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Friday, February 29, 2008

ADD SUBTITLE TO YOUR VIDEO

Welcome to Oscar g2v10

Latest version g2v10 released 2008/02/17 ...

Let's face it. Searching for subtitles to your favorite movies/TV series can be a real pain in the ass. OSCAR is a tool to make your life a little easier, find your subtitle files quickly and enjoy your videos without the hassle of searching the web for the correct version, then trying to synchronize them with your video file.

OSCAR uses the OSDb standard to communicate with remote subtitle sites and search/download subtitle files matching your videos.

There are two main advantages to this approach:

  • EXACT MATCHES - instead of having a lot of subtitles matched to a single movie title, you assign them directly to a video file (using a specific fast hash function). So when searching for subtitles to a specific video file you'll only get those that (according to otherusers) match your video file 100%.

  • SPEED - instead of searching for subtitles on a web site, you are provided with a user-friendly application that allows easy and fast search and download of subtitles.

Main features:

You can learn more about this application by browsing this Wiki or by simply downloading the application and giving it a go.

Oscar features showcase (first draft)

Available for the Windows 32bit platform, no Unix versions planned.

Please note that this application requires an internet connection.

Enjoy.

Links:

Attachments

  • oscar.gif (199.4 kB) -Oscar features showcase (first draft), added by majky on 02/14/08 22:52:05.

How to Make Your PC Run Faster and Better - Speed up Startup

The default settings and configuration for your computer are not necessarily the most efficient for your particular usage. Here are some tips and tweaks to speed up your computer and improve performance.

First Do Essential Housekeeping

Before undertaking any system changes, be sure that the basic maintenance chores are done. Also be sure that you know how to get back where you started in case changes don't work out. As a reminder here are the things that need to be done regularly:

Make your computer start faster

Getting the computer up and running involves several stages. There are various tweaks that can be applied for each stage to speed things up. In my own experience, only a few make much difference. Some references are given in the sidebar. The most important improvement by far comes from controlling the programs that are loaded at start up. This item will be discussed in more detail below but first here is a survey of other possibilities.
The boot process involving the BIOS
There are a variety of tweaks that are possible in this first stage but I have never found one that did more than shave a second or two here and there. Furthermore, the BIOS is terra incognita for the average PC user. There are probably more fruitful areas where time-saving measures can be looked for but those who love to tinker can get some ideas from this ExtremeTech reference.
About Bootvis.exe
This graphical Microsoft developer tool is mentioned and recommended as a way to speed up booting in countless places. I see it so often that I felt constrained to devote a separate section to it. This is what Microsoft has to say
Please note that Bootvis.exe is not a tool that will improve boot/resume performance for end users. Contrary to some published reports, Bootvis.exe cannot reduce or alter a system's boot or resume performance. The boot optimization routines invoked by Bootvis.exe are built into Windows XP. These routines run automatically at pre-determined times as part of the normal operation of the operating system.
From what I understand (I'm no expert) a brand-new setup might take a couple of days before Windows XP finishes optimizing and, if you just can't wait, Bootvis.exe might help you optimize right away . But, basically, you can forget about using this tool in spite of what everybody keeps saying. You can't even download it from Microsoft anymore although there are sites that still have it. There seem to be several versions and one or more may not work in SP2.

In any event, it seems it is possible to carry out some of the type of optimization done by this tool just by using RUNDLL32.EXE. In Start-Run. Enter the command RUNDLL32.EXE advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks

Loading Windows
Windows XP loads pretty fast but there are some ways to hurry it up a bit. Unfortunately, a lot of the stuff you read isn't too useful. Here are a few of the common suggestions.
  1. A study has shown that cutting down on the number of fonts being loaded will speed things up. If you have many hundreds of fonts, you might consider removing some. Those who wish to manage their fonts can read this article.
  2. There is a lot of discussion of configuring "Prefetch" and the related subject "boot defrag". The average PC user can ignore these subjects since Windows XP basically takes care of this area on its own. These configurations are part of what the utility "Bootvis.exe" discussed above was supposed to help manage. If you must tinker, do the RUNDLL32.exe command given above in the Bootvis.exe section. However, forget the often-mentioned idea of regularly deleting the contents of the \Windows\Prefetch\ folder. In fact, deleting Prefetch will initially slow down the boot until the folder is rebuilt. See Ed Bott's blog on the subject. Also see this bad tweaks list.
  3. The Start menu in Windows XP contains an entry, My Recent Documents, where a list of all the recent documents that you have opened or used is kept. This provides a quick way to reopen any document. After a while the list can get quite long and it has the effect of slowing the bootup process. Details of managing this feature are discussed here. What isn't obvious is that the list of files that can be accessed from the My Recent Documents entry in the Start may be only the tip of the iceberg. The folder, %USERPROFILE%\Recent, where the entries are stored may have many more. This folder should be cleaned regularly. This can be done manually or automatically every time you log off. To make the cleanup automatic you can edit the Registry. (The usual caveats about Registry editing apply.) In the Registry editor Regedit, navigate to this key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer Create a DWORD value named ClearRecentDocsOnExit and give it a data value of 1. Shortcut entries for “My Recent Documents” will still be collected during a login session but will then be cleared at logoff. For those who shun Registry editing, I have written an INF file to do the Registry change. Download the zipped file here to anywhere convenient and unzip. Then right-click and choose “Install” from the context menu. The change will take place when you log off or reboot.
    Note: This file is offered without any guarantees and the user assumes all respnsibility for its use.
Drivers and hardware
Part of the boot process is loading and initializing the hardware.
  1. Keep the drivers for your peripherals and other hardware up-to-date. This may require checking regularly at the Web sites of the manufacturers. If you have older equipment, be sure that you are using drivers written for Windows XP.
  2. You may want to disable rarely used peripherals or hardware services. Possible examples are game ports, IR ports, MIDI devices, and Firewire. Disabling devices does not remove them and they can be re-enabled if desired. Use Device Manager to make changes. Click here to see how to use Device Manager.
Networking tweaks
Network cards can be a substantial drag on startup time since they can spend a lot of time getting network addresses. Also if you have a lot of network protocols , loading them can take time.
  1. If you have a home network and are using automatic IP assignments, you may be able to speed things up by assigning permanent IPs to the computers on your network. Consult the instructions for your router. Also see this reference.
  2. If you are using DSL and connect by PPPOE directly to a modem (not a router) you definitely want to assign a permanent IP to your network card. Otherwise, there is a considerable delay while the card hunts for an address when you boot. Consult your ISP for instructions. Also see this reference.

Limiting the programs and services that start up

This area is where the big savings in time can be made. The average PC user probably has far too much stuff loading at start up. Also, Windows starts up a lot of services by default that many systems do not need. The measures to take are covered in great detail on pages elsewhere on this site. How to use the Windows System Configuration Utility (Msconfig) and the Services Console to control both programs and services is discussed. There is also some excellent freeware to help manage your startup and one program, WinPatrol, is evaluated here.

Speed up youy PC

5 ways to speed up your PC

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By following a few simple guidelines, you can maintain your computer and keep it running smoothly. This article discusses how to use the tools available in Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) and Windows Vista to more efficiently maintain your computer and safeguard your privacy when you're online.

On This Page
Free up disk spaceFree up disk space
Speed up access to dataSpeed up access to data
Detect and repair disk errorsDetect and repair disk errors
Protect your computer against spywareProtect your computer against spyware
Learn all about ReadyBoostLearn all about ReadyBoost

Free up disk space

By freeing disk space, you can improve the performance of your computer. The Disk Cleanup tool helps you free up space on your hard disk. The utility identifies files that you can safely delete, and then enables you to choose whether you want to delete some or all of the identified files.
Use Disk Cleanup to:

Remove temporary Internet files.

Remove downloaded program files (such as Microsoft ActiveX controls and Java applets).

Empty the Recycle Bin.

Remove Windows temporary files.

Remove optional Windows components that you don't use.

Remove installed programs that you no longer use.

Tip: Typically, temporary Internet files take the most amount of space because the browser caches each page you visit for faster access later.

To use Disk Cleanup

1.

Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Cleanup. If several drives are available, you might be prompted to specify which drive you want to clean.

Image of Disk Cleanup dialog box

2.

In the Disk Cleanup for dialog box, scroll through the content of the Files to delete list.

Image of Disk Cleanup for dialog box

Choose the files that you want to delete.

3.

Clear the check boxes for files that you don't want to delete, and then click OK.

4.

When prompted to confirm that you want to delete the specified files, click Yes.

After a few minutes, the process completes and the Disk Cleanup dialog box closes, leaving your computer cleaner and performing better.

