Crude Rises on the Dollar’s Decline

The metals closed the New York trading day only marginally higher after Gold was unable to hold the magic $1000 level.v Despite the sharply higher Euro and a $3.00 jump in the price of Oil; the metals finished the day only a shade higher and well below the session highs.

Silver closed up 8 cents at $16.42. Gold finished at $997.00 up $1.10 per ounce. Palladium slipped $3.00 to $292.00. Platinum rose by $16.00 to $1280.00. Volume was moderate.

Over in the currencies the Dollar continued to weaken on fears of Chinese Dollar liquidations and growing concerns of U.S inflation. Last on the Euro $1.4504 up 1.69 cents against our Greenback.

Crude rose on the back of the weak Dollar gaining $3.38 per barrel to $71.40. Remember tomorrow’s OPEC meeting. Stocks are also well off the session highs with the Dow Jones industrial Average currently sitting at 9469 up only 27 points.

When we return tomorrow traders will have two fresh pieces of data to contend with. We get the Weekly Oil Inventories and the latest Fed Beige Book. The Beige Book; named for the color of it’s cover is an anecdotal compilation of business conditions in the 12 Federal Reserve Bank districts.

Tomorrow’s economic calendar:

RESERVE BANK OF NEW ZEALAND Rate Decision
OPEC Meeting
Weekly Oil Inventories
U.S. Fed Beige Book

Why Are You Trading Forex Online?

Many people see trading forex online as a way to make money without having much idea of what they want to do that for. Of course money is useful, but with other types of investment people are usually clear in their minds about what they are looking for in terms of a return: income or wealth building. But forex traders do not always think about this.

It is important. Even though you can make money with currency trading without having a clear aim in view, the ideal strategies and trading plan will be different depending on your aims for your investment. Something that a wealth builder considers to be a successful strategy could cause an income seeker to consider that he is failing at times. So let’s look at the differences and how to handle them in your online trading strategies.

If you are seeking profits for income, then your aim will be to live on the profits of your currency trading account. You may only have a small fund now but you will probably be hoping that in a few years you can give up your day job and pay all of the bills from your forex profits.

On the other hand, somebody who is building for wealth will not plan to take an income out of his profits. He will leave them in the account to grow. He may have the aim of building a retirement fund or some other plan where he will eventually use the money, but this is a long term goal and anything taken from the account in the meantime will be lump sums for a particular purchase rather than money to live on.

So someone who is trading for income has to make a certain amount of profit per month, or at least a certain average over a few months. You’d need your income to be reasonably stable and above a certain level, otherwise you risk not being able to pay the bills.

You would need some backup in the form of savings to cover you in the case of drawdown. You would also need extremely good money management and discipline to stick to your system in difficult times. Somebody who depends on trading forex online for their living expenses is under a lot more pressure and mindset will be crucial.

Traders who are building for wealth tend to trade less often because they do not feel this same pressure. Ironically, this can mean that they wait for clearer signals and make more consistent profits than the income trader. They do not mind if their money is tied up in a trade for weeks or even months. They do not need the profits right now.

Wealth builders are also able to accept a bigger drawdown. They take a longer term view and know that they will regain the losses and then some before they ever need to cash in. This means that, other things being equal, they can afford to take a bigger position with the associated bigger risk.

The bottom line is that if you are trading for income you should be looking for a system with low drawdown and your trading plan should be set for low risk. A system that provides frequent signals for small trades will probably suit you better than a system that waits for major trends and swings. If you have clear aims for your trading and understand the implications as set out in this article, you will put yourself in a good position to make profits from trading forex online.

Forex Trading Strategies for When You Lose

First off let me say congratulations on your decision to check out this article on forex trading strategies. That title, strategies for when you lose, would have put off most people who do not have any idea how important a subject this really is.

We all want to hear about winners and how we can win. We would rather not hear about losing and what do when we lose. And yet the way to become a winner is to know how to deal with the inevitable losses. It’s that important.

In forex trading there is no possibility of having 100% successful trades. Every experienced trader knows that. Of course you go into every trade believing that it has an excellent chance of being profitable, otherwise you would be crazy to even open the trade, but at the same time you know that losing trades are part of the game. The aim is not to win every time, but simply to gain more than you lose.

So the first thing to do when you have a loss is to treat it as something normal. I’m assuming here that you operated a stop and didn’t lose a huge amount. Do not be devastated; forgive yourself and move on. You might want to stop trading for the day if you are kicking yourself real hard but come back to it next day.

