Blog Review #1: ForexTradingBlog
The site is maintained by Mike Conlon, who also writes and maintains the MyWealth.com/blog website, both very informative, professional, and relevant Forex resources. The following is the review I conducted with Mike:
Top Forex Brokers
1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself including your name, your profession, and your location.
"Name: Mike Conlon, Location: New York City, Profession: Forex Instructor with FXEDU, independent trader. I also manage the myWealth.com blog, growing it to 15,000 subscribers, as well as writing daily for forextradingblog.com."
2. How long have you been involved in the Forex market?
"I have been involved in the forex market for a little over 2 years as a trader, having transitioned over from trading stocks, options, and futures."
3. How long have you been blogging?
"I have been blogging for about 6 months. I write macro-economic pieces on forex weekly for the myWealth.com blog, as well as my daily updates on forextradingblog.com."
4. Who is your primary audience?
"My primary audience is anyone with an interest in the forex markets and a penchant for learning “outside of the box”.
5. Why should someone read your blog?
"People should read my blog because I like to mix it up a bit. Some days there are fundamental trades, other days technical. Gives the reader an idea of what I look for when I trade, how the currencies relate to one another and other markets as well. Because of my background in stocks, options, and futures, I feel I can provide unique insights and provide more of a complete picture."
6. In your opinion, what are the main advantages of the Forex market?
"The advantages of the forex market are numerous; the most important advantages to me are the fact that you can trade 24 hours a day and the sheer size of the market. The forex market cannot be manipulated like the stock market can so the moves and the trends tend to be cleaner. Which is always nice as I tend to use technical analysis a lot."
Advantages: Both sites are updated frequently, written in perfect English, and offer great content.
Disadvantages: The MyWealth blog does not offer short text to read before clicking through to the entire article. It would help readers if they could see a preview of the article. Additionally, neither of the blogs offer new traders information they can use such as tutorials or an introduction to the market.
Conclusion: Both of Mike's blogs are written on an extremely high level and offer traders of all levels important information about their trading. Both the blogs have a very simple design with the myWealth design sticking to a really basic and plain look, something that forces the reader to focus on the content, which in this case, is great. It is very clear from both these blogs that Mike knows his stuff and he does a great job sharing it with his audience. Like I said, new traders might not find what they need to start trading, but clearly, that is not the audience Mike is targeting. On both of Mike's blogs, you can find up to date information on the market and its developments, so I will be bookmarking the sites and referring back to them on a regular basis, you should too.
Blog Review #2: Winners Edge Trading
Winners Edge Trading, a Forex blog written by Casey Stubbs, a DailyForex blogger, as well as a widely accepted Forex expert.
Casey and his blog deserve a special mention not only because he writes a blog for DailyForex but also because he appears on every single top Forex blogs list I have encountered. He is widely accepted as a market expert and this comes across in his high quality content. I have been in contact with Casey for months now; I follow his updates on Twitter, and talk to him on a regular basis. The man is a highly professional, hard working, and extremely intelligent individual with important insights on Forex trading. Here is the interview I conducted with Casey.
1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself including your name, your profession, and your location.
“My name is Casey Stubbs and I live in Latrobe PA. I have 5 children and I am a Forex trader/blogger.”
2. How long have you been involved in the Forex market?
“I started in the Forex Market about 8 months ago. I was involved in stocks and I saw a CNBC challenge about Forex so I opened and account and tried it. I have been trading ever since.”
3. How long have you been blogging?
“I started my blog, Winners Edge Trading in January of 2009 so about 6 months. The blog has been a total success. I have a Google page rank of 3 and I am getting much more traffic than I ever thought possible. It keeps getting better and better.”
4. Who is your primary audience?
“My audience is Forex Traders. I have a little something for everyone. For newbies a school, and for more advanced traders I have advanced articles and trade calls.”
5. Why should someone read your blog?
“People should read my blog to learn how to trade or to get good trade setups and learn how to find the right tools needed to succeed in Forex Trading.”
6. In your opinion, what are the main advantages of the Forex market?
“That's easy. 24 hr market. lots of volume. Large price moves, and leverage.”
