FOREX

2012-06-26T23:48:00.000-07:00

Forex Trading Information

Forex — the foreign exchange (currency or FOREX, or FX) market is the biggest and the most liquid financial market in the world. It boasts a daily volume of more than $4 trillion (as of April 2010). Trading in this market involves buying and selling world currencies, taking profit from the exchange rates difference. FX trading can yield high profits but is also a very risky endeavour. Everyone can participate in foreign exchange trading via the Forex brokers. With our broker rating & reviews system, we can help you choose the one that fits your needs. Don not hesitate to check and bookmark our Forex blog to get the latest updates about the FX market and this website. You can also join a friendly community of traders at the Forex forum.

Forex Broker Reviews

Here you can find the links to the reviews of all Forex brokers that are presented on this site. If you are looking for the best broker, reading these reviews could possibly help you. All broker reviews are linked from this page. The brokers are sorted according to the number of reviews it has received from the traders and visitors of EarnForex.com. Upon visiting the page with the actual reviews of the specific brokers you will be able not only to read the reviews left by other traders, you will also find the detailed information about this broker, including its rating. You will also be able to submit your own review.
Please keep in mind that all the reviews are pretty anonymous and express only the opinion of the submitter; the presented reviews and ratings do not represent the EarnForex.com's point of view; not all of them are based on the real facts and events.

