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193. Summary – Carry Trading

Introduction 

Carry trade involves borrowing or selling of an asset that has a low-interest rate, for the purpose of using the fund proceeds to make another investment with a higher rate of interest. By paying a lower rate of interest on assets and collecting a higher interest rate from another asset, traders make a difference in the interest rate.

Currency Carry Trading – How Does It Work?

In currency carry trading, the trader borrows one currency known as the borrowing fund. And, then they use this fund to purchase another currency. The traders pay low-interest rates on the borrowed currency while collecting a higher interest rate on the purchasing currency. This type of trade gives traders an effective alternative to purchasing low and sell high, which is difficult to do on other trading options. AUD/JPY and NZD/JPY are the most common currency pairs to carry trade.

Opportunities & Risks Involved

The most profitable time to perform a carry trade is when the country’s central banks are increasing or about to raise the interest rate. Low volatility situations are also profitable for these trades as traders are more likely to take more risks. Granted that the value of the currency does not fall, traders are likely to get a good amount.

There is a big risk associated with currency carry trading, primarily because of the uncertainties associated with the exchange rate. When high leverage levels are used in this trade, it implies that even small movement in the exchange rates can result in a substantial loss if the traders fail to hedge their positions properly.

Risk Management 

While lucrative, carry trading comes with its own share of risks. This is because currencies are prone to volatility. Moreover, the negative market sentiment of the traders within the currency market can also have a substantial impact on carry pair currencies. Without improper risk management, traders could end up bearing a high degree of risk. The best way to avoid risk in a carry trade is when the market sentiment and fundamentals support them.

Final Thoughts

If you are looking to invest in a carry trading, the first steps are to select the most lucrative broker vs currency pair combination. The charges of brokers vary significantly across various currencies. Therefore, it is important to ensure that the trade offers an effective risk-adjusted return. Cheers.

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Forex Course

174. Summary – Multiple Timeframe Analysis

Introduction  

This lesson is basically an overview of what we have covered so far in the Multiple Timeframe series. Multiple timeframe analysis in forex is observing the price action of a selected currency pair under different timeframes. Most forex brokers will provide you with several timeframes. These timeframes are categorized in minutes from 1-minute timeframe to 30-minute timeframe, hourly timeframes from 1-hour timeframe to 12-hour timeframe, the daily timeframe, weekly timeframe, and the 1-month timeframe.

Everything we learned so far!

As we discussed in our first lesson, multiple timeframe analysis involves using at least three timeframes to make a trade. A longer timeframe is used to establish the dominant market trend. Depending on your forex trading style, this dominant trend is used as the prevailing primary trend to anchor your trades. The rationale behind using the longer timeframe to establish the primary trend is because longer timeframes take long to be formed and are not susceptible to the micro fluctuations in price.

The dominant trend is broken down using a medium timeframe to establish the magnitude of the trend. Finally, a shorter timeframe is used as a trigger timeframe by finding the best points to enter and exit a trade. The most common technique of trading multiple timeframes in the forex market is trading three timeframes.

Trading multiple timeframes in forex, therefore, means using multiple timeframe analysis to inform your trading decision. The choice of timeframes used in your analysis entirely depends on the type of forex trader you are.

The table below summarises the type of forex trader and the preferred timeframes.

Note that the above table is merely a guideline. We recommend selecting your desired timeframes for analysis based on your trading style and comfort of analysis. Therefore, the best timeframes to trade in forex will depend on factors such as market volatility and your trading style.

Some of the importance of multiple timeframe analysis in forex include:

  • The ability to determine the magnitude and significance of economic indicators;
  • Identifying support and resistance levels which aid to execute various forex orders and in setting ‘take profit’ and ‘stop-loss’ levels;
  • Helps to identify market trends and their magnitude at a glance quickly; and
  • Helps in forex forecasting by eliminating the lagging effects of most technical forex indicators.
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140. Market Environment – Summary

Introduction

In a few of the past course lessons, we have discussed some of the most crucial topics related to the Forex market environment. Starting from the ‘state of the market,’ we have understood what trending and ranging markets are. We also have differentiated the concepts of retracements and reversals, which are vital for identifying accurate entries and exits.

