What Is a Dove Monetary Policy?

An economic policy advisor who promotes monetary policies that involve the maintenance of low interest rates, believing that inflation and its negative effects will have a minimal impact on society. This term is derived from the docile and placid nature of the bird of the same name, and is the opposite of the term "hawk'. Statements that suggest that inflation will have a minimal impact are called dovish. The Federal Reserve, the central bank of the US, has two mandates, full employment and a stable price level. This dual mandate creates a tension, and a balancing act, because actions that focus on one side can worsen conditions on the other.

As a result, doves believe the negative effects of low interest rates are negligible in the larger scheme of things. However, if interest rates are kept low for an indefinite period of time, inflation could rise considerably. Doves tend to say temporary blips in inflation above 2% are a price worth paying for more jobs. Previous Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and current Chairwoman Janet Yellen are considered doves, while Dallas Fed President Richard Fisherand the President of the Philadelphia Fed, Charles Plosser, are considered hawks.

How to Start Trading Forex

In the first part of this series, you will learn how trading platforms work (such as MetaTrader 4), how candlesticks and charts are used, and how to read the information they provide.

You must be looking forward to trading. However, you are also probably aware that your knowledge is still somewhat theoretical. Over the coming videos, we will introduce you to some important terminology that you will be using throughout your trading and put the theory you have been introduced to so far into context. You can refer back to this video and the article that accompanies it whenever you need to clarify something.

The trading platform is a piece of software installed on your computer and it is effectively your command center. You will trade using this software by using it to tell your broker what you want to buy or sell, how much you want to buy and sell, when to take profit if the trade goes well when to take your loss if the trade does not go well. We will teach you how to trade mostly using the MetaTrader 4 platform because it is robust than user friendly. However, keep in mind that different platforms are used by different brokers.

Most trading platforms offer similar functions and you should find it relatively easy to adapt to each of them. You can see that this trading platform contains a chart. This is the visual representation of the price action and we use this for our analysis. It is here that we identify trading opportunities. The vertical axis on the right hand side is the exchange rate. The horizontal axis represents time. These are candlesticks, which are a method of illustrating the price movement and they tell us a certain amount of information. In a 1-min candlestick chart, each candle represents one minute to form. On a daily chart, each candlestick takes one whole day to form.

Each candleestick has a body, shows us the opening price and the closing price. When the candlestick finishes with the opening price above the closing price, then it is represented by blue color. If the candle finishes with the closing price below the opening price, then the candlestick will stay orange. We have wicks above and below to tell us the highest and lowest price during the period that the candlestick represents.

The Currency Trading Books - How Useful Are They In Reality?

Lots of people are developing an interest in currency trading at the moment, and many of these same people will be investing in one or two books that cover this subject. However with so many books on the market, it’’s worth questioning how effective these books are in reality.

I think it essentially boils down to how experienced a trader you are. If you are just starting out in this industry, then you will generally find that many of the forex trading books will provide you with a really good education. If nothing else, they will certainly be a good starting point if you know very little about this subject.

They may also prove useful if you are perhaps an intermediate trader who maybe knows the basics of currency trading, but is not yet able to return a profit. This is because there are lots of books that cover some of the more advanced and technical aspects of forex trading, such as how to effectively apply technical analysis, and how to use things like pivot points and fibonacci levels, for instance. In other words you can use these books to advance your knowledge and move you closer to achieving your goal of becoming a profitable trader.

If, however, you are an experienced or intermediate trader who is just looking for a profitable trading strategy or two that you can use to generate consistent profits, then I think you will be disappointed. The fact is that most professionals are too busy making vast sums of money to even consider writing a book, and they certainly won”t give away their prized secrets for a mere $20 (or whatever the book costs).

Therefore you will generally find that most of the forex trading books are written by people who are not actually profitable traders themselves. As a result of this you are unlikely to learn about any proven trading methods. The ones that are mentioned are often sound in principle, but not profitable enough to be traded in the long run because they will ultimately end up losing money.

