength of the trend, and its location within the support and resistance framework, ONLY THEN, finally, do I concern myself with the current price action to determine the bullish or bearish sentiment (or more particularly a potential change of sentiment) through candlestick analysis.
What does this little bit of extra work give me?
Here’s an example:
Instead of entering short on a shooting star reversal pattern, just because it matches the shooting star diagram in my book on candlestick patterns, I will first conduct further price analysis regarding the trend and how it moves within the support and resistance framework. For example, the price may have just meandered slowly up to a major resistance level. The current price swing may clearly show less momentum than both the previous upswing and downswing. And the price bar range may be narrowing. This gives a reduced likelihood of the commitment required from the bulls to break through the area of increased supply. The shooting star pattern provides evidence of a clear rejection of prices at that resistance level. This provides me with a lower risk or higher probability trade in the short direction.
Another example:
Instead of entering long on a harami cross reversal pattern, just because it matches the harami cross in my book on candlestick patterns, I’ll conduct further analysis to see where this pattern occurs within the bigger picture of market structure. For example, the trend may show a strong and accelerating move downward, on greatly increased volume, extending price rapidly to great distances below its average, right into an area of major support. This is an area where I expect increased demand is likely to be sufficient to absorb and overcome the force of the bears who have spent all their energy on the climactic move downwards. This is an area where I expect price to find support. The harami cross shows a clear halting of the rapid move down, and allows me an opportunity to enter a low risk trade close to an area of major price support.
Seriously, the end result might be the same, but at least I’ve entered based on a reasonable assessment of the price action in order to maximize the potential for a lower risk or higher probability trade. Over a lifetime of trading I expect this approach will produce more favorable results than just entering because the pattern matched one I’d memorized from a book.
Ok, a bit of a summary, and I know this is a bit of repetition for those familiar with my work, but don’t just blindly take your entry triggers. Think about where they occur within the bigger picture structure of the market.
The market structure defines where you trade. The trigger, whether a candlestick pattern or some other form of entry trigger, tells you when to get in, ONLY when you’ve first met the requirements of the market structure rule.
Think about where the current price movement is within a framework of support and resistance. Think about the changing strength of the current trend, or price swing, as it approaches this area of support or resistance. Watch for signs of strength or weakness in the trend, through the clues evident in changes of momentum and volatility.
And don’t forget – ALWAYS USE STOPS, because there are no guarantees. This is a game of probabilities.
Happy trading,
Lance Beggs

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There are two major methods used to analyze and forecast the behavior of the Forex market – Technical (chart) analysis and Fundamental analysis.

Forex Fundamental analysis is a type of market analysis which involves studying of the economic situation of countries to trade currencies more effectively. Most FOREX traders rely on analysis to make plan their trading strategy. The other common form of analysis is technical analysis.

Both are distinct in their own ways, but on the other hand both are considered useful forecast tools for any Forex trader. They work towards the same goal – in predicting price or movement of currency in the forex market.

In technical (chart) analysis trader studies the effect while the fundamentalist studies are about the cause of market movement. The more successful forex traders have been seen to combine both types of analysis for results that are fine tuned further.

Forex technical (chart) analysis, forecasting price movements & future market trends are based in charts study of past market action. Technical analysis is more focused on what has actually happened in the market, instead of what should ideally happen. It takes into account the price of currency and the volume of trading, and then charts are developed from such a data which is used as its primary tool. One big advantage of technical analysis is that the forex trading analysts can follow many markets and are capable of trading currency simultaneously.

Chart analysis is built on some basic and yet crucial principles. (i) Market action discounts everything! (ii) Prices move in trends, and (iii) History repeats itself.

There are five categories in Forex chart analysis theory: (i) Indicators (oscillators, e.g.: Relative Strength Index (RSI) (ii) Number theory (Fibonacci numbers, Gann numbers) (iii) Waves (Elliott wave theory) (iv) Gaps (high-low, open-closing) (v) Trends (following moving average).

For an aspiring forex trader, learning technical analysis skill is a major factor and her/his success depends on his in-depth knowledge to a great extent. One should also study about the Forex technical analysis tools while studying about Forex technical analysis.

