PipStop

Recently we had service issues with one of our partner charting providers which left subscribers in the lurch without access to their charting services for two days. If any of you are married to your charting platform, you know what I’m talking about – it’s tough to adjust to anything else when your live trading is on the line.

But below are some areas where you can access free charts – I personally wouldn’t rely too heavily on them to trade live off of everyday but they provide good display of pricing.

TradingMetro
http://www.tradingmetro.com/resources/free-forex-charts/

FXStreet
http://www.fxstreet.com/rates-charts/forex-charts/

DailyFX
http://www.dailyfx.com/charts/

I understand the mission of the Better Business Bureau. And I agree with it.

Businesses need to be held to a certain standard, and I want TradingMetro to be held up to the highest standards to protect customers of ours. I want everyone to know that we live by a certain set of values putting the customer first.

So call me miffed when we were sent a letter by the BBB saying:

We regret to advise you that we are unable to offer your firm accreditation.

The BBB does not accept businesses in an industry that is potentially risky to an investor.

There’s a certain level of risk that is involved in all we do. Our predominant goal at TradingMetro is to protect traders/investors by not partnering with untoward companies or individuals. Of course no vetting process is fool-proof, but if we make a mistake, we’ll acknowledge it and move on – so far we haven’t had to make that type of decision.

But it’s the exclusive BBB club that has its own criteria, which my thoughts isn’t going to change. It’s unfortunate because it’s non-trading industry folk who are most likely viewing our application and passing judgement on it. I can offer valuable insight into this industry for the BBB community so that it can properly view companies in the online trading industry – and it’s trading that we’re focused on here – self-directed trading – not investing.

So for now, I guess we’ll just soldier on with our policy of keeping customers No. 1.

Much has been made over the past year or two about the evolution of the Forex industry and how Introducing or Referring brokers are compensated. Becoming an IB/RB was a no-brainer for ANYONE who wanted to earn a few bucks through this industry. It has become much more difficult, especially over the last year to become an IB/RB especially with an NFA registered firm (and subsequent introduction of US-based traders to it).

It’s been anticipated for at least the last couple of years that IB’s would have to become officially registered as IB’s with the NFA as a pre-requisite to becoming an IB with an NFA member firm to introduce US traders to it, AND be compensated. If that isn’t a mouthful I don’t know what is.

This hasn’t become official yet because it’s still with the CFTC to put it’s final seal on. FXCM has recently started an update newsletter to its RB’s that has the best consolidated step by steps of how to become an IB with the NFA that I’ve seen anywhere outside of the NFA website.

To be fair higher margin requirements isn’t solely on FXCM as it is something that the NFA has mandated be implemented by Nov. 30, 2009. What is interesting is how FXCM has decided to approach this.

There are two different announcements it sent out to its US (or FXCM LLC) customers and its FXCM UK customers. Both requirements will be raised, but what the FXCM UK requirements are being raised to FXCM LLC is DOUBLING that. If FXCM truly believed with the extent of the NFA’s regulations, don’t you think that the changes made would be the same no matter what the jurisdiction? Interesting to me, anyway.

The raising of margin isn’t a popular move amongst those who enjoy the high leverage and high risk/reward of Forex trading, but is something that other firms such as MFGlobal Canada has had in place for quite sometime.

In the words of FXCM …

… FXCM’s experience in Hong Kong, where significantly lower leverage levels (higher margins) are mandated by law, suggests that trading with lower leverage may assist clients in trading more successfully over an extended time period. The new margin requirements are intended to reduce risk by restricting traders from using excessive leverage.

Take a look below at the comparison shots …

FXCM LLC

FXCM UK

For those who constantly exchange US dollars to Canadian dollars (as TradingMetro frequently does) or vice versa, what is that best way to go about getting the best rate?

I’m constantly asked the question.

And if you can follow along with me here, there are two default places where individuals will exchange currencies – at the bank or a retail currency exchange outfit (like www.customhouse.com). Now there is a different service (which with full disclaimer a friend and local entrepreneur) which matches currency exchangers on a peer-to-peer level. PeerFX is simple, you put forward your money to exchange and they handle the work of matching your funds up with the currency you want. Right now PeerFX only handles USD and CAD, but it’s plenty useful.

