Here I am going to cover forex training and give you a story that inspired me to trade over 20 years ago and it covers a famous experiment that took place in 1983 where legendary trader Richard Dennis took a group of novice traders and trained them to trade with spectacular results...

The group of traders were known as "the turtles" and the only thing this group had in common was:

They had no experience of trading financial markets.

They were various ages, various levels of intelligence, both men and women and the group consisted of diverse occupations:

- A boy fresh from school

- A security Guard

- An actor

- A female auditor

- A couple of professional card players

To name but a few of the group.

The purpose of the experiment was to prove that anyone could learn to trade and trading was not a god given gift.

The results were spectacular:

This group went on to become some of the most famous traders ever and made Dennis $100 million in just 4 years.

So what can you learn?

The first thing is obviously anyone can learn to trade financial markets - if they get the right education. It doesn't take long to learn to trade, as Dennis proved - just 14 days.

You maybe thinking - Well if that's the case why do 95% of forex traders lose all their money?

The answer to this question is covered in the rest of this article.

The first point is trading can be learned by anyone with a desire to succeed and a willingness to learn - but in most instances, traders either get the wrong forex education, or they under estimate the importance of mindset.

You can read about the turtles and see the system was essentially a trend following breakout system - nothing complicated and the fact they learned it in 14 days proves the point.

Forex trading success however does not rely just on method - it relies just as much if not more so, on mindset.

You need confidence and discipline to trade and if you don't have these traits then you have no method at all - as you will be unable to apply it.

Dennis didn't just tell them to follow his advice, he taught them to understand what they were doing, so they could have confidence in the trading system taught, to follow it with discipline.

This is where most traders go wrong.

They think that they can follow someone else and succeed - but you can't, you have to learn the basics and then take responsibility for your actions.

If you think trading with discipline while you are taking loss after loss (and all forex trading systems do) think again - it's hard to stay on course. For the importance of mindset in forex trading try reading - "The Disciplined Trader" by Mark Douglas, an excellent book all traders should read novice or pro.

So could you become as successful as the turtles?

Probably not, life simply isn't like that - but I Will say one thing:

There is nothing to stop you achieving currency trading success - Everything about trading can be learned and that's a fact. There are no secrets to successful trading, it's all about you creating a framework to survive, in the anarchy that is the forex markets and trade the truth.

The turtle experiment inspired me to trade and I hope it inspires you. If you want to read more about it check out our articles and the following books:

Way of The Turtle - Curtis Faith

One of the most successful turtles, tells you everything you need to know about the methods and mindset the traders had to adopt to succeed.

Market Wizards - Jack Schwager (Edit)

You get a number of great articles, including one on how and why the turtle experiment came about. One of the top selling investment books of all times and with good reason - excellent.

So there you have it - an inspiration for your own forex training hopefully!

Simply have a willingness to learn, get the right forex education and you never know how successful your forex training could make you - Good Luck!

Big money is made trend following in forex markets however most traders are reluctant to do it and instead try and trade for small profits - but it's a fact the big profits are made following the longer term trends. So why don't traders want to follow the big trends? There two main reasons...

They think they can make more money day trading and fall for the huge industry that has grown up selling short term day trading and scalping systems.

All these systems come with simulated track records and all will lose you money.

Why?

It's obvious - you can't predict what millions of forex traders are going to do in a few hours - all short term volatility is random and if you try and predict what will happen, you will lose.

The second reason is more complex.

It comes down to the fact that most traders can't accept big gains!

This may sound a bit of a paradox, as all traders are in forex to make money - but they have problems accepting profits, here's why:

Its obvious if you look at a chart that there are long term trends that last for months or even years. This is simply because they reflect the economic cycle of the country they represent and economic cycles last for these periods.

Now if you can lock into and hold these trends, you can make huge profits but most traders don't have the discipline to do so.

Why?

Because markets are volatile and a typical scenario unfolds in the following way.

A forex trader enters a trade and is pleased to get a profit but the bigger the profit becomes, the more tempted he is to take it. Swings in equity start to eat into his open equity and eventually his nerves get the better of him and he snatches a marginal profit - even though he knows the trend will probably continue.

What happens next?

The trend carries on piling up $10, $20,000 or more and he's not in but he knew the trend was going to continue! He just didn't have the discipline, or the courage of his conviction.

