Showing posts with label Currency. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Currency. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Trading in Foreign Exchange Market

Trading in Foreign Exchange Market

In the FX market, you buy or sell currencies. Placing a trade in the foreign exchange market is simple : the mechanics of a trade are very similar to those found in other markets ( like the stock market ), so if you have any experience in trading, you should be able to pick it up pretty quickly.

The object of Forex trading is to exchange one currency for another in the expectation that the price will change, so that the currency you bought will increase in value compared to the one you sold. An exchange rate is simply the ratio of one currency valued against another currency.

For example, the USD/CHF exchange rate indicates how many U.S. dollars can purchase one Swiss franc, or how many Swiss francs you need to buy one U.S. dollar. How to Read an FX Quote Currencies are always quoted in pairs, such as GBP/USD or USD/JPY. The reason they are quoted in pairs is because in every foreign exchange transaction you are simultaneously buying one currency and selling another.

Here is an example of a foreign exchange rate for the British pound versus the U.S. dollar : GBP/USD = 1.7500 The first listed currency to the left of the slash ( "/" ) is known as the base currency ( in this example, the British pound ), while the second one on the right is called the counter or quote currency ( in this example, the U.S. dollar ). When buying, the exchange rate tells you how much you have to pay in units of the quote currency to buy one unit of the base currency. In the example above, you have to pay 1.7500 U.S. dollar to buy 1 British pound.

When selling, the exchange rate tells you how many units of the quote currency you get for selling one unit of the base currency. In the example above, you will receive 1.7500 U.S. dollars when you sell 1 British pound. The base currency is the basis for the buy or the sell. If you buy EUR/USD this simply means that you are buying the base currency and simultaneously selling the quote currency. You would buy the pair if you believe the base currency will appreciate ( go up ) relative to the quote currency. You would sell the pair if you think the base currency will depreciate ( go down ) relative to the quote currency.

Sounds complicated ? It really is easier than you think. When you decide to go for the forex-killer software you will get an exact step by step instruction pdf manual.

The software tells you what to buy and when to buy it. Basically you would not even need any information at all but its always good if you actually know what you are doing Download the software here and start making money today.

Let`s move on ...

Long/Short First, you should determine whether you want to buy or sell. If you want to buy ( which actually means buy the base currency and sell the quote currency ), you want the base currency to rise in value and then you would sell it back at a higher price. In trader's talk, this is called "going long" or taking a "long position".

Just remember : long = buy. If you want to sell ( which actually means sell the base currency and buy the quote currency) , you want the base currency to fall in value and then you would buy it back at a lower price. This is called "going short" or taking a "short position". Short = sell.

Bid/Ask Spread All Forex quotes include a two-way price, the bid and ask. The bid is always lower than the ask price. The bid is the price in which the dealer is willing to buy the base currency in exchange for the quote currency. This means the bid is the price at which you ( as the trader ) will sell. The ask is the price at which the dealer will sell the base currency in exchange for the quote currency. This means the ask is the price at which you will buy. The difference between the bid and the ask price is popularly known as the spread.

Let's take a look at an example of a price quote taken from a trading platform : Forex Spread On this GBP/USD quote, the bid price is 1.7445 and the ask price is 1.7449. Look at how this broker makes it so easy for you to trade away your money. If you want to sell GBP, you click "Sell" and you will sell pounds at 1.7445. If you want to buy GBP, you click "Buy" and you will buy pounds at 1.7449.

In the following examples, we're going to use fundamental analysis to help us decide whether to buy or sell a specific currency pair. If you always fell asleep during your economics class or just flat out skipped economics class, don t worry !

We will cover fundamental analysis next. For right now, try to pretend you know what s going on EUR/USD In this example Euro is the base currency and thus the basis for the buy/sell. If you believe that the US economy will continue to weaken, which is bad for the US dollar, you would execute a BUY EUR/USD order. By doing so you have bought euros in the expectation that they will rise versus the US dollar.