Forex Brokers

MT4 Forex Brokers
MT5 Forex Brokers
PayPal Brokers
WebMoney Brokers
Oil Trading Brokers
Gold Trading Brokers
Muslim-Friendly Brokers
Web Browser Platform
Brokers with CFD Trading
ECN Brokers
Moneybookers Brokers
Liberty Reserve Brokers
PAMM Forex Brokers
Brokers for US Traders
Scalping Forex Brokers
Low Spread Brokers
Micro Forex Brokers
UK Forex Brokers
Swiss Forex Brokers
Canadian Forex Brokers
New Forex Brokers
Search Brokers
Interviews with Brokers
Forex Glossary
The most important terms related to Forex trading are presented in this glossary:
ADX (Average Directional Index) — standard technical indicator that measures the strength of a trend.
Ask (Offer) — price of the offer, the price you buy for.
Aussie — a Forex slang name for the Australian dollar.
Bank Rate — the percentage rate at which country’s commercial banks borrow money from the central bank of a country.
Bid — the demanded price ,or the price you sell for.
Broker — the participating body of market ,it serves as the middleman between larger commercial institutions and retail traders.
Cable — a Forex traders slang word GBP/USD currency pair.
Carry Trade — in Forex, holding a position with a positive overnight interest return in hope of gaining profits, without closing the position, just for the central banks interest rates difference.
CCI (Commodity Channel Index) —it is used to detect overbought/oversold states of the market.
CFD — a Contract for Difference — special trading instrument that allows financial speculation on stocks, commodities and other instruments without actually buying.
Commission — broker commissions for operation handling.
CPI — consumer price index the statistical measure of inflation based upon changes of prices of a specified set of goods.
EA (Expert Advisor) — an automated script which is used by the trading platform software to manage positions and orders automatically without manual control.
ECN Broker — a type of Forex brokerage firm ,it provide a direct access to other Forex market participants for its clients.
ECB (European Central Bank) — the main regulatory body of the European Union financial system.
Elliott Waves — principles for chart analysis based on 5-wave and 3-wave patterns.
Fed (Federal Reserve) — the main regulatory body of the United States of America financial system, which division — FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) — regulates, among other things, federal interest rates.
Fibonacci Retracements — the levels with a high probability of trend break or bounce, calculated as the 23.6%, 32.8%, 50% and 61.8% of the trend range.
Flat (Square) — neutral state when all your positions are closed.
Fundamental Analysis — the analysis based only on news, economic indicators and global events.
Gap — a difference between the next period’s open price and the previous period’s close price. In Forex usually only occurs during weekends — between the Friday’s close and the Monday’s open price.
GDP (Gross Domestic Product) — is a measure of the national income and output for the country’s economy.
GTC (Good Till Canceled) — order to buy or sell of a currency with a fixed price or worse. The order is alive until execution or cancellation.
Hedging — maintaining a market position which secures the existing open positions in the opposite direction.
Jobber — a slang word for a trader which is aimed toward fast but small and short-term profit from an intra-day trading. Jobber rarely leaves open positions overnight.
Kiwi — a Forex slang name for the New Zealand currency.
Leading Indicators — a composite index (year 1992 = 100%) of ten most important macroeconomic indicators that predicts future (6-9 months) economic activity.
Limit Order — order for a broker to buy the lot for fixed or lesser price or sell the lot for fixed or better price. Such price is called limit price.
Liquidity — the measure of markets ,it is used to describes relationship between the trading volume and the price change.
Long — the position which is in a Buy direction. In Forex, the primary currency when bought is long and another is short.
Loss — the loss from closing long position at lower rate than opening or short position with higher rate than opening, or if the profit from a position closing was lower than broker commission on it.
Lot — definite amount of units or amount of money accepted for operations handling (usually it is a multiple of 100).
Margin — money, the investor needs to keep at broker account to execute trades. It supplies the possible losses which may occur in margin trading.
Margin Account — account which is used to hold investor’s deposited money for FOREX trading.
Margin Call — demand of a broker to deposit more margin money to the margin account when the amount in it falls below certain minimum.
Market Order — order to buy or sell a lot for a current market price.
Market Price — the current price for which the currency is traded for on the market.
Momentum — the measure of the currency’s ability to move in the given direction.
Moving Average (MA) — one of the most basic technical indicators. It shows the average rate calculated over a series of time periods. Exponential Moving Average (EMA), Weighted Moving Average (WMA) etc. are just the ways of weighing the rates and the periods.
Open Position (Trade) — position on buying (long) or selling (short) for a currency pair.
Order — order for a broker to buy or sell the currency with a certain rate.
Percentage Allocation Management Module (PAMM) — a broker-side system that allows investor to invest with traders, and allows traders to manage investors’ funds using the broker’s platform.
Pivot Point — the primary support/resistance point calculated basing on the previous trend’s High, Low and Close prices.
Pip (Point) — the last digit in the rate (e.g. for EUR/USD 1 point = 0.0001).
Profit (Gain) — positive amount of money gained for closing the position.
Principal Value — the initial amount of money of the invested.
Realized Profit/Loss — gain/loss for already closed positions.
Resistance — price level for which the intensive selling can lead to price increasing (up-trend).
RSI (Relative Strength Index) — indicator that measures of the power of direction price movement by comparing the bullish and bearish portions of the trend.
Scalping — a style of trading notable by many positions that are opened for extremely small and short-term profits.
Settled (Closed) Position — closed positions for which all needed transactions has been made.
SL — see Stop-Loss Order.
Slippage — execution of order for a price different than expected (ordered), main reasons for slippage are — “fast” market, low liquidity and low broker’s ability to execute orders.
Spread — difference between ask and bid prices for a currency pair.
Standard Lot — 100,000 units of the base currency of the currency pair, which you are buying or selling.
Stop-Limit Order — an order to sell or buy a lot for a certain price or worse.
Stop-Loss Order — an order to sell or buy a lot when the market reaches certain price. It is used to avoid extra losses when market moves in the opposite direction. Usually is a combination of stop-order and limit-order.
STP (Straight Through Processing) — an order processing that doesn’t require any manual intervention and is fully automatic. In fact, 99.9% of all on-line Forex brokers support order handling with STP.
Support — price level for which intensive buying can lead to the price decreasing (down-trend).
Swap — overnight payment for holding your position. Since you are not physically receiving the currency you buy, your broker should pay you the interest rate difference between the two currencies of the pair. It can be negative or positive.
Take-Profit Order — an order to sell or buy a lot when the market reaches certain price. It is used to fixate your profit. Usually is a combination of stop-order and limit-order.
Technical Analysis — the analysis based only on the technical market data (quotes) with the help of various technical indicators.
TP — see Take-Profit Order.
Trend — direction of market which has been established with influence of different factors.
Unrealized (Floating) Profit/Loss — a profit/loss for your non-closed positions.
Useable Margin — amount of money in the account that can be used for trading.
Used Margin — amount of money in the account already used to hold open positions open.
Volatility — in a given period of time,we use it determine the number of price changes for a given currency pair .
VPS (Virtual Private Server) —a virtual environment that hosted on the dedicated server, which can be used to run the programs independent on the user’s PC. Forex traders use VPS to host trading platforms and run expert advisors without unexpected interruptions.

How did you select your forex broker?
Hello everyone, What are the criteria you are looking for first when started going to trade? Let’s discuss.
I am a new trader and need your advice guys……
How did I choose my first broker? They were giving out $5 bonus on account opening, so I decided to try them out
this is how it worked for me, It might not be the best idea but it sure is effective,
so I got stuck with what broker to choose so what i did, and this was with three brokers,
i had an extra 100dollars you can use a smaller amount as long as its extra money or pocket change
-I opened a live account (to check how the deposit goes)
-i traded for a couple of days maybe a week (to check execution and connection) I did not trade for profit, I just ent crazy with small lots.
-I withdrew my money (to see their withdrawal)
-I contacted support for the smallest issue.inquiries just to see how they respond!
if you look at it you have checked the broker from top to bottom. of course it should be a known broker with good user feedback.
thats how i ended up trading with hotforex, the other two brokers that i tried were ok but on of them had a long withdrawal period and the other one took time to get response from support

There are many details you can add. In fact you should know first that a broker is not your friend but it is not your enemy, you must be clear that you have to know that he will benefit if you perform most operations but not necessarily want him hurt you.

