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General Forex

Forex Trading Vs. Options – Discover The Difference

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Forex Trading, also known as FX Trading or by many as the Foreign Currency Exchange, is a financial market where a person can trade national currencies in order to try and make a profit. Perhaps one feels the U.S. Dollar will get stronger compared to the British Pound or the Euro. A strategy can be developed to affect this trade and if the research is correct, a good profit can be made.

Options Trading allows you to buy or sell options on large amounts of stock, futures etc. that you feel will either go up or down in price over a certain period of time. As with Forex Trading, you can leverage your buying power to control more stock or futures for instance, than you could have normally. However, there are differences between Forex and Options Trading. Many of the differences are described below.

24 Hour Trading:

An advantage you have with the Forex Currency Trading System (Forex) as compared to Options trading is your ability to trade 24 hours a day, five days a week if you wish. The Forex Market is open longer than any other market. If your goal is to make double digit gains in a market, it is great to have unlimited time each week to make those trades. Whenever some big event happens around the world, you can be one of the first to take advantage of the situation with Forex Trading. You won’t have to wait for a market to open in the morning like you would if you were trading Options. You can trade from your computer instantaneously, all hours of the day and night.

Rapid Trade Execution:

When you use the Forex Currency Trading System, you receive immediate trade executions. There is no delay like there can be in Options or for that matter other markets as well. And your order gets filled at the best possible price instead of guessing which price your order might get filled. Your order certainly won’t “slip” like it can with Options. In Forex Trading, there is a lot more liquidity to help with “slippage” than there is in Options Trading.

Liquidity:

Forex Trading has the advantage of being more liquid than any other market, including Options Trading. With the average daily volume in the Forex Market reaching close to 2 Trillion, there is no comparison. The liquidity in Foreign Currency Trading (Forex) far surpasses that in the Options Market. This means when it comes time to trade, Forex Trades will be filled much easier than Options trades will. This speed means more potential profit. Couple this with instantaneous trade execution in Forex Trading, and you have the ability to make a lot of trades quickly.

No Commissions:

Forex or FX Trading is Commission Free because it is an inter-bank market which matches buyers with sellers in an instant. There are no middleman brokerage fees as with other markets. There is a spread between the bid and ask price and this is where Forex trading firms make some of their profit. This means you can save money when you trade Forex compared to Options trading where there are commissions since you would be working with a brokerage firm.

Greater Leverage:

Online Forex Trading can give you much greater leverage than playing Options. However, with Options, you can also manage putt and call options in a way to greatly increase your leverage. Leverage can be very important when you know what a currency is going to do. You can achieve 200:1 or greater in Forex Trades compared to less typically in Options, but it can be close. This means with Forex, there can be substantially more potential profit if you make the right move.

Limited Risk is Guaranteed:

Since Forex Traders must have position limits, the risk is limited since the online capabilities of the Forex Trading system automatically initiate a margin call when the margin amount is greater than the value of the account in dollars. This keeps a Forex Trader from losing too much if their position goes the other way. It is a good safety feature that is not always available in other financial markets. And the Forex is different than Options in that with Options, you only have a certain period of time to trade before the options expire.

When considering the differences between Forex Trading and Options, just keep in mind your preferred trading style and the type of risk you are willing to take. There are definite advantages to Forex or FX Trading that may allow you to profit greatly if you develop a good system and stay within your trading limits. If you are ready to go, then begin investigating a good Forex firm with whom to open a Foreign Exchange Trading Account.

General Forex

Profitable Forex Trading Strategies

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By far regarded as the largest and the busiest market, the Forex market has tremendous profit potential. The Forex currency market is a lot different from the stock market and you need to have a very good understanding about the way this market functions. Its not surprising that there’s a lot being said and written about Forex currency trading. In fact, those who are keen on mastering Forex trading skills can actually take up a Forex trading course and get formal Forex education. Before you set out to trade in the Forex market or the Foreign Currency Exchange Market, you must make sure that you have done plenty of research, studied historical trends, analyzed existing trends, and worked out profitable Forex trading strategies that can boost your Forex trade.

There is no standard strategy that can be safely applied when it comes to Forex currency trading. Basically, what may work for one may not necessarily fit your trading needs and you must therefore devise your own strategies that can guarantee success in the long run. You need to first analyze the market using a technical analysis approach or the fundamental analysis approach to plan your moves. While technical analysis refers to forecasting future movement based on past performance, fundamental analysis refers to studying current accounts and impact of imports and exports on currency flow.

Understanding how volatile this market is, every experienced trader understands that it is not practically possible to generate profits from every trade. However, as you study this market closely, you will be able to work out better strategies that can minimize your risk levels.

Use surplus money for trading

This market is speculative and “timing a trade’ is crucial. Even a slightest mistake can cost you a lot of money. So, make sure that you use only surplus money in order to save yourself from financial wreck. One of the biggest mistakes many traders do is staking all their money in a single trade. If you are not sure, go for margin trading to enjoy more leverage.

Do some market research

Consult your financial advisor or a Forex broker who can tell you the exact status of the Forex market. You need to understand whether current trend is upwards or downwards, is it strong or weak, and how long has this trend been going on or is a new trend in the making. A trade without prior market research can lead to financial disasters.

Decide the time frame for trading

As a smart Forex trader, you must have a time frame in mind beyond which you wont like to trade and also decide an approximate exit price. This gives you a proper perspective and helps you to plan your Forex trade more efficiently. You need to therefore decide whether you would like to go for long term trading or intra-day trading. This will help you to determine which approach you must adopt for research and analysis. For instance, for someone trading several times a day, a daily graph analysis will be useless and the trader will require thirty minute or hour graphs to plan his exit. Another important factor that you need to take into account is the time periods when different financial companies enter and exit the foreign exchange market in order to study the market trends.

Choosing the right time to trade Timing is everything when it comes to Forex trading and once you have understood the market trends you need to immediately plan an entry. Rely on technical analysis to time your move and predict market movements.

If you are not sure about which Forex trading strategy to use, find a good Forex broker who can handle your financial portfolio for you