Forex Trading – Can You Profitably Trade the News?

If you’ve traded the forex market for any length of time you know that news releases are one of the main drivers in the market. With the market open for trading 5 days a week there is always some news announcement coming out. Which currencies are most affected? Which news announcements tend to move the market the most?

Traders should watch the major currencies: USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, CHF, CAD, AUD and NZD. On a typical trading day there will be at least 5 or 6 pieces of news coming out that impact these currencies. So there is plenty of opportunity for a trader wanting to capitalize on news releases.

How can you best be made aware of news releases? Two good sites that come to mind are: Forex Factory and Daily FX. Each of these sites provides some important information: what the news is; when it’s released; what currency is affected; whether it’s expected to have low, medium or high impact; and what the anticipated number is.

The market always expects a figure, based on estimates. It’s a consensus made by economists. Then there’s often another figure that’s circulated by market professionals and insiders. If the actual number, when released, is close to the anticipated number you could see little reaction. If it varies, and varies significantly, you can see a jolt hit the market that moves the price quite a ways and very quickly.

What are some of the major new releases? The one that has the most impact on currencies pairs that include the US dollar is the Non-Farm Employment number that comes out the first Friday of the month. If the first Friday is also the first day of the month, then it’s released the second Friday.

Other important announcements include interest rate decisions by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the Federal Reserve Bank. They meet eight times a year, about every six weeks. Important announcements that affect the market also include: retail sales; inflation (as measured by the Consumer Price Index and the Producer Price Index); the trade balance; industrial production and surveys of consumers, business and manufacturers.

What’s the best way to trade a news announcement? Currencies will often trade in a range in the run-up to a news release. One approach could be to place pending orders above and below the trading range anticipating a break out. Prices often move far and fast just after the release, so don’t try to place trades just after the release. Also bear in mind that in times of greater volatility many brokers will increase spreads.

A trader can also use options to trade the market when a significant short term move is expected due to a news release. These come in a couple different varieties: a one-touch option has just one level that needs to be hit before it pays; a double one-touch has two levels, either needs to be hit to win; and a double no-touch where neither level can be hit before it’s profitable. Make sure you thoroughly understand the mechanics of these before buying.

It’s a good idea to paper trade some of the major news announcements to get a feel for how the market, and your particular currency pair, react to different economic news announcements. Spend some time with the sites Forex Factory or Daily FX. Get a feel for which news releases have what impact on the market. Due to the sudden and significant moves that news releases cause, trading the news can be very tricky business.

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How To Sell Art In 3 Easy Steps

How to sell art is something artists ask more and more lately because many of the traditional ways of selling art do not work. Recently many art venues have closed all across the world meaning there are fewer and fewer places for artists to show their work and connect with patrons.The art world is changing.These days many artists are discovering that promoting and marketing their own work directly to people is better than fighting to get their work in an art gallery or find an artist rep. Thankfully the web makes this not only possible but cheap.Thanks to free tools such as blogs and social media artists can sell their art to anyone anywhere. And for the low cost of a domain name and hosting an artist can have their own website and run their own digital gallery selling their work directly.But where to start?The internet has exploded with possibilities that it can often be overwhelming to an artists looking to gain an audience online. But there are three simple steps to keep in mind when it comes to selling your art.The first thing is to always focus on your art. Before dreaming of solo shows in NYC and the fame and fortune that may come with it an artist most continually work and being a better artists. Clocking countless hours in the studio working to get better and better. To sell art is to first and foremost be an artist.The second step is to slowly begin to build a following. It is still not time to think about sales, only think about fans. An artist must get their work out in front of people in any way they can and then also build a connection with those people. This is where the internet comes in.As you begin to emerge as an artist you’ll display your work in venues that will not produce sales. Coffee shop and restaurants come to mind. The key is not to hang your work with a how much can I sell mindset but with a how many people can I connect with mindset. For example create a Facebook page, which is different from a profile, and have the pages address on you contact information by your work. Connecting via Facebook is one of the fastest ways and artist could build a fan base.That is just one small example. The point is that in this stage of an artist’s life it is more important to focus on building a following than it is to focus on sales.The final stage is sales and the great thing is if an artist as been following steps one and two the sales will comes with little or no effort. All the artist has to do is be ready for them but having systems in place to take money, deliver work, and provide needed documents to go with the work.How to sell art? Follow these simple steps: focus on the work above all, work at building an audience, be ready for sales. It is that simple. (But not that easy.)

