Articles of Interest

As every CFD trader knows choosing a trade is not always the easiest task there are CFDs on thousands of shares to choose from but which ones do you trade? Most traders follow a particular style of trading and choose their CFDs based on certain criteria such as liquidity and price, however not all traders have a trading plan but rather base their investment on factors such as dividend returns or company valuations. Even if you don’t have a trading strategy there are a few important factors that you should consider when choosing which CFD to trade online, a few of these factors are outlined below.
 
Seasonality
With thousands of share CFDs to choose from one factor most people overlook when they start trading is share CFD price seasonality, this is one of the most obvious factors influencing share CFD prices. If it is summer you should consider CFDs which historically have price moves up during this season or price moves down if you are bearish, examples of seasonal stocks include retailers.
 
Technical Analysis
There are thousands of indicators available with the most common ones being MACD, volume, moving averages, RSI, CCI, stochastics and bollinger bands. Don’t get confused by the many thousands of indicators available, keep it simple in the beginning. Using too many indicators can be confusing and result in mixed signals, you should start by using one or two simple indicators first like MACD and moving averages for example, once you are accustomed with these indicators only then should you start experimenting others. Some of the most successful traders solely rely on technical analysis however when starting out it is advisable not to solely rely on technical analysis alone when making your trading decisions.
 
Company Fundamentals
Most people overlook company fundamentals when choosing a CFD to trade. One of the most important aspects in choosing a share CFD is the company’s balance sheet and profitability, reading over the company’s balance sheet is essential before making medium to long term investment, of course if you intend to engage in short term trades this is less important.
 
Company Management
Company management is something most CFD traders fail to consider. Investing in companies who’s management have a good track record is always a good start. Of course management is more important to consider for medium to long term traders, and less important for short term investors looking to take advantage of short term price fluctuations.
 
Global Market Conditions
It is important to monitor global market conditions as market movements are ultimately dictated by the global economic climate. Currencies, commodity prices and global indices all have an influence on the local stock market and ultimately you CFD positions.
 
Of course these are just some of the factors CFD traders should consider when entering into a CFD position. Every trader enters into CFD positions using different criteria that suits their risk profile and trading habits, it is always important develop your own trading plan to site your risk profile and lifestyle.

To find out more about CFD trading you should take a look at this free CFD guide.

Let’s face is not everyone is cut out to be a scalper or day trader after all sitting in front of your PC for hours on end watching numbers go up and down can be stressful. For most people day trading is too difficult as it’s a high risk reward job and requires a medium to large capital outlay at the start. The emotion of day trading often gets to novice traders, being able to manage your emotions is what distinguishes good traders from bad. The fact is not everyone can be a day trader.

When looking inside them minds of successful traders there are certain characteristics that always stand out. Some of the most common characteristics are:

Analytical Mind
Good day traders have analytical minds and are able conduct quick calculations and think on their feet, they must be able to identify trends and patterns without relying on a fancy chart or computer program.

Confidence
All successful day traders are confident, they are decisive, able to think quickly and have no time for uncertainty or self-doubt as this is what often leads to missing some of the best trading opportunities of the day.

Self Belief
Self belief goes hand in hand with confidence, you have to believe in your decisions and run with them. If you are indecisive perhaps day trading is not be a suitable career for you. 

Discipline
All successful day traders need discipline, once you have a plan stick to it. When day trading you can lose money as well as make money, as losses can result in an end to your career you need to manage your risks, know where to set your limits and stop loss orders accordingly. Once you have met your objectives do what you planned don’t let greed or fear take control of you.

Decisiveness
Good day traders don’t hesitate, they run with their decision and trade what they think is right, hesitation often results in missing out on good trading opportunities.

Passion
Day trading involves being passionate about the market, a good day trader never switches off tracking the market day in and day out following news globally, analysing charts and looking at quote screens. This all has to be processed as quickly as possible, this is of course is what will give a good day trader an edge.