There is no doubt that if you lock into the big trends you can make huge profits.

I know traders who trade less than once a month but make triple digit gains, holding positions for weeks or months.

They know that you have to sit through short term equity dips - but if you have the right forex trend following system that doesn't matter - you have your eyes on the bigger prize of mega profits.

Big profits are made trend following the currencies but very few traders have the confidence and discipline to do it, although it's the best way to trade and can make you huge profits longer term.

Big profits are there to be made trend following forex longer term so forget short term trading and look longer term!

Human nature is constant and humans determine the price in any market, therefore if you know the law of human nature you have a scientific theory you can apply, to predict prices and make big profits. Let's look at some forex trading systems based on scientific movement.

There are numerous theories that are said to be scientific and three of the most common are Fibonacci, Elliot Wave and WD Gann. They all claim to be able to predict forex prices in advance but how successful are they?

The problem with these theories is they are all flawed and none of the above made any profits with the theories and they developed them! - So why don't they work?

Because while human nature is constant, it's not predictable with scientific accuracy.

Humans are not creatures of logic - but creatures of emotion and that means there is no formula that can be applied to this vast, diverse group that will work.

This is actually pretty obvious as if there were a scientific theory of market movement that worked all the time, we would all know the price in advance and there would be no market as of course we would all know the price in advance!

Prices actually move because we are unpredictable and this is the basis of any free market.

A BETTER WAY TO MAKE FOREX PROFITS

If you try and predict forex prices ( not just with a scientific theory) you are destined to lose anyway because prediction is really another word for hoping and guessing and that won't get you very far in life and especially not in forex trading!

You can't predict so don't even try, as your predictions will end up being as accurate as your horoscope.

A better way to trade is to hit high odds set ups, in fact - it's the only way to trade.

You are playing a game of odds not certainties - but that doesn't mean you can't make big profits, you can and the rewards are enormous.

Keep in mind the following fact when you trade forex:

All prices are pushed to far up or down by human emotion and then return to fair value. If you can spot and act on these price spikes, you can make huge profits and there easy to spot on a forex chart. You simply wait until the price spikes and then look for a waning of momentum and hit your trading signal - in the opposite direction.

This happens time and time again in forex markets (or any market for that matter), these price spikes fade and if you can catch them you have great profit potential with low risk.

Once a trend does develop you trade with it - but there are always price spikes along the way (within trends) for swing trading or (at the end of trends) for long term trend followers.

Forex trading has not changed over the years.

Despite the vast amount of progress we have made in science in other areas of life forex trading remains an odds game where the appliance of science won't help you - but simply trading the odds will and can lead you to currency trading success.

If you want to catch the big profits in forex trading you need to trend follow forex trends which are longer term. Here we are going to give you a 3 step simple method which if you use it correctly, will help you catch every major forex trend and lead you to long term currency trading success.

Most novice traders don't bother trying to trend following forex longer term - instead they try forex scalping or day trading. These methods focus the trader on small moves and they hope to catch small profits however as most short term moves are random, this leads to equity wipe out.

The other choices are swing trading and long term forex trend following and this article is all about the latter method.

If you look at any forex chart, you will see long term trends that last for months or years. These moves can and do yield big profits - here we will outline a simple method to catch them.

Breakouts

By far the best way of catching the big moves is to use a forex trading strategy based around breakouts. A breakout is simply a move on a forex chart where a new high or low is made and resistance or support is broken.

It's a fact that most major moves start from new highs or lows.

While it might appear that you are not buying or selling at the best level, you are in terms of the odds of the trend continuing. Most forex traders make the mistake of waiting for the breakout to come back and get in at a better price but these traders never get on board. The reason for this is if a breakout occurs, then you have a new strong trend and a pullback is not very likely to occur.

Most traders don't buy or sell breakouts and that's exactly why it's such a powerful method.

The only point to keep in mind is a support or resistance which is broken, should be valid and that means at least 3 points in at least 2 different times frames. The more tests and the wider the spacing between the tests the more valid the level is.

Confirmation

Of course not every breakout continues and some reverse, these are false and can cause losses. You therefore need to confirm each move. All you need to do to achieve this is to put a few momentum indicators in your forex trading system to confirm your trading signal.

