The Social Traders is a tight knit forex trading community, we run 24/7 and welcome all traders from all backgrounds.
Join our revolutionary trading community
today – Become a Social Trader.
Welcome to The Social Traders written content. Alongside our video content we have decided to break everything down into a written series so that you can follow our video partnered with a written document to take notes and keep as a journal.
First of all let use tell you a bit about ourselves! The Social Traders is founded by Max Baker and Dylan Lavin both have been around the block with multiple trading companies, experienced the good the bad and the outright scams in this industry. However, having done so they have developed a trading strategy that they now want to pass onto others and help build a community and provide so real clarity when trading the charts.
Both Dylan and Max have traded both small and large accounts, been through the peaks and troughs associated with trading and most importantly know the industry inside and out and what to avoid. And this is a key point WHAT TO AVOID as most of you have an interest in trading you would have likely been enticed by signal providers offering “free signals” and flexing nice watches or cars.
For those who are completely new to trading, ‘trade signals’ are essentially trading tips to help people in the market, most of the time they will come in the form of an entry point, take profit and stop loss. Directly following signals without a true understanding of trading itself will only be detrimental to your trading in the long run. From our experience, purely following accurate ‘trading signals’ won’t work becuase by the time a trade has been sent out to the community the best entry has already gone, that is why at the social traders we will never send out a trade idea with an entry point, take profit and stop loss. We simply highlight areas of interest so that the traders in our community can capitalize on these areas having used the strategy you will learn in this course. This gives the less experienced traders a confidence boost in the markets whilst also providing a great discussion point within our community for the more experienced traders. With this strategy what you will learn is how to execute trades with precision, allowing for better risk/rewards. We will be going through a true representation of two traders who have been through it all, and want to pass on their knowledge to others.
What kind of strategy are we teaching?
So it wasn’t that long ago that traders used to think that technical analysis was just some form of ‘magical hocus pocus’. Now all experienced traders will be using some form of technical analysis to predict and enter trades. The market has changed and technical analysis has become the go to for most forex traders due to its reliability and predictability in the long run.
All traders will have what is known as an edge. A trading edge is a technique or approach in the market that creates a cash advantage over other traders. Our edge is our strategy. Our strategy will tip the odds in our favour so that every trade we place we have a higher chance of playing out then if we didn’t have a strategy at all. By the time you have finished and perfected this course you will be able to enter the market with an edge over the other traders – which in turn will make you more profitable in the long run.
We have found there is real reliability with this type of trading. Having worked with both technical and fundamental traders, we have found that our simplified swing strategy will align with the analysis both have provided whilst being easier to understand and execute. Having said that, we will be using a few other technical analysis techniques to improve our edge, first up we have..
Next up we have the Fibonacci Retracement tool.
Overall, It is an excellent Swing Based strategy that allows you to leave the charts behind to get on with other tasks – this is brilliant as it means you will not force trades by staring at the charts all day. When we first started trading I would wake up in the morning desperately looking for positions on the live markets just so we had the thrill of being in a trade (I’m sure the majority of the traders reading this would have done the same). With experience we have found that the more time away from the charts combined with more time Backtesting, Forecasting and planning will lead to considerably better trading results. So with this strategy it means we can take up hobbies like running, swimming and cycling that will be so beneficial for our trading. A clear mind in front of the charts will be vital.
Finally what separates us from the rest is how simple and clean we will be keeping our chart work, it makes it so much easier to understand and more importantly makes it easier for others to understand. WE KEEP OUR CHARTS CLEAN. Having come from multiple different backgrounds and communities we have seen so many communities where the analysis in the chat rooms is just way too complex to understand. Not being able to understand someone’s analysis because they combine too many indicators or strategies into one, putting every single indicator onto your charts will not make you a better trader. Master your trading ‘edge’. Learning and communicating with other people will improve you as a trader in the long run, so in our community let’s make it easy for others to understand your charts! Remember feedback is key for personal growth.