Speed up access to data

Disk fragmentation slows the overall performance of your system. When files are fragmented, the computer must search the hard disk when the file is opened to piece it back together. The response time can be significantly longer.

Disk Defragmenter is a Windows utility that consolidates fragmented files and folders on your computer's hard disk so that each occupies a single space on the disk. With your files stored neatly end-to-end, without fragmentation, reading and writing to the disk speeds up.

When to run Disk Defragmenter
In addition to running Disk Defragmenter at regular intervals—monthly is optimal—there are other times you should run it too, such as when:

You add a large number of files.

Your free disk space totals 15 percent or less.

You install new programs or a new version of Windows.

To use Disk Defragmenter:

1.

Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Disk Defragmenter.

Image of the Disk Defragmenter dialog box

Click Analyze to start the Disk Defragmenter.

2.

In the Disk Defragmenter dialog box, click the drives that you want to defragment, and then click the Analyze button. After the disk is analyzed, a dialog box appears, letting you know whether you should defragment the analyzed drives.

Tip: You should analyze a volume before defragmenting it to get an estimate of how long the defragmentation process will take.

3.

To defragment the selected drive or drives, click the Defragment button. Note: In Windows Vista, there is no graphical user interface to demonstrate the progress—but your hard drive is still being defragmented.

After the defragmentation is complete, Disk Defragmenter displays the results.

4.

To display detailed information about the defragmented disk or partition, click View Report.

5.

To close the View Report dialog box, click Close.

6.

To close the Disk Defragmenter utility, click the Close button on the title bar of the window.

Detect and repair disk errors

In addition to running Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter to optimize the performance of your computer, you can check the integrity of the files stored on your hard disk by running the Error Checking utility.

As you use your hard drive, it can develop bad sectors. Bad sectors slow down hard disk performance and sometimes make data writing (such as file saving) difficult, or even impossible. The Error Checking utility scans the hard drive for bad sectors, and scans for file system errors to see whether certain files or folders are misplaced.

If you use your computer daily, you should run this utility once a week to help prevent data loss.

To run the Error Checking utility:

1.

Close all open files.

2.

Click Start, and then click My Computer.

3.

In the My Computer window, right-click the hard disk you want to search for bad sectors, and then click Properties.

4.

In the Properties dialog box, click the Tools tab.

5.

Click the Check Now button.

6.

In the Check Disk dialog box, select the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box, and then click Start.

Image of Check Disk dialog box

7.

If bad sectors are found, choose to fix them.

Tip: Only select the "Automatically fix file system errors" check box if you think that your disk contains bad sectors.

Protect your computer against spyware

Spyware collects personal information without letting you know and without asking for permission. From the Web sites you visit to usernames and passwords, spyware can put you and your confidential information at risk. In addition to privacy concerns, spyware can hamper your computer's performance. To combat spyware, you might want to consider using Microsoft Windows Defender, which is included in Windows Vista, and is available as a free download for Microsoft XP SP2. Alternatively, there are other free anti-spyware software programs available.

Learn all about ReadyBoost

If you're using Windows Vista, you can use ReadyBoost to speed up your system. A new concept in adding memory to a system, it allows you to use non-volatile flash memory—like a USB flash drive or a memory card—to improve performance without having to add additional memory. Learn more.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

CWS HIJACKER

By: Mike Healan
July 9, 2003

Updated August 6, 2003

CWS is a trojan that hijacks Internet Explorer start and search settings to one of several different web sites (see below). Most of these web sites appear to have an affiliate relationship with coolwebsearch.com in which coolwebsearch pays them for every visitor they refer. There could be other domains involved in the future.

This hijack is similar to the datanotary.com hijack discovered last month. As with datanotary, the CWS hijack sets Internet Explorer to use a custom style sheet containing javascript that opens a pop up window. In fact, we believe the trojan involved with CWS is an updated version of the same malware involved with datanotary.

In the original variant, the start and search settings were changed to an address in which the letters are converted into an unreadable mess of numbers and % symbols to hide the domain name from the user. It also made it difficult to blacklist the domain. Internet Explorer is able to translate the symbols and load the hijacker's web site.

An executable file named bootconf.exe is copied to the \windows\system32\ folder and set to load at startup. Even if you fix the hijack, this file will reinstall it the next time it is loaded.

