State Real Estate Auctions

State real estate auctions have been around for long time. With the real estate and credit crunch crisis getting worse, purchasing quality inexpensive real estate through state and government auctions with significant discounts through bank and foreclosure auctions has never been so plentiful and easier.

Real Estate Auction Opportunities

Many states and cities in the United States currently are experiencing declining real estate prices for many reasons. State and government real estate auctions are a good source for finding real estate properties that are in default because of a variety of factors including mortgage loan defaults, bankruptcy, and foreclosure. With the right knowledge, investment goals, and investment plan, buying a real estate property at a substantial discounts to todays, and even future market prices is now available.

Question: What are seized properties? Why are they so cheap?

Answer:

A seized property is a home that has been repossessed by the lender because the owners failed to pay the mortgage - this is called foreclosure. Hundreds of thousands of homes end up in foreclosure every year. Economic conditions affect the number of foreclosures, too. Due to a variety of circumstances, hundreds of people or businesses default on their mortgages every day, and as a result have their properties seized by banks or other private and government institutions. Because of the constant influx of new seized properties and the enormous amount of money and time required to maintain and market them, the banks attempt to recover at least some of the money by conducting public seized property auctions. As a member, you will be able to access fresh listings nationwide and have an exclusive ability to buy directly from the banks and other institutions, for up to 90% off the actual market value of any property.

Question: What types of seized properties are there?

Answer:

You can find virtually any type of real estate from single-family houses, multi-unit houses, apartments, townhouses, commercial properties, mobile homes, land, timeshares, vacation and rental properties.

Question: How do you determine the value of a seized property?

Answer:

Information regarding the assessed value and the current market value of seized property is always provided by law with the real estate property.

Question: Is it possible to get financing?

Answer:

Yes. You can access a wide variety of financial institutions that provide mortgages for seized properties. Your interest rate will vary depending on your credit score and other factors, but even with bad credit you will be able to buy properties with small down payments and have a good interest rate on your mortgage, because there are hundreds of banks and they are forced to compete for your business.

Question: Is it possible to resell the properties and make profit?

Answer:

Absolutely! Many people have been doing this for a long time now, building their wealth and net worth in the process, buying and selling seized properties. More and more properties become repossessed every month now thus providing a constant variety and a growth factor to this market sector. You can acquire the properties and sell them immediately for their current going market value, and pocket all the profit which could range from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars if you buy smart. Remember, real estate is the number one "millionaire-maker" in the United States, and seized properties sector is the number one profit-generator within the real estate market.

Question: Is it possible to buy properties with $0 down?

Answer:

Of course. Zero-down seized properties are available in every state and many new properties are added to the listings on a daily basis.

Click here to benefit from state real estate auctions today to profit tomorrow!

3 Forex Trading Strategies

There's more than one way to trade any market. The forex market is no exception. Check out these three unique and funny sounding forex trading strategies. Having as many simple tools at your disposal can mean smaller stop-losses, and larger take profit target points.

Forex Cash Cow Strategy

The Forex Cash Cow strategy is pretty amazing. This system is 100% mechanical, this means it requires no discretion, no interpretation, or judgment. You will simply learn to follow strict rules: if A = B then do C! Since it is a price driven strategy you will not use any type of indicators, the only thing you will need to know is the price of the currency pair you are trading. It takes 1 minute per week to implement this strategy, making it perfect for people who do not have the necessary time to monitor the market.

Forex Runner

Forex Runner does not use any tools or indicators to trade it, the only thing you will need is the price of the currency pair. Again, Forex Runner let's you trade 100% emotion-free since it is completely mechanical. It's rules are incredibly easy to understand, it will not take you more than one hour to learn how to trade it. Small stop losses, large profit objectives and a large percentage of winning trades makes Forex Runner a top performing forex trading system.

Forex Flip & Go

With the forex market open 24x7 every currency pair has it's own special behavior (sort of "personality"!) throughout this 24 hour period. Professional traders know this and they exploit this characteristic of the forex market to pull in profits day after day.

Forex Flip & Go is another price driven day trading strategies you can take advantage of a certain explosvie characteristic of the EUR/USD pair. The EURUSD is the most liquid of all currency pairs in the market, and which produces high probability low risk trades over and over again.

The EUR/USD's daily range is about 80-100 pips. As day-traders we want to catch a big portion of this daily move and we want to do it with as little risk as possible. The strength of the Forex Flip & Go strategy is that it catches a large part of these daily swings right at the beginning of the move.

Click here to see in detail these three forex trading strategies.

Good friday, good trading, and have a great weekend!

Trading For A Living

If you want to break away from your current situation, you have to have a plan to replace the income you will lose. If you are making $100,000 annually, what will it take to replace this? There are several factors you need to consider:

How Much Capital Do You Have?

What capital base are you starting with? Most traders are far too under capitalized, meaning they don't give themselves a chance to stay in the game because they have too little money and thus invest too great of a percentage of their capital into any one trade. According to the book Market Wizards, one great trader noted that his ideal portfolio risk per position was 2.2%. That means if you invest 10% of your capital in an options trade, you should not take more than a 22% loss. Most traders take on too much risk per position and end up enduring an excessive drawdown which knocks them out of the game.

What's Your Return On Investment Goals?