Documenting your Journey
Trading can often be a lonely and frustrating journey if you keep yourself to yourself. One of the most important benefits you will get from being with The Social Traders is the community that comes with it. If you haven’t joined the community please follow this link:
https://join.slack.com/t/the-social-traders/shared_invite/zt-clj9dyuv-McPmOxysIwAr1L~kIGNGfA
In here you will find some of the most dedicated traders from all backgrounds. You will find traders from the other side of the world that may have grown up in a completely different environment to you but are still on the same path and journey, traders that may be completely new to the space and need a little help getting on their feet and finally traders that have witnessed it all, the dotcom bubble, the crypto rise in 2017 or most recently the global pandemic surround Covid-19.
You can learn so much off of other traders that are on the same path as you that it is almost invaluable.
Through our experience having been in the FX space and seeing it develop for the good and the bad. One of the best traits we have seen is the risk of people learning and documenting their Forex journey through the use of social media.
Now we don’t mean bragging about your wins and losses and showing monetary figures. No one wants to see that and it will only damage your trading psychology in the long run. What traders love to see is the process you are going through. How are you learning? What have you learnt? What trades have you entered and why have you entered them?
By documenting your journey you can look back and see the natural progression that you have made as a trader. Sometimes it is difficult to really see how far you have come if you don’t document where you have been. We guarantee if you look back at your documented journey after a significant amount of time has passed. A year, 2 years then you will look back and think ‘why was I entering trades like that’ or ‘why didn’t I be more patient and enter this trade at this level’. When you are going through the process you often don’t realize the progression you are making so by documenting we hold ourselves accountable for the actions we make whilst also creating a digital document of our journey in this space.
How do you document your journey?
Now there is no right way to document your trading journey. We have seen traders from all backgrounds document their journey in different ways. At the end of the day it is whatever works for you.
The most obvious way is to buy a written journey and begin to make notes on everything you will learn in this course. At the Social Traders we like to use the phrase the 3 step process. It’s a way we learn and develop as traders.
It’s really simple,
‘the first step is to watch over all the content without taking a single note. The second step is to watch over all the content again but this time taking detailed notes on what you have learned and then finally the last step is watch the video and read this written content once more to really take it all in. Top up your notes and go over processes you were unsure about the first two times over.
One of the most rewarding aspects of this journey is looking over your notes and seeing the progress you made. A plain notepad like the one we have linked below will do just fine:
Keep hold of these, you will always be able to refer back to them later in the future if ever you are unsure about anything covered within this course.
The second way to document your journey is to use Social Media. As we have mentioned previously Social media can have its pros and cons to a trader. There is a lot of rubbish out on the web that showcases the FX space in the wrong light. For example, I’m sure you may have seen it, stacks of cash next to a phone displaying some trading results. It’s so cliche, not relevant to the FX journey and no one wants to see it. It paints this industry in a very bad light. What people do want to see is how you are developing as a person, as a trader, as a community member.
Instagram is a great place to start, you can post pictures of the notes you have taken, the analysis you have and the trades you are looking at.
Use the hashtag TSTFX to connect with other members of this community. See what trades they are looking at and also see their journey.
But there is not only instagram you can use, Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin are all good examples of Social Media platforms you can use to document your trading journey.
A Background to the Foreign Exchange. What is the foreign exchange? Who trades it? When can it be traded?
Forex or FX stands for ‘Foreign Exchange Market’ and it is the largest financial market in the world. It is a global market that allows the exchange of one currency to another.
When travelling abroad, you’re essentially using the FOREX Market; you are selling one currency for the chosen alternative. For example, if we wanted to travel to the USA from the UK, we would need to buy United States Dollars (USD) and sell our Great British Pounds (GBP) as we are based in the UK – just like you would do so on the FOREX Market.
To understand the size of the Forex Market – The New York Stock Exchange trades around $22.4 billion a day, whereas the Forex Market trades $5 trillion a day, therefore proving huge volatility and liquidity. This is great for us as it creates amazing liquid trading conditions and opportunities for us to capitalize on.
So what are we actually trading?
We’re essentially just trading MONEY!
Think of Forex as buying a share in a particular country, like buying a stock in a company.
