Free Resources for FX Traders

Note the word ‘free’. One thing I notice alot is the attention paid to the wrong information all over the internet, especially in the beginning, allowing traders to develop poor trading habits. An important aspect to any trader’s career is getting access to information that is going to steer them in the right direction. Some of the services below are 100% free, others are trial, or intermediary version of services that you can access for either a limited period of time or indefinitely with restrictions. Also, I haven't included any forums, as this this list is intended to provide direct resources as opposed to community chats (anyone that knows the origin of this blog knows I'm partial to one, anyway). I have no affiliation with anyone or anything on this list.

This a ‘sticky’ post and I would like to keep this list growing. It could easily multiply by 10 in size. If you have anything you feel should be added, please email it to me at updates@nobrainertrades.com , and thank you to all who have contributed thus far. Enjoy.

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1. Audio and Video Market Data

Ransquawk - http://ransquawk.com/ - Audio alerts for Forex, Energy, Fixed Income and Gold. There is an announcer that ‘squawks’ live news information through all trading sessions. It’s a great service, but there’s a hitch. The free service has a short delay, so you’re not getting second by second alerts. Regardless, its still well worth it. These guys are good and offer a quality product.

NewsStrike - free audio alerts in real time, but only for the US trading session (7am to 5pm EST). Service is 100% free. I haven't tried it out yet, it was just sent to me so I sent them an email to sign up. Seeems pretty straightforward and I'll let you know how it goes. http://www.newsstrike.com/

Bloomberg Live on the Web - http://www.bloomberg.com/tvradio/index.html?Intro=intro_tvradio

2. Aggregate Economic Charts & Data

Trading Economies – http://www.tradingeconomics.com/

Thumbcharts - mainly U.S. economy http://www.thumbcharts.com/

FX Econostats from Oanda – compare past and current economic data sorted by country -http://fxtradeinfocenter.oanda.com/fxeconostats/

S&P Sovereign Ratings - http://www.standardandpoors.com/ratings/sovereigns/ratings-list/en/us/?sectorName=Governments&subSectorCode=39&subSectorName=Sovereigns

Moody's Sovereign Ratings - (Need to register) http://v3.moodys.com/Pages/default.aspx

Fitch Sovereign Ratings - (Need to register) http://www.fitchratings.com/jsp/sector/Sector.faces?selectedTab=Overview&Ne=4293330737%2b11

CalculatedRisk - a blog with timely updates concentrated mainly on the U.S. Economy http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/

Wall Street Journal Economic Chartbook - U.S. Economy http://online.wsj.com/mdc/public/page/2_3024-ecocharts.html

3. Market Data and News

IFR Market Data – Highlights include order flows touted on currency pairs, briefings, outlining daily notes, key levels, etc, FX OTC option data, volatility data including risk reversals, etc, and technical studies, where they essentially ‘keep their own book’ and trade much in the manner we do here. A full listing of available information can be found here: http://www.ifrmarkets.com/protected/ForEx.pdf You can get it completely free with an Oanda Demo or Live account here http://www.oanda.com/. Go to the Oanda platform and click go to Resources>FXNews. Everything is there. FXCM also offers this service, but only, to my understanding, if you have a live account and the data is limited. I recommend going through this link if interested in them vs. Oanda: http://www.forexfactory.com/brokers.php?broker=443

Bloomberg Currency and World Market News – http://www.bloomberg.com/news/markets/currencies.html

UBS Currency Strategy and Research - http://fxtrade.oanda.com/resources/ubsnews/

RTT Currency News - http://www.rttnews.com/Content/Forex.aspx?Node=B3

Reuters Currencies (News + Pricing) - http://www.reuters.com/finance/currencies

Wall Street Journal Currencies - http://online.wsj.com/public/page/news-currency-currencies-trading.html

Oanda’s Order Book – See outstanding orders and current live positions. http://fxtradeinfocenter.oanda.com/orderbook/open_orders_and_positions The only other retail broker that I also know does this is MB Trading. You’ll need their MB Navigator platform to see it, and I don’t know what the reliability is on the demo platform.

ForexDatasource - has a free piece of software (FXHound) that covers technicals, trading signals and news events, you name it http://forexdatasource.com/

Average Volatility Grid by MoneyHackers: see which days and which hours provide the most volatility for currency pairs: http://www.moneyhackers.com/

COT (Commitment of Traders) Charts - http://www.timingcharts.com/

Financial Times Currency News - http://www.ft.com/markets/currencies

Financial Times Currency Performance Strength - http://markets.ft.com/ft/markets/currencies.asp

Barchart.com - http://barchart.com/

TradingCharts.com - http://tradingcharts.com/

NASDAQ World Currency Option Chains - http://www.nasdaq.com/asp/currency-options.asp

4. Charting Software

TradeStation Analytics – In depth charting platform offering a wide range of technical analysis with the option to automate your strategies. There are a massive range of plugins available for this platform, and its been one of the most widely recognized among individual traders. The big hitch with this one is that you have to open an account with them in order to use it and, to my knowledge, trade a certain volume. Regardless, I put them on the list knowing the quality they provide. http://www.tradestation.com/

Charts by Esignal - Rhobust charting platform with a wide range of indicators, built in techniques, etc. http://www.esignal.com/ . You can get it free if you have an account with Gain Capital (http://www.forex.com/). The good news is that they give you access to the Advance GET version, which is the advanced version of the platform. There is also a market depth data add on for forex, which allows you to see streaming bids and offers from about 80 different brokers/market makers.