What return can you realistically expect to generate? Here your assumptions should be conservative, based on averaging all your wins and losses over time. If you expect to generate a 10% annual return, then you need a starting capital base of $1,000,000 to end up with $100,000 annually. If you expect a 20% annual return, then your initial capital must be $500,000.

Incorporate For Tax Savings

Investigate corporation and LLC structures for tax savings. There often are ways to better manage your expenses via trading as a business instead of as an individual. One of the best books on the subject is Ted Tesser's The NEW Trader's Tax Solution. Also consult your tax adviser to assess your situation in more detail.

Lower Your Living Expenses

Cut living expenses as much as possible. This may lower the effective dollars you need to live on, which can help you in the early years by reducing the pressure to trade too large or too often.

In Summary

The bottom line is that you may be ready, or perhaps you need to keep your current income a while longer while also trading on an end-of-day basis. Also make sure you can implement your well-tested method's entries, exits and money management strategies without a fault. If you follow a plan to aggressively cut expenses to increase your amount saved, and trade that wisely on an end-of-day time-frame, you can build your capital to the point that you can realistically expect to create a trading career for yourself.

Simply Your Life with Trading Software - Free Trial

Click the link below for what we use, and consider one of the best trading softwares on the market that identifies, evaluates and manages low risk high reward trade setups in stocks, forex, commodities, and futures. For margin leverage trading accounts, the software comes with an automatic money management function to correctly position size and not over leverage. See above again for the important points on this I just discussed.

Real Estate Foreclosure Report

National Real Estate Foreclosure Reports

Foreclosure activity increased 36 percent from July to August. Foreclosure activity increased 115 percent from August 2006. A total of 179,599 foreclosure filings were reported nationwide in July 2007. Foreclosure Filings Up 93 Percent From July 2006. The foreclosure rate was one foreclosure filing for every 693 households.

State Foreclosure Reports

Nevada, California and Florida posted the top three state foreclosure rates. The states with the most total foreclosure filings were California, Florida, Ohio, Texas and Michigan. California cities accounted for six of the top 10 metro foreclosure rates. Modesto, Stockton and Merced documented the top three metro foreclosure rates. Other top 10 metro foreclosure rates were Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Las Vegas and Cleveland.

Nevada documented the nation’s highest state foreclosure rate for the seventh month in a row, one foreclosure filing for every 199 households. Georgia’s foreclosure rate leapfrogged from eighth highest in June to second highest in July thanks to a 75 percent increase in foreclosure activity from the previous month. California reported 39,013 foreclosure filings in July, the most of any state for the seventh month in a row and up 289 percent from July 2006. Other states with foreclosure rates ranking among the nation’s 10 highest in July were California, Colorado, Ohio, Florida, Arizona, Massachusetts and Indiana.

Buying foreclosures can be a profitable real estate investment strategy.

As always you should research the real estate foreclosure market first, then buy below market price, and sell higher later when the market recovers to capture your profit. Or buy and hold the property and rent it out to bring in positive cashflow from it.

Foreclosure properties can be a terrific investment, or give home buyers a much more affordable option than traditional properties in this time of escalating prices. But, before you jump in assuming this is "real-estate for dummies" or the next get-rich-quick scheme, think again! You really need to know your stuff when it comes to navigating your way through the process and making sure you're getting the most bang for your buck.

Web-based services like SeizedRealEstate.com can help investors and home-buyers tap into this previously hidden market by providing access to foreclosure and pre-foreclosure information typically available only to professional real estate brokers and investors. Today, home-buyers can use these services to identify and research potential home purchases, as well as to find the tools and professional resources they need to help them close the deal.

When offering advice to buyers interested in taking advantage of the foreclosures market, SeizedRealEstate.com stresses the importance of educating oneself about the types of properties and the processes involved. Even seasoned real estate investors have something to learn when it comes to approaching this market. It's important to go in with the appropriate knowledge.

Types of Properties Available at Various Stages of the Foreclosure Process.

Serious buyers must first understand the difference between the varying types of foreclosure properties. It's important to review the basic types of properties, each representing a different stage in the foreclosure process.

Real Estate Pre-Foreclosure Properties

A property enters pre-foreclosure after a default notice is filed by the foreclosing lender against the borrower who owns the property. The different notices that are filed during pre-foreclosure include Notice of Default (NOD), Lis Pendens (LIS), Notice of Trustee Sale (NTS) and Notice of Foreclosure Sale (NFS). For most consumers, buying a pre-foreclosure property from a private homeowner is the most favorable of options. This is a best-case scenario because the seller is able to get out from under a mortgage without destroying his or her credit rating, the lender is saved the time and expense of foreclosing on the property, and the buyer gets a below-market price on a home. In addition, buying at this stage of the process allows you, the buyer, a chance to fully evaluate the property before making an offer.

The disadvantages associated with purchasing a property during the pre-foreclosure stage are few, but worth mentioning. As with any major purchase, negotiations between the buyer and seller can be difficult, especially since the seller would typically prefer not to have to sell the property in the first place. Secondly, transactions are time-sensitive, since there is pressure to complete a sale before the property goes to auction.

Real Estate Auction Sales

Foreclosure auction sales are typically the domain of the professional investor. These properties are formally in default, and sold to the highest bidder at an auction. Buyers are required to be physically present at the auction and must be prepared to pay 100 percent of the sale price in cash on the spot.

