Secrets to becoming a profitable trader in the forex market

Every single day the number of retail traders in the forex market is increasing at an exponential rate. If you look at the professional traders then you will see that every single one of them is trading the live assets after learning the market basics perfectly. Unlike the professional traders at Saxo, the novice traders consider forex trading as a get rich quick scheme and ultimately lose money in real life trading. Forex trading Singapore is very much popular nowadays since most of the retail traders are well aware of the profit potential of this high leverage market. Though the market offers an extreme level of profit potential but the success rate in the forex market is extremely low. In this article, we will discuss the secrets of becoming a profitable trader in the market.

Solid trading discipline: The forex market is a high volatile market and in order to make a profit in the financial market you need to have a solid trading discipline. Most of the novice traders are losing money in the financial market since they don’t trade the live assets with strict trading discipline. The experts in the forex market always execute their orders by following proper trading discipline since they know this is one of the key ingredients to remain profitable in the forex market. If you look at forex trading Singapore then you will notice that the rookie traders are even making a decent income at the end of the month due to their strict trading discipline. So if you think trading as your full-time profession then make sure that you trade with an extreme level of discipline.

Develop a solid trading system: Every single second the price of certain assets in the financial second is changing. The professional traders use this fluctuation of the price and make money in the online trading world. Forex trading Singapore is now very much popular since most of the traders know very precisely how to execute the perfect orders in the market. But in order to develop a perfect trading system in the market, you need to have a very clear understanding of the financial factors and technical analysis. Try to read as many articles as you can since it will enhance your trading knowledge in the market.

Perfect risk management factors

Some of you might often ask is there any holy grail in the forex market. The simple answer to this question is, YES. In the eyes of trained professional perfect risk management factors is considered to be Holy Grail in the forex market. As a professional trader, you should always make sure that your winners are bigger than you losers in the market. Most of the novice traders in the financial market tends to lose their patience and trading discipline after incurring few consecutive losses. But if you look at the expert traders then you will notice that every single one of them is following proper risk management factors in every single trade since they know it’s the key ingredient to becoming profitable in the long run.

Summary: Trading the financial instrument is an art and it requires pin perfect execution of the trading plan. If you truly want to become a professional trader in the forex market then make sure that you follow the above-mentioned tips in this article. It’s true that you will often have some losing orders in the market but you need to make sure that you are still holding your trading discipline very strictly. And always try to trade in favor of the long-term trend in the market with price action confirmation signal to reduce the risk exposure.

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The Most Overlooked Principle of Investment in a Weak Economy

A fierce economy

In my years as a consultant, I have advised and been mentored by many brilliant individuals including the CEO of major corporations and household names. Risk / return ratio was always the centrepiece of major decisions. While regulators and financial institutions are taking up more responsibility in the post-crisis world with Dodd-Frank and Basel III, we as individual investors should view investment return with a risk lens too, for risk is the shadow of return, the two sides of the same coin.

Many are attracted by the idea of “guaranteed investment return” or “maximum return minimum investment.” A Google search of these keywords gives us 3.2 million and 216 million results respectively. However, these pursuits are inspirational but not aspirational. In financial markets and many commercial activities, if one wants to achieve higher returns on average, one often has to assume more risk. The key question is then not “How can I make the most return?” but rather “How can I make the most return at a risk I’m comfortable with?”

Four Common Approaches in Risk Management

In the practice of risk management, there are 4 common approaches towards risk i.e., avoid, transfer, mitigate and keep. Most would inadvertently take the approach of avoid or keep i.e., avoid investment risk and not invest at all, or invest and face the full risk. In fact, based on an internal survey Funding Societies has conducted with 500 members of the public, 50% of the respondents across all segments keep their funds in saving accounts and do not invest. 19% of respondents consider returns but not safety of capital as critical investment criteria. Avoid and keep are common not because of ignorance, but because of convenience.

Importance of Diversification

Investing has to be deliberate. For most, we believe the right approach is to mitigate risk by systematically diversifying investment. While a focus strategy may be suitable for experts who dedicate hours into analyzing and monitoring investments, diversification is tremendously valuable for regular investors who prefer to “invest and forget”. Effective diversification is not only about making more investments, but also investing in areas less correlated with each other by geography, industry and asset class etc. This is especially true in a weak economic environment that is fraught with uncertainty.

I have personally invested in equity, investment fund, real estate and alternative investment, with of course always 6 months of savings as contingency. I began with Asia equity and bond investment funds to achieve diversification even with limited capital. As I accumulated more capital, I ventured into US equity and Singapore real estate for further diversification. Diversification has helped me through many financial crises. By strategically allocating funds into a portfolio suitable for me, I only have to check my investments once a month and still enjoy reasonable returns.

P2P Lending Platform – A New Way to Diversify Your Investments

The recent rise in alternative investments such as peer-to-peer (P2P) lending in US, UK, Australia and China provides a new, proven opportunity for higher return and diversification. While higher return clearly comes with higher risk, it is at a level suitable for working professionals like me, especially given the shorter term and hassle-free nature of P2P lending. Investing on P2P lending has become my new favorite. A few P2P lending platforms have since launched in Singapore. An example is Funding Societies that focuses on small-medium enterprise (SME) loans.

Of course, diversification takes capital, cost and effort. Undue diversification could spread us too thin across investments. The key is to select uncorrelated investments. The less correlated the investments are, the better the diversification effect. One may ask: how do we know whether the investments are correlated? Without going into a statistical model or correlation matrix, basic intuition is a good start.

As risk guru Michel Crouhy aptly summarized, “The future cannot be predicted. However, the financial risk that arises from uncertainty can be managed.” We need to be deliberate in our risk / return decisions and be diligent in diversification because if we don’t decide them for ourselves, the market will decide for us.

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