Daily Forex Signal and Analysis

Forex Market Hour

2008-12-23T00:41:00.000-08:00

Forex market is open 24 hours a day. It provides a great opportunity for traders to trade any time of the day or at night. However, although it seems to be not very important at the beginning, the right time to trade is one of the most crucial points to be successful in trading at the forex market.

The best time to trade is when the market is the most active and therefore has the biggest volume of trades. More active currency moves will create a good chance to catch the trade and make some profit.

New York 8am to 5pm EST
Tokyo 7pm to 4am EST
Sydney 5pm to 2am EST
London 3am to 12 noon EST

At times when markets overlap, the highest volume of trades occurs.

Today Technical - EUR/USD

2008-12-17T22:09:00.000-08:00

Today EUR/USD Signal

Support & Resistance

2008-12-14T18:33:00.000-08:00

Support and resistance is a concept in technical analysis that the movement of the price will tend to stop and reverse at certain predetermined price levels.

Support

A support level is a price level where the price tends to find support as it is going down. This means the price is more likely to "bounce" off this level rather than break through it. However, once the price has passed this level, even by a small amount, it is likely to continue dropping until it finds another support level.

Resistance

A resistance level is the opposite of a support level. It is where the price tends to find resistance as it is going up. This means the price is more likely to "bounce" off this level rather than break through it. However, once the price has passed this level, even by a small amount, it is likely that it will continue rising until it finds another resistance level.(wikipedia)

FX Technical Commentary - Easy-Forex

2008-12-14T18:10:00.000-08:00

Euro 1.3390

Initial support at 1.300 (Dec 11 low) followed by 1.2903 (Dec 10 low). Initial resistance is now located at 1.3415 (Dec 12 high) at followed by 1.3530 (Oct 20 high)
Yen 90.90

Initial support is located at 88.20 (Dec 12 low) followed by 88.07 (Range Projection). Initial resistance is now at 91.86 (Dec 12 high) followed by 92.88 (Dec 11 high).

Pound 1.4960

Initial support at 1.4816 (Dec 12 low) followed by 1.4736 (Dec 10 low). Initial resistance is now at 1.5118 (Dec 12 high) followed by 1.5213 (Nov 26 high).
Australian Dollar 0.6620

Initial support at 0.6490 (Dec 12 low) followed by the 0.6453 (Dec 8 low). Initial resistance is now at 0.6733 (Dec 12 high) followed by 0.68041 (Dec 11 high).

Gold 822

Initial support at 774 (Dec 10 low) followed by 763 (Dec 9 low). Initial resistance is now at 835 (Dec 11 high) followed by 856 (Oct 15 high).

Currency	Sup 2	Sup 1	Spot	Res 1	Res 2
EUR/USD	1.2903	1.3000	1.3390	1.3415	1.3530
USD/JPY	88.07	88.20	90.90	91.86	92.88
GBP/USD	1.4736	1.4816	1.4960	1.5118	1.5213
AUD/USD	0.6453	0.6490	0.6620	0.6733	0.6801
XAU/USD	763.00	774.00	822.00	835.00	856.00

Easy Forex
http://www.easy-forex.com

Easy-Forex makes no recommendations as to the merits of any financial product referred to in this website, emails or its related websites and the information contained does not take into account your personal objectives, financial situation and needs. Therefore you should consider whether these products are appropriate in view of your objectives, financial situation and needs as well as considering the risks associated in dealing with those products

Broker Lists - FCM regulated

2008-12-09T01:51:00.000-08:00

BFCM is a merchant involved in the solicitation or acceptance of commodity orders for future delivery of commodities related to the futures contract market.

A Futures Commission Merchant is able to handle futures contract orders as well as extend credit to customers wishing to enter into such positions. These include many of the brokerages that investors in the futures markets deal with. (Investopedia)

Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is one of FCM in U.S.

The CFTC assures the economic utility of the futures markets by encouraging their competitiveness and efficiency, protecting market participants against fraud, manipulation, and abusive trading practices, and by ensuring the financial integrity of the clearing process. Through effective oversight, the CFTC enables the futures markets to serve the important function of providing a means for price discovery and offsetting price risk.

