Pyramid Positions in Forex

Buying and selling the Forex market is one of the most exciting, fast paced trading decisions you will ever make. Currency prices are well known for swinging wildly in a particular direction by 100 to 200 pips, at a moment's notice, sometimes for no exact reason in particular.

So how do you capitalize on this type of market? How do you ensure that you are following the proper trading ideals - i.e. maximizing profits whilst minimizing losses? We have some solutions which might help to achieve just this.

Building on Winning Trades

There is literally nothing better than buying a particular currency, and then within minutes seeing the pair surge upwards on a wave of optimism. You know that you had the right idea at the right moment, and the decision you took to buy that currency was the right one.

This is where we should mention the "trend". It is a statistical fact that when a currency moves in one direction, it is more likely that at any given point, it will continue to move in that direction rather than reversing. This is why people who try to pick bottoms and tops often fail miserably in their trading.

So - if you are sitting on a winner, what is the logical thing to do? One of the ideas might be to add to your existing position, and hope that the currency continues on the positive course.

Here is an example of how such a trade might pan out:

You buy EUR/USD at 1.3200 and it rises to 1.3300 shortly after the trade.
Instead of closing the trade for a 100 pip profit, you buy another 2 lots of the currency.
Because of the trend, EUR/USD continues to rise to 1.3350.
You close your position at this point.
Your profit is the 150 pips on initial position + 50 pips on both secondary positions.

Here, you have clearly benefited from the prevailing trend in the market and have capitalized on a position where the intuitive feeling may have been to just take the profit at 100 pips.

Building on Losing Trades

It should be noted that building a pyramid strategy for losing trades is absolutely not the same as the above. Staggering your entries should only be used by people who are experts in the field - and for position traders who want to balance and average out their average cost at a "better" price.

Remember, whilst pyramid trading can be hugely beneficial to profits, it also magnifies any losses if the market was to reverse - so careful monitoring needs to be done at all times to ensure that the position is safe and guarded.

Pyramid Positions in Forex

Trading Forex in a Tight Market

Unlike most other markets out there, Forex is a 24/5 operation - meaning that from Monday to Friday, you can trade at any time of the day or night. This is perfect if you are one of those people wanting complete flexibility as to the times you trade. However, it can also be a bit of a nightmare for those who are followers of the news.

Fundamental trading strategies (or news trading) is basically the basis on which people use the news to base their trading decisions. For example, any of the following events might trigger a trade if someone was carefully following the news:

Surprise interest rate increase or decrease.
Surprise economic data.
News that a currency is being artificially tampered with by authorities.

This is just a selection of the possible news stories which could turn a relaxed, off duty Forex trader in to a raging financial mogul in a matter of seconds.

Why the Forex Market Gets Tight

When we talk about a "tight Forex market" we are usually referring to a lack of trading on a particular currency pair, and therefore a very small amount of price movement over a given period.

For example, if we said that the USD/JPY was trading "tightly", it would imply that the daily range of the currency pair was extremely small - perhaps a matter of 30 to 50 pips.

There are other times when we would say that the market is tight also. In some cases, we might refer to the entire market as being "tight". This usually happens on a select few occasions at about the same time each year - with one of these periods of course being: summer.

Summer Trading is Tight Trading

Even though the Forex market is still open each week day during summer, because many finance companies and banks choose to send their employees on holiday during these times - the liquidity of the entire market is often low. In other words, it's not just one single currency pair which is affected, but all the currency pairs.

If you are trading during summer or if the American summer happens to be your winter - you need to adjust your trading strategy to incorporate this decrease in liquidity. Perhaps consider more position trades, rather than swing or scalp trades, to attempt to mitigate the additional risk of the low liquidity during the major holiday breaks.

Trading Forex in a Tight Market

Forex Trading Styles - Position Trading

In Forex, the term "position trading" is somewhat misleading. That's because both of the terms involved are the total opposite of each other. Traditionally, "position" investments are those which are held for the longer term. Traders wait for the market to move significantly before closing out their "position".

