Tips for Trading Descending Triangles Short

By Jeff Cartridge

The descending triangle can be traded very successfully on the short side entering the trade as the stock breaks out of the pattern to the downside. The pattern forms when the two boundary lines that contain the price movement converge to a point. The top line slopes down toward the bottom line which is horizontal.

Descending Triangles, Surprise On The Upside

Most descending triangles would be expected to break down and in fact 57%, break out to the downside making this pattern best when traded on the short side. 45% of these breakouts are profitable and on average the profit per trade is 0.92% over a period of 9 days. A good proportion, 12.1% of these breakouts make a profit of 10% or more. The descending triangle is one of the best chart patterns when it breaks to the downside and applying some filters makes this pattern even more attractive to trade.

Specific Setups to Improve Profitability

A break to the downside works better in a falling market or sector environment. By using filters that require the market to be in a consolidation or an up trend you can improve the results. The sector should also be in a down trend for the best results. Strangely a sector that is in a down trend at the beginning of the pattern produces better results than a sector in a down trend when the breakout occurs.

Descending triangles that breakout early in the pattern, produce similar results to those that breakout later, so this is not an important filter to use. The best results are achieved when the stock climbs up from the lower boundary and collapses back before reaching the upper boundary of the pattern.

If volume supports a descending triangle breakout then the profitability of the trades improves. For volume to support the breakout, volume when the stock is going down should be greater than volume when the stock is going up.

Trading Descending Triangles Can Be Profitable

Following a series of simple rules to determine which descending triangle to trade can improve results dramatically. By applying these filters descending triangles are profitable on 48% of the trades and return an average of 2.55% per trade in 10 days. This is a very profitable pattern to trade.

Note: Statistics for this article have been provided by Patterns Trader after analyzing over 60,000 chart patterns on the Australian market from 2000 - 2008. - 23167

About the Author:

Jeff Cartridge is a private trader and created the website LearnCFDs.com Discover Patterns of Success

Foreign Currency Trading, Forex

By Jo Nash

FOREX trading is all about trading foreign currency, stocks, and similar type of products. The currency of one country is weighed against the currency of another country to determine value. The value of that foreign currency is taken into consideration when trading stocks on the FOREX markets. Most countries have control over the value of that countries value, involving the currency, or money. Those who are often involved in the FOREX markets include banks, large businesses, governments, and financial institutions.

What makes the FOREX market different from the stock market? A forex market trade is one that involves at least two countries, and it can take place worldwide. The two countries are one, with the investor, and two, the country the money is being invested in. Most all transactions taking place in the FOREX market are going to take place through a broker, such as a bank.

What really makes up the FOREX markets? The foreign exchange market is made up of a variety of transactions and counties. Those involved in the FOREX market are trading in large volumes, large amounts of money. Those who are involved in the FOREX market are generally involved in cash businesses, or in the trade of very liquid assets that you can sell and buy fast. The market is large, very large. You could consider the FOREX market to be much larger than the stock market in any one country overall. Those involved in the FOREX market are trading daily twenty-four hours a day and sometimes trading is completed on the weekend, but not all weekends.

You might be surprised at the number of people that are involved in FOREX trading. In the years 2004, almost two trillion dollars was an average daily trading volume. This is a huge number for the number of daily transactions to take place. Think about how much a trillion dollars really is and then times that by two, and this is the money that is changing hands every day!

The FOREX trading market is not something new, but has been used for over thirty years. With the introduction of computers, and then the internet, the trading on the FOREX market continues to grow as more and more people and businesses alike become aware of the availablily of this trading market. FOREX only accounts for about ten percent of the total trading from country to country, but as the popularity in this market continues to grow so could that number. - 23167

About the Author:

Learn how you can guarantee your profits from forex trading with Forex Trading Software or by using Accurate Forex Signals

Trading The Forex

By Jo Nash

FOREX trading is all about trading foreign currency, stocks, and similar type of products. The currency of one country is weighed against the currency of another country to determine value. The value of that foreign currency is taken into consideration when trading stocks on the FOREX markets. Most countries have control over the value of that countries value, involving the currency, or money. Those who are often involved in the FOREX markets include banks, large businesses, governments, and financial institutions.

What makes the FOREX market different from the stock market? A forex market trade is one that involves at least two countries, and it can take place worldwide. The two countries are one, with the investor, and two, the country the money is being invested in. Most all transactions taking place in the FOREX market are going to take place through a broker, such as a bank.

What really makes up the FOREX markets? The foreign exchange market is made up of a variety of transactions and counties. Those involved in the FOREX market are trading in large volumes, large amounts of money. Those who are involved in the FOREX market are generally involved in cash businesses, or in the trade of very liquid assets that you can sell and buy fast. The market is large, very large. You could consider the FOREX market to be much larger than the stock market in any one country overall. Those involved in the FOREX market are trading daily twenty-four hours a day and sometimes trading is completed on the weekend, but not all weekends.

You might be surprised at the number of people that are involved in FOREX trading. In the years 2004, almost two trillion dollars was an average daily trading volume. This is a huge number for the number of daily transactions to take place. Think about how much a trillion dollars really is and then times that by two, and this is the money that is changing hands every day!

