Currency trading has become a big deal lately. I wouldn’t call it a fad but it sure feels like it with forex brokers springing up at every corner. If you’re going to be heavily involved in trading currencies, then a forex broker is certainly an asset, but most investors and stock day traders simply don’t need the hassle of opening up a new trading account if they want to just dabble a bit in currencies.

The Canadian Dollar ETF which is traded under the ticker symbol FXC is a pretty heavily traded ETF that can be the platform to enter the currency trading market. Why did I choose FXC? Well, one reason is because it trades very in tune with the natural resources market (being that Canada is blessed with many of these resources). Having a currency ETF trade with something tangible and something the average investor can grasp is certainly a good starting point.

Another reason why the Canadian Dollar ETF is a good trading vehicle is because the news that comes out of Canada is pretty easy to access and the economy is very stable for the most part. You won’t get any massive day-to-day swings like you would with some other wold currencies and that is certainly a positive when you are trying to learn how the currency market works.

Now, I’m not saying that trading the actual currency isn’t better after you learn the ropes, but when first starting out I’d definitely stick to a stable ETF. Trading currency involves massive leverage and even the slightest swing can put a big dent in your capital. Because the Canadian Dollar ETF is, well, an ETF, you’ll most likely only be able to leverage it 3 to 1 on margin. And the swings are pretty low (rarely does it move more than 0.75% in a trading day) that it can provide just enough “excitement” and chance for profit, but without the risk of getting shell shocked.

So in closing, I highly recommend the Canadian Dollar ETF for traders who want to dabble or learn about currency trading. As always, good luck!

The price of silver seems to have stabilized since the abrupt fall in May but uncertainty still remains in that market so it’s probably a good idea for you as a trader to learn how to short silver using ETFs. This will give you another weapon in your trading arsenal to take advantage of sudden movements in the commodity.

The simplest and easiest way how to short silver is by using the iShares Silver Trust ETF which trades under the symbol “SLV” and the price of it correlates to the daily movements in the silver market. There are a couple drawbacks to shorting silver using  this ETF. The first of which is that your broker may not have the shares available for you to short. The second of which is that this method is a more safe platform to short silver and you will not maximize your profits during abrupt movements down in silver.

The latter drawback may not be one at all if you want to play it safe and trade slow and steady like many traders like and even should do. But if you want to maximize your profits should silver tumble, then you should look into trading the ProShares UltraShort Silver ETF which trades under the ticker symbol “ZSL”.

The ZSL ETF is a 2x UltraShort trading vehicle which means that the price of it will fluctuate twice as much as the daily percentage change in silver. So if silver goes down by 5% in one day, the ZSL ETF will rise 10%. This provides you with maximum leverage in shorting silver.

However, while the ZSL leverage is a nice way on how to short silver, it does have its own share of drawbacks. The biggest one being is that it gets reset daily so you may notice that the value deteriorates quite quickly should silver rise. This is something that should always be kept in mind when trading 2x or 3x ETFs.

I hope this article was useful and helped you learn how to short silver using ETFs. Good luck.

With the prolonged bull market in gold, some people see the rise as being unsustainable and thus there’s been an increase in people wanting to learn how to short gold. The easiest way to short gold is by purchasing an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) whose price corresponds directly to the spot price of gold. There are two popular short ETFs that deal with shorting gold but before I share them with you, I have to warn you about their drawbacks.

Both of the ETFs that short gold on the stock market are Double Inverse ETFs (or 2x, for short). This means that whatever the price movement of gold is on a single day, the price of each ETF will move by 2x the percentage of the move. That’s good news if you are on the right side of the trade, but if you are on the other side, your equity can melt away quite quickly. This is because these funds reset every day. As you’ll see from the example below, this is important because the price can depreciate quite quickly on big moves or slowly during grinding time price movements.

Let’s say you buy the 2x inverse ETF and pay $10, and then the price of gold moves down 5% in next day. The ETF will be worth $11 ($10 + 10%  – $11). Now, say the next day the price of gold goes up the same amount (5%). Your 2x inverse ETF will now be worth $9.90 ($11 – 10% = $1.10). Now, say the next day it goes down 5% again (the ETF goes down 10% because it’s 2x) and your 2x inverse ETF is now worth $8.91 ($9.90 – 10% = $8.91). Keep in mind that the lower the price of the inverse ETF goes, the harder it will be for it to go back up. And eventually, the endgame on each of these inverse ETFs is massive percentage losses. These inverse ETFs should only be used as short-term trading vehicles.

2x Short Gold ETFs

With that said, here are the 2x Short ETFs which will answer your question of how to short gold via the stock market:

• Symbol: GLL – ProShares UltraShort Gold
• Symbol: DZZ – DB Gold Double Short ETN

There’s no difference between GLL and DZZ other than the fact that they are products from different companies. They should trade in tandem with very minor deviations. However, you may want to keep an eye on the differences in the bid/ask spreads to help ensure that you maximize every penny and percentage point with your trading.

Once again, I can’t stress enough that these are to be used for short-term shorting of gold and not as a long-term investment. I hope you found this article on how to short gold using ETFs useful. Good luck with shorting gold, if that’s what you choose to do!

To participating in a virtual stock market game you will need to sign up for an account and most of them are 100% free to join. While the virtual action will not match that of a real-life trading, if you make the game out to be a competition with yourself (say trying to make $300 a day), it can yield some good emotional results as well. Take a look around and find a platform which you like and definitely try your hand playing in the virtual stock market arena.

By watching these videos you will get good working examples of the different strategies which are out there. Do not copy them, though. It’s best best to create your own system based on your personality and your trading experience. It never hurts to see what other are doing though so keep your eye out there for companies and traders who are willing to show you how they trade.

These stocks move and they move fast but from my experience (and many traders too!) is that they are only good for short term swings because if you hold on to them long enough, their value will erode greatly. Just pop up a chart of each of these ETFs and you’ll see what i mean.

These ETFs require a consistent trend to ride and if you don’t get out as soon as that trend ends, you’ll end up losing value quickly.

Intraday trades using these stocks is not a bad idea as you can really hit a homerun if you buy it at the low of the day and then watch the trend reverse and ride in your favor. What I’m basically trying to say is that timing is key with these 3x ETFs and if you don’t have your timing right, then you’d be better of trading something else.

In one of the books there is an interview with Steven A. Cohen which features a fantastic piece of advise. In response to the question “What do people do wrong?”, Steven dropped this little nugget:

You have to know what you are, and not try to be what you’re not. If you are a day trader, day trade. If you are an investor, then be an investor. It’s like a comedian who gets up on stage and starts singing. What’s he singing for? He’s a comedian.

This may sound like common sense but in the trading world there are so many things going on that it is very easy to lose yourself in the moment. Emotions like fear and greed kick in which cause you to stray from your plan and soon you find your discipline wavering.

To be successful you need to tune out all the noise and stick to your plan. You need to know what your plan is. You need to follow that plan. Stay disciplined.