Forex Trading Journal - Calendar Week 47, 2020

This week is not going to be a typical trading journal post, but more of a progress update.

After figuring out the basics and getting everything set-up and in place, experimenting with some live trading, I decided to take a step back and ask myself the question: "What do I really need in order to become successful as a trader?" Interestingly enough, this started by me getting invited to a webinar about journaling trades and how that can help improve my trading. The webinar was average, not really anything I wasn't aware of yet, but someone blurted out a book recommendation that caught my attention. I looked into that, among some other things I was evaluating this week, and eventually realized it all boils down to 3 key components that are essential for success:

• A profitable strategy.
• The right mindset.
• The right environment.

In fact, this might apply to many aspects of life, but right now I am looking at this specifically from a trading perspective.

A Profitable Strategy

There are many approaches to gaining an edge in the market. One thing I know for sure by now is that it's incredibly difficult to start from scratch, going in blindly, and to figure everything out by myself. I believe it's possible, but either way, I'm fully convinced that this would require a substantial amount of time and a fairly large monetary investment.

There are strategies that are being peddled on the internet, which is not something I am interesting in or have looked into.

Fortunately, my broker Global Prime recently established a new Discord server, where highly skilled, experienced and very successful traders offer to mentor other clients of Global Prime, entirely for free. They share their strategy and knowledge, it's possible to ask questions and get feedback, and there are regular calls where the mentors talk about their strategy, how they implement it, what works for them and what doesn't.

This doesn't mean that it's as simple as copy and paste, but it's so much more of a head start compared to starting completely from scratch all by myself. Although I am fully aware that eventually I will still have to figure out what works for me personally, how to adapt any strategy to my own trading style and then work with that.

If you are reading this for whatever reason, know one thing, and I cannot stress this enough: TRADING IS A SERIOUS JOB AND A FULL-TIME CAREER, NOT A GET RICH QUICK SCHEME. Some people try and take shortcuts, go into chatrooms to receive trading signals, or they copy trade, and so forth. I believe this is part of the reason why the vast majority of people ultimately fail and tend to incur losses. You have to treat this as a serious job, like any other, and accept that it will take time to master it. In my previous career, it took me around a decade of very hard work to get to a point where I achieved mastery and things became essentially effortless.

I just started digging in, this is work in progress.

The Right Mindset

The following part will be quote heavy.

One of my core believes is that if you're really serious about something and are investing your time, money and effort into it, are persistent and won't let yourself get dragged down by misfortune, setbacks, other people or difficult circumstances - then the universe will come to your aid and the things that you really need to become successful will somehow present themselves to you.

That's essentially how I came across an interesting book:

"Trading in the Zone is an in-depth look at the challenges that we face when we take up the challenge of trading. To the novice, the only challenge appears to be to find a way to make money. Once the novice learns that tips, brokers' advice, and other ways to justify buying or selling do not work consistently, he discovers that he either needs to develop a reliable trading strategy or purchase one. After that, trading should be easy, right? All you have to do is follow the rules, and the money will fall into your lap.

At this point, if not before, novices discover that trading can turn into one of the most frustrating experiences they will ever face.

This experience leads to the oft-stated statistic that 95 percent of futures traders lose all of their money within the first year of trading. Stock traders generally experience the same results, which is why pundits always point to the fact that most stock traders fail to outperform a simple buy and hold investment scenario.

So, why do people, the majority of whom are extremely successful in other occupations, fail so miserably as traders? Are successful traders born and not made? Mark Douglas says no. What's necessary, he says, is that the individual acquire the trader's mindset. It sounds easy, but the fact is, this mindset is very foreign when compared with the way our life experiences teach us to think about the world."

This is from the foreword, and it peaked my curiosity. At this point I am about halfway through the book and I can honestly say that it's more than just a technique, or a method you robotically apply, or something else along those lines. It's about more than that. I am now starting to understand how in order to master trading, and to have a chance of becoming one of the few successful people in the field, I first have to master myself.

