Get ready traders because I’m about to tell you something that no one…not your broker…not a Forex robot…not a systems trader…or even your know-it-all Wall Street brother…will tell you.

The fact is that Forex trading as you know it, is dying a slow miserable death. In fact, it signed its death warrant 17 years ago when the market opened their doors to the retail public and flooded the market with new FX traders.

Today, the reality is there are so many FX traders in the world – so much money trading hands on a daily basis – that currency pairs just don’t make the big leaps in price or offer the big profits they did back then.

The good news? It’s not time to close out your FX account just yet.

Today, I’ll share with you why traditional Forex trading is D.O.A. and I’ll explain how one tiny modification in your FX trading could jumpstart your profits by 71% or more, and ensure that you never have to settle for mediocre Forex returns.

Kiss FX Trading Goodbye As You Know It

As all traders know, volatility = profits in the FX market. The bigger and faster the currency moves, the more profits you make.

The problem is volatility in the major currencies has died off in the last few years. Take a look at the EUR/USD chart below.

Euro Volatility Evaporates!

The euro/U.S. dollar pair used to trade about 300 pips per day. Today, the pair trades 132 pips a day (56% less!).

The euro isn’t alone. Several other pairs are also moving slower these days. Take a look at another very popular “major” currency pair – the British pound/U.S. dollar (GBP/USD).

Even the Euro’s More Volatile Brother Can’t Keep Up!

The British pound/U.S. dollar (GBP/USD) is traditionally a more volatile pair. Traders have loved this pair for years because it would trade up to 450 pips in a day. That led to some serious profit taking.

One problem. Today this pair only trades around 169 pips a day.

You Won’t Find “Crisis Volatility” Anymore

Even worse, it would take another major market crisis like we saw in 2008 to increase the volatility in pairs like the pound and euro once again.

You see stocks and currencies’ performance have been tied together for a couple years now. The reason? Both are considered “riskier” assets. So as stocks started to plummet, currency traders also rushed out of a few riskier currency pairs. Therefore, we had fewer traders buying and selling, and volatility shot up as stocks fell.

It was great at the time. This “crisis volatility” created lots of opportunities in currencies. After all, if a pair traded 450 pips a day vs. 169 pips a day, you’re much more likely to grab a 100 pip winner in a day.

But now that it seems the “coast is clear” (at least for now)…the volatility slowly evaporated, like a balloon slowly leaking air.

So basically, it took a credit crisis and global recession to stoke up the volatility as it did in these major currency pairs. Long-term, you can’t count on markets being in “crisis mode” to provide you continual volatility all the time.

So what’s the solution? What can a trader do? Markets will obviously return to normal eventually. So we need a fix…

Time to Swim in a Smaller, More Volatile Pond

You see, up until recently all traders swam in essentially the same Forex pond. Everyone made the bulk of their Forex trades versus the U.S. dollar. Why did they do this? Because for years, the U.S. dollar was the only real, viable trading vehicle in the Forex world.

It was also more cost effective to trade just dollar pairs. Many years ago, you could NOT find decent spreads on any pairs outside of the U.S. dollar. As you probably know, you pay the spread for each FX trade, so larger spreads meant higher fees.

So in plain English, it took too long to break even on each non-dollar trade, so traders didn’t bother.

Fortunately, times have changed. The increased volume in the overall market has caused a ton of volume to spill over into non-dollar pairs, or “currency crosses.”. As a result it’s narrowed their spreads.

In other words, it’s affordable to trade currency crosses today.

In fact, many of these crosses now have spreads that the majors did just a few short years ago. I remember one of these pairs going from a 30-pip spread down to a 6 pip spread…major difference! Now that’s tradable!

Internal Sponsorship

Are You Embarrassed By Our Government? Mad? Frustrated? Feel Victimized? Are Looking For A Legitimate Way To Fight Back, Reclaim Your Freedom And Resurrect Your
Portfolio To “Pre-Madoff” Days?