If you believe that the US economy is strong and the euro will weaken against the US dollar you would execute a SELL EUR/USD order. By doing so you have sold Euros in the expectation that they will fall versus the US dollar. USD/JPY In this example the US dollar is the base currency and thus the basis for the buy/sell. If you think that the Japanese government is going to weaken the Yen in order to help its export industry, you would execute a BUY USD/JPY order.

By doing so you have bought U.S dollars in the expectation that they will rise versus the Japanese yen. If you believe that Japanese investors are pulling money out of U.S. financial markets and converting all their U.S. dollars back to Yen, and this will hurt the US dollar, you would execute a SELL USD/JPY order. By doing so you have sold U.S dollars in the expectation that they will depreciate against the Japanese yen.

Good Luck !
To Your Trading Success

Wingcent Ning
Success-Biz Marketing
wingcent@gmail.com
http://mysignatureforex.blogspot.com
Singapore

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

What Is Forex ?

What Is Forex ?

The Term

The term “FOREX” stands for Foreign Exchange FOREX ( or FX as a short abbreviation ) is a global currency exchange market where foreign currencies from all over the world are bought and sold for profit.

Forex is the largest and most liquid market in the world

Forex is the largest and most liquid market in the world where trillions of dollars exchanges take place every day. That’s an enormous money flow. No stock market exchange in the world come close to these numbers.

Currencies in the Forex market are traded 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Market literally follows the sun around the world. Trading moves from major banking centers of the United States to Australia and New Zealand, then to the Far East, gets to Europe and finally returns back to the States.

Trading Forex is all about exchanging currencies

Trading on Foreign exchange market simply means buying of one currency and selling another at the same time. In other words, the currency of one country is exchanged for currency of another country at the current exchange rates.

Foreign currencies are always traded in pairs - EUR/USD, GBP/USD, EUR/JPY etc ... Around 70% of all transactions made with major currencies like U.S. dollar, Australian Dollar, British Pound, Swiss Franc and Japanese Yen.

Nowadays Forex is available to small investors

While in the past Forex market was not available to small investors ( individuals ) due to large minimum transaction sizes, today Forex brokers are able to break those large sizes into a smaller unit lots and thus offer small investors an opportunity to buy or sell currencies side by side with regular core Forex market investors such as large banks, central banks, multinational corporations, hedge funds and other financial institutions.

Being incompetent in Forex can be expensive

Forex market is huge and plunging into trading without knowing its rules, without knowing "what is Forex" will be equal to swimming in the pool with ocean sharks. The dominant Forex players such as banks and hedge funds have a power to influence market moves and currencies exchange rates. For inexperienced traders investing own money in such game is as risky and uncertain as gambling. It could turn into a million fortune only in a couple of weeks or become a disaster for those who was ignorant in learning.

Forex brokers offer very big leverage to individual investors. A trader can trade at huge leverage as much as 300 to 1, meaning that for every dollar trader puts in for trading he can trade $300.

For example, having an account equal to $1,000 trader can trade as much as $300,000.It is a huge opportunity, but it also is very dangerous. No experienced trader will ever trade with such big leverage unless he has a really strong argument for a particular trade, and even after that it is an enormous risk.

Is trading Forex profitable ?

Trading in the Forex market is profitable, but only for 5% out of all beginner traders who start trading Forex. New traders need to learn the basics of trading well, and practice a lot on demo accounts before going real.

Like in every business, when trading money in Forex, trader gets paid depending on his knowledge and trading experience.

Good Luck !
To Your Trading Success

Wingcent Ning
Success-Biz Marketing
wingcent@gmail.com
http://mysignatureforex.blogspot.com
Singapore

Monday, November 10, 2008

Make Money with Currency Trading

Make Money with Currency Trading

For those unfamiliar with the term, FOREX ( FOReign EXchange market ), refers to an international exchange market where currencies are bought and sold. The Foreign Exchange Market that we see today began in the 1970's, when free exchange rates and floating currencies were introduced. In such an environment only participants in the market determine the price of one currency against another, based upon supply and demand for that currency.

