RoboForex - company news and official support for customers

Tech Analysis Patterns: How to Trade Diamond?

Author: Victor Gryazin

Dear Traders,

In this review, we will get acquainted with trading the Diamond. This is a reversal tech analysis pattern promising a correction or a reversal of the current trend.

How does a Diamond form?

The Diamond is a quite rare reversal pattern, which you do not often come across on charts – perhaps this is another reason why it is called like a precious stone. The pattern forms at the highs/lows after the preceding up- or downtrend.

What does the pattern look like? We can say that on the chart after an impulse ends, the price consolidates, and two triangles sharing one base form. First, a diverging triangle appears, then a converging one follows suit (symmetrically). Together they form a pattern that looks like a rhombus, or diamond.

Ideally, the pattern looks like a clear symmetrical diamond shape. But let us remain realistic: even real diamonds have flaws, scratches, and cloudy spots. With the Diamond pattern, it is the same: in real market conditions, its borders may be quite asymmetrical, a bit shifted or extended.

The most important thing here is for the pattern to remain at the extremes and within the borders of two adjacent triangles, be they imperfect. If you have any doubts with a Diamond on a normal chart, try switching to the linear version: it will show the borders of the pattern more precisely.




Choosing a timeframe for trading

A Diamond may form on any timeframe, even the smallest one. For trading intraday, you may use M5, M15, or H1. However, keep in mind that they are considered less reliable than larger timeframes.

The larger the timeframe, the more probable it is that the pattern will be worked off. The main timeframes for trading this pattern are: H4, D1, and W. Naturally, on larger timeframes, the pattern takes rather long to form but promises more significant realization. As soon as the pattern is complete, you may start trading.

How to trade Diamonds?

To trade the pattern, you need it to be complete; I advise you against trading inside a Diamond. If the Diamond formed on the highs, this means the uptrend is over, so you may sell. Conversely, if the pattern forms at the lows, after a downtrend, you may expect an upward reversal and get prepared for sales.

Read more at R Blog - RoboForex

Sincerely,
RoboForex team

RoboForex adds new MetaTrader 5-based accounts

Dear Clients and Partners,

We’ve expanded the opportunities of working with the new-generation trading platform MetaTrader 5. From now on, you can trade on RoboForex Prime accounts with the exceptional market conditions.

Prime accounts – trading on the best market conditions

 

1. Floating spread – from 0 pips.
2. Leverage – up to 1:300.
3. Perfect for automated scalping.

Read more

MetaTrader 5

Terminal for modern trading

 

1. Access to popular trading instruments
   Trade assets in different segments of financial markets, such as Forex, Cryptocurrencies, Metals, CFDs on US stocks, indices, and oil.
   
2. Trading robots
   Create and test trading robots or buy ready solutions from the built-in platform shop.
   
3. Flexible trading system
   Choose a more convenient position accounting system: netting or hedging.
   
4. Fast execution
   MetaTrader 5 is a 64-bit multi-thread platform, which provides fast order execution and comfortable testing of trading strategies on historic data.

Get access to all advanced features of MetaTrader 5 and choose the most suitable trading conditions with one of the account types at RoboForex.

Download MetaTrader 5

Sincerely,
RoboForex team

What Is Price Action Analysis?

Author: Timofey Zuev

Dear Traders,

Today we will talk about price action analysis, an important aspect of technical analysis on Forex. Price Action analyzes price behavior and patterns and can identify almost any market trend.

What is the subject of Price Action analysis, and how does it differ from graphic or indicator analysis?

The graphic analysis is meant to detect certain patterns on the chart that often reflect the interaction of demand and supply (buyers and sellers). For example, a Triangle, often emerging in the way of the trend, is normally a trend continuation pattern. In essence, a trader practicing graphic analysis need only to know this fact (that the Triangle is a trend continuation pattern) to make a decision. This simplifies analysis but creates additional limitations.

If the trader wants to figure out the reasons for the price movement, such an explication will not suffice – they need a more intricate understanding of market mechanisms. This need leads many traders to Price Action analysis.