As an example today I exchanged USD to CAD. At my bank their best rate (for exchanging $10,000 or more) was 1.0310. With my friend Ali at Express Currency Exchange in White Rock (who routinely has the best rates of brick and mortar establishments) it was 1.0340. A friend of mine has started a company called PeerFX and its rate was the best at 1.0440.

On an exchange of $10,000, PeerFX’s rate would have saved $100 over the next best rate. Taking into account PeerFX’s 0.5% fee one would still save $47.80. After a while it adds up, and it does make a difference. 

Visit www.TradingMetro.com/PeerFX for more information, and get your fees refunded for the first month of transactions.

For all of you who love live trading seminars, there is one scheduled on November 7 – 8, 2009 in Dallas, Texas hosted by TradingMetro partner, The Institute of Higher Earning (IOHE).

It is planned to be a comprehensive seminar with live instruction by IOHE Founder Gordon Philips. It includes 12 months support with live coaching rooms and trading alerts.

Plus Gordon will give you his unique insight into the financial markets with his economic outlook. Spend two days with him and I guarantee that your outlook on trading and the financial markets will never be the same.

One of the advances we’ve made over the past several months (in the many that we’ve made) is the ability for a trader to quickly create a blog.

Now there are many blogging software sites out there – one of the most popular which is is Blogger (the Google blogging site), but Wordpress has long been my personal favourite for general usability and customizable aspects. Whether it’s Blogger, Wordpress, TypePad, or Live Journal these services allow want-to-be bloggers with the ability to create free blogs with free hosting (in the case of Wordpress it’s a huge 3 gigabytes).

What we’ve done at TradingMetro is given you the ability to create your own free blog within an ACTUAL trading community (whereas the other blogging sites are general in nature) where other traders will quickly have the opportunity to pass by what you post. TradingMetro hosts it for you – and although there is a default 500 megabyte or so limit – we can raise it for anyone based on need for free.

The best part is, it is powered by Wordpress. It’s super easy to create a blog, it’s easy to post, and easy to maintain.

And the name of your blog will be easy to remember as it will be www.TradingMetro.com/(YourBlogName). One of our newest member blogs is by Gordon Phillips (who also is a solutions partner with TradingMetro).

So create your own blog today and be part of a growing trading community – that is doing things that no other trading company in the world is doing (creating a central marketplace and the largest free resource section).

As a SPECIAL function if you already have a blog hosted elsewhere, you can easily upload your existing blog to TradingMetro and continue on. It’s a seamless switchover process that we can help with – just call, live chat or email us!

Many of the best traders are great numbers people. As much as novice and mostly unsuccessful traders solely focus on when to enter and when to exit, it’s the numbers of HOW much you’re entering and exiting with that can make or break a trader.

The following slide show isn’t math in relation to trading, but is still an interesting look at numbers. Thanks to Trading Coach Mick Lewis for forwarding this on.

Just got an update from Gordon Philips from the Institute of Higher Earning – his ETF Wave Trader Alert service is up 21% since July 22, 2009, and this is of last Friday.

Click on the PDF below for full details. We’ll have the alert service available to subscribers within the next week.

Just got word from a friend of mine who works at Omniture – “the” web analytics company based in Utah – that Adobe is acquiring it. It’s a big deal – valued at $1.8 billion.

This is off the heels that Intuit acquired Mint yesterday for $170 million.

In late July one of my favourite “model” companies Zappos was acquired by one of my favourite online retailer – Amazon for $928 million.

What does this mean?

It means a couple of big things to me.

1. Companies are meeting liquidity events now, and that’s encouraging to see,

2. And in a selfish sort of way, as we continue to build TradingMetro into the one-stop marketplace for online traders, I hope to continue to lead the charge in cultivating the customer first ethos we have here and of guaranteed satisfaction. As we continue to develop, build our team and fulfill our vision, perhaps we can be a part of something greater in the future.