These indicators give you an idea of the strength and velocity of price and there are many to choose from. We don't have time to discuss them here (simply look up our other articles) but two of the best are - the stochastic and Relative Strength Index RSI

Stops and Targets

Stop levels are easy with breakouts - Simply behind the breakout point.

If you have a big trend then you need to be careful you can milk it, so don't move your stop to soon and keep it outside of normal volatility.

If it is a big move, trailing stops should be held a long way back and the 40 day moving average is a good level to use.

You have to keep in mind that when the trend does eventually turn you are going to give some profit back. You don't know when the trend is going to end, so don't predict.

It's ok to give a big back, as that's the nature of trading forex. Keep in mind if you got 50% of every major trend you would be very rich.

When you are long term trend following you have accept giving a bit back and taking dips in open equity as the trend develops - this is noise and does not affect the long term trend.

The above is a simple way to trend follow forex and catch the high odds moves that yield the big profits. If you are learning forex trading and want a simple method that is robust and will help you catch every major move, then you should base your Trading on the above method.

There are many who think that being intelligent or clever will help them become better forex traders but academic excellence or being clever can be a hindrance rather than help...

Why?

Because trading forex is simple and if you complicate it you wont win and many people who are intelligent or clever also have big ego's and if you want to trade forex you need to leave your ego behind.

It's a fact that 50 years ago 95% of speculators lost money and the same is true today and this is despite all the advances we have seen due to the development of human society.

It's not being clever or technology that helps you win in forex markets it's a simple method and the discipline to apply it.

Fact:

Simple forex trading systems work best because they have fewer elements to break than more complicated ones and are more robust in the face of brutal market conditions.

Fact:

Of course you have to have a method that's logical but applying it is the hard part for most traders and this is where clever people often have problems - they cannot accept they are wrong and reuse to take losses and take part in revenge trading and lose. It's totally pointless because the market is always right and you can only be wrong so you need to accept this and take your losses quickly.

Fact:

You don't get paid for effort or working hard in forex markets you get paid for being right with your trading signal - it can take you 30 minutes or 30 hours, but the market only rewards you for being right - nothing else.

In my experience and I have been teaching forex for 20 years it's the humble traders without egos that make money, who use simple forex trading strategies that win. I often come across people who Jake Bernstein (an excellent author on trader psychology) called the "educated fool" he things he knows it all and has lots of complicated ideas and they all fail.

In my experience the people who make great forex traders as a group are good poker players - Why?

Because they know to win they have to trade the odds - folding losing hands or not even betting and then hitting the high odds hands when they come. It's exactly these skills that are needed in forex trading - no ego, not trying to be clever just following a disciplined trading plan.

If you want to win at forex trading and worried you may not be intelligent enough think again.

If you're trying to make any sort of change in your life, to take your self or your business to a higher level, there's a certain kind of person that you should avoid like the plague.

They're the pessimists, the negative people who see life through glasses coloured with their own limiting beliefs and low self-esteem.

These are people who can never see the good side of things, who insist that someone or something is out to get them.

Who have so much self-loathing, that the only way they can feel good about themselves is by judging others. So little self-esteem that they end up pulling you down with them.

They don't seem to understand that negativity and hate only breeds more of the same. And what you give out, you get back.

Some of them try to cover it up with arrogance, masquerading as over-confidence. I've met a few of these types, and I avoid them like the plague.

Why, you ask? Do I not want to help them? Well, yes. I used to feel sorry for them, until I realised that you can only help someone who WANTS to be helped.

And the pessimists don't want to be helped. Because there's a payoff for their behaviour. And that payoff is – not having to take responsibility for their lives. Not having to take action to drag themselves out of the morass of their mind.

So they continue being negative, pulling others down and feeling sorry for themselves. They justify their negativity as being realistic. And continue to attract more of the same. Then they wonder why they're in the miserable situation they're in.

And if you have someone like this in your life. Someone who always makes you feel worse, I'll give you some very good advice.

Cut them off from your life! Right now! Because like a blood-sucking leech, they will drain you of all the positive feelings you have and drag you down into their miserable little world.

And if you happen to be a pessimist, here's some advice for you. Change your attitude!

You can choose to think negative thoughts or positive thoughts. Guess which ones will help you grow?

You can choose to judge people or see the good in them. Guess which attitude will build better relationships?

You can choose to interpret life events in a way that disempowers you or one that empowers you. Guess which attitude will help you recover faster from tragedy?