Some say that Price Action analysis is just the analysis of simple candlestick patterns. Say, Rail or Pin Bar signal about an upcoming reversal, a breakaway of the inner bar signals to buy, etc.

In reality, such a simplistic approach to Price Action analysis will hardly be efficient: if you are eager to understand market processes from scratch, your analysis must become more complicated, not simpler. The number of details and factors that you must pay attention to will increase in a non-linear manner, and making decisions will become harder because the number of conflicting parts of the picture will grow (more signals and scenarios will appear for both buys and sales).

Of course, a trader does not need to see and understand everything: in the end, every market player chooses two or three trading styles and focuses on several types of events, such as breakaways of ranges or the appearance of trends two-three weeks long, etc. However, the understanding of Price Action frees the trader from a fixation on certain patterns – they start to operate principles and become able to find trading opportunities in virtually any market.

On the one hand, information becomes so plentiful that it needs filtration and specialization in a limited number of market situations; on the other hand, the abundance of information lets the trader see more in the market that forms no known-by-all pattern and gives no direct answers.

Read more at R Blog - RoboForex

Sincerely,
RoboForex team

Dear traders!
This week, the ContestFx project, as always, continues with the following exciting competitions:
The 114th competition of "Demo Forex" has entered the third week.
The 277th competition of "Week with CFD" just recently started.
410th competition of "Trade Day" will start on 23.09.2020 at 12:00.
327th competition of "KingSize MT5" will start on 24.09.202 at 20:00.
After going through a simple registration process, all our contests become available in just a few mouse clicks. You can start trading on the Forex market without investing your financial savings by utilizing the prize money you received as a reward.
We are waiting for everyone to register and wish you good luck!
Sincerely
RoboForex Contest

What is Slippage in Forex?

Author: Victor Gryazin

Dear Traders,

In this review, we will discuss such a notion as slippage. This is quite a frequent phenomenon in Forex and other financial markets that influences the opening and closing prices of a position.

What is slippage and how does it appear?

Slippage is the deviation of the execution price of a market order from the market price during the time of execution. To put it simply, it is the difference between the closing/opening quotation of the position and the factual opening/closing price. On the chart, slippage sometimes looks like a small gap on smaller timeframes.
Slippage emerges when the market execution method is used. This is the most advanced and popular contemporary method of trading in Forex. Orders are executed quickly, with a guarantee, without requotes at the current market price, even if it has slipped (changed) a bit during the processing time. Slippage can be either positive or negative.

Positive slippage

A positive slippage means that a position is opened/closed at a slightly better price than in the order. For example, a trader has an open buying position in GBP/USD at the price of 1.2800. The rate of the pair grows by a “pattern” (100 points), and the price reaches 1.2900. The trader sees this price in the order and closes the position. However, thanks to a powerful ascending movement, the price grows a bit more during the order processing time, and the position closes at the price of 1.2901. The slippage amounts to 1 point in the trader’s favor.

Negative slippage

In this case, a position is opened/closed at the price slightly worse than initially ordered. For example, a trader is waiting for weak news in the EU and plans to sell EUR/USD. The news comes out worse than expected, and the pair starts declining fast. The trader sees 1.1850 in the order and decides to sell. However, while the order was being processed, the price went even deeper down due to a strong descending impulse, and the trade opened at 1.1845. The slippage amounts to 5 points against the trader.

Slippage is frequent in trading at market quotations, not only in Forex but also in other financial markets (stock, commodity). As a rule, slippage in the main currency pairs is small (about 1 point in a calm market). Slippage is most critical for scalping strategies that are characterized by a very large number of trades with the goal of several points.




Is the broker to blame for slippage?

Quite often, traders who face negative slippage wonder: Isn’t it the broker’s fault?

Read more at R Blog - RoboForex

Sincerely,
RoboForex team

Unemployment Rate, and How to Use It in Forex

Author: Andrey Goilov

Dear Traders,

As a rule, trading in financial markets is based on tech analysis, expert advisors, and various indicators. Attempts to make a profit on the publication of some important economic news and its analysis stands a bit aside.