On the other hand, trading is often the quick movement of money. In Forex, a "trade" could be a buy and sell executed on the same currency pair within about 20 minutes of each other. In other words, "traders" are cyclically trading in and out of different currencies in order to scalp as many pips as they possibly can, as quickly as possible.

Benefits of Position Trading

Position trading often sets the trader up for significant profits, and a greater chance of realizing a winning trade. This is because short term market moves are completely disregarded, with the overall sentiment of the market in the long run being the only focus.

To illustrate this, let's give an example of a position trading strategy:

Trader believes that EUR/USD will appreciate in the long run.
Based on a weekly chart, the trader goes LONG the EUR/USD.
Within 2 months, the pair has reached the target (after many other short term moves).
The trade is closed based on a signal from the weekly chart.

The concept is simple. Many people will have heard of "buy and hold" strategies. Position trading is essentially the same, except for the fact that you can "sell and hold" also.

Effects of Overnight Interest

One of the concerns for position traders is whether they are on the positive or negative side of the trade. Overnight interest is the cost of holding an open Forex position after the close of trade - i.e. the financing cost of that position.

Therefore, before entering a position trade, it is important that you calculate the costs of carry (overnight interest) - to ensure that this won't eat in to your long term profits. The last thing you want it to have a profitable trade which is completely disintegrated by the overnight financing costs after 2 months of holding the trade open.

Most brokers are open and transparent in this respect, so check with them to see whether you will be receiving or paying interest on open positions in your chosen currency pair.

Forex Trading Styles - Position Trading

Forex Trading Robots

Wouldn't it be great if you could make money in your sleep? Wake up in the morning and discover an additional $200 or $500 in your account? Furthermore, what if this happened on a near nightly occurrence - so that every morning, a bonus was credited to you without fail?

Queue the Forex Trading Robot. Have a quick search around the internet, and you'll be sure to find hundreds of FX Trading programs, all of which promise to make you money on a daily basis, with little human intervention. Do they really work? Well - that's the key question that we wanted to find out.

Is it Too Good To Be True?

They say that if it's too good to be true - it probably is. As the logic goes with Forex Trading Robots, if a system did exist which constantly generated profits on a daily basis, wouldn't everyone be using it?

Surely, as soon as someone discovered the program, they would have their family and friends signed up quicker than quickest? Usually - we don't see this happening. In fact, at best, we often see people resorting to another Forex Trading Robot after a month or so of no success from the previous one.

However, as many FX Trading Robot websites point out - maybe it's the user which causes this failure? After all, a tool is only as good as the person who is using it. Could it be that FX Trading Robots are actually 100% foolproof, if only the end user could be?

The User is in Control

One of the key points to take away from this article is that if you are thinking of using a Forex Trading Robot - you need to look at yourself in the mirror. Why are you using it? Do you already have experience trading Forex? Do you understand the possible pros and cons of utilizing such a system?

Unfortunately, many Forex Trading Robot programs tend to market their software products to people who are new to FX. This is wrong. Shouldn't it be that such robots should only be used by people who already have a solid grasp of the industry? In our opinion - FX Trading Robots are only for those people who have had years of experience, and can therefore take the appropriate measures to ensure that the "set and forget" strategy genuinely works.

Avoiding the Forex Trading Robot Scams

Another issue of contention where Forex Trading Robots are concerned is whether or not they are scams. Do they really work, or are they as accurate as the flip of a coin? Ultimately, picking the right FX robot is also an important step in generating a regular income.

We can't be entirely sure which program is a scam and which is not. Neither can you for that matter. However, reputable Forex Trading Robots do exist - and many of them have been vouched for by professional traders.

To conclude, it would appear that FX Trading Robots are really only as successful as their commanders. The moral here? Learn your stuff before investing in a trading robot.

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