On the other hand, the number of active traders dropped by 10% during the quarter. Did the losers give up on forex trading?

The beginnings of trading sessions tend to see sharper moves. This is best seen in the beginning of the European / London session. In many cases, these sharp moves occur also towards the end of these sessions and in the opposite direction of the day’s trade. Why?

In this crazy business we call forex trading it may be difficult for some to imagine that anyone can remain profitable over the long haul. The markets themselves are often wildly unpredictable so much so that most people find it extremely difficult to be profitable on a single day let alone being able profit of the course of years. Nonetheless there a select few that are able to trade for a living.

According to the Bank of International Settlements, the daily volume of forex trading reached 4.1 trillion US dollars a day. This report is published only once every three years and is very important:

This is the fourth time that this contest is held. I find this fascinating as it promotes transparency in the sometimes mysterious forex industry. The prizes includes trips to Dubai, laptops, forex courses and more.

FXStreet’s CEO, Fransesc Riverola, reported that FXCM will be dramatically cutting its advertising budget for 2010. In a very interesting blog post, he said that the battle will be in M&A – mergers and acquisitions.

In another post in the series about forex demo accounts, a serious question is: when to go live? When do you leave the practice account behind, and put real money in forex? I’ve already written that a demo account isn’t only for newbies, so the answer depends…

If you’re a seasoned forex trader, you’re probably trying out the new broker with a demo account. Also for you, it’s important to learn the software, get acquainted with it and especially get to “feel” the broker.

Barack Obama on one side of the ring. Queen Elizabeth on the other. Just make your bet on the boxing ring / forex market. I picked Obama and he won of course. The ad showed me that the dollar gained against the Pound and that I instantly made $1122 dollars. I just need to fill a small form and the money is mine…..but wait…

If you’ve traded any security, you’ve heard the old axiom about keeping your losers to a minimum and letting your winners run. The latter part of that expression is self explanatory. Most forex traders know that they don’t want to cut their winning trades. Simply keep moving your stops up as the trade continues to move in your favor and you’ll be on course for locking some nice profits. Cutting losing trades before they turn into disasters is what many traders struggle with when they enter the world of online forex trading. Bailing on any trade, winner or loser, is an emotional thing for traders, especially rookies, but it should be mechanical, not emotional.

• Mohammed Isah has an interesting analysis on AUD/USD. I also wrote about the Aussie breakout.
• Casey Stubbs lists 45 ways to avoid losing money in forex trading.
• Kathy Lien explains the contrast between the Non-Farm Payrolls and Unemployment Rate, and also takes a look at the past big unemployment dip, back in 1983.
• James Chen dives into the issue of moving averages, for determining the trend.
• Adam Kritzer of the forex blog reports that forex volume is down, and discusses the implications.
• James W discusses why so many forex traders end up losing money.
• Larry Greenberg looks at the past week with a look to the past. There are interesting notes about seasonal behavior in the markets.
• Michael Greenberg updates on the accelerated talks between the SEC and the CFTC on merger plans. This regulatory change will impact forex trading.
• TheLFB discuss the power of a headline to move the markets.
• Eric deCarbonnel outlines a catastrophic scenario for a collapse of the US economy. Though still not finished, the article is an interesting read.
• Jay Norris talks about what separates professional traders from novice ones. He has an interesting point about stop loss points.

Have a great weekend!