Advantages
- Wide variety of content
- Updated frequently
- Suitable for all traders
Disadvantages
- Lack of design
- Content not on home page
- Level of writing can be improved
Conclusion: Winners Edge Trading, as Casey explained has what to offer all types of traders. The content is fresh, relevant, updated, and interesting. No wonder it is mentioned in every list of top Forex blogs on the Web. Although Casey has been involved in Forex for only a short period of time, this is completely not apparent in his writing. Most people trading Forex are looking for a good and reliable source of information to read before opening a position. Winners Edge Trading is it! Despite its lack of a modern and eye catching design, the content is good enough to keep you interested. Seems Casey made a decision to let his market insights do the attracting and not a flashy design. We think he made a smart decision. We plan on continuing to monitor the blog and hope to see some of the newer features, such as the forum, continue to grow.
Blog Review #3: Forex Blog
Forex Blog is a current source for any and all financial information. The site is updated, orderly, full of information, and written in a way that keeps you interested. Founded in 2004, Forex blog serves over 10,000 Forex traders on a monthly basis. The main content contributor of Forex blog is Adam Kritzer. Here is the interview I conducted with Adam.
Please tell us a little bit about yourself including your name, your profession, and your location in approximately 50 words or less.
"Adam Kritzer is a professional financial blogger (and part-time rock climbing instructor) based in China. He writes mainly about foreign exchange, but also about mortgages/housing and other stories with economic angles."
How long have you been involved in the Forex market/blogging?
"I have covered Forex markets for over four years as the primary content contributor for the Forex Blog. I first began taking an interest in currencies perhaps in the early 2000's following the collapse of the dot-com stock bubble."
Who is your primary audience?
"It's difficult to pin down our primary audience- I would hazard a guess that most of our readers are amateur forex traders. That being said, our approach to (fundamental) analysis is such that any amateur economist, fed watcher, or investor can probably find something useful."
Why should someone read your blog?
"As I suggested in question 4, the advice/analysis offered by the Forex Blog is broad enough to appeal to wide audience, while specific enough for Forex traders. Moreover, rather than offering daily price targets (which ensures that content becomes useless hours after being published), we cover stories that reflect a medium-term/long-term outlook. Plus, our underlying approach (interest rate differentials, comparative economic growth trajectories, fluctuations in risk aversion) has remained relatively unchanged, which means articles from last year are still relevant today."
In your opinion, what are the main advantages of the Forex market?
"The main advantages are liquidity and the intrinsic impossibility of a complete bear market. In other words, you can always find currencies that are strengthening and can usually count a tight spread even during periods of extreme volatility. Both of these features are unique to forex markets."
Advantages: A large archive of useful Forex content, Many categories to choose from including an interview section with other bloggers.
Disadvantages: New Forex traders will have to search through the archive to find relevant information but will eventually find it.
Conclusion: Forex Blog was one of the pioneers in the Forex blogging space and it remains a leading Forex blog today. The site was one of the first Forex blogs to offer daily Forex updates, and it continues to offer its audience the most updated and useful financial information on the Web. Adam incorporates technical analysis, Forex fundamentals, and market psychology in his writing, offering his readers an all around Forex information source. It is no surprise that Adam's writing has been published in other leading financial news sites such as Mergers & Acquisitions Journal, as well as the Wuhan Evening Post. It was a pleasure working with Adam.
Blog Review #4: Alan's Forex Blog
Alansforexblog, a place in which you can find updated content in the form of news, analysis, and articles. This blog is maintained by, you guessed it, Alan. Alan Vit is involved in the Forex market for the past 4 years, and shares his knowledge and expertise with other traders, specifically beginners. The following is the interview I conducted with Alan:
1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself including your name, your profession, and your location.
"My name is Alan Vit and I'm an IT specialist living in Ontario, Canada."
2. How long have you been involved in the Forex market?
"I've been involved in the Forex market for roughly 3 years now. It has been such an incredible educational experience for me, and I'd say that out of all the financial markets Forex is now my favorite. My aspiration is that one day I will be able to make Forex my full-time occupation."
3. How long have you been blogging?
"I've been blogging for a little over 4 years. My first venture into the blogging scene was with a Blogger blog dedicated to "making money online."