Dealing with Failure
You can never expect to win all the time this is a motto every day trader should remember. You will lose on some occasions and win on others however, as long as you ensure that over time you win more than you lose you will always be successful. If you cannot accept losses then day trading is probably not for you as all good day trades will suffer losses at some stage.

Concentration
When day trading you will need to quickly analyse allot of data and reports in order to arrive at decisions quickly and act fast, this all happens in real time so you must be able to focus and avoiding all distractions during the trading session.

If this sounds like you then perhaps you should take up a career in day trading and learn more about CFDs in this very informative free CFD guide.

ECN is an acronym for Electronic Communications Network. A Forex ECN broker does not have a dealing desk but instead provides a marketplace where multiple market makers, banks and traders can enter in competing bids and offers and have their trades filled by multiple liquidity providers in an anonymous trading environment. The trades are done in the name of the ECN broker, providing you with complete anonymity. A trader might have their buy order filled by liquidity provider "A", and close the same order against liquidity provider "B", or have their trade matched internally by the bid or offer of another trader. The best bid and offer is displayed to the trader along with the market depth which is the combined volume available at each price level. A large number of market participants providing pricing to the ECN broker leads to tighter spreads. ECN brokers typically charge a commission for matching trades between their clients and liquidity providers.

Using an ECN broker to trade forex offers a number of significant advantages, the most apparent being tight spreads and deep liquidity. Tight spreads means that day traders and scalpers can take advantage of small price movements on an intraday basis. Deep liquidity means that large volumes can be traded without having any effect on price this is especially important in volatile market conditions and offers significant advantages for traders using automated forex trading systems. These two factors combined mean that you will be able to take advantage of more trading opportunities, more opportunity equals more profit potential.

There are a number of ECN brokers available in the marketplace today with the most common ECN being Currenex. Currenex is typically used by institutions and investment banks and out of reach for most retail traders, however in recent times as the demand for tight spreads and transparency has improved significantly many commonly know retail trading platforms such as Metatrader have been adapted to suit ECN brokers. Now more than ever the bridge between retail investors and investment banks is narrowing.

Of course using an ECN broker will not be of any advantage if you do not have a trading strategy or plan in place. Formulating a forex trading strategy that takes into consideration your risk profile, lifestyle and capital outlay is essential before you start trading. After formulating your trading strategy you should then try a few forex platform demos to determine which platform best suits your trading strategy. Of course it is important that you choose a forex platform offered by an ECN broker. It can often be difficult to determine and ECN broker, however as a rule of thumb ECN brokers will charge commission on your transaction rather quoting you a widened spread.

To learn more about forex trading using an ECN broker you can download our free FOREX Guide.

Many amateur CFD traders start trading the hard way without learning from experienced traders who have made all the expensive errors traders make on their path to success. To help you understand the most common errors made by traders and to prevent you from making the same errors with your own money we've outlined a few common mistakes below.

1. Trading for the incorrect reasons
Most people will commence trading with the intention of making a return from day one. However, there are a few people who trade for entertainment. If you are serious about making a profit, it's important that you treat your trading like a business. Those who invest for entertainment will be lucky if they make money, in reality more often than not they will lose.

2. Over-Trading
You should avoid the temptation to over-trade. Over trading is really a risk for those traders that are not following a technique, choosing to sit down on the sidelines until a clear trend emerges is in itself a legitimate strategy. You should avoid the mistake of fully leveraging your positions simply because you've got free equity available. It is also important to make sure that you don't invest with money that you cannot afford to lose.

3. Psychological and Emotional Mistakes
Developing the mind-set that you need to get each trade right is often a dangerous mistake to make if you cannot accept the very fact that you're going to make errors. You may find it hard to close out of a losing position, instead your mind will find ways to persuade itself that the trade will swing around and happen to become profitable. There is a danger that subconsciously you will become blind to evidence that suggests you are wrong.

You have to recognize that you will not get each trade correct and that you don’t need to get each trade correct, this will enable you to deal with your trades effectively. Being in the wrong is something that we frequently feel bad about. We're taught through positive reinforcement that we should feel better about being correct. This repeatedly presents problems when trading.