Also, on a more personal note, this quote from the book really resonated with me, for various reasons...:

"I started trading in 1978. At the time, I was managing a commercial casualty insurance agency in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan. I had a very successful career and thought I could easily transfer that success into trading. Unfortunately, I found that was not the case.

By 1981, I was thoroughly disgusted with my inability to trade effectively while holding another job, so I moved to Chicago and got a job as a broker with Merrill Lynch at the Chicago Board of Trade. How did I do? Well, within nine months of moving to Chicago, I had lost nearly everything I owned. My losses were the result of both my trading activities and my exorbitant life style, which demanded that I make a lot of money as a trader. From these early experiences as a trader, I learned an enormous amount about myself, and about the role of psychology in trading."

The Right Environment

I have written about some of this before, when I explained why I chose Global Prime as my forex broker. However, there is more to it than that. It's also about the people you surround yourself with, the company you keep, your co-workers and business partners, and especially the friends you have - in other words, your social circle.

There is another interesting quote I came across this week, from a life coach called Corey Wayne:

"Life and living at your personal best is to be found living in the present moment taking action towards becoming all that you are capable of being. The action you take or fail to take today is what will determine what your future becomes. Winners expect to win and take the actions required to eventually manifest their grandest goals and dreams, despite the fact that success lies far off in the future or seems unrealistic to others.

Losers quit and give up on their dreams when the first sign of difficulty or challenges arise, and then they seek to sabotage the dreams of those around them so they can convince them to give up like they have, so they can feel better about their lack of success. Misery loves company.

Your inner circle ideally should consist of people who are just as committed to their own greatness as you are to your own and who celebrate and encourage your victories and continued perseverance."

There are many formulations of this principle, a fairly popular one for the negative side of it is crab mentality:

In short, choose your friends wisely and get out of that bucket!

Multivitamin Supplements and Longevity

Vitamins are essential and vital nutrients required by the body to function at peak performance and efficiency. The daily intake of vitamins and minerals plays a crucial role in supporting normal bodily functions. They are necessary for a healthy metabolism and functions of the digestive, endocrine, cardiovascular, neurological, and the immune system of the body. ^[1][2]

Our body needs a proper amount of nutrients and extracts those from our meals to perform several cellular processes. With advancements in production technology and in particular with the ever-increasing amount of highly processed food items in our diet, unfortunately there comes an increasing chance that we become deprived of these important nutrients in our daily food supply. Ideally, a healthy diet should always provide all the essential nutrients - but in reality, that can be tough. For me, taking a multivitamin is like my nutrient insurance plan. In the areas where my food falls short, getting support from a quality multivitamin helps fill the gaps to fulfill my body's requirements and to make sure that my vital organs can operate perfectly. Recent medical studies on certain vitamins also reported that daily supplemental intake of vitamin A, the vitamin B family, vitamin C, vitamin D, and vitamin E boosts the immune response against bacterial and viral infections. ^{[2][3][4][10]}

Did You Know?

Medical studies have reported that deficiency of any essential nutrient in the body can lead to chronic medical conditions or permanent disability. For example, it has been reported that deficiency of vitamin B may result in anemia, beriberi, and neurological dysfunctions. Vitamin A deficiency typically results in vision problems, vitamin C deficiency weakens the immune system and can also result in gum disease. Other medical conditions due to deficiency of vitamins include skin problems, osteoporosis, poor blood clotting, cardiovascular dysfunctions, blood disorders, fatigue, metabolic dysfunctions, and other bodily impairments. ^[2][3][5][8]

Typical Nutrients in a Multivitamin

Multivitamin formulations mostly contain vitamin A, C, D, E, K, and the vitamin B family. Also, they usually come with a proper amount of minerals, including calcium, magnesium, chromium, zinc, selenium, copper, manganese, and other minerals. Some products add certain pseudoscientific or unproven medications, such as herbal extracts that are either newly discovered or have been used in traditional medicine for centuries.