FX-BAR Forex toolbar 2.0

2009-11-19T03:23:00.000-08:00

FX-BAR Forex toolbar 2.0

Chat and access Forex Web sites, news headlines
Size: 1.42MB License: Freeware Price: Free By: FX-BAR Thank you for downloading Free Download FX-BAR Forex toolbar 2.0 Chat and access Forex Web sites, news headlines Server 1 Brothersoft(US mirror) Click to Download Server 2 Brothersoft(CDN for Global) Click to Download

Forex Fibonacci Calculator 2.1

2009-11-17T03:44:00.000-08:00

Forex Fibonacci Calculator 2.1

Forex Fibonacci Calculator is a simple and handy freeware program for calculating Fibonacci extension and retracement levels for the market price.

Fibonacci Calculator allows Forex traders to anticipate market price moves by calculating Fibonacci sequences derived from the price volatility and plan future trades accordingly. Since formulas for calculating Fibonacci levels for an uptrending and downtrending markets are different, program calculates extension and retracement levels for uptrend and downtrend individually. These formulas that are used for calculating Fibonacci levels can be found in Calculator and also used by traders for manual calculations.

Program needs no installation and can be applied on any Forex chart. Calculations can be applied to any time frame and for any currency pair. In order to calculate Fibonacci levels, user needs to type in High and Low values either for uptrend or downtrend, the results (Fibonacci extension and retracement levels) will be calculated based on High and Low values.

Forex Fibonacci Calculator must be used only as a helping tool for planning future trades.

Developer website:	ForexMount
Release date:	2007-03-11
License Type:	Freeware
Platform:	Win95,Win98,WinME,WinNT 3.x,WinNT 4.x,Windows2000,WinXP,Windows2003,Windows Vist
Price:	Freeware
Download link #1:	Download from forexfibonacci.com (432 KB)
Download link #2:	Download from softodown.com (432 KB)

2009-11-16T01:03:00.000-08:00

Forex Tools

The presented Forex tools can assist you both in technical analysis and money management which will greatly enhance your trading results. All these online Forex tools are totally free and can be used at no cost:

MetaTrader 4 Expert Advisors

Here you can download MT4 expert advisors which can be used with theMetaTrader Forex trading platform to enhance your currency trading results combining it with the automated trading or expert advising. Only best strategies embedded into expert advisors are presented here. You can test and change them freely before using on your real or demo Forex account. My own testing results are also included for your information. All expert advisors were selected to bring at least 10% yearly profit with maximum drawdown not higher than half of the yearly profit.

If you are having any problems with installing the MetaTrader expert advisors into your MT4 platform, pelase refer to this tutorial:

If you want to achive a better backtesting quality for your expert advisor, please read this tutorial on importing and converting quality historical data to the MetaTrader 4 platform:

MetaTrader History Data Importing and Converting Tutorial for Quality Backtesting

Title:	Framework	My rating:	7/10
Currency Pairs:	All	Timeframes:	All
CPU Load:	Average	Test Lots:	0.1
Best Result With:	GBP/JPY @ D1
Test Period:	11/19/2006–11/19/2007
Test Profit	~ 200%	Test Max DrawDown:	~ 20%
Speacial Notes:	Based on CCI indicators

Title:	Phoenix	My rating:	7/10
Currency Pairs:	GBP/USD USD/JPY EUR/JPY GBP/JPY USD/CHF	Timeframes:	All
CPU Load:	Low	Test Lots:	1.0
Best Result With:	GBP/USD @ M15
Test Period:	11/19/2006–11/19/2007
Test Profit	~ 64%	Test Max DrawDown:	<>
Speacial Notes:	Breakout

Title:	Otkat	My rating:	7/10
Currency Pairs:	All	Timeframes:	<>
CPU Load:	Minimal	Test Lots:	1.0
Best Result With:	EUR/USD @ H1
Test Period:	11/19/2006–11/19/2007
Test Profit	~ 79%	Test Max DrawDown:	~ 14%
Speacial Notes:	Pull-back strategy with low take-profit