One of the strongest indices that can move the market is Non-Farm Payrolls; this index shows the number of workplaces out of the farming sector in the USA. As long as the US dollar is the world’s leading currency, the state of the US economy worries investors and traders, naturally.

Some short time ago, there was a separate category of active traders that were looking forward to the publication of this index because, after the publication, the market could cover hundreds of points in one direction in just a couple of minutes, which was a good opportunity for making a profit. The rest of the week such traders enjoyed themselves, waiting for Friday and NFP.




The unemployment rate: what is it and how does it influence the market?

We may say that employment is the basis of any economy. If workplaces are abundant, more goods get to the market, and the employees get a higher wage. They further spend their revenue on other goods and services, thus increasing demand. However, some say that extremely high or low employment rates might both be harmful to the economy.

If the unemployment rate is high, social tension increases, the share of the middle class shrinks, and so does the real income of the population. If the unemployment rate is too low, employees may lose motivation for working and making high-quality products: there are almost no rivals, seeking the same workplace, hence, no stimulus to become the best. The interests of the employer and the ultimate consumer, who gets a product of mediocre quality, also suffer.

The optimal unemployment rate should be within 3-7% of a country’s working population. Of course, the optimal level might differ from country to country, and the same unemployment rates in two countries are hardly comparable. Anyway, significant fluctuation from the average level may provoke a market movement, which traders will try to use for making a profit.

What does a trader do before the publication of unemployment rate data?

Read more at R Blog - RoboForex

Sincerely,
RoboForex team

Dear traders!

This week, RoboForex's project called ContestFx is waiting for you in these following competitions:
The 114th competition of "Demo Forex" is approaching the finish line.
The 278th competition of "Week with CFD" has just kicked off today.
411th competition of "Trade Day" will start on 30.09.2020 at 12:00.
328th competition of "KingSize MT5" will start on 01.10.2020 at 20:00.
To take part in our demo contests, you have to go through a simple registration procedure only once. Using the prize money won in our contests, you can trade on the forex market and make a profit without investing your own resources as the starting money.

Good luck to all traders!

Sincerely,
RoboForex Contest

How to Trade Cryptocurrencies: a Guide for Beginners

Author: Victor Gryazin

Dear Traders,

In this overview, we will discuss the main issues of trading cryptocurrencies. A cryptocurrency is a digital (virtual) financial asset. Operations with such assets remain safe thanks to various methods of cryptography. Cryptocurrencies are still a rather new but already popular financial instrument.




How to trade cryptocurrencies via a broker?

All the main cryptocurrencies are traded in crypto exchanges, which are modern platforms for buying/selling cryptocurrencies. You can register in a crypto exchange directly and carry out operations with various cryptocurrencies. However, if you plan to use one account for trading cryptocurrencies and other financial instruments (currency pairs, stock indices, oil, gold, etc), you will need to open an account in a broker company.

Apart from the opportunity to trade various assets on one account, a broker provides access to different trading platforms. A modern trading terminal allows using advanced methods of tech analysis, setting up necessary indicators and expert advisors, and controlling risks.

To start trading cryptocurrencies via a broker, you only need to open an account in a broker company with the conditions suitable to you.

How to open an account for trading cryptocurrencies at a broker?

First, register your Personal Member’s Area in a broker company (provide your e-mail and create a password) and get your personal information verified. As a rule, verification requires a scan of a document or two that confirm your identity and dwelling address. The procedure does not take long, normally up to two days.

Then study the types of trading accounts on the company’s website very carefully. The trading conditions of different account types may differ significantly. So, you need to choose an account with the conditions optimal for you and a trading platform. When this is done, open your PMA and deposit the account (there are plenty of ways to do it). Install a trading terminal – and get started.