4. Who is your primary audience?
"My primary audience are beginner to intermediate English speaking Forex traders. I especially try to post content which is of great utility to newbie forex traders because I know what it's like to be one and how hard at times it can be to find honest reviews and good solid Forex information."
5. Why should someone read your blog?
"I'd say that anyone interested in the latest Forex news, trading systems, Forex reviews, and automated Forex trading systems (aka EAs) should definitely checkout my blog. In all my articles and reviews I tell it like it is without a hidden agenda or any partiality. Let's just say that I like to take a NO BS approach to everything I do, including my blogs."
6. In your opinion, what are the main advantages of the Forex market?
There are several but my favorite are the following:
- Huge potential for profit
- Currency pairs can offer sustained long term trends
- Huge leverage potential - If used carefully the huge level of leverage available can bring in barrels of profits. In no other market can you buy so much currency with so little margin (400:1 being a commonly available - but in my opinion not recommended leverage)
- Low trading expenses
- Forex has the highest level of liquidity
- Forex is a fast moving market which means that I can realize huge profits in a short period of time - groovy stuff in my book!
Advantages: Updated content, professional writing, variety of Forex topics
Disadvantages: Lack of design, too many categories, too few options in each category (e.g Forex brokers), lack of articles.
Conclusion: Between Alan’s up to date news, analysis, Forex reviews, and Forum (ForexNirvana), you are sure to find useful information on this site. However, in my opinion, a little more resource should be spent on designing the blog, the site is a little overpopulated, making it more difficult to read. In addition, I would have liked to see more articles on the home page, but since the news and analysis were very useful and informative, I will let this one slide. Alan was a pleasure to work with and unlike many Forex bloggers we have reviewed, writes on a very high level and ensures fresh and up to date content. It was a pleasure working with Alan, a true Forex expert, as well as one that grasps the true power of the Web. With a little cosmetic work, I am sure Alan can and will bring this blog up to a very high level.
Blog Review #5: Trading For A Living
Trading for a Living is run and maintained by David Aranzabal, full time trader & CEO at FxForaliving. The site is well kept, updated, interesting, and offers a variety of Forex topics. Here is the interview I conducted with David:
Please tell us a little bit about yourself including your name, your profession, and your location
Thanks for having me. My name is David Aranzabal, I graduated in 1992 from Deusto University, Spain with a degree in Software Engineering. In 2001 I graduated in IESE Business School with master's degree in Business Management (MBA). After that I have been an entrepreneur and founded two software companies developing solutions for public institutions. In 2004 I moved to full time currency trader and I have been an FXstreet Premium Member since its inception. Actually I'm running FX FOR A LIVING.com, a company for helping traders to archive consistency in his trading.
How long have you been involved in the Forex market?
For about 7 years, and the last 5 years being a full time trader.
How long have you been blogging?
I started blogging collaborating with FXstreet.com since March, 2009. Since then I cover daily my intraday view from the forex market. Who is your primary audience? -Novice and advance Forex traders, because I explain in a very detailed way the technical setups that happens in a daily basis. I've got followers that are trading for the first time and traders that have been around for some years but they like my point of view.
Why should someone read your blog?
Because it's free and you can learn how to profit in a daily basis from the markets. There is no way to foresee the markets, but if you follow the same patterns everyday you have an edge.
In your opinion, what are the main advantages of the Forex market?
It's the most liquid market in the world, so technical analysis works fine in the small and in the big timeframes.
Advantages: Updated frequently, simple layout, variety of Forex topics, easy to work with
Disadvantages:Non-Mother-Tongue English, content not suitable for beginners, the blog’s ads are a little too obtrusive.
Conclusion: Trading For A Living is a top Forex blog focusing primarily on the technical aspects of the market. I would not necessarily recommend it to beginner traders, but anyone beyond that level, would greatly benefit from Trading For A Living. Between the HD video reviews, market comments, trading psychology tips, and the technical education offered on this blog, David really did a great job separating himself from the pack. I also really liked that he has a separate category for the blog’s traffic stats, transparency is always a good thing.