Health Benefits of Multivitamins

Following is an outline of the significance of proper nutrition and the importance of daily vitamin intake in the proper dose, specifically in regards to longevity. For me, without this kind of baseline, discussion or intake of any additional longevity related products becomes almost meaningless.

Vitality and Longevity

Certain nutrients are required for the complete execution of different cellular and metabolic reactions. These nutrients enhance the efficiency of cellular production of energy, increase physical performance, and improve the vitality of various organs. Also, they support and promote the synthesis of certain proteins and DNA to repair and support the health of vital organs. Studies have shown a direct impact of vitamins on longevity. For example, vitamin A plays a significant role in maintaining healthy vision, cell differentiation, and bone growth, promoting the vitality and longevity of organs. Immune cells such as lymphocytes need a proper amount of nutrients to fight effectively against invading germs. Thus, vitamins boost and promote the body's resistance to pathological agents and encourage longevity. ^{[2][3][8][10]}

Certain vitamins, such as vitamin C, E, and others, possess potent antioxidant activity that protects cells and organs against oxidative damage, improves cellular integrity, and enhances the vitality of tissue and organs. Vitamins also have anti-inflammatory activity that, in combination with antioxidant properties, increase resistance to toxins and remove free radicals from the body. ^[2][3][4][7]

Vitamins, including the vitamin B family, support neural functions and can improve mood and symptoms of neurological dysfunctions. They also support gastrointestinal health by helping gut microbiota and increasing the metabolism of fats, carbs, and proteins. The presence of vitamin K promotes vascular functions and makes bones stronger. It is also required for blood coagulation and the healing of wounds. ^[2][9][12]

Apart from the direct impact on the health of internal organs, vitamins like the vitamin B family perform a significant role in different enzymatic processes. That helps improve metabolic reactions, increases red blood cell production, promotes DNA and protein synthesis, helps maintain an optimal level of hormones, and supports the central nervous system's functions. Considering all of this, there is an overall positive and significant role of vitamins in promoting vitality and longevity. ^[2][3][8][9]

Delayed Aging

Vitamins possess anti-aging activity by protecting the organs against stress and assisting their regular functions. The nutrients nourish the body's cells, organs and promote cellular processes via acting as coenzymes in metabolic reactions, relieving oxidative stress. It has been reported that oxidative damage produced by the generation of reactive oxygen species increases the risk of certain diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular dysfunction, cataract formation, all of which plays an important etiological role in the aging process. Also, reactive oxygen species are produced daily during different cellular reactions. So, a daily intake of scavengers like vitamin A, C, E, etc., is essential to help protect and promote optimal functioning of cells and organs. ^{[2][3][4][7][10]}

Thus, multivitamins can help delay aging and enhance longevity. Some vitamins, like vitamin E, can delay skin aging, improve skin tone and enhance skin appearance by removing fine lines, wrinkles, and spots. Vitamins can improve skin rejuvenation by supporting the production of collagen to increase skin tightness, firmness and enhance the youthful appearance of skin. Additionally, vitamins support joint health by playing a significant role in the growth of ligaments. ^{[2][3][16][17]}

Quality of Life

Vitamins enhance and extend life expectancy by reducing the risk of certain chronic medical conditions such as heart disease, cancer, eye problems, and many others, that impair quality of life. It has been reported in medical studies that vitamins and minerals possess significant antioxidant activity that relieves oxidative stress and prevents the risk of organ damage. They have an anti-inflammatory action that reduces the risk of chronic inflammatory conditions, including atherosclerosis and diabetes. The anti-inflammatory activity is attributed to the modulation of pro-inflammatory mediators by regulating the production of cytokines and macrophages. ^{[2][3][4][7][10]}