The conditions of trading cryptocurrencies

The conditions may vary depending on the broker company. Let us have a look at the conditions in RoboForex:

1. Minimal deposit – 10$.
2. CFDs for 26 (the number depends on your account type) popular cryptocurrencies available.
3. 24/7 trading Several trading platforms: MT4, MT5, WebTrader, R Trader.
4. Leverage up to 1:50 Execution type: Market.
5. Execution Floating spread and a fixed commission fee for certain trading volume (on certain accounts).

Read more at R Blog - RoboForex

Sincerely,
RoboForex team

RoboForex is giving away $1,000,000 among its clients and partners

Dear Clients and Partners,

In order to celebrate its 10-year anniversary, RoboForex is starting a global giveaway with a total prize pool of $1,000,000. The promotion starts on October 1st, 2020.

More than 200 prizes worth $1,000,000

will be given away over 8 months

1. 30 winners each month
   The prize pool for each monthly giveaway is $100,000.
   
2. Increase your chances to win
   Receive up to 3 coupons per month! All coupons that didn’t take part earlier will participate in a Grand Prix.
   
3. Win up to $20,000 from October to April
   Withdraw your prize from the account right after receiving it or use this money in trading.
   
4. Grand Prix for $300,000
   In May 2021, all coupons that didn’t take part in the previous 7 months will participate in a giveaway of 30 prizes.

How to participate?

Trade on Prime accounts, earn together with the company as a partner, or become a CopyFX trader – the choice is yours!

Also, you can fulfill the conditions for three different categories and improve your chances to win.

1. Traders with Prime accounts

Trade with the best conditions: spreads from 0 points, commission from 10 USD for 1 million USD of trading volume, leverage up to 1:300.

Conditions for receiving a Coupon:

1. Deposit at least 300 USD to your account.
2. Perform at least 3 lots* of trading operations per month.
   * - Only the positions in Currencies and Metals opened in the current month are taken into account.

Open Prime account

2. Partners

Attract clients to the company and receive up to 60% of our revenue.

Conditions for receiving a Coupon:

1. Partner commission at month-end is at least 300 USD.

Become Partner

3. CopyFX Traders

Earn on your CopyFX strategies and maximize your chances to win a prize.

Conditions for receiving a Coupon:

1. Making the Top-30 of the best CopyFX Traders on Prime accounts in the current month.

Open Prime account in CopyFX

Join the promotion right now and take part in as many giveaways as possible and increase your chances to win. Good luck!

More about the promotion >

Sincerely,
RoboForex team

Dear Traders!

This week, the ContestFX project will offer you the following competitions on demo accounts:
Both the 115th competition of "Demo Forex" and the 279th competition of "Week with CFD" have just started.
The 412th competition of "Trade Day" will start on 07.10.2020 at 12:00.
The 329th competition of "KingSize MT5" will start on 08.10.2020 at 20:00.
Let us remind you that we award prizes to the winners of our demo account contests, which are transferred to their real accounts and can be used to start proper trading on the Forex market without investing their own money as the required initial deposit.

Good luck!

Sincerely,
RoboForex Contest

RoboForex: changes in trading schedule (Columbus Day in the USA)

Dear Clients and Partners,

We’re informing you that due to the Columbus Day in the USA, there will be some changes in the trading schedule*.

MetaTrader 4 / MetaTrader 5 platforms

Trading schedule on Metals (XAUUSD, XAGUSD) and CFDs on Crude Oil (WTI, Brent)

1. October 12th, 2020 - trading stops at 7:45 PM server time.
2. October 13th, 2020 - trading starts as usual.

Trading schedule on CFDs on US indices (US30Cash, US500Cash, USTECHCash)

1. October 12th, 2020 - trading stops at 7:45 PM server time.
2. October 13th, 2020 - trading starts as usual.

Trading schedule on CFDs on US stocks

1. October 12th, 2020 – no trading.
2. October 13th, 2020 - trading starts as usual.

R Trader platform

Trading schedule on US stocks and ETFs

1. October 12th, 2020 – no trading.
2. October 13th, 2020 - trading starts as usual.

Trading schedule on CFDs on US stocks and ETFs

1. October 12th, 2020 – no trading.
2. October 13th, 2020 - trading starts as usual.

Trading schedule on CFDs on US indices (US500, US30, NAS100)