Though foreclosure auctions can offer significant savings as well as immediate property ownership, they are not for the faint of heart or the uninformed! Unless the buyer is already familiar with a particular property, there is usually little time to examine it. And, the buyer will be competing against professional investors—and sometimes even the lender—at the auction.

Real-Estate-Owned Properties

Once the lender officially reclaims a home, it is classified as Real Estate Owned by the Lender (REO). While REO properties typically offer more time for evaluation and a more standard bank-managed transaction, their prices are usually very close to full retail market value. Therefore, they offer buyers the lowest potential savings.

It's definitely possible to find great deals in the foreclosures market. You just need to know where to look and be able to differentiate exactly what you're looking at. With an understanding of the pros and cons of buying at each stage of the process, you'll be well on your way to a successful purchase you can be proud of.

Wall Street's Top Option Traders

What if you could be a fly on the wall, listening to and watching today's biggest traders as they execute mind boggling trades, yielding them massive fortunes?

Even better, what if you could ask them questions about what they're doing. And have them create you a personal blueprint so you could reproduce their successes?

And what if you had them cornered for a full extended 3-day weekend, until they spilled all of their secrets to you. I'm talking REAL practical methods that work in the real world, not some theory and fluff. You could walk away with a million dollar education for sure.

But imagine what kind of edge you'll gain over all the other traders out there?

Listen, most option traders are really quite clueless when it comes to the kinds of strategies I'm talking about...

After all, since option trading is a zero-sum game, you only need to know more than 50% of all active traders to come out ahead in the long run.

That's because for every investor holding a profitable contract, there's another person on the other side of the trade who is losing money. The total amount of wealth
held by all traders remains the same, but the wealth is shifted from some traders to others.

It's not hard for YOU to be the one who gets the lion's share of that wealth. You just need to have the right information.

Well, my colleagues Brett Fogle and Ron Ianieri at Options University have put together just such an event. In fact, it's a complete workshop that's never been done before in the history of trading!

And some of the speakers they have lined up REALLY ARE the world's top traders.

For example...

Larry McMillan, the 'Experts' Expert on options

Tom Sosnoff, Professional Options Floor Trader, and Co-Founder of Thinkorswim, a leading options brokerage.

Price Headley, "Top 10" Stock Market Timer and Options Trader, and founder of BigTrends.com

David "FirstWave" Elliott, Technical Analysis Wizard, and Twice Voted World's #1 Market Timer

Ron Ianieri, Chief Options Strategist at The Options University, and former 'Specalist' in DELL options.

Bill Johnson, Charles Schwab's "Expert For The Experts"

And a few others...

But as I understand it, it's going to be a very small event, just over 100 seats. And they're definitely going to fill up quick. That's why I don't know how long his site is going to be up. I recommend you check it out now before it's too late.

Remember, most traders out there don't have access to this exclusive information, and certainly not these experts. Here's a way for you to gain an insiders edge in your trading. It doesn't matter whether you're spanking new to options trading–or if you're a twenty-year veteran.

With the right roadmap there's no reason why you can't pick the winners from the losers. To take up positions that match perfectly with your long and short-term goals. But if you wait too long, the few seats left may be gone.

Check it out below for more details and registration.

2007 "Options Intensive" Live Trading and Investing Bootcamp
San Francisco October 12th, 13th, and 14th. Professional Options Traders Sharing Their Successful Option Trading Strategies. Power Secrets For Options Trading Success. No-Obligation Reservation To Receive 6 Weeks Of "Sneak Preview" FREE Options Training!

Fibonacci Trading Videos Of Stocks Futures Forex

Predict Market Turning Points with Fibonacci Support Resistance Levels

Use Fibonacci for For Accurate Support and Resistance Levels and Better Profits from Each Trade. Learn how to use Fibonacci Retracement, Extension and Projection Analysis to maximize trading profits and tightly control losses. Fibonacci numbers and ratios point to specific turning points in the markets' movements.

Fibonacci Numbers

Leonardo Fibonacci, a mathematician in the 1200's created a numerical sequence of numbers. From left to right after the first two numbers, the values increase successively. Each number, in turn, is determined by the sum of the previous two numbers.

1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377,...

The other interesting relationship of this number sequence is that if we take the ratio of two successive numbers in the Fibonacci series (that is, we divide each number by the number after it in the sequence) we will move towards a particular constant value. That value is 0.6180345 which has been referred to as "the golden ratio". If you also calculate the ratios using alternate numbers in the Fibonacci series (that is, do the same calculation but skip over a number) the resulting ratios approaches 0.38196.

From here on, skipping the numbers by going in both directions we get infinitive number of Fibonacci ratios, but only handful of them have found application in modern markets:

0.236, 0.382, 0.618, 1.000, 1.618, 2.618, 4.236, 6.854, 11.090, 17.944

Many technicians use Fibonacci numbers in their Technical Analysis when trying to determine support and resistance, and commonly use 38.2%, 50%, 61.8% retracements. Commonly thought, a .382 retracement from a trend move will tend to imply a continuation of the trend. A .618 retracement implies that a trend change may be in the making. Many such rules have been adopted by technicians.

It cannot be stressed strongly enough that Fibonacci principles is not just a numbers game; it is the most important mathematical representation of natural phenomena ever discovered. To appreciate the great relevance of the Fibonacci ratio as a natural constant, one need only visit The Fibonacci Numbers and Golden section in Nature and discover a particular natural law.

Fibonacci Trading will show you that this nature phenomena has its presence in the modern market and how to understand and capitalize on it.


