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Thursday, September 18, 2008

Learn Swing Trading If You Do Not Want to Fail in Forex

By Albert Schmidt

I believe some trading styles and systems are more suitable for a beginner trader than others. Swing trading I think one of them. Learning swing trading requires much less effort than say scalping or any day trading technique. Usually a swing trade can take a few days to mature. That's why it is easier to control your emotions when you set up a trade and monitor it on a daily basis looking at it only a few minutes a day. The major benefits of swing trading technique for a beginner trader are as follows.

1. Fewer trades - less spreads.

If you compare swing trading with scalping then the advantage of swing trading is obvious. In scalping there is a lot of emotional pressure when trade needs to be executed in a few minutes. Other than that there is a spread between buy and sell prices. Thus it is better if a trader has fewer trades and a large profit target. Fore example if a spread is 3 pips then by entering 10 trades a trader loses 30 pips already. Small profit targets in scalping make it difficult to succeed for a beginner. On the other hand swing trading techniques usually target much larger profit, usually more than 100 pips per trade. You see the difference.

2. Low level of noise on the charts.

If you look at the higher time frame charts like 4 hour or daily charts you will see that a lot of price patterns are easily identifiable. When you switch to the shorter time frames like 15 minutes and 5 minutes charts there is a lot of noise that can prevent you form seeing the right pattern. Random fluctuations are more prominent in shorter time frames. That's why it is easier to trade using the higher time frames and have a trade last for a few days.

3. Emotional control is easier to master.

I noticed from my experience it is easier to control your emotions once you set a trade with stop-loss and take-profit orders and come back to look how it unfolds only for a few minutes a day. As for any day trading technique you monitor a trade continuously. I think you are familiar with an emotional roller coaster when price goes against your position and goes in favor of it. This kind of emotional pressure quickly wears out your energy and you are more susceptible for making trading errors.

4. Part-time trading

Many people start trading Forex part-time. They are testing this opportunity to see if Forex trading is for them. As I mentioned before swing trading requires only small amount of time to monitor a trade. I personally started with day trading techniques that's why I was amazed by ease when I switched to swing trading systems. Don't get me wrong it does requires time to analyze the market but the time required to monitor the trade itself is minimal.

I even know some traders who started with swing trading techniques. When they decided to become full time traders and switched to day trading techniques they started failing because they were not used to emotional pressure of the day trading. That's why I believe that if you want to become a successful trader you should learn a swing trading strategy first.


Albert Schmidt is a part-time currency trader. After quite a few months of struggle he learned to make consistent profit trading in Forex. Review a swing trading strategy he successfully uses in his trades.

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