I’ve always been skeptical of “stock trading systems”. While I believe that the markets can leave footsteps, and they can leave tips on the direction of the market, there was no way that any stock trading system could generate results consistently. I came across Market Club, and decided to check out one of their videos.

The first thing that struck me was that the quality of the videos. They didnt look like many of the other smooth videos I have seen. What I mean is, so many of these free videos are created by marketers. They talk about all the right things, they show you all the right charts, they show you everything that you want to hear. The first video I watched gave me the feel that it was a friend who was blown away by the results, and wanted to share them with me.

Sure enough, the video showed me a really easy method of buying and selling stocks. Trade the triangles is the methodology they use to determine the trend of the market. First, they determine the trend based on the monthly chart. A green arrow gives the thumbs up that the trend is up, while a red arrow notes that the trend is down. This also indicates where you should jump in either long or short. Then they switch to a weekly chart. This indicates when to get out, and when to get back in.

Unlike other videos, they actually showed a trade that didnt work out initially. That alone suggested to me that they are being honest. Bonus points there.

They showed how they traded Amazon (AMZN). Based on the monthly chart, they went long at $38.59 in November 2006. Using the weekly to indicate when to get out, a red triangle was noted on December 4/06 at $39.09 for a $0.50 gain. They reentered the trade on February 1/2007 at $39.00. A red triangle appeared on the weekly at $37.71 on March 5th, 2007 for a loss of $1.29. What surprised me is that every stock trading video I have ever watched, always shows winning trades. MarketClub was not afraid to show that some trades will result in losses.

However, on March 29, 2007, that was all about to change. A buy signal was given at $39.80 on the weekly chart. The next sell triangle? June 26 at $67.65. A $27.85 profit. Huge! As long as the monthly was showing a green triangle, they were in the trade, racking up the wins.

Seems too simple doesn’t it.

I checked out every one of the videos they have on their site, many of which provided great opportunities to learn about the markets. Adam Hewison’s comments about oil were bang on what I have been saying for awhile.

So I signed up just to see if this was true. Is it that simple.

As you are no doubt predicting, yes, I was impressed, and yes I made money. Lots of it actually.

The only downside to their methodology is that you’re in trades later than you might want to be (their sell signal recently on AAPL was about $30 from the 52 week high. Of course, if you were in AAPL when they said to first buy, you’re not complaining!). That said, how many times have you wished that you stayed in a trade a little longer and not shaken out at the first wave of selling pressure? MarketClub helps those like me who are tempted to sell at the first push of profit taking, only to watch it push up even higher.

The only downside is that the charting platform is java based, and is rather resource intensive. There is an automatic Fibonacci tool which is very handy, and its easy to move between the weekly and monthly charts.

The biggest benefit to this type of trading system is that you don’t have to watch the markets on a daily basis. I no longer am glued to my computer throughout the day worried about where my stocks are trading at.

They offer a 30 day trial at which time, you can cancel your membership, and get a full refund. I know that in my first MarketClub trade, I made more than the cost of membership. If you follow the “Trade the Triangle” system, I’m confident you wont be contacting them asking for a refund.

 

 

A technical analysis software is a great tool for any trader to predict the future market movement; this can be done by analyzing charts, utilizing backtesting, etc. If you have learnt manual trading, you must realize how confusing it is to analyze many charts, prices, and volume data in order to make a profitable entry decision.

Using a technical analysis software can greatly help you to make the best entry and exit decisions.

The features of this software may vary from the one that only help you in specific area to the one that will automate all the process for you. These are some features of a technical analysis software:

1. Charting Charting is the bread and butter of technical analysis. Basically, no technical analysis can be done without charting. The chart form is a graphical interface that presents price, volume, and technical analysis indicator such as Elliot Wave, Fibonacci, Gann Fan, etc. There are time frame selection available so you can pick the one that match your strategies.

When selecting a time frame, you can choose from tick (seconds), minutes, daily, weekly, to monthly. Viewing historical data on a specific period of time is also possible; you just input the date range that you want.