Fibonacci Trading Videos

Stocks That Double In Price

We all love the idea of buying a stock that doubles in price. Here's ten key points on how to find stocks with a good chance of doubling.

1. Out of Favor Stocks. This is potentially a value investor’s most financially rewarding situation. A stock that’s been out of favor and disliked by the street. Many of the most profitable stock investments have risen from the depths of fear and despair.

2. Invisible Progress.

Often a companies business progress will take time to show itself through it annual and quarterly financial statements.

3. New Technology.

In some industries companies can create significant expense savings by introducing new technology into their business models.

4. Investing in Research & Development.

The benefits of research and development and many. The best stocks to buy are those who are big investors in research and development to create profitable returns in the future.

5. Industry Tailwinds.

Look for stocks in current favorable industries and sectors. These stocks can benefit from the whole industry and sector growth.

6. Changes in Industry Structure.

Changes to an industry’s structure or the number of competitors can provide stock investing opportunities.

7. Owner-Managers.

Owner-managers are the most likely companies which can double do so because the company has exceptional management.

8. Insider Buying.

Look for CEO's, CFO's, and the rest of the companies board of directors buying their own stock for their own stock portfolios, especially in large amounts. The board of directors knows more about their company than anyone, and if they are willing to make big bets on their own companies stock, then this warrants us to take a closer look.

9. Financial Balance Sheet Strength.

Weak balance sheets are a fundamental indicator of financial weakness. Look for stocks that have no more than 50% debt to their total liquid equity.

10. Not Loved by the Market.

Lastly, look for quality stocks that the market is not watching or interested in. With so many listed stocks around the world, there will always be opportunities for investors and traders find opportunity. As the saying goes, "there's always another taxi coming along, if you missed the last one."

Profit Opportunity

There is it, simple analysis to find stocks that have good potential to double in price. Start with knowing more about the industries, sectors, and companies, then setting your own investment goals, then creating and having an investment plan, then take action on your plan, and profitable success can be yours in the stock market.

Forex "Heads-Up"

Last week, I alerted you to the charter release of the step-by-step Forex Profit Accelerator course that totally took the Forex community by storm.

Well, if you've checked the website lately, then you know that only 71 copies of the course remain and the offer will be closed for good on Tuesday, September 25th, at noon eastern time.

See the latest inventory count here:

WHY IT MAKES COMPLETE SENSE

If you're still struggling with the Forex markets, or are just sick and tired of staring at your computer like a zombie for 2, 3, 4 hours a day or more, then I really encourage you to take 30+ year market veteran Bill Poulos's Forex Profit Accelerator for a test drive.

Why? Well, I was thinking about what specifically it is that I like the best about this course and what sets it above most of the other methods and courses I've seen. Here's what I came up with:

COMPLETE

This is one of the most complete Forex trading courses I've ever seen. Period. There's material to get beginners going quickly, and it's structured in such a way that more experienced traders can jump right into the "meat" of the methods.

Further, it's a multimedia powerhouse -- from the screen capture CD-ROM videos to the full color reference manual to the detailed "trading blueprints". It's designed to make sure you really understand all the concepts quickly and effectively.

CLEAR

Bill's teaching style is among the best I've ever seen. He speaks in a clear, nurturing way that steps you through all the material. It's very apparent why so many traders keep coming back to Bill's courses.

CONSTANT

I think of this as the "surprise" of the course. Bill constantly follows-up with his students after they get his course. He mentions this on his open letter, but I really believe this is the true value of his course. His students receive regular new bonus video lessons, and Bill is fanatical about offering concise, thoughtful answers to his students' questions.

So that's what stands out for me about the Forex Profit Accelerator. And frankly, I'll even go out on a limb and say that if you can't succeed in the Forex markets with Bill's course, then you probably never will. That's how powerful his
methods are.

FAIR WARNING

I cannot promise that copies of the Forex Profit Accelerator will be available when you visit the web page - it may already be completely sold out.

If that's the case, please put your name on the waiting list. Bill has no immediate plans to release any more copies of this course, but after he gets through mentoring his initial group of 950 students, he may introduce a few more (but it could be
months before that happens - I can't say when).

If any copies are left, you can claim one here:

Good day, and good forex trading!

P.S. I just checked Bill's real-time inventory counter before sending this email to you and it now reads 61 copies available. Time is running out. You can check it here:

Market Volatility

With this latest historic rise in volatility, I wanted to put some thoughts together about the current situation, to try and make some sense of it. One thing is for certain; market risk has risen for equity bulls AND bears alike. How long will it last, and what damage has already occurred? Is this recent rise in volatility just a flash in the pan or perhaps a prelude of things to come?

Risk levels have been high for quite some time...but they haven't really been 'considered' for a long time. When uncertainty in markets arises then risk assessment levels are adjusted upward to compensate for the uncertain outcome. In the bond market, Chairman Greenspan would constantly talk of a 'conundrum', the disconnect between yield spreads, inflation expectations and economic growth. Why were longer term yields so low for a very long time relative to short term rates? Option volatility rises as the cost for protecting the downside increases. No longer is insurance considered 'cheap'. Stock prices have been hitting new highs for months (Dow Industrials), while the SPX 500 has been rising right along with it. In close to a year, stock prices are up more than 15%, and that's including the recent drop. When markets drop, they drop fast...REALLY FAST. Who has time to think what to do when your investment account is falling like a rock. What's the natural reaction? Sell, get me out...I'm done with it. Sometimes it's a full out P A N I C, can't stand the pain anymore.