The CFTC's mission is to protect market users and the public from fraud, manipulation, and abusive practices related to the sale of commodity and financial futures and options, and to foster open, competitive, and financially sound futures and option markets.

Here is the lists of selected broker by CFTC (October 31, 2008):

1 3D FOREX, LLC
2 ACM USA LLC
3 ADM INVESTOR SERVICES INC
4 ADVANCED MARKETS INC
5 ADVANTAGE FUTURES LLC
6 AIG CLEARING CORPORATION
7 ALARON TRADING CORPORATION
8 ALLIANZ GLOBAL INVESTORS DISTRIBUTORS LLC*
9 ALPARI (US) LLC
10 BACERA CORPORATION
11 BANC OF AMERICA SECURITIES LLC
12 BARCLAYS CAPITAL INC
13 BGC SECURITIES
14 BNP PARIBAS COMMODITY FUTURES INC
15 BNP PARIBAS SECURITIES CORP.
16 CADENT FINANCIAL SERVICES LLC
17 CANTOR FITZGERALD & CO
18 CAPITAL MARKET SERVICES LLC
19 CIBC WORLD MARKETS CORP
20 CITIGROUP GLOBAL MARKETS INC
21 CLIFF LARSON COMPANY THE
22 COMMONWEALTH FOREIGN EXCHANGE INC
23 COMTRUST INC
24 COUNTRY HEDGING INC
25 CREDIT SUISSE SECURITIES (USA) LLC
26 CROSSLAND LLC
27 CUNNINGHAM COMMODITIES LLC
28 DAIWA SECURITIES AMERICA INC
29 DEUTSCHE BANK SECURITIES INC
30 DORMAN TRADING LLC
31 DUNAVANT COMMODITY CORP
32 EAGLE MARKET MAKERS INC
33 EASY FOREX US LTD
34 ED &F MAN COMMODITY ADVISORS INC
35 ELECTRONIC BROKERAGE SYSTEMS LLC
36 ENSKILDA FUTURES LTD
37 FARR FINANCIAL INC
38 FC STONE LLC
39 FOREX CAPITAL MARKETS LLC
40 FOREX CLUB FINANCIAL COMPANY INC
41 FORTIS CLEARING AMERICAS LLC
42 FRIEDBERG MERCANTILE GROUP INC
43 FRONTIER FUTURES INC
44 FUTURES TECH LLC
45 FX SOLUTIONS LLC
46 GAIN CAPITAL GROUP LLC
47 GATEWAY CAPITAL L.L.C.
48 GELBER GROUP LLC
49 GENESIS FUTURES LLC
50 GFS FOREX & FUTURES INC
51 GILDER GAGNON HOWE AND CO LLC
52 GLOBAL FUTURES & FOREX LTD
53 GOLDMAN SACHS & CO
54 GOLDMAN SACHS EXECUTION & CLEARING LP
55 H & R BLOCK FINANCIAL ADVISORS INC
56 HOTSPOT FXR LLC
57 HSBC SECURITIES USA INC
58 I TRADE FX LLC
59 ICAP FUTURES LLC
60 IG MARKETS INC.
61 IKON GLOBAL MARKETS INC.
62 INSTINET LLC
63 INTEGRATED BROKERAGE SERVICES LLC
64 INTERACTIVE BROKERS LLC
65 INTERBANK FX LLC
66 ITG DERIVATIVES, LLC