2. Back Testing Back testing is used when you are testing various trading strategies or systems. In order to do this, you convert your strategies into a set of rules and test it against a time frame of the historical data and see the results.

This is a good mehtod, but remember not to depend on it too much; it has proven to make many traders fails if not used carefully. The reason is they tested their strategies with historical data and keep modified it so it can be a profitable strategy during that time period. Most of the time, these tester will forget to test their modified strategy in current market condition. This is not a wise decision; a strategy that works well in 2001 but fail at the current condition is as good as trash.

If you have a strategy that worked with historical data, open a practice account and have it against current market; if it can survive and give you adequate profit for at least two months, then you have a working trading strategy.

3. Alerts Forex traders using alert software to notify them when the particular conditions are met at the market. For instance: the prices has gone through support or resistance line. This notification will be send to the trader via screen pop up, email, short messages, instant messenger, or any other communication means.

4. Custom Indicators In a good technical analysis software, you can use, customize, or combine various standard indicators such as MVA (Simple Moving Average), EMA (Exponential Weighted Moving Average), LWMA (Linear Weighted Moving Average), etc. If you have better skills, creating a new indicator to support your strategies is not impossible.

5. Broker Interface Certain technical analysis software has feature that allows it to integrate itself with a brokerage platform, thus you can trades on a familiar platform. This will makes your trading process easier because you can input orders directly from the chart.

Using technical analysis software can make market analysis, deciding entry and exit prices, and predict future market movement a lot easier. If you enjoy analyzing market and don’t want to depend on somebody else for that, this software is a must have.

Forex trading system software has turn out to be tremendously well-liked these days. Quicker personal computers and speedy Internet links making it a easier than ever to collect and study Forex trading data.

Forex trading software can scope from uncomplicated Forex charting software to erudite training in trading system development software. There is even software that as soon as it is it programmed it will truly place the do business for you. This is time and again referred to as automated Forex trading software.

Forex charting software permits you to illustrate a wide diversity of charts and to incorporate technical analysis indicators on those charts. It is easy to set up your charting software so you would be able to see every single one of your favorite Forex markets on one single display. Forex traders can make use of this process to track numerous markets activities at a quick look. From bar charts to candlestick charts, from stirring as one Fibonacci numbers, today’s charting software is quality packed. Even the seasoned Forex trader can locate for the most part everything he needs in nearly all of today’s software packages.

A number of of the higher-end Forex trading software gives consent to the trader to execute urbane Forex technical analysis. This class of software will permit you to govern tests on historical data in order to expand Forex trading systems. This course of action is also known in technical analysis as “back testing”.

The trader can produce a set of rules and the software and trials whether those rules would have produced a profit in the past. If the newly developed trading system looks like it has done a good job on historical data. The dealer can then establish to test his theories out in actual time. Trading system development operating technical analysis software, of course, has got to be approached with caution. Such as in all trading, past presentation is no assurance of future outcome.

Forex trading system software makes it a piece of cake than ever to stay on pinnacle of the markets. Traders can at the moment track more markets in superior detail than ever before. Even if you are gone from your trading computer some software can remit you email, or even call you on your cell phone to provide you the info you have asked for.

When selecting trading system software, it will be appealing to buy the most refined package presented. There is no need to go out and pay out thousands and thousands of dollars just to get started. I would gladly recommend you start off with a prime package until you achieve more trading understanding. Once you gain more skill and become more lucrative, then it makes significance to upgrade.

A bit about www.systemsfortraders.com and who we are

We are a group of 4 traders with over 50 years trading experience between us. All of us have been full time traders at some time or another, two of us still are, the other two still trade on a part-time basis. We set up and now run this new forum in our spare time with a specific purpose in mind.Many people find it extremely difficult to find completely independent and honest reviews of trading systems and services. This is because many products do not live up to their expectations (as advertised on their own websites) and many product reviews are carried out by other websites promoting and benefiting from selling that product. Our intention with this site is to facilitate a 100% independent and honest forum for such products.We use our spare time and our experience to produce initial reviews of as many of these products as we can. Reviews are based on our limited exposure, limited because we just do not have the time to review each product for months upon months and trade them all in parallel. However, this fits with our intentions, which is not to test each product to its extremes but to use our experience to get a general feel for it so as to be able to produce our initial review. To achieve this, for each product, we endeavour to do some form of back-testing/result verification and also run the product in real-time (on a small account) for at least a few weeks. Not ideal, however we believe our experience permits us to produce what we consider a reasonable initial review.Our intention is not to be Judge and Jury, our limited exposure does not permit this.  Following our initial review, the hope is to promote further (hopefully honest) discussion and feedback within the forum from those with more experience of the product, who will add further value. All being well this will result in a forum that the whole trading community can come to rely on and benefit from, not just based our experiences but from the experiences of the collective.

