In a recent editorial published in the Wall Street Journal, the Chief Economist for Bear Stearns (an American investment bank) advocated intervention by America's Federal Reserve Bank on behalf of the Dollar.  He reasons that the best way both to fight and inflation and alleviate the possibility of recession is to strengthen the USD.  Current measures, which include lowering the discount rate and manipulating the money supply, are actually worsening inflation.  As a result, institutional investors are moving their capital en masse outside the US in order to prevent the declining dollar from corroding their investment returns. While paying lip service to the prevailing wisdom that Central Banks are essentially impotent when it comes to managing currencies, he insists that strong rhetoric by the Fed could conceivably convince investors that it stood behind the "Strong Dollar Policy" it promotes.  The Wall Street Journal reports:

By saying they want a stronger dollar, the Fed...could make it happen. Government policy makers have almost absolute control over perceptions of the future scarcity of dollars. This controls the demand for dollars almost as much as it does the supply, setting its value as much or more than rates do.

So-called 'Sovereign Wealth Funds' are the talk of the town, stealing headlines as part of a multi-billion dollar buying spree.  Anecdotally, stories of these funds and other institutional foreign investors have made a big splash, epitomized by a few high-profile investments in struggling American investment banks.  It no longer appears these stories were isolated, as suggested by some pretty compelling economic data.  In 2007, total foreign direct investment into the United States totaled $400 Billion, which represents a 90% increase over 2006.  In addition, the first few weeks of 2008 saw a frenzy of activity, which suggest this trend will continue.  Investment in the US is being driven primarily by a weak Dollar and attractive stock market valuations.  If the bad news on the US economy continues to pour in, analysts warn that foreigners could play an even larger role in mitigating against recession. The New York Times reports:

The weak dollar has made American companies and properties cheaper in global terms. Even as Americans confront the prospect of a recession, economic growth remains strong worldwide, endowing oil producers like Saudi Arabia and Russia and export powers like China and Germany with abundant cash.

The average daily forex trading volume currently exceeds $1.9 trillion. With so much on the line, we've put together a list of our favorite 100 forex resources to help you become a knowledgeable forex trader. The following resources were chosen for the quality of information and training tools offered. Although some of these tools are located on commercial sites, you'll find value in materials produced by professionals. Other sites were chosen for the resources that they offered for a price (like books), but they're all geared specifically toward the forex trader. The chosen sites are written in the English language, but some individuals, businesses, and organizations are located in areas other than the United States. All sites are listed in alphabetical order within the following categories:

If you're a forex newbie, the following sites will help you get a grip on the similarities and differences between forex trading and stock exchange trading. Take advantage of free resources before you dedicate any serious cha-ching to training.

Breaking through support or resistance levels results in a change of traders’ expectations (which causes supply/demand lines to shift).

This type of a change is often abrupt and «news based». Such changes may have a certain trend. A trend represents a consistent change in prices. Trends differ from support/resistance levels in that trends represent change, whereas support/resistance levels represent barriers to change.

Think of prices for financial instruments as a result of a head-to-head battle between a bull (the buyer) and a bear (the seller). Bulls push prices higher, and bears lower them. The direction prices actually move shows who wins the battle.