Monday, August 10, 2009

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Foreign Currency Trading (Paperback)


Not recommended - not what you expect when you buy "Idiot Guides." I think other books are probably much better. It gave me very little understanding of trading currency, and definitely missed the mark in many areas. There are many grammatical errors, and the author constantly pushes his own website as being the best. He spends little time explaining what actually moves currency prices, which should have been a main topic. Instead, he spends much time discussing things like what kind of computer you need, what a bid/ask is, and how to pick a good broker (use his company)- which most people can figure out for themselves. His chapter on technical analysis is almost comical - it does nothing more than describe what a candlestick chart is, a bar chart, and what a trend is. The single useful advice I could come up with is his recommendation to cover a loss at a 30 pip decline, and shoot for a 100 pip profit. Otherwise, in many paragraghs he says interest rates boost a currency value and in one paragrapgh they lower a currency value, so I am left wondering which it is... At this point, I have to buy another book because I basically understand nothing. I still have no idea how brokers charge interest on your margin, or how long people hold currency trades. The author frequently mentions losing everything in a few minutes but does not explain how this happens -ie - why you cannot just wait for it to come back like with stocks and options. Overall, you will definitely need to buy another book. I think this book was very poorly written and does not convey information well at all.

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