1. October 12th, 2020 – no trading.
2. October 13th, 2020 - trading starts as usual.

Trading schedule on Metals (XAUUSD, XAGUSD) and CFDs on Crude Oil (BRENT.oil, WTI.oil)

1. October 12th, 2020 - trading stops at 7:45 PM server time.
2. October 13th, 2020 - trading starts as usual.

cTrader platform

Trading schedule on Metals (XAUUSD, XAGUSD)

1. October 12th, 2020 - trading stops at 7:45 PM server time.
2. October 13th, 2020 - trading starts as usual.

Please, take into account these changes in schedule when planning your trading activity.

* – This schedule is for informational purposes only and may be changed.

Sincerely,
RoboForex team

Trading with Force Index of Alexander Elder

Author: Victor Gryazin

Attached Image (click to enlarge)

Dear Clients and Partners,

In this overview, we will discuss the use of the Force Index. This indicator from the group of oscillators was designed and first applied to trading by a famous market expert Alexander Elder.

Description of the Force Index

The Force Index is an irregular oscillator that helps to estimate who is dominating the market – the bulls or the bears. As I have said, the indicator was designed by a famous trader, author, and the creator of the Elder’s Triple Screens strategy Alexander Elder.



The main task of the indicator is to estimate the dynamics of the price and show who is stronger in the market – the bulls or the bears. The indicator uses the following parameters:

1. the direction of the price movement.
2. the price change during a certain period.
3. trade volume.

The Force Index gives us an idea of the market direction. If the line of the indicator is above 0, demonstrating another high, this means an uptrend and the dominance of the bulls. If the Force Index drops below zero, forming local lows, the market is in a downtrend, and the bears are ruling.

The Force Index is displayed in a separate window under the price chart and consists of one main line and the center zero level. Elder recommends D2 and D13 for short-term and medium-term trading, respectively. The Force Index is included in most trading platforms, MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5 among them.

Force Index Indicator

The Force Index calculation and setup

To add the Force Index to the price chart of a financial instrument in MetaTrader 4 or MetaTrader 5, open it via the Main Menu: Insert – Indicators – Oscillators – Force Index.
Elder recommended enhancing the results of the Force Index by averaging its values with an Exponential Moving Average (EMA).


Read more at R Blog - RoboForex

Sincerely,
RoboForex team

Dear traders!
This week, the ContestFx project traditionally offers you these following contests:
The 115th competition of "Demo Forex" has been running since last Monday, .
The 280th competition of "Week with CFD" has just recently started.
413rd competition of "Trade Day" will start on 14.10.2020 at 12:00.
330th competition of "KingSize MT5" will start on 15.10.2020 at 20:00.
It does not take much effort and time to participate in our demo contests: you have to go through a simple registration procedure just once and then a whole range of our contests will be available to you in just a couple of mouse clicks.
Join Us!
Sincerely,
RoboForex Contest

Emotional Intelligence: What is It and Why It is Important for Traders

Author: Timofey Zuev

Dear Clients and Partners,

Speaking about psychological competences, important for a trader, I would first and foremost single out emotional intelligence. Under emotional intelligence, I understand the ability to distinguish and name your own and other people’s emotional states.

Why is emotional intelligence important for traders?

I suppose that many traders would like to “get rid of emotions” to avoid losses that emotions often cause. However, such ridding would make a person unable to make decisions. An ability to find your way in complicated social situations that are influenced by the “psychology of a crowd” (and a financial market is exactly such a situation) presumes not only the skill to single out patterns (graphic, statistical) from a mass of data but also to feel correctly the market sentiment. To a larger part, market sentiment is the information unavailable to algorithms (though there are attempts to create algorithms that would estimate market sentiment).

