Tag Archives: Foreign

Forex Trading Articles

Foreign Exchange Markets

The foreign exchange market or the forex market as it is more popularly known is one of the most exciting and fast paced financial market. The market has seen large scale entry of individual investors, which until the recent past was the domain of large financial institutions, leading world banks and hedge fund operators. Because of the strict qualifying parameters imposed, only a few wealthy individuals had access to the foreign exchange trading markets.

The advent of technology has changed all that dramatically. Now, you can trade in forex from the comfort of your homes if you have a computer and net connectivity. With an online brokerage account you can easily buy and sell currencies with the click of a mouse.

Unlike equity and stock markets, the daily fluctuations are very minute in a foreign exchange market. The foreign exchange trading is done in pairs and many pairs move less than one percent in a day. The enormous leverage offered by the brokers to the foreign exchange traders helps them invest in huge volumes to make up for the low volatility.

In a normal market, high leverage is perceived as something that is extremely risky. However, in a foreign exchange market because of the deep liquidity and round the clock trading, brokers have been able to make high leverage a norm of the industry so that traders can have meaningful returns on investments.

The forex markets offer a high degree of flexibility. Extreme liquidity and high levels of leverage has helped the market grow dramatically and help traders make enormous profits. Trade positions can be opened and closed within minutes or can be held for months. The forex market is a safe place to trade because currencies cannot be subjected to large scale manipulations and riggings which is a common feature in an equity or derivative market.

Because of the global size of the market, there is little possibility of even banks and financial institutions making even a small dent in the trading prices of currencies. They are based entirely on the demand and supply situation.

The forex markets offer plenty of opportunity to investors. However, to be successful one has to understand the fundamentals of the currency moves and the nuances of the trading process.

Market Analysis

Foreign Exchange Market – The Forex Market For Beginner Traders

Forex market hours are great for convenient trading. The market is available 24 hours a day. Whether is it during the very early morning, during a lunch break or after the close of the business day, finding out what is going on in the market is easy. Forex makes it easy to trade no matter where in the world a person is. Forex trading times and trading hours vary from country to country and city to city all over the world.

Currency trading is one of the easiest trades to become involved with. It is best to stay within workable business times. In the US the hours are from eight am to five pm, in Tokyo business occurs from seven am to four pm. There are times different countries will run into or overlap one another. London and New York overlap from eight am to 12 pm. This makes trading the Euro and the US dollar greatest during those hours.

Monitoring any trade is easy when dealing with Forex. It is a fast paced world that needs traders to strike while it is hot. A slow or placid market does not help anyone and should be avoided. A calm trader, however, is always a great idea. A trader that’s lets emotions get involved in this business will fail faster than an unemotional trader will. Anger or elation are emotions better kept out of business; especially when there is money involved.

It is always a good idea to try something before diving straight into it. There is a demo that allows users to try Forex before getting into it. Different ways of doing things work for different types of people. A great trader knows that there is always a system behind a really great trader. Without a system to work with, a trader might as well be going into it with a blindfold on and that’s a good way to lose money.

Keeping time with the currency traded is money management is what most traders call for. Managing money correctly and trading at the correct times for what is wanted is an idyllic way for things to work. More often than not with an experienced trader this is the way things will advance. The timing of trades, having a system, developing a simple plan and monitoring the trades as they come and go will benefit everyone who gets involved in the Forex market.

Forex Trading Articles

Foreign Exchange Markets – What You Should Know

The foreign exchange markets are located worldwide. Currency trading is a global activity. Every country in the world spends money and needs to change their money into other currencies to trade or interact with other nations.

Exchange happens at all levels of society. As an individual you have changed money when you travel for business or vacation. Or maybe you have sold something on eBay to someone in another country. Their payment comes in to your account in its own currency, and the bank or payment processor such as PayPal changes it for you. This is currency exchange at the root level.

Exchange or Forex trading has a different purpose, however. When you act on the foreign exchange markets, you do not purchase a different currency because you need it. You are now in the hope that it will rise in value, so you can return and finish with more money than you started with.

Of course it is risky. Price movement could go against you and you’d end up with less money instead of more. So you will want to gather plenty of information about currency trading before you actually begin trading.

Forex trading began in the 1970s when the major currencies were liberalized so that their values were no longer fixed. The banks and large investors quickly saw the potential for profit from changing prices.

The main Forex markets are the major financial centers worldwide. London sees the highest activity with New York second and third Tokyo. Other major players are Sydney, Zurich and Frankfurt.

Originally you had to be in one of these major centers to trade money, or at least have a telephone connection with a broker who was there. It was very difficult for someone who was not on site to act quickly enough to react to sudden fluctuations in price that can happen in the Forex markets.

But modern technological advances have changed all that. Since the advent of Internet it has been possible to act on your own account from anywhere. This means that it has become easier and easier for the little man to trade in the foreign exchange markets.

