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Forex

Why Trade the FOREX?

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My purpose for writing this article is to demonstrate to you the advantages of trading on the FOREX market. However, there is one myth that I want to dispel before I go further. The myth is that there is a difference between trading and investing. To dispel that myth I quote from Al Thomas, President of Williamsburg Investment Company, who wrote If It Doesnt Go Up, Dont Buy It. He said Everyone who invests is a trader, only the time period is different. It is a lesson that I took seriously after taking a beating in the stock market in 2000.

So now, lets compare features of currency trading to those of stock and commodity trading.

Liquidity – The FOREX market is the most liquid financial market in the world around 1.9 trillion pounds traded everyday. The commodities market trades around 440 billion pounds a day, and the US stock market trades around 200 billion pounds a day. This ensures better trade execution and prevents market manipulation. It also ensures easily executable trading.

Trading Times The FOREX market is open 24 hours a day (except weekends) which means that in the US it opens at 3:00 pm Sunday (EST) and closes Friday at 5:00 (EST), allowing active traders to choose the times they want to trade. Commodities trading hours are all over the board depending on which commodity you are trading. Including extended trading times US stocks can be traded from 8:30 am to 6:30 pm (ET) on weekdays.

Leverage Depending on your FOREX account size, your leverage may be 100:1, although there are FOREX brokers that offer leverage of up to 400:1 (not that I would ever recommend that kind of leverage). Leverage in the stock market can be as high as 4:1, and in the commodities market, leverage varies with the commodity traded but it can be quite high. Because the commodity markets are not as liquid as the FOREX market, its leverage is inherently riskier. Although I was never shut out of a commodity trade by the day limit, the fear was always in the back of my mind.

Trading costs Transaction costs in the FOREX market is the difference between the buy and sell price of each currency pair. There are no brokerage fees. For both the stock and the commodity markets, there are transaction costs and brokerage fees. Even when you use discount brokers, those fees add up.

Minimum investment You can open a FOREX trading account for as little as 300.00. It took 5,000 for me to open my futures trading account.

Focus 85% of all trading transactions are made on 7 major currencies. In the US stock market alone there are 40,000 stocks. There are just over 200 commodity markets, although quite a few are so illiquid that they are not traded except by hedgers. As you can see, the fewer number of instruments allows us to study each one more closely.

Trade execution In the FOREX market, trade execution is almost instantaneous. In both the equity and commodity markets, you count on a broker to execute your trades and their results are sometimes inconsistent.

While all of these features make trading the FOREX market very attractive, it still requires a lot of education, discipline, commitment and patience. All trading can be risky.

February 10, 2011 · Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Forex

Seven Come Leverage-7 Reasons Why Forex Is a Superior Trading

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Seven Come Leverage-7 Reasons Why Forex Is a Superior Trading Arena for Individuals

Over the last decade or so, the Foreign Currency Exchange markets and trading platforms have become a superior arena for active individual investors. Trading world currencies for the difference in exchange rates can be a lucrative hobby and a very satisfying lifestyle. Following are some points to ponder when comparing the Forex market with stocks, bonds, commodities and mutual funds.

1. Liquidity

An average day in the Forex market sees approximately 1.9 trillion US pounds worth of trade. Almost every country in the world has institutional and individual traders who are active and have a personal interest in this largest of commodities. Over 7000 international banks and small and large speculators make up the largest market in the world.

2. Leverage

Leverage is the use of a tool to influence the directional trend of a mass that would otherwise be much more difficult to control, if not impossible. Previously only master traders with a 100 million account had access to the inter-bank currency exchange.

With the recent enormous international growth this market is now open to the home computer. Individual traders now have the same leverage guarantees that international banks have had for years. A very small amount of money can be used to control a very large contract of foreign currency. Up to 200:1 leverage is available, and higher in some cases. This means 1000 can be used to hold 200,000 worth of another currency, with a large account.

3. Brokers

As a trader gains experience, a full service paid broker is no longer necessary. All trades can be initiated and terminated from the traders choice of office. The home office needs high speed internet, a telephone line, and a computer. Location is only limited to these requirements. The Forex market is operated online by several hundred large banks processing trades of governments and large companies, and has no real central location.

4. Software

A number of free software applications are offered by brokerage houses specifically written for the average home computer. The greater power the computer has will naturally offer more local speed, but most current computers will work fine. These programs offer real-time charting, several dozen indicators, live price feed, or a minimal 10 second delay, and the capability to sell and buy currency pairs immediately online.

Software programs costing 2000 and up are available with advanced features, but are not necessary for the beginning trader. More complicated software may only increase the education period, and hinder time better spent learning trading strategies.

5. Hours of Trading

The Forex market is truly global, trading 24 hours a day every day. Short periods during the weekend have slower activity, but with time differences around the world, these periods are minimal. The Asian market opens Sunday evening in North American time, and all markets run continuously until Friday afternoon. Someone is actively trading somewhere virtually round the clock.

6. Live Practice

Most brokers offer a free demo version of their live software, easily downloaded and installed. No account deposit is needed. The programs work exactly like the real versions, with buysell capability, real-time data updates; a realistic 50,000 account with active profit and loss; open, pending and closed trades; and actual stop, limit and market trades.
The trader can practice trading tactics until confident and successful.

