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July 13th, 2010
Trader of the month
Our top achieving Trader of the Month…
Well this month’s Trader of the Month has brought forward a number of very competitive entries.
On evaluating everyone’s overall performance there are a number of Traders giving our previous winner Ken a run for his money…
Someone who definitely had an exceptional month was Shawn Kolman. Shawn joined LTG GoldRock in early April and just 2 months later in June is achieving 143% Return On Investment for the month! A massive congratulations to Shawn who is our Top Return On Investment Trader for the month and the proud winner of $1000.
We will be featuring Shawn’s story and some of his advice to other traders in the coming days.
The rest of the June leaderboard has some familiar names from last month’s top traders… » Continue Reading »
July 12th, 2010
Forex Strategy
Europe’s Dirty Debt is bigger than Wall st.
Another bull fight with Europe's dirty debt could be inevitable.
The International Monetary Fund says European bank losses will hit $1.3 trillion by the end of 2010, which is 35% more than the USA. Europe’s banks have been just as reckless as the US banks in racking up the dirty debt that caused the Global Financial Crisis, and potentially could cause a double dip recession in the later part of 2010. The IMF isn’t immune to its own mistakes, it didn’t see or forecast the GFC to begin with so the numbers and forecasts they provide should be taken with caution. The bottom line is you should not be exposing yourself and over committing in any stock, CFD or long term Forex position for the balance of 2010. Markets are still volatile and there are many long term traders that are currently holding no stock whatsoever and sitting on the sidelines to see the balance of this year come to a close.
Back to Europe’s woes. Banks in Europe have poured $2.5 trillion dollars into Greece, Ireland, Belgium, Portugal and Spain. If these countries fail in the next 18 months (and I see no way out for Portugal and Greece) you can be assured it will have massive ramifications for the rest of the world, not to mention the complete failure of the Euro dollar. Ask any German what they want and most will tell you they want the Mark back. Ask most French people what they want and the story is the same. They say “bring back the Frank’. And ask any Brit and they will tell you that they are very glad they didn’t enter the Euro. » Continue Reading »
July 11th, 2010
Market News & Updates
The New Growth Picture
The International Monetary Fund recently released it’s growth forecasts for 2011 for major economic countries. The IMF says the global economy is recovering faster than expected but the UK is still in the doldrums. Interest rates were kept on hold at 0.5% in the UK Thursday for the 16th month running.
The European Central Bank also kept rates on hold at 1% for the 14th month running. Markets enjoyed the IMF’s growth forecast for global growth however which was upgraded from 4% to 4.5% but it was Asia that underpinned the overall growth. The IMF says growth in China will rise at an amazing rate of 10.5% and India not far behind at 9.4%. They expect Japan to be at 2.4% up from 1.9%, and the US at 3.3%.
Other Growth Forecasts » Continue Reading »
July 9th, 2010
GoldRock Insider
London Trader blew £350 million after 4 day bender.
Trading + Alcohol = Not a winning formula...
An oil dealer at PVM Oil Futures called Steve Perkins is reported to like a game of golf and a good drink, or at least he used too. He recently traded with $520 million dollars after a 4 day booze filled bender and figured he’d place a few trades while he was in the mood at 3.41am on his lap top. The story goes that he wanted to move the market and indeed did, substantially. Problem was he blacked out completely after the trades were placed and openly admits he was so drunk he had absolutely no idea what he was doing. What was the upshot of his substantial loss? He was fired and banned from trading in the UK by the Financial Services Authority.
It is alleged that he traded 9 million barrels of oil in the middle of the night and lost £350 million pounds.
Where is he now and what is he doing? It was reported recently in the London Evening Standard that he is now rumoured to be in talks about a new trading job trading energy contracts for a Swiss firm. It was reported that when the Financial Services Authority was asked what they were going to do about it, responded with a statement that said: “Mr Perkins poses an extreme risk to the market when drunk.”
July 8th, 2010
Market News & Updates
Commodity Currencies Set to Outperform
The Super Mining Tax stand down will help the AUD in the long term
While both the European Union Nations and the British Government are tightening budgets the commodity based export countries with strong public finance positions are set to be the safe haven currencies over the balance of 2010. Canada, Norway and Australia are well placed with relative low levels of debt and whilst the USD, JPY and Swiss Franc have been the safe haven currencies in the past the AUD looks well placed to outperform some of it larger rivals. Its value has declined 7 percent to the USD since the markets again fell off the edge in April however the S&P 500 has fallen 14 percent for the same period.
Commodity based currencies have held up relatively well and with the Australian government recently backing down on its Super Profits tax and this is further good news for the AUD long term. Commodity markets have come off the boil and likely to take a breather for a little while, however the Australian, Norwegian and Canadian currencies are looking relatively stable in comparison to other blue chip currency nations such as the USD. All 3 countries have raised interest rates this year which means their economies are expanding. Unless there is a severe downturn in commodity orders out of China all 3 currencies should appreciate towards the balance of 2010, although AUD traders be aware it may have a breather whilst commodity prices have come off the boil.
