2 noob Q's - Profit taking & Currency pairs outside of origin

So I’ve gone through most of the school, have been reading for about 1 month, & I’ve been on demo trade for about a week using mostly what I’ve read from Jonathan Fox’s PA thread.

Q1) More of a clarification. My account is in USD. Statement: If I’m trading the EURUSD, then my goal is to Buy Low & Sell High on an uptrend. Or, if the EUR is in a downtrend, then I have to wait for PB’s and just risk Buying Low & Selling High relative to those mini up waves or PB’s.

I can’t see any other way for me to make money on a trend in that scenario. I’m confused on this issue b/c I’ve seen past graphs posted in the forum where people point to a Low point on a pull back and they said they went short and made profit. How do you short on a Low & make money, assuming it’s a short term trade and you bought higher.

Q2) For a long time I assumed that because my account was in USD, I’d have to trade EURUSD, NZDUSD, AUDUSD, etc. because I would only be able to buy currencies with USD & then sell them back into USD, but then yesterday I went out on a limb and bought the AUDNZD just for reconnaissance purposes, & it worked. I’m sure I’ve read that was possible before, but I couldn’t remember. This was good news since now I’m able to track more major currency pairs.

So obviously, if I’m trading the AUDNZD with USD, then there are 3 currency conversions that are either working for or against me. If the AUD trends up against the NZD, but the USD trends down against the AUD in the same time frame, then I could actually lose money. Is this just a high risk situation that must be carefully managed or do you guys have a strategy when you’re in this sort of situation?

Thanks in advance.
Sal

Hi.
You can buy/sell any pair of your choice, not just usd pairs. Your broker will take payment from you in your “home” currency, you don’t need to change it
On your EurUsd downtrend, why not sell? The rising trend may have ended and a new phase downwards may be beginning (just an example, don’t take this as a tip)
You really should finish the school, and when you open a live account just trade 0.01 lots, not full lots like you may have done on demo.
Best wishes

  1. Forex currency pairs have 2 element. base and quotes currencies. ( you can read it more here ), sell EURUSD means you [U]sell your EUR to buy USD[/U] and buy EURUSD means, you [U]sell your USD to buy EUR[/U]
    2.sigh this will be a long explanation to explain AUDNZD. dont bother that, it is already converted
    but anyway here is the longest version , you can read it here