More current variants also install a small web server, contained in a file named svchost32.exe. It adds several google addresses (google.de, google.ch, google.ca, etc) search.yahoo.com, and search.msn.com to the HOSTS file, telling windows that the IP addresses for those sites is 127.0.0.1, and that's where it's webserver is listening.

Yet another variant hijacks Internet Explorer's SearchHook setting with a file named dnsrelay.dll. This redirects all search and start page settings to allhyperlinks.com.

Finally, the trojan lists the hijacker's web site in Internet Explorer's trusted security zone. Domains listed in the trusted security zone have no restrictions on what they can do. This allows that web site to have virtually unlimited access to the infected computer's file system.

We believe the source of the infections might be activex drive by installers located on pornographic web sites, or possibly trojan programs pretending to be illegal serial number generators. Unfortunately, this is just speculation for now.

This trojan is detected by Computer Associates antivirus products under the following names (More info):
Win32.Startpage.C
JS.CSSPopup.B,
JScript/IEstart.Trojan,
Win32/IEstart.Trojan

Removal Instructions

Merijn, author of HijackThis and StartupList, has created CWShredder specifically to remove this parasite. Please make certain that all browser and folder windows are closed before using CWShredder. If any symptom of the problem remains afterward, then follow these directions below. If you have any problem with CWShredder, please ask for help in our support forums.

This article is located at http://www.spywareinfo.com/articles/cws/

Hijacker Web Sites

The following web sites have been found in log files of people infected with this trojan. To our best knowledge, they are all affiliated with coolwebsearch.com

193.125.201.50, 1stpagehere.com, 66.250.130.194, adulthyperlinks.com, allhyperlinks.com, approvedlinks.com, bannedhost.net, bestcrawler.com, cantfind.com, carsands.com, cool-web-search.com, coolfreepage.com, coolwebsearch., coolwwwsearch., couldnotfind.com, defaultsearch.net, dev.ntcor.com, drvvv.com, ewebsearch.net, findloss.com, findwhat.com, firstbookmark.net, freebookmark.net, freebookmarks.net, global-finder.com, globesearch.com, gratis-porn-movie.com, hardloved.com, itseasy.us, jethomepage.com, jetseeker.com, kazaa-lite.ws, martfinder.com, mature50.com, mommykiss.com, mywebsearch.net, noblindlinks.com, nocensor.com, ok-search.com, pedo.ws, runsearch.com, search-2003.com, search.xrenoder.com, searchdesire.com, searchnow.ws, searchv.com, searchxp.com, sharempeg.com, sixroads.com, slawsearch.com, slotch.com, stopxxxpics.com, super-spider.com, super-websearch.com, the-exit.com, the-huns-yellow-pages.com, topsearcher.com, unipages.cc, web-search.tk, white-pages.ws, youfindall.com, youfindall.net, yourbookmarks.info, and yourbookmarks.ws

BROWSER HIJACKING

Hijack Removal

Permalink | Top

Any of the products below will remove most hijackers completely, unless it is one which has just started spreading.

Spybot S&D [recommended]
Ad-aware
SpySweeper

If you have a hijack that is not fixed by any of these products, you may use these solutions below that I have gathered after helping to fix these same problems countless times through email and at the forums. Read on...

Please read the disclaimer below before doing anything described here. By following any of these instructions, you agree to be bound by the disclaimer. If you do not agree, do not follow these instructions. Also note that with Windows NT/2K/XP you likely will need to be logged in as an administrator for much of this. Go ahead and do that now.

The situation: Your browser now has a new start page and a new search page. Every time your browser loads a page that doesn't exist, you end up at some strange site, probably filled with popup ads.

You go to Tools > Internet Options to fix this, only to find that option grayed out. You open the control panel, only to find Internet Options missing from there too. You try to open regedit to start hacking away at the registry, but you are given the message that "your administrator has not given you that privilege".

Some scumbag webmaster has paid a scumbag script kiddie to truly mess up your browser settings and has made it next to impossible for you to change it back.

Notice that I said "next to impossible"...........

So, what do you do here?

Skip any step that deals with a problem that doesn't effect you

  1. Assuming that none of the spyware removal programs listed above helps you, the very first thing you need to do is download and run HijackThis. Put a check mark next to every search and start page setting it lists which you haven't put there yourself and choose fix. Do the same for any hosts file entries. If it lists anything as O5, O6, or O7*, fix those as well. Please ask for advice at the forums before using HijackThis to change anything else.