What may explain the recent volatility, and further...the divergence in advancers and decliners? A little history is in order. Way back in the 1930's, the SEC instituted the uptick rule after a major bear raid nearly destroyed the markets in the 1929 crash...basically, you could only go short a stock after an buy, or uptick. This rule had been in place for more than seventy years, and most had deemed it old and useless. But, the removal of the rule simply let the bear genie out of the bottle. Can you imagine a boxer who gets knocked down to the canvass, and the other boxer continues to beat on him mercilessly without letting him get up off the ground? This is what the bears or short sellers got as a gift from the SEC, who incidentally...picked the exact WRONG time to remove the rule (with markets at or near all time highs, and ripe from the picking by shorts). Is it any coinicidence that the rise in volatility just after the removal of this arcane rule?

How to manage your own volatility is quite unique. We all are blinded by emotional responses when trading...it's natural. Even the best and most solid traders succomb to the evils of fear and greed at some point. It's the management of these emotions that separate the winners from the losers. Above you'll find a spectrum of volatility. The closer you are to the middle, the better you have your emotions in check. I trade with some emotion, but try to keep it contained. I find myself more toward the cautious level when i'm fearful, and confident when I'm feeling invincible. Check your emotions when you are trading or investing, and see where you might be on the spectrum.

The VIX may be flashing panic levels...or is it? 30% volatility is high from an historical perspective, but is not unprecedented. We saw markets rise in 2004 as the volatility index increased late in the year, and back in the mid 1990's the same thing occurred...prior to massive price explosion. But in 2002, volatility rose from the 20's to the 40's as the bear market swiped through with reckless abandoned. More often than not, however...a sharp increase in volatility is short-lived, so this one may follow that theme.

Forex Profit Accelerator

How Select Groups Of Forex Traders Are Riding On The "Coat Tails" Of The Big Banks

When you treat the Forex markets as end-of-day markets, I’ve found they can offer far more profit potential than the minor swings many day traders kill themselves to capture. And when you learn the right way to trade Forex as an end-of-day market, you can quickly jump from one big swing to another as they’re driven by the Forex market giants – the big banks and other financial institutions, including governments.

While these behemoths react slowly to market changes due to their sheer size, as soon as you learn to spot a big swing, you can get on and “ride their coat tails”. And by the time they’ve turned to look over their shoulder, you’ll have already gone on to the next big swing.

For example, suppose several major financial institutions think that the Japanese Yen is undervalued versus the dollar and that the Japanese government will soon act to stop artificially suppressing the value of the Yen. Collectively they might begin slowly building what will become very large positions in the market by selling short the USD/JPY pair. I am talking about hundreds of thousands of standard lots.

Whether the Japanese government acts or not, the market might drop as expected, in part, due to the ever increasing short positions of these financial institutions. If they are right, we small traders can apply trading methods that will spot these moves and jump on board at a moment’s notice. We can protect our positions with initial stops and ride the wave to good profits if the market follows through on the downside. And we can jump out just as quickly as we jumped in. The big institutions simply can’t move that fast without damaging their positions.

The bottom line here is that we are prepared to ride the trend on the coat tails of the mega traders, but with a level of agility they don’t have. And by doing this, we minimize risk and maximize profit while they’re still trying to “unwind” their positions.

This is a BIG DEAL! If those last few paragraphs didn’t make sense, please go back and read them again. What this means is that there's a way to exactly, step-by-step, identify when a Forex pair is likely to make a move UP or DOWN. And no matter which way it goes, there is specific trading rules that let you take advantage of those moves and ride them for a huge potential profit. And here’s the kicker – there's more than one way.

There's four complete methods, all based on time-tested principles, that allow anyone to identify as many profitable trading opportunities as possible.

And that’s why the course the Forex Profit Accelerator created – because they show you how to truly accelerate your Forex profits with these four methods. And you can use them individually or together - synergistically - to maximize your profit-taking.

Let's take a look at some sample trades you could have made using the Forex Profit Accelerator. Keep in mind that trades like this are setting up ALL THE TIME, even potentially right this second.

Just click here to watch this short video.

So the bottom line is this – no matter what happens in the Forex markets, with the Forex Profit Accelerator, you will always know exactly what to do every time you place a trade. No exceptions. No matter the outcome. It’s that simple.

Elliott Wave Should Lighten Up

By Tony Beckwith, MTPredictor Ltd

A remarkable number of traders the world over use Elliott Wave (EW) theory as at least a part of their trading plans. But, how many of them are able to trade in a way that controls risk and is, therefore, profitable over the long-term? All professional traders know that, without strict risk control, a trader’s longevity will be limited…

One of the (many) criticisms leveled at EW theory is that its basis is subjective. You have to judge where a market is in an EW sequence (typically, a 5-wave trend or a 3-wave correction to a trend). You may be “right,” you may be “wrong” or you may start off looking “right,” only to find price moving away from the assumed market pattern -- that feels distinctly “wrong”!