You can choose to blame others or take responsibility for your life. Guess which attitude will help you take action and grow as a person?

Your attitude is a choice. Why not choose to make it a good one?

Viral marketing has been a hot buzz on the net for quite some time already. It's a really powerful marketing tool; the internet where information is primary medium of communication, it can be leveraged to boost results till greater heights.

Here's an example of a viral marketing tool: sometimes someone will create or obtain a joke from somewhere. Let's say this person sends this joke to all his friends in his mailbox. This process may continue indefinitely till the joke dies out or almost everyone has received the joke. In other words, the 'joke' has been passed around like a virus; hence the term viral marketing.

The underlying principle in viral marketing is to distribute your company's name or contact to your customers, and get them to duplicate that process with their friends and families. In a sense, it's marketing via referrals or word-of-mouth. If your viral campaign works very well, you'll find that you could get maximum exposure for minimum marketing costs; everyone would be doing it for you!

A great way to promote yourself using the viral method is to write free articles or reports and distribute it around. You could offer master resale licenses (or something similar) and give others the opportunity to brand themselves or sell it. You need to give them the incentive to distribute your article around. Sooner or later, it'll be reaching everyone and you'd have gotten your exposure.

Viral marketing is more often than not used for list-building. Most people online nowadays are already in one program or another. In the wide region of cyberspace, it matters not whether one program is better or another, but instead the exposure it has gotten. In other words, the program which has reached to the eyes and ears of the online public has a greater chance of absorbing them into its list compared to one that hasn't. These programs are also known as viral list builders.

What one could do is to offer a marketing tool or an article for free or at a very-low price. It has to be something of value, so that people will want it. You can then brand it as yours - emphasize that you authored it or put your own ads on the program; so what if you're giving it away for free if others are promoting you?

If you're not looking towards viral marketing to build your list, you could very well be throwing away profits by the minutes. People who opt-in into your list are technically those who want to be in your list and receive your e-mails. Your messages won't be listed as spam or junk mail. Basically, why send an e-mail to someone who doesn't want to read it?

Once you have them on your list, you can then educate and nurture them before eventually building a solid relationship with them and helping them to build their own business.

Remember the saying, "The Money Is In The List'? It's absolutely true - your list will help you grow your own brand and credibility.

The disease is transmitted from rats to man by small insects, (about 2-4 mm) i.e. rat-fleas which act as vector, i.e. they only transmit the disease, but do not suffer from it. Rather, they derive their blood meals from the plague-infected rats till the rats die. While sucking blood from the infected rats, a large number of plague bacilli enter the stomach of rat-fleas where they multiply further. When such fleas bite a rat or man for getting their nourishment, they inject their stomach contents containing large number of plague bacilli into the bite-wound, causing plague in rats or in persons.

In case an epidemic does occur, the early signs and symptoms / warning signals must be borne in mind so that the patient/ s can report at the earliest to their physicians. And if the disease is diagnosed in time and immediately antibiotic treatment started, all early patients will be fully cured, thus preventing the disease from assuming an epidemic form. Also the level of general awareness will rise, to keep the situation under control. Some of these measures will be discussed later.

In an epidemic of plague, people complain of sudden high fever / even up to 105°F, with marked shivering/chills, and soon, within hours or at the most the following day, glandular swellings of the size of an egg appear in the groin, and these are so painful and tender that the patient keeps the limb in touch with the abdomen to reduce the tension in the swellings'. As soon as the limb is stretched, there is a marked increase in pain in the groin.

Since the bite of rat-fleas is usually on the legs, the glands of the groin are mostly involved; hence the disease is called bubo, which means groin, or it is also called bubonic plague. The infection in the glands of the groin reaches from the area of the bite, i.e. the feet/legs, by the lymphatics which drain these glands. However, if the flea-bite is on the arms, the glands of the armpit will become swollen, painful and tender, like the glands in the groin.

Since the disease spreads rapidly and has a limited span (hardly 48-72 hours in untreated cases), there is a possibility of people ignoring its onset in the initial stage. And when that initial life-saving period of a few hours is usually ignored by the patient, this could prove fatal.

All this happens when the public is not aware of the early signals/symptoms of the disease, and the epidemic strikes suddenly and initiates panic.

