Dirk is a well-known trader and mentor not only in his native South Africa but around the forex world. His credentials are impeccable. Since 2002 he has been the Chairman of the Forex Investment Association that helps regulate the South African Forex industry and is also a licensed Forex Money Manager. For the past 15 years he has earned his living in the global financial markets by trading and mentoring other traders in the forex marketplace.

Dirk du Toit’s book has been on the forex best seller list since its introduction in 2004. There was a major update and revision in 2010.

The BWILC latest edition contains 340 pages of valuable information and is a must in any forex trader’s reference collection; it’s a downloadable ebook, but can be printed if necessary.

Get more information on Dirk’s website. He explains exactly why he wrote “Bird Watching in Lion Country” and for whom.

Here are just a couple of testimonials from readers of the BWILC 2010 Edition:

“You have hit a home run. BWILC was great, but the 2010 revision is much better. I like that you spent a lot more attention to the managing of account draw downs and methods of handling them. I learned some of the draw down handling in the mentoring program and have practiced applying the techniques. I am glad to see it so well explained in the revision. The 2010 revision is organized in a more straight forward manner. When I read the revision, I placed the original BWILC side by side and tried to follow the flow and see the differences. I find the revision clearer and certainly more detailed. A nice feature at the end is the inclusion of actual trading experience.”

Jay

“BWILC 2010 is a comprehensive, methodical roadmap to building one’s trading business. It is brutally honest, as current as it can be, and most importantly, a detailed account of the common philosophies all successful traders follow. There is not a product out there that comes even close, because there is nobody else out there willing to really teach others how to succeed as a Forex trader. Most take half-truths, distort them, and put them together in some kind of quick recipe that THEY can benefit from, either in the form of selling books/courses or getting people to open accounts with them. Without the solid foundation that this book provides, I do not see how anybody could seriously start a speculative business as Forex trading.’”

Humberto

“I think your BWILC ebook is priced too low. You might have done better market analysis than I have but your product is so much higher quality than everything I’ve seen. You could easily raise the price by $100 in my opinion.”

Kris

[Ed: Until Dirk comes to his senses you can get your copy for just $97]

Bird Watching in Lion Country 2010 Edition

Possibly even more important is the type of training and the mentor or trainer, but with the correct coaching and forex trading education, steady profits are achievable, even for a novice trader.

Would you like some forex coaching that won’t cost you an arm and a leg – in fact you can even get it for free?

Some valuable live, online forex coaching is being made available on Wednesday March 3rd.

There are three sessions to choose from, so this is an ideal opportunity for traders in different time zones, especially those living outside the USA. On the site you can also convert the coaching session times from EST (New York) to a local time zone anywhere in the world – a really useful feature.

Visit http://www.ForexCoach.Me and register early for this free training. Limited space available.

FUSION-V 1.1a is being included in the FRWC Royal Trader robot collection which went on sale on Tuesday, February 16th. Each winning robot is also supplied as part of the complete suite of verified results live trading forex robots.

Are the FRWC competition and the robots being sold off it just another scam? I don’t think so, but many will automatically assume that to be the case, in spite of the fact that the live trading accounts for these robots have been made available to the public all along, as well as current trading on the FRWC’s own accounts for purchasers.

There are now many FRWC Royal Trader users out there now, and it won’t be long before some of them will share their experiences (both good and bad) and hopefully genuine user reviews will hit the forums. But don’t necessarily believe all of them. Faked comment from the ‘competition’ (other robot vendors) will be there too, criticising the FRWC and its sponsors, or for that matter, affiliates promoting further sales!

Apart from an active support team and user forum, there is a money-back guarantee offered with FRWC Royal Trader, sales of which and returns are managed by Plimus.

Croatian economist and forex trader Drazen Ziscovik‘s robot managed a stellar 145% equity gain in two months of live trading. His interest in forex began some eight years ago; over the past six he has developed several successful forex trading robots before LMD-Multicurrency.

Drazen made fourth place in the 2007 MetaQuotes ATC and his 2010 FRWC-winning EA is a result of the success he had using a single currency pair, and which he improved and modified to work on more pairs before submitting the LMD-Multicurrency EA to the Forex Robot World Cup contest, winning the cup and being awarded the $100,000 cash prize.

In second place was South African trader Leslee Gouws‘ highly-rated HiRIDER EA, showing a remarkable 88% gain with just 3.26% drawdown; this will appeal to more conservative traders.

Both these and other proven winning forex robots are being sold as part of the FRWC’s Royal Trader collection which goes on sale on this coming Tuesday. It is not known how many copies are being released, but the interest has been phenomenal as the possibility of being able to trade with forex robots with verified results is finally becoming a reality. More details here.

The Forex Robot World Cup contest to find the best non-commercial robots revealed the truth about robot trading and at last has brought some transparency to the forex robot business, showing that, in reality, very few ‘trading autopilots’ increase account equity consistently.

Out of over 300 entries, only about a dozen increased account value – or even remained in profit at all – over the two month strictly-monitored live account trading period.

