Practice forex trading: bit.ly/IT-forex-demo3

View full lesson: www.informedtrades.com/26280-fundamentals-vs-technical-analysis-forex-market.html

As we learned in our free basics of trading course in the free course section of InformedTrades.com, traders analyze any financial market including the forex market in one of 3 ways:

1. Through Fundamental Analysis

2. Through Technical Analysis

3. Through a Combination of fundamental and technical analysis

While which method a trader chooses is ultimately up to them and their trading personality, it is my opinion that a trader who at least has an understanding of both technical and fundamental analysis is in a better overall position to trade profitably, than someone who focuses on only one school of thought.

To help understand this lets say that I am a trader who studies technical analysis and believes that at least in the short term, which is the time frame that I trade on, that technicals are all that matter. Next lets say that I am looking at a chart of the EUR/USD at 8:20 AM on the first Friday of the month, and my technicals are telling me that the trade is a good buy.

If I focused purely on technical analysis then I would probably enter that position not knowing that at 8:30 AM I may be in for a surprise that I was not expecting. As those of you who have been through module 8 of my basics of trading course know, at 8:30 AM on the first Friday of the month Non Farm Payrolls (NFP's) are released, which historically has been one of the most market moving fundamental releases in the forex market.

While I am not saying that a trader who trades on technicals should not take a trade that looks good to them from a technical standpoint because of weak fundamentals, what I think this shows is that technical traders who at least have an understanding of fundamentals have the ability to decide whether or not they should factor in a specific piece of fundamental information or no. In my opinion this gives them a big leg up on technical traders who dismiss fundamentals altogether.

Now lets say that I am a trader who trades a carry trade strategy which trades based off of a model I built to forecast interest rates based on fundamental news releases. Next lets say that my model generates a buy signal at 1.4700 which I have included on the chart on your screen. Would my trading not be better served if I at least knew that there was a major head and shoulders top in place, so technically the market is very weak here?

As with our technical analysis example what I am not saying is that a trader who trades on fundamentals should not take a trade that they feel is good from a fundamental standpoint when the market is weak from a technical standpoint. What I am saying however is that fundamental traders who at least have a basic understanding of technical analysis have the ability to decide this for themselves. In my opinion this gives them a big leg up on fundamental traders who dismiss technicals altogether.

As you have probably realized if you have been following my courses, they are designed to give traders a knowledge of both fundamental and technical analysis because I believe a knowledge of both puts traders in the best position to learn to trade profitably. I also believe that you can't really make a decision if you are going to trade based mainly off of technicals, fundamentals, or a combination of the two unless you have a sound understanding of the basics of both fundamental and technical analysis.

As we have already covered the basics of technical analysis in my free basics of trading course, I am assuming that everyone already has an understanding of this. With this in mind the rest of this course will be focused mainly on the fundamentals of the forex market, which we will start with in our next lesson. If you have not done so already I encourage you to go through module 8 of the basics of trading course located in the free course section of InformedTrades.com which gives an introduction to fundamental analysis.

1. An Overview of the Forex Market
2. The Difference Between Over the Counter (OTC) and Exchange-Based Markets
3. Who Really Controls the Forex Market?
4. The Role of the Retail Forex Broker
5. How Central Banks Move the Forex Market
6. How Banks, Hedge Funds, and Corporations Move Currencies
7. A Breakdown of the Forex Trading Day
8. Forex Trading - Characteristics of the Main Currencies
9. Setting Up Your Forex Trading Software
10. Forex Trading - How to Read a Currency Quote
11. Forex Trading - Understanding Currency Rate Movements
12. Forex Trading - Understanding the Bid/Ask Spread
13. How to Place Your First Forex Trade
14. How to Determine Your Position Size in the Forex Market
15. Forex Trading - Pips and Fractional Pip Pricing
16. How to Calculate Forex Trading Profits and Losses
17. An Introduction to Leverage in Trading
18. How Trading on Margin Works
19. How to Calculate Leverage in the Forex Market
20. How to Calculate Leverage in the Forex Market Part 2
21. How to Place a Market Order in the Forex Market
22. How to Place a Stop Loss and Take Profit Order in Forex
23. How to Place A Pending Entry Order in the Forex Market
24. How Rollover Works in Forex Trading
25. How Rollover Works in Forex Trading Part 2
26. Free Forex Charts Userguide
27. What Moves the Forex Market? - Trade Flows
28. How Capital Flows Move the Forex Market
29. The Current Account: How Forex Traders Can Use it to Identify Opportunities
30. Interpreting the Capital Account and Measuring Capital Flows
31. Fundamentals that Move Currencies - Balance of Payments
32. How Interest Rates Move the Forex Market Part 1
33. How Interest Rates Move the Forex Market Part 2
34. How To Trade the Carry Trade Strategy Part 1
35. How To Trade the Carry Trade Strategy Part 2
36. How To Trade the Carry Trade Strategy Part 3
37. Fundamental Analysis Vs. Technical Analysis in Forex
38. Forex Trading Fundamentals Quiz - Test Your Knowledge
39. Why the US Dollar is Still King
40. Determining the Fate of the US Dollar
41. Determining the Fate of the US Dollar Part II
42. Determining the Fate of the US Dollar, Part III
43. Economic Releases that Move the US Dollar
44. A Trader's Introduction to the Euro
45. A Trader's Introduction to the Euro, Part II
46. A Trader's Introduction to the Euro, Part III
47. A Trader's Introduction to the Yen
48. A Trader's Introduction to the Yen, Part II
49. A Trader's Introduction to the Japanese Yen, Part III
50. A Trader's Introduction to the British Pound
51. A Trader's Introduction to the Swiss Franc
52. A Trader's Introduction to the Canadian Dollar
53. A Trader's Introduction to the Australian Dollar
54. A Trader's Introduction to the New Zealand Dollar
55. Why Choosing a Forex Broker is so Confusing
56. Choosing a Forex Broker: Regulation and Financial Stability
57. Choosing a Forex Broker Part III: Transaction Costs
58. Choosing a Forex Broker, Part IV: Technology & Add-ons
59. Choosing a Forex Broker: Evaluating Customer Service
60. An Introduction to Forex Capital Markets (FXCM)
61. An Introduction to DailyFX Plus

This 61-video series is an introduction and in-depth look at the forex market, including how to place trades, the fundamentals of the forex market, profiles of the main currency pairs, and factors to consider when choosing a forex broker.



This is a continuation of The Basics of Trading course by Informed Trades.