    *Note: Spybot S&D, Start Page Guard, Settings Sentry, and similar programs may provide options to lock settings against unauthorized changes. If you have these options enabled, HijackThis will detect that as a restrictions hijack. Disable those options before scanning with HijackThis.

  2. Second, you have to put Internet Options back into the control panel. Do a file search and look for a file named "control.ini". Open it in Notepad. You may see something like this:

    [don't load]
    inetcpl.cpl=yes

    Delete the "inetcpl.cpl=yes" line under "[don't load]". Save and close the file, then try the control panel again. If it's still not there, restart your machine and it should be there.

    For Windows 2000 and XP, you will need to edit the registry to do this. Go to the start menu > RUN command > type REGEDIT and press enter. Navigate through the registry keys until you get to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\don't load\. Look and see if inetcpl.cpl is listed. If it is, delete the entry for it and log off.

    See the list at the bottom of this page to identify other entries. Thanks to Corné de Leeuw for this information.

  3. Run a search on your hard drive for any files ending with *.hta or *.js. If you find any, open them in notepad or some other text editor and look for the URLs that you have been hijacked to. Any file with those URLs, delete them. Also delete all *.tmp files on your drive; some of them contain malicious code (for e.g. browser hijacks or malware (re)installations). Besides, deleting *.tmp files doesn't hurt, unlike dll's which are also used sometimes for this purpose. (Thanks to cexx.org for the additional info in this step).

  4. HijackThis will list any BHO installed on your computer. Check the BHOs listed against the list of all known BHOs. If you find one listed as some sort of spyware/malware/hijackware, run HijackThis again and find that BHO in the list. Check its box and have HT fix it.

    If you find a BHO that is not included in the list, please make a post in the Browser Hijackings section of our support forums with the HijackThis log pasted in along with an explanation of your problem. Please wait for replies before deleting this BHO, as it may be a new one which I can have added to various spyware/malware cleaning programs. It may also be an innocent file that is not causing your problem, so please wait for advice before deleting it.

  5. Now you need to see if there is a startup entry for your hijacker file. The next time you reboot, the hijack might come right back. The reason for this would be an entry in the run section of the registry.

    Look in HijackThis for 04 startup items. Check the entries listed against Pacman's List. Items listed as virus, malware, spyware, or something else that is undesirable, put a checkmark next to it and "fix" it.

Again, it will be absolutely necessary for you to close all open Internet Explorer windows before any of these changes will take effect. That includes this window. Some changes may even require a log off or even a reboot before they have any effect.

Still not fixed?

I hope this helps anyone who has become a victim of a browser hijack. If it does, great.

If the problem still remains after doing all of the above, you can visit our support forums and post the specifics of your problem there. I or someone else can troubleshoot the problem. Before posting, please make sure you have followed all of the instructions above.

How to clean your PC with HijackThis

Sometimes, despite your best efforts, insidious adware burrows into your computer and won't come out. It can hijack your home page, add an unwanted toolbar to your browser, pop up ads, or even track your every movement for commercial gain. You should always try running standard adware-removal programs such as Ad-aware and Spybot - Search & Destroy first, but when they can't keep the nasties at bay, HijackThis digs deep. Be careful, though: The program identifies commonly abused methods of altering your computer, some of which may be benign and some that are critical. Fortunately, the Internet community offers ways to separate spyware from critical system components.

Step 1: Set it up

HijackThis downloads as a ZIP file that contains only the program itself, not an installer. When you unzip it, be sure to create a folder for the program to live in, such as C:\Program Files\HijackThis\, or it will simply unzip to your default downloads folder. To make running it even easier, you can right-click its program icon to create a shortcut on your desktop. Most versions of Windows let you drag the folder--or just the icon--to the Start menu and drop it where you want. Windows XP lets you right-click the icon and "pin" it to the Start menu. If you use the Quick Start toolbar, you can drag and drop the icon there.

Step 2: Scan your system

Regardless of how you launch the program, running HijackThis can be confusing. All you do is click the Scan button to bring up a list of all the questionable entries in your registry and on your computer. However, even a completely healthy computer that's been customized by, say, setting a new Internet Explorer home page can have dozens of entries. A scan on our test machine resulted in 44 entries, all of which we recognized as benign. (If you'd like more information on why the program flagged a benign entry, you can either select an individual check box and hit the Info on Selected Item button or consult the publisher's excellent log tutorial.) The best thing to do is save the log, preferably in the HijackThis folder, and look to the Internet for answers.

