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Day Trading Commodity Markets

Traders who trade for a living are generally swing traders or day traders. If you are planning to day trade in commodities, then you need to get hold of a reliable trading system that gives good results consistently. Despite having such a system, there are a few things you may want to know about day trading in the commodity markets.

Day Trading Defined

Those who trade and complete all their trades within the period of a day’s trading session are known as day traders. Day traders have to square off all their trades by the end of the 24-hour period. That is their time limit. If they hold their positions for any longer, they can then be called position traders, and not day traders. They are the most common form of traders to be found in commodity markets.

Day traders like to churn their capital on a day to day basis to maximize its return. They prefer not to lock in capital for extended periods of time. More often than not, they have very limited capital to leverage, and cannot afford to block it all. Speed is the name of the game where day trading in commodity futures is concerned.

Facts About Day Trading

It has been observed that you stand a better chance of earning money in day trading commodity markets if you are prepared to invest a bigger amount of money. This is because more money gives you the option to diversify your investment and manage the risks better.

An important component of commodity futures trading, is using charts that allow you to decide what you want to do. Secondly, those who follow trends taste success.

As in all things, there are limitations that day traders face. The most important one is that they trade in a single day’s session. Hence, they cannot let their profits run any longer even if they want to – they are limited by time. They prefer by choice to take the money and run. Time is money, and time is limited. Another issue that crops up at some time or another for day traders is their stops. They cannot have too large a stop for fear of losing a lot of money. Therefore, they have to keep narrow stops, and thus increase their chances of being whipsawed out of a trade early. Ask any old hand about being whipsawed, and they will tell you that it is a part of the game. Daily ranges also limit targets, as the luxury of hanging on is not available. Quick profits are targeted, and many a time commodity day traders have to get out of a trade at the end of the day having made very little or no money from it.

However, day traders are not to be under estimated in any way. They truly form the volume numbers of the commodity market. Many intraday movements are because of day traders. They cause sudden spurts in commodity prices with heavy buying or selling. An integral part of the market, they form the backbone of the commodity market.

Forex Trading Articles

Markets And Forex

When it comes to the forex trade, what you have is something extremely exhausting. If you want to learn about how the forex market operates then this article is something that you should read. There are plenty of elements that come into play in the forex market from the spreads to the pricing to the liquidity. In order for you to gain a profit from the forex market, what is necessary is for you to look for the best price. You place an order and just before it is executed there is a deterioration in the price, what you have is slippage. It is often said to be non-existent because of the trillions of dollars of daily volume traded. It is the lack of liquidity at key price levels that leads to the onset of slippage in the forex market.

There is an absence of slippage in other listed equity and futures markets and this is because of how access if provided to the participants when it comes to the liquidity pool. Via spreads and undisclosed volume numbers, slippage in the forex market is hidden and this is because of the fact that the transactions are not displayed for the participants to see. Minimizing slippage depends on the participation of the correct bank or broker in the transactions.

Trading normally happens on an exchange but this is not the case for the forex market which is part of the interbank market. Here, two main electronic broking systems are working to satisfy the trading needs of the interbank market which is primarily composed of large commercial and investment banks. Here is where a direct telephone based system is also used to supplement the computer systems.

Banks can conduct transactions by electronic means in the forex trade considering how there are private systems that come into play here. Here is where the official interbank rates are applied and these are the exchange rates that other traders do not get to enjoy.

It is forex liquidity that is known as the total amount of currency that is part of the trade. Buying or selling is normally done by brokers and traders after this information is obtained. Besides this, the time of the day, important support and resistance levels, and news flow announcements are also important considerations that should be made.

In this market, there are those who try their luck and trade in multiple positions and when this happens, it is important for the traders to familiarize themselves with the net exposures for each currency. In addition, you can often close your multiple exposures in a single trade if the net position is known, saving you paying the spread twice. This allows you the opportunity to react in accordance with market movements.