Therefore, from the above, it can be concluded that the early signals/symptoms of plague must be made known to all, and these must be vigilantly kept in mind so that one is saved from the tragedy of plague, as and when an epidemic occurs.

The earliest warning signals/symptoms of plague may be described as follows:

Sudden high-grade fever with marked shivering, pain and tenderness in the groin/ armpit, followed within hours by the appearance of markedly painful/tender glandular swellings in the groin/ armpit - suspect the onset of plague epidemic.

As regards the bite of the flea on the feet/legs/arms, it is so minute that it can hardly be seen or felt. Hence this does not help in suspecting the disease early. The symptoms of plague appear after an incubation period of about a week, or in severe cases, 3 - 4 days following the flea-bite.

A long-term and active anti-plague drive is required at the national level, covering the entire country/population of both rats and man. Preventive steps are required even in normal times, but more vigorously when a plague epidemic is predicted. Specific measures must be undertaken when such a situation arises.

1. Prediction of the plague epidemic

Surveillance units can playa great role. Incidence of plague in wild/urban rats, and/or a fall in the wild/urban rat population should be regularly monitored.

An epidemic of plague in rats is an indication that an epidemic of plague in the human population is going to occur in about 2-3 weeks. Hence, we have 2-3 weeks to take necessary steps, so that the plague epidemic does not occur in man at all.

Since the plague epidemic in rats usually occurs after an earthquake, such an occurrence is itself a warning signal.

2. What should be done when an epidemic of plague in manhas been predicted?

The following measures should be immediately taken:

1. All plague-infected wild/urban rats should be trapped and killed. In case, the rats have already died as a result of plague, they should be carefully disposed off, and the surroundings properly disinfected by spraying insecticides, so that rat-fleas which leave the dead rats are also killed. Those attending/ doing this cleansing operation are instructed to wear boots with knee-high socks, gloves, aprons, caps, goggles, masks, so as to protect themselves from being bitter by the ratfleas.

2. All possible measures need to be taken so that rats from outside do not enter the houses. Grain stores/godowns, ideally the whole building/house, should be rat-proof. Rats harbouring in grain stores are a great nuisance. They may be even responsible for spreading the disease to other countries when infected rats are carried in grain bags by ships. All such rats must be trapped and examined for plague-infection. All grain stores must be free from rats. A close watch is also required to see that ships have no rats.

3. Proper sanitation in and around houses, as well as in the concerned cities is of utmost importance. There should be proper and regular disposal of garbage. This avoids an unnecessary increase in the number of rats/rat-fleas.

4. One should not walk barefoot and with bare legs, so as to avoid being bitten by rat-fleas. Sleeping on the floor may prove dangerous.

5. In case there is sudden death of several rats, authorities must be immediately informed so that all necessary steps can be taken in that area, besides disposing off the dead rats.

6. 'Pest repeller' devices should be used at various places like restaurants, hotels, bars, kitchens, stores, bedrooms, etc. to keep rats away from human beings. These are electronic devices that emit ultrasonic sounds which are highly disturbing to rats and even snakes, etc., so that rats do not come near the appliance or into the room/hall where the device has been installed. Of course, the sound of the device is not audible to human beings and is harmless.

7. Likewise, insect repellent oils/creams may be used, especially on the exposed parts of the body, to avoid being bitten by rat-fleas.

8. People of the area where plague has been suspected/ predicted, should to be immediately vaccinated with anti-plague vaccine, like Haffkine's vaccine, which is available in India. If sufficient quantities cannot be made available for mass immunization, the vaccine should be procured from some other countries, as it is only useful when given in time.

9. Whenever the occurrence of a plague epidemic is predicted, people should be properly cautioned regarding its consequences, and necessary steps of prevention (as detailed above), should be explained through various media, like newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, public announcements, etc. At the same time, detailed instructions must be supplied to all health personnel, including those at the rural level. A requisite number of beds should be kept reserved in the various hospitals of the region/city, and an adequate store of drugs is needed. At the same time, it is necessary to pass on the word to all drug-manufacturers for keep an eye on the production of drugs essentially required for the treatment of plague. There has to be sufficient production of drugs so as to meet the urgent demands of hospitals / chemists.

In conclusion, it may be said that if all the above steps of prevention are strictly followed, an epidemic of plague can be prevented, which will save mankind from mass mortality.