We police (moderate) every single post on the site so all forums will stay on topic.  It will not become another clogged up forum for others ego’s or for off-topic unrelated discussion.

Regarding affiliations, we are completely open and honest about this too.  We do not and will not ever endorse or promote any of the products we review. Nor will we ever accept payment or otherwise for a favourable review.  We do however set up affiliations where possible and ask, that, should anyone decide to purchase any of the products we review that they use our links. The commissions we receive from purchasing via our links (where available) will allow us to fund the future purchase of new systems and services to review as well as keep the site free.We also ask that users return to the forum from time to time and provide their own feedback. It is only through this interaction that the site can be of benefit to all of us.

 SYSTEMS AND SERVICES WE REVIEW

 Systems

 These usually come in the form; peruse the website, part with your cash, receive a manual (usually in pdf form), read the manual, set your charts up, learn the strategy, trade the system, make the same profits advertised on the website, never look back.

 Most of these systems are mechanical in use, thus, a certain set of criteria (indicators) have to meet certain conditions before placing a trade.  For example, MACD (12,26,9) has to turn up, 10 Day Moving average has to be sloping up and RSI(14) must be less than 70 on a 15 minute chart.  Please don’t trade this system, its an example.  But basically, most systems are rules based (mechanical) and need to be set up and “learnt”.  To us this involves reading the manual, setting up the charts, observing historic charts (back-testing) and live-running on a small (or demo) account.  We will never use a system out of the box based on the claims on the website and we would never advise anyone else to do so.

 Occasionally a system will come with an EA, this is short for Expert Advisor.  These EA’s are usually pre-programmed indicators that are downloaded and applied to Meta Trader charts (they will only work on Meta Trader charts).  This is quite a standard charting package offered by many of the Forex brokers out there so is usually not a problem for most.  The EA is usually incorporated into a systems rules.  E.g. it is basically another indicator that has to be a certain value, shape, etc. in order to place a trade.  The advantage of some EA’s is that they create an audible alert when a trade is setting up/has set up and thus saves the trader some trouble and hopefully, some screen time.

 Most systems we come across are Forex related, this makes sense, as it’s the largest (most traded) market and most flexible (its open 24×5 typically).  Some systems are designed specifically for indicies, e.g. FTSE, DOW, S&P and occasionally we come across some commodity based systems too.  However, it is fair to say that for every system we come across 2 out of 3 will be Forex based.

 Services

 This category could also be called Signal services at the moment as to date we have only really encountered Signal services in this category.  There are though, two quite distinct (Signal) services, “Standard” and Fixed Odds.

 By “Standard” we are referring to signals which are executed, as trades/orders, using a standard brokerage (trading) account or, particularly in the UK, with a Spread betting company.  Fixed Odds is a newer form of trading than the “Standard” form and involves placing a trade direct with a Fixed Odds broker or with a Spread betting company which offers Fixed Odds functionality.

 In the main, both types of service tend to fall into what we class as, Set & Forget.  This means one receives a signal (by email and/or sms), enters a trade/order and walks away.  The intention here is to emulate the results advertised on the website, to which you will have signed up.  Effort should be minimal.  The user should have to do little more than translate the signal into an order/trade with their broker and walk away until instructed to do otherwise by the provider.

 Robots

 There are many of these in the market.  For those of you that do not know what a Robot is, in basic terms, it’s a piece of software that runs on your brokerage account (usually via Meta Trader) and trades automatically without any human interaction at all.  All you have to do is buy it, set it up, run it, walk away, and it makes money whilst you eat, sleep, drink, etc.