While some people never think of foreign currency from one instance of travel to the next, others are studying charts and financial information or even use automated software in the form of Forex robots that make money on the rising and falling prices. They do this in order to become financially free through trading in foreign exchange markets.

Forex Trading Articles

The No Stop, Hedge Foreign Exchange Trading Grid Technique

This no stop loss, hedged Foreign Exchange trading Grid technique is now extremely popular due to the fact that same currency hedging gives a chance to transact with no stop loss loss order . This is exceptionally appealing to many Currency traders.

So how does it work:- In essence after you have sold and bought a currency (creating a hedge) you would decide a trading grid consisting of price levels above the current price and below the present price. These price levels are normally exactly the same range apart (say 200 pips). Each time the price reaches one of the price levels you would buy and sell the currency (thereby generating a hedge). You would also liquidate or close your positive transactions at that time. Sooner or later the amounts you cash in will be even larger than the cost of your open transactions (hedges) and you would liquidate all your deals at a net profit and then take a break or start all over again. In case this sounds overly basic for you there are a few excellent videos readily available on the Internet which explain these ideas in more detail.

As you can notice it is very mechanical and does not require any thought – just follow the rules. Because of this it make the Grid system an ideal automation system – you do however need to know the mechanics of the technique exceptionally well in order to determine the optimal grid size and currency cross pair to use.

This no stop, hedge, currency trading Grid system however remains one of the most misunderstood and abused forex methods around. This is due to the fact that the no stop, hedge Currency Grid Method is more of an investment technique than a trading technique. Moving from a quick day trading strategy to a long term investment technique is something tremendously few Currency traders can do. It requires such a paradigm shift in trading that day traders become impatient and reckless and lose their trading account tremendously quickly by adopting inappropriate grid sizes or using the wrong currency cross.

A fact that Forex traders can’t come to grips with is that you don’t need forex charts to transact the Grid system. Currency trading is almost totally based on fundamental and technical analysis that uses Currency charts to determine optimal trading entries and exits. Not the grid technique. If you know that you are going to be selling and buying (hedging) a particular currency at predetermined price levels no matter what, why would you need forex charts.

The investment technique uses some of the aspects (not all) of the dollar cost averaging investor’s use. If you invest at a certain price level and the price moves to a increased price level and you invest again, your average purchase price is lower than your most recent purchase price. As long as the price stays higher than your average price you are in profit. Likewise if you buy at a certain level and the price falls to a lower price level and you buy again, you have decreased your average purchase price and it does not need to go up much for you to breakeven. In the same way, the Grid technique trades until the cost of the hedges is lower than the earnings from cashing in the positive transactions.

By buying and selling at each Foreign Exchange grid level and also liquidating positive transactions the investor is moving closer to the point where at some point the total investment will probably be cash positive and can then be liquidated.

Forex Trading Articles

Lessons In Foreign Currency Trading From Ebenezer Scrooge

Very few people have not heard of Charles Dickens’ Ebenezer Scrooge. However, since he is known mostly for his love of money, lack of kindness, and hatred for the Christmas season, it seems like folks have forgotten how sound his business practices were. In fact, his principles were so sound that it is obvious Scrooge would have been an excellent foreign currency trader. The next time you find yourself undecided over the latest trading news, consider the qualities of Scrooge.

Focus on Preserving Your Funds

Scrooge was a miser yet his greed would have benefited him in his trading decisions. When you are taking a look at forex news online it is easy to immediately start thinking about doing what you can to multiply your money. This is natural, but it is also a mentality that can easily lead to impulsive and reckless trading. It may sound counterproductive but if you concentrate on ‘not losing’, the profits will follow shortly thereafter.

Cheapness

At the beginning of the story you can see Scrooge grumbling about giving his assistant a paid holiday for Christmas Day. He does not just consider it inconvenient, he compares it to stealing. While this is certainly taking it to extremes, his reluctance to spend money would be an asset to him as a trader. Take time to look for brokers with low spreads, low overnight fees, and additional bonuses while thinking very carefully about paying extra for anything.

Be Willing to Spend

This might sound like a contradiction, but think about Scrooge’s position.

He was cheap and would often be unwilling to spend a dime more than necessary. That is the key. If he did spend money he made sure that he would be able to make it back in profits. What this means for traders is that it is alright to put money into the foreign currency market but only when there is a high probability of success. Perfect your strategy, trust your indicators, and do not hesitate to take a position.

Dedication

Say what you will about his personality, but nobody can deny the fact that Scrooge was a hard worker. Many people get into foreign currency trading expecting it to be an easy ride all the way through. Although it may not seem difficult to spend all day executing orders, that is because most of the real work is mental.

Towards the end of the classic Christmas Carol, Scrooge did see the error of his ways in regards to people. However that does not mean there is nothing to be gleaned from his financial practices. Despite his original failings as a human being, prospective foreign currency traders can make real money on the market by applying Scrooge’s mentality to their transactions.