If you’re buying Dollars, you’re buying a share in the US Economy. You are in effect making a bet that the US Economy is doing well, and hopefully will continue to do well, so therefore you will return a profit in the future. Vice versa, if you are selling the dollar, you are betting against the US Economy.
The Exchange Rate of one currency versus another currency is a reflection of that country’s economy, in comparison to other countries economies. Consequently, the stronger the economy of a country, the stronger the currency.
You may have noticed that currency pairs are broken into abbreviations. All currencies have 3 letters to aid us in distinguishing one from another. The way in which this is done is simple: The name of a country, paired with the name of their currency! The first two letters of the abbreviation identifies the name of the country and the last letter identifies the name of the currency.
For example USD stands for the United States Dollar, United States being the country and the Dollar being the currency.
The Japanese Yen is a slight exception as it is broken down into its syllables. It’s broken down to JPY.
And there are of course many more. By this point you should have developed a small trading watchlist and so should be able to identify a few of the top traded currency pairs.
A currency pair is the value of a currency unit against the unit of another currency in the foreign exchange market. The currency that is used as the reference is called the Quote currency and the other currency that is quoted in relation is called the Base currency.
Let’s use EURUSD as an example:
The Quote currency is the Euro
The Base Currency Is the United States Dollar
CFDs
In forex trading you do not need to take possession of the currency to trade. When trading on the Foreign Exchange Market, you are trading a CFD. This stands for ‘Contract For Difference’. This is essentially a contract between an investor like you and me and a broker or bank. At the end of the contract, the two parties exchange the difference between opening and closing prices of a specified financial instrument, including shares, commodities and currencies.
When you are exchanging your currency to go abroad, you OWN the exchanged currency. When you are trading a CFD, you DO NOT OWN the exchanged or traded currency; you are simply trading the contract to make money on the difference when closed.
So who moves the Market?
Supply and demand of a currency is the main driver of the Forex Exchange movement. If the demand for a currency – for example, the US Dollar – increases, so will the rise in people looking to convert their currency into Dollars. This will lead to its price to go up, unless supply also rises to match the increased demand.
This is the same with supply: If the supply of a currency goes up without a parallel rise in demand, then its currency will drop in value.
With $5 trillion dollars being traded daily your input into the market won’t make the market move noticeably. This is where the central banks come in.
We are what is known as ‘retail traders’. We will be entering the market in the area of high probability to capitalise on the movement created by the larger banks and institutions.
Central banks have a massive role to play in currency movement – they can control the supply and demand of a currency by controlling economic factors such as Base Interest Rate. Without going into too much economic detail – interest rates increase/decrease the foreign direct investment into a country. Typically, higher rates reduce investment, because higher rates increase the cost of borrowing. It also requires investment to have a higher rate of return to prove profitable and vice versa. Investment creates a demand for a currency causing the currency to rise in value.
When we put a buy position on USDCAD for example we are buying the United States dollar, we have created a demand for the dollar therefore increasing the price of the dollar against the Candadian Dollar.
Other than retail traders like you and I, who Trades Forex and When Can It Be Traded?
Forex traders and investors are a diverse group, coming from a broad spectrum of backgrounds, ages and disciplines. From the individual who is brand-new to the market, to the most seasoned currency trader, engaging in forex trading is one of the most common methods of participating in the world’s financial markets.
The great thing about forex is low entry barriers to the market. To trade forex all you need is a computer, an internet connection and brokerage account. While each person who enters the marketplace has a unique set of goals and objectives, forex traders are typically divided into two major categories. These are Institutional and Retail Traders.
So who are the institutional players?
First up we have:
The Government or Central Banks – examples include the European Central Bank, the Bank of England, and the Federal Reserve or the FED as you may hear it called.
These are regularly involved in the Forex Market. Just like companies; national governments participate in the Forex Market for their operations, international trade payments, and handling their foreign exchange reserves.
Another big player are The Investment Banks, for example JP Morgan, Citibank, UBS, Deutsche Bank.
These banks have huge amounts of capital and due to the banks large presence in the Forex Market, they have the ability to drive short term market trends and counteract retail traders due to the sheer size of the accounts being traded.
