Newbie basics

[kwalta]

Hello, everybody.

What indicators would be best for a newbie to use in terms of being simple (thus, easy to learn) as well as being effective?

Also, if there's ONE single book on Forex that you could recommend which would cover all the basics and then some, what would it be?

Finally, where would it be best for a newbie to open a demo account?

Thanks for the big help,
k

[BKonradFX]

It depends on how much money you will be investing with when you trade live. I know of a place that is really, really good, but the minimum is a bit high for some. Please respond with the amount you will trade when live so that I can direct you.


Bill Konrad

[kwalta]

Hi, Conrad.

I plan to start with $500 in a mini account. After all, one should only risk the amount she can afford to lose, right? (Although even this will probably hurt )

But thanks for the reply, anyway.
k

[RBT1262]

Good evening. I use three main indicators to trade with. The (Slow)Stochastics, The MACD and Williams %R. My theory is keep it simple. There are some intellengent traders in the game that can work wonders with the complicated indciators. I'm not one of them.

What you should do is go through the different DEMO's and select one and give it a try. If it turns out that you don't like it, try another one.

At this stage of your FOREX experience you should try the different DEMO's and learn all you can about the mechanics and methods of trading. Set up some rules to use for trading.

I also recommend that you stick with only a couple of the majors currency pairs.

I've tried 3 or 4 different trading platforms. The one I really like (belongs to CMS) isn't very reliable so I settled on GTS. GTS isn't the best but it's very reliable. There are probably better ones out there but you have to start some where.

Good luck to you
Dick...

[BKonradFX]

You do not seem pleased with your trading platform. If you would like information on a platform that I have learned about recently that is on a unique system (I think it will force other companies to follow their model due to the law of competition). It saves you a lot of money because the company understands that the wide spreads of other places is ridiculous. send me an e-mail at bkonrad@windsorforex.net.

Bill Konrad

[eternalfuture]

Well, Kwalta,

My favorite indicators are RSI & MACD.

A buy signal will occur when RSI formed a bullish divergence, accompanied by a 'failure swing' and at the same time, MACD (forest) crosses the 0 line from negative to positive area.

A sell signal will occur when RSI formed a bearish divergence, accompanied by a 'failure swing' and at the same time, MACD (forest) crosses the 0 line from positive to negative area.

Another simple indicator is parabolic SAR (stop and reverse).

However, despite its simplicity, the drawback of this indicator is its performance during consolidative/non-trending phase. You can get yourself whipsawed to death if you use this indicator while the market is caught in a non-trending phase.

I suggest, you explore every indicators that you can find. Test them one by one until you come up with the ones that suit your style. There are tons of indicators out there, so experiment with every one of them.

An indicator/a set of indicators that is good for a trader may/may not be suitable for someone else. So, you should pick one/ones that suit your style.

Cheers & good luck!

[eternalfuture]

Kwalta,

I forgot about the book question.

Here's the book that I read during my early days in this FX world:

Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets: A Comprehensive Guide to Trading Methods and Applications
by John J. Murphy

Pretty good book. Comprehensive and easy to understand for those who still in the introductory phase.

Good luck!

[rayeni]

You can't go wrong with Murphy's book on Technical Analysis. Out of all of the books that I have paid hundreds of dollars for, that book is the only one I have read in depth!