An important part of any traders’ forex strategies is understanding the market cycles.

So what are market cycles?

Not knowing what market cycle you are in will affect your forex trading. Knowing the correct major market cycles is important for you and which forex trading system you should be using. As each cycle requires a different approach from your forex trading system.

There are three major market cycles and the ability to adapt to each cycles is an important part of your forex strategy and will improve your profitability.

So you need to understand how to determine the market cycles if you want to become a successful trader.

The three major cycles are:

1) Trending

2) Consolidation

3) Breakout

The Three Market Cycles

It does not matter what financial market you are trading, the market can only move in these three cycles.

A common saying amongst forex trade is “The Trend is your friend.”

Trending Cycle

Trending is when the market price moves in the same direction consistently in one direction either up or down.

How a forex market trend is inherently defined? A trend can be defined as progressively higher lows and higher highs.

Of course if the price movement consisted of a straight line either up or down, then identifying a trend would obviously be very easy.

In real life, currency prices move do not move in one direction consistently, so denying forex traders and easy trend read.

Consolidation Cycle

A Consolidation cycle also known as Non Trending or Ranging market, which looks like a sideways / horizontal line of bars on a chart. Consolidating is when the market is struck between two horizontal support and resistance levels and cannot break these support / resistance levels for at least seven bars.

You can use moving averages or other technical indicators to determine whether the market is consolidation or trending. In case of a consolidating market, the moving average line will almost be horizontal.

Breakout Cycle

Now what is breaking out of a Consolidation? After the market has been consolidation for at least 7 bars and then the price sharply breaks out of this ranging market sharply to make a new high or low.

That is basically it for the cycles

How does this affect your forex strategies…?

The majority of forex traders only have a forex strategy for one or two market states. The most popular forex strategies being Trends and Breakouts.

But recent research has shown that on average the forex market is in a trending cycle about 30% of the time, breakout cycle about 10% of the time and Consolidation for 60% of the time.

So if your only forex strategy is for a trending cycle then you will only be trading for 30% of the time and if you are one of the few that have more than one forex strategy with the most common being the trending and breakout strategies, then you will still be trading only 40% of the time.

This means that you will be sitting on the sidelines for about 60% of the time. Whilst it is always important to have the patience to wait and pick high probability trades, waiting for the market to change cycles because you do not have a forex strategy for this cycle does not make sense.

Some forex traders will then get sucked into making trades with the wrong strategy into market cycles that the strategy just will not work in.

This year in the July and August the market spent the majority of its time in consolidation and breakouts with very few trends happening. A lot of traders I know only did not have a strategy for this type of cycle so they either lost money over these months or stopped trading altogether until the marker started trending again.

I was myself was in the same position. About mid way through July, I realised that my strategies where just not cutting it in this cycle and I set about on developing my forex strategies so they included one strategy for each cycle. Now I am comfortable trading and making pips in all market cycles.

So it is important to have a set of forex strategies that cover each of the market cycles.

You need to learn what the different market cycles are in addition to having correct trading systems. That means you should develop the skill of correctly identifying the different market cycles at the right time.

Once you have the skill to identify the market cycles then it is important to have set of forex strategies that will cover each market cycle. As effectively identifying the market cycles is a skill that all successful traders have mastered. You need to learn how to adopt your approach to those cycles to remain profitable.

Take this one bit of advice about network marketing – run, don’t walk, as fast as you can in the opposite direction IF you cannot answer these questions:

1 – What is the profit margin for each sale?

2 – Does the marketing plan include clarity and specificity on how to drive traffic to your ads or site? What is the cost of lead generation? What is the lead / conversion ratio for those who will actually join your business?

3 – Will your upline really be available to help you get up and running and provide the direction you may require for ongoing advice?

Lots of online (or offline) businesses are being marketed today directly, that is through small independent business owners. But if the answer is not clear to these questions and you cannot see the value in the profit margin, the product and the marketing method then don’t waste your time.

MLM and Network Marketing do bring great value to the novice entrepreneur by providing a product that you do not need to touch. You will only need to focus on marketing which is what 70 -90% of any business is about anyway.

Marketing and Advertising – Your Main Task

This business model frees you to concentrate your energies in one area -marketing and advertising. And if the profit margin is high and you don’t need to make thousands of sales to make a reasonable profit, then consider the possibility of fighting off the current economic downturn by starting your own online business.

Remember there is a significant difference between network marketing and MLM (multi-level-marketing). In a nutshell you want to seek companies that only pay on 2-3 levels of commission with the person making the sale getting the largest portion.

Working with an Experienced team

You definitely want to have a team of people working with you to help you succeed in making sales so you can earn a great income from those sales. This team should have a proven marketing system in place for you to plug into. This would not simply be a replicated site as this really doesn’t buy you any advantages.