One of the most valuable things we have comprehended is to identify ways for spotting potential market reversals. Finally, we understood how professional traders read different market environments and states. The fundamental purpose of this summary article is this – There is a possibility of you understanding these concepts better once you finish all the course lessons in this section.

Hence, this article will focus on summarizing everything we have learned till now regarding the Market Environment.

The Market States

We have discussed the different ways in which the market moves. Essentially, the price action of a particular asset class moves in three different ways.

Trend | Range | Channel

With clear examples, we have discussed how this movement happens and what we should understand when the price moves in a particular direction. More info related to this can be found here.

Trading the Forex market when it is trending!

In this chapter, we have taken you through the concept of trending market. Uptrend and downtrend concepts have been clearly explained. We also have used Indicators like ADX and Moving Averages to trade the trending market accurately. Please go through this to recall those strategies.

What should we do when the market is ranging? 

We have comprehended the various ways of identifying the ranging market. We also used the Support/Resistance strategy & ADX indicator to trade ranges effectively. Once you try trading a ranging market by yourself, the way you read this article will change, and it will all start making sense. Hence, going through it once again now is important.

Retracements & Reversals

In the next couple of articles, we have drawn down clear differences between Retracements and Reversals. Here, we understood what we must do in the situation of a reversal or a retracement. Then, we have moved on to learn how to trade a reversal in the most effective way possible. In this lesson, we have taken the help of Fibonacci Levels to identify potential market reversals and trade them accordingly.

Finally, we ended this course by understanding how most of the professional Forex traders read and trade different market states. We consider this one of the most useful and valuable articles in this course as we have shared some of the most simple yet effective trading techniques. We also used accurate risk management techniques to protect your capital while trading the market using these techniques. You can go through them again here.

We hope these techniques helped you in becoming a better trader. In our upcoming course lessons, we will be understanding Breakouts, Fakeouts, and everything related to these topics. Cheers!

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126. Trading Harmonic Patterns – Detailed Summary

Introduction 

We have discussed all the major Harmonic trading patterns in our previous course lessons. The purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive summary so that it will easy to navigate for you. Although you have a fair idea on how to trade these patterns, it is essential to practice them over and again to master them. From our personal experience, we can say that Harmonic patterns are THE most difficult patters to trade, and there are many reasons for it.

One of the critical reasons why it is so difficult to trade these patterns is because of its lack of appearance on the price charts. That is, we hardly be able to see these Harmonic patterns forming in any of the currency pairs. Having said that, once we identify and trade them correctly, we can easily make a massive sum of profits when compared to trading other Forex patterns. Hence, as a technical Forex market analyst, you must be able to identify and trade these patterns with the utmost accuracy.

In our previous course lessons, we have mentioned detailed ways to identify these patterns on the price charts using Fibonacci levels. Each of the pattern legs needs to respect specific Fibonacci extensions and retracement levels in order to confirm their formation. So make sure to take the help of these Fib ratios for easy identification. As always, keep practicing the trading of these patterns in a demo account until you master them.

Below are the links for the course lessons related to the Harmonic Patterns.

Introduction To Harmonic Pattern – Link

Trading The AB=CD Pattern – Link | Extended Trading Strategy – Link

Trading The Crab Pattern – Link | Extended Trading Strategy – Link

Trading The Butterfly Pattern – Link | Extended Trading Strategy – Link

Trading The Bat Pattern – Link | Extended Trading Strategy – Link

Trading The Gartley Pattern – Link | Extended Trading Strategy – Link

The only thing that is crucial while trading or identifying these patterns is to be patient. As you all are aware by now, it takes a lot of time for a Harmonic pattern to form. There will be many cases where three legs of the pattern will be formed accurately, but the final leg rules won’t be met, and as a result, the entire pattern gets invalidated. Don’t be disappointed or impatient at that point. After all, trading is a game of skill and patience; the more patient you are, the better results you will see. All the best!

