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General Forex

Forex Trading Defined

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Forex trading refers to buying and selling of currencies of different countries, simultaneously or exchanging currencies of one country with that of another. The forex market is the oldest and the biggest in the world. Active 24x7x365 days per year, it is the market featuring the largest liquidity. There is no exchange center like we have for the stock market. This trade never halts and continues day in and out across the globe. The Dynamic Currency Market The currencies of the world hardly have a fixed rate of exchange. They are forever fluctuating. The currencies are traded in pairs like Dollar/Yen, Euro/dollar, and others. Most of the investments deal with US dollar against Japanese yen, US dollar against Swiss franc, Euro against US dollar, British pound against US dollar, and others. These are major currency pairs and also referred to as “blue chips” of the foreign exchange market. The fundamental principle of buying while low and selling while high provides profit in forex trading. There are no dividends on the currencies.

If you predict that the value of one currency would overshadow another, you can exchange the other one for the first currency and wait for the reward. If the market follows your prediction, you’re lucky and can reverse the transaction by exchanging back the currencies and grabbing profits. The daily turnover of the forex market is around $1.2 trillion! The prices here need no dramatic shift to fluctuate. This is unlike the stock market where fluctuations occur due to noticeable gaps. Besides, you have no problem entering or exiting this market. The Role Of FX Companies In forex trading, the transactions are done by FX brokerage companies that are also referred to as major bank dealers. Earlier, small traders had no chance to get involved in this inter-bank trading because of stringent financial requirements and minimum amount of transaction.

Only big traders, banks, and large currency dealers played the game of currencies. Their strength was the ultimate access to FX market, which featured a large number of primary exchange rates in world currencies, spectacular liquidity, and a strong pattern. Today, the scenario is different. Small traders, too, have a chance to buy small units. This has happened mainly because of the split up of big inter-bank units by brokers. Thanks to online firms offering FX rates, seminars on currency trading, and guidelines to beginners on this market, it is possible for first-time traders as well as small speculators to achieve big in this market. Now, you need not be a big company or a stalwart in trading to gain access to this market. Almost everybody can enter forex trading at the same exchange rates and price fluctuations, which used to be the privilege of major brokers. Market makers closely examine the exchange rates to make profit on the difference of currency rates on which they were bought and sold. The currency market is like a restless ocean where you can never know when a shark strikes you or a huge wave washes you out. However, this is also the same place where you can make a cool $100,000 out of a mere $1,000 investment by smart forex trading!

General Forex

Understanding The Trade – Forex Trading

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It is a common misconception that unless you are some sort of genius in finance or have pot loads of money you cannot get into forex trading. These misconceptions cannot be farther from the truth as trading foreign exchange or currency trading (as it is called in some quarters of the world) is a simple enough way to make money. It is based on the principle that all countries of the world have their own unique currency. Now all these currencies have different values in comparison with each other (as in you can get roughly 2 dollars for a 1 pound) and these values keep changing. Exchanging your money to buy a different currency and then when the value increases you can sell it at a profit; this is a short summary of foreign exchange trading. The currency market is a little like the stock market, but it is functional 24X7 and the main point to understand is how currency values work and how and when the values of the currency vary.

To understand how these conversions work is the essence of the trade and is the main trading tool you can possess. How It All Works When you trade forex you trade currencies in pairs. Meaning that with one currency you buy a certain amount of a different currency corresponding to the conversion values at that time. The best time to buy foreign currency is when its value is low and then when the value peaks you sell it. It is a simple enough principle. The trick lies in understanding what all economic factors affect these values and knowing before hand when the value is going to fall and when it is going to rise. Earlier one used to have to go the bank or a currency trader, now however there are brokerages that conduct forex trading or you can simply trade online. Just knowing the principle is not enough. You have to be able to understand all the charts and figures that you will have to deal with. The popularity of forex has led to the setup of a number of forex training classes and clubs, there is bound to be one in the vicinity that you can join. Starting With Forex It is best to start out with play or fictional money so that you can really get the feel of the thing. Plus if you lose you won’t feel the pinch. When you actually start it is best not to get carried away with beginner’s luck and go too far, as you could lose money.

The other main thing is to know when to get in and get out, as if you get carried away or get too greedy you could lose whatever little profit you have. And then there is the necessity to concentrate your mind and not be flighty, you shouldn’t buck out at the first sign of loss. There are other factors and terms that one needs to properly understand, and when understood you find out that if done wisely forex trading can be a good investment.