Well, the economy has not been kind to our wallets, health, or mental sanity. By government actions, bailouts of Wall Street, etc. – you’d think Americans had become evil-doers entangled in terrorist activities – treated unconsciously by our government, forced to endure one assault and air strike after another on our liberties, freedom, and portfolios. Early retirement, for most, only a figment of their imagination, like an oasis in the middle of the Sahara. Heck, we even take it to the chin when it comes to Swine Flu vaccinations, as the “fat cats” on Wall Street get the same number of doses as some public hospitals – reserved, for their private use, because of their “importance”. Heed my warnings: things are getting worse. America is becoming socialist. Over 100 years of history, everything our parents and grandparents stood for, that built America – gone, vanishing fast. And, burying your head in the sand like an ostrich, hoping, praying, ignorantly ignoring the situation certainly will not make things better. It’ll only delay the inevitable, worsening of the plague of financial stress and further tighten the “government shackles” that bind you.

Well, what would you say if I told you could EASILY resist such inevitable outcome, get back on track, and stay on track without breaking stride toward your financial goals? What if you could resurrect yourself, your portfolio, your financial future to “pre-economic hell,” before you lost 30-50% of your retirement with the same speed and velocity as a Howitzer cannon… without waiting 5, 10, 15 years, or putting all your “eggs” at the fate of the stock market? One man has the answer: Here’s the story…

You see, the dollar may be the world’s reserve currency, but it’s also the “world’s most overtraded currency.” After all, over 90% of currency trades involve the dollar in some way.

However, when the entire world “overtrades” an asset like this, we all lose a lot of the former opportunity..

Translation: That means more trading volume = less volatility and profit opportunities. It’s the same reason why a small cap stock is more volatile than GE or IBM.

Remember how volatile Microsoft stock was back in the day? Have you checked this stock out lately? It’s a yawn for sure. Why? Tons more volume. All your average Mom and Pop investors want good steady stocks like IBM for their retirement plans. That means you won’t find the nice big moves like back in the good ole days.

It’s the exact same with Forex trades.

Jumpstart Your Trades by 71% or More by NOT Trading the Dollar!

As I mentioned before the traditional euro pair (EUR/USD) has lost a huge chunk of its volatility over the last few years.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t still trade the euro. Just cut the dollar out of your trades. In fact, why not pair the euro with a fast mover like the New Zealand dollar? The EUR/NZD pair trades around 226 pips a day on average…a full 71% more PER DAY!

It’s like trading the euro on steroids. Check it out below.

The “Euro on Steroids” Pair

If you look at the spreads (costs) for each trade, you’ll see that trading the normal EUR/USD results in a 2 pip spread, while trading the EUR/NZD is a 7 pip spread. So it’s slightly more expensive.

However, you pick up 94 more pips in profit potential! In other words you’re paying 5 pips more for an incredible 94 pips worth of profit. I’ll take that any day.

The EUR/NZD has sufficient volume and reasonable spreads just like the traditional EUR/USD pair, but it trades 71% more pips daily. That gives you 71% extra profit potential every single trading day.

Three Reasons to “Upgrade” Your Trading Account

To recap, currency crosses can…

1. Resurrect the volatility that was easy to find just a few years ago
2. Give you 71% more profit potential or more on each trade
3. Finally offer you reasonable spreads.

Yes, traditional FX may be dying. But that doesn’t mean you have to close up shop and cancel your FX account. On the contrary there are plenty of opportunities out there for traders who are willing to adapt to what the market is offering.

In this day and age, that real opportunity is outside the U.S. dollar. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Happy Trading!
Sean Hyman, aka Professor FX

A 17-year veteran in the financial markets, Sean Hyman has been a senior writer for FX University Daily since 2007, and a currency trader since 2001. To hear more on how currency crosses can enhance your trades, read Sean’s latest special report here.