67 JP MORGAN CLEARING CORP
68 JP MORGAN FUTURES INC
69 JP MORGAN SECURITIES INC
70 KOTTKE ASSOCIATES LLC
71 LADENBURG THALMANN & CO INC
72 LBS LIMITED PARTNERSHIP
73 LEK SECURITIES CORPORATION
74 LIMESTONE TRADING LLC
75 LINN GROUP ( THE )
76 LOEB PARTNERS CORPORATION
77 LPL FINANCIAL CORPORATION
78 MACQUARIE FUTURES USA INC
79 MB TRADING FUTURES INC.
80 MBF CLEARING CORP
81 MCVEAN TRADING AND INVESTMENTS LLC
82 MERRILL LYNCH PIERCE FENNER & SMITH
83 MERRILL LYNCH PROFESSIONAL CLEARING CORP
84 MF GLOBAL INC.
85 MG FINANCIAL LLC
86 MID-CO COMMODITIES INC
87 MITSUI BUSSAN COMMODITIES USA INC
88 MIZUHO SECURITIES USA INC
89 MORGAN KEEGAN & COMPANY INC
90 MORGAN STANLEY & CO INCORPORATED
91 NATIXIS SECURITIES NORTH AMERICA INC
92 NEUBERGER BERMAN LLC
93 NEWEDGE USA LLC.
94 NOMURA SECURITIES INTERNATIONAL INC
95 OANDA CORPORATION
96 ODL SECURITIES INC
97 OPEN E CRY LLC
98 OPPENHEIMER & CO INC
99 OPTIONSXPRESS INC
100 PENSON GHCO
101 PEREGRINE FINANCIAL GROUP INC
102 PIONEER FUTURES INC
103 PRUDENTIAL BACHE COMMODITIES LLC
104 PUMA FINANCIAL LLC
105 RAND FINANCIAL SERVICES INC
106 RAYMOND JAMES & ASSOCIATES INC
107 RBC CAPITAL MARKETS CORPORATION
108 RBS GREENWICH CAPITAL INC
109 RJ OBRIEN & ASSOCIATES LLC
110 ROBBINS FUTURES INC
111 ROSENTHAL COLLINS GROUP LLC
112 ROSENTHAL GLOBAL SECURITIES LLC
113 SANFORD C BERNSTEIN & CO LLC
114 SANTANDER INVESTMENT SECURITIES INC.
115 SHAY GRAIN CLEARING COMPANY
116 SMW TRADING COMPANY INC
117 STEPHENS INC
118 STERLING COMMODITIES CORP
119 TCA FUTURES LLC
120 TD AMERITRADE INC.
121 TENCO INC
122 TERRA NOVA FINANCIAL, LLC
123 TIMBER HILL LLC
124 TOWER RESEARCH CAPITAL EUROPE LLC
125 TRADELINK LLC
126 TRADESTATION SECURITIES INC
127 TRADITION SECURITIES AND FUTURES INC
128 TRANSMARKET GROUP LLC
129 TRILAND USA INC
130 UBS FINANCIAL SERVICES INC
131 UBS SECURITIES LLC
132 VELOCITY FUTURES LP
133 VISION FINANCIAL MARKETS LLC
134 WACHOVIA CAPITAL MARKETS LLC
135 WACHOVIA SECURITIES FINANCIAL NETWORK, LLC
136 WACHOVIA SECURITIES LLC
137 WHITE COMMERCIAL CORPORATION
138 WSD FINANCIAL USA, INC
139 YORK BUSINESS ASSOCIATES LLC