FOREX is a somewhat unique market for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is one of the few markets in which it can be said with very few qualifications that it is free of external controls and that it cannot be manipulated. It is also the largest liquid financial market, with trade reaching between 1 and 1.5 trillion US dollars a day. With this much money moving this fast, it is clear why a single investor would find it near impossible to significantly affect the price of a major currency. Furthermore, the liquidity of the market means that unlike some rarely traded stock, traders are able to open and close positions within a few seconds as there are always willing buyers and sellers.

Another somewhat unique characteristic of the FOREX money market is the variance of its participants. Investors find a number of reasons for entering the market, some as longer term hedge investors, while others utilize massive credit lines to seek large short term gains.

Interestingly, unlike blue-chip stocks, which are usually most attractive only to the long term investor, the combination of rather constant but small daily fluctuations in currency prices, create an environment which attracts investors with a broad range of strategies.

How FOREX Works

Transactions in foreign currencies are not centralized on an exchange, unlike say the NYSE, and thus take place all over the world via telecommunications. Trade is open 24 hours a day from Sunday afternoon until Friday afternoon ( 00:00 GMT on Monday to 10:00 pm GMT on Friday ). In almost every time zone around the world, there are dealers who will quote all major currencies. After deciding what currency the investor would like to purchase, he or she does so via one of these dealers ( some of which can be found online ). It is quite common practice for investors to speculate on currency prices by getting a credit line ( which are available to those with capital as small as $500 ), and vastly increase their potential gains and losses. This is called marginal trading.

Marginal Trading

Marginal trading is simply the term used for trading with borrowed capital. It is appealing because of the fact that in FOREX investments can be made without a real money supply. This allows investors to invest much more money with fewer money transfer costs, and open bigger positions with a much smaller amount of actual capital. Thus, one can conduct relatively large transactions, very quickly and cheaply, with a small amount of initial capital. Marginal trading in an exchange market is quantified in lots. The term "lot" refers to approximately $100,000, an amount which can be obtained by putting up as little as 0.5% or $500.

EXAMPLE :

You believe that signals in the market are indicating that the British Pound will go up against the US Dollar. You open 1 lot for buying the Pound with a 1% margin at the price of 1.49889 and wait for the exchange rate to climb. At some point in the future, your predictions come true and you decide to sell. You close the position at 1.5050 and earn 61 pips or about $405. Thus, on an initial capital investment of $1,000, you have made over 40% in profits. ( Just as an example of how exchange rates change in the course of a day, an average daily change of the Euro ( in Dollars ) is about 70 to 100 pips. )

When you decide to close a position, the deposit sum that you originally made is returned to you and a calculation of your profits or losses is done. This profit or loss is then credited to your account.

Investment Strategies : Technical Analysis and Fundamental Analysis

The two fundamental strategies in investing in FOREX are Technical Analysis or Fundamental Analysis. Most small and medium sized investors in financial markets use Technical Analysis.

This technique stems from the assumption that all information about the market and a particular currency's future fluctuations is found in the price chain. That is to say, that all factors which have an effect on the price have already been considered by the market and are thus reflected in the price. Essentially then, what this type of investor does is base his/her investments upon three fundamental suppositions. These are : that the movement of the market considers all factors, that the movement of prices is purposeful and directly tied to these events, and that history repeats itself. Someone utilizing technical analysis looks at the highest and lowest prices of a currency, the prices of opening and closing, and the volume of transactions.

This investor does not try to outsmart the market, or even predict major long term trends, but simply looks at what has happened to that currency in the recent past, and predicts that the small fluctuations will generally continue just as they have before.