Vitamins support healthy cardiovascular function by regulating total cholesterol and decreasing the risk of plaque formation in vessels. Vitamins help various brain activities by supporting cognition and memory retention. They also stimulate the nervous system, improve mood, and relieve stress and depression. An optimal amount of vitamin B is required for the proper metabolism of homocysteine to prevent the risk of coronary heart diseases. Other studies have shown that regular intake of vitamin D strengthens bones and teeth, treat osteoporosis, and avoid the risk of fractures, especially in areas with limited sun exposure. ^{[2][8][9][11][14]}

Vitamins and minerals like vitamin C and zinc enhance the immune response against pathological agents, decrease the chances of infections and shorten the disease state's duration or slow down its progression. They act by stimulating and increasing immune cells production in the body, including natural killer cells, lymphocytes, dendritic cells, and antibodies against viral and bacterial infections. ^{[2][3][10][13]}

Precautions

There are no severe side effects associated with a daily intake of multivitamins in the proper dose. However, exceeding the usual recommended doses can lead to significant adverse effects. Excessive intake of multivitamins, including minerals, can results in teeth coloration, muscle weakness, confusion, increased urination, gastrointestinal discomfort, and irregular heart rhythms. Studies have also reported that multivitamins may cause nausea, diarrhea, and stomach or abdominal cramps. Also, consuming a high amount of selenium can result in loss of hair, an upset stomach, weakness, and mild neurological dysfunctions. ^[18][19]

This is part of the reason why I am careful with the doses of vitamins that I am taking. My goal is to supplement my daily vitamin and mineral intake and not to replace it entirely with an artificial product. When I read product labels and how they advertise to contain 100%, or in some cases in excess of 1000%, of a daily recommended dose of vitamins and minerals, it always makes me wonder how much of that I actually need, what is healthy and what might be too much of a good thing.

Lastly, please note that I am only talking about my personal experience and opinion. This is not medical advice and what works for me might not work for you. Please make sure to always consult your primary care physician about any information obtained from or through my site.

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Take a look at this page for a full overview of all the supplements that I am currently taking on a regular basis: Fundamental Longevity Supplements. You will find links to other detailed articles, such as this one, about other supplements significant to longevity. There are also product endorsements and recommendations from me, based on the supplements that I am personally taking after spending years experimenting with different products.

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References:

1. Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Diet and Health; Woteki CE, Thomas PR, editors. "Eat for Life: The Food and Nutrition Board's Guide to Reducing Your Risk of Chronic Disease." Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 1992. Chapter 8, Vitamins, Minerals, And Chronic Diseases.
2. Fortmann SP, Burda BU, Senger CA, et al. "Vitamin, Mineral, and Multivitamin Supplements for the Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease and Cancer: A Systematic Evidence Review for the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force [Internet]." Rockville (MD): Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (US); 2013. Chapter 1, Introduction.
3. Milly Ryan-Harshman and Walid Aldoori. "Health benefits of selected vitamins." Canadian family physician, Medecin de famille canadien, vol. 51(7), 2013: 965–968.
4. Anitra C. Carr, Ben-Zhan Zhu, Balz Frei. "Potential Antiatherogenic Mechanisms of Ascorbate (Vitamin C) and α-Tocopherol (Vitamin E)." Circulation Research, vol. 87(5), 2000: 349–354. https://doi.org/10.1161/01.res.87.5.349
5. Joel G. Ray et al. "Association of neural tube defects and folic acid food fortification in Canada." The Lancet, vol. 360(9350), 2002: 2047–2048. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(02)11994-5
6. Tao Huang et al. "Meta-analysis of B vitamin supplementation on plasma homocysteine, cardiovascular and all-cause mortality." Clinical Nutrition, vol. 31(4), 2012: 448–454. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clnu.2011.01.003
7. Rene Aguirre and James M. May. "Inflammation in the vascular bed: Importance of vitamin C." Pharmacology & Therapeutics, vol. 119(1), 2008: 96–103. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pharmthera.2008.05.002
8. Alex Ankar and Anil Kumar. "Vitamin B12 Deficiency." In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; Jan. 2020 [Updated June 7, 2020]
9. Fiona O'Leary and Samir Samman. "Vitamin B12 in Health and Disease." Nutrients, vol. 2(3), 2010: 299–316. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu2030299
10. Abel Ang, Juliet M. Pullar, Margaret J. Currie, Margreet C. M. Vissers. "Vitamin C and immune cell function in inflammation and cancer." Biochemical Society Transactions, vol. 46(5), 2018: 1147–1159. https://doi.org/10.1042/BST20180169
11. J. W. Nieves et al. "Calcium and vitamin D intake influence bone mass, but not short-term fracture risk, in Caucasian postmenopausal women from the National Osteoporosis Risk Assessment (NORA) study." Osteoporosis International, vol. 19(5), 2008: 673–679. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00198-007-0501-2
12. Milly Ryan-Harshman and Walid Aldoori. "Bone health. New role for vitamin K?." Canadian family physician, Medecin de famille canadien, vol. 50, 2004: 993–997.
13. Zhiyi Huang et al. "Role of Vitamin A in the Immune System." Journal of Clinical Medicine, vol. 7(9), 2018: 258. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm7090258
14. Ralph Carmel et al. "The frequently low cobalamin levels in dementia usually signify treatable metabolic, neurologic and electrophysiologic abnormalities." European Journal of Haematology, vol. 54(4), 1995: 245–253. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0609.1995.tb00679.x
15. J. Rodrigo Mora, Makoto Iwata, Ulrich H. von Andrian. "Vitamin effects on the immune system: vitamins A and D take centre stage." Nature Reviews Immunology, vol. 8, 2008: 685–698. https://doi.org/10.1038/nri2378
16. Stanley S. Shapiro and Claude Saliou. "Role of vitamins in skin care." Nutrition, vol. 17(10), 2001: 839–844. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0899-9007(01)00660-8
17. Almudena Pérez-Sánchez et al. "Nutraceuticals for Skin Care: A Comprehensive Review of Human Clinical Studies." Nutrients, vol. 10(4), 2018: 403. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu10040403
18. https://www.webmd.com/diet/guide/effects-of-taking-too-many-vitamins
19. https://www.emedicinehealth.com/drug-multivitamin/article_em.htm

Forex Trading Journal - Calendar Week 46, 2020

This was my worst week yet, in terms of winners/losers - I lost all of my trades, 100%. I only took 5 trades the whole week, 3 on Monday, 2 on Thursday. While things were still somewhat erratic and unpredictable due to the continued uncertainty of the US presidential election spilling over from the previous week, that wasn't really the reason for my results.

I wasn't necessarily just plain wrong on what I thought would happen, compared to what did actually happen. Sometimes of course I was just plain wrong. However, what often tends to make me lose is the timing of entering my trades. I will observe, wait and analyze to gain confidence. By the time I decide to enter the trade, I might have assessed the current situation correctly but the market has already moved on.

Here is a good example, the first trade of the week, going short on USDCHF.

First, looking at Bollinger Bands on the 30 minute chart, USDCHF was getting to a place where it appeared heavily overbought.

My thoughts at this point were that there was either going to be a short retracement, or potentially a trend reversal. Either way, it seemed like a good opportunity to go short. Looking at some trend lines on the 1 minute chart seemed to confirm this.

It did indeed turn out to be a short retracement. Sadly - and, of course - by the time I had built enough confidence to actually enter the trade, the retracement was just about ending and the overall uptrend of the USD continued.

This isn't the first time something like this happened.

Now I am thinking that maybe I should experiment with trades on longer time frames, with different lot sizes and different ranges for my stop loss and take profit targets. This week, I have also learned that my broker Global Prime has a Discord server with mentor rooms to help new traders like myself. While I have a tendency and preference to figure things out by myself, that is something I might explore in the coming weeks.