So the point I want to make is that forex books can be quite useful, but the people who will get the most out of them are the beginner traders, and maybe some of the intermediate traders as well because they do a great job of covering the basics as well as some of the more advanced subjects. However I don”t think there is a single book on the market that will teach you a foolproof trading method that will generate profits on a consistent basis.

Forex currencies quotation system

Currencies are quoted in pairs, for example – EUR/USD or USD/JPY.
The first currency in the pair is called the base currency and the second is called the counter currency.
The base currency is the ‘basis’ for purchases and sales. For example, if you buy EUR/USD, then you acquire Euros and sell Dollars. You do this if you expect the Euro to grow against the Dollar.
It is also possible for a currency pair to be quoted as USD/EUR, but this method is used extremely rarely.
Each transaction must have 2 sides – a buy and a sell (or a sell and a buy).By this we mean that it is impossible to buy 100.000 EUR/USD and then exchange it for another currency pair (i.e.: EUR/JPY) without closing the first position.
Also please note that no physical currency delivery will be made. For these purposes banks and exchange companies, which specialize in low-rate currency conversions are available.

FOREX Is The Number One Exchange In The World

The Foreign Exchange market (Forex) is truly the largest exchange in the world. The amount of dollars traded on the Forex market on a daily basis is in the trillions. Most of this currency trading takes place between between large banks, central banks, currency speculators, multinational corporations, governments, and other financial markets and institutions. However, individual traders are starting to get in the mix, using internet discount brokers such as Etrade to participate in the currency exchange market. There is no central exchange or meeting place for the Forex. All trading is done over computer networks between traders in different parts of the world. Also, unlike the stock market, the foreign exchange market is open 24 hours per day, because it is a global market. A trader in Hong Kong may be exchanging currency with a trader in Australia while an American trader is sleeping. There are several different markets within the Forex exchange system. First, there is the spot market. The spot market deals with trades that are based on the current values of currencies. One person trades a certain amount of currency with another trader in exchange for an equivalent amount of a different foreign currency. Spot trades take two days for settlement. The other two types of foreign exchange markets are the forward and futures markets. In the forward market, the buyer and seller agree on an exchange rate and a transaction date is set for a specific time in the future, at which point the trade is executed regardless of what the rates are at that time. On the futures market, futures contracts are bought and sold based upon a standard contract size and maturity date. Futures trades take place on public commodities markets. A currency quote is listed differently from a stock quote. Stocks are quoted in terms of price per share. Currency exchange prices are listed as either a direct quote or an indirect quote. A direct quote uses the domestic currency as the base and the foreign currency as the quote. An indirect quote works the exact opposite way. So, if you were to view a quote in an American newspaper that said USD/JPY = 75, that would be a direct quote and would mean that $1 of U.S. currency is equal to 75 Japanese yen. If that same quote appeared in that same American newspaper and was listed as JPY/USD = 0.013, that would be an example of an indirect quote. As with stock prices, currency exchange prices have a bid and ask spread. The current bid is the amount of foreign currency that someone is willing to spend in order to buy $1 U.S. base currency. The ask is the amount of foreign currency that someone is demanding in order to be willing to sell $1 U.S. base currency. The Forex markets are generally considered to be less volatile than then stock market because within the course of a trading day, it is highly unlikely for the value of a single currency to move all that much. With equities, it is not uncommon for a trader to buy a stock, and then a negative press release causes the stock to lose considerable value within a day or even a couple of hours. Sometimes, however, the Forex can be volatile. If there is a significant economic or political development with a certain country, the currency of that country can lose value quickly. There is a higher degree of liquidity on the currency exchange then there is on the stock exchange because the currency exchange is open 24 hours per day and because the very nature of currency exchange is to bet on when certain currencies will go up or down; so, it is easy to sell your position in a certain currency even when the value of that money is going down. A plummeting stock is more difficult to unload, but not impossible. If you want to begin currency tranding, try to set aside some money and open an account with an online broker. Start slowly, then as you get the hang of it, work your way up to larger trades and higher volume. However, do not gamble your nest egg on currency trading because inexperienced traders can lose everything they have rather quickly in spite of the relative safety of the Forex market.