A Fundamental Analysis is one which analyzes the current situations in the country of the currency, including such things as its economy, its political situation, and other related rumors. By the numbers, a country's economy depends on a number of quantifiable measurements such as its Central Bank's interest rate, the national unemployment level, tax policy and the rate of inflation. An investor can also anticipate that less quantifiable occurrences, such as political unrest or transition will also have an effect on the market. Before basing all predictions on the factors alone, however, it is important to remember that investors must also keep in mind the expectations and anticipations of market participants. For just as in any stock market, the value of a currency is also based in large part on perceptions of and anticipations about that currency, not solely on its reality.

Make Money with Currency Trading on FOREX

FOREX investing is one of the most potentially rewarding types of investments available. While certainly the risk is great, the ability to conduct marginal trading on FOREX means that potential profits are enormous relative to initial capital investments. Another benefit of FOREX is that its size prevents almost all attempts by others to influence the market for their own gain.

So that when investing in foreign currency markets one can feel quite confident that the investment he or she is making has the same opportunity for profit as other investors throughout the world. While investing in FOREX short term requires a certain degree of diligence, investors who utilize a technical analysis can feel relatively confident that their own ability to read the daily fluctuations of the currency market are sufficiently adequate to give them the knowledge necessary to make informed investments.

To Your Success

Wingcent Ning
Success-Biz Marketing
wingcent@gmail.com
http://mysignatureforex.blogspot.com
Singapore

Forex Currency Trading

Forex Currency Trading

What is FOREX ?

FOREX stands for the FOReign EXchange market, which is an international financial market where currencies are traded. The foreign exchange market began in the 1970s and is now the largest financial market in the world, with an average daily turnover of US$1.9 trillion. That's thirty times the amount of daily activity on all of the US stock exchanges.

Each Forex trade involves simultaneously buying one currency and selling another. For example, if you think that the Euro will rise relative to the dollar, you would place a Euro/Dollar trade. The forex system would then buy the Euro and sell an equivalent amount of the Dollar. Then, when you want to close your position, you would place a Dollar/Euro trade. This would buy the Dollar and sell the Euro. If the Euro had risen against the Dollar, you would make a profit, but if it had fallen relative to the Dollar you would make a loss.

What currencies are traded ?

Most of the world's currencies are available to trade, but the majority of market action involves a group of major currencies, including the US Dollar, the Euro, the Yen, the Swiss Franc and Sterling.

Where is the Forex market located ?

Unlike most financial markets around the world, Forex is not centralized on an exchange. Instead it operates on a basis known as the interbank market or Over the Counter ( OTC ). As each Forex trade involves two reciprocal trades ( buy one currency and sell another ), these are conducted electronically with any broker who is willing to accept the trade.

Who can trade in the Forex market ?

Traditionally, access to currency trading was restricted to banking organisations, including central banks, commercial banks and investment banks. That's the reason it operates on a system known as the interbank market.

However, the number of non bank participants in the Forex market, which includes multinational companies, money managers, money brokers and private speculators, is growing rapidly. And thanks to the relatively small amount of capital required to open a trading account ( often $500 ) Forex is opening up to more and more people all the time. If you're over 18, have internet access the enough money to open a trading account, the world of Forex is open to you.

When is the Forex market open for trading ?

As Forex doesn't exist within a traditional exchange, it's the only 24 hour financial market in the world. Forex trading begins every day in Sydney and then moves around the globe as the major international financial markets in Tokyo, London and New York open.

In other words, there are always traders somewhere in the world who are actively trading foreign currencies. This means you can make trades and respond to major social, economic and political events day or night. However, there is a short rest period from close of trading on the American financial market on Friday until trading begins in Australia on Monday morning. However, due to the time differences around the globe, this period only lasts for approximately 48 hours.

What is a trading margin ?

Forex trades are made in lots of $100,000. If you had to provide that amount of money to cover your position before you could trade, the market would once again be restricted to banks and other institutional investors. So brokers have established the principle of margin trading. In effect they allow people to trade $100,000 blocks of currency if they can provide an element of security against potential losses.