On a more technical side of things, there were some good news though! I was made aware that Global Prime is now integrated with TradingView.

This is excellent, since it allows me to use the same data source for my trading as well as my charting. Global Prime even has plans for the future to enable trading directly through TradingView, which would make entering trades while charting super convenient.

Why I chose Global Prime as my Forex Broker

Choosing a reliable forex broker is not easy. It feels like there is an endless list of brokers available online, and many seem to be much of the same. Most brokers offer the same currency pairs, trading platforms, funding methods, commissions, spreads and so on.

Before starting my journey into the world of live forex trading in earnest, I spent several months looking into and trying several brokers. I was always underwhelmed and often disappointed one way or another. After opening trading accounts with numerous brokers, I finally discovered Global Prime. Knowing how difficult it was to find a broker that matched my expectations, I feel it is important to share my experience and hopefully help other aspiring or established traders like you. Here are the reasons why I use Global Prime as my forex broker.

Recently, Global Prime started adding crypto CFDs to their portfolio, allowing traders to access a growing selection of coins (already over 35) with 0.1% commissions and the ability to trade on margin with far lower costs than most crypto exchanges. This allows crypto traders to tap into the vast experience of Global Prime as a forex broker and to benefit from their professional tools as well as all the other positive features outlined on this page, especially when it comes to reliability and security of assets.

Why Global Prime stood out to me?

The way forex brokers position and brand themselves is very uniform and feels a lot like being in an echo chamber. Frankly, I don’t care which football team my broker supports, what kind of news and narrative they are pushing, or whatever else they have going on. I want consistently favorable and reliable trading conditions that will allow me to prosper and profit.

The first thing that stood out to me was the design and language on the company’s website: https://globalprime.com - This broker has a minimalist, professional and institutional tone that I connected with. It grabbed my attention because the site doesn’t just throw out jargon and buzzwords like ‘ECN’ or ‘STP’; they go into specifics and clearly explain the business model behind the company. I haven’t seen this approach taken before.

What Makes Global Prime a Real ECN Broker

Global Prime offers one trading account for all clients. It’s an ECN account, but it genuinely is an ECN account. Many brokers mislead traders into believing they offer ECN trading. In reality, they offer ECN pricing, which means quotes are derived from an ECN but not executed that way. Or they offer so-called ECN accounts, which is normally used to describe a low spread account rather than an execution method.

The Global Prime business model is simple; provide the best possible quotes and be remunerated a fixed commission for every trade processed. They do not profit from client losses, which means there is no conflict of interest between me being profitable as a trader and them being profitable as a business. They want me to be successful.

You might wonder how you could ever know if a broker is really ECN or not. Global Prime figured it out; they are the first broker to offer trade receipts which will verify the counterparty (usually a major bank or similar type of liquidity provider) that took the other side of your trade. In addition to showing you which liquidity provider filled your trade, trade receipts will show other essential information, such as spread, market profile, execution time, slippage and more.

There are many benefits to receiving trade receipts from your broker, and it goes further than fairness, honesty and showing that your broker doesn't profit from your losses. You can use this information to understand how the market behaves and understand how orders are executed in a wider context, on a global scale.

Why Execution is Important

There are different business models that forex brokers operate; they are broadly categorized as A-book and B-book. The vast majority of brokers use a B-book execution model, which means your trades are executed inside a black box that traders do not have visibility into. With a B-book broker, you have no idea how your trade is filled; the broker could match it against another client, hedge externally or - what typically happens - your broker could be the counterparty profiting if and when you lose.

An A-book broker uses a straight-through-processing (STP) technique to execute orders with external counterparties. Many traders mistakenly assume A-book is perfect and B-book is terrible, however, it’s a little bit more complicated than that. It still matters who a broker is executing trades with, after all, and A-book brokers can STP trades to a B-book broker. That is why the trade receipts feature offered by Global Prime is a gamechanger in execution transparency. After spending a considerable amount of time looking into forex brokers, I have not found any other broker that offers a similar level of transparency.

