Pips 4 Idiots

Posts Tagged ‘Risk’

Understanding Investment with Return to Risk Ratio in Forex

Friday, February 5th, 2010

The market may not be going in the direction you wish all the time. When that happens, we lose money. And we represent the amount of money you may lose with a letter R. We know that this is the largest amount you may lose if the investment turned bad. When we talk about risk, we also consider the potential return in an investment. We estimate the relationship between the two with a ratio in R. In fact, you might already know and actually be using such a method in other aspects of your life, you just need to be conscious of it and apply it to your assets management.

When you are given two choices, how would you come up with your decision? For example, there are two different methods for you to go home, one is to go on the high way, and another one is to go through the street. If you choose the high way, you may be able to get home within 30 minutes if everything is smooth. But there is a possibility that there is a traffic accident and you would need two more hours to get home. Choice number two is to try the streets with fewer cars. There are many traffic lights and whatever the traffic is, you would need 45 minutes to get home.

You would begin analyzing the two options and decide whether getting home 15 minutes earlier is worth the risk of being trapped in traffic jam for 2 hours. Similar decision making process can be seen in investment managements. The important reference is the ratio between the expected return and the potential loss you may pay. The ratio must be high enough to justify the actions.

The best investors use this return to risk ratio to assess their investment opportunities. A seasoned professional investor would always start an investment consideration with the possible amount of money he could lose in a particular investment. And we denote the amount by R. Let say the expected return is 3 times of the risk you bear, we say this is a 3R opportunity. Whether we are talking about stock, mutual fund, property or any other investment vehicle, we use this same system to categorize them. The assets are just the tools. What we concern is the money. So a 2R in stock market is in substance the same as a 2R in the property market. They all mean an opportunity to earn twice the amount of money you may lose. The below example would make it clear.

The first example is the situation where you have already decided to buy a house with a compromised price and sell it quickly thereafter. This is a quick cash transaction. You have decided to use USD5000 to buy a USD80 000 house. The amount USD5000 is the risk factor R which is the largest amount you can bear to lose. You wish to sell the house with a USD100 000 price. That is, a USD20 000 profit. This will be a 4R opportunity, because your planned profit is 4 times of the risk you bear.

Let’s say it turned out the market didn’t go up as much as you thought and you sold the house with $90,000. You made a profit of $10,000. So, we say the investment becomes a 2R one because the profits is 2 times the risk factor.

Forex has long been touted as the most liquid market in the world. If your new to this market, or even looking to increase your forex trading to a daily schedule, then you won’t want to miss this special day trading system.

Your Basic Forex Education

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

When getting involved in something new, the main thing you must always remember is that you should be well informed about it, to lessen the chance that you will make a mistake when you finally do it. Forex trading is one of those things that you should study carefully before actively engaging in it, because you’re dealing with real money here, and you simply cannot afford to toss away any amount due to a mistake that could have been completely avoidable. Getting forex education is highly important in this case, and at the same time, you should also keep in mind some things about your forex education.

For starters, being a forex trader means being independent and self-sufficient. You rely on your knowledge and your instincts to help you make the best deals, and that doesn’t mean you will depend on an adviser to tell you what to do next. That is the mistake a lot of first-time traders make; they think that undergoing forex education means that they will have someone who will just tell them where and when to put their money. That is not the point of forex education; what it aims to do is to train you to become a firm and decisive trader on your own.

Part of your forex education also involves developing some practical skills, which you test on a demo forex account. That will enable you to work in a simulated trading environment, and you can improve the way you read the market’s various trends.

As a new trader, you should also learn to read yourself and determine what kind of trader you are, as well as the level of risk that you are willing to take. Some traders are more conservative, while others are far more aggressive. Try out a different scenarios first in order to figure out which you are most comfortable with. You shouldn’t have to trade riskily and aggressively if that is really not your style. Still, no matter what style to adopt, you should always be conscious of the fact that there will always be risks in every transaction, and that you won’t be winding up at the top of the game every single time.

Forex trading is definitely a challenging field, but with a little practice and forex education, you can get the hang of it in no time. Just always bear in mind that you must keep your mind fresh and open to forex trading tips and techniques.

An automated forex trading system can be powerful when coupled with a desire to learn and a drive to become a great trader. Learning a forex autopilot system takes dedication and a good teacher. But once you learn how to trade and do so successfully your life will change and you have options and financial resources you never had before.