A. One the left hand side of screen you will be able to choose your chart. Choose EUR/USD (or whatever currency pair you like) , 5 min, line and the chart will appear on the right hand side. Maximize the chart to fill the right hand side.
Your chart should now look something like this:

Now if you want to make the price line darker, you can right click right on the price line and a properties box will appear. You can adjust the thickness of the line. In this example the price line width is set it to 2.

B. Before we add our studies to our charts, I would like you to go to the following links. Read how to trade the Parabolic SAR here:

www.incrediblecharts.com/technical/parabolic_sar.htm
Read about how to trade moving average crossovers here:
www.incrediblecharts.com/technical/moving_averages_three.htm
Read about how to trade Bollinger Bands here:
www.incrediblecharts.com/technical/bollinger_bands.htm

*We will be giving examples of how to apply these studies to day trading Forex.

C. Now we will add the Moving Averages to the chart. We will be using the Exponential Moving Average 10 , the Bollinger Band Exponential Set at 20, and the Exponential Moving Average 50.

 Click on Moving Average on the left hand side under Studies. Set your first MA to 10, close, exponential and you can make it red with line width 2 under the Color/Style Tab.

Click on Moving Average again and add your MA 50, close, exponential and make this line blue with line width 2.
Here is a shot of the Moving Average Properties window:

D. Now go to the studies on the left hand side of your screen Select Bollinger Bands and set them to 20,2, close exponential. Make the middle band green, line width 2.

E. Add Parabolic SAR to your chart by selecting it on the left and use the default settings. Make the dots darker, by selecting line width 2.

Your chart should now look like this:

You can zoom in and out of your chart using the small buttons in the bottom right hand side of your screen.

How To Change the Currency Pair and Time Frame:
On the bottom of your chart, you can change the currency pair and right beside it, if you click on the button that says M5 you can change the time frame of the chart. The studies will automatically be added to any new time frame and currency pair that you select.
How to Exit the VT Platform Properly:
To exit the VT platform, click on FILE and then EXIT. The studies that you added to your chart will automatically be up the next time that you log in to your account. Please note that if you click x on the top left hand corner of your chart you will close the chart and reset your settings that you added. If you want to keep your studies and charts intact you can minimize it or just leave always keep it open to keep your settings saved. 

F. Now we will add 3 more indicators below the chart to help us confirm the trend, and to help us identify exact entry and exit buy or sell signals. The following indicators give us insight into the momentum, direction and overbought/sold indicators. Used along with the Exponential Moving Averages, Parabolic SAR and Bollinger Bands—these indicators can be very helpful to the day trader.

MACD Histogram.
Read about how to trade the MACD Histogram here:
http://www.incrediblecharts.com/technical/macd_histogram.htm
Relative Strength Index (RSI)
Read about how to trade the RSI here:
http://www.incrediblecharts.com/technical/relative_strength_index.htm
Slow Stochastic
Read about how to trade the Slow Stochastic here:
http://www.incrediblecharts.com/technical/slow_stochastic.htm

Now add these studies to your charts.
Under Studies click on MACD Histogram and use the default settings (9,Exponential, 12, 26, Close, Exponential) and set the line width to 2. Your study will automatically open under your chart.

Under Studies click on Relative Strength Index and set it to 14 and set the line width to 2. Your study will automatically open under your chart.

Under Studies click on Slow Stochastic and set it to (5,3,3, Exponential) and make the %K line blue with line width 2, and the %D line red with line width 2.

Your chart, with all the studies on it should now look like this (example of USD/CAD 10 min chart): Notice that I clicked on the zoom in button a couple of times on the bottom right hand corner to get it to look like this.
Set up your charts

The first step to trading the currency markets is to open a demo account. It is important that you learn how to buy and sell the currency pairs, set stop losses, set profit limits, and understand how leveraged margin works when you trade. I found the best way to learn this is by experience.

To set up your FREE charting from CMS, simply go to their website and open a ‘Visual Trading’ Free demo account. The charting package in this demo account rivals, any Forex Professional charting service and you will be able to set up the technical indicators that will aid you in your trading decisions.

A. Go to www.cms-forex.com and click on the ‘Sign Up’ tab and scroll
down to Visual Trading Demo. Open up a free demo account and you will
get your log in information sent to your email address.


B. Now go to the ‘Support’ Tab and scroll down to ‘Visual Trading Manual’. This manual will show you how the trading platform works. You will need to read this before proceeding. The better you know your way around this platform, the easier the next steps will be.

Open a ‘Visual Trading’ Demo Account

What to look for in an online Forex Firm:

1. Low Spreads.

• In Forex Trading the ‘spread’ is the difference between the buy and sell price of any given currency pair. The lower the spread saves the trader money. Most firms offer 4-5 pip spreads in the Major Currency pairs. The best firms offer clients 3-5 pips. 

2. Low minimum account openings.

• For those that are new to trading, and for those that don’t have thousands of dollars in risk capital to trade, being able to open a mini trading account with only $200 is a great feature for new traders. 

3. Instant automatic execution of your orders.

• This is very important when choosing a Forex firm. You want instant execution of your orders and the price you see and ‘click’ is the price that you should get. Don’t settle with a firm that re-quotes you when you click on a price or a firm that allows for price ‘slippage’. This is very important when trading for small profits.