 We are not interested in them at all and have no interest in ever reviewing them. Those wishing to pursue Robots will find many (sales) websites which are neither independent nor honest (in our opinion) featuring reviews. We will continue to focus on providing independent reviews of trading systems and services only, no Robots.

 We have our reasons for this, most of them based on the horror stories we read all too often.  In the main we have also found that most (sensible) traders (rightly in our opinion) are just not interested in them either, we may be wrong but we think not.

 WHAT MAKES A GOOD SYSTEM

 A question we are frequently asked and one we took some time to agree on, in order of importance:

 Next month we will focus on what, in our opinion, makes a (Signal) Service good.

 Mechanical

 Many are surprised that this is the most important factor, more important even than Profitability.

 If a system is not Mechanical, in our opinion, it cannot be operated consistently (according to a specific set of rules) and thus cannot be easily measured.  If a system cannot be easily measured, it is difficult to even consider claiming that it is or can be Profitable.

 How do we apply the term Mechanical?  What we mean is that a set of clear rules must be in place for Entry, Stop(s) and Target(s).  For example, x, y, z has to occur for Entry, Stop is xx and Target is yy, Exit if zz occurs.  This is a very broad example, however it illustrates our point.  Human intervention and discretion should be minimal thus negating emotion completely, or as best possible.

 Profitable

 This is self explanatory, a system must be Profitable.

 This is demonstrated in a number of ways.  Some websites provide previous results, some are actual, some are from back-tests, some are account (usually demo) snap-shots, etc.  A lot of websites provide examples of the finest trades from the last few years and most are also backed up with some glowing testimonials.

 The point here is that every system has some form or another of demonstrating its Profitability.  We take none of these as a given as it leads onto our next criteria.

 Proven

 The 3 key criteria now come together.  A system cannot be Proven unless it is Mechanical and there is no point in proving a system unless it is Profitable.

 We do and we also recommend that everyone else, do their own homework here and remain cautious in doing so.

 We approach this in a number of ways.  If we can back-test a system, we do.  If we can have access to a list of actual trades we take them and verify them.  If we can have access to live accounts we take that opportunity.  The idea here is that whatever historic data we can get our hands on to examine and verify we do it.

 We don’t listen much to testimonials, choosing more so to have a competition between us on who can find the most hilarious.

 Now, before moving on.  Just because historically something looks like the best thing since sliced bread, as mentioned above, we still proceed with caution.  For example, we have encountered indicators which repaint themselves or repaint after the event.  They look fantastic on the screen and highly profitable but this does not mean this is how they behave in a live environment.  Having proven a system, by whatever means, does not mean one can or should jump in without first using that system.

 Technically Sound & Usable

 What we mean here is two-fold.  First a (mechanical) system must be simple enough to be used and secondly it must not take up 10 hours of our day 5 days a week, staring at a screen waiting for a setup.

 Even the most mechanical of systems can be overly complicated, the chart can look like spaghetti junction and the criteria for trade entry can be so convoluted that 6 or 7 different events all have to occur at the same time.  We are not interested.

 Also, we are not interested in trading say, a 5 minute chart, for 10 hours a day.  Trading is about making a profit and having a life.  As a matter of note, most of the systems we trade at www.systemsfortraders.com require less than 15 minutes a day on our part.

 This is not to say we do not mind putting in the effort, we have put in a lot of effort over the years to get to the point we have.  Our point is that now, once we have decided upon a specific trading approach, our effort, in terms of executing our strategy and our screen time, should be minimal.

 We say this because in our opinion, there are enough opportunities in this environment across the many different timeframes we can chose to trade.  We do not need overly complicated systems nor do we need to be tied to our screens all day.

 We also like a system to be what we call, Technically Sound.  By this we mean that we like to agree with the principles by which it operates and everyone will have their own baselines here but we can give a couple of examples.  A system that goes long when RSI(14) is over-sold would not be Technically Sound in our opinion, nor would one that has a 100 point stop and a 10 point target.  Anyway, the premise here is that we at least agree the systems fits within some sensible trading boundaries and guidelines.

