4 Questions to Ask Before You Subscribe to a Forex Signal Newsletter Service

A Forex signal newsletter service is a service that gives you buy/sell trade signals either intraday, daily or weekly. Some will send the signals live via a chat room, some use emails, text messaging or auto-trade for you.

First let me explain auto-trading. Auto-trading is when the newsletter service has an agreement with a broker to allow them to send a signal to the brokerage and it automatically enters or exits trades for each person signed up for auto-trading. Auto-trading seems like an easy way to make money because you don't have anything to do but set up money allocations of how you want your trades handled during set-up. But if the newsletter service has a poor performance record, you can lose your money without even trying. The other services send trade signals directly to you and you place the order manually.

Before you sign up with a newsletter service, ask these 4 questions:

1. What is their credibility? You can determine this simply by checking to see if they have an email address, business address, and phone number. If they don't post their business address, they should give it to you over the phone. If not, that is a deal breaker.

Try sending an email and see how long it takes to answer you. It is imperative in this kind of service to have a quick response time. Better yet, give the company a phone call and see if you can talk with one of the trading staff and not just an operator or customer service representative.

2. Are they trading their own signals? Ask them for proof that they are trading their signals. They can fax you a copy of their brokerage account with personal parts blacked out. Or in the alternative, ask for a detailed transaction report. Every broker shows details of every trade, so it is a matter of seconds for them to produce this report.

3. Do they have an easy way to cancel the membership? Ask for their cancellation policy and procedure. You will be amazed at how some will make you jump through hoops to cancel. Some insist on a phone call where you then have to deal with a high pressure sales person on the phone trying to talk you out of the cancellation. Some want written notice by a certain day each month or you will be charged for another period.

4. Do they explain their trading strategy and specifically discuss their reasoning for getting into a trade? A good service will provide a short video discussing the trade set up. At the least, make sure they disclose why they are recommending the trade with the target and stop loss. Review their trading strategy and see if it fits you. It can either be technical data, like using moving averages and a myriad of other indicators, news based trading, or fundamental trading where they look at the economic data, news reports and political events of the country.