• Get your work/life/trade balance right
• Don’t just talk about it – actually diversify
• Know the economic calendar inside out

With 2015 drawing to a close, many traders are looking ahead to next year in hopes of either replicating their success or starting off with a clean slate. Regardless of their performance these past 12 months, it’s pretty safe to say that the New Year brings with it hopes of a better performance in 2016.

With this in mind, Nikolas Xenofontos, Director of Risk Management at leading online trading services provider easy-forex, has provided 10 New Year’s resolutions that traders of all levels should aspire to in 2016.

1. Get your work/life/trade balance right

In order to succeed at trading (or anything, really), you need to get your priorities straight. This means setting aside sufficient time for work, life, and in the case of a part-time trader, trading. By making a resolution to spend enough time away from the screen, you are making a commitment to balancing and improving your lifestyle. This will actually help you focus on your trading goals, avoid distraction and maximize your time while you’re actually trading.

2. Read more

A learned trader is a more informed trader, and being more informed may help you succeed. The only way to become an informed trader is to read more, and then apply what you’ve learnt. This means reading anything and everything related to trading: fundamental analysis, technical analysis, trading books and news headlines are just a few examples. The free to download easy-forex ebook, Top 10 Stock Indices to Trade in 2016, is a great place to start.

3. Plan every trade

Every single trade you take should be carefully planned. Successful traders don’t trade on a whim. They assess the markets, anticipate upcoming events and monitor the trends to understand a solid entry point. Before you go long or short on anything, ask yourself if you planned your move ahead of time. If the answer is no, stop right there.

4. Really diversify this time

Every trader knows they need to diversify their portfolio to limit risk exposure, but few actually do it. Take a long hard look at your trades this past year and ask yourself whether you actually invested in more than one or two asset classes. At the end of the day, diversification is to your benefit. Your ability to smooth out risks from your portfolio can often mean the difference between success and failure.

5. You may trade the economic calendar

We all know that technical trading is the bread and butter of most successful traders, but that doesn’t mean they rely solely on the charts to pick winning trades. Today’s financial markets are more influenced by the economic calendar than at any time in recent memory. Economic data and monetary policy news matter. Your ability to react quickly to news events and predict the outcome may set you up for some positive gains. In 2016, endeavour to start each day by reviewing the economic calendar.

6. Define your loss limit

What if I told you that successful traders don’t always pick winning trades? This happens more often than you think. The point is, losses are bound to occur in trading. Picking a bad trade isn’t the end of the world if you’ve defined your loss limit. If you’ve failed repeatedly, at some point you may need to stop trading and reassess your strategy. What’s the maximum loss you can absorb? Figure it out. That’s your loss limit.

7. Try something new

A lot of traders don’t diversify because one or two asset classes are all they know. As a trader, it’s important to dip your hand in different markets from time to time; this will not only help you diversify, but also may capitalize on opportunities provided by other markets. By the end of the year, you should be comfortable trading at least one other asset class. Remember to approach new asset classes very conservatively at first. You may consider trading in a demo account before you put down real money.

8. Draw trend lines

Being a trader in the digital age is amazing because you have literally dozens of charting tools available at your disposal. Whether you specialize in forex, stocks, commodities, options or any other asset class, there’s free charting software out there for you. Setting up daily charts, drawing trend lines and performing technical analysis should be performed every day.

9. Identify warning signs

As a trader, you’re actively engaged in trading. You’re not keen on simply cost averaging index funds year after year. You want to participate in the markets and make multiple trades on a daily or weekly basis. In that case, you need to learn to identify the warning signs. Using tools like the MACD may help you identify trend reversals so that you can respond quickly and effectively.

10. Be profitable

Remember, the purpose of trading is to make money. At the end of 2016, you will have hopefully made more money than you lost. So before you dream about millions, ask yourself whether you’ve broken even in a calendar year, let alone made a handsome profit. Being conscientious about the bottom line will keep you focused and motivated. It’ll also teach you to master your trading psychology. This goal is so simple but so fundamental to trading. Don’t lose sight of it!

For further details visit www.easy-forex.com, email pr@easy-forex.com or call +44 203 1500 748.

Risk warning: Forward Rate Agreements, Options and CFDs (OTC Trading) are leveraged products that carry a substantial risk of loss up to your invested capital and may not be suitable for everyone. Please ensure that you understand fully the risks involved and do not invest money you cannot afford to lose. Our group of companies through its subsidiaries is licensed by the Cyprus Securities & Exchange Commission (Easy Forex Trading Ltd- CySEC, License Number 079/07), which has been passported in the European Union through the MiFID Directive and in Australia by ASIC (Easy Markets Pty Ltd -AFS license No. 246566).