You may have heard of market manipulation before? It’s the big players like the one mentioned now that have the capital to break through potential support or resistance zones created in the market and change the overall trend of price action.
Now surprisingly we also have Large Companies and Business as a big player.
In the 21st century companies are now more global than ever. Samsung, for example, might produce its phones batteries in China, screens in Vietnam and Logic boards in the United States. But, at each stage of production Samsung would have to convert its base currency into different currencies in order to purchase the parts required. This moves the Foreign exchange market as currency is being transferred from one country to another.
And then finally we are then left with
Speculators and Individual Investors
This is where we come in! We are simply known as ‘Retail traders’ – often referred to as ‘Individual Traders’ as we buy or sell securities for personal accounts.
The majority of market movement comes from the Large companies and Super Banks. Our aim is to get into the market at the right point in order to be taken with the market movement created by the large institutions. We don’t want to be caught on the ‘wrong side of the market’ as they say.
When Can the Forex Market Be Traded?
The Forex Market can be broken up into 4 main trading sessions:
The Sydney trading session : this trading session runs from the 9 pm GMT to 5 am GMT
The Tokyo trading session : this trading session runs from 11 GMT to 7 am GMT
The London trading session : this trading session runs from 7 am GMT to 3 pm GMT
And then lastly the New York trading session : this trading session runs from 12 am GMT to 8 pm GMT
Between 8 am GMT and 3 pm GMT is where you’ll see the most forex movement as this is when the London and New York session cross over. The London/New York crossover is when the markets become really interesting, in this period you’ll get traders from the two largest financial centres in the world begin to trade (14:00-16:30pm GMT).
This is especially volatile when political news is released surrounding the United States Dollar and Canadian Dollar. The volatility created will see the largest fx movements so we must be prepared to capitalize on these moves hours, days or weeks in advance – this is where our forecasting comes in (we’ll touch upon this later in a later video)
Entry Types
When entering the market there are 5 different types of entries that all traders NEED to know. All of these entry types will be covered in this video, we’ll be going over what each entry type is and then later in the strategy you understand how we use them on the live markets.
These are the 5 Entry types:
Buy stop
Sell stop
Buy limit
Sell limit
Market execution.
Market Execution
So first up is the Market execution, this one is really straight forward.
A market order is a buy or sell order to be executed immediately at the current market prices. As long as there are willing sellers and buyers, market orders are filled.
Sometimes within the Forex market there are not willing buyers or sellers to meet your order and so ‘slippage’ occurs. Slippage is more likely to occur in the forex market when volatility is high, perhaps due to news events, or during times when the currency pair is trading outside peak market hours.
Buy Stop
A buy stop order is when you are buying a financial instrument above the market. Unlike a market execution this is an order type that will NOT automatically enter you into the trade. You will only be entered into a buy position when price action touches your entry order.
Sell Stop
A sell stop order is essentially the opposite of a buy stop. A sell stop order is when you are selling a financial instrument below the market. You will only be entered into a sell position when price action touches your entry order.
We have found that both the Buy and Sell stop orders offer the best risk protection out of all the order types, so take note of these they’re going to be used a lot.
Buy Limit
Within this strategy we won’t often use limit orders as we like to wait for confirmation before entering a trade. We believe if you are using ‘limit orders’ an element of gambling comes into your trading with the payoff of having a slightly better entry.
A Buy limit is an order to enter a buy position below the market. You will be buying a financial instrument when price has been sold down to your order price to then be entered into a buy position. You use this type of entry order when you believe the price will reverse upon hitting the price you specified, it’s essentially predicting when the market will reverse.
Sell Limit
Essentially the opposite to a Buy limit. A Sell limit is an order to enter a sell position above the market. You will be selling a financial instrument when price has been brought up to your order price to then be entered into a sell position. You use this type of entry order when you believe the price will reverse upon hitting the specified price.
So now that’s all the entry types covered, let’s move onto setting up Tradingview, the charting software we use to analyse the charts.
The Social Traders is a tight knit forex trading community, we run 24/7 and welcome all traders from all backgrounds.
Join our revolutionary trading community
today – Become a Social Trader.