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Posts Tagged ‘Options’

This step in the 12-steps to good trading will be the most challenging and will take the longest for most people to overcome. It will require the most maintenance over the life of your trading career and it will also be nearly impossible to learn from a short article like this but hopefully I can get you on the right track and help identify some resources and exercises to help.

Ego is really a tough thing for me to write about. I don’t fully understand it and apart from my Christian viewpoint it wouldn’t make any sense at all to me. Ego is that part of you that you refer to when you say “I.” Its part of your soul as opposed to your spirit. Both reside in your body. Its everything you think you are. Your self-concept. It says “I am hungry…I am a winner…I am a loser…I am a Californian…I am a Republican…I am nice…I am clever…I don’t believe that…I believe that more than anything…blah blah blah..” It’s the inner part of you that is most influenced by the outside world and I believe outside forces as well but I wont get into that unless you ask.

Ego is the part of you that has been shaped over the years or the last five minutes along with your concepts of who you are and how you see yourself in the future. It is the part of you that you display and defend and its also the part of you that keeps you from living in the very now moment.

In step one of this series I emphasized how there are no destructive trading emotions in the very now moment. In the now moment fear cant reside because it is based on images of the future and past. Greed cant reside there either. Well, the thing that blocks easy access to that place is the ego. It always wants center stage. In trading rooms and in sports and everywhere in performance based art, the ego stands out. In trading rooms it presents itself in bottom and top pickers and calling trades from the past and announcing one-sided results. Said plainly, it usually shows up as boasting. The trader who boasts not only doesn’t likely think he or she has an ego issue, but they certainly don’t recognize that they are led by it. The danger to them in these cases is that they are not market focused but are running their trading business from the part of the self that is most subject to the winds of the world and are linked arm and arm with the most destructive trading emotions they can face (fear, greed & denial). It effects everything from their risk tolerance to their confidence which are the other two pieces of this enchilada so I will move on and tie them together and help you develop a plan to make sure your ego is in check.

The number one issue I see people have when working with them on their trading is not accepting risk. Its normal for us to want to avoid risk and that shows up as the normal thing to do when we come to trade. The trouble is that being normal in trading is being a losing trader and washing out.

Never makes it in trading. We have to be abnormal and take risks. Calculated risks of course and that is where having a system or method comes into play but it goes beyond that. Lets just assume you will have a method of approaching the market that will put the odds in your favor and that you will work at it and know how to use it. We also have to have very clear and realistic concepts about what trading is and align our expectations with reality. It is not something you can realistically try and squeeze in to your summer vacation and learn in a few weeks so you don’t have to go back to work. Some of you are saying “yeah, of course not. Who would think that.” Well unfortunately, and also understandably so, as the marketing in the trading education space paints a really rosy picture and more people think that way than you could imagine. Plan on a long learning curve and doing a lot of hard work. Plan on training your focus on learning to trade and not on money or exotic calculations of what-ifs as far as how much you could earn in a year or whatever “normally” comes to your mind. Prepare to be abnormal. We don’t think about money much outside the development of our trading plan. If you do think about money then as quick as you earn it in your head you had better give it away in your head or you will be the one giving it away instead of earning it in reality. Again we think abnormally.

With the turmoils in the global economy, Indian Rupee exchange rate has seen huge volatility against USD and other major foreign currencies during the last three years. In the past, Indian financial markets offered very few options such as currency forwards, swaps and options (traded on OTC – over the counter market) to Indian investors for hedging their currency risks. Cash Forex or OTC Forex trading was not easily accessible to small investors and even more, it was suitable to only large participants due to various factors that acted as deterrent to retail investors.

Although trading forex on exchanges is not a new concept in the international currency markets, Chicago Mercantile Exchange being one of the top exchanges for foreign currency futures and currency options, but in India, trading in currency futures is relatively new. However, after having commenced Currency Futures trading from August 2008, Indian Currency Markets have witnessed huge growth in terms of turnover and number of contracts. At present, three recognized stock exchanges NSE, MCX and BSE offer trading in four currency pairs USDINR, EURINR, GBPINR and JPYINR and very soon the market regulator SEBI is likely to allow trading in Currency Options.

Exchange traded currency futures have come as a blessing not only to large participants but also to retail traders and investors. Here is a quick guide to the basics of currency futures.

What is Currency Future?

Currency Future is a legal contract or a commitment to exchange one currency against another at a fixed price and at a fixed date with the contract tradable on any recognized exchange.

Easy Accessibility: With the availability of currency trading on the recognised exchanges NSE, BSE, and MCX, it has become very easy for all sorts of market participants to trade in currency markets.

Easy Affordability: With contract size of $1000 USD and margin as low as 1.75%, it was never so easy and affordable for any retail investor to take a call on Indian Rupee by taking position in currency markets.

Low Transaction Costs: As compared to high commissions and spreads payable to the banks or foreign exchange agents, you have to pay a small amount of brokerage charges, and statutory taxes when you trade in forex futures on exchanges.

Transparency: When you trade on recognized stock exchanges such as NSE and MCX, it is possible for you to verify trade details if you have a doubt that the broker has tried to cheat you.

Efficient Price Discovery: With its state-of-the-art automated electronic trading system where the orders are executed on price-time priority, exchanges are better poised to offer efficient price discovery than the unregulated OTC Forex markets. In fact, internationally, it has been established that currency future is a better and efficient mechanism for price discovery. 

Forex Options Brokers

Forex option brokers can generally be divided into two separate categories: forex brokers who offer online forex option trading platforms and forex brokers who only broker forex option trading via telephone trades placed through a dealing/brokerage desk. A few forex option brokers offer both online forex option trading as well a dealing/brokerage desk for investors who prefer to place orders through a live forex option broker. Read the rest of this entry »