For example, they may allow people to trade on a margin of 1%( in comparison, traditional stock brokers often require a 50% margin ). This means that they can trade $100,000 blocks, provided their account contains at least $100,000 x 1% = $1000. One thousand dollars will protect the broker against any potential losses that their client makes ( currency values rarely fluctuate by more than 1% in a single day ). If a client's account is reduced by losses ( i.e. reducing the broker's security below acceptable levels ), the broker will close all trades and require an additional deposit before further trades can be made.

Trading margin allows people to control vast amounts of currency with relatively small amounts of capital ( often 50, 100 or even 200 times the amount of capital that they have invested ). This can lead to massive gains, but increases the risk of losing most or all of your investment capital.

How much does it cost ?

Thanks to the trading margin offered by most Forex brokers, it's possible to open an account and get started trading with a relatively small amount of capital.

Forex trades are made in lots of $100,000. However, most Forexs brokes will provide you with a leverage ratio of up to 100:1, which means that you have the ability to control a $100,000 trade with as little as $1000 in your account. Some brokers will provide leverage of 200:1 or even 400:1, which allows you to start with as little as $500 or $250 in your account.

However, please remember that although greater leverage allows you to maximize your profit potential, it also increases the risk factor. The higher the leverage ratio, the smaller trading fluctuation that will be required to wipe out your trading capital. So choose the amount of leverage that you use wisely.

For new traders, it may be safer to begin with leverage of 20:1 or 50:1. This will increase the amount that you need to open an account, but it will reduce the risk of seeing all your trading capital disappear due to a small shift in the value of a currency.

For more information on Forex Trading, please visit at http://www.forexcurrencytradingguide.com

To Your Success

Wingcent Ning
Success-Biz Marketing
wingcent@gmail.com
http://mysignatureforex.blogspot.com
Singapore

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Forex Trading

Forex Trading

The ultimate commodity is Currency. When a company or a government sells or purchases products and services in a foreign country, they are subject to the foreign currency trade, which is the exchanging of one currency for another.

Organizations and people can also trade currencies for merely speculative purposes. The foreign currency exchange market is the largest financial market in the world, also known as "forex" or "fx" market. The forex market is larger than all the U.S. stock markets combined. The forex market has a daily trading volume that is larger than that of all the world's stock markets put together.

In the past, only corporations and wealthy people traded currencies in the forex market. They used proprietary trading systems of banks. However, opening an account required about one million US dollars. Thanks to the internet, investors with only a few thousand dollars can access the foreign exchange market 24 hours a day.

Forex trading provides an alternative to stock market trading for professional traders. There are only a few significant currencies available to trade. However, there are literally thousands of different stocks for the trader to choose. Here are the major currencies available for trade : the Yen, Dollar, Swiss Franc, Euro and the British Pound.

Forex trading gives you the ability to have flexible trading hours because it goes on for 24 hours a day. The main forex trading centers are in New York, London, Singapore and Tokyo ; however, banks all over the world participate in trading. Due to the location of the major trading centers, Traders can react to news immediately when it breaks. For example, when the Asian trading session ends, the European session is just beginning, followed by the US session then back to the Asian session.

A fluctuation in the exchange rate is usually caused by actual monetary flows. Also, the expectations of changes in monetary flows caused by changes in GDP growth, inflation, interestrates, budget and trade deficits or surpluses, large cross-border Mergers & Acquisition deals and other macroeconomic conditions. In the forex market there is generally little or no 'inside information'. Major news is released to the public, often on scheduled dates. Many people have access to the same news at the same time. The large bank shave a very important advantage ; they can see their customers'order flow.

Many factors affect exchange rates. Currency prices are are sult of supply and demand. The world's currency markets are a huge melting pot. Due to the large and ever-changing mix of current events, supply and demand factors are constantly changing, and the price of one currency in relation to another shifts accordingly. No other market takes in and refines as much of what is going on in the world at any given time as the forex market.

To Your Success

Wingcent Ning
Success-Biz Marketing
wingcent@gmail.com
http://mysignatureforex.blogspot.com
Singapore