If this is the case, how can a trader have any control over his trade risk or know in advance the profit levels to be used in any formal risk-reward calculation? For a risk-reward assessment to be made, the two sides of the equation need to be both simple and known. To achieve that with standard EW analysis is at best difficult, at worst impossible…

One way for a trader to address these inherent difficulties is to strip down EW principles to form a lean, tradable approach to the markets. This may deter the purists, but the survivors in the trading world know perfectly well that trading is about understanding risk, not about forecasting or “getting it right.”

Probability risk can be reduced… The practical meaning of risk in trading involves two elements: probability risk (the risk that a trade may not turn out as anticipated) and money risk (the amount lost if a trade does not turn out as anticipated). Probability risk is usually the more difficult of the two to pin down. If we accept trading with the trend as a basic premise, in EW terms, this means trading off the end of a correction-to-a-trend, back into the trend itself.

Ideally, this can be in only 3 places: Off a corrective Wave 2 into a trend Wave 3, off a corrective Wave 4 into an end-of-trend Wave 5 and off a corrective Wave B into a trend Wave C. Again, the ideal is to see the Wave 2, Wave 4 or Wave B unfold as a simple 3-wave correction-to-trend -- an ABC correction, the easiest-to-identify correction in the EW world.

The probability of this trade set-up actually working is enhanced if there is no confusion over its identification (it is a clean zig-zag pattern), if it clearly follows an unambiguous trend (so could be correcting it) and if it is at a critical price level. We may disagree over what is “critical,” but the use of Fibonacci numbers and ratios to guage when the correction is ideally over provides a constant framework.

For instance, if the length of Wave C of the ABC correction equals 0.618x or 1.00x the length of Wave A, this may indicate that, say, selling power is now becoming exhausted in a correction down against an uptrend. To further improve the probability risk, it is wise to wait for the market to show signs of price reversal itself, rather than jump the gun. So, the many variants of reversal bars, indecisive price movement (inside bar, etc.), traditional Japanese candlestick patterns, channel / moving average breaks or oscillator reversals can be used to narrow the odds of a market returning to trend.

Money risk can be controlled…

This leads us to a discussion of money risk. To know this type of risk, you must know the entry price and initial stop loss price in advance of any trade. It follows that, the closer the entry trigger to the initial stop, the smaller the initial (money) risk.

If you are trading off one of the 3 best market junctures in EW terms (as previously described), the initial stop can always be the extreme price reached in the ABC correction. Logically, this makes sense in that, if this price is reached, the trader’s initial analysis is incorrect, and there is no business in this trade for now. If you are trading any other part of an EW sequence, appropriate stop loss placement is much less clear.

Risk-reward can be assessed…

For the other side of the risk-reward equation, reward levels have to be clear and constant. If a trader is specializing in entering trades off these “isolated” ABC corrections, the obvious profit targets are the EW price levels that would be reached if the market does indeed return to its previous trend direction.

For instance, if you are trading off an ABC correction that forms a Wave B, the trend wave to follow would be the Wave C -- here, the minimum, typical and maximum Wave C price targets using the widely accepted Fibonacci ratios would form the profit targets. They can be calculated in advance of entering the trade, so you can also know and evaluate the risk-reward outlook before you commit any capital.

Trades should be treated in isolation...

Furthermore, the standard pitfalls of conventional EW analysis must be prevented from interfering with this risk-reward trading framework. If you treat these trade set-ups in complete isolation, you can avoid having to fit the corrective pattern into a larger EW pattern or squeeze a smaller-degree pattern inside it. Similarly, you can also avoid having to link the corrective pattern and its prior trend to previous market movement.

This Isolation Approach also means that any trades resulting from these set-ups can be managed on the same timeframe as that on which the set-ups occurred. No interference with the trader’s mindset from conflicting timeframes (there are 9 in traditional EW analysis…) is allowed. Elliott wave labeling or “counts” do not change mid-trade and the profit targets are unmovable. This all makes for highly decisive and consistent trading.

Overcoming R. N. Elliott’s own problems...

As Frost and Prechter state in Elliott Wave Principle “for all his (Elliott’s) meticulous study and profound discovery, he displayed a typical investor’s weakness in (at least once) allowing a prior opinion adversely to affect his objectivity in analyzing the market.” To be able to use some of his basic principles for consistent and objective risk-reward trading really is something for traders to celebrate.

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Best Conversations With Top Traders

It's always enlightening to read a book a second time, as you seem to find things that weren't there the first time. Possibly this happens because the first time you read, you read for content, and the second time for context. Here are some of the things I learned as I reread "The Best Conversations With Top Traders", by Kevin Marder and Marc Dupee.

In the interviews there were some common elements that kept arising.

Above all else, maintain discipline. This usually was the summation of a risk management question. Nearly all of these traders agreed that the number one mistake they saw (especially in new traders) was an unwillingness to let go of a bad trade. The secret to their success was discipline, or as one of the interviewees said, "I would rather have a mediocre strategy and a good money management system than a good strategy and a mediocre money management system."

Focus on good trading rather than making money. If you can do the former, the latter will occur naturally. If on the other hand you focus on making money, you'll lose your focus on the good trading that leads to profitability. Ironic, isn't it? In fact, many of the traders regarded trading as a game of sorts.

You must have a passion for the market. These top traders would have chosen the same profession even without all of the financial rewards. Their passion drove them to persevere, even when most others would have quit. Their love of markets kept them in the game for a long time, and with time comes wisdom and experience. That experience was their edge.

