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For some time now, I have been closely observing the performance of cryptocurrencies to get a feel of where the market is headed. The routine my elementary school teacher taught me-where you wake up, pray, brush your teeth and take your breakfast has shifted a little to waking up, praying and then hitting the web (starting with coinmarketcap) just to know which crypto assets are in the red.

The beginning of 2018 wasn’t a lovely one for altcoins and relatable assets. Their performance was crippled by the frequent opinions from bankers that the crypto bubble was about to burst. Nevertheless, ardent cryptocurrency followers are still “HODLing” on and truth be told, they are reaping big.

Recently, Bitcoin retraced to almost $5000; Bitcoin Cash came close to $500 while Ethereum found peace at $300. Virtually every coin got hit-apart from newcomers that were still in excitement stage. As of this writing, Bitcoin is back on track and its selling at $8900. Many other cryptos have doubled since the upward trend started and the market cap is resting at $400 billion from the recent crest of $250 billion.

If you are slowly warming up to cryptocurrencies and wish to become a successful trader, the tips below will help you out.

Practical tips on how to trade cryptocurrencies

• Start modestly

You’ve already heard that cryptocurrency prices are skyrocketing. You’ve also probably received the news that this upward trend may not last long. Some naysayers, mostly esteemed bankers and economists usually go ahead to term them as get-rich-quick schemes with no stable foundation.

Such news can make you invest in a hurry and fail to apply moderation. A little analysis of the market trends and cause-worthy currencies to invest in can guarantee you good returns. Whatever you do, do not invest all your hard-earned money into these assets.

• Understand how exchanges work

Recently, I saw a friend of mine post a Facebook feed about one of his friends who went on to trade on an exchange he had zero ideas on how it runs. This is a dangerous move. Always review the site you intend to use before signing up, or at least before you start trading. If they provide a dummy account to play around with, then take that opportunity to learn how the dashboard looks.

• Don’t insist on trading everything

There are over 1400 cryptocurrencies to trade, but it’s impossible to deal with all of them. Spreading your portfolio to a huge number of cryptos than you can effectively manage will minimize your profits. Just select a few of them, read more about them, and how to get their trade signals.

• Stay sober

Cryptocurrencies are volatile. This is both their bane and boon. As a trader, you have to understand that wild price swings are unavoidable. Uncertainty over when to make a move makes one an ineffective trader. Leverage hard data and other research methods to be sure when to execute a trade.

Successful traders belong to various online forums where cryptocurrency discussions regarding market trends and signals are discussed. Sure, your knowledge may be sufficient, but you need to rely on other traders for more relevant data.

• Diversify meaningfully

Virtually everyone will tell you to expand your portfolio, but no one will remind you to deal with currencies with real-world uses. There are a few crappy coins that you can deal with for quick bucks, but the best cryptos to deal with are those that solve existing problems. Coins with real-world uses tend to be less volatile.

Don’t diversify too early or too late. And before you make a move to buy any crypto-asset, ensure you know its market cap, price changes, and daily trading volumes. Keeping a healthy portfolio is the way to reaping big from these digital assets.

The Forex have advanced from the humblest of beginnings to the world’s largest market by dollar volume. With many different entry points, hedgers and speculators can find what they are looking for. Whether they pursue a more complex strategy or simply want to hedge their everyday currency risk, the Foreign Exchange markets provide the liquidity and instruments for trading in currencies.

Hedging simply hedging implies controlling or reducing the risk. It is an investment position that is used to reduce any substantial losses or gains undergone by an individual or an organization. This is done by taking a position in the futures market for limiting risks associated with price changes.

In other words, the hedge is 100% inversely interrelated to the vulnerable asset. A hedge can be built up from different types of financial instruments such as stocks, exchange traded funds, forward contracts, insurance, future contracts and many types of derivative products.

The Power of Risk/Reward and Hedging
Since Forex trading is a risky one, understating the usage of Stop Loss and Take Profit orders is imperative in trading. Stop Loss (SL) and Take Profit (TP) are used for hedging the risk and rewards of the trader for realizing the profits and minimizing the losses.

There are several methods that traders/investors with a lot of money implement in order to reduce the risk of their trade. One of these techniques is called hedging. Hedging is basically making twofold investments, one investment which will make as the main investment and the other, less risky investment supposed to offset any potential losses incurred from the main investment. It involves reducing the risk that one faces while indulging a business deal. In short, hedging is fundamentally a method which secures the future income.

eToro is a social trading App that places an automatic Stop Loss order on all trades so as to prevent the trader from losing more than he has invested. If the rate of his open trade falls below what is covered by his investment, then the trade is closed by the automatic Stop Loss automatically.

By setting a Stop Loss order a trader makes sure that the value of his trade does not drop lower than a certain level. This way the trader control the maximum amount that he is willing to lose on a trade, without having to check each trade throughout the day.

Take Profit orders are also similar to stop loss orders which only meant to profits. TP orders make sure that once the trade reaches a certain level of profit it will be closed.

Effective Money Management in Forex.
In the Forex market, money management or Risk Management is the key factor which should be seen as a positive element. Money Management is a defensive concept which keeps the trader in funds so that he can trade another day and bears outs profitable performance. It is the key factor that is the difference between success and failure. With risk management the trader needs to manage his means to achieve his ends. Sometimes it is absolutely the right thing to do to get a loss so as to avoid making much larger and more catastrophic losses to his hard earned funds.

For a trader, the proper usage of trading plan is very important that lays out strategies for the trading activities. Helping traders to manage their money and the risk exposure are the practical uses of such plan. The plan should comprise details of what risk level the trader comfortable with, and the amount of capital he has to use.

A trader should really adhere to the levels of risk that he draws in his plan. If he desires to make low risk trades, then there is no reason why he should start exposing himself to higher levels of risk. It is often tempting to do this, probably because the he has made a few losses and he wants to try and fix them, or maybe he has done well with some low risk trades and want to start increasing his profits at a faster rate.

The risk management and the wealth management are to be exercised with a proper strategy, then most possibly there are high chances for getting good profit. A good quality money management strategy helps the trader to survive a losing streak. To do that, it needs to be flexible. A trader should not invest a fixed amount per trade, but a fixed percentage of his starting balance.

Remember, money management is very simple to exercise, but not as simple to carry on. Once the trader developed the money management system that works for his trade, make sure to stick with it and do not let his emotions get in the way of long term profit, although it means absorbing short-term losses.