The competition, sponsored by the world’s largest forex broker FXCM and Boston Technologies (MetaTrader) ended on January 29th and the surprising final results of the top performers like HiRider and LMD-Multicurrency EAs can be seen more fully on the FRWC website, now that the contest has officially ended.

From February 16th, several of the best robots will be available for purchase as the FRWC’s Royal Trader. These robots, although not as cheap as some offerings, will no doubt be snapped up as traders realize that these robots have genuine, verified live trading results under current market conditions.

Provided you have traded forex manually and have a reasonable understanding of the market and the inherent risks of forex trading, then you can try automated trading. If you don’t, then consider taking an inexpensive course such as Forex Nitty Gritty and/or get a copy of Dirk du Toit’s best-selling forex ebook “Bird Watching in Lion Country” which I cannot recommend highly enough. See my related post or visit Dirk’s website to learn more.

You can use one or more of these robots if MetaTrader 4/5 is offered by your bank or broker. You can also download the program free from http://Metaquotes.net. Robots are small add-on programs known as EAs (Expert Advisors) and are usually simple to install and use with the MetaTrader Windows platform.

One thing to note is that your computer should remain online to your brokerage account while the robot has trades running. If this is not practical or if you do not have continuous access to a computer, you can open an account with a VPS provider. This is a service that runs your software continuously and you can access its Windows Desktop remotely from any computer. You can load and run programs as if they were on your own computer, and also use it as a ‘proxy server’ in the USA or UK.

A Virtual Private Server costs from about $30 per month, depending on features and capacity required. Several robots can usually be run with a basic VPS service.

There are hundreds of forex robots available, some free, although it’s unlikely they will be consistently profitable. Most of the paid ones range around $100. Some are available by monthly subscription.

One of the most popular and best-known robots is FAP Turbo which was first released over a year ago and has undergone consistent upgrades and revisions since then. Version 49 is current. Updates are necessary as the robot must be able to adapt to current trends.

In January, the publishers of FAP Turbo released Spanish and Chinese versions of their program. All relevant literature and the program have been translated and there are more languages to come. FAP Turbo recommends two VPS services to run their robot continuously: EZFXHost and FX Hoster.

Get more free information about automated forex trading and virtual private servers at Forex-On-Auto.com.

For the ‘yet-to-be-enlightened’, forex trading involves investing a relatively small amount of money for a short period of time and ‘betting’ (placing trades) on the movement of the exchange rate between a pair of currencies such as the US dollar vs. the British pound. Choose the correct movements and you will make money; choose the wrong ones and you will lose some. It’s all done seamlessly through an electronic exchange similar to a stock exchange and to trade forex you will need a brokerage account with a bank or forex dealer.

Forex trading is a form of investment. ‘Investment’ is a business term and seen generally in a positive light as growth of capital. Forex trading aims at the same thing (capital growth), but it often gets ‘bad press’, being derided by some as ‘gambling’ which has an inherently bad connotation and is even officially banned in some countries. However, virtually all forms of ‘investment’ involve risk and wager, whether it be trading stocks, futures and options – or purchasing real estate.

Astute investors (and gamblers) are very aware of risk and strive to manage it by staying within self-imposed limits. There are some similarities between forex spot trading and a casino game like roulette. They are stimulating and exciting as they happen in the ‘here and now’, with virtually instant results. Both are affected to some degree by ‘the house’; for forex it is the dealer, bank or broker. Luck does play a part, as with many things in life, but knowledge of the ‘game’ and skills at ‘playing’ it are the deciding factors when it comes to winning or losing.

Gamblers, traders and investors are content when their capital grows. If they want it to grow faster and more consistently, most try to learn more about the business in order to stop making mistakes and profit more. Again, the astute ones are also prepared to set money aside for their education. That becomes part of the overall investment.

If, on the other hand, someone starts trading the forex markets (it’s very easy to do) because the or she has been led to believe that forex trading is an easy way to make money, they will be disappointed at their results and become disillusioned and often shout ‘scam’. Then, they will either give up on it because they don’t want to put in the required effort or they don’t really enjoy doing it. They will write off their losses and try to find some other money-making pursuit. Unfortunately, they are likely to fail again – and for exactly the same reasons.

Without education and knowledge, forex trading is an extremely risky pursuit. It’s gambling without knowing the odds. With education and experience, these odds improve dramatically and reckless gambling can become managed-risk investment.

Forex trading can also be automated by the use of a robot.  See our related post.

These are some of the popular terms used to describe or promote products and tools designed to trade the forex market automatically. Once set up, the robot will trigger entry and exit points for trades, using complicated algorithms and formulas that detect and act on trends and spot price movements in the currency markets. These take place at any time during the forex trading week (Sunday afternoon to Friday afternoon in New York) or the equivalent time elsewhere in the world.

Basically, a forex autopilot can be set to run as long as the computer maintains its online connection with the auto-trading program which is linked to the trader’s brokerage or bank trading account. This normally requires that the computer needs to be kept running. However, some programs offer an alternative method that doesn’t require the trader to own a computer; access to the trading platform is made through a host server which is online at all times. Monitoring trades can be done securely using any public computer such as in an internet cafe , airport, hotel or other public access point. A boon for travelers and others away from their own machine.