Step 3: Identify problems

Conveniently, after the program scans, the Scan button turns into the Save Log button. Once you press that, the log opens up in Notepad. At that point, the brave or foolhardy can look up entries on the Web to see whether they're benign. For example, we discovered that lsass.exe is a Microsoft Windows process that helps authenticate user logins. Clearly this isn't something we want to delete, whereas the innocent-sounding rundll16.exe comes with the adware program BrowserAid.

However, you don't have to face the cleanup alone. Many anti-adware and tech-support online forums feature dedicated and smart people who will examine your HijackThis log file and tell you which entries to delete. SpywareInfo runs a good one, as do Computer Cops and TweakXP. For all three, registration is required, but it's free and quick. Read the forum rules before posting, and be patient.

Step 4: Clean house

Once you've done your research, check the box next to items you know are bad, then hit Fix Checked. After that, restart your computer and run an adware-removal program to see whether that took care of the problem. If you're still having problems, either repeat the process or return to the forums. The person who's helping you will tell you which files to remove, then probably ask you to restart, rescan, and post the new log. This process continues until your computer is once again deemed righteous. At that point, you can check items you know are good, such as those that reset the browser page to your chosen home page, and remove them from future flagging by hitting the Add Selected to Ignorelist button.

By Karen Whitehouse

TRADING TECHNIQUE AND TIPS

TREND TRADING: Accumulation and Distribution
Forex market like any other market works in a very simple way. It accumulates in a certain area for awhile, and once the accumulation is over, it advances to a certain distance until distribution starts, and accumulation happens again and advances to a certain distance again, and repeat and repeat. Day trading may not yield the best results while the accumulation and distribution work out itself, being double-murdered by zig-zag moves, while the market starts advancing out of accumulation area, day trading is a sure way of cutting profit short. In general, day trading is not the best form of yielding the most profits in my experience contrary to what some writers who never made real money in this game try to say.

The safe and better way in making some money must be wait for "accumulation" to be over and ride the whole length of advance until "distribution" starts and reverse as the market dictates as a short-term trade for 2-10 days, as the case may be.

Please study 8 hour or 4 hour line charts or candle charts, especially the patterns and 20 MA inside the charts for a few months everyday, and you will discover what I mean by accumulation and distribution for short-term trades in Forex market. Forex market always needs this process, so you can decide what tactics you will use at a given stage. Imho. Good luck.

TECHNICALS and CHARTING
Why day trade once you get a good seat and the market is going your way. It is always more profitable to ride even the short wave for 2-10 days by adding up. In general, you must day trade only when you are losing. To find a buy entry seat for short-term trades, you can study the "accumulation and distribution patterns and 20 MA" in 8, 4 hourlies or 30 min "Line Charts" (or Candle Charts), together with MACD "overbought and oversold indicators" with its Patterns. If you study them for awhile you will understand when it the best entry point. The remainder is for money management and discipline and of course, experience. Good trades�

On technical side of the trading, the first thing to do is to find out the trend in one�s trading time frame and the proper trading strategy for that trend. Some ride positions for months, while some ride positions for less than an hour or a day and their views of the trend obviously differ. For a trader who is running a position for months, a daily fluctuation may be just a meaningless noise while for a daytrader or an hour trader, a daily fluctuation could be a monstrous tsunami. Having a precise definition and a technique of identifying a trend and the turn of a trend in a trader�s time frame, and adopting the right strategies for that trend is the first elementary step in a hard school of trading. Imho.

I keep my technical side on any pair as simple as possible largely relying on other�s moves to see how I can take advantage of the situation. So for me the strategy is to "range trade". Please always give stop order per your risk profile when you open any new position. Medium-term reversals can be confirmed only in monthly, weekly and daily charts. Chart reading is not to predict the tops or bottoms of any move, but to confirm the change of trend as soon as they are made and adopt right strategies in that new trend. Good trades.

Each cycle is different from the last one and that is the beauty of the market. It is extremely important to look at the big picture from the distance rather than studying the minute and hourly charts with a microscope. And repeat the whole show again and again �til it shows the sign of turning in daily or weekly chart. And flip. Good trades to you.