Market Analysis

Most Televisions to Adopt Silicon Tuner Technology in 2014

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According to the market research firm iSuppli Corp; the black-and-white picture, set-top antenna and rotating channel dial all may have disappeared from the television technology repertoire—but one relic remains: the can tuner used in every TV since Howdy Doody ruled the ratings. However, all that is about to change as the television market rapidly transitions to single-chip silicon tuners, with more than 60 percent of sets expected to adopt the technology by 2014.

“The television market has let a lot of legacy technology fall by the wayside in recent years, but still is clinging to traditional can tuners,” said Randy Lawson, Manager & Principal Analyst (Display & Consumer Electronics) for iSuppli. “However, this is set to change dramatically during the next four years, as the television market greatly increases its use of the superior silicon tuner technology.”

Silicon tuners have been gaining rapid acceptance in recent years in products including set-top boxes because of their advantages compared to traditional can tuners.

Can tuners — whose name derive from their use of metal enclosures—are composed of multiple discrete components, requiring assembly and customization for each product in which they are used. With their single-chip technology, silicon tuners have a smaller form factor, consume less power and reduce television system manufacturing costs compared to cans. They also provide a one-size-fits-all solution that requires no customization and yields consistent performance and quality.

The component costs largely have been wrung out of can tuners. To further reduce costs, can tuner manufacturers may be forced to move manufacturing to Vietnam and out of China, where labor costs are rising.

However, the can’s hegemony is being threatened by the arrival of an increasing number of cost-competitive silicon tuner solutions from a growing list of established semiconductor makers. Silicon tuner suppliers, such as NXP, Microtune, Silicon Labs, Maxim and ESS Technologies, now are offering reference designs compatible with worldwide television; cable and satellite broadcast audio and video standards. This is allowing television OEMs to adopt more system hardware and software commonality between regional television-set designs, which will help to promote the use of silicon tuners.

Shrinking form factors for LED-based LCD-TVs are expected to prompt some OEMs to design the silicon tuner directly into the television audio/video motherboard. However, other ease-of-design and manufacturing considerations will enter into the equation of silicon tuner placement in the TV electronics chassis.

RF expertise is required to optimize the electrical layout and connections of the silicon tuner to avoid causing internal electrical noise that may affect RF reception. Such expertise is often lacking for television system designers, who in the past have relied on support from pre-packaged can tuners and their suppliers to pre-qualify the tuner performance and solve any issues that arise during qualification testing of a new TV design.

Furthermore, several leading TV can tuner manufacturers are also part of large vertically integrated TV OEM companies. There may remain internal business incentives to keep those tuner module supply organizations in operation.

Because of these factors, some usage of can tuners is likely to remain in the television market for the foreseeable future.

Fueled by exploding sales in the television segment, the overall silicon tuner market is poised for strong growth during the next four years. Overall unit shipments for silicon tuners in consumer electronics, PCs and in automotive applications are set to rise to in excess of 480 million units in 2014, more than double the 200 million in 2009.

The silicon tuner market has expanded rapidly since its beginnings near the turn of the millennium, and iSuppli believes that the increasing ubiquity of video in mobile devices—combined with the falling costs and rising availability of silicon tuners—bodes very well for this segment of the RF semiconductor market.

General Forex

Power Trading – Prime Time Forex Trading & Power Hours

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Forex is a 24-hour market, and yet timing is a critical factor. Being able to identify the best time to trade is a highly potential way to maximize the profit. Professional traders are aware of this angle. Therefore they take utmost care in choosing the timing of their trades to earn optimum profits.

If you are also into Forex trading, you might as well be taking advantage of the best timing and maximize profits. If you are able to learn enough about the way various markets across the globe operate and can make this same choice you too can earn good profits on your trades. To be precise you too can get into power hour trading..

In this article we will discuss the two most important components that give Power Hours the edge that it enjoys. We will examine volume and volatility.

The Power Hours are those when volume and volatility both go up and are at its peak. High Volume in Trading means that substantial number of lots of a particular currency pairs are being traded, i.e. bought and sold. And High Volatility is when those currency pair prices are moving swiftly and trending quickly.

This particular phase and combination of – force of high volume and the volatility strength are capable of resulting in large pip movements in almost all the major currency pair during the Power Hours. And this is what a Forex trader has to identify and take advantage of to maximize his profits from forex trading.