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112. Summary – Elliot Wave Theory

Introduction

Over the last six lessons, we discussed the Elliot Wave Theory from understanding the basics of applying it in the financial markets. In this article, we shall have a quick summary of the previous learnings.

The Elliot wave theory was discovered by a professional accountant named Ralph Nelson, who claimed that markets don’t move in random directions, but recurring swings called waves. Most importantly, Elliott stated that the waves are fractals. That is, each swing or wave in the market can be broken into smaller and smaller waves of the same type.

The market moves in the 5-3 Elliot pattern. This pattern is appliable on uptrend and downtrend. Also, it occurs in every timeframe.

Impulse Waves

In the 5-3 wave pattern, 5 refers to the impulse waves. The 5-wave pattern is a trending wave pattern that moves along the overall trend. It is made up of 5 waves where Wave 1, 3, and 5 are impulse waves towards the trend, while waves 2 and 4 are retracements to the impulse waves. Out of the three impulse waves, wave 3 is usually the strongest and the longest and is ideal for trading.

  • Wave 1 is where only a small number of people take positions.
  • Wave 2 is where the institutional traders and some smart retail traders enter.
  • Wave 3 is where the mass public enter, while smart & professional traders exit their positions.

Corrective Waves

For every trending market, there is a pullback. And this retracement corresponds to corrective waves. The corrective waves are a 3-wave pattern that moves against the overall trend. It is denoted as wave ABC or abc, depending on the timeframe. The first corrective wave begins after the end of the impulse wave. Note that, the corrective wave pattern should not go beyond the area of wave 1 impulse wave. If it does happen, the waves must be counted from the beginning.

There are 21 types of corrective patterns based on their design. The three basic ones include

  • The Zig-Zag Formation
  • The Flat Formation
  • The Triangle Formation

Rules in Elliot Wave Theory

There are three rules in the Elliot wave pattern to confirm the legitimacy of the pattern. The strategies will hold true only if the following strategies are satisfied.

  • Rule 1: Wave 3 must never be the shortest impulse wave.
  • Rule 2: The Wave 2 must hold above Wave 1.
  • Rule 3: Wave 4 must never cross in the price area of Wave 1.

Even if one of the rules is not satisfied, waves must be recounted from the start.

We have also discussed different ways of trading the Forex market using the Elliot wave theory, and that lesson can be found here.

Final words

The Elliot Waves are a great tool in determining the direction of the market. One can get a clear understanding of if the market is trending or retracing. Accordingly, one can take a trading decision by adding other tools which will help in precise entries.

We hope you found the Elliot Wave theory course informative and useful. Do try this out for yourselves as well. Happy trading!

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Forex Course

77. Moving Averages – Detailed Summary

Introduction

In the past few course articles, we have learned a lot about Moving Averages, their purpose, and various applications of this trading tool. So we just wanted to summarize everything we have discussed until now related to Moving Averages. This article will act as a quick guide for you to recall and remember the concepts better.

What Is A Moving Average?

A moving average is a tool that is used by the traders to identify the direction of the trend. It smoothens the price fluctuations by eliminating the temporary noise in the market. This will eventually help us in identifying the actual trend of the market. There are two types of moving averages, and both of them have different purposes. They are Simple Moving Average and Exponential Moving Average. There are different athematic calculations behind these averages, and we don’t have to know about them in detail. However, if you are interested in knowing, you can find the formula behind the averages here.

The length plays a significant role in the usage of a Moving Average. Lenght is nothing but the predetermined period of the moving average. Smaller MAs always reacts swiftly to the price movements where are longer MAs respond slowly to the price. For example, a 10-period MA always reacts quickly compared to a 20 or 30 period moving average.

SMA vs. EMA

Both SMA and EMA have their own applications to them. They can also be combined to produce more reliable trading signals. But those are sophisticated strategies that are used by some of the experienced traders. The basic approach is that the SMA should be used to protect yourself from the fake-outs that are produced by the market. We might miss out on the opportunity of being a part of the early trend, but we will be safe.