You must have humility. Trading is one of the only professions where failure can be expected about half of the time. All of these traders can deal with a bad trade; humility allows them to exit before that bad trade gets worse. Since your ego is a trading pitfall, you must park your ego at the door, and you must have the uncanny ability to not dwell on bad trades.

Marder's and Dupee's "The Best Conversations With Top Traders" is a good read for the trader who is ready to take their activity to the next level. And, there are plenty more of these helpful ideas like the ones above. You may even want to read it twice, to make sure you get them all.

Good monday, good 2007, good investing and trading!

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Why the Fed is Such a Lousy Wizard of Oz

By Susan C. Walker, Elliott Wave International

Central bankers who "follow the yellow brick road" end up in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, every Labor Day weekend for their annual symposium sponsored by – who else? – the Kansas City Fed. (Who can forget Judy Garland saying to her little dog, "Toto, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore," in the 1939 movie, The Wizard of Oz?)

The Jackson Hole Resort serves as the Federal Reserve's equivalent of the Emerald City, as Fed governors and presidents meet with central bankers and economists from around the world to discuss economic issues. This year, the symposium focused on housing and monetary policy. Usually, the Fed chairman kicks off the symposium and, this year, the new chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, did the honors. He closed his speech with these words:

"The interaction of housing, housing finance, and economic activity has for years been of central importance for understanding the behavior of the economy, and it will continue to be central to our thinking as we try to anticipate economic and financial developments."

Then came the other speeches. And it seems that some of the guests in Emerald City were waiting for their chance to pull back the curtain and prove that the Wonderful Wizard of Oz isn't such a wizard after all. Bloomberg reported that "Federal Reserve officials, wrestling with a housing recession that jeopardizes U.S. growth, got an earful from critics at a weekend retreat, arguing they should use regulation and interest rates to prevent asset-price bubbles." Apparently, one academic paper presented at Jackson Hole graded the Fed an 'F' for the way it has handled the repercussions from the rise and fall of the housing market.

Truth be told, these folks are a little late to the table as critics of the Fed. We're glad they're joining us, but here's what they still haven't learned: It isn't because the Federal Reserve messes up by allowing credit, asset and stock bubbles to form that it's not a wizard. The Federal Reserve isn't a wizard for one particular reason that it doesn't want anybody to know – and that is that the Fed doesn't lead the financial markets, it follows them.

People everywhere want to believe in the Fed's wizardry. But all this talk about how the Fed will be able to help the U.S. economy and hold up the markets by cutting rates now is as much hooey as the Wizard of Oz promising Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion that he could give them what they wanted: a return to Kansas, a brain, a heart, and courage. Because when the Fed does do something, it always comes after the markets have already made their moves.

If you don't believe it, you should look at one chart from the most recent Elliott Wave Financial Forecast. It compares the movements in the Fed Funds rate with the movements of the 3-month U.S. Treasury Bill Yield. What does it reveal? That the Fed has followed the T-Bill yield up and down every step of the way since 2000. And the interesting question becomes this: Since the T-bill yield has dropped nearly two points since February, how soon will the Fed cut its rate to follow the market's lead this time?

[Editor's note: You can see this chart and read the Special Section it appears in by accessing the free report, The Unwonderful Wizardry of the Fed.]

We've got our own brains, heart and courage here at Elliott Wave International, and we've used them to explain over and over again that putting faith in the Fed to turn around the markets and the economy is blind faith indeed.

"This blind faith in the Fed's power to hold up the economy and stocks epitomizes the following definition of magic offered by Teller of the illusionist and comedy team of Penn and Teller: a 'theatrical linking of a cause with an effect that has no basis in physical reality, but that – in our hearts – ought to be.'" [September 2007, The Elliott Wave Financial Forecast]

Because, you see, what makes the markets move has less to do with what the unwizardly Fed does and more with changes in the mass psychology of all the people investing in those markets. The Elliott Wave Principle describes how bullish and bearish trends in the financial markets reflect changes in social mood, from positive to negative and back again. To extend the metaphor: The Fed can't affect social mood anymore than the Wonderful Wizard of Oz could change the direction of the wind that brought his hot air balloon to the Land of Oz in the first place.

As our EWI analysts write, "With respect to the timing of the Federal Reserve Board rate cuts, we need to reiterate one key point. The market, not the Fed, sets rates." Being able to understand this information puts you one step closer to clicking your ruby red shoes together and whispering those magic words: "There's no place like home." Once you land back in Kansas, your eyes will open, and you will see that an unwarranted faith in the Fed was just a bad dream.

Susan C. Walker writes for Elliott Wave International, a market forecasting and technical analysis company. She has been an associate editor with Inc. magazine, a newspaper writer and editor, an investor relations executive and a speechwriter for the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Her columns also appear regularly on FoxNews.com.

Click here to get a Free Independent Investors eBook from Elliott Wave International.

Opportunities in the Subprime Meltdown?

The growing number of homeowners who are falling behind on their mortgage payments could spell opportunity for real estate investors.

Most of the problems are among homeowners with "subprime" mortgages -- loans extended to borrowers with poor credit, low incomes or both -- and particularly among subprime borrowers with adjustable rate loans, which total roughly 7% of the $10 trillion mortgage market. They are being pummeled by spikes in their mortgage interest rates as the low introductory rates expire.