The most powerful hours start from 8am to 12pm EST. The most active trading period is only four hours every day. This is the US-European overlap session, which is the time when the world’s two most active trading centers cross — as the European session is closing and the US session is opening. It is a small, but very active, window is the “hot zone.” and the professional traders who have mastered the art of Forex trading focus their prime energy and efforts on trading during these four powerful hours.

Currencies to Trade during the Power Hours include combinations such as EUR/USD, USD/CHF, USD/CAD, GBP/JPY and, GBP/CHF

The least active time to trade, often referred to as the “cold zone” is the overlap phase of European-Asian markets. Most forex traders are asleep during this short period. Trading volume is extremely thin and the trends are also quite unpredictable during this overlapping period. It is advised that forex traders identify this one too stay out of it! This period is a good time though to prepare for the European market’s opening session.

The cold zone runs from 2am to 4am EST.

We hope that we have been able to help aspiring forex traders to maximize their profits. As traders we all have to remember that timing is an important tool that can be used to identify strong price movements. And taking advantage of it is the secret of effective and profitable trading.

Market Analysis

iSuppli Trims 2010 Semiconductor Forecast Amid Softening Demand Rising Stockpiles

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With consumer demand slowing and inventories rising, the market research firm iSuppli Corp. is trimming its 2010 semiconductor revenue forecast to 32 percent, down from its previous outlook of 35.1 percent.

Global semiconductor sales now are expected to amount to $302 billion in 2010, up from $228 billion in 2009. Despite the reduced outlook, 2010 still will be a year of impressive growth and record-setting revenue for the semiconductor industry. Revenue in 2010 will rise by about $74 billion compared to 2009 and be almost $28 billion higher than 2007, the previous last peak year for semiconductor revenue, according to iSuppli’s semiconductor industry analysis.

iSuppli now expects that revenue in the fourth quarter will decline by 0.3 percent compared to the third quarter, the first sequential decrease since the market collapse in the fourth quarter of 2008 and first quarter of 2009.

“There has been a significant slowdown in the second half in consumer demand for some electronic devices, including PCs,” noted Dale Ford, Senior Vice President (Market Intelligence) at iSuppli. “Meanwhile, inventories have been building throughout the semiconductor supply chain. These factors will conspire to cause a small sequential decline in semiconductor revenue in the fourth quarter.”

Largely because of this fourth-quarter decline, global semiconductor revenue in the second half of 2010 will rise by 7.8 percent compared to the first half of the year. This has reduced from 10.7 percent growth in the first half of 2010 compared to the second half of 2009.

The leading electronic equipment market driving demand for semiconductors in 2010 will be the data processing area, a category dominated by PCs. With shipments of mobile PCs—including tablets—continuing to soar in 2010, semiconductor sales to this area will rise by 38.6 percent. The second-strongest growth area will be wireless communications, fueled by booming demand for smart phones. Global semiconductor sales to the wireless communications area will rise by 30 percent in 2010.

Even the lowest-growth markets are expected to generate impressive semiconductor consumption in 2010. Wired communications and consumer electronics will drive semiconductor revenue growth of 25.4 percent and 26.5 percent, respectively, in 2010.

In terms of specific semiconductor products, the hottest items in 2010 will be DRAM, voltage regulators, LEDs, Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs) and data converters. Revenue for each of these products is projected to grow by more than 43 percent in 2010. DRAM will lead the group with 87 percent growth on the strength of the soaring PC market.
While the industry outlook remains cloudy and revenue will contract in the fourth quarter, iSuppli does not believe this signals the start of a significant downturn in the global semiconductor market.

“Unstable economic conditions and worrisome market reports continue to create an environment of poor visibility and ongoing uncertainty in the electronics industry,” Ford said. “This has led to frequently expressed concerns regarding a potential double-dip downturn in both the overall economy and in the electronics and semiconductor industries. However, based on its most recent analysis of the electronics supply chain, iSuppli expects the chip business to experience a soft landing in 2011 and not to suffer the kind of dramatic downturn seen in 2009.”

Global semiconductor revenue in 2011 will rise by 5.1 percent, iSuppli predicts. Sequential quarterly growth in 2011 is projected to follow a more normal seasonal pattern compared to 2010, with declining revenue in the first quarter followed by improving sales that will reach a peak in the third quarter. The long-term growth expectation is for average annual growth of slightly more than 4 percent between 2010 and 2014.