Obvious questions include:

1. Do forex trading robots really work? Will they give you more winning trades than losers, resulting in a significant net profit?

2. How much do they cost?

3. How difficult are they to set up and use, especially for new or novice traders?

Some definitely do work well, and there are results that demonstrate that. A trading autopilot can cost anything between $100 and $5,000. Some are purchased outright while others require ongoing monthly subscription. They usually come with full instructions for installation and running, with manuals and video tutorials.

The one I am using right now was released in November 2008. Current outright purchase price is $149, and frankly, from the results I have seen in two days of running it, it’s a steal. The owners intend raising it to $399 and that may also require a monthly fee. Still cheap, I think.

I am definitely not an experienced trader, and to be honest I have shied away from forex trading after previous losses, hence the reason for publishing this blog. I was impressed with the program and its attention to detail of setting it up. It really was easy. The best way to learn forex is of course with a free demo trading account. That way, you don’t risk losing any money. There are details on how to go about that too.

Here are my results so far, for trades which were made automatically, without any intervention, on 27–28 November. If the image is difficult to read, the 12 trades apart from the last one, were ‘half lots’ of mainly EUR/USD, using a $5,000 demo account. The net profit is already $1,218.53.

The thing is, trading a $500 mini account with a broker, the autopilot would still have made just over $240 from 2 days trading. And opening that mini account will be my next step.

This Forex Autopilot program is called FAP Turbo and it runs as an Expert Advisor on the popular and free MetaTrader 4 Platform, where you can also open a demo account. There are two different strategies that can be used, for either short or longer term trading. They can be used together on different currency pairs, simultaneously.

More results as I get them, but as they say “So far, so good”.

P.S. There’s a genuine 60 day money back guarantee, so you don’t even risk the $149. It’s definitely not a scam!

Don’t spend too much time trading every day, and don’t be greedy. Here is a method that will give you a steady 10 pips per day by trading a maximum of one hour. Learn how.

Three keys to success in Forex are system, analysis and perseverance.

Most experienced traders tell novice traders that they need to develop a system and stick to it – no matter what. Letting your emotions rule your decisions can hurt your trading in a number of ways. The system tells you when to buy, what to buy, when to trade and what to trade for. By sticking to your system you’ll maximize your profits. A system based on technical analysis of historical market trends is one of the most potent tools that you can utilize if you’re just getting started in Forex trading. Many traders, with years of experience, continue to use this system to keep the profits rolling in. Successful traders will tell you that when their gut instinct and their system collide, the system is almost always right.

Using a mechanical system takes the emotion out of your trading, eliminating one of the reasons people fail. Your system doesn’t sway with emotions. It sticks to a tried and true course. To be effective, your system – one you develop your own or adopt from someone else – should identify the entry and exit point of your trade, mitigating factors, and an exit strategy.

For every trade the following need prior consideration:

1. Under what conditions should you acquire a currency?

For instance, you may have a buy order for when a particular currency drops more than 5 pips because your analysis tells you that that’s likely to be as low as it goes.

2. How will you exit – ‘trade out’ of a currency?

There are two reasons to exit: to maximize your profit, or minimize your loss. Your system should include a set stop-loss order and a set take-profit order at which point you cash out your trade. Your exit strategy may be as simple as a stop-loss order when your loss hits 5%, or a take-profit order when you make 40% profit.

3. What factors will you allow to change that decision?

While the money market moves in predictable patterns, there are always individual variations of a trend within those patterns. If you’ve taken those variations into account, it will be far easier to decide when a factor really does make a difference, and when it’s just wishful thinking. If you’re not careful, however, this is where emotion could come into play and sour deals for you.

Another key is perseverance. Analysis of trends in the market will show you that the market moves in dips and spurts within overall patterns that are predictable. No trend moves smoothly in an up or down line – there are inevitable periods of time when values suddenly spiral up or down based on some outside factor. These are the times when emotion can hurt your portfolio. When a currency that you’re holding takes a sudden dip, it is tempting to succumb to panic trading, ‘cut your losses and run’ even if your system tells you to hold on. On the other hand, it’s easy to catch the rising excitement as a trade starts increasing in value and scramble to buy more of the same. These are exactly the times to rely most heavily on your trading system. It will tell you exactly when to trade for maximum profit.

If you control your emotions and stick to the system you’ll maximize your profits and become a successful trader. But never expect it to be smooth sailing all the time!

Forex is not a game if you’re risking your own money.
It’s a business. No one achieves success in business quickly or easily, and 90% of new businesses are likely to fail within the first year.

Understanding the principles of forex trading and following proven trading strategies are the most positive first steps you can take to achieve success in this business. You owe it to yourself not to become just another ‘forex loser’ – one of the many.

If you haven’t yet read a review of “BWILC” – “Bird Watching in Lion Country – Forex Retail Trading Explained”, by Dirk du Toit, or seen what independent traders at the MoneyTec forum have to say about this book and author which have earned the respect of traders old and new, then please do so. Recommended from personal use and experience. Buy it now!

Read the review, or just do yourself a favour and get this inexpensive book.