Putting things very simply, we might say that the price impulse, spurting from a range and supported by professional demand/supply, will provoke the stereotypical reaction of traders who will try to sell at “inflated” prices. As a result, the trend will further be moved mostly by the emotional reaction of short-term traders who would be closing their positions. A high level of emotional intelligence will let the trader detect such situations and react accordingly.

For sure, the main role of emotional intelligence is to detect your own emotions. If a person (trader) experiences some emotional state that they cannot recognize, this might distort the perception of the market and push out some important information. Simply speaking, the trader will start looking for reasons to make a trade (and find them). In contrast to a simple reactive action, when the trader moves the Stop Loss or “enjoys revenge” on the market, the process here is much more complicated and hard to detect. A trader with distorted perception of reality will be sure that their analysis has been objective, accounting for all necessary factors; alas, their attention will be focused very selectively.

That is why emotional intelligence is so important: it allows to realize your own emotional states in time and avoid distortions.


Main perceptual distortions in the market

1. The urge to trade in an inactive market (the trader tries to enter when it would be wiser to just wait).
2. The desire to go against a breakaway (escaping the range, the price will seem unlawfully “high” or “low”, so the trader will try to open a position, justifying it by “analysis”, drawing new lines and “channels”).
3. Avoiding trades and risks in times of extremely low volatility (usually before a breakaway).
4. Decreasing activity after a losing series.
5. Increasing activity after a profitable series.

I intentionally skip such types of behavior as increasing the lot significantly to win back your losses or make a certain amount of profit. We speak just about mental distortions, not the lack of self-control. When emotions exceed the “pain threshold” and rule one’s behavior, another mechanism that we are going to touch upon comes to the scene.

Most “bad” trades appear when the trader squeezes their perception into a narrow framework and becomes blind to important events and details.

Read more at R Blog - RoboForex

Sincerely,
RoboForex team

RoboForex is named the “Most Transparent Asian Forex Broker”

Dear Clients and Partners,

RoboForex has received the “Most Transparent Asian Forex Broker” award at the Global Forex Awards 2020 – Retail. Winners were announced on June 24th, 2020, in London.

Thank you for choosing us, investing together with us, and voting for us. We, in our turn, strive for constant improvement and continue providing our clients from all over the world with the most transparent trading conditions, cutting-edge platforms, quality analytics, 24/7 support, various bonus programs, and many other things.

Start Trading

Sincerely,
RoboForex team

Dear traders!

This new week, the ContestFX project will offer you the following competitions on demo accounts:
The 115th competition of "Demo Forex" has gained momentum.
The 281st competition of "Week with CFD" has just kicked off.
The 414th competition of "Trade Day" will start on 21.10.2020 at 12:00.
The 331st competition of "KingSize MT5" will start on 22.10.2020 at 20:00.
Let us remind you that to connect to any contest of your choice, it's enough for you to go through a simple registration process. You can start trading on the Forex market with the funds you received as a prize and earn money without investing your own financial resources.
We wish you good luck!

Sincerely,
RoboForex Contest

How to Make Money on Cryptocurrencies?

Author: Andrey Goilov

Dear Clients and Partners,

The crypto market has changed a lot. A couple of years ago, we used to enjoy a stable bullish trend; you could buy an asset and forget about it but for taking the profit. However, currently, you have to watch the market all the time; the “buy and hold” option must be becoming the past.

While the Bitcoin is somehow winning back its positions, other assets, such as the Ethereum, Litecoin, XRP, Bitcoin Cash, has not yet managed to begin a stable uptrend. In such circumstances, we have to use tech analysis of charts, buy and close positions more and more frequently.

There are several quite different ways of making money on cryptocurrencies, however, many are still sure that the best way is to trade digital assets.

Trading at the crypto exchange



What is a crypto exchange?

Crypto exchange is a platform where you can exchange one cryptocurrency for another. Also, you can trade an asset for a certain currency based on the actual price of the cryptocurrency. All in all, those are like normal exchanges only that you trade cryptocurrencies instead of stocks or indices. Here, traders also try to make money on the fluctuations of the exchange rates of cryptocurrencies.