Blog Review #6: CountingPips
Counting Pips started off as a blog when it was established 2 years ago by Zachary Storella. The declared goal of Counting Pips is to provide Forex traders with a place to find the most updated and relevant “Forex news, analysis, opinions and market information”, and from what I can tell, they are doing a fine job. The site is clean and easy to use, which can be explained by Zachary’s past profession in web design. The site is updated regularly, and offers a perfect blend of the different types of information Forex traders need. Below you can read the interview I conducted with Zachary:
1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself including your name, your profession, and your location.
“My name is Zachary Storella, I am a Forex trader, blogger and website owner in the USA, north of Boston, Massachusetts. Before becoming involved inFforex, I was involved in website design and business development.”
2. How long have you been involved in the Forex market?
“I have been involved in Forex for 3 to 4 years of trading, blogging, running a forex website and learning the market.”
3. How long have you been blogging?
“I have been blogging for about 2 years now.”
4. Who is your primary audience?
“My primary audience is retail forex traders like myself. I started the blog so I could keep myself abreast of the important forex news of the day and it has expanded into a full website now.”
5. Why should someone read your blog?
“I hope that people will find useful information on our blog and throughout the website. I think someone should read the blog or visit CountingPips because we are always improving our content and trying to upgrade our site features.”
6. In your opinion, what are the main advantages of the Forex market?
“I feel that the sheer size of the market and liquidity is a major advantage. There are so many currency pairs to trade and so many strategies and styles to trading one can seek to implement. The round-the-clock trading during the week makes for constant action and it is global and not confined to any one timezone. I find the forex market fun, challenging and a constant learning process.”
Advantages: Well designed site, updated content, well written, multimedia presentations
Disadvantages: Less suitable for beginner traders who want to learn the basics of Forex.
Conclusion: Counting Pips includes a blog, analysis, and articles section offering its readers a wide variety of information depending on their interests. Each one of those categories includes well written and interesting content, with charts, multimedia such as videos, and detailed updates of the Forex market. Counting Pips is a great source of information for anyone interested in Forex. Although I did say that Counting Pips is generally targeting more experienced and knowledgeable traders, almost anyone interested in the foreign exchange market can find something useful on Counting Pips. It might not be in the analysis section, but the articles are very interesting and are written in a way that you feel like they were written for you. Zachary did a phenomenal job at making Counting Pips a reliable source of Forex information.
Blog Review #7: OANDA ForexBlog
The OANDA Forex blog is updated frequently with relevant content, the site is designed professionally, and the writing itself is on a very high level. In fact, as opposed to all the other blogs we have reviewed in the past, for which the process involved communicating with one or two bloggers, in this case, I corresponded with the official account of the site and it was al a lot more formal than in the past. The site is maintained by three main writers, and the team as a whole supplied the following answers to my interview questions:
1. Please tell us a bit about yourself and the contributors to the blog.
"Currently, there are three individuals responsible for most of the content for OANDA’s MarketPulseFX blog . The team is located in Toronto, Canada and has a combined 45 years experience in the capital markets. Dean Popplewell has served as the head of the global trading desks with Canada’s largest banks, Alfonso Esparza specializes in emerging economies, and Scott Boyd provides market industry analysis".
2. How long have you been involved in the Forex market?
"In his twenty-year career, Dean has spent a full ten years as a professional currency trader and is also an expert in fixed income. Alfonso holds an MBA and worked as a currency trader for five years where he was responsible for the emerging economies desk . Scott has covered many markets, including equities and futures, but has concentrated exclusively on the forex market since joining OANDA in 2007."
3. How long have you been blogging?
"Before the first version of the blog was launched, Dean wrote a daily piece that was originally posted in the currency trader forum that OANDA has hosted since 2001. In 2006, OANDA launched the first version of its currency blog and Dean moved his daily outlook to the blog as part of the launch. Alfonso and Scott joined OANDA shortly after that and have been regular contributors since 2007. OANDA released a revamped blog just this past September to incorporate new features including a calendar of events, interest rates, and a real-time feed of OANDA’s currency pair dealable rates. We have also created Twitter accounts and have several interactive tools in development that we hope to add to the blog next year to further enhance our ability to share information critical to the success of all forex traders."