Accessible to Traders Around the World

Forex trading is incredibly accessible these days thanks to an abundance of retail brokers and online trading platforms like MetaTrader. One area that still restricts traders from emerging, and sometimes even established, economies is funding methods. If you have a credit card such as a Visa or MasterCard, or a bank account in a major currency, then it’s pretty easy to transfer money and fund a trading account. Traders from Europe or Australia might not give this a second thought. However, if you have Nigerian Naira, Vietnamese Dong or Thai Baht, it can be difficult and expensive to do an international bank transfer.

Traders can deposit using local transfers in their native currency. Global Prime will then convert your deposit into one of the supported trading account currencies (USD, AUD, GBP, EUR, SGD, CAD). The exchange rate they use to convert deposits is set to spot +2%. Most payment service providers charge much more than this. For example, PayPal charges 4-5% for currency exchange. Global Prime will absorb any fees more than 2%.

Besides the major currencies USD, EUR, GBP, CHF, JPY, AUD you can deposit instantly with THB, MYR, VND, IDR, PHP, NGN, ZAR and within 24-to-48 hours with MXN, ARS, COP, BRL and more. Global Prime also supports popular forex funding methods Skrill and Neteller.

Personally, since I live in Canada and have a Canadian bank account, I can use Interac e-Transfer to fund my account. This is extremely convenient for me, entirely free of any fees and essentially instant. After a long search, I have not found any other broker that makes funding and withdrawals this straight forward and easy for me.

Mature Community

Global Prime runs a Discord chatroom for clients to interact not just with each other, but also the owners, management and support team.

There are more than 4000 participants in the chatroom, and it’s a great place to go for a lively discussion. Many traders pay monthly subscriptions to join mature forex trading communities, which makes this feature a great selling point for serious traders. Additionally, this community of traders not only helps each other, but also holds Global Prime accountable to the high standards and expectations they set out for themselves.

Trading Academy

Recently, Global Prime began building out multiple, fully featured trading courses. From understanding why traders fail, choosing the right technical tools to understand market conditions, all the way to the importance of risk management; it’s all covered in their courses!

Their courses are just the tip of the iceberg and serve as an entry point. They have also put together several integrated communities, bound in camaraderie as part of Discord rooms, where traders can communicate with each other and with their mentor, ask questions, analyze each other's trades, and so forth. Overall, this is a great example of how Global Prime wants their traders to be successful and it illustrates one of the major advantages of working with a broker that operates off of a commission model instead of profiting from their client's losses.

Great Reputation

The way Global Prime operates is widely endorsed by forex traders, thus validating their fresh take on running a forex broker.

According to Forex Peace Army, Global Prime has an impeccable track record with over 300 detailed, highly positive reviews. This makes Global Prime one of the most highly rated brokers, especially when taking into account the high amount of reviews from actual retail traders.

Why it is Important to Trade with a Broker Like Global Prime

There is a large disparity between retail and institutional forex trading services. Logically, any benefit that a broker offers, be it a bonus, a rebate, a lucrative competition or a gift, it will all be factored into the cost of every trade they facilitate. Most brokers make money from their clients' losses, much like a casino; this is how they can afford such lucrative sponsorships and incentives for clients.

If you want a competition, consider playing poker or maybe even the lottery. If you aspire to be successful at trading forex, follow me and choose a broker with a transparent pricing model, the tightest possible spreads, with stable technology, who maintains reliable services and supports you as a trader. Bottom line; using Global Prime as my forex broker doesn't guarantee that I will be successful, but it puts me in the best possible position to succeed - it is entirely up to me and my skills as a trader whether I am profitable trading the markets.

