Did anyone here try forex? If yes, what's your experience with it?
Also do you think there is a paralel between forex and sports betting?

I donno, I just registered for a 5000$ pratice account :/ gonna test it out :)

I've tried it (using demo account, of course ;) few years ago. In my opinion it turn to be very addictive, like sports betting. It's a way more dynamical than stock market. Especially when you're trading with micro-account. Trading leverage is extremly high so the system sweeps away your position in a second. Anyway I've spent all my virtual money on demo account for few hours and decided not to go with real account. At least until I grasp some knowledge on technics and terminology.

My internet is wayyyyyy slow right now, I pirating wireless, cus im not at school for the break. So it barlie will even load. Do you know any free stock market traiding programs? I rember reading a while back that there was supost to be a free one comming out.

what is forex? I dont get it

I think its a currency traiding thing, I donno im using the pratice account and im extreamly confewsed...

I've been trading currencies for a few years.
The biggest hardest lesson I had to learn is to exit any trade when you press the wrong button.
When I trade, I am quite successful.
The only time I have lost significant amount of money is when I press the wrong button, and did not exit until it was too late.

I'm a technical trader. Fundamentals are important as well, but I tend to focus on technicals. The market is not what many people think it is. It is very controlled. Not as much by the mearket, but by the providers that you have your account with.

I have been trading forex for 6 months. I have made $1000's and lost $1000's as well.

Its classy gambling. I don't know how you can be trading for years and press the wrong button. I use a laptop at times and still don't press the wrong button.

It is very psychological. It is very much about peoples perceptions.
It is a spot market and liquidity is generally always there. All you have to do is click to buy and sell.

It is NOT controlled at all though, you misunderstand. It sure is NOT controlled by your broker! There are so many trillions of dollars traded in currency that there is NOT even anyone or anything that can completely control it. It is based on supply and demand. Buyers and sellers exchange currency.

Some big players (banks) can cause a market price to go up or down. However the volumne has gotten so large there is no one bank or even one country (not even USA) that can corner the market.

Of course all countries want thier currency to go up against all others.
However there are so many economic factors involved.

My unlce swears it is all in the charts (which is history of the currencies trades) excpet for a few influnetial reports,
Like NFP (non farm payroll) which is the first friday of every month.
This report comes out at 8:30 AM Eastern time. You would do well not to trade with real money or have any real money in any open trades at this time unless you know what you are doing or can stand to either earn or lose a lot of money very fast.

I spend 6 days a week trading. I average as many as 500 trades a month.
You have to treat it like a business. SOme days you win some days you lose.
I have lost over $1000 in 5 minutes and I have made $1000 about as fast.

There is a lot of money to be made and it is also VERY easy to lose all your money. The benefit is that they allow you to have up to 200:1 leverage.

So if you deposit $5000 you can control $1,000,000 worth of currency.
You cannot lose more than your $5000 but you can earn way more than your $5,000.

It is very risky and is to be taken seriously. It is best to be experienced,
because a fool and his money are soon parted.

The market in the USA reopens tomorrow night at 8pm for most brokers.
In japan its open NOW and I am sitting with about 20 million yen unable to do anything as my broker is on holiday. I am short about $1000 down if I squared up now. SO hopefully it keeps going down.

For the pair USD/JPY as the dollar decreases in value I make money or get back to even. Current price is 118.80 UGH

I've been trading currencies for a few years.
The biggest hardest lesson I had to learn is to exit any trade when you press the wrong button.
When I trade, I am quite successful.
The only time I have lost significant amount of money is when I press the wrong button, and did not exit until it was too late.

I'm a technical trader. Fundamentals are important as well, but I tend to focus on technicals. The market is not what many people think it is. It is very controlled. Not as much by the mearket, but by the providers that you have your account with.

The market is controlled, and it follows human emotions, desires and thoughts, it's got a consciousness of it's own.

I don't know how you can be trading for years and press the wrong button.
It happened twice, and I was on the phone both times. Getting ready to go into a sell trade, and accidently press "buy". And the other way around.


The market is controlled, and it follows human emotions, desires and thoughts, it's got a consciousness of it's own.
WTF????

Did anyone here try forex? If yes, what's your experience with it?
Also do you think there is a paralel between forex and sports betting?

I wrote an algorithm for the one hour and one week trading times. Then made a program that automatically trades. Currently selling it to the highest bidder.

I wrote an algorithm for the one hour and one week trading times. Then made a program that automatically trades. Currently selling it to the highest bidder.Here's my bid: $0.03 but only $0.01 if the sale is not exclusive to me. (I figure any such program is worthless, but may learn some programing ticks - Have forgotten most of my Fortan, PL1, basic, etc - would be good to review.)

I have been trading forex for 6 months. I have made $1000's and lost $1000's as well. Its classy gambling. ... It is very psychological. It is very much about peoples perceptions.
It is a spot market and liquidity is generally always there. All you have to do is click to buy and sell. ... There are so many trillions of dollars traded in currency that there is NOT even anyone or anything that can completely control it. It is based on supply and demand. Buyers and sellers exchange currency.....I have never made a trade in FEX, but have some foreign bonds (via fund specializing, unhedged, in them) The bonds are not a "zero sum" game, but as I understand it, FEX is.
My bond fund trades too much MHO but even so, with me doing nothing for about 11 years, it has doubled on the interest earned (and dollar drop). One year I looked into their trading and found that just holding to maturity would have been more profitable. - I suspect the managers have some interest in some of the firms doing the execution and thus profit by churning.