I use very primitive charting methods. Please read 8 hour charts of EUR/GBP with 20 and 40 MA, and read round figures and breakout (from consolidations, then you will realize the method cannot be more primitive than that, but still deadly effective). Buy on dips towards the support and add up on breakout of that consolidation treating the two as one trade with same stop loss and "keep them" as long as the market moves in your way. Good trades.

As a rule of thumb, 20 MAs in 8 hour, day, week and month are useful for its directional tendency and as a resistance and support point. Not sure how much it is useful in daytrading though.

Please have a look at Eur/Usd and Usd/Jpy weekly 10 RSI and Aud/Usd monthly 10 RSI "patterns", not levels. Then you will find out primitive things work better when coupled with even simpler MAs. And RSI is useful "only in these weekly and monthly time scale" as far as I can see. You can ignore RSI in short-term scales as the inventor of RSI, Wilder, told us long ago.

Good afternoon. Agree with your observation. Once Soros of Quantum Fund hit the nail on the head with his theory of reflexivity in the market and that is exactly how these players work in the market. That rather romantic tool of daily candlestick chart is useful because whenever some players start positioning to start or stop short-term moves in Yen market, say several hundred pips, for whatever reasons, it reveals their intention to the market, more often than not. It sounds so weird to say tens of yards are spent relying on indicators so primitive like hand-drawn candlestick charts, but that is the truth in Yen market. Same as millions of soldiers risking their lives depending on how their generals draw up the battle plan with their cheap red and blue pencils in their operation room desk. Crazy world, I would say, but that is the fact. And as you say, battle is a battle and those ones who make their first move with their candlestick may not always win either. I happen to believe if a child can learn to trade with some simple signals he will do better than most traders, most of the time, making a good living. But then again, movin market is more than just following the signals. Good trades to you.

I guess if you are a daytrader, 30 minute and 15 minute candle charts and line charts in combination with MACD and MA could be more useful than hourly charts or even daily charts. Especially watch out for the down-sign and up-sign with long tails in candle charts and confirmation of the change of short-term trend in line charts breaking accumulation area in these charts. If you are a nimble trader, even a candle-sign is enough to start moving in with stops above or below the long tail end. For dollar/yen trade, read swiss/yen, pound/yen and euro/yen together to confirm the top or bottom. For Eurodollar or dollar/swiss trade, read pound/swiss and euro/pound together to confirm the same. If you are a daytrader, what matters is the flow of that particular day, not the bull or bear bias, so, 30 Min and 15 Min Candle Charts and Line charts are not bad tools to follow these flows. Good trades.

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Forex Money Management 3

Forex Money Management
By FX Master

Money management is a critical point that shows difference between winners and losers. It was proved that if 100 traders start trading using a system with 60% winning odds, only 5 traders will be in profit at the end of the year. In spite of the 60% winning odds 95% of traders will lose because of their poor money management. Money management is the most significant part of any trading system. Most of traders don't understand how important it is.

It's important to understand the concept of money management and understand the difference between it and trading decisions. Money management represents the amount of money you are going to put on one trade and the risk your going to accept for this trade.

There are different money management strategies. They all aim at preserving your balance from high risk exposure.

First of all, you should understand the following term Core equity
Core equity = Starting balance - Amount in open positions.

If you have a balance of 10,000$ and you enter a trade with 1,000$ then your core equity is 9,000$. If you enter another 1,000$ trade,your core equity will be 8,000$

It's important to understand what's meant by core equity since your money management will depend on this equity.

We will explain here one model of money management that has proved high anual return and limited risk. The standard account that we will be discussing is 100,000$ account with 20:1 leverage . Anyway,you can adapt this strategy to fit smaller or bigger trading accounts.

Money management strategy

Your risk per a trade should never exceed 3% per trade. It's better to adjust your risk to 1% or 2%
We prefer a risk of 1% but if you are confident in your trading system then you can lever your risk up to 3%

1% risk of a 100,000$ account = 1,000$

You should adjust your stop loss so that you never lose more than 1,000$ per a single trade.

If you are a short term trader and you place your stop loss 50 pips below/above your entry point .
50 pips = 1,000$
1 pips = 20$

The size of your trade should be adjusted so that you risk 20$/pip. With 20:1 leverage,your trade size will be 200,000$

If the trade is stopped, you will lose 1,000$ which is 1% of your balance.