Before you make any decisions here, do consider several technical analysis techniques. You will not go wrong when you consider automating your trading strategy as it makes trading much more effective. Do consider automated systems of trading.

Trading will become more efficient when this system is in play. The system allows traders to see if their ideas can generate profits. You get to see whether or not your decisions will be profitable in the end.

Forex Trading Articles

Factors That Can Influence The FX Markets

If we had a complete list of all the factors that influence the FX markets and could assign the correct weight to every factor in every given situation, it would be easy to make money with FX trades.

As things stand, however, something often happens, like the tsunami in Japan, which nobody expected and which throws forex markets into complete disarray for some time. Having said that, there are some factors which consistently affect the forex markets.

If everything else were equal, the country with the highest interest rate would enjoy an inflow of investment money as investors could expect a higher return on their capital.

Countries with high inflation rates will often try to counter them by increasing their interest rates. As stated above, local currencies of countries with high interest rates are often attractive.

As a result, higher interest rates strengthen the demand for its currency which can push up its price or exchange rate compared to other currencies. This can often happen in the market even if there is the expectation of an interest rate hike.

If America should import a lot of products from Europe, for example, it would strengthen the demand for the Euro as Americans are converting Dollars into Euros to pay for the goods. Eventually the exchange rate of the Euro against the Dollar will start to increase.

If, as mentioned in the previous paragraph, the Euro strengthens significantly against the Dollar and the American Central Bank, the Federal Reserve, doesn’t want this, the bank can interfere in the market by buying Dollars or selling Euros.

This will tend to strengthen the value of the Dollar and/or weaken the Euro and restore the balance that existed earlier.

It is not only imports and exports that drive the forex markets. There are also a huge number of speculators in the market who simply trade in the forex markets through financial spread betting, margined forex and CFDs.

Some industry analysts even claim that speculators have become the strongest force in the forex markets.

If a large investor such as George Soros should suddenly buy a vast amount of Paraguayan Guaranis, the price of this small currency could jump through the roof overnight. If he sells the same amount the following day, the price would probably drop to where it was before or perhaps even lower.

Political instability is one of the biggest enemies of any currency. If a military coup should take place in a country in the Middle East then it’s likely that the country’s currency will drop. This is because people are more willing to invest in stable countries. Conversely, a long period of political stability usually leads to a stable currency.

High unemployment figures are usually a sign that something is wrong with the economy of a particular country.

This means the GDP may also be contracting and exports falling. If so the currency in question might also drop as speculators expect the government to weaken the currency in order to help boost exports.

Financial spread betting is a leveraged product, it involves a high degree of risk to your capital and can result in losses that exceed your investment. It might not be appropriate for all types of investor. Before trading, ensure that you are fully aware of the risk. Only spread bet with money that you can afford to lose. If required seek independent financial advice.

Forex Trading Articles

Tools For Trading The FX Markets

Forex trading or the buying and selling of foreign currencies with the aim of making a profit, is very much a business like any other: to operate well and make a profit you need the tools of the trade. Let us have a brief look at what you need to begin forex trading and where to get it.

First and foremost you need accurate and timely information. The shorter the time frame in which you trade, the more crucial it becomes to have up to date information at your fingertips. A medium-term trader might, for example, be happy with end-of-day prices; a day trader will need live prices.

Whatever time frame you choose, you need accurate currency prices. Most forex trading platforms like Financial Spreadoffer free live prices, so finding this information should not be much of a problem for most traders.

When trading the forex markets, you also need software that provides you with the ability to open and close trades, set ‘stop loss’ levels and ‘take profit’ levels and to change these levels when you need to.

Most good trading software packages offer traders a host of additional features, for example built-in charting facilities. You can normally choose a range of major or minor currency pairs you want and immediately access a graph showing its current and historical price. On the same graph you might be able to draw a whole range of so-called technical indicators to help you make sense of what is happening in the marketplace.

Probably the simplest technical indicator out there is the moving average. However simple it may be, it is still used by many traders to help them decide whether the price of a currency is going to move up or down.

