Forex Crunch 5 Points on When To Go Pro?

Posted: 22 Sep 2010 11:21 PM PDT

Most forex traders do it while having a day job, some trade during their free time, and some do it when the boss isn’t looking. And some think or dream of quitting their job and going pro – making a living out of forex trading. When can this be done? Here are 5 important points:

At least a year of profitable trading: In order to evaluate if you have the basis for trading forex as a profession, a full year of successful “internship” is necessary. During the course of a year, you’ve seen many different phenomenons in the markets. This is minimal experience.
Significant income for three months: Are you already making a significant monthly income from trading? Significant means that it pays the rent or mortgage, covers a big savings plan or is a sizable portion of your overall income.
Plan for scaling up: Making a significant sum from trading is great, but can you scale it up to making a living? How? Take the time to make a plan on how your trading routine will be – your timetable is different when you don’t have a day job. The free time needs to be successfully utilized from day one.
Deep pockets. In deep pockets, I don’t mean being need to be rich. If you would be rich, you wouldn’t need any trading, would you? I mean that you can continue your life as usual for some time with your current income from forex. Given that you don’t scale quickly, you’ll need money to cushion your expenses. The more money you have, the more patience you’ll have with full time trading, the greater chance you’ll have to succeed.
Plan B: Following the previous point, you need a Plan B in case it doesn’t work out. This could be returning to your previous job, pursuing another path, etc. If you know the worst case scenario, you’ll clear out the uncertainty and you’ll have a better chance to succeed.

What do you think? Any pro forex trader out there with a good tip?

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Forex Daily Outlook – September 23 2010

Posted: 22 Sep 2010 03:00 PM PDT

U.S. Unemployment Claims, U.S. Existing Home Sales and Flash Manufacturing and Service PMI data in Europe are the major market moving events. Here is an outlook on today’s significant activities.

In the US, Unemployment Claims considerably reduced since the pick in mid August reaching 450K in the previous week a small rise to 451K is expected now.

Later in the US, Existing Home Sales dropped sharply in the previous month reaching 33.7K. A ise to 4.11B is expected now although it is still a low figure badly reflecting on the US economy.

More in the US, Natural Gas Storage released monthly edged up to 103B last week after Natural Gas price rose to the highest in more than three weeks. A smaller number is expected now.

Finally in the US, CB Leading Index of leading economic indicators, designed to predict the future direction of the economy released monthly , predicted 1.0% rise the same as in July’s lower than expected rise.

In Europe, French Flash Manufacturing PMI a leading indicator of economic health released monthly, expected to reach 55.0 points following a better than expected 55.1 points in the previous month. German Flash Manufacturing PMI also predicted a small decrease to 57.8 after a disappointing figure of 58.2 in the previous month however still a strong result. Flash Manufacturing PMI in the Euro-Zone tags along with a forecasted reduction of 0.5 points from 55.1 points in July.

Also in Europe, French Flash Services PMI another leading indicator of economic health is likely to reach 60.1 points following 60.4 points in July while the German Flash Services PMI is predicted 57.3 points 0.1 points stronger than in the previous month. Flash Manufacturing PMI in the Euro-Zone forecasted a reduction of 0.4 points compared to the previous month reaching 55.5 points.

Finally in Europe, Italian Quarterly Unemployment Rate expected a small rise of 0.2% in the total unemployed compared to the previous quarter resulting in 8.6%.

For more on the Euro, read the EUR/USD forecast and Casey Stubbs' latest analysis.

In Great Britain, British Bankers’ Association Mortgage Approvals registered a lower than expected 33.7K mortgage approvals in the previous month a further reduction to 32.3K is expected now which is a bad indicator to the housing market industry.

Read more about the Pound in the GBP/USD forecast.

That’s it for today. Happy forex trading!

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