Day Trading the Currency Market: Technical and Fundamental Strategies to Profit from Market Swings

After reading a number of books on Forex I stumbled across this gem. Slightly more expensive that some other books but I think of this as a very worthwhile investment in financial education. The style really shows you step by step, with examples, on how to go about engaging with the Forex market while providing a well rounded background explanation of what moves the market. Thank you for writing this Kathy Lien. 10/10!

First off, let me me tell you that I'm a novice trader with a miniscule role in the gigantic market of currency exchange - with over a trillion dollars moving about each day, it's hard to keep up with the big boys! But chances are, you are on my level too, and I just want to be on the right side of market movements, both massive and small. Before beginning to play in this market, you need to prepared, and the main weapon you will go into battle with is information. Granted, this is not the first book on the foreign exchange market, but many of them do not go beyond explanations of macroeconomic reports and the basics of ordering, spreads, etc. This magnificent text stands apart. These topics are covered, and please read them (honestly, I found Economics to be a bit dull in college, but they are more fascinating when your $$ are on the line). These chapters provide a great background in the overall concept and factors surrounding the only truly global exchange. Most FX books I've encountered touch on the origins and the fundamental economic factors of foreign exchange, but this book goes beyond and takes you into the trader's mindset. Isn't that what we are looking for, after all the (albeit necessary) prerequisites? She provides the reader with some of the strategies that she uses, based on technical and fundamental motivations (even seperated into different chapters for the purists), and this is the main feature that sets this book from most of its predecessors. Granted, many of the examples in the book are based upon trades done nearly two years ago (in some ways, ancient history in the FX market). However, this does not mean that they won't work today, and I feel that the real strength of these plays lie in their interpretation of them by the reader. Paper trade them, add some oscillators or indicators, and tweak them in your fashion, but they will surely give you some new ideas, which are the best weapons in the trader's arsenal. Many thanks to Kathy Lien, not only for this great book, but her constantly insightful contributions to the retail trader.

I just finished this book and all I have to say is "Fantastic!" Anybody serious about learning to trade the forex markets should read this first before they open up their first demo account! Kathy Lien does an excellent job bringing to light on what moves the market from economic news to technical factors. She even goes into currency correlations, how forex options affect the market, and how market makers and institutions use order flow to set their orders. This book should be one of a "newbie's" first stop in forex education!

In summary, I will post a paragraph of an e-mail that I have sent to the author. "Looks like that I have found the light in the end of the tunnel (that is correct?). This light is your just released book (Day Trading the Currency Market). I have read your book twice. This is the unique book that shows the FOREX in a practical way. I can tell you, after have read other Forex books, yours is a flashlight that shows the path. Sure that I know that it is not a garantee that I will make money, but I realy could understand and see what moves the market. You have shown that the market is not untouchable for us, small traders. I have already tried your technical trading strategies and I am very happy with it." That's it.

This book will be a worthwhile addition to the trader's library. After reading Ms. Lien's very thorough presentation there should be few unanswered questions about how the currency market works and how to find profitable trading opportunities. The breadth of currency market information is well beyond what I was expecting. Many of my questions were answered, including some that I didn't know to ask. My knowledge of this activity has increased significantly as a result. Although written for traders, readers interested in the general subject will find it provides a good overview of what the currency market is all about.