The FOREX trading market is not something new, but has been used for over thirty years. With the introduction of computers, and then the internet, the trading on the FOREX market continues to grow as more and more people and businesses alike become aware of the availablily of this trading market. FOREX only accounts for about ten percent of the total trading from country to country, but as the popularity in this market continues to grow so could that number. - 23167

About the Author:

Learn how you can guarantee your profits from forex trading with Automated Forex Trading Software or by using Accurate Forex Signals

A Guide to Gold Basics

By Lawrence Reaves

With the soaring prices of gold it is a good time to consider buying or selling your gold jewelry. You need to have some basic knowledge to make smart decisions. Gold jewelry seems like it never goes out of style. This is because it is beautiful and easy for most people to afford and wear.

Pure gold will not tarnish, rust or corrode and is the most malleable of all metals. Pure gold is too soft for jewelry so it is mixed with other metals, including silver, copper, nickel and zinc to give it strength and durability. The color of gold is determined by the type of metal alloys it is mix with and the percentage of each metal alloy.

Most people think all gold is yellow, but the fact is there are many variations of color that gold can be. Colored gold is just as "real" as golden colored gold. The color depends on what the gold is mixed with. Other alloys are mixed with gold to make it strong and to hold up under every day wear and tear that jewelry goes through. Craftsman learned through the ages that mixing gold with copper, silver and platinum would increase its durability. When gold is alloyed with other metals it changes the color of the finished product. An alloy of 75% gold, 16% silver and 9% cooper makes yellow gold. White gold is 75% gold, 4% silver, 4% copper and 17% palladium. Other combinations of alloys can make pink, green, peach and even black gold.

The alloys of gold have a lesser value per unit weight than pure gold. The standard in the gold trade is known as karatage which is commonly called karat. Pure gold is known as 24 karat gold and is usually marked with 24K. An alloy that is 50% gold is 12 karat gold and is marked with a 12K. An alloy that is 75% gold is 18 karat gold and is marked with 18K. High karat gold jewelry is softer and more resistant to tarnish; on the other hand, lower karat jewelry is stronger, but less resistant to tarnish.

Gold is highly valued and there is a limited supply and has been used as a medium of exchange or money for centuries. 6000 years ago is when the first transaction was done using pieces of gold and silver. The reason that gold has been used for this purpose for so long is because it has high value, durable, portable and can be divided easily. At one time the United States used a gold standard and maintained a stockpile of gold to back every dollar in circulation. It became too cumbersome and is no longer used by any nation. Gold coins were commonly used in transactions. Gold coins were issued in two types of units. Some were units of currency and some were issued in standard weights.

Today gold coins are no longer in wide use for financial transactions. Gold coins issued in specific weights are popular for people who want to purchase and invest in a small amount of gold. Gold coins are also collected and issued as commemorative coins. These types are a good investment because gold retains its value overtime. These are just some informative basic facts about gold. As you can see gold is a good investment whether it is in fine jewelry or coins. - 23167

About the Author:

The best online resource to sell gold or sell gold coins can be found at http://www.refinity.com

Specialize In Trading US Dollar (Part II)

By Ahmad Hassam

Suppose you have the data for the currency correlations of the major pairs. The correlation between GBP/USD and EUR/USD is 0.68. It means that both the pairs move in the same direction 68% of the time.

USD/CHF and EUR/USD have a correlation coefficient of -0.975 and is pretty close to (-1). It means both USD/CHF and EUR/USD pairs move in the opposite direction almost 97.5% of the time. It means if USD/CHF moves up, the pair EUR/USD will move down!

You have this information about the recent correlation coefficients. It tells you how much these pairs move in the same direction or opposite direction. Suppose you trade both the currency pairs USD/CHF and EUR/USD by going long. What you will be doing by going long on both the positively correlated pairs is in fact canceling both the long positions.

If you win on USD/CHF, you will lose on EUR/USD and vice versa. The two trades would effectively cancel each other due to the negative correlation between the two pairs. A savvy investor would go long on USD/CHF and go short on EUR/USD. So you are shorting USD in both the trades and diversifying the USD bearish investment.

Currency correlations can help you in making entry and exit decisions for each trade. Lets suppose GBP/USD starts showing volatility. The pair approaches a resistance level. You plan on going long if there is a breakout.

However, you notice on the charts that the other three pairs are not moving as much as the GBP/USD. EUR/USD is not moving up on the chart. USD/CHF is not moving down on the chart. USD/JPY is not moving down on the chart. This means that the move in GBP/USD is solely pound driven. The move maybe related to some news in the British economy.

Now you know that the move in GBP/USD pair is Pound driven and not US Dollar driven. You can take advantage of this information by ignoring the GBP driven move and waiting for a later opportunity that involves simultaneous correlated moves of all the major pairs.

Take another example. Suppose you have entered a short EUR/USD trade. You want to know whether the pair will either proceed down towards your profit target or go against you and cause you to exit the trade with a small loss.

Your EUR/USD has broken the S1 support pivot level and heading towards M1. By looking at the pair EUR/GBP, you find that it has paused at its S1 support pivot level and is showing signs of reversing to the upside.

Knowledge of currency correlations can help you a lot now. It can tell you if EUR/GBP breaks through the S1 level, you are poised for a profitable trade in this type of a situation, However, you should watch the indicators. Exit before taking a big loss if EUR/GBP reverses and heads back to the upside. You might consider trading a basket of all the major currencies as you mature in forex trading. - 23167

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam is a Harvard University Graduate. He is interested in day trading stocks and currencies. Know These Forex Broker Games. Learn Forex Trading!