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How Do You Know if a Bike Fit is Right?

This is the second question I usually get, the first one being, “I don’t need a bike fit or a new bike, because I fit my bike just fine.” The question of whether a bike fits or not has been asked for decades and at the end of the day, the answer does not lie completely in the field of “art” or “science.” For me, I feel that there is both a science to determining what is right for a person and an art to working with the person to get the desired results. So the answer to the question is, “You don’t know if a bike fit is right unless you find a better way to determine what “right” is.”Most bicycle fit programs and protocols revolve around an optimal set of dimensions and angles derived from a large test pool of individuals. The bike fitter then attempts to find the crucial measurements from the rider and then attempts to use the dimensions or angles provided in his or her fitting system to apply those complimentary dimensions to a bicycle. The term “fit me to a bike” is most appropriate because for most of the people in the world, they are trying to find the best compromise in comfort and efficiency to make a particular bicycle usable.In the case of a single speed commuter bike in Copenhagen Denmark, the difference of an inch or two in saddle height may make no appreciable difference. The bike will still get you to work. In the case of a 21 year old professional criterium specialist, the requirements for accuracy in fitting go up but the ability of a young body to adapt is quite high as well, so many different setups are going to be ok.When a 40 year old woman who is switching from running to cycling and wants to do a triathlon, the fit requirement is just as important for the bike racer, with two caveats.1) A 40 year old woman is not going to ride in the same position that a 21 year old full time bike racer would. The range of acceptability shrinks each year. Not only that, injuries and conditions such as scoliosis make the range even narrower.2) Many people who get serious about cycling as an adult have no idea what a good bike fit feels like because they have never experienced it.My example for this situation is as follows: Molly is 6 years old and in the first grade. She has trouble reading the letters and words on the blackboard and the other people in class don’t. What Molly doesn’t know is, she needs glasses and the others don’t. Molly thinks that some other reason exists for her difficulty because she has never considered the possibility that she can’t see as well as others. In other words, Molly thinks she sees just fine!I had written recently about the relative difficulty in professionally and properly fitting someone for a bicycle and still am amazed that after all these years, it is not an easy task to get things perfect. This explains why so many people who get “fitted” by their local bike shops think that they are getting the best there is, because that is all they know. It’s not just recreational athletes that struggle with bike fit, either. Many of the professional athletes I run into have horrible setups on their bike. They are so incredibly talented that they get by in spite of it and of course, they are trained not to complain about discomfort.So while the answer to the question of whether a bike fit is right or not is not easy, here are some things you should think about the next time you ride to help you determine what is right and what is not.1) Do you have saddle pain, particularly in the front of the saddle?2) Do you get low back, shoulder or neck pain?3) Do your hands go numb? How about your feet?4) When you take your hands off the handlebars while riding, do you tend to want to slide forward?5) Is it hard to see when you ride with your hands in the drops?6) Do you get pain in your knees, particularly in the front?7) Do you find yourself constantly pushing back in the saddle to find a comfortable place but keep sliding forward?8) Is your bike unstable in the corners or on descents?All of these things are indicators of a less than optimal bike setup. I encourage you to question whether your bike is right for you, rather than if you are right for the bike. I think you are the important part of the equation and if you ride, the time you spend is worth more than even the most expensive bicycle in the world. You can have a comfortable, safe and exciting time on a bicycle, every time.I hope you have questions after reading this and I will be thrilled to help you find good, sustainable answers.

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