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Some 700,000 of such loans are likely to go into foreclosure between now and the end of next year because the homeowners won't have enough cash to cover higher payments. That would suggest that the time is right to invest in a foreclosure. But buying a foreclosed home to flip or rent out isn't an easy, quick, cheap or surefire route to wealth. The typical deal comes with more problems than the average do-it-yourselfer can handle.

Even so, investing in a foreclosure can be rewarding if you're willing to do your homework.

Compared with a year ago, foreclosures are up more than 25% nationally, according to RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosed properties. A total of 130,500 new foreclosures were filed during January, the most in the two years since RealtyTrac began tracking the numbers. Nevada, Michigan, Georgia, Colorado and Arizona lead the states with the highest rates of new foreclosures compared with total households.

Investors Andy Heller and Scott Frank say they're "licking their chops" in anticipation of diminished competition for foreclosures as fair-weather investors flee the market and would-be owner-occupants look for easier pickings. "This is the time when you should be diving in," says Heller, who co-wrote, with Frank, Buy Even Lower: The Regular People's Guide to Real Estate Riches.

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Range of discounts

At the market's peak, in the first half of 2005, the nationwide median discount off market value of foreclosures was 14.6%, according to Christopher Cagan, director of research for First American Real Estate Solutions, in Santa Ana, Cal.

The slower the local real estate market, the greater the chance that you'll find a bargain, as foreclosing lenders are forced to offer bigger discounts to lure a smaller pool of buyers. The discount ranged from a tenth of a percentage point in California to 40% in New York. Cagan thinks that the current median is about the same, but he expects that it may deepen in 2007 if the number of foreclosures continues to increase and the housing market stays in a slump.

How much of a bargain you need to make a deal work depends on your post-purchase plans. The shorter the time you intend to hold a property, Heller and Frank say, the greater the "minimum investor discount" you require. They recommend trying to buy homes for 20% to 30% off market value if you plan to flip the property; 10% to 20% off if you'll rent it out with the option to buy; and 5% to 10% if you intend to rent it out indefinitely. Keep in mind that the days when you could flip for a quick profit are over -- at least for now.

Savings per square foot.

Bruce Reeks has been adding to his retirement savings by buying foreclosures. Reeks, who owns 15 such properties, identifies a bank-owned foreclosure on a multiple listing service, then compares its price per square foot with those of homes recently sold in the same subdivision. The difference signals opportunity, he says.

Last year, Reeks purchased a five-bedroom, two-bath home in Austell, Ga., northwest of Atlanta, for $102,900. After he spent $7,800 on repairs, the property appraised at $142,000. If Reeks had flipped the house, he would have made about $24,000 after commissions and other costs. Instead, he collects rent of $1,190 and pays $850 per month toward the mortgage, reaping a gross profit of $340 a month. Meanwhile, Reeks builds equity as he pays the mortgage with the renter's money, he enjoys tax write-offs, and he expects to benefit from price appreciation. He anticipates cashing out his portfolio in the next five years and retiring to Asheville, N.C.

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Foreclosure laws vary by state (for an overview, go to www.realtytrac.com, then verify the information with your county's clerk of court). You can buy foreclosures three ways: negotiate with a homeowner before the bank forecloses, bid at a county foreclosure auction, or, as Reeks does, buy a real estate owned property, or REO (see below).

Plenty of pitfalls. At a foreclosure auction, you'll buy a home "as is," and you might not be able to do more than peek through the windows beforehand. Cleveland agent Mike Phillips says you could be bidding on a home that has been vandalized -- sometimes by a distraught owner who has stripped it of everything valuable. Long-vacant homes may have water or mold damage. And the property may have legal warts: liens, difficult-to-evict tenants or, in some states, a mandatory "redemption period" that gives the former owner time to try to get the home back.

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REOs, properties that lenders have bought back at auction, generally offer the easiest route for novices. With an REO, you won't become entangled with a harried homeowner facing foreclosure. You'll probably find nicer properties than the dregs left on the courthouse steps by lenders. And although an REO is likely to be sold "as is," you will have the right to an inspection, a title search and contingencies. Another advantage: You can finance the purchase with a conventional loan. However, the buyer of an REO is generally not likely to get as deep a discount as an investor in other kinds of foreclosures.

In Stone Mountain, Ga., Kelly Wiley shopped REOs but took a slightly different tack on buying-and-holding. Wiley, a real estate agent with Metro Brokers/GMAC, decided to look for a foreclosure large enough for herself and her sons, Javon, 13, and Juwan, 11, and to rent out her former home. To start, she focused on a few desirable neighborhoods, setting strict standards for price and condition. Over two and a half years, other buyers outbid her on several homes, mainly because she took anticipated repairs into account when calculating her offers.

Last summer, Wiley finally found her dream home: a four-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath house in Stone Mountain. It was in move-in condition and listed for $214,000. Wiley bought the property for $199,900 with a no-money-down, fixed-rate mortgage, for which the rental income on her former home helped her qualify. Her new home appraised for $221,900. "I had instant equity," she says.
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For novice foreclosure investors, the best bet is often a real estate owned home, or REO, a property that a lender bought back at auction to resell for close to market value. You can find REOs on local multiple listing services, which may be available online. Other sources include the Web sites of federal agencies and government-chartered corporations or their affiliates, such as HUD, FannieMae and FreddieMac national online listing services, such as Realtytrac and Foreclosure.

The above article came from Kiplinger.com. Click the "Opportunities in the Subprime Meltdown?" title link to go to their website.