Contrarily, Exponential Moving Average quickly predicts the trend and help us in being a part of the early trend. However, it carries the risk of not identifying the fake-outs. Hence one must use these MAs depending on the market situations. We have also discussed the ways through which we can identify the market trend and taking trades using moving averages.

Applying the Moving Average Indicator On The Price Charts

With the advent of technology, most of the Forex charting platforms these days provide advanced MA indicators. MT4 has all of the moving average indicators by default. However, if you want to download a customized MT4 indicator, you can download it here. If you are a TradingView user, you can plot different period MAs on the price charts just by accessing the toolbar and choosing the MA indicator. You can change the period setting before plotting the MA on the charts.

Conclusion

Moving Average is one of the most basic technical tools but is sturdy. The usefulness of this indicator is increased when we use different period moving averages on the same chart. Also, this indicator can be combined with various other technical indicators to improve the reliability of our signals. If you have been following our strategy series, you would have seen us combining moving averages with other technical tools to filter out fake trading signals. That’s about the basics of moving averages and their applications. In the upcoming lessons, we will be learning about various indicators and their use cases. So stay tuned! Cheers.

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69. Fibonacci Trading – Detailed Summary

Introduction

In the past eight lessons, we have learned many things about Fibonacci levels and ratios. We have understood various applications of these levels and identified many ways through which we can profit from these levels. In this article, we are going to summarize all the learnings related to Fibonacci. This article acts as a quick recap of what we have understood until now.

Taking a Trade Using Fibonacci Levels

Entering a trade using the Fibonacci levels is pretty straight forward. We have to wait for the price to retrace and reach the appropriate Fib levels. In an uptrend, these Fib levels are 50% and 61.8%. In a downtrend, these levels are 50% and 38.2%. Hence, both 61.8% & 38.2% are known as Golden Fib ratios. Once the price reaches these levels, you can enter a trade after getting a confirmation. A detailed explanation of this can be found in this article.

Pairing Fibonacci Levels With Other Technical Tools

Fibonacci levels can be used stand-alone to enter a trade. But it is always recommended to use other technical tools to be extra sure about your trades. This is because the Fib levels are not foolproof. That means the price may not respect these Fib levels 100% of the time. More about this can be understood here.

So, to be extra affirmative on what you are doing, make sure to combine the fib levels with other reliable indicators. Some of the tools we used to explain this concept are Support & Resistance levels, Trendlines, Candlestick Patterns, etc.

Using Fibonacci Levels For Risk Management

Not just for entires, Fibonacci levels can also be used for managing and exiting a trade. We know how important risk management is in trading. These levels will help us in managing risk and maximizing profit if used correctly. What we are trying to tell here is that Fib levels act as a perfect tool to place our Stop-Loss and Take-Proft orders accurately.

Fibonacci extensions must be used to decide the placement of various Take-Profit levels. To place accurate Stop-Loss, just used the Fib level, which is below the point of entry in an uptrend. Likewise, use the Fib level, which is above the point of entry in a downtrend. For a more detailed explanation, you can refer to the below articles.

Stop-Loss | Take-Profit

Downloading The Fibonacci Indicator

Fibonacci indicators these days are very well designed and readily available in the market for free. Almost all of the trading platforms are equipped with a Fibonacci indicator that can be accessed on to the charts with just a click. If you are using the TradingView platform, a comprehensive Fibonacci indicator is present in the left side panel. If you are a MetaTrader user, there are some default Fib indicators, but the best one is the Auto Fib, which can be downloaded here.

Other Applications Of Fibonacci Levels

The applications of the Fibonacci levels are not confined to the ones discussed above. There are many other places where these ratios & levels are used for various other reasons. For instance, to confirm almost all of the Harmonic patterns, we use Fibonacci levels. An example of one such article can be found here. In this example, we have confirmed the formation of the Butterfly pattern on the price charts by using Fibonacci levels alone. So every technical trader needs to know and learn how to use these levels to have the edge over financial markets.

That’s about Fibonacci levels. If you have any doubts, let us know in the comments below. In the upcoming course lessons, we will be discussing more technical tools like Moving Averages, Indicators, Oscillators, etc. Hence, stay tuned for more informative content.