Book - Programming in Algorithmic Language MQL4

2008-12-09T01:05:00.001-08:00

New book was published from MetaQuotes by Sergey Kovalyov's.

You can download this book from mql4.com

FX (Foreign Exchange) Volume Survey

2008-12-08T20:18:00.000-08:00

The Foreign Exchange Committee launched its inaugural Survey of North American Foreign Exchange Volume in October 2004 in order to provide the market with frequent information on the size and structure of foreign exchange activity in North America.In collaboration with the Foreign Exchange Joint Standing Committee in London, the FXC agreed to collect one month's foreign exchange turnover data covering customer, product, currency pair, and execution data in April and October. Thirty-one leading institutions active in the North American market participated in the initial survey effort.

The April 2008 data tables include all survey statistics:

View as EXCEL

View as PDF

The market share report provides a breakdown of market share and percent ranges held by quintile.

The reporting dealers section lists all the participating institutions.

The explanatory notes describes the coverage of and terms used to present the statistics.

Forex Platform Review - Metatrader 4.0

2008-12-08T17:31:00.000-08:00

MetaTrader 4 is an online trading platform designed for financial institutions dealing with Forex, CFD, and Futures markets. The platform includes all necessary components for brokerage services via internet including the back office and dealing desk.

As well as many technical indicators and line studies, there is built-in language for trade strategies programming MetaQuotes Language 4. Using this language, you can create an automated trading system called Expert Advisors, Custom Indicators and Scripts. Expert Advisors can analyze the situation on the market, make decisions, put pending orders, and open positions in on-line mode without trader's participation. Custom Indicators, just like technical ones, can analyze the situation on the market and generate various signals. As for Scripts, they are designed for single execution of some actions.

MetaTrader 4 Client Terminal key features:

working with securities of Forex, Futures and CFD markets;
various execution technologies: Instant Execution, Request Execution, Market Execution;
confidentiality of all trading operations;
unlimited charts quantity;
support of various timeframes (from minutes up to months);
large number of technical indicators and line studies;
MultiLanguage program interface;
realtime data export via DDE protocol;
signals of system and trading actions;
getting on-line news from financial markets;
internal e-mail system;
printing charts and completed trading transactions statemets.

You can download this tools at Metaquotes.com and use practise account to test.

U.S. Forex Market Commentary

2008-12-08T17:24:00.000-08:00

EURO

The euro moved higher vis-à-vis the U.S. dollar today as the single currency tested offers around the US$ 1.2950 level and was supported around the $1.2715 level. The common currency moved higher as the incoming Obama administration signaled plans to increase public works spending and the U.S. Congress continued work on a bailout for Detroit automakers. European Central Bank policymakers went on the interest rate offensive today, making it abundantly clear the ECB has additional room to ease monetary policy. ECB President Trichet said the ECB “has ample monetary policy ammunition” while ECB’s Quaden reported the “financial crisis has accelerated the downward (growth) revisions.” ECB member Nowotny added “I favor a steady-hand policy. Having said that, one should always retain the flexibility to react to new developments. There's certainly room for maneuvre if the future economic development is significantly weaker.” Similarly, ECB’s Gonzalez-Paramo added policymakers have not excluded reducing interest rates further. ECB’s Tumpel-Gugerell said central banks’ impact on counterparty credit risk and uncertainty are limited and added “the measures taken by the governments and shareholders are, therefore of paramount importance, and should address these problems over time.” The European Union will hold a summit in Brussels on 11 – 12 December to review fiscal stimulus proposals that are calling for a €200 billion spending plan. Data released in German today saw October industry output fall 2.1% while EMU-15 December Sentix investment sentiment worsened for a sixth straight month to -42.3. In U.S. news, Boston Federal Reserve President Rosengren said additional Fed monetary policy actions are limited and added “Increasingly, many observers and commentators are suggesting that fiscal stimulus will be an important element of economic recovery.” Euro bids are cited around the US$ 1.2135 level.

JPY / CNY

The yen depreciated vis-à-vis the U.S. dollar today as the greenback tested offers around the ¥93.90 level and was supported around the ¥92.55 level. Traders reduced long yen exposure as risk appetites returned following an ambition plan by U.S. President-elect Obama to enact the largest public spending program since the 1950s. Also, there is increasing speculation the U.S. government will bail-out the beleaguered Detroit automakers. Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp reported it is considering a sharp decrease in capital spending. Data released in Japan overnight saw November bank lending climb 3.2% y/y while the October current account surplus was off 56.5% y/y. The increase in bank lending was attributable to the severe problems in the commercial paper market as the outstanding balance of commercial paper declined 9.9% y/y in November. Also, the November M3 money supply was up +0.6% y/y while the November service sector sentiment index printed at 21.0 and November corporate bankruptcies were up 11.5% y/y. U.S. dollar offers are cited around the ¥104.15 level. The euro gained ground vis-à-vis the yen as the single currency tested offers around the ¥120.95 level and was supported around the ¥117.90 level. The British pound and Swiss franc moved higher vis-à-vis the yen as the crosses tested offers around the ¥140.75 and ¥77.50 levels, respectively. The Chinese yuan appreciated vis-à-vis the U.S. dollar as the greenback closed at CNY 6.8800 in the over-the-counter market, down from CNY 6.8812. China’s “central economic work conference” is convening to discuss options as to how to maintain economic growth of 8% per year. China Investment Corp President Gao Xiqing was quoted as saying “Everyone is saying, 'Oh, look, the dollar is getting stronger!' I say, that's really temporary. It's simply because a lot of people need to cash in, they need U.S. dollars in order to pay back their creditors. But after a short while, the dollar may be going down again. I'd like to bet on that!"

