Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Forex

orex, or Foreign Exchange, is the simultaneous buying of one currency while selling for another. This market of exchange has more buyers and sellers and daily volume than any other in the world. Taking place in the major financial institutions across the globe, the forex market is open 24-hours a day.


In the forex market currencies are always priced in pairs; therefore all trades result in the simultaneous buying of one currency and the selling of another. The objective of currency trading is to buy the currency that increases in value relative to the one you sold. If you have bought a currency and the price appreciates in value, then you must sell the currency back in order to lock in the profit.
Currencies are quoted in pairs. The first listed currency is known as the base currency, while the second is called the counter or quote currency. In the wholesale market, currencies are quoted using five significant numbers, with the last placeholder called a point or a pip.

Forex Worldwide

There are plenty of self-selected experts online promoting their secret method to succeeding in the world of investing. A careful look at this market, however, reveals a tragic truth: These are the same old stories retold by hucksters looking to earn a buck. They jump on a particular stock that did well, they “reverse engineer” the trend line, they have their system ghostwritten, and then they promote “a forex training system like you’ve never seen before”.

Forex account type

GTL supports three different account types, Standard Accounts, Premium Accounts and Corporate Accounts. Clients are classified according to equity and net trading volume. Standard FX account holder can trade regular as well as mini contracts for Forex. One mini contact is 1/10th of a regular contract. So trader can tailor pip value of any FX pair as per his / her choice Likewise, to make a regular contract entering with 10 mini lots. Mini FX accounts have a lot size of 10,000 USD, and a default margin requirement of $50. The value of one pip, and therefore the scale of profit/loss potential, is 10 times smaller for Mini FX accounts than for Standard FX accounts.

- Minimum deposit: US$2,000 ($500 for Mini Forex accounts)
- 2-3 pip spreads on all major FX
- Interest-Free Account
- Aggressive spreads on all crosses / pairs
- Leverage up to 400:1
- One month Free SMS service of order execution
- $500 Bonus margin on introducing a new account of $5000 


Minimum deposit:$100,000 US
- Leverage up to 200:1
- Interest Free
- Free programming of automated trading strategies
- Free SMS service on 1000 lots in a month.
- Bonus $500 on 1000 traded lots in a month
- Free PDA mobile phone set (for online trading on mobile phone)
- $500 Bonus margin on introducing a new account of $5000 


- Minimum deposit:$500,000 US
- Leverage up to 100:1
- Interest Free
- Free programming of automated trading strategies
- Free SMS service on 1000 lots in a month.
- Bonus $500 on 1000 traded lots in a month
- Free PDA mobile phone set (for online trading on mobile phone)
- $500 Bonus margin on introducing a new account of $5000

Forex Definition

Forex is trading with foreign currency, stocks, and similar type of financial products. In forex trading, the currency of one country is weighed against the currency of another country to find out the value. The value of that foreign currency is taken into consideration when trading stocks on the forex market. Many countries have the control over the value of that country’s currency or money.

Most of the major banks, large businesses, governments and other financial institutions are involved in the forex market.

Stocks, bonds and mutual funds are the most popular asset classes and therefore get most of the market's attention, but there are other important investment opportunities every investor should know about as well, including options, futures, and currency. Although these investments are complex and usually intended for sophisticated investors, it's worth understanding what they are and how they operate in order to decide if they should play any role in your overall investment strategy

Forex News

- British Pound Declines Could Continue as UK CPI is Forecasted to Drop by Most in 7 Years
- Euro Falls Sharply as S&P Downgrades Spain’s Credit Rating, European Commission Forecasts Sharp Drop in Growth in 2009
- Canadian Dollar Outlook Depends Not on Bank of Canada’s Rate Decision, but Press Release Policy Bias

There are few fundamental themes that are so prominent that they can determine price action for the entire currency market; but one of those few happen to be risk appetite. However, with correlations wearing down and technicals filling out, a USDJPY range may represent a source of temporary stability for range traders.