Which crypto exchanges are there?

Presently, there are several types of crypto exchanges. All of them have their characteristic features.

1. Traditional trading platforms. Here, exchange players make operations by the current market prices, while the exchange acts as a broker, charging market players a commission fee for each operation.
   
   
2. Direct access trading. On such exchanges, market players exchange assets directly. However, the prices are not market: buyers and sellers set their prices themselves. The exchange, in its turn, charges a commission fee for operations.
   
   
3. Crypto exchanges. Such exchanges allow trading a lot of instruments. All operations happen between the buyer, seller, and the exchange. The latter charges commission fees for all operations.
   

Centralized and decentralized exchanges

Many users are not quite fond of centralized exchanges. Vitalik Buterin has frequently voiced his support to decentralized exchanges while the centralized approach is generally against the crypto philosophy. On the other hand, centralized exchanges offer high liquidity, thanks to which the speed of operation will be much higher.

However, such platforms have their weak points, such as security. They suffer from hacker attacks rather often, imposing large losses on users. This made centralized exchanges really serious about the identification of users.

Decentralized exchanges do not require personal information or identification. Liquidity on such platforms is much lower; they also lack common facilities of classic trading, such as leverage, limit orders, or a comfortable trading platform.

Read more at R Blog - RoboForex

Sincerely,
RoboForex team

NASDAQ-100: How to Invest or Trade the Index

Author: Maks Artemov

Dear Clients and Partners,

In this overview, we will get acquainted with a popular stock index NASDAQ-100. This is the index of high-tech companies that is one of the top-three US indices.

History of NASDAQ stock exchange

The NASDAQ (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation) stock exchange is one of the leading US exchanges; it was founded in 1971 and specializes in the stocks of high-tech companies. The name of the exchange is the abbreviation of the name of a quotation system that was used for identifying the quotations of stocks and other calculations were carried out.

The exchange was “born” as early as 1939, right after the enactment of a law that made all brokers who were out of functioning exchanges, unite in self-regulated institutions. This is how the NASD (National Association of Securities Dealers) was created. It united the participants of the US OTC stock market.

Nowadays, NASDAQ is one of the largest world exchanges. It specializes in operations with the stocks of high-tech and software development companies. NASDAQ lists the stocks of more than 4,000 companies; also, it calculates stock indices for different sectors of the economy.

Popular NASDAQ indices

Based on the stocks traded in NASDAQ, a whole range of stock indices in different sectors of the economy is calculated, such as NASDAQ Composite, NASDAQ Bank Index, NASDAQ Computer, NASDAQ -100, NASDAQ Biotechnology, and more. Let us discuss three popular indices:

NASDAQ Composite

This is the very first index that appeared in NASDAQ: it is based on the growth of all companies listed in the exchange. NASDAQ Composite is calculated by the method of weighted market capitalization. This means that the largest companies traded in the exchange influence the final result more than others.
This might be the main composite index of NASDAQ. The popularity of the index was somewhat deteriorated by the so-called “dotcom collapse” - the swift falling of the computer and IT market in 2000-2001. As a result, the index slumped and could not restore for a long time, so that NASDAQ-100 became the most attractive index.

NASDAQ-100

This index that appeared in 1985 is a modified weighted index tracking more than 100 largest non-financial companies of NASDAQ. It is often interpreted as a “tech” index because of the presence of such companies in it.

NASDAQ-100 includes such giants as Amazon, Apple, Tesla, Alphabet (Google), Facebook, Cisco, Intel, Microsoft, Adobe, Netflix. Almost all the companies in the index feature innovations, speedy growth, global attractiveness, and liquidity. All this made NASDAQ-100 a kind of a “barometer” of the high-tech sector and a popular financial instrument .

NASDAQ Biotechnology

This is a younger but still popular index that includes the stocks of biotech and pharmaceutical companies in NASDAQ. Currently, the index includes stocks of over 200 companies. Being a weighted index in terms of capitalization, NASDAQ Biotechnology has been estimating the situation in US medicine and healthcare since 1993.