4. Who is your primary audience?
"Our audience reflects our trading partners and covers the entire scope of traders and trading objectives. We have a mix of institutional traders, international firms engaging in currency hedging, and private individuals – which for lack of a better term – we call our retail traders. For the most part, our retail traders are non-professional and vary in experience all the way from novices, to former professionals. As you can imagine, having such a varied client base means we have a wide-range of needs to address. For this reason, rather than writing a piece that may only be of interest for one particular type of client, we try to produce content and analysis that we believe provides an accurate assessment of what is happening in the markets, as well as the potential impact a particular news item or the latest economic indicator could have on exchange rates. Our traders can then use this information to formulate their own opinion and position themselves in such a way as best meets their trading objectives. The simple truth is that as active traders ourselves, we pay very close attention to the news and when we come across something that we feel is especially relevant, we make sure to highlight it in our blog or Twitter page. Unlike some bloggers however, we will never say “buy this” or “sell that”; our goal is to provide the most efficient means for traders to view key information, and to distill the content down to a format that makes it easier for our busy readers to assess and determine for themselves the steps they should enact to best position themselves, whether it be to profit on exchange rate fluctuations, or simply to preserve capital."
5. Why should someone read your blog?
"Well, we certainly touched upon this in the previous comment, but the key thing we try to keep in mind is that not everyone – especially those engaging in part-time currency trading – can spend hours a day tracking the news. We believe that the greatest service we can offer, is to sift through the myriad of press releases, market news, and government / corporate action notices that make the news services each day, and then report on those that have the potential for the greatest impact. We attempt to provide a condensed version of the story, yet still pass on the level of detail necessary to enable our traders to make informed decisions. Secondly, Dean’s FX provides a concise view for the trading day and should be mandatory reading for all currency traders. From just this one column, you can quickly see what happened in the European and Asian markets ahead of the North American open when volatility tends to be at its greatest. Alfonso reports on Central Bank actions, while Scott produces commentaries in the Market Pulse column that takes an in-depth look at the most important topics driving the markets. And finally, all three writers continually update news and Twitter feeds with intra-day events as they happen. A quick glance at the Forex News Update section of the blog is all you need to keep abreast of changing conditions that affect currency exchange rates."
6. In your opinion, what are the main advantages of the Forex market?
"I’m sure most people are already aware of the advantages of the forex market – daily transactions in the $3 trillion-dollar-a-day range means that forex is by far the largest and most liquid market, and it is the only market to offer true 24-hour trading, six days a week. Trading tends to be centered on a handful of currencies (i.e. “the big seven”) and intraday volatility is usually much greater than the equity markets and it is this volatility that provides opportunities to gain on short-term trades. The rules that restrict short-selling in other markets do not apply when dealing in forex, which means that it is possible to profit no matter which direction the market is running. From a cost-per-trade standpoint, trading forex with a web-based broker is the most cost-effective form of trading as it is based entirely on the spread. In addition, forex brokers also offer varying levels of margin-based leverage which, when used appropriately, enables you to trade values considerably higher than the actual deposits in your account. Taking all these advantages into consideration, we honestly believe that this is an exciting time to be trading forex. With the confusion that continues to reign in the equity markets and record-low yields in the fixed income sector, investors are quickly turning forex into a “must have” asset class."
Advantages: Content is written well, relevant, and covers the most important developments of the market. The team is very professional and clearly invest a lot of resources into the blog and its day to day maintenance.
Disadvantages: If I had to name one, I would have liked to see fundamental tutorials that a complete Forex beginner would find useful.
Conclusion: I think it is very clear we are dealing with a world class Forex blog that is probably the most professional Forex site we have reviewed to date. Any and all information you would need about OANDA was covered in the answers above, which is a clear indication of the thorough and professional level at which the OANDA team conducts itself. It was a pleasure working with the team at the OANDA Forexblog and this is a blog that I think all Forex traders should read daily. Additionally, it would help for a lot of the bloggers we have reviewed in the past to learn from the level of this blog, both in terms of its content, design, and general level of professionalism.
Blog Review #8: Big Bruv Chronicles
"Big Bruv Chronicles” is a swing trader and signal provider with Zulutrade, and therefore writes a lot about his trades within Zulutrade. The site is modern and eye-catching, something you will notice as soon as you first access Big Bruv Chronicles. The content is updated daily and focuses on the writer’s personal Forex transactions. Here is the interview I conducted with “Big Bruv”:
1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself including your name, your profession
"I used to work in the finance industry as a risk analyst but now trade full-time. You can call me Big_Bruv, I live in the most cosmopolitan city in the world; London".