• China’s stocks climbed more than 59% before the market stalled
• Chinese GDP growth still projected to be between 6.8% and 7.1% this year
• Chinese GDP to keep growing until at least 2060 (OECD)

No year is ever entirely smooth for global financial markets and 2015 has certainly been no exception. Markets fluctuated between euphoria and dismay, with the Chinese stock market generating its fair share of both.

Nikolas Xenofontos, Director of Risk Management at leading online trading services provider easy-forex, comments,

“China has been the scene of possibly the greatest shock to financial markets in 2015. Prices in Shanghai hit a six year high in the spring, with investors clamouring for more exposure to Chinese markets. The result was a climb of more than 59%, but when the Chinese economy stumbled, the picture changed very quickly.”

While Europe and the United States where pumping money into the market to boost liquidity, China decided it needed to repatriate some of its capital, by selling off its US treasury holdings. This effectively began quantitative tightening and before long investor demand for Chinese stocks had plummeted, with values declining rapidly.

As growth began to stall, with the purchasing manager’s indices beginning to show contraction, the slides increased. Suddenly China’s euphoric first half of the year had turned to a tale of shrinking trade data (both imports and exports) and tumbling prices. A wave of selling and negative sentiment in late August followed multiple attempts by regulators to stem the tide of stock liquidation.

Investors were prevented from shorting stocks and at one period stock trading was halted. Stocks dropped more than 43%.

It was then that the People’s Bank of China came in with another rate cut. The bank dropped its benchmark rate and reduced reserve requirements. Almost before anyone could blink, Black Monday came along, with the market experiencing one of the biggest crashes of recent years.

Chinese stocks continue to gyrate and it will be some time before they stabilize, but the long-term outlook isn’t too glum. Certainly, China’s economy is contracting, but GDP growth is still expected to be somewhere between 6.8% (International Monetary Fund figure) and 7.1% (World Bank figure) for 2015. The International Monetary Fund has projected that it will dip to a low of 6.0% in 2017, before beginning to rise again. Even the OECD’s long-term forecast doesn’t see growth falling below 1.55% in the next 45 years. Easy-forex’s Nikolas Xenofontos concludes,

“The future for China does look broadly positive, but then it did right up until the moment the market crashed so spectacularly earlier in 2015. It just goes to show how quickly things can alter in such a complex and ever-changing world. I don’t think anyone would have predicted at the start of the year that China would be the scene of the world’s greatest financial shock in 2015.”

For further details visit www.easy-forex.com, email pr@easy-forex.com or call +44 203 1500 748.

Risk warning: Forward Rate Agreements, Options and CFDs (OTC Trading) are leveraged products that carry a substantial risk of loss up to your invested capital and may not be suitable for everyone. Please ensure that you understand fully the risks involved and do not invest money you cannot afford to lose. Our group of companies through its subsidiaries is licensed by the Cyprus Securities & Exchange Commission (Easy Forex Trading Ltd- CySEC, License Number 079/07), which has been passported in the European Union through the MiFID Directive and in Australia by ASIC (Easy Markets Pty Ltd -AFS license No. 246566).

• Gold bulls wake up
• Oil bears roar into 2016
• Copper calls it quits

It’s that time of year when children up and down the country are getting excited about Saint Nick’s imminent annual trip down the chimney with his sack of toys. But it’s not just Father Christmas who is spreading seasonal goodwill. In the spirit of the season, Nikolas Xenofontos, Director of Risk Management at leading online trading services provider easy-forex has shared his top picks for investing in commodities in 2016. He comments,

“There are three commodities to watch closely as we head into 2016: gold, oil and copper. They bear watching for very different reasons, but all three may have an influence on global financial markets over the year ahead.”

2015 has not been kind to gold and as we head into the expected US rate hike in December, things are looking even worse (the better than expected US jobs data from November was enough to convince investors that a rate hike is certain). The result was a multi-year low for gold of $1,075 per ounce – down 9% in just two weeks.

Gold rallied as a result of the terrorist attacks in Paris on 13 November, with investors rushing for the shiny safe haven and pushing the price back up past the $1,200 mark and confidence around the precious metal has remained surprisingly high. Increasingly, investors are taking the view that gold really can’t fall much more than it has, even in the face of rising interest rates.

