Timing I am sure everyone is aware how crucial timing is. In the foreign currency or FOREX market it becomes even more important. If you haven’t already read my article on The best trading times in the 24 hour Forex market I would advise you to take a look.Depending on your trading style it is also important to know the timing of news announcements and the currency’s they will likely effect. The two best free resources I have found for economic based news announcements are:

Forex Factory Calendar- This is one of the best free calendars around, previous result and forecast result are shown as well as a link to the page were the news announcement will be posted. The Forex Factory Calendar also allows you to alter the time zone settings to display what time a news announcement will occur in your region which is handy if you don’t have a program like ZoneTick. Forex Factory Calendar also allows you to setup email alerts for news events. Read the full story

Popularity: 7% [?]

Today we will be putting Windows Vista Business Edition to the trading platform  test. The programs that we will be testing under Windows Vista Business Edition today are Global Trading System Professional by FX Solutions and TeleTrader Professional or FX AccuCharts.

Installation

These two programs are packaged separately therefore you will have to install them separately. It is not important which program is installed first.I have chosen to install FX AccuCharts first.

FX AccuCharts Install

The FX AccuCharts installation is very straightforward, simply choose an install location, agree to the licence, choose a username and finally choose a complete or custom install (I have gone for complete). The time it takes to install FX AccuCharts is significantly longer then most other platforms. When installation is completed it gives you the option to launch both the application and manual. After installation an icon is placed on the desktop. Read the full story

Popularity: 12% [?]

Today we will be putting Windows Vista Business Edition to the trading platform test. The platform that we will be testing under Windows Vista Business Edition today is EFX Navigator.

Installation: The EFX Navigator installation is very straightforward, simply choose an install location and agree to the licence and EFX Navigator is installed without a hitch. The wizard buttons and overall look had a very Windows 98 feel about them. After installation is complete you can choose to place an icon on either your Desktop and or quick launch toolbar.

On first launch of EFX Navigator, you will notice the windows 98 look and feel. It is very disappointing that the EFX Navigator does such a poor job in the user interface department as I have heard many reports that they offer straight through processing. Read the full story

Popularity: 7% [?]

Today we will be putting Windows Vista Business Edition to the trading platform  test. The platform that we will be testing under Windows Vista Business Edition today is AvaTrader.

Installation: The AvaTrader installation is very straightforward, simply choose an install location and agree to the licence and AvaTrader is installed without a hitch. A shortcut will also be place on the Desktop.

When AvaTrader is first launched, you will notice that it checks for any updates and then installs them. The good thing about AvaTrader is that unlike DealBooks 360 this process does not require Administrator permission. AvaTrader adopts the new Windows Vista Business Edition look and feel, this is much better then AvaTrader’s previous Aqua look.

In AvaTrader there are three main views the main view, chart view and exclusive daily commentary.  In each of these views, the Dealing rates are present in a separate sub window on the left hand side of the screen. This is a handy feature as it allows for one click buying and selling in any view. The Dealing rate also displays a tick chart for each respective currency. In the main view, there are several sub windows these include:

• Dealing Rates Table.
• Chart window.
• Tabs: Summary, Open Positions and Orders.
• Account Information: Balance, Equity, USD Margin, Usable Margin Net P/L.

The Charts view simply contains a sub window that fills the screen with the chart of your choice. The exclusive daily commentary window is misleading at best. The content provided is rehashed readily available information that is not even displayed in the application; a separate Internet browser window is opened.  Below are some screen shots of AvaTrader running under Windows Vista Business Edition:

A feature that I like about AvaTrader is the ability to drag the dealing rates or any other sub window onto a secondary monitor. AvaTrader as a platform in general is not that appealing in my opinion the only thing they got right was the Dealing Rates window. With no ability to write custom indicators and automate trading strategies the platform is a letdown.   

Bottom Line

Windows Vista Business Edition runs AvaTrader without a single hitch, AvaTrader is faster more stable and more elegant under Vista. If you are already using AvaTrader upgrading to Windows Vista Business Edition will not cause any great problems. If you are considering using AvaTrader as a trading platform I would advise you to seriously consider alternative options that provide better tools and the ability to automate trading.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Today we will be putting Windows Vista Business Edition to the trading platform test. The platform that we will be testing under Windows Vista Business Edition today is DealBooks 360 and Chart Studio.

Installation: Simply select language and accept End User Licence Agreement, choose install destination and both DealBooks 360 and Chart Studio shortcuts will be placed on your desktop.

The first time I ran DealBooks 360 there were no issues, the speech recognition assistant came up and I configured my speech recognition settings by completing the tutorial. After you have set up your microphone, you setup speech commands for DealBooks. I do not recommend this for live trading however as it is still an emerging technology. Upon closing the compatibility assistant came up telling me that Windows Vista had fixed a compatibility problem for me and that next time I run the program there should not be an issue.

DealBooks 360 is completely compatible with Windows Vista Business Edition and makes use of some of the advanced speech recognition features present in Vista. It is a bit of annoyance however that the speech recognition features cannot be turned off in DealBooks 360 and the updater is a separate application that requires permission to run. Some screen shots of DealBooks 360 are shown below: Read the full story

Popularity: 7% [?]

This is Part Three and final part of MetaTrader basics if you have not already done so I recommend you read Part One first and then Part Two.

Placing an order in MetaTrader is very simple. You simply need to double click (in the market watch window) on the symbol of the security you wish to buy and the order window will be displayed. Or if you have a chart open for the security you wish to buy you can simply press F9 or go to menu Tools -> “New Order”. The order window will pop-up as shown below.

Read the full story

Popularity: 8% [?]