How to Monetize Facebook Instant Articles

Facebook allows ads to appear inside Instant Articles. Publishers can keep 100% of the revenue if they sell the ads, and Facebook gets its standard 30% cut if it sells the ads.With the launch of Instant Articles, Facebook provided guidelines regarding the ad formats supported by Instant Articles. One of the constraints was that no ads can appear above the fold (so that when somebody first opens an Instant Article, they will not see an ad). This would help with rapid initial loading of pages.

In late March 2016, Facebook announced an expansion in the permissible ad formats. In particular, support for native ads as well as video ads was announced.

In late March 2016, Facebook announced that native ads and video ads would soon be allowed in Instant Articles.In April 2016, Facebook Instant Articles became usable along with Medium and other publishing tools.

At the 2016 Facebook F8 conference, Facebook announced that Facebook Instant Articles would now be available to all publishers.Facebook claimed that Instant Articles load ten times as fast as mobile web content, thereby creating a better user experience.The Wall Street Journal reported that, according to tests done by Catchpoint Systems, Facebook's claim held true: the average load time for Instant Articles was between 0 and 300 milliseconds, compared with 3.66 seconds for similar articles on news publishers' websites. The difference was attributed to Facebook pre-loading articles as well as to Facebook allowing ads to be fetched without disrupting access to the content itself.

Hi friends this is the method how to monetize Facebook instant articles Follow the instruction i am sure you will do it Fist of all login to your Facebook account then go to the page where you connect your website, click publishing  tools, on the left side of your screen you can see configuration under the Instant articles click the configuration tab, now the page will open in the front of page you will find the Audience network, under the Audience network you will find  Resources: and Implementation Steps: click the dashboard under Resources then click placement on the left side of screen here you can get code, now on the other side click Insert Ads in instant articles under the Implementation steps then press Audience network on the left side of screen here you can find a code you need to copy both codes and paste in your articles via production articles here the video will also helpful for you have to do same process with all of your articles for monetize after that you need to put your payment method which is also very simple process i will guide you in my next articles i am pretty sure the way of my explanation will be helpful for you please give me comment that its helpful or not if you have any quarry feel free to ask me please please correct me if i did any mistake in my this article or explanation.   

YOUR MARKET OPPONENT

Most traders are under the illusion that their greatest opponent in the market are the skilled pros out there who are waiting to gobble them up. While they are worthy opponents, there is an opponent even more worthy, if you go to the mirror, you will find them. The biggest enemy to trading successfully is YOU and your mindset. 

The thing that usually demolishes traders besides getting into the game way too early (while they are still very, very green) is their lack of discipline and patience. The hardest thing in the market, especially if you are a natural Type A personality, is the waiting. 

The natural type A makes the perfect forex victim, because we like to see things move and like to get things accomplished. While this is a very desirable trait in most other aspects of life, it can be to your determent in forex. 



It is the incredible volatility and fast pace of forex that attracts us in the first place, but when the market is stagnant, it can make us nuts, often causing us to make premature ill-timed entries. 

That is why it is essential to your long term success for you to perfect your WAIT!!!!! 

What are you waiting??? 
For proper trade set-ups! 

Trades in harmony with your trend will usually be the most profitable and give the most reliable signals. 

DEMO ACCOUNT

I am always telling new traders to practice on their demo account until they become consistently profitable.
WHY?????

Because I have found that it is a way to program a success pattern in your mind. Your mind doesn't distinguish between a live and a demo account, however we do. Sometimes we allow emotions to interfere with the successful program that our mind is running once we get a live account.

We want trading to be so ingrained in us that it is almost instinct. Your demo gives you the opportunity to train your mind toward automatic success.
Your brain begins to recognize patterns of success as you practice on your live or demo account, it doesn't matter which one?.

As a trader, every time you enter the market, you take a risk.