 It Works In Practice

 So, finally, once we are reasonably satisfied with our main criteria we always determine a systems credentials by trading it in real-time, usually on a small account, we just prefer this to Paper trading, personal preference really.  Paper trading is fine but even with a small account at least there is something to be won or lost based on your trading decisions.  As a tip, we usually imagine there is a zero on the end of our £’s per point when trying out a system on a small account, just helps us to involve some emotion that will always be there if the system is used for real.

 Of course, some systems fall by the way-side before we get to this point.  For example, we may deem it too complicated, it may not be mechanical enough, it may require too much screen time, we may have deemed it as not profitable, etc.  We may be wrong in our judgement but we generally go with our experience and gut feeling here.  If we are incorrect and do not progress we hope that we will soon be put right in the forum by our users.  If we are we will of course revisit a system and offer a follow up review.

 Being A Little Bit Picky

 And, really we are.  But sometimes we just get fed up with poorly written manuals and untimely customer support.  Believe it or not over 10% of those systems we review never respond to support emails, remember, we have already parted with our cash at this point.  We will now avoid reviewing any product where we receive no response to our initial enquiry, we suggest this is a sensible option for others to adapt.  Well, if someone is not interested in selling you something, what makes you think the product will be any good or that they will be interested in the slightest after they have your money.

 Summary 

So, we like Mechanical systems which are Profitable.  We like to perform some form of Proving exercise and to ensure the system is Technically Sound and Useable.  Lastly our final steps are to use the system in a real environment using a real account.

 Only after we have taken the following steps do we make our only real judgement.  This is never a recommendation but if any of us use a system (without modification) after writing our review we will give it a “Systems We Use”.  We will also, typically, update a live journal on the forum of all the trades we take using that system.

 SYSTEMS IN FOCUS

 To date only one system has made it into our “Systems We Use” category and that is the LMT System by Dean Saunders.

 LMT System  -  Works For Us!

 This is a system we liked as it is about 95% mechanical and takes about 2 minutes to operate 3 or 4 times a day.  This should be once a day but we cannot trade the Daily candles as they close when we are asleep so we trade the 4 hour time-frame instead.  The system slipped up in the month of July but before this it ticked all our boxes; Mechanical (95%, some exception rules to be applied that require some judgement), Profitable and Proven (on back-testing and live running), we agree with the principle of the system which is trend based and obviously we are happy with its usability as one of us is trading it and using it on our own trading accounts.  See our site for our real-time journal.

 5 EMA’s Forex System  -  Complicated!

 A Mechanical system based on 1 hour and 15 minute time-frames.  Although titled 5 EMA’s, the system actually uses MA’s, Williams, MACD, RSI, amongst others.  Just way too complicated for us.  Back-testing was really hard (impossible) and attempting to trade this is real-time well, there was just too much going on for our liking.  We just prefer systems to be more straight forward than this.  This is not to say this system cannot work, it’s just not for us.  We welcome feedback from others that have experience of this product particular those that are actively trading it.

 Easy Trade Forex System  -  Don’t Get It!

 A manual we feel may not have been written by someone who’s native language is English, nevertheless, it is comprehensible enough.  The recommended time-frame for this system is 4 hours (so a timeframe we like) and it “has been successfully tested for any time frame”.  The system itself is based on a rudimentary version of Fibonacci which is used to forecast a “Power Turn Point”.  However, the methodology behind this system just didn’t make sense (was not Technically Sound) to us and we didn’t back-test or attempt to use this system in real-time, just for that reason.  It would be interesting to hear from anyone actually trading this system to determine its usability and profitability.

 London Rush  -  Just About Made It!

 The only other system we have come across that has almost made it to “Systems We Use” category.  Claims of “Only 2 Hours A Day Is Required” actually equates to about 2 minutes a day around 08:00 (UK local time) most days.  The system is pretty much 95% mechanical and our live running in July produced a nice return of about 6-7% risking 3% of account balance per trade.  Even though we have an outstanding issue (and receive no response to any of our emails) we continue to run with this system and it’s on our “Systems We Use” list.  See our site for our real-time journal.