forex fire

Anyone who’s gotten involved in the inevitable daisy chains that are part of the online international commodity “trading” business has learned a new meaning of the term “dead end.”

The fact is (and this is learned from real oil traders who know from experience) that most of these “deals” are just fake, plain and simple.

Thanks to the Internet, these days some phony-baloney oil brokers even have their own websites and call themselves petroleum suppliers or petroleum companies even though they may not have completed a single real oil trade transaction in their lives. Why do they keep doing it?

I honestly don’t know. The sad thing is these traders’ persistence could be put to good use if they ever took the time to actually learn about the business. And don’t think it’s only the unschooled who fall victim to these daisy chains. Many lawyers, MBAs and educated men and women who should know better are frequently sucked in too.

When real petroleum companies deal with real refiners in foreign countries, the standard procedure is that the seller makes a firm offer to the buyer - subject to whatever he needs done - and the buyer then takes a look at the offer and says either we’ve got a deal or we don’t.

Simple. It’s just like any other trade transaction in that regard. Too many buzzwords and too many qualifiers usually mean you should stay clear. And contacts who are actively seeking banking information before any discussion of product are usually non-players.

What about discounts? Real traders know there’s no discount on orders whether it’s a big deal or a small deal but the “play traders” believe that if the deal is bigger, there should be a bigger discount. This is another example of not knowing the industry.

Instead of looking for suppliers of huge amounts of oil in its various forms, the real buyers know that no single supplier can come up with one million barrels a month (an amount frequently tossed around) because the refining capability just isn’t there.

What about someone fronting for a rich Saudi sheik?

Fat chance, say the real traders. In the case of Saudi Arabia, there are only two legitimate organizations that sell oil on behalf of the country or an oil consortium. Someone who says he’s selling on behalf of a Saudi sheik is just, well, full of sheik!

And if they start talking about millions of barrels per month it’s almost certainly not real unless they’re talking about crude oil.

Remember, a broker’s entire job is to help a petroleum company’s trading department find or sell oil and related products so that he will receive a commission when the deal comes together. Will you get paid? That’s always an issue for export intermediaries but it can be especially tricky in the oil business.

The fact is that most oil companies — and especially the big ones — have traders in their marketing departments who operate honestly and fulfill obligations to brokers. But there are some independent and smaller companies who treat brokers shabbily and their reputations are widely known - another reason to get smart on the oil business before you dive in.

Surprisingly, you will probably find that many of the bigger oil trading companies will not only accept your services but may also provide advice and assistance.

So what’s the bottom line?

Like I said before, it ain’t easy. And you’ve got to know what you’re doing. The fact is, petroleum marketing is a dog-eat-dog business and if you’re a broker, you’d better have the resilience and perseverance to work through the baloney and outright deceit which seems to attach itself to petroleum trading.

Frankly, unless you have contacts in or familiarity with the petroleum industry, I recommend you stay with small- and mid-sized product manufacturers who are not exporting their products. It may not be as exotic as trading in petroleum, but it works - and you can make some real money. If you insist on trading in the volatile petroleum industry, try to find someone who will mentor you on the ins and outs. This is probably the best way to make sure you don’t get “burned” by oil.

Dennis Hessler is the publisher of The Computer User’s Guide to Running Your Own Exporting Company and numerous other books, video tapes, software packages and The International Trade Connection newsletter which is designed to show entrepreneurs new to exporting how to get involved in the booming global market.

Learn more about international trade at his website, http://www.spyglasspoint.com You can also download a free sample copy of The International Trade Connection at the site. If you have questions about any of his products or international trade in general, e-mail Dennis at Dennis@spyglasspoint.com. Spyglass Point Productions, P.O. Box 13141, Pensacola, FL 32591 U.S.A.

With a daily turnover estimated at around $1.8 trillion the answer to the question “Does the Forex make money?” is pretty obvious.

The bigger question is: “For whom?”

With the opportunity for anybody and everybody with a computer and an internet connection to participate in the Forex to make money in recent years, thousands of individuals have had some exposure to the challenges of Forex trading.

Is The Forex A Fool’s Game?

According to some estimates, the vast majority, perhaps as high as 95%, lose money.

Is it a fool’s game, just an elusive dream to trade the Forex to make money to try and achieve financial security?

In view of the high failure rate, it is prudent for anyone who is contemplating entering Forex trading to do their homework first. While the majority fail to make consistent profits from the Forex, a minority do, and some of them make huge profits from the Forex.

The Realistic Mindset

What is the key? A realistic mindset when approaching the Forex, a commitment to learn and get a proper education, and then, application of the knowledge learned in a disciplined way backed up by perseverance!