YOU CAN NOT BE BE AFRAID OF RISK!

But you must make SMART, CALCULATED RISK in the market. Risk no more than 2% of your capital in a trade. 2% on the right side of the trade is more than enough to provide your with a very comfortable life style. 2% on the wrong side of the trade can also take you out. That is why smart calculated risk give you the biggest advantage in the market. When you don't over trade your account it gives you more control over your exit as opposed to being forced out of the trade by the market.

ENTER THE MARKET WHEN YOU CAN SEE A CLEAR ADVANTAGE!

Use your demo up, blow it up several times if that is what is necessary for you to gain an understanding of what is going on in the market.

Take your demo seriously. Practice your successes and it will help your mind begin to eliminate those habits that are counter productive to good trading. Practicing success in your demo translates into success in your live account.

Earn with Forex

I thought I would post a year-end wrap-up in this "long in the tooth" blog to let those who still check it once in a while can see that I'm still alive and trading.  Most of my attention has been focused on my personal trading and supporting some up-and-coming niche hedge funds.  In both avenues my efforts have been successful.

It was a good year in most aspects.  No thanks to current politicians and anti-market types.  Socialism and other "high control" governments are trying to make it as difficult as possible for free markets to operate as they should.

Notwithstanding, we've got some real market trends in place.  The dollar is strong vs. almost any currency out there: AUD, NZD, JPY, EUR, CHF, GBP, CAD, MXN (Mexican Peso) and precious metals.

Trading OneNightStand and trailing a portion of the positions on strong follow-through trades after the beginning of July resulted in very reasonable gains.  At one point in mid-October, the account was at $1,289.21.  With a lot of back and forth towards year-end some reduction in  return was inevitable.  Currently, the forex side of the Challenge account is $1,156.60.

Not so good on the silver side of the Challenge account.  

The 1330 ounces of silver carried over from last year currently have a liquidation value of $20,841.10 (based on the 12/31/14 spot price of $15.67).  

Commodity prices, of which oil is a huge percentage, have all dropped significantly this year relative to the dollar.  Since May, Crude Oil prices have dropped in half.  Which didn't help silver and gold values at all.  It is really amazing that silver didn't fall more with the fallout in commodities.  Maybe it will.  Either way, I have no interest in liquidating any of the silver the Challenge account has accumulated.

Large shifts in value between asset classes and capital inflows into others (like the US stock market as of late) cause new trends to begin and existing trends to continue.  So keep selling that Euro for awhile yet.

Quick summary:

Silver value:         $20,841.10
Forex account:      $1,156.60
----------------------------------
Total:                     $21,997.70

This year I may trade some additional breakout setups to increase returns on some of these trends we're seeing.  I'll post something if/when I start.

ONS is still working of course.  A number of hardy ONS and FirstStrikefollowers have been in steady contact with me and have also had a decent year.  It is pretty obvious that there are trends going when a currency is falling vs the dollar for 8 weeks like we saw in the Euro.  Still, many traders had a hard time believing the moves were just more than simple corrections.  

A person needs a method that has limited risk and open ended outlier potential to profit from markets primarily dictated by chaos theory.  Which forex and commodity markets most definitely are.

Trading is not Hard

I love getting up in the middle of the night to find that the market is at an extreme for the week and it's been pausing for an hour or two; then continues on its way.  A low risk entry and potentially unlimited upside. 

In the last 2 weeks of December I cease my trading. Since markets are a "human behavior" phenomena, just about all the stupidity for the year has already been expended by mid-December, and everyone [rational] who trades has either booked their year's profits or accepted that they aren't going to recoup their losses until 2016.

The few irrational confirmed losers that feel the need to trade past the 15th are welcome to whatever profits I might miss from their passing my way. Trading statistics have proven it too, so feel free to avoid the anemic volatility and waste of time playing a lowered-edge environment.

And have an extra single malt or two over the two weeks. Preferably an 18 year old Macallan, recommended it to me by Barry Eisler- known for his John Rain series. Thanks Barry.