STERLING

The British pound appreciated vis-à-vis the U.S. dollar today as cable tested offers around the US$ 1.5045 level and was supported around the $1.4675 level. Sterling powered higher as traders increased exposure to risk following announcements of U.S. fiscal spending plans. Prime Minister Brown is meeting French President Sarkozy and European Commission President Barroso to discuss the European Union economy. Data released in the U.K. today saw November output prices fall 0.7% m/m and climb +5.1% y/y. Similarly, input prices fell 3.3% and the annual rate of input price inflation was reduced to +7.5%, the lowest since September 2007. These data are the latest evidence that deflationary pressures are evident in the U.K. economy. Most traders expect Bank of England will reduce interest rates further in January. Cable offers are cited around the US$ 1.4865 level. The euro moved lower vis-à-vis the British pound as the single currency tested bids around the ₤0.8725 level and was supported around the ₤0.8580 level.

SWISS

The Swiss franc appreciated vis-à-vis the U.S. dollar today as the greenback tested bids around the CHF 1.2020 level and was capped around the CHF 1.2210 level. Traders repriced risk today and sold U.S. dollars and Japanese yen for higher-yielding currencies. Most traders expect Swiss National Bank will announce additional monetary easing measures on Thursday. U.S. dollar offers are cited around the CHF 1.2210 level. The euro moved higher vis-à-vis the Swiss franc as the single currency tested offers around the CHF 1.5615 level while the British pound came off vis-à-vis the Swiss franc and tested bids around the CHF 1.7835 level. (GCI Financial Team)

Live Chart and Quotes

2008-12-07T01:57:00.000-08:00

Economic Calendar

2008-12-07T01:51:00.000-08:00

Differences Between Forex and Equities

2008-12-06T22:59:00.000-08:00

A major difference between the forex and equities markets is the number of traded instruments: the forex market has very few compared to the thousands found in the equities market. The majority of forex traders focus their efforts on seven different currency pairs: the four majors, which include (EUR/USD, USD/JPY, GBP/USD, USD/CHF); and the three commodity pairs (USD/CAD, AUD/USD, NZD/USD). All other pairs are just different combinations of the same currencies, otherwise known as cross currencies. This makes currency trading easier to follow because rather than having to cherry-pick between 10,000 stocks to find the best value, all that FX traders need to do is “keep up” on the economic and political news of eight countries.

The equity markets often can hit a lull, resulting in shrinking volumes and activity. As a result, it may be hard to open and close positions when desired. Furthermore, in a declining market, it is only with extreme ingenuity that an equities investor can make a profit. It is difficult to short-sell in the U.S. equities market because of strict rules and regulations regarding the process. On the other hand, forex offers the opportunity to profit in both rising and declining markets because with each trade, you are buying and selling simultaneously, and short-selling is, therefore, inherent in every transaction. In addition, since the forex market is so liquid, traders are not required to wait for an before they are allowed to enter into a short position - as they are in the equities market.

Due to the extreme liquidity of the forex market, margins are low and leverage is high. It just is not possible to find such low margin rates in the equities markets; most margin traders in the equities markets need at least 50% of the value of the investment available as margin, whereas forex traders need as little as 1%. Furthermore, commissions in the equities market are much higher than in the forex market. Traditional brokers ask for commission fees on top of the spread, plus the fees that have to be paid to the exchange. Spot forex brokers take only the spread as their fee for the transaction (investopedia).