7. Initial Investment

Recent developments now allow a minimum account deposit of US250. This mini-account offers lower leverage, but also lower profit and loss. Once a broker learns to trade profitably, this can easily be built into a larger and fully leveraged account.

A minimal 300 investment can realistically be compounded into a 30,000 account in six months, with access to proper training. Brokers naturally offer conservative training courses, so the trader should look elsewhere for more advanced mentoring. Much training is available on the internet, and a website called Precise4XSuccess.com offers access to cutting-edge successful strategies developed by a mathematician. Not all successful strategies are made public. Do your due diligence to find the methods that work for you.

8-45. This article promised to stop at seven, but there are at least several dozen more reasons why the individual speculator might consider foreign currency trading. It is a lucrative, fascinating and very rewarding occupation that can be done almost anywhere and any time you choose to trade.

Good trading, Kelly Archibald.

September 23, 2010 · Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Forex

Others Vs Forex Trading

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What are the advantages of Forex over other types of investments?

LOW RISK – HIGH YIELD is the first thing that comes to mind.
Forex Trading can be risky and the general rule for investing is: When the return is high the risk is high, but with correct planning and strategy combined with a certain amount of self discipline you can bring the risk factor down to a level that is quite low. It is even possible to strategically plan your market entry and exit levels and control exactly how much you profit or lose.
This can be done in a way that allows the investor to still profit even when they misjudge the market 50% of the time! Compare that to other types of investments.

GEARING, is another area that stands out as a major advantage; this also substantially reduces the risk to you the investor. When you trade 1 forex Mini lot you will be trading a parcel of money valued at 10,000 USD
And you only need 100 USD of your own money!
If you trade a regular Lot you only need 1,000 USD to trade 100,000 USD.
Hows that for gearing? Try and do that with other kinds of investments!

LOW CAPITAL REQUIRED, many investments require a substantial amount of capital before you can take advantage of a particular investment opportunity, with Forex You only need 300 USD to get into the market, and only need to have 100 USD in order to trade your 10,000 Mini Lot.

CONVIENIENCE, if you have a laptop and an internet connection you can make a trade in 5- 10 minutes! Depending on how long your computer takes to start up, and the speed of your connection.

LIQUIDITY, many other forms of investing require tying your money up for long periods of time, and if you need to use the capital it can be difficult or impossible to access to it without taking a huge loss (Real Estate).
Not so with Forex trading. With Forex Trading you have full control of your capital.

CAN PROFIT IN BULLISH OR BEARISH MARKETS,
Stock market traders need stock prices to rise in order to take a profit, Real Estate prices must go up in order to make a capital gain.
However, The Forex investor can make a profit in both situations, a rising or falling market.

The Forex Market is open 24 hrs a day.

Can anyone do it or do you need to be some kind of super genius?
Forex Trading isnt for the faint hearted so be warned, while you can get yourself a Demo Account and practice as you learn in real time in the real market.
You cant experience the emotions that come with putting your real money on the line.

You can however prepare yourself well by using one of the many Forex Trading courses that are available online today.

August 26, 2010 · Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Forex

Forex trading

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So what is is Forex trading you may ask? Forex is the exchange you can buy and sell currencies. For example, you might buy British pounds (by exchanging them to the pounds you had), then, after pounds pound ratio goes up, you sell pounds and buy pounds again. At the end of this operation you are going to have more pounds, then you had at the beginning.

The Forex market has much higher liquidity, then the stock market, as much more money is being exchanged. Forex is spread between banks all over the planet and as a result it means 24 hour trading.

Unlike stocks, Forex trades are performed with high leverage, usually it is 100. It means that by investing 1000 you can control 100,000, and increase potential profits accordingly. Some brokers provide also so called mini-Forex, where the size of minimum deposit equals 100. It makes possible for individuals to enter this market easily.

The name convention. In Forex, the name of a “symbol” is composed of two parts – one for first currency, and another for the second currency. For example, the symbol usdjpy stands for US pounds (usd) to Japanese yen (jpy).

As with stocks, you can apply tools of the technical analysis to Forex charts. Trader’s indexes can be optimized for Forex “symbols”, allowing you to find winning strategy.

Example Forex transaction

Assume you have a trading account of 25,000 and you are trading with a 1% margin requirement. The current quote for EURUSD is 1.322528 and you place a market order to buy 1 lot of 100,000 Euros at 1.3228, expecting the euro to rise against the pound. At the same time you place a stop-loss order at 1.3178 representing a maximum loss of 2% of your account equity if the trade goes against you, 50 pips below your order price, and a limit order at 1.3378, 150 pips above your order price. For this trade, you are risking 50 pips to gain 150 pips, giving you a riskreward ratio of 1 part risk to 3 parts reward. This means that you only need to be right one third of the time to remain profitable.

The notional value of this trade is 132,280 (100,000 * 1.3228). Your required margin deposit is 1% of the total, which is equal to 1322.80 (132,280 * 0.01).

As you expected, the Euro strengthens against the pound and your limit order is reached at 1.3378. The position is closed. Your total profit for this trade is 1500, each pip being worth 10.

March 11, 2010 · Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,