Trading is Not Hard

How you think about yourself, the markets and its other participants really helps you maintain an overwhelming edge.

In an interview Paul Tudor Jones was asked about his overall trading philosophy.

His reply:

I have very strong views of the long-run direction of all markets. I also have a very short-term horizon for pain. As a result, frequently, I may try repeated trades from the long side over a period of weeks in a market which continues to move lower.

When it was suggested that it sounded like he was performing a series of "probing trades" before he hit gold... 

He replied:

I consider myself a premier market opportunist. That means I develop an idea on the market and pursue it from a very-low-risk standpoint until I have repeatedly been proven wrong, or until I change my viewpoint.

The reason I mention this is due to his comment about pursuing the market from a very-low-risk-standpoint. Whether you do this from a trending standpoint (my preference) or a counter-trend point of view; the fact that you are doing it completely cognizant of the risk and make that part of your series of actions - is why your odds of success rise significantly over competitors who H-O-P-E that the market will go their way every time they put on a trade.

There are a lot of them - thankfully. Even governments get wrong minded. As large and as wrong as they can get; they represent Trillions in total profits-to-the-prepared when they're wrong.That's why trading is still a great feeding ground for prepared speculators who have their monkey under control.

Knowing without a doubt that you will act correctly when something big happens makes you the odds-on favorite in the race.

Over the next week, see if you can round up a copy of Zen in the Markets, by Edward Toppel. A perfect read this time of year, even if you've read it before. It'll get your mind right for the beginning of 2016.

ZITM is great not because it tells you the secret of making profits from the market. But because it lets you realize that you already know how and then facilitates you to do it.

Ed came up with some great TradeStation software that emulated what he wrote in the book for the E-mini S&P. I know that a few tried using it, but I doubt anyone does any longer. 

You have to have absolute faith in the concept that the market knows better than you where it is going.You turn it on and it buys the market if it goes up and turns around and shorts the market if it goes down, and then long..., and then short.... Until you either lose your account or make a ton of money.

If you do a tick-by-tick simulation over many years..., always-in-the-market; it is slightly profitable after commissions. But where it was REALLY profitable was when you are in a well-defined trend, the market is just paused-- and then it takes off again. What an idea to trade only at those times!!!!

If you haven't read Zen in the Markets; make a point of it.  Let me know if you can't get a copy.

We are at a serious juncture in the Forex markets. 

Oil prices are as low in real dollars as they've been for decades. Same with most commodities, and gold and silver. Countries (and currencies) that depend on commodity sales for their financial health are affected negatively. When commodities bottom and turn up, so do their respective currencies. We'll be watching the Aussie and Canadian Dollars closely this year.

Speaking of silver, the 1330 ounces of silver carried over from last year currently have a liquidation value of $18,526.90 (based on the 12/31/15 spot price of $13.93).

In the last few weeks I took some low risk breakouts in the AudUsd and the GbpJpy that I am holding over to the new year. And ONS has been treating us well this year.

I wish that I had been even more attentive to the Challenge account, as I'm sure I could have doubled the profits very easily. The forex side of the Challenge account from 2014 was $1,156.60, and we added an additional $619.78 this year.

The Forex

We are observing typical pre-holiday trading.  Every few years we get something exciting just before the end of year.  I'm always willing to accept it if we get it.  So far, the markets are pretty range bound.

I started off exiting my OneNightStand trade this morning at Midnight (00:00).  On Friday we sold GBP/USD @ 2.0181.  I exited this morning at 2.0184 for a 3 pip loss pluss a little for interest.  That cost me about $1.00.

Shortly thereafter, I had 4 FirstStrike trades executed this morning.  They were:

• eud/usd:  SELL 1.4391, stop 1.4451.    -Still in with a small profit.
• gbp/jpy:  SELL 227.81, stop 228.41.    -Stopped out for a 60 pip loss.
• gbp/usd:  SELL 2.0134, stop 2.0194.  -Stopped out for a 60 pip loss
• usd/chf:   BUY 1.1570, stop 1.1510.     -Stopped out for a 60 pip loss.