US dollar and Japanese yen have been so strong, why the New Zealand dollar tumbled at the end of the US trading session, and which pieces of event risk may impact the British pound and Canadian dollar

Forex Club

 Forex Club offers two distinct trading platforms, one that features zero spreads (ExpressFX) and the other that features zero commissions (ClassicFX). ExpressFX features commission refunds on non-profitable trades, which means that you will only pay commissions for trades in the black. ClassicFX is a comprehensive trading station that features advanced tools, charts and indicators. Both platforms have guaranteed fills and allow position reversals and support trading with mini lots.

Forex trading and education

Whether you need ideas for a new strategy, to brush up on platform tools, or just to learn our platform for the first time, we have the resources you need at FOREX.com. Open a free forex practice account to test your knowledge with no risk or obligation, attend a webinar, or check our schedule for a forex workshop in your area.

Forex Research

Our award-winning research team brings you insights and tips, direct from our seasoned traders. Divided into weekly, daily and intraday research, we cover both fundamental and technical indicators. 

Our Intraday commentary includes FOREX Insider and the widely read Market Updates. Follow the market with our traders as they decode the market's movements, point out emerging chart patterns and analyze key data releases' impact on the currency markets, as they happen.

Trade forex with confidence

FXCM is one of the largest and well-capitalized forex brokers

* Over 100,000 live accounts trade through FXCM's trading platforms
* FXCM Holdings, LLC has over
US$100,000,000 in firm capital
* Regulated in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Hong Kong

Why Trade at FXCM

Trading Scenario-trading falling prices

If, on the other hand, you believe that the euro will weaken against the dollar, you'll want to sell EURUSD.

• You sell euro We quote EURUSD at a Bid price of 0.9875 and Ask price of 0.9880 and you decide to sell euro 100,000 at a Bid price of 0.9875.
• The market moves in your favour The euro weakens against the dollar and the EURUSD is now quoted at bid 0.9744 and ask 0.9749.
• Now you buy back your euro You buy EUR at an ask price of 0.9749.
• Your profit/loss is then Sell price-buy price x size of trade
(0.9875 minus 0.9749) multiplied by 100.000 = USD 1260 Profit
Remember that trading EUR 100,000 as we have done in our examples, does not mean that you have to put up euro 100,000 yourself. On a 2% margin means that you have to deposit 2.0% of euro 100,000, which is euro 2,000 on margin as a guarantee for the future performance of your position.

Foreign Exchange

This short introduction explains the basics of trading Forex online, a brief explanation of the markets and the major benefits of trading Forex online. There are also two scenarios describing the implications of trading in a bear as well as a bull market to better acquaint you with some of the risks and opportunities of the largest and most liquid market in the world.

If you want to win understand this!

Simple systems work best as they are more robust than complicated ones, with fewer elements to break and are ideal forex trading an odds based market such as forex.

This has been the case since trading began and all the computer geeks and mathematicians who try and beat the market learn a lesson as the market beats up and destroys their equity.

The markets don't reward you for being clever or having a complicated trading system, you get rewarded for being right with your trading signal - nothing more

I always find it highly amusing

I always find it highly amusing when I see the sales copy for many systems and how they proudly say the developer is a mathematician, or wiz kid at physics - big deal. It proves nothing and these people tend to be the worst traders as they think being clever gives them a right to win and it doesn't.

In forex trading all you need is a simple system, the confidence and discipline to follow it and you will probably beat any of the systems with fancy names, which are applied in the brutal world of forex trading and fail.

So forget advanced forecasting, stick with simple forecasting and you will find you will probably make a lot more money.

What is forex?

The FOREX (Foreign Exchange Market), is the international market, started in the 70's where currencies are bought and sold.

What currency is traded in forex market?

