I’m interested in trading currencies with a FOREX account, but I’ve also heard plenty of bad things about numerous companies. Does anyone know which company has the best reputation for FOREX trading?
What is traded in the Forex market?
The instrument traded by Forex traders and investors are currency pairs. A currency pair is the exchange rate of one currency over another. The most traded currency pairs are:
EUR/USD: Euro
GBP/USD: Pound
USD/CAD: Canadian dollar
USD/JPY: Yen
USD/CHF: Swiss franc
AUD/USD: Aussie
These currency pairs generate up to 85% of the overall volume generated in the Forex market.
So, for instance, if a trader goes long or buys the Euro, she or he is simultaneously buying the EUR and selling the USD. If the same trader goes short or sells the Aussie, she or he is simultaneously selling the AUD and buying the USD.
The first currency of each currency pair is referred as the base currency, while second currency is referred as the counter or quote currency.
Each currency pair is expressed in units of the counter currency needed to get one unit of the base currency.
If the price or quote of the EUR/USD is 1.2545, it means that 1.2545 US dollars are needed to get one EUR.
Bid/Ask Spread
All currency pairs are commonly quoted with a bid and ask price. The bid (always lower than the ask) is the price your broker is willing to buy at, thus the trader should sell at this price. The ask is the price your broker is willing to sell at, thus the trader should buy at this price.
EUR/USD 1.2545/48 or 1.2545/8
The bid price is 1.2545
The ask price is 1.2548
A Pip
A pip is the minimum incremental move a currency pair can make. A pip stands for price interest point. A move in the EUR/USD from 1.2545 to 1.2560 equals 15 pips. And a move in the USD/JPY from 112.05 to 113.10 equals 105 pips.
Margin Trading (leverage)
In contrast with other financial markets where you require the full deposit of the amount traded, in the Forex market you require only a margin deposit. The rest will be granted by your broker.
The leverage provided by some brokers goes up to 400:1. This means that you require only 1/400 or .25% in balance to open a position (plus the floating gains/losses.) Most brokers offer 100:1, where every trader requires 1% in balance to open a position.
The standard lot size in the Forex market is $100,000 USD.
For instance, a trader wants to get long one lot in EUR/USD and he or she is using 100:1 leverage.
To open such position, he or she requires 1% in balance or $1,000 USD.
Of course it is not advisable to open a position with such limited funds in our trading balance. If the trade goes against our trader, the position is to be closed by the broker. This takes us to our next important term.
Margin Call
A margin call occurs when the balance of the trading account falls below the maintenance margin (capital required to open one position, 1% when the leverage used is 100:1, 2% when leverage used is 50:1, and so on.) At this moment, the broker sells off (or buys back in the case of short positions) all your trades, leaving the trader “theoretically” with the maintenance margin.
Most of the time margin calls occur when money management is not properly applied.
How are the mechanics of a Forex trade?
The trader, after an extensive analysis, decides there is a higher probability of the British pound to go up. He or she decides to go long risking 30 pips and having a target (reward) of 60 pips. If the market goes against our trader he/she will lose 30 pips, on the other hand, if the market goes in the intended way, he or she will gain 60 pips. The actual quote for the pound is 1.8524/27, 4 pips spread. Our trader gets long at 1.8530 (ask). By the time the market gets to either our target (called take profit order) or our risk point (called stop loss level) we will have to sell it at the bid price (the price our broker is willing to buy our position back.) In order to make 40 pips, our take profit level should be placed at 1.8590 (bid price.) If our target gets hit, the market ran 64 pips (60 pips plus the 4 pip spread.) If our stop loss level is hit, the market ran 30 pips against us.
It’s very important to understand every aspect of trading. Start first from the very basic concepts, then move on to more complex issues such as Forex trading systems, trading psychology, trade and risk management, and so on. And make sure you master every single aspect before adventuring in a live trading account.
By: Raul Lopez
Currency trading and future trading, which usually make more money
Analysis and discussion with Steven Englander of Barclays Capital on his take of the growing popularity of online currency trading. (Bloomberg News)
Looking for a unique (even experimental) system for forex and currency fx trading that works seamlessly with Metatrader 4. Interested in your own recommendations and tools that work at the beginner / intermediate level.
Trading currencies eod using EFT’s
www.smctrader.com – Get you $100000 Virtual trading account. This is how to place a basic Margin FX Trade on the SMC Trader.
The Forex market is a very demanding environment and for a trader to maintain a success level, constant currency trading training is necessary.
The following 7 favorite tips can be used as timely reminders and need to be read and absorbed on a regular basis:
#1 – Take Responsibility
“The buck stops here.” Don’t blame the markets, or a host of other factors for a losing trade. You entered it for whatever reasons you had at the time. Take responsibility for it.