One of my readers emailed me this morning:
From the Oanda chart, it looks as if the short trade on GBP/USD has been opened and stopped out by 7:00 a.m. CST. Is this correct? If so, will you reinstall the reverse FirstStrike order to go long on this market or are you done with GBP/USD for the rest of the week? And generally, are you going to have some rule regarding reverse FirstStrike orders for your challenge or you will rather decide on whether or not to use reverse orders on case-by-case basis? --T.K
Thanks T.K. for the questions.  I'm sure others would like to know more too.

---Yes. No. Yes. No.---Yes, GBP/USD was opened and stopped out. No, I won't reinstall the reverse FirstStrike order to go long on this market. Yes, I am done with the GBP/USD for the rest of the week. No, there will be no rules added about adding reverse orders. If anyone wishes to do reverse orders, they are welcome to do that of course.

The reverse FirstStrike can sometimes be THE trade of the week, and by not taking a second or third trade, you can miss the largest move of a week.

READ THIS CAREFULLY: If this Alpha account only traded the second FirstStrike trades after a losing first trade, trading this way could still be very successful. But not the best. You would miss the largest and most profitable outliers. Trading "seconds" is not as risk-adjusted, or profitable as taking the very first trade of the week.

The problem many people have is they become action junkies in their trading. I know, because I've had to tremendously modify my own behavior in this area. The more you enjoy trading the greater the problem you can have in this area.

To summarize:If you know what your systems edge numbers are, trade those numbers.

Does this mean that you can't deviate at all from your trading plan? Depending on who you are, yes, or no. Certain people need to have an absolute plan or system that they will never deviate from. That is their security.

Others understand the cause of the edge behind the numbers, so they occasionally may deviate from a rigid plan because they are after additional return that they may know is hidden behind the scenes.  If you can do this and not hurt your bottom line, "go with God".  I personally ONLY take trades that have proven to have a risk-adjusted edge.  

Long explanation for T.K's questions, but in short:I plan on making very few deviations from the systems traded here. In the long run, trading mechanically with OneNightStand and FirstStrikeshould exceed anyone's financial wishes.One last comment on this subject.  If I see free money sitting out in the market, I will take advantage of it.  And then I will try to explain to you later why I "had" to take the additional trade.  Deal?
-----------
I still have the following USD/JPY orders working-- 
BUY 113.61, stop 113.01--SELL 112.61, stop 113.21.  OCO (One cancels the other)

• If either of these orders gets elected, the other is cancelled.  
• If the elected order gets stopped out for a loss, FirstStriketrading is done for that pair for the rest of the week.
• If the order is elected and is not stopped out by the end of the week, I will exit the market just before 15:00 CST on Friday.

So far, we have had nothing but resounding losses this week.

Last week's ending equity:                       $535.40
4 loss trades (1 ONS, 3 FirstStrike:       15.62 -                    
Current total:                                              519.78

Forex Related News

I love getting up in the middle of the night to find that the market is at an extreme for the week and it's been pausing for an hour or two; then continues on its way.  A low risk entry and potentially unlimited upside. 

In the last 2 weeks of December I cease my trading. Since markets are a "human behavior" phenomena, just about all the stupidity for the year has already been expended by mid-December, and everyone [rational] who trades has either booked their year's profits or accepted that they aren't going to recoup their losses until 2016.

The few irrational confirmed losers that feel the need to trade past the 15th are welcome to whatever profits I might miss from their passing my way. Trading statistics have proven it too, so feel free to avoid the anemic volatility and waste of time playing a lowered-edge environment.

And have an extra single malt or two over the two weeks. Preferably an 18 year old Macallan, recommended it to me by Barry Eisler- known for his John Rain series. Thanks Barry.

Trading is Not Hard

How you think about yourself, the markets and its other participants really helps you maintain an overwhelming edge.

