PipStop

In all the things I do, the easiest is to be with people.

To various extents we enjoy the company of others, and the same holds true in trading. It's nice for there to be some sense of belonging, community, team - there are many ways to describe it. Trading can be very lonely.

Don't get me wrong, some like the solitude - I don't.

With that said, I care about those who care to learn to trade. It isn't an overnight process at all, and if anyone is deluded enough to think that it is, will soon find the truth.

Since the beginning of 2008, my goal is to reach out to each new client of Trading Post. I will call - and for the most part I've become somewhat of an expert in leaving voicemails, but my message is always the same.

I want to ensure that each new client to Trading Post is 100% satisfied with their experience here. I'll also start reaching out to current and past clients - but it's all dependent on my time. It is nice that I have an hour commute into the office when I make most of my calls.

In the few conversations I've had, it's been great to get a little insight from those who are just getting their feet wet. It's also good for me to gauge where we are falling short, and what we can be doing better.

I'm not interested in a sale. I'm interested in the relationship.

With that, I will always be openly accessible. With my schedule tracking me down isn't always the easiest thing to do, but I am present, and open, and guarantee that no one else in the industry will be as transparent.

Trading Site of the Week: www.forexproject.com

Rich from Forex Project does a wonderful job of aggregating information. I'm sure he's running on fumes, as he has a regular job in addition to all that he does.

Some very insightful thoughts, and honesty about where he is as a trader right now. I think he has way too much going on and that is what is stunting him from becoming a truly focused and disciplined trader, and have told him such, but perhaps this is all part of his 3 - 5 year journey to becoming a successful trader.

I've shared Rich and his website before - he has now spawned such as www.forexontop.com, www.brokerontop.com, www.allpivotpoints.com, and www.forexcalc.com. AND he's said that he's creating more.

It's turning into a big machine and good for him for being entrepreneurial and forward thinking. If he doesn't get the trading thing down, at least he will have built a business on the business of trading.

Golfing is a wonderful sport ... or is it a game? We golfers spend money buying new equipment, spend more money buying balls that we will ultimately lose in the woods or water, and generally drive ourselves crazy, wondering why we're not as good as the guys on TV.

I've been loathe to share the following because it's become such an addicting thing, but for those who haven't heard the World Golf Tour is incredibly addicting and best of all, you can play in between setting up trades.

I originally read about this in Fortune magazine and if you are a golfer and don't get sucked in by this, you have tremendous will power my friend. It is fun to play and the terrain is outstanding.

It's a question I've given a lot of thought recently. The Internet is awash is "trading signals," and who in their right mind would promote a lackluster, or anything less than successful signal? The answer is no one.

So what makes a good trading signal. More than ever now there are free signals. Everyone from Jordan Lindsey to Pips and Tips with their practically irrelevant scalping tip to the folks at Elliott Wave Signal. All three, incidentally are based in different countries, with only Jordan's JCL group based in the United States.

There are many more, and I don't mean this to be a thorough overview of signals, but it's just been a thought of mine that I've had since our trading team at Trading Post is working to formulate our own signals, that we would make public as well as trade ourselves. Or I guess that would be the other way around. We'll trade them ourselves then make them public.

Internally we've already been outputting some great stuff. Last week it was shorting then going long on the Aussie, this week, actually the last two days it was going long on cable with 196+ as a target, which it broke through over night. 

I think I've discovered that the vast majority of signals won't ever replace anything. What they will do is perhaps provide perspective and insight which will add confirmations as you trade.  

This is for everyone who has spent one too many hours in front of the computer trading. I know most of you have heard of some form of automated forex trading too. It's a marketplace littered with "stuff."

Well Trading Post's newest partner is called SystemRunner, which offers an intelligent trading solution, and it doesn't cost anything to try (but your time). You can find the following on the SystemRunner website, I thought I'd post the new introductory presentation here, as it is now live on YouTube. Enjoy!

SystemRunner: intelligent automated trading

There will be more on this later, but for all those who read the blog, and subscribe, I just wanted to let you know that Trading Post has taken the long awaited next step by becoming officially registered with the National Futures Association.

An official news release will be sent out, and I will provide some additional thoughts, and what implications this has for us, later.

This isn't unexpected. Perhaps we should expect more of it, actually. It was announced today that FX Solutions has been acquired by City Index Group of the UK. 

With the National Futures Association's (NFA) raising of the adjusted net capital for Forex Dealer Members to $5 million in December, and statement of support to raise that to $20 million, it's going to further drive the independent retail Forex brokers to seek refuge under a larger umbrella.

Of course it isn't just adjusted net capital and the potential for it to rise that this happened and similar things will happen, but it's the ability to scale up and become a truly global company. Money for one - was not a problem at FX Solutions.

Just as some traders diversify by trading different currency pairs, and not sticking to one for life, independent Forex Dealer Members will seek to partner up.

Looking at the landscape I wouldn't be surprised to see brokers such as GFT and Interbank FX do something similar. Not to say this would happen of course - don't get too excited - I'm just saying I wouldn't be surprised.

For those of you who live in BC, you might know what the BCSC stands for. For those of you who live outside of BC, you might not even know what BC stands for.

Whichever the case is, the BCSC is the British Columbia Securities Commission aka the on its toes regulator of the securities industry in Trading Post's home province. While no jurisdiction is completely immune from scams, I can say that the BCSC is dogmatic in its approach - which serves the investor well here. 

I know there are many Forex dealers that can have all Canadians, except for British Columbians open up live accounts.

A few days ago, the BCSC issued a news release warning investors of online investing  groups and meet ups. I honestly haven't seen any regulatory organization that has issues anything so specific, and the website the BCSC has setup, www.InvestRight.org is very comprehensive.

Websites, like Meetup.com and Craigslist.org, allow people to create groups around investing strategies or advertise seminars for new investment products.

Trading Post will issue a formal news release on this today, but I thought I'd touch on it preceding that.

For what it's worth, it makes me sick to see so many purported "solutions" out there that don't "promise" that you'll make specific gains, but share enough information that you'd be led to believe that you can expect to make substantial gains. 

There is NO FREE MONEY. If there was we'd all be enjoying it. Continuing the pursuit of it will continue to hurt people, families, and organizations. There are a couple of situations I'll share on this topic in the next day or two.

I wrote about a scam that originated out of New York that duped many here in Vancouver a number of weeks back. There are three Forex trading meetup groups in Vancouver, and two are affiliated with www.freedomrocks.com and www.fxinnovations.com. I'm not calling them scams, mind you, but personally I've had enough, and I am now the organizer of the third, where we'll talk openly and share information transparently without having to be tied to a singular product or company.

You'll notice that at Trading Post we don't talk returns, we don't talk easy street, we talk about creating a foundation for yourselves in trading, so that it doesn't matter if Trading Post or not is around, you're armed with the skill of trading wherever you go.