If you followed your trading plan then you should not even be kicking yourself at all. Your system may allow for 1 in 10 losing trades and you just had one of them. There is no blame here and no reason to act any differently at all. In fact you could call this a balancing trade, and not really a loss at all, since your system plans and accounts for it.

If things are going very wrong, you may need to rethink your approach. I’m thinking here about a very large loss or series of losses that almost wipes you out, or if you observe that your trades over a period of time are producing a small but steady loss rather than a balance on the plus side.

In this type of situation the first thing to do of course is to ask yourself whether you are applying your trading strategies and your trading plan correctly. If your losses are the result of straying from your system and taking unplanned risks, you need to work on self discipline. One way of doing this is to open a mini or micro account and train yourself to apply your system exactly with a lot size that is just 10% of your normal position. Only when you are following your plan 100% of the time and showing a profit, do you return to trading with your usual lot size.

Another option is to get back to basics. Stop trading for real and take time out to go back to school by signing up for some kind of forex trading training. This can be a very useful option if your system seems to be at fault and is no longer giving you the results that it should. It can also help you a lot if your problem was over confidence. Concentrate on mastering various methods of analysis and you will almost certainly find yourself improving your system or developing new forex trading strategies that you can test on a demo account.

China Gold Production

As the U.S. economy continues to writhe in the clutches of recession, sustainable growth — both in corporate profits and economic output — seems distant.

In China, however, near-term recovery is a reality.

Real estate, automobile, and industrial sales have all rebounded, driving stocks on the Shanghai exchange up as much as 85% for the year.

In fact, the acceleration of China’s comeback has been so strong the World Bank recently increased its estimate for the country’s GDP growth this year from 6.5% to 7.2%.

All of this makes China an alluring prospect for investors again. Especially when you consider. . .

China’s Gold Investment Potential

In the mid-1990s, the Chinese government revolutionized the country’s gold industry.

Lawmakers began reforms that encouraged small gold producers to consolidate and, more importantly, allowed foreign companies to form joint ventures with Chinese companies.

It was a brilliant move.

Foreign companies — mainly from the United States and Canada — brought modern mineral exploration techniques, management practices, financial controls, and industrial, environmental and safety standards.

The single most important asset foreign companies brought the Chinese gold industry, however, was money.

As foreign investment capital gushed into China, the number of projects skyrocketed, leading to new gold discoveries.

As a result, China’s total gold production has steadily increased 7.4% annually and 66.9% since 1999. And in 2007, China became the world’s largest gold producer, overtaking South Africa, which held the title as top gold producer for over 100 years.  Take a look:

Gold production in China continues to rise.

In the first half of this year, Chinese gold production has increased 13.5% year-on-year to 146.51 tonnes, worth almost $5 billion at current gold prices.

Further growth in Chinese gold production is forecast for the rest of 2009. Estimates suggest China’s total gold output for 2009 will near 300 tonnes, solidifying the country’s position as the world’s largest producer:

China’s Gold Reserves

Despite a significant increase in production over the past several years, China is still a very “gold poor” country when considering the country’s gold reserves.

China controls the seventh largest gold reserve in the world with 1,054 tonnes. But these reserves only represent 1.8% of the nation’s total foreign reserves. Compare this to the United States, which holds 8,133 tonnes of gold, representing 78.3% of its total foreign reserves.

Also, with a population of 1.33 billion, the world’s most populous country only holds 0.0280 ounces of gold in its reserves for every Chinese citizen. Compare this again to the United States, which holds 0.9436 ounces of gold in its foreign reserves for every American citizen.

China is, however, rapidly increasing her gold reserves.

Since 2003, the country has increased its reserves of gold by 76%. And with all the talk about diversifying from the American dollar, it is likely that China will continue increasing her gold reserves going forward.

The future is China. By 2050, it’s estimated that China will overtake the U.S. as the biggest economy in the world. I recommend keeping a close eye on China and Chinese gold stocks.

There are several new Chinese gold stocks that I am currently investigating. I will keep you updated on my findings in upcoming issues of Gold World.

Good Investing,

Greg McCoach
Contributing Editor, Gold World
Investment Director, Mining Speculator

China Gold Demand

In as little as seven years, some estimate that China will overtake the United States in terms of nominal GDP. Others say this will happen in less time.