In an interview Paul Tudor Jones was asked about his overall trading philosophy.

His reply:

I have very strong views of the long-run direction of all markets. I also have a very short-term horizon for pain. As a result, frequently, I may try repeated trades from the long side over a period of weeks in a market which continues to move lower.

When it was suggested that it sounded like he was performing a series of "probing trades" before he hit gold... 

He replied:

I consider myself a premier market opportunist. That means I develop an idea on the market and pursue it from a very-low-risk standpoint until I have repeatedly been proven wrong, or until I change my viewpoint.

The reason I mention this is due to his comment about pursuing the market from a very-low-risk-standpoint. Whether you do this from a trending standpoint (my preference) or a counter-trend point of view; the fact that you are doing it completely cognizant of the risk and make that part of your series of actions - is why your odds of success rise significantly over competitors who H-O-P-E that the market will go their way every time they put on a trade.

There are a lot of them - thankfully. Even governments get wrong minded. As large and as wrong as they can get; they represent Trillions in total profits-to-the-prepared when they're wrong.That's why trading is still a great feeding ground for prepared speculators who have their monkey under control.

Knowing without a doubt that you will act correctly when something big happens makes you the odds-on favorite in the race.

Over the next week, see if you can round up a copy of Zen in the Markets, by Edward Toppel. A perfect read this time of year, even if you've read it before. It'll get your mind right for the beginning of 2016.

ZITM is great not because it tells you the secret of making profits from the market. But because it lets you realize that you already know how and then facilitates you to do it.

Ed came up with some great TradeStation software that emulated what he wrote in the book for the E-mini S&P. I know that a few tried using it, but I doubt anyone does any longer. 

You have to have absolute faith in the concept that the market knows better than you where it is going.You turn it on and it buys the market if it goes up and turns around and shorts the market if it goes down, and then long..., and then short.... Until you either lose your account or make a ton of money.

If you do a tick-by-tick simulation over many years..., always-in-the-market; it is slightly profitable after commissions. But where it was REALLY profitable was when you are in a well-defined trend, the market is just paused-- and then it takes off again. What an idea to trade only at those times!!!!

If you haven't read Zen in the Markets; make a point of it.  Let me know if you can't get a copy.

We are at a serious juncture in the Forex markets. 

Oil prices are as low in real dollars as they've been for decades. Same with most commodities, and gold and silver. Countries (and currencies) that depend on commodity sales for their financial health are affected negatively. When commodities bottom and turn up, so do their respective currencies. We'll be watching the Aussie and Canadian Dollars closely this year.

Speaking of silver, the 1330 ounces of silver carried over from last year currently have a liquidation value of $18,526.90 (based on the 12/31/15 spot price of $13.93).

In the last few weeks I took some low risk breakouts in the AudUsd and the GbpJpy that I am holding over to the new year. And ONS has been treating us well this year.

I wish that I had been even more attentive to the Challenge account, as I'm sure I could have doubled the profits very easily. The forex side of the Challenge account from 2014 was $1,156.60, and we added an additional $619.78 this year.

Quick summary:

Silver value:        $18,526.90

Forex account:     $1,776.38

---------------------------------------

Total:                  $20,303.28

Still significantly above the $500 (40 times initial capital) we started with, but very significantly below the peak of over $50K a few years ago. Since big money is made in the fullness of a major trend I have no doubt the financial mistakes of numerous countries will provide some great opportunities and launch us into new equity highs.

I encourage you to take note of a quote by ― Sun Tzu, from The Art of War:

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

Knowing that there are things that can't be known-- is valuable too.

If I KNEW that silver would be at $13.93 today back in early 2010, I wouldn't have as much silver in the Challenge account. But I do know from history that when the rush into metal starts, it can be fast and furious and very difficult to accrue. And having actual physical silver, while currently a less-preferred investment globally, is part of a larger risk/reward scenario – for me.

Fortunately, even with imperfect knowledge of the future, knowing how and having the WILL to trade your specific assets precisely is more than enough for any success you could desire.