2. How long have you been involved in the Forex market?
"Since 2004...I started as an investor 10 years ago investing in equity but after 2002 i wanted to be more involved and take advantage of volatility..Forex got my attention".
3. How long have you been blogging?
"I started in 2007..or was it 2006...geez its been a while".
4. Who is your primary audience?
"Mainly traders like myself...not really novices but not pros"...
5. Why should someone read your blog?
"It's technical jargon turned on it's head....there's personality in every word. I want people to say"..."ya..interesting.."
6. In your opinion, what are the main advantages of the Forex market?
"It's the most liquid market in the world....and you can trade 24/7"
Advantages: Updated frequently, detailed information, nice design
Disadvantages: Posts are not standalone rather an ongoing thread, no information variety such as articles or analysis on a regular basis (there are some from time to time), Limited content, webpage needs some tweaking (for example, it says <br> in the page title)
Conclusion: We were impressed with Big Bruv Chronicles, but it still needs some work if it is to compete with other major Forex blogs.
Here are some advantages and disadvantages.We found Big Bruv Chronicles to be a very informative blog if you follow it regularly. “Big Bruv” clearly knows his stuff, if he would just invest a little more time into the site itself, it would be an outstanding blog.
Blog Review #9: UltimateForexReview
This week we will be reviewing a Forex blog run and maintained by what has to be the youngest Forex trader. Samuel Cimamonti is only 16 years old and has already made himself a name as a Forex blogger. He is not new to the market, and he shares his insights on his blog Ultimate Forex Review.
The following is the interview I conducted with Samuel:
1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself including your name, your profession, and your location.
"My name, is Samuel Cimamonti, I'm 16 and I've discovered the forex market in 2006. I'm currently in High School and I live in Marseille, France."
2. How long have you been involved in the Forex market?
"I've been involved in the forex market for about 3 years... I started learning the forex in November 2006, then I opened a demo account and from this moment on forex became a sort of hobby actually ! I've always been interested in the finance field and I must admit that the currency market is a kind of "passion". As you know, I'm currently trading in order to test all the methods I review but I'm also trading my personal account."
3. How long have you been blogging?
"I've been blogging for less than a year. The purpose of the UltimateForexReview Blog is to highlight which forex products are the best and which are the baddest. It represents a big amount of work, but seeing people happy about my work is really encouraging. "
4. Who is your primary audience?
"My primary audience consists in people who are looking for reviews in order to figure out if a forex product is a scam or if it is not.
5. Why should someone read your blog?
"The big problem in the forex market is that a lot of scams can be found on the internet. I mean, few products are great but actually, the big majority is terrible... That's sad because most people are not aware about that and most of the time they are scammed. I created this website in order to help them find the right products. To make a long story short I would say that people should read my blog because I think it provides reliable and unbiased informations for them to figure out in which forex product they might invest their money."
6. In your opinion, what are the main advantages of the Forex market?
"Personally, I think that the main advantages of the forex market are the following:
The forex market is one of the easiest to trade... I mean, it's an almost unregulated , no one can corner the market, it's easy to open an account and there's almost no commission or extra costs. Of course, in order to become a "decent" trader, you'll have to work, invest some money, learn, learn and learrrrnnn. But in the end, when you know how to use it, that's really rewarding as it is an amazing way to make money and become more independant.
Advantages: Attractive design, variety of content types, interesting writing style
Disadvantages: Not updated frequently enough, a few empty categories, Occasional writing mistakes
Conclusion: Ultimate Forex Review is an impressive blog with a nice design and a significant amount of content. You can find articles ranging from advice and tips all the way through Forex methods or book reviews. Samuel writes in English even though it is not his mother tongue, an impressive accomplishment on its own, but a factor that does bring down the English level of the blog, although not by much. The site is relatively new relatively speaking so the amount of content is not endless, but growing all the time. Samuel has managed to accomplish a lot at a very young age, and if he continues on this path will become a market expert in no time. The site is neat and clear with interesting and relevant content, and is also on the right path to becoming a leading Forex blog.