I am listing the tools I use daily, during my trading schedule, when I trade the Forex market. I am using general descriptions in this list since I am not endorsing any particular paid service, or website.
Tradingview
A high quality charting platform with all the price charts and many powerful yet intuitive tools. Every single trade I take I chart it here first, marking exact entry, exit and stop loss levels. Some of my potential trades I publish, some I keep to myself. The forex chat is a great “tool” to share views on the market in real time and get other opinions to see if I missed anything.
Execution Platform
I see brokers as a necessary evil and use mine only to execute my trades. I don’t use its charting package, newsfeed, calendar, signals, expert advisors or anything like that. As soon as Tradingview will provide chart trading where we can select a broker of our choosing and execute our trades straight from the charts, this tool can be eliminated.
Economic Calendar
Even if you are a 100% technical trader and don’t take any news into account, at least you would know when major news events are happening (NFP, FOMC rate statement, etc) that could impact your trades, so you might want to stay out of the market. For traders who do take fundamentals into account, it provides you with the previous period and the expectation for the data to be released. It helps to build the picture for how events may move the markets. There are several to be found, find one that suits you.
Premium News Service
This is a feed of headlines that will inform you in real-time on what is happening in the markets. If a pair suddenly moves fifty pips, this news service will tell you why this is happening. The audio feed is the fastest so with urgent news you will not miss out. With un-planned news events this is essential. It’s a paid service and there are several on the market, I am not endorsing any in particular but am using one myself and I am always in the know.
Market Background News Sites
These are websites / financial blogs with markets news, background stories and editorial opinions that differ from the real time premium news services in that the articles are more research based and provide a deeper understanding into fundamental drivers behind the markets and how market players are positioning themselves. I usually read up on them once a day before I start trading. There are several good websites to be found.
Currency Correlation Overview
Pairs don’t move completely independent of each other. Trading highly correlated pairs simultaneously can increase your overall risk or eat your profits. Before entering a potential trade, I crosscheck the currency correlation of that pair with my already open trades (if any) and if its highly correlated (either positively or negatively) to one of them, I do not enter the trade. Since correlation differs per timeframe and changes over time, I use a real time online source.
Position Size Calculator
The difference in pips between entry and stop loss (pips at risk), your equity size and the trade risk you allow as a percentage are what you need to calculate the position size that does not exceed your risk tolerance. You can create a spreadsheet where you calculate this yourself for each trade, you can also find an online position size calculator and some brokers have this feature built into their interface. Regardless how you do it, this will be an essential tool.
Forex Cheat Sheets
I have created cheat sheets with overviews of all candlestick formations, basic and advanced price patterns, key Fibonacci ratios, etc. They help to quickly validate potential trading opportunities. Nowadays I hardly use them anymore, but I still have a hard copy on my desk just in case and they certainly helped me a lot as a beginning trader. I like the feeling that if I need to check a pattern, I have the information easily accessible at my fingertips.
Tradingview
A high quality charting platform with all the price charts and many powerful yet intuitive tools. Every single trade I take I chart it here first, marking exact entry, exit and stop loss levels. Some of my potential trades I publish, some I keep to myself. The forex chat is a great “tool” to share views on the market in real time and get other opinions to see if I missed anything.
Execution Platform
I see brokers as a necessary evil and use mine only to execute my trades. I don’t use its charting package, newsfeed, calendar, signals, expert advisors or anything like that. As soon as Tradingview will provide chart trading where we can select a broker of our choosing and execute our trades straight from the charts, this tool can be eliminated.
Economic Calendar
Even if you are a 100% technical trader and don’t take any news into account, at least you would know when major news events are happening (NFP, FOMC rate statement, etc) that could impact your trades, so you might want to stay out of the market. For traders who do take fundamentals into account, it provides you with the previous period and the expectation for the data to be released. It helps to build the picture for how events may move the markets. There are several to be found, find one that suits you.
Premium News Service
This is a feed of headlines that will inform you in real-time on what is happening in the markets. If a pair suddenly moves fifty pips, this news service will tell you why this is happening. The audio feed is the fastest so with urgent news you will not miss out. With un-planned news events this is essential. It’s a paid service and there are several on the market, I am not endorsing any in particular but am using one myself and I am always in the know.
Market Background News Sites
These are websites / financial blogs with markets news, background stories and editorial opinions that differ from the real time premium news services in that the articles are more research based and provide a deeper understanding into fundamental drivers behind the markets and how market players are positioning themselves. I usually read up on them once a day before I start trading. There are several good websites to be found.
Currency Correlation Overview
Pairs don’t move completely independent of each other. Trading highly correlated pairs simultaneously can increase your overall risk or eat your profits. Before entering a potential trade, I crosscheck the currency correlation of that pair with my already open trades (if any) and if its highly correlated (either positively or negatively) to one of them, I do not enter the trade. Since correlation differs per timeframe and changes over time, I use a real time online source.
Position Size Calculator
The difference in pips between entry and stop loss (pips at risk), your equity size and the trade risk you allow as a percentage are what you need to calculate the position size that does not exceed your risk tolerance. You can create a spreadsheet where you calculate this yourself for each trade, you can also find an online position size calculator and some brokers have this feature built into their interface. Regardless how you do it, this will be an essential tool.
Forex Cheat Sheets
I have created cheat sheets with overviews of all candlestick formations, basic and advanced price patterns, key Fibonacci ratios, etc. They help to quickly validate potential trading opportunities. Nowadays I hardly use them anymore, but I still have a hard copy on my desk just in case and they certainly helped me a lot as a beginning trader. I like the feeling that if I need to check a pattern, I have the information easily accessible at my fingertips.
You don´t need to be a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - B. Dylan