Why would any one play that "zero-sum" game unless you are an importer or exporter signing contract now for payment later etc.?

Here's my bid: $0.03 but only $0.01 if the sale is not exclusive to me. (I figure any such program is worthless, but may learn some programing ticks - Have forgotten most of my Fortan, PL1, basic, etc - would be good to review.)

not sold - your not just buying the program your buying the algorithms aswell, it can predict almost perfectly. And has a user friendly interface... with pictures.

Odin'Izm how many hours do you have in the program?

And if it works almost perfectly why don't you use it yourself?

I would be interested in something like that, as I am not able to sit here
and the automated buying and selling is something I have, but it doesn't work
as well as I would like related to buying and selling signals, it just isnt smart enough, which is probably where the algorithms come in So I don't trust it.

Let me know, The kids are going back to school on tuesday! YEAH!

Odin'Izm how many hours do you have in the program?
I spent all of last year making it work, in the end I have three algorithms which work.

1 Hour trading between Dollar and Euro
1 Week Dollar and Euro
and 1 Day Euro and Yen


And if it works almost perfectly why don't you use it yourself?

Because I get worried when I use my own money and don't trust the program..making mistakes.

When I use it with virtual money it works well, last month when I had time to look at it , I made 4000 dollars in two days.. but it was'nt real cash. My plan is either to get over my worries and use it myself, or sell it to someone who could use it.

I would be interested in something like that, as I am not able to sit here
and the automated buying and selling is something I have, but it doesn't work
as well as I would like related to buying and selling signals, it just isnt smart enough, which is probably where the algorithms come in So I don't trust it.

Yeh I had the same problem.

Let me know, The kids are going back to school on tuesday! YEAH!

I'll need to make it easier to use, as just now you need to have a strong maths background to use it, but it's getting there.

... And has a user friendly interface... with pictures.Tell me about the pictures? Good looking females included?;)

Tell me about the pictures? Good looking females included?;)
No that would cost extra.

you also have a choice between Christina Aguilera and Angelina Jolie...wink wink nudge nudge.

I have not done Forex trading because I don't believe I have the skills to be a Successful short term Forex trader. I have placed large portions of my net worth in nation specific non dollar hedged foreign mutual funds. I am not day trading these mutual funds so this is a long term investment. Placing my money in nation specific non dollar hedged foreign mutual funds effectively means that I am a long term trader in foreign currency.

Long term currency trading is not gambling if you believe you have valid macroeconomically based reasons for taking the positions that you take.

Mid term, or Swing trading in currencies is not gambling if you believe that you have valid international news based reasons for your trades. Amateurs and novices should not be able to beat the pros and big financial institutions at swing trading currencies. Novices attempting to make money swing trading currencies is like somebody attempting to make money by going to a Las Vegas casino and playing games of chance in which the "house" has a built in advantage. You may get lucky but in the long run the odds say you will lose your money.

Generally when I think of Forex trading for novices I think of those advertisements on Tv in which somebody wants to sell you software that attemts to beat the market through "Technical Analysis". Technical Analysis is the same theory by which day traders try to beat the stock market without attempting to understand anything about the corporations in which they are investing. Technical Analysis mathamatically predicts rises and falls in value based on non-understandable past patterns of irrational trading in which the irrationality is based in the human psychological defect of mid and long term traders and defects in the patterns with which the big financial institutions enter and exit their mid and long term positions. In general good day traders are really making most of their money by beating bad day traders and taking their money. Despite the claims of the TV advertisers, I don't believe that these forex and stock market daytrading software products marketed to the general public could actually enable novices to make money daytrading.

You just don't beat the pros by playing their games. If you enjoy gambling, be prepared to lose, and understand that you are gambling for pleasure and not to make money. If you want to beat the pros you must find your own little niches in which you can think and act in ways in which the pros are unable or unwilling to compete with you.

I 100% agree with Nirakar's post 20. I have not gone the non-US country specific mutual funds route he suggests, but is a good one, especially if you are busy working (not retired like I am). I have instead gone the ADR route for protection against the depreciation of the dollar. I also can add a second aspect for making you own investment decisions.

Buy companies that will do well even in a world economy spiraling downward in the depression I expect to follow any "run on dollar" - I.e. life saving essential drugs for the wealthy is my main focus for this. The early stage drug development companies are with greater risk, but I have sufficient funds to be diversified (about 34 companies now, approximately half are ADRs) and expect around half of the “early stage” drug developers to “go no where” a few to “totally fail” but some of the other to make 500 or more percent increases, especially now that "big pharma" has many drugs going "off patent" in the next few years and need to buy up the the new drug “winners.” It is already happening:

For example, on 15Dec06 Abbott bought my 500sh of KOSP and on 4Jan07 Merck bought my 3000 sh of RNAi, both by coincidence for the exact same payment ($39,000.00). It was just luck that this fell into two different tax years. The second main benefit of "early stage drug" developers is I must (and enjoy) doing the research into the mechanism of their action (learning a lot of biology) as well their market potential. I believe in the "efficient market" theory, so never look at the company books etc. which I find boring.