Commodity based currencies were our long term tip back in January and our expectations have not changed for the rest of 2010.
July 7th, 2010
LTG GoldRock
Are you our Trader of the Month for June?
Ken Buncharoen won last month's $1000 top prize
Well it’s a new month and that means we will soon have a new Top 10 Trader of the Month Leaderboard for June. I have to admit that this is my new favourite time of the month as I love receiving all the entries from our members showing their trading progress.
Whether you have been trading live for 1 month or 1 year, you could be trading 10c or $10 pips it does not matter as the competition is all about the most important end result… Return On Investment.
So take a look at your trading results for last month and ask yourself the following questions…
- Did you follow a strict Risk/Reward Strategy?
- Did you return an overall positive return on investment last month?
If you answered yes to both of those questions and you are a member of LTG GoldRock, then send your Trader of the Month Entry into Success@LTGGoldRock.com before close of business tomorrow (8th July 2010) and you could be in the running to win one of the two top cash prizes of $1000 or the 8 runner-up prizes of $100.
You have to be in it to win it… You never know that already growing trading account could get a healthy boost of trading cash if you win!
July 5th, 2010
Forex Classroom
Does Your Opinion as a Trader Really Matter?
I have seen many traders blow up trading accounts simply because they refuse to accept they are wrong. They are convinced in their own mind that due to their research and back testing that their strong opinion will be right.
Trading is a funny game and often goes against the grain of human thinking. Generally speaking if you study something long enough and research it using the latest techniques and professional tools available you have a good chance of being right. This is the very type of mindset thinking that people bring into the trading arena and lose.
A few years ago I knew a trader who lost over $50,000 in 3 hours trading futures and dinted his confidence in a big way. He employed a friend who he’d worked with who is an incredibly bright guy. He had previously designed extremely sophisticated town planning systems throughout the world. A very bright guy indeed. The trader that had lost the money said to me one day that his opinion was that his mate had the perfect skills and technical ability to develop a system to get all the money back he’d lost. It was at a relatively early stage in my trading career and I didn’t know much better but all I kept thinking was, I hope he shares it with me if it works. Needless to say it didn’t, but the talent assembled to research and put together a trading system that showed incredible returns when back tested never materialised when traded live. Their opinion was wrong. » Continue Reading »
June 30th, 2010
Forex Strategy
Trader Insight: Michael Horneman
GBP JPY Short 06-05-2010
As part of the Trader of the Month Competition we ask for the winners to share their trading journey and advice with their fellow traders. Michael Horneman was 10th on last month’s Trader of the Month Leaderboard and I have no doubt that we will be hearing more from him in the future.
Keep reading to learn about Michael’s Trading Journey and we are also lucky enough to have him share his advice as he offers an insight into his own Trading Plan.
Michael’s Story…
I began trading around 2 1/2 years ago, I first started with learning to trade Eminis. This initial experience is what first got my mindset and phsycology ready for trading financial markets.
I didn’t trade for very long as I had limited capital to begin with, and like most beginner traders lost money, but I learned some great lessons about managing risk and preserving capital. I was also very risky and too willing to trade, I still had in my head a “get rich quick” mentality and was looking to take every trade I could. Looking back this has also been the pattern for the first 6 months I was trading forex with LTG GoldRock.
To make the change from a mindset of working for money and selling my time for money was not easy, and it has taken around 2 years to really begin to understand this in a way that helps you view money differently. » Continue Reading »
June 30th, 2010
GoldRock Insider
Do you have Realistic Expectations?
It is an absolute fact that we all begin trading because we want more money in our life. Whether that is $50 a week or $5000 a week, the expectation is that we will make money. So what should be a realistic expectation for a trader entering Forex and how much is too much or too little or none at all when you trade Forex.
One thing that I have learnt through the school of hard knocks is that there is no question all budding Forex traders who join LTG GoldRock have a high expectation on their success in the first 12 months. The most common question I get asked is. “How long till I can make my educational investment back”. Ok a fair question however the answer lies in your commitment to learn to trade and becoming a student of the markets. Traders always overestimate how much money they are going to make in the first 12 months however underestimate what they can achieve over 3 to 5 years if they actually learn the skill and art of trading. A high expectation (which is a healthy thing if the expectation is realistic) is often met by disappointment in the first 3 months which dampens the long term opportunity as the money is not coming fast enough. Especially if they are joining to fix a financial situation. If you are considering joining LTG GoldRock for this reason then please don’t join.
I met one of my absolute very best graduates for coffee at my local coffee shop here in Noosa today. His name is Jimmy and he is honestly today living the life of his dreams. I am so proud of him!! » Continue Reading »
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