The item traded by Forex traders and investors are currency pairs. A currency pair is the exchange rate of one currency over another. The most popular currency pairs are:

USD/CHF: Swiss franc
GBP/USD: Pound
USD/CAD: Canadian dollar
USD/JPY: Yen
AUD/USD: Aussie
EUR/USD: Euro

The first currency of each currency pair is referred as the base currency, while second currency is referred as the counter or quote currency.

All currency pairs are quoted with a bid and ask price. The bid (always lower than the ask) is the price your broker is willing to buy at, thus the trader should sell at this price.

When dealing in forex

When dealing in Forex you will frequently hear the term pip. A pip is the minimum move a currency pair can make. Pip means price interest point. A move in the EUR/USD from 1.2545 to 1.2554 equals 9 pips.

The purpose of trading is to buy low and sell high. The foreign currency market FOREX is no different. The product traded are rates of currencies of different countries.

FOREX is a really unusual market

FOREX is a really unusual market for a variety of reasons. First, it is one of the few markets that it is free of any outside controls and that it cannot be manipulated. It is also the largest liquid financial market, with trade reaching between 1 and 1.7 trillion US dollars a day.

When this amount of money moves this fast, you can easily understand why a few investors would find it almost impossible to radically increase or decrease the price of a major currency.

The liquidity of the market means that unlike some stocks, traders are able to open and close positions within a few seconds as there are many buyers and sellers.

Margin Trading:

Margin trading refers to the leverage dollars given to the traders in the market.

One of the best features

One of the best features in Forex trading is that traders are able to trade foreign currencies with high margin.

In Forex, normal trade margins are 100:1 and 150:1, or even 200:1 trade margins. You get 1:1 margin for stock exchanges, 2:1 margin for equity trading, 15:1 margin for futures market. You can easily see how much more attractive Forex Trading is for the average trader.

Traders should be aware

This very attractive feature can also be dangerous. Traders should be very aware of the margin call and should always avoid them at all cost.

The typical broker will require a minimum account size, also known as account margin or initial margin. Once you have deposited your money you will then be able to trade. The broker will also specify how much they require per position (lot) traded.

There are many automatic trading systems available. Do your research!

If you want to succeed at forex trading

If you want to succeed at forex trading then you need to be able to answer the question in this article. If you can't answer it then you are going get wiped out by the markets so here it is...

What's your Trading edge (defined)

Now before you answer this question let me tell you what a trading edge is NOT:

- You have a day trading or forex scalping system

- You think you can predict forex prices

- You think forex moves to a scientific formula

- You have a simulated track record from a vendor you have bought

- You like to buy low and sell high

- You think you can trade expert opinion and news

- You think you are clever

- You think you have a complicated system that can beat the market

Most forex traders think the above will give them a trading edge - but believe any of the above and the market will take all your money and do it quickly.

Think about this simple fact:

Think about this simple fact:
95% of traders lose money in the market and you need to think what your edge is i.e why you should succeed while others fail.

Now let's be clear - anyone has the potential to be a successful forex trader yet few succeed. The reason most fail is they believe common myths like the ones on the above list, or they don't have the right mindset.

Successful Forex trading

Successful forex trading is built on three pillars:

- Knowledge and understanding and getting the right forex education

- Confidence in your method to make money longer term

- The discipline to follow your forex trading system through periods of drawdown to ultimate success

Your trading edge

Your trading edge is not just about a method, it's about having confidence in it, so you can have the discipline to apply it through drawdown and emerge a long term winner.

Forex trading is simple

Forex trading is simple and your method needs to be too.

A simple method works best because it is more robust in the face of brutal market conditions and has fewer elements to break than a complicated one. Furthermore, it will be easier to understand and have confidence in.

If you think

If you think that you need to be clever or put a lot of effort into your trading think again - you get rewarded for being right with your trading signal and market timing, nothing else. Sure in many jobs you get paid for effort but in forex trading it's all about being right.

So do you know what your trading edge is? If you don't and you can't define it, then its back to learning forex and your forex education until you do.