For an individual who has already had experience trading stocks, or futures, the learning curve may only involve a few months when switching to the foreign exchange market.

For the complete novice the learning period will probably run into years, anywhere from 1 to 3 years according to some estimates.

During this time the novice will have to first get acquainted with the workings of the Forex, learning the terminology, and working with a demo account on a trading platform supplied by an online broker.

Months will need to be spent sitting in front of a computer screen studying candlestick charts, getting acquainted with specific patterns, learning to recognize high probability setups. There is no shortcut for this part of the educational process if you want the Forex to make money for you.

The Most Critical Factor

Then comes the most critical part of all: developing the mental discipline and emotional control necessary for safe trading.

The Forex can be a minefield for anyone who is not in control of their emotions. For a person who has a gambling instinct, the Forex will suck their account dry in a very short time. The Forex is not a game of chance.

Successful trades are the product of careful market analysis, an understanding of how the market moves acquired from months and years of experience, and a strict control of equity management.

Even with all that input, the successful trader will still regularly lose trades. As long as there are a greater number of trades that are successful, the Forex will make money for you.

Make An Informed Decision

If all this sounds overwhelming and a little foreboding, you are getting the picture of what is involved once you start down the road as a Forex trader.

On the other hand, this is a job that can be done from home, with as many hours committed to it as you wish to allow, and in the long term, once the skills have been acquired, the Forex can provide a substantial form of income.

Will the Forex make money for you? That is an individual question and will depend on all the variables discussed above. Do your homework, check out educational materials, examine your current workload and circumstances, be honest about your personality style, and then make an informed decision.

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As you enter the world of stock trading, you gradually realize that you cannot survive, much less succeed, here unless you do a serious stock market research.

Stock market research is a highly intricate process and requires lots of time, expertise and experience. You have to learn to do fundamental and analytical research in order to study price movement of various stocks. While fundamental research involves studying the financial documents of the company whose stock you are interested in, the technical research involves analyzing the charts and graphs that try to predict the stock movement within a specific time frame.

All this work requires lots of time, attention and perseverance, which is not every one’s cup of tea. Most stock traders do a part of the research themselves and also receive expert’s guidance from their stock broker as well.

It must be clearly understood that the job of your broker is not limited to just executing your orders instantly. He also provides you the appropriate and efficient research facilities and tools through research section of his website that enable you to take important trading decisions fast and efficiently.

Some of these facilities include latest stock market price quotes and charts, news headline, symbol finder, stock screener, market scanner and so on.

When you think of trading a particular stock, first of all you need to find its trading symbol. This symbol identifies the stock. You enter the symbol on the relevant page of the website and get its price latest to the second. You can find whether the price of the stock is going up or down and also by what percentage it is doing so. The interface provides the opening price of the stock on that day, the high and the low levels the price reached, its bid price and ask price, the 52-week highest and the lowest price, the average trade volume and so on. You may also see a graph showing the price movement of the stock in course of the trading day. All this information is of crucial importance for an investor and even slightly wrong information can play havoc with trading prospects.

News headlines are another cardinal feature of the fundamental stock market research. The latest news flashes point to the overall market scenario of the trade and industry at local, regional, national and international levels. The news flashes provide every piece of information that may be necessary in formulating your trading decisions. The newsflashes contain information about the important companies whose stocks may appear interesting to the investors. You get to know the opinions of important government functionaries about the trade and economy of the country. For example, your anxiety about the effects of inflation on the country economy may be reduced by the news flashed on 3rd June, 2008 at 8.49 a.m that said: Fed Talk: Bernanke Sees Inflation Moderating Next Year.

The newsflashes too are updated by seconds.

Yet another important tool which may be called by any name, say stock screener, provides information about hot stocks in various industrial sectors. You can get the required information in three simple steps in a matter of seconds. You need to choose the name of the industry from the pull down list, then choose the sector and click on the View Results button to see the position of the stocks under the chosen sector. You also find the names of the most active stocks on a particular day.

If you are interested in investing in ETFs, you can look for ETF Center on the relevant page of the Website. You can get a snapshot of the overall ETF investment scenario. Here too you can get the latest price of a particular ETF, the percentage change in price whether it is going up or down along with the total trade volume at a particular time on any working day. The page also contains the open price, last price, day change, day high and low, 52-week high and low price position, average daily volume, shares outstanding, premium/ discount amount, premium/discount percentage and so on. This information is followed by the daily performance chart of the fund. The page also provides the dividend payment details. The portfolio data contains information about the average P/E, average P/B, average market cap, average turn over and so on.

The latest to the second information can be provided only if the website of the broker is backed by the latest state-of-the-art technology.

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