FOREX: Exiting positions at a right time

The presented article covers one of the most important (in author's opinion) aspects of trading in general and FOREX trading in particular – managing of orders and positions. This includes choosing entry points, making decisions about exit points, stop-loss and take-profit of the trader. I hope this article will help new traders, who just began to work with FOREX, and also to experienced traders who trade regularly and regularly make or loose their money to the market.

When I started to trade FOREX and made my first big losses and profits I began to notice when very important thing about the whole trading process. While the right time to enter a position was rarely a problem for myself (nearly 80% of all my open positions had gone into the "green" profit zone), the problem was hidden in the determining the right exit point for that position. Not only was it important to cut my risk on the potential losses with stop-loss orders, but to limit my greediness and take profit when I can take it and make it as high as I can. There are many known guidelines and ways to enter a right position at a right time – like major economic news releases, global world events, technical indicators combinations, etc. But while the entering into a position is optional and trade can decide to miss as many good/bad entry point moments as they wish, this is untrue if we talk about exiting a position. Margin trading makes it impossible to wait too long with an open position. More than that, every open position in a certain way limits trader's ability to trade.

Choosing the good exit points for positions could be an easy task if only the FOREX market wasn't so chaotic and volatile. In my opinion (backed by my trading experience) exit orders for every position should be toggled constantly with time and as the new market data (technical and fundamental) appear.

Let's say, you took a short position on EUR/USD at 1.2563, at the time you are taking this position the support/resistance level is 1.2500/1.2620. You set your stop-loss order to 1.2625 and your take-profit order to 1.2505. So now, this position can be considered as an intraday or 2-3 days term position. This means that you must close it before it's "term" is over, or it will become a very unpredictable position (because market will differ greatly from what it was at the time you have entered this position). After the position is taken and initial exit orders are set, you need to follow the market events and technical indicators to adjust your exit orders. The most important rule is to tighten the loss/profit limit as time goes by. Usually if I take a middle term position (2-4 days) I try to lower the stop and target order by 10-25 pips every day. I also monitor global events, trying to lower my stop-losses when very important news can hurt my position. If the profit is already quite high, I try to move my stop-loss the entry point, making a sure-win position. The main idea here is to find an equilibrium point between greed and caution. But as your position gets older the profit should be more limited and losses cut. Also, trader should always remember that if the market began to act unexpectedly, they need to be even more cautious with exit order, even if the position is still showing profits.

Every trader has their own trading strategy and habits. I hope this article will make its readers think about such an important aspect of trading as the exit orders and this will only improve their trading results.

Tax Tips For eBay Sellers - Turning Personal Expenses Into Business Expenses

Few people realize that starting a side-business on eBay is actually a great way to save money on your taxes. The trick is to make sure you're putting all the additional expenses you incur against your additional income. Running an eBiz allows you to take numerous deductions that can add up to a lot of savings.

Deduct Your Home Office

By definition, if you're an eBay seller, you have a home office. You have to have a space that's used exclusively for business, whether it's in your spare room or your basement. But having this allows you to take a percentage of your mortgage interest, your utility bills, your homeowner's insurance, and your homeowner's dues as deductions against your business. And if you use your home to store inventory, even if it doesn't have its own room, you can include that space in your deductions as well.

Deduct Your Children's Pay

Rather than giving your kids allowances, pay them to help out with your business. You're moving income out of your tax bracket, and you can pay them up to $4,900 a year before they'll have to pay taxes on it. Tax strategist Diane Kennedy, of http://TaxLoopHoles.com, says there are three rules to employing your child:

1. Have some kind of written job description.
2. Make sure they're keeping track of the time they actually work.
3. Pay them a reasonable wage.

Says Kennedy, "Take a look at…personal expenses and how they could become business expenses. Things like employing your kids, having a home office, maybe your car you're using to run errands-look at all the things you're spending money on now that could become business deductions."

How to Protect Yourself

You need to be able to prove your deductions are legitimate business expenses, so it's crucial you keep good paper work on everything. Track where your money's coming from and what your costs are, and have documentation to back it up. Should the government ever have questions, you'll be glad you did.

Good record keeping will go a long way towards satisfying the IRS. But you can lessen your chances of getting audited in the first place by forming a corporation or an S-Corp. If you default to a sole proprietorship, you have a one in twelve chance of being audited. Incorporating also gives you certain tax advantages.

When done properly, selling on eBay allows you to save money on the back end with taxes. As Kennedy says, "So many people don't realize that just by having this little side business, they can actually immediately start paying lesser taxes. In fact, we say 'eBay tonight and pay less taxes tomorrow.'

Maximize Your Sales with the 2 Step Auto Responder

Maximize your marketing and sales with some auto responder Improvements. Try some of these marketing promotional pieces, the tryed and tested 2 step mailing process. Guaranteed to boost you profits.

1. Collect vital customer satisfaction information by publishing a survey to send via auto responder to those who sign up on your site in exchange for a free eBook, software or trial period at your membership site. This type of information will help you understand their needs, likes & dislikes better.

2. Publish free reports to send via your auto responder. The reports should be related to your business or web site & contain info, ads and links to your sites. People love getting freebies.

3. Instead of publishing all of your customer testimonials or endorsements on your website, publish only a few there. And set up an auto responder form that invites visitors to receive a complete list via your. Give them a power-packed list; it's more effective to include all of them.


4. Instead of answering each customer question that is e-mailed to you, publish "Frequently Ask Questions" and make them available via auto responder to those who sign up. To save time and support headaches.


Mix and match. Change your auto responder strategy to change your auto responder results! Also top sales pros confirm that it often takes seven or more communications or sales messages before prospective customers make a purchase. They also confirm that it's generally easier to sell to a referral, because someone they know gave positive testimonial about their products or services.

What would happen if you combined both of these powerful ideas? A nifty and thrifty two-step. Try this two-step tip:

1. Publish a price list of all the products and services that you offer in an insert, direct marketing package and / or .pdf to be made available via auto responder. You could also include order forms, product descriptions, and other sales material. Then send to the people in #1 above with monthly updates, announcements of new sales and products / services, and a request for referrals.

2. Collect leads with your auto responder. Ask for mailing addresses and telephone numbers, too, for additional ways to follow up with each person. When you download the e-mail digest of everyone's e-mail addresses and other information from those who requested additional information from your auto responder, follow up multiple ways. Send postcards. Call. Mail sales letters and other promotional pieces.

So why not improve your closing ratio and reach out even farther at the same time?