Forex trading isn’t just an analytical venture—it’s an investment path where emotions play a decisive role in performance. While most traders want to envision themselves as cool, calculating finance experts who set emotions aside and only make trading decisions based on cold, hard numbers, the reality is that even successful traders can fall prey to the impulses of their emotions.

These emotional impulses often pose a greater threat to trading strategies when traders lack awareness of these inclinations. When left unchecked, impulsive decisions and a lack of trading discipline can sabotage your risk management practices and put your trading strategy in a far more precarious position.

Don’t let unchecked emotions and undisciplined decisions derail your trading strategy. Use the following trading tips to place checks on your own emotions and manage your level of risk exposure.

Both the moving average convergence divergence (MACD) and the relative strength index (RSI) rank among the most popular momentum indicators used in forex trading. When used in combination with other technical indicators, both MACD and RSI can offer value in validating trade opportunities and timing trades to optimize your risk management practices.

While they represent a similar approach to evaluating forex trades, the functions of both MACD and RSI are distinct, which makes them useful indicators to combine in trade evaluation. Here’s a look at how to use MACD and RSI as part of your trade analysis.

Each month, investors and economic analysts cast an eye over a number of key reports. Since 1951, the Retail Sales Index (RSI) report has solidified its status as one of the most important of these, largely due to its overview of the value of merchandise sold within the retail trade sector. Calculated by reviewing a selection of companies engaged in the business of selling end products to consumers, the report has always been a true testament to how companies of all sizes—from Walmart down to small-town stores—are collectively impacting the U.S. economy.

To help you understand its consistent relevance, the following breaks down the RSI report, explaining why it’s important and how you should approach it from a forex trading perspective.

“He that can have patience can have what he will.” - Benjamin Franklin

I believe that one of the most underrated character attributes of a successful trader is patience. It doesn’t matter whether you are a short-term, medium-term or long-term trader, whether you only trade foreign exchange or other financial products, patience is still applicable in several different situations.Patience is important when considering how you manage your trade exits, whether it be at a loss or profit.  If you lack patience you may have difficulty seeing a trade through until it hits its take profit level, and in order to achieve consistent long-term trading success, it is important that you do allow trades to take their course.

Forex traders bring all kinds of strategies and trading timelines to the table when they analyze forex charts. Both chart patterns and forex indicators can be used to evaluate trade opportunities depending on both your personal trading preferences and the price activity taking place on the forex charts.

When it comes to identifying a price breakout, though, technical indicators can help you determine not only the start of a breakout event, but also the kind of momentum it might carry for traders who open a position at the start of this movement.

Before we discuss the top technical indicators for confirming forex breakouts, though, let’s make sure we understand how breakouts start.

Now that the dust has settled on the U.S. Presidential election and all of the fanfare and media coverage that comes with that, financial markets have focussed again on the coronavirus pandemic and vaccine hopes.  COVID-19 continues to makes it way through the United States and Europe, with cases in the former having now exceeded 13 million.  Numerous companies have reported test results from their COVID-19 vaccine testing and this has raised hopes that a vaccine is not far away and that the world can put 2020 well and truly behind it.  This has also raised risk appetite and increased bullishness in financial markets sending equity indices to record highs. 

When analyzing chart patterns to identify potential volatility with an asset’s price, an inside bar indicator is one of the stronger signals traders can spot. Inside bars on a candlestick chart represent the consolidation of price action where the bulls and bears are both struggling to move the price higher or lower from its current position.

If you’ve never traded the HK50, you might be missing out on a great opportunity to capitalize on economic growth in a promising foreign market.

Although the Hong Kong Stock Exchange is the third-largest stock exchange in Asia, and the sixth largest in the world, it often gets overshadowed by the Chinese and Japanese markets—not to mention the markets in New York and London. But seasoned investors are aware of the trading opportunities available in Hong Kong, especially with the HK50.

The Hang Seng Index, or HK50, tracks the 50 largest and most liquid companies on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKSE), offering a reliable reflection of the economic strength of Hong Kong as well as China.

Here’s an overview of the HK50, including a primer on how to approach trades in this market.

The journey of forex trading doesn’t always run smoothly, and even the most successful traders will experience some bumps in the road. This is especially true for traders who opt to head down the manual trading route, ignoring the automated processes that can aid their trading. Although automated trading does have its drawbacks, any trader can exhibit tighter control over their currency-trading portfolio through such means, particularly when they use expert advisors (EAs).

Considering the positive impact that an appropriately used EA can have on anyone’s trading efforts, the following takes an in-depth look at how to install and use an EA on MetaTrader 4.

If you’re involved in forex trading, you probably have at least some familiarity with the MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 platforms. These software solutions rank among the most popular trading platforms for a wide range of traders and advisors, thanks in large part to the value of their tools and resources when it comes to evaluating positions and taking action.

Although their names might suggest that MT5 is just an updated version of MT4, the reality is that these two solutions offer different functions and features that serve distinct trading audiences. Choosing whether to use MT4 versus MT5 can depend on your background and your trading goals, among other factors.

Here’s a look at how these platforms differ, and how to choose the right one for you.