Title:	MACD Sample	My rating:	7/10
Currency Pairs:	All	Timeframes:	All
CPU Load:	Low	Test Lots:	0.3
Best Result With:	GBP/USD @ H4
Test Period:	11/19/2006–11/19/2007
Test Profit	~ 44.5%	Test Max DrawDown:	~ 10.3%
Speacial Notes:	Sample MACD EA optimized for GBP/USD @ H4

Title:	Artificial Intelligence	My rating:	6/10
Currency Pairs:	All	Timeframes:	All
CPU Load:	Average	Test Lots:	0.1
Best Result With:	GBP/USD @ H1
Test Period:	11/19/2006–11/19/2007
Test Profit	~ 17%	Test Max DrawDown:	<>
Speacial Notes:	Simple neural network

Title:	myFXOverEasy	My rating:	5/10
Currency Pairs:	All	Timeframes:	All
CPU Load:	High	Test Lots:	0.1
Best Result With:	USD/CHF @ H4
Test Period:	11/19/2006–11/19/2007
Test Profit	~ 18%	Test Max DrawDown:	~ 5%
Speacial Notes:	Multiple indicators system

Title:	myPickyBreakout	My rating:	5/10
Currency Pairs:	All	Timeframes:	All
CPU Load:	Minimal	Test Lots:	0.1
Best Result With:	EUR/USD @ D1
Test Period:	11/19/2004–04/15/2009
Test Profit	~ 28%	Test Max DrawDown:	~ 8%
Speacial Notes:	Simple breakout strategy for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday

Title:	MACD Pattern	My rating:	4/10
Currency Pairs:	EUR/USD	Timeframes:	H4
CPU Load:	Medium	Test Lots:	0.3
Best Result With:	EUR/USD @ H4
Test Period:	08/19/2007–04/15/2009
Test Profit	~ 80.8%	Test Max DrawDown:	~ 27.6%
Speacial Notes:	EA based on MACD patterns for EUR/USD @ H4

Title:	Binario	My rating:	3/10
Currency Pairs:	All	Timeframes:	All
CPU Load:	Average	Test Lots:	1.0
Best Result With:	GBP/USD @ D1
Test Period:	11/19/2006–11/19/2007
Test Profit	~ 500%	Test Max DrawDown:	~ 28%
Speacial Notes:	Made only 4 trade in test. Better use as manual system.

Title:	myRandom	My rating:	5/10
Currency Pairs:	All	Timeframes:	All
CPU Load:	Low	Test Lots:	0.1
Best Result With:	GBP/JPY @ H1
Test Period:	11/19/2006–11/19/2007
Test Profit	~ 16%	Test Max DrawDown:	~ 0.3%
Speacial Notes:	Completely random expert advisor

Title:	Amazing	My rating:	5/10
Currency Pairs:	All	Timeframes:	All
CPU Load:	Low	Test Lots:	-
Best Result With:	-
Test Period:	-
Test Profit	-	Test Max DrawDown:	-
Speacial Notes:	News trader. You give it a date and time of news and it sets breakouts. Good for Forex news traders.

MetaTrader Forex Indicators

At this page you can freely download MT4 and MT5 Forex indicators that can be attached to the MetaTrader Forex trading platform to boost your Forex trading performance. You can develop your own Forex trading strategies using these indicators, or you can simply follow them as the trading signals. Feel free to implement any of these indicators into a custom MetaTrader expert advisor. You can change these indicators freely before using on your Forex trading accounts.

If you have any problems with installing or using these indicators, please refer to this tutorial:

MetaTrader Indicators User's Tutorial

Aroon Up & Down (MT4) — this MetaTrader indicator is based on finding the maximums/minimums of the period and doesn't use any standard MT4/MT5 indicators. It is a separate window indicator with 2 charting lines. I find it useful to determine the trend changes.

BB MACD (MT4) — a MACD variation custom MT indicator, based on moving averages and standard deviation indicator. It can be used to determine trend starts/ends as well as the trend strength (the broader is the gap between two bands, the stronger is the current trend).

Beginner (MT4) — this one shows up trend extremes (max and min) which can be treated as the support and resistance points and help you understand current trend channels. It is a simple indicator that uses some period to find the highest and the lowest points and mark them with the dots. It can be a good base for your own range breakout expert advisor.

BMA (MT4, MT5) — a moving average indicator version that saves the traditional MT4 moving average functionality but adds two bands to the standard line. These bands are placed (by default) 2% below and 2% above the main line and serve as the strong pull-back levels.

CCI Arrows (MT4) — this CCI based indicator will give you signals by drawing blue and red arrows on the chart. It simