Silver Trading Online -
Some Basics, Some Tips,
Some Brokers
Interested in silver trading and you don't know where to start? Already trading silver and looking for some insightful tips? Welcome! This page is about trading silver on forex, aka: FX, (the global foreign exchange market for trading currencies, silver and gold).
The silver market is volatile! After trading silver myself and watching the daily and seasonal rhythms for years I have some silver trading tips for you below.
"The geometry that describes the shape of coastlines and the patterns of galaxies
also elucidates how prices soar and plumet."
- Elliot Mandelbrot
Understand these basic facts:
- If you want REAL exposure to silver, the safest, surest way is to buy physical silver coins and bars. 'If you can't hold it, you don't own it".
- According to many sources, only about 10% of people trading on the forex market are profiting. You work hard for your money, so fully educate yourself before 'going live'.
- Easy on the leverage! Forex professionals use very low leverage; 1:20 maximum. Anything more and you could lose a lot of money, very fast.
- You do not physically own the silver you trade, nor can you redeem profits in silver. It's a digital market in your base currency. The word on the street is that 100 times more silver is traded online than actually exists.
11 Silver Trading Tips:
1. The spot silver price of the silver market is volatile, (eruptive, unstable, explosive to both the upside and downside). Many believe it is manipulated, "There Are No Markets Anymore...Only Interventions". - Chris Powell, GATA
Here is an example of how fast and how far it can drop:
(May.01.2011)
2. While silver trading on forex you can go long, (buy silver against the USD, EUR etc...), or go short (sell silver against the USD, EUR, etc...), you can make money either way! Volatility is your friend. When harnessed properly it can make you some nice profits.
3. Listen to the news, but ignore every word of it. Get out at the end of big short term spikes and jump in when it reverses.
4. Five minute charts are more relaxed. One minute charts can be harmful.
5. Have a strategy. Control emotions. Trading is 95% psychological and 5% technical. Wait for the right conditions to open a trade or do not trade.
6. The Asian trading session is usually light on volume and price action. Low volatility.
7. Often within the first hour of the New York trading session opening, and/or within the first hour after New York lunch the silver price is driven down.
This is not uncommon:
(March.09.2011)
8. For commodities trading silver the market is open 5 days a week. Opening Sundays at 2200 GMT and closing Fridays at 1945 GMT. If you wish to keep a trade open over the weekend their is a small surcharge. Especially as of lately, with global financial turmoils growing, during the last hours of the Friday trading session the silver price has been rising. Silver is seen as both a safe haven and insurance, so traders are often putting funds into a safety net to ride out the weekend.
9. Take the natural path of least resistance. Feel the flow, 'The trend is your friend'.
10. 'Sell in May and go away'. This is very true with folks in the silver market. From May to the end of August the spot silver price is often range bound. For example summer of 2010 silver was bouncing between 17 USD/oz and 19 USD/oz. Then in September it broke through the 19.30 USD resistance level and rallied to 31 USD/oz by the end of the year.
(Spot Silver Price 2010)
General Forex Advice When Choosing
Your Silver Trading Company (Broker):
1. Before opening an online silver trading account, fully research the broker you are considering. ForexFactory.com has an excellent broker discussion in their main forum. And check out their
silver and gold trading forum here.
2. Open a "demo" account before a "trade for real" online silver trading account. Almost all forex providers allow you to trade on their live platform with "play money" or "vitual dollars". This gives you a chance to make lots of mistakes with no losses while you get comfortable with their system.
I began silver trading with eToro.
This platform is excellent for beginners and offers a free demo account with 10,000 virtual USD.
3. Make sure you can quickly and easily withdraw your profits. I have all too often heard traders complaining about the problems they encounter while withdrawing money from their account. After you 'go live' I very strongly suggest you withdraw some funds from your account to know that your broker is trustworthy. I did this successfully with eToro, just $100 and I felt a lot better moving forward.
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