Drawbacks and Other Tools

One of the few drawbacks of Global Prime as a broker is that they only offer MetaTrader 4 and Trader Evolution for trading platforms. I use MT4, which is perfectly fine for everyday trading, but is lacking certain features that other platforms offer these days. Trader Evolution looks interesting and appears to be on a promising trajectory for the future, but is still in fairly early development.

To compensate for this situation, I am using TradingView, mostly for charting purposes. TradingView offers a very good (and highly popular) web-based charting platform, not just for forex but for all major financial markets. I have come to appreciate how it allows me to navigate the markets and currency charts without having to do that in my trading platform MT4, that I almost exclusively use just to execute trades. This creates a natural separation between doing my research and actually putting money on the line.

Disclaimer

There are substantial risks associated with trading and investing in securities or other financial instruments. Trading and investing in stocks, bonds, exchange traded funds, mutual funds, money market funds, and cryptocurrencies involves risk of loss. Loss of principal is possible. Some high risk investments or trading certain financial instruments may use leverage, which will accentuate gains & losses. Trading in foreign exchange ('Forex') on margin, as well as trading cryptocurrencies, entails particularly high risk and is not suitable for all people. Before you decide to trade or invest in foreign exchange, or any other financial market, you should carefully assess your objectives, experience, financial possibilities and willingness to take risks. Past performance is not an indication of future results!

Lastly, please note that the links to Global Prime and TradingView on this page are affiliate links. If you use them to register an account, I may earn a small commission, you may get a discount or other benefits, and I will be identified as your introducing broker. This helps support the companies and both of us. I only endorse these companies because of the positive experience I've personally had using their products and services.

Forex Trading Journal - Calendar Week 45, 2020

The week of the US Presidential Election 2020. Joe Biden vs. Donald Trump. That was certainly an interesting event to happen during my third week of Forex trading. I dipped my toes into the market, but quickly realized that it's a particularly good time to lose money fast. On the other hand, since the market is a zero-sum game, of course that also results in an abundance of opportunity if you know what you're doing (i.e. not me).

For me personally, this was the perfect time to observe and better understand how and when currencies move together, either directly or indirectly correlated with each other, or when they don't. One of the things that I didn't really understand at all when I read through articles and theory was how as a Forex trader I should first focus on a few currency pairs and master those. So far I have been trading all over the place, looking for whatever appeared to be an interesting point to enter a trade.

Looking at the major currency pairs, this week made it very obvious to me how they are all traded in relation to the US Dollar and how an event like the US election influences the movement of these currencies.

These are 30 minute charts from Thursday, November 5 (EST), showing the 2 days directly after the US election started with the vote count still ongoing at the time. While there are small differences, it's plain to see how they all moved together based on what was happening and what was being reported in the news. It's also apparent how in a special time like this, fundamental data and news essentially overrides almost all technical analysis and price action based trading.

The interesting part is that even though the charts look very similar, the individual currencies actually trade very differently. What I am starting to understand is how not every strategy might be applicable to every currency. For example, GBPUSD tends to move more strongly in the short term and in terms of pips. When trading on short timeframes - 1 or 5 minute charts - and with a relatively narrow stop-loss such as 10 pips, it's easy very easy to get stopped out despite being right overall about where the price is going. On the other hand, with USDCAD for instance, a stop loss of 10 pips usually seems to be fine since a lot of times the currency doesn't appear to be moving as strongly or erratic on very short timeframes.

Another thing I am starting to understand is why I keep reading that as a trader (Forex or otherwise) I have to figure out what works for me personally. I was never looking to blindly copy and paste someone else's strategy and try to apply that mechanically without understanding what is going on exactly, why it might work, or why it might not. Although I can see why so many people try that and ultimately fail. There are so many nuances, moving parts, interactions, correlations  and whatnot - it takes time, practice, effort and maybe most importantly persistence to fully figure this all out.

I am at the very beginning of this journey.