The result is likely to be one of two scenarios. Either the Fed doesn’t increase rates, which is bullish for gold, or rates are increased but the hike has been expected for so long that decreases have already been priced in. After an awful 2015, 2016 may just be gold’s year.

While 2016 is looking positive for gold, the opposite can be said for oil. The global glut has seen prices dip below the $40 per barrel mark on numerous occasions and current stockpiles are in the region of three billion barrels. Easy-forex’s Nikolas Xenofontos observes,

“Demand for oil is rising, especially with 7% growth forecast for India, but output is rising too. With US shale outputs, OPEC keeping up supply and the expectation of Iran oil entering the markets, even turbulence in the Middle East and ongoing terrorist events are unlikely to save oil prices from new lows during 2016.”

Copper’s outlook is also bearish for 2016. Prices have halved since the highs seen in 2011, with falling Chinese demand having a huge impact. China consumes 40% of the world’s copper and also influences global metal prices through speculation. With demand for copper (which is used mainly in wiring) at such a low ebb, prices will need to continue falling enough to stimulate rebalancing. Until then, it’s bears for the red metal.

For further details visit www.easy-forex.com, email pr@easy-forex.com or call +44 203 1500 748.

Risk warning: Forward Rate Agreements, Options and CFDs (OTC Trading) are leveraged products that carry a substantial risk of loss up to your invested capital and may not be suitable for everyone. Please ensure that you understand fully the risks involved and do not invest money you cannot afford to lose. Our group of companies through its subsidiaries is licensed by the Cyprus Securities & Exchange Commission (Easy Forex Trading Ltd- CySEC, License Number 079/07), which has been passported in the European Union through the MiFID Directive and in Australia by ASIC (Easy Markets Pty Ltd -AFS license No. 246566).

• Oil set to drop below US$40 per barrel
• US stocks to continue positive trend
• Dollar to surge following likely December interest rate hike 

Leading online trading services provider easy-forex has just revealed its predictions for 2016. According to the company’s Strategist, Nima Siar, oil could finally break US$40 per barrel, while gold might move below US$1,000 per ounce.

He comments,

“Both oil and gold are going to receive a lot of attention in early 2016, with prices expected to continue their downward trend at least over the coming couple of months. We may see both commodities breaking significant price points, with WTI oil dropping below US$40, which is only a little way above the breakeven price for some oil producing countries. High oil production and slowing global demand, as well as falling seasonal demand, are behind the latest decline in price.

“Gold is also likely to drop below US$1,000, although we could see some interesting movements during the latter half of 2016.”

Speaking in easy-forex’s latest ‘Hot Topic’ video, Siar also covers global currencies and US stocks. The regularly produced videos are part of easy-forex’s commitment to enabling anyone with an interest to trade. It’s an ethos that has seen the company go from strength to strength since its inception in 2003, with offices now in major financial centres around the world including Shanghai, Limassol, Warsaw and Sydney.

One of the reasons for easy-forex’s success has been its provision of a vast array of training resources for its traders. From training videos to demo accounts, forex ebooks and trading simulators, the company works hard to open up trading to would-be traders around the world. That includes forecasting where currencies are likely to be headed, as Nima Siar continues,

“Last week’s better than expected non-farm payroll figures in the US increased the likelihood of a December interest rate hike which would be the first such move by the Fed since 2007 and is likely to send the dollar surging. With that being said, last week the GBP/USD saw a sharp 2.47% decline, which was its largest this year and many analysts expect sterling to lose further ground in the near term. The next downside target is now looking like 1.47.”

Like many analysts, easy-forex also sees the euro falling further, to 1.0450 against the dollar in the short term.

The picture looks brighter when it comes to US stocks. After the markets rallied hard in October, the seasonal strength of Thanksgiving and Christmas is expected to keep the positive movement flowing until early 2016.

For further details visit www.easy-forex.com, email pr@easy-forex.com or call +44 203 1500 748.

Risk warning: Forward Rate Agreements, Options and CFDs (OTC Trading) are leveraged products that carry a substantial risk of loss up to your invested capital and may not be suitable for everyone. Please ensure that you understand fully the risks involved and do not invest money you cannot afford to lose. Our group of companies through its subsidiaries is licensed by the Cyprus Securities & Exchange Commission (Easy Forex Trading Ltd- CySEC, License Number 079/07), which has been passported in the European Union through the MiFID Directive and in Australia by ASIC (Easy Markets Pty Ltd -AFS license No. 246566).