Losing trades may cause emotional distress and prevent you from correctly analysing the market. This can present a risk that you'll start over-trading in order to make back losses or to “get even” with the market. On the flip-side, winning trades can produce feelings of excitement and invincibility. If you make the error of permitting this emotion to take hold, you may find yourself taking unnecessary risk or making stupid errors through carelessness.

You should aim to keep your trading related emotions under control. Wise traders will focus on the downside risk potential of each trade and will make sure that this is within their pre-defined parameters outlined in their trading strategy.

4. Not understanding the suitability of Contracts for difference
Trading CFDs has enhanced the trading possibilities for a great many retail traders. CFDs are an ideal product for traders with a short-term time horizon along with a desire to increase their market exposure on a small amount of capital.

It is important to remember that contracts for difference are not always suitable for long-term traders due to financing expenses which can build up over time. In addition traders who don't supervise their open positions won't find CFDs suitable. You always need to ensure that the amount of money that you allocate to your trading account is an amount that you would be able to afford to loose.

Before you start trading Contracts for difference you ought to be familiar with the negative aspects linked to the product. As with all geared financial products, the risks are going to be higher if you don’t take the time to understand the product.

For traders that understand how CFDs work and learn to minimize their risks, there can be significant benefits from CFD trading. Through the use of leverage plus the convenience of trading, retail traders now have greater opportunities than they have ever had before.

If you would like to learn more about CFD trading and how to develop a trading plan you can download and read our free CFD Guide.

Day trading contracts for difference (CFDs), stocks or indices, has become popular in recent times. The popularity of day trading has been largely due to numerous advertisements for money making systems, seminars and educational courses that guarantee overnight success. Many of these courses also profess to be low risk and require only a small capital outlay. The truth is, trading is hard work, the more time you devote developing a successful trading plan the more likely it is that you will succeed, however you should be aware that success will not come overnight or without losses.

Once you have put in the time and effort to formulate a trading strategy only then should you consider becoming a professional day trader. Day trading offers many lifestyle benefits including the ability to be your own boss, you no longer need to go into work and take orders from your boss. However, you should not take this freedom for granted, trading should be treated as a business and you must be discipline in order to succeed. If you do not apply discipline to your trading you should not consider trading as a career.

There are significant lifestyle benefits that come with day trading, being you own boss allows you to chose your working hours and even your office, you can work from home or whilst on holidays. Getting into day trading requires little capital outlay as all a Day trader needs is a trading account, computer and internet access. Before you run out and buy yourself a new computer remember that you should also have sufficient funds in your trading account, a common mistake day traders make is that they are undercapitalized when they first start. You should start with at least $20,000 - $30,000 this will allow you to develop and refine your trading strategy and allow you to recover from mistakes. 

The time you spend analyzing and watching the markets will depend the trading strategy that you adopt. Day trading and scalping requires constant monitoring of the market as day traders look to profit from small price movements, whilst swing trading requires that trades be held open for 2-3 days, meaning that you do not need to spend as much time in front of the computer.

Although trading professionally from home allows you to choose your own working hours, it is very important to be aware of key times during the day, in the stock market these are the opening and closing phases of the market, in Australia this is 10am and 4pm. You should also be aware of major overseas market movements and how they affect the local market that you are trading and specific announcements relating to the company’s that you are trading.

Do not believe the promises of guaranteed returns develop and back test your own trading strategies that suit your lifestyle and the time you have to spend on your trading. Trade your strategy and refine it as required, remember you will make mistakes but don’t be disillusioned this is common, simply understand where you went wrong and refine your strategy. Once you have developed a strategy that works for you and suits your lifestyle you will be rewarded with the advantages that being a day trader has.

There are a number of CFD providers that can assist you in getting started, but be sure to choose a CFD provider that is able to offer you a reliable trading platform.

To learn more about trading CFDs from home for a living you should read our free CFD Guide.