However, be sure the largest part of the commissions are paid out to the one making the sales and not the team leaders. This simple distinction is the best advice about network marketing you’ll ever hear and will help you win in your business.

Building a team or Selling a Product

You see most people simply are not that good at building a team of people and in network marketing YOU do not need to build a team to win. Rather, you win by the team teaching, instructing and leading you in precisely what you need to do to make online sales without talking to your friends and relatives.

So, answer the questions above with clarity as you search for an mlm or network marketing product and company to represent.

Be clear about the plan for marketing your product or service. The plan for marketing, though, needs to fit within your expectations and your advertising budget.

Now, once you are satisfied that you have clear answers to how you will market, what it will cost you and what a reasonable profit is, then work the system hard to build your business. And hopefully you can replace your offline job and kiss your boss goodbye!

Sadly, Red Clay Media published an article about an unfortunate topic. The Department of Justice has been dealing with a high number of complaints against companies taking advantage of homeowners in foreclosure.

One of the main issues with companies such as this posing as legitimate businesses is the appearance of the websites which look so authentic and believable. Even your most web savvy user can have great difficulty differentiating between authentic businesses and those out to undermine the trust of consumers.

For a direct marketing company, communicating in mass message while attempting to target individuals and remain authentic can be the challenge.

Business coach and entrepreneur, Suzanne Evans states that, “it’s critical for you to have a clear message that explains what you do, so when somebody comes up to you and asks what you do for a living, you are able to explain it very quickly, effectively and clearly. ”

In your marketing, you should be both honest and bold. Your clients should see they would be better off if they choose to use your services instead of opting out of them. You should present your business and your interests with high standards and absolute truth, so that when you are questioned or probed by a client, you can deliver legitimate information in a bold manner.

Direct marketing is intended to reach out to potential clients and get them to respond to your message. When you communicate your willingness to meet your clients needs with integrity and high quality service or products, your marketing should mirror that same message.

In the sometimes confusing and hype-laden world of internet marketing, it is refreshing to be provided with true honest value and information to enable people to work confidently towards success. In this 2 part review, this series of articles provides an objective overview of the soon to be launched 4 step success system authored by the Turn – Key Marketing Group.

The founder of Turn – Key Marketing Group, Damian Benko has channelled years of online experience and success into a training and tutorial series which provides authoritative and proven information, cutting through the often extreme hype and outrageous claims of many of the internet scams out there.

This training series, priced at a very affordable point enables newcomers to the world of internet marketing to learn, test, be trained and benefit from years of proven success from the best marketers in the industry. The 4 step system is delivered through the medium of video tutorials and indentifies how over 90% of the money being made in online marketing is generated from the following 4 product areas.

Affiliate Marketing.
This is a huge sector of the internet marketing global economy and relates to the ability to sell someone else’s product and maintain a commission payment in return for your own internet marketing and promotional efforts. The choice of Affiliate programmes and opportunities is vast and can be chosen based upon personal or professional interest, the size of market demand, or simply your own passion for a particular subject area.

Information Products.
This sector of the market enables the internet entrepreneur to generate an online income by selling pre packaged, often digital products and using either Master Resell Rights or Private Label Rights enabling a significant percentage of the sale value to remain within your own business.

Business Opportunities
This is an area of internet marketing commerce where premium products and companies operate. This sector relies mainly on direct selling, using online and internet strategies to connect high value business systems with a target audience looking to build their own business offering in this sector. The entrepreneur retains a significant percentage of the sale value for every new product package or system sold and then retains a further, usually smaller percentage from subsequent sales made by direct members of the entrepreneur’s team. The Turn – Key Marketing Group 4 step system has been born from much of the experience gained in the provision of these kinds of business opportunity. In summary, the nature of the products in this category is mainly made up of Information Products, Coaching and Training Systems and Travel and Leisure Offers.

MLM (Network Marketing)
This sector of the industry is represented by a multitude of off line products ranging from vitamins, healthcare products, nutritional lifestyle products through to financial and property learning systems. These opportunities offer long term, slower growth potential as the commission schemes associated with them are significantly lower than with the affiliate marketing opportunity or the direct business opportunities mentioned above. This internet marketing subsector is vast but is also renowned for “get rich quick” schemes and frustrated failures. As the Turn – Key Marketing 4 step system advises, it is imperative that any budding internet entrepreneur ensures they have the experience and knowledge and a full appreciation of the workload and compensation system before entering into these MLM relationships.

A further review of the Turn – Key Marketing Group 4 step system is scheduled by the author and will look in more detail at the system itself and the results and benefits that can be expected from those who purchase the product and apply the learning.