Bid, Ask, Spreads and Pips

2008-12-06T22:50:00.000-08:00

Bid and Ask

As with most trading in the financial markets, when you are trading a currency pair there is a bid price (buy) and an ask price (sell). Again, these are in relation to the base currency. When buying a currency pair (going long), the ask price refers to the amount of quoted currency that has to be paid in order to buy one unit of the base currency, or how much the market will sell one unit of the base currency for in relation to the quoted currency.

The bid price is used when selling a currency pair (going short) and reflects how much of the quoted currency will be obtained when selling one unit of the base currency, or how much the market will pay for the quoted currency in relation to the base currency.

The quote before the slash is the bid price, and the two digits after the slash represent the ask price (only the last two digits of the full price are typically quoted). Note that the bid price is always smaller than the ask price. Let's look at an example:

USD/CAD = 1.2000/05
Bid = 1.2000
Ask= 1.2005

If you want to buy this currency pair, this means that you intend to buy the base currency and are therefore looking at the ask price to see how much (in Canadian dollars) the market will charge for U.S. dollars. According to the ask price, you can buy one U.S. dollar with 1.2005 Canadian dollars.

However, in order to sell this currency pair, or sell the base currency in exchange for the quoted currency, you would look at the bid price. It tells you that the market will buy US$1 base currency (you will be selling the market the base currency) for a price equivalent to 1.2000 Canadian dollars, which is the quoted currency.

Whichever currency is quoted first (the base currency) is always the one in which the transaction is being conducted. You either buy or sell the base currency. Depending on what currency you want to use to buy or sell the base with, you refer to the corresponding currency pair spot exchange rate to determine the price.

Spreads and Pips

The difference between the bid price and the ask price is called a spread. If we were to look at the following quote: EUR/USD = 1.2500/03, the spread would be 0.0003 or 3 pips, also known as points. Although these movements may seem insignificant, even the smallest point change can result in thousands of dollars being made or lost due to leverage. Again, this is one of the reasons that speculators are so attracted to the forex market; even the tiniest price movement can result in huge profit.

The pip is the smallest amount a price can move in any currency quote. In the case of the U.S. dollar, euro, British pound or Swiss franc, one pip would be 0.0001. With the Japanese yen, one pip would be 0.01, because this currency is quoted to two decimal places. So, in a forex quote of USD/CHF, the pip would be 0.0001 Swiss francs. Most currencies trade within a range of 100 to 150 pips a day (invetopedia).

Foreign Exchange Market

2008-12-06T21:56:00.000-08:00

What Is Forex?

The foreign exchange market is the place where currencies are traded each other.The Forex market is one of the largest and most liquid financial markets in the world, and includes trading between large banks, central banks, currency speculators, corporations, governments, and other institutions. The average daily volume in the global forex and related markets is continuously growing. Traditional turnover was reported to be over US$ 3.2 trillion in April 2007 by the Bank for International Settlement. Since then, the market has continued to grow. According to Euromoney's annual FX Poll, volumes grew a further 41% between 2007 and 2008 (Wikipedia).

The Forex market is open 24 hours a day, five and a half days a week, and currencies are traded worldwide in the major financial centers of London, New York, Tokyo, Frankfurt, Singapore, Paris and Sydney - across almost every time zone. This means that when the trading day in the U.S. ends, the forex market begins anew in Tokyo and Hong Kong. As such, the forex market can be extremely active any time of the day, with price quotes changing constantly.

Forex trading hours:
New York opens 8:00 am to 5:00 pm EST
Tokyo opens 7:00 pm to 4:00 am EST
Sydney opens 5:00 pm to 2:00 am EST
London opens 3:00 am to 12:00 noon EST

Reading a Forex Quote

The Forex exchange rate between the U.S. dollar (USD) and the Euro (EUR), the forex quote would look like this:

EUR/USD = 1.264

The currency to the left of the slash is the base currency, while the currency on the right is called the quote or counter currency. The base currency (in this case, the Euro) is always equal to one unit (1 Euro), and the quoted currency (U.S Dollar) is what that one base unit is equivalent to in the other currency. The quote means that 1 Euro = 1.264 U.S Dollar. In other words, 1 Euro can buy 1.264 U.S Dollars.