Trading strategies in NASDAQ-100

As noted above, NASDAQ-100 is one of the largest world stock indices, popular among traders and investors. It can be traded by various financial instruments: futures, special funds, CFDs – depending on your broker. Have a look at the main strategies:

Long-term trading – investing

This must be the most popular strategy of trading NASDAQ-100. The main principle is as follows: wait for a correction and buy the index at the beginning of a new wave of growth as we expect it to renew the highs. This is quite a simple strategy but you have to be patient to let your profit grow to the desired level.

For example, you could by NASDAQ-100 in March this year, at the falling of stock indices provoked by the coronavirus epidemics. Winding up the decline, the index reversed upwards and in six months renewed its all-time high, almost doubling its quotation from the year’s lows.

Of course, we should remember that the growth was rather abnormal, explained by a huge money inflow from the Fed. In normal circumstances, you have to wait longer.



Medium- and short-term trading

As a rule, such trading requires leverage. Short-term trading presumes holding a position for one or several days; medium-term trading – from a day to several months. Swing-trading, day-trading, scalping – all these types of trading can be used for NASDAQ-100.

Apart from stock market news, your decisions should be based on tech analysis. Support/resistance levels and lines, price patterns, candlestick combinations, Price Action patterns, indicators – all these means help find good trading opportunities.

Read more at R Blog - RoboForex

Sincerely,
RoboForex team

Dear traders!

This week, the ContestFx project is traditionally waiting for you in the following competitions:
The 115th competition of "Demo Forex" has entered the "homestretch" phase.
The 282nd competition of "Week with CFD" has just started.
At 12:00, October 28th, 2020, starts the 415th competition of "Trade Day".
At 20:00, October 29th, 2020, starts the 332nd competition of "KingSize MT5".
Participation in any of our contests is completely free, and with the funds given as a prize, our winners can trade and earn money on the Forex market without investing their own funds.

Good luck to all traders!

Sincerely,
RoboForex Contest

Trading with Ichimoku and Awesome Oscillator

Author: Andrey Goilov

Dear Clients and Partners,

Almost any trading strategy suggests using several indicators for finding market entry signals. In most cases, if a trend indicator is used, we supplement it with an oscillator to confirm the first signal and show the direction of the general trend.

Our strategy uses the Ichimoku and Awesome Oscillator indicators. Ichimoku Kinko Hyo is an excellent trend indicator that perfectly shows the current market trend. Awesome Oscillator demonstrates the deviation of the price from the average value. It is quite similar to the MACD indicator that demonstrates the divergence of the price chart and the indicator chart.

The strategy will give signals at trend reversals. According to authors and traders, such signals can be found on any currency pairs, which means the strategy suits both majors and less popular pairs. For market entry, we use H1, but longer timeframes are also worth trying.

Setting up the strategy Ichimoku + Awesome

As I said above, the strategy requires the use of two indicators only, which makes it suitable even for traders with minimum expertise. So, we need to add two indicators with standard parameters to the chart:

Ichimoku Kinko Hyo. As we have figured out, it shows the actual market trend. Normally, if the prices rest above the Ichimoku Cloud, the trend is bullish (ascending). Conversely, if the price has broken the Cloud away and turned out under it, the trend on the chart is descending. Also, the price may trade inside the Cloud, in which situation, traders speak of a flat and wait for the price to escape the Cloud to catch the beginning of a new wave.



Awesome Oscillator — is an indicator that gives good signals in a flat. A strong signal is a divergence of the p[rice and indicator charts in the direction of the main trend. The color of the histogram and its position in relation to zero will also be important.



How to open a buying trade?

To open a buying position, the following is important:

The closing price of the candlestick broke through the Senkou Span A line from below, which means the candlestick closed above the upper border of the Ichimoku Cloud.

Read more at R Blog - RoboForex

Sincerely,
RoboForex team