4. Free charting and technical analysis.

• You need a firm that gives you access to the best charting and technical analysis available to active traders. The firm that I recommend gives clients FREE professional charting services and even allows traders to trade directly on the charts!

5. High Leverage.

• You want high leverage—the ability to trade a large amount with a small margin deposit. Some of the best firms offer .25% or 400:1 leverage. 

6. Hedging Capability.

• You want the flexibility of opening positions on the same currency pair in opposite directions without them eliminating each other and without margin increase! 

Here is a list of some of the main Forex trading Firms on the Internet. After a lot of research and personal experience, the firm that I recommend with the abovementioned benefits is Capital Markets Services LLC (CMS Forex LLC). You can research the rest of the firms listed to see for yourself.

• ACM Advanced Currency Markets
• Fairlot Financial Group
• Forex Capital Markets
• GAIN Capital
• GCI Financial, Ltd.
• Global Forex
• IFX Markets Limited
• London Capital
• Meridian Forex Pty Limited
• MG Financial Group
• SaxoBank
• Tricom 

 Choose an online Forex Firm

There are many benefits and advantages to trading Forex. Here are just a few reasons why so many people are choosing this market as a business opportunity:

1. 1.LEVERAGE: In Forex trading, a small margin deposit can control a much larger total contract value. Leverage gives the trader the ability to make extraordinary profits and at the same time keep risk capital to a minimum. Some Forex firms offer 200 to 1 leverage, which means that a $50 dollar margin deposit would enable a trader to buy or sell $10,000 worth of currencies. Similarly, with $500 dollars, one could trade with $100,000 dollars and so on. 
2. LIQUIDITY: Because the Forex Market is so large, it is also extremely liquid. This means that with a click of a mouse you can instantaneously buy and sell at will. You are never 'stuck' in a trade. You can even set the online trading platform to automatically close your position at your desired profit level (limit order), and/or close a trade if a trade is going against you (stop order). 
3. PROFIT IN BOTH 'RISING' AND 'FALLING' MARKETS: On the stock markets, you can only make money if shares are rising, but in economic recession and falling 'bear' markets, there is little chance of making big money. Forex is different. One of the most exciting advantages of FX trading is the ability to generate profits whether a currency pair is 'up' or 'down'. A trader can profit by taking a 'long' position, (buying the currency pair at one price and selling it later at a higher price), or a 'short' position, (selling the currency pair and buying it back at a lower price). For example, if you think the US dollar will increase in value vs. the Japanese Yen then you will buy Dollars and sell Yen (go long). If you think the Yen will increase in value against the Dollar then you will sell Dollars and buy yen (go short). As long as the trader picks the right direction, a potential for profit always exists.
4. 24HRS: From Sunday evening to Friday Afternoon EST the Forex market never sleeps. This is very desirable for those who want to trade on a part-time basis, because you can choose when you want to trade--morning, noon or night. 
5. FREE 'DEMO' ACCOUNTS, NEWS, CHARTS AND ANALYSIS: Most Online Forex firms offer free 'Demo' accounts to practice trading, along with breaking Forex news and charting services. These are very valuable resources for traders who would like to hone their trading skills with 'virtual' money before opening a live trading account. 
6. 'MINI' TRADING: One might think that getting started as a currency trader would cost a lot of money. The fact is, it doesn't. Online Forex Firms now offer 'mini' trading accounts with a minimum account deposit of only $200-$500 with no commission trading. This makes Forex much more accessible to the average individual, without large, start-up capital. 

BENEFITS OF FOREX TRADING

WHAT IS FOREX

The Foreign Exchange, also referred to as the "Forex" or "Spot FX" market, is the largest financial market in the world, with over $1.2 trillion changing hands every single day. If you compare that to the $25 billion a day volume that the New York Stock Exchange trades, you see how giant the Foreign Exchange really is. In fact it is three times larger than all of the US Equity and Treasury markets combined!

What is traded on the Foreign Exchange? The answer is money. Forex trading is where the currency of one nation is traded for that of another. Therefore, Forex trading is always traded in pairs. The most commonly traded currencypairs are traded against the US Dollar (USD). They are called ‘the Majors'. The major currency pairs are the Euro Dollar (EUR/USD); the British Pound (GBP/USD); the Japanese Yen (USD/JPY); and the Swiss Franc (USD/CHF). The notable ‘commodity’ currency pairs that trade are the Canadian Dollar (USD/CAD) and the Australian Dollar AUD/USD. Because there is not a central exchange for the Forex market, these pairs and their crosses are traded over the telephone and online through a global network of banks, multinational corporations, importers and exporters, brokers and currency traders.

Traditionally, currency trading has been a 'professionals only' market available exclusively to banks and large institutions, however, because of the rise of the new E-economy, online Forex trading firms are now able to offer trading accounts to 'retail' traders like you and I. Now almost anyone with a computer and an Internet connection can trade currencies just like the world's largest banks do. There are now over 6 million trading accounts worldwide up from 1.7 million in 1997.

WHAT IS FOREX