This trade will require 10,000$ = 10% of your balance.

If you are a long term trader and you place your stop loss 200 pips below/above your entry point.
200 pips = 1,000$
1 pip = 5$

The size of your trade should be adjusted so that you risk 5$/pip. With 20:1 leverage, your trade size will be 50,000$

If the trade is stopped, you will lose 1,000$ which is 1% of your balance.

This trade will require 2,500$ = 2.5% of your balance.

This's just an example. Your trading balance and leverage provided by your broker may differ from this formula. The most important is to stick to the 1% risk rule. Never risk too much in one trade. It's a fatal mistake when a trader lose 2 or 3 trades in a row, then he will be confident that his next trade will be winning and he may add more money to this trade. This's how you can blow up your account in a short time! A disciplined trader should never let his emotions and greed control his decisions.

Diversification

Trading one currnecy pair will generate few entry signals. It would be better to diversify your trades between several currencies. If you have 100,000$ balance and you have open position with 10,000$ then your core equity is 90,000$. If you want to enter a second position then you should calculate 1% risk of your core equity not of your starting balance!. Itmeans that the second trade risk should never be more than 900$. If you want to enter a 3rd position and your core equity is 80,000$ then the risk per 3rd trade should not exceed 800$

It's important that you diversify your prders between currencies that have low correlation.

For example, If you have long EUR/USD then you shouldn't long GBP/USD since they have high correlation. If you have long EUR/USD and GBP/USD positions and risking 3% per trade then your risk is 6% since the trades will tend to end in same direction.

If you want to trade both EUR/USD and GBP/USD and your standard position size from your money management is 10,000$ (1% risk rule) then you can trade 5,000$ EUR/USD and 5,000$ GBP/USD. In this way,you will be risking 0.5% on each position.

The Martingale and anti-martingale strategy

It's very important to understand these 2 strategies.

-Martingale rule = increasing your risk when losing !

This's a startegy adopted by gamblers which claims that you should increase the size of you trades when losing. It's applied in gambling in the following way Bet 10$,if you lose bet 20$,if you lose bet 40$,if you lose bet 80$,if you lose bet 160$..etc

This strategy assumes that after 4 or 5 losing trades,your chance to win is bigger so you should add more money to recover your loss! The truth is that the odds are same in spite of your previous loss! If you have 5 losses in a row ,still your odds for 6th bet 50:50! The same fatal mistake can be made by some novice traders. For example,if a trader started with a abalance of 10,000$ and after 4 losing trades (each is 1,000$) his balance is 6000$. The trader will think that he has higher chances of winning the 5th trade then he will increase ths size of his position 4 times to recover his loss. If he lose,his balance will be 2,000$!! He will never recover from 2,000$ to his startiing balance 10,000$. A disciplined trader should never use such gambling method unless he wants to lose his money in a short time.

-Anti-martingale rule = increase your risk when winning& decrease your risk when losing

It means that the trader should adjust the size of his positions according to his new gains or losses.
Example: Trader A starts with a balance of 10,000$. His standard trade size is 1,000$
After 6 months,his balance is 15,000$. He should adjust his trade size to 1,500$

Trader B starts with 10,000$.His standard trade size is 1,000$
After 6 months his balance is 8,000$. He should adjust his trade size to 800$

High return strategy

This strategy is for traders looking for higher return and still preserving their starting balance.

According to your money management rules,you should be risking 1% of you balance. If you start with 10,000$ and your trade size is 1,000$ (Risk 1%) After 1 year,your balance is 15,000$. Now you have your initial balance + 5,000$ profit. You can increase your potential profit by risking more from this profit while restricting your initial balance risk to 1%. For example,you can calcualte your trade in the following pattern:

1% risk 10,000$ (initial balance)+ 5% of 5,000$ (profit)

In this way,you will have more potential for higher returns and on the same time you are still risking 1% of your initial deposit.

Disclaimer: Trading any financial market involves risk. This course and the website www.fxmaster.net and its contents is neither a solicitation nor an offer to Buy/Sell any financial market. The contents of this course are for general information purposes only. The information provided in this course is not intended for distribution to, or use by any person or entity in any jurisdiction or country where such distribution or use would be contrary to law or regulation or which would subject us to any registration requirement within such jurisdiction or country. We reserve the right to change these terms and conditions without notice.

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