#2 – Use Each Losing Trade As A Stepping Stone
You lost a trade? Good. It will help you focus on a potential problem in your trading method. If after careful analysis you are satisfied you worked according to your plan, fine. Move on.
#3 – Never Become Impatient With The Market
New traders in the early stages of their currency trading training can be eaten alive by the market. During periods of consolidation with little liquidity the anxious impatient trader will force trading opportunities where there none.
Learn to accept the fact that around 70% of the time price will be in a consolidation channel.
#4 – Focus Daily On Improving Your Trading Skills
Currency trading training is an ongoing process. Day by day, step by step the trader improves. So rather than be preoccupied with profits and losses, concentrate on developing the skills. Your account will start to reflect your focus in time.
#5 – Be Pleased With Well Executed Trades Whatever The Outcome
Is this possible? Yes. You can feel well pleased even with a losing trade if you stuck to your methodology and executed the trade well. It is dangerous to feel good about a winning trade when you went against your trading method to achieve it. Your elation is likely to be short lived. Learn to execute the plan!
#6 – If In Doubt Stay Out
The feeling of regret can drain a person mentally and emotionally from entering a poorly considered trade. Once the trigger has been pulled and the trade starts going wrong, the agony of watching it inch towards your stop should renew in the trader the determination to stay out when in doubt!
#7 – Always Have A Good Reason
Currency trading training involves careful analysis of reasons for entering a trade. Just because price is high is not a reason to go short or long if price is low. Price will do what price wants to do so rather than trading from gut reaction, e.g. “Price can’t go any higher (or lower)” learn to detach emotions and use pure technical analysis to establish a number of reasons why you should take a trade.
As currency trading training is a long term commitment, skills and disciplines learned can sometimes be forgotten as bad habits creep in.
It is necessary to constantly renew the thinking processes by repeating over and over the habits of successful traders.
These 7 favorite tips will keep the newer trader out of a lot of trouble!
By: Michael A Jones
After observing hundreds of amateur Forex traders, I began to discover that their failures can be explained almost exclusively by their poor money management practices.
When trading, the importance of Money Management is underestimated by a lot of Forex traders. It is of much more importance than entry and exit decisions (=timing decisions) will ever be. Very few indicators are better than a coin toss, and if they are, the edge is eaten up by slippage and commission.
Money Management in Forex trading is also called asset allocation, position sizing, portfolio heat, portfolio allocation, cash flow management, trade management, capital management and position management, size management, bet size selection, lot size selection, or even risk control, equity control, and damage control.
Money Management is managing the position size while Risk Management is about managing losses and open profits (unrealized trading returns). Actually I don’t like the term ‘Money Management’ in Forex trading as it also has a very general meaning (it’s also used to describe the “process” of saving, those “learn valuable skills” pages talking about piggy banks and how to teach kids about pay checks).
But ‘Money Management’ tells a Forex trader that he should concentrate his research on how to optimize capital usage and to view his/her portfolio as a whole.
Actually there are (at least) 2 steps to implement proper Money Management:
1) Position sizing is the determination of what (fixed or non-fixed) fraction of a portfolio’s total (or again fixed or non-fixed fraction) equity to risk on each trade expressed in Dollar-, Euro-, Yen-, or Swiss Franc-denominated currency values.
2) Position sizing, on the other hand, is the calculation of how many contracts I should hold in my position once a trade entry is signaled, which basically is a function of the Big Point Value (the number of dollars that a 1-point price move represents) and a rounding algorithm as the number of contracts/stocks can’t be traded in fractions and must be cut down to a whole integer.
Let me show you a clearer picture of money management. Suppose you and I bet $0.20 on a coin flip: Heads, you win, Tails, you lose. Suppose you have $10 of risk capital and I have $1. Even though I have less money, I have little to fear, because it would take a string of 5 losses to wipe me out, unless two brokers get between us and drain our capital by commissions and slippage.
The odds will dramatically change if you and I raise our bet to $0.50. If I have only $1, then I can only afford to lose 2 times. If you have $10, you can afford to lose 20 times.
Many amateur Forex traders take wild risks with a poor money management system. When they lose on their trade, they increases their lot size or position, hope that they can recover their losses made previously and make some profits. This action has caused their capital to be more exposed to risks. This lesson won’t automatically build wealth, but will bring a wealth of experience and knowledge, which will prove invaluable to you if both understood and applied properly. It will steer the course for your success in the global financial marketplace.
If you are too lazy to dig deep to both find and understand this lesson, I would advise to either refrain from trading.
By: Sebastian Sim
forex.millionsuperaffiliate.com I Guarantee That This Video Will Change Everything You Have Heard, Seen Or Tried In Forex Automatic Trading…
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