Forex Signal

A forex signal is a suggested order for a currency pair made by a human analyst or automated forex robot supplied to a subscriber of the forex signal service. Due to the timely nature of signals orders are usually communicated via email, website, SMS, RSS, tweet or other relatively immediate method.
Types of services
Services provided fall into four categories:
1. Unpaid/free signals
2. Paid signals from one provider whether by personal analysis or algorithmic analysis
3. Paid signals aggregated from multiple signal sources or 'systems'
4. Signals supplied by trading software located on the trader's computer, also known as a forex robot or EA (expert advisor)
View the external links for an example of each

Typical features offered by forex signal service providers
Not all forex signal suppliers will offer all of these services
Exact or approximate entry, exit and stop loss figures for trades on one or more currency pairs
Supporting graphs and/or analysis for the signals
A trading history showing the number of pips profit/loss per month and/or the risk/reward ratio and actual trades. Sometimes (especially in the case of forex robots) this may be shown as back-tested results
One-on-one coaching, or additional interaction with the signal provider such as comments, forum, etc
Account management whereby a subscriber's account can be traded by the signal provider
Educational resources either via the internet or phone
A trial period for a lesser price
Scams and fraudulent activity
As forex is popularly touted as a get-rich-quick method there are a number of services that supply user-generated reviews of forex signal services, such as Forex Peace

Methodologies and trading strategies
The majority of signal providers focus on supplying signals based on technical analysis and a minority work on fundamental analysis or price action. Technical analysis, such as ichimoku and candlestick charting, show both short and long term price trends giving the signal provider flexibility in supplying a range of trade options. Fundamental analysis gives longer term trade ideas. Price action gives extremely short term trade ideas, often more suited to scalping.