ProRealTime Charting Software - Another pretty rhobust platform, offering a wide range of technical analysis tools for an active trader (http://www.prorealtime.com/). Again, a condition with these - if you have an account with IG Markets, they're offered for free (http://www.igmarkets.com/fx/charts-highlight.html). I was also just told today that apparently you will get charged appx. 30GBP/month if you dont maintain atleast 2 transactions per month with these. If you're interested in opening an account, I recommend you do so through here: http://www.forexfactory.com/brokers.php?broker=478.

Metatrader – I don’t think I even need to put this on the list, but just do a google search for ‘metatrader brokers’, pick one, download the platform, and right from the platform, you can open a demo account. Probably the most widely used among the retail crowd. Allows for automated trading of expert advisors (EA’s). If you're an indicator junkie, you can download over 1,000 compatable ones for the platform here: http://www.fx1618.com/indicators.html

NetDania - offers free charting and quotes on live and forward rates in what is a pretty rhobust platform for a web-based Java app. If you go to the following url: http://netdania.com/UI/Products.aspx you can check out their wide range of Web Applications found in the left-navigation. There is quite a bit to choose from.


5. Online Tools

Mataf.net – everything from a position size calculator, volatility and correlation data http://www.mataf.net/en/tools/home

6. Newsletters

Van Tharp Institute – A great free newsletter commenting on trader psychology and current market environments by the author of ‘Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom’. Emphasis is alot on equities, but still worth reading. http://www.iitm.com/

Joe Ross’s Chart Scan Newsletter – I’ve been getting this since I started trading. Joe Ross is one of the pioneers of individual day trading techniques and offers a wide range of books, services and trading systems for futures and forex markets, but you can get his newsletter for free. http://www.tradingeducators.com/

John Carter - Author of 'Mastering the Trade', and Hubert Senters, his partner, publish free daily videos if you subscribe to their newsletter. They cover forex, futures and equity day trading strategies. http://www.tradethemarkets.com/

7. EBooks and Articles

Trading-Naked - Tons of great reading material can be found on trading-naked.com (please excuse the audio in the back; I admit in saying I find it a little weird, but the site material is good) - http://www.trading-naked.com/Articles_and_Reprints.htm

Pdf-search-engine.com – not a trading site, but type in the name of any trading book and there’s a likelihood you’ll find a reprint of it here http://www.pdf-search-engine.com/

8. Free Magazines

Currency Trader Magazine – a free magazine distributed monthly outlining latest events, strategies and input from market pros. http://www.currencytradermag.com/

Futures and Options Trader – As the title says, but still filled with lots of very useful information in regards to trading strategies. http://www.futuresandoptionstrader.com/

Futures Magazine – free magazine with all of the above, but emphasis on futures trading strategies. Currencies are also discussed from time to time. Can’t beat the price.http://www.futuresmag.com/cms/futures/website

SFO (Stocks, Futures and Options) Magazine – a free monthly magazine with a wide range of trading articles dedicated to the daytrader http://www.sfomag.com/

Global Finance Magazine - delivers the full story; corporate finance, joint ventures and M&A, country profiles, capital markets, investor relations, currencies, banking, risk management, custody, direct investment, money management and all the rest-specifically tailored for corporate readers around the world. http://www.gfmag.com/

Investment Advisor Magazine - authoritative features, product surveys, planner profiles, and monthly articles on improving client relationships; covers the spectrum of portfolio management. http://www.investmentadvisor.com/

The Deal Magazine - current deals in every sector from all around the world. They cover the players - the people behind the deals - plus they bring you comprehensive perspectives, timely commentary and analysis with pages of charts and stats as well as in-depth features.http://www.thedeal.com/newsweekly/magazine.php

9. Trading Tutorials/Instruction/Strategies

Informed Trades - Massive, online free video course available – whatever your trade level, this is a good place to visit. The time spent putting together these free online courses pretty much blows my mind. They’re well devised, concise trading videos on a wide range of topics. http://www.informedtrades.com/f111/

Gann Global Financial - Offers a free ecourse and videos dedicated to Gann trading http://www.gannglobal.com/

ElliotWave International - offers 10 free lessons, with access to another 10 free before you have to pay anything http://www.elliotwave.com/

DecisionPoint - Online overview of various technical analysis / trade management / psychology techniques http://www.decisionpoint.com/tacourse/tacoursemenu.html

Learning Markets - dedicated site offering frequent updates on pretty much anything you could imagine about daytrading and have a massive video vault covering any topic imaginable http://www.learningmarkets.com/

BabyPips –101 stuff with an active forum http://www.babypips.com/

MoneyShow - most people know these guys for putting on the 'Trader's Expo', which takes place in several locations around the world each year, but their website is flooded with videos and articles to help make you a better trader. http://www.moneyshow.com/

FXWords - dictionary of FX terms http://www.fxwords.com/

Forex Strategies Revealed - a decent-sized list of strategies aimed at the FX market. I have nothing to say about any of them, other than the fact that they're posted on this site; use at your own risk http://forex-strategies-revealed.com/

Investopedia’s FX Arena – Good general overview of the FX Market from A to Z - http://www.investopedia.com/features/forex.aspx

NASDAQ's Online FX Trading Tutorials - New site feature with alot of valuable data http://www.nasdaq.com/investing/forex-trading.stm

10. Other Sites

ForexOnTop - Is a listing of the most popular websites dedicated to the FX Market http://www.forexontop.com/

Dealbreaker.com - If Wall Street could even be remotely funny. Given what's happened during this recession, its hilarious. http://www.dealbreaker.com/

The CFTC's Financial Data for FCM's (Futures Commission Merchants - aka Futures and Forex Brokers) - http://www.cftc.gov/marketreports/financialdataforfcms/index.htm