A good charting package will provide you with the opportunity to draw various other technical indicators, such as the Ichimoku Kinko Hyo, Bollinger Bands, Trend Lines and many more.

If you are a novice forex trader, you should take advantage of all the free training you can get your hands on, in fact forex trading can be very volatile and might not be for you. Many online brokers provide free training for forex trading. You will learn the difference between technical analysis and fundamental analysis, how to use charting software and how to manage your money – something that is crucial for success in the world of trading.

While much of the training will attempt to introduce the reader to forex in a manner that is easy to understand, if you do come across material that you find unclear then don’t be afraid to register at a good forex forum and ask questions; you may be surprised how often experienced traders will respond to beginners. Be warned, however: no matter how experienced a forum member may appear, you should consider all user posts to be opinion only. Always follow up any responses with further research before taking user-posted content as fact.

Margined FX and financial spread betting involve a high degree of risk to your investment capital, they are geared products so you can lose more than the investment capital which you initially committed. When investing with these products, ensure you only invest using capital you can afford to lose; before trading make sure that you fully recognise the risks involved.

Please be aware, Financial Spread Betting and Margined FX may not be suited to your trading requirements. Where appropriate, obtain independent investment guidance.

Forex Trading Articles

Factors that Influence the Forex Markets

The Size of the Market

Successfully determining the future price movements of a currency pair in forex can be difficult, due to the size and nature of the market.

The forex market is a 24-hour market that is decentralised in nature, meaning that it has no central exchange. Given its global scope and unlimited opening time, forex is the largest market in the world in terms of total funds traded on a daily basis. What this means is that the range of factors that can influence a currency pair can itself be global, unlimited in time or be driven by any number of financial market players.

An Overview of the Most Commonly Cited Factors

Of course, this high level view of forex can be, to some extent, misleading. You may be trading a currency pair in a very limited time scale and with a clear understanding of the immediate historical and market contexts. Your belief in the future price movements of your traded currency pair can turn out to be correct; as well as, of course, incorrect.

Some of the most commonly cited factors influencing forex include interest rate increases/decreases, ‘expected’ interest rate increases/decreases, inflation rates and central bank interventions.

Supply & Demand

Currencies are always traded in pairs. For example, you may sell or buy the US dollar against the pound as the prices between the two currencies diverge. Demand for a currency can exceed its available supply, typically making it more valuable. Demand, importantly, can be actual or speculative; in the case of the latter, you might speculate that a currency is likely to be in greater demand than it currently is and you can trade to that effect.

Note that demand is often based on interest rates where higher interest rates often, but not always, make a currency more attractive.

Central Bank Interventions

Central Banks, commonly involved in setting or helping to set interest rates, also have a major influence on forex. National currency prices can be actively boosted or devalued by large-scale central bank interventions. A government could supply or ‘flood’ forex with its domestic currency in an attempt to devalue it, Quantitative Easing is an example of this. Conversely, large-scale government buying of its national currency can boost its value.

Political Events Political instability can occur anywhere around the world, depending on local factors and historical context. It is not impossible for political instability to occur in historically very stable countries. When a country becomes politically unstable, its national currency can devalue as investors lose confidence in the national governments’ ability to effectively support a prosperous business climate. Conversely, countries recovering from a period of political instability can become more attractive to investors, thus boosting its national currency. Rising or falling unemployment rates can similarly affect national economies.

Market Sentiment

Note that the Forex markets can also be influenced by raw market sentiment. This essentially means that forex traders can be more or less optimistic, with the sentiment spreading to such an extent it starts to influence buying/selling decisions. If an investor is looking to speculate in this way then one of the simplest ways to access the markets is through FX spread betting.

If you are trading the forex markets then note that margined forex and financial spread betting do carry a high level of risk to your trading capital and can result in you losing more than your initial stake. Ensure that spread betting fits your investment needs as it might not be appropriate for all investors. Only speculate with money that you can afford to lose. Before trading, please ensure you fully appreciate the risks involved and if required request independent advice.