Not so secret diary of a forex trading noob

Forex Scams

"Not-so-green" Noob — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 21:02:49 +0000

One of the reasons why many people relate forex trading to scams is because there really are many scams in this industry ready to steal all the money from unsuspected forex newbies. The other day a friend of mine pointed out a site to me where it basically stole the template from the OANDA forex trading site and made it into a forex scam site called 30 Inv. The scammers did such a poor job that there are still links pointing to some of the OANDA pages, and the contact phone number is exactly the same as OANDA. Don’t believe me? Take a look and compare the two sites.

I give this site a 1/10.

Forex Brokers Are Bucket Shops?

"Not-so-green" Noob — Wed, 06 May 2009 18:30:18 +0000

I’m not a big fan of Twitter but occasionally I would check out what’s new in the tiny forex trading world on Twitter. With the never ending debate and accusation of forex brokers trading against their clients, I found an interesting tweet by Neil321 that referenced a FXCM job posting on linkedin. One of the main responsibilities of the Senior FX Trader position was to continuously track firm’s net positions against its client base:

“A Senior Foreign Exchange Trader position is available at Forex Capital Markets, LLC in New York. A successful candidate will become a market maker on 24-hour spot FX trading desk; will work directly with managing partners to continuously track firm’s net positions against its client base; will develop and implement superior trading strategies based on changing market conditions, firm needs, and client performance; will trade a new CFD product and hedge the relevant risk; will manage a team of 10 employees; will hire and train new traders; will head an overseas expansion project, FXCM India with a customer and employee base that is 60% Hindi speaking. Candidates should have BS degree in Business/Finance and minimum 2 years of experience in FX trading. Proficiency in Hindi language is required.”

It’s pretty much a known fact that forex brokers hedge their position against the traders to protect their own position, but this is just a proof that provide the final nail to the coffin of this debate.

Oh, btw, I’m surprised to see that many forex traders use Twitter to share their tips and knowledge to other traders, good stuff.

Are you bull on gold?

"Not-so-green" Noob — Mon, 04 May 2009 17:12:59 +0000

Seems like the consensus out there is that gold will be going up in the near future, with China buying more gold and the US printing more paper dollar to absorb the debts.

OANDA Expands Into Asia

"Not-so-green" Noob — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 18:30:31 +0000

A friend from Singapore has recently told me about Oanda’s expansion into the Asia Pacific region with the newly launched forex site/page.

As promotion, they are giving away 30 seats to the Euromoney SEA FX Forum on February 27th where OANDA’s founder and chairman Richard Olsen is amongst many speakers in the event.

Will Cash Pulled From Stock Market Go To Forex Market?

"Not-so-green" Noob — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 19:06:01 +0000

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Personal projects, family matters, friends, stuff…

I’ve had a few interesting discussions with my friends who many of them work in the financial industry. Many of them have commented that there has been tons of money being pulled out from the portfolios and placed into low income but more stable GIC and long term savings. Not to mention alot of them fear for their own job security as well.

We also talked about the reason why the money is not flowing into the money market due to the complexity and risks involved in the forex trading market. The recent spreads have been swinging wildly during the major news events such as Bushes’ proposed and eventual failed $700 billion plan to save the banks. One of my friends also noted that he has gotten a few inquiries about currency hedging.

I can totally understand why people are afraid to tap into the forex market as compared to stock trading, currency trading requires 100 times more due diligence and understanding of how the currency market works. It’s also no help that currency trading has always had a bad rep due to a combination of the typical ignorance about the market and real fraud cases.

Having said that, I could still see an increase in interest of the forex market when people realize that long term saving vehicles and other GIC types are not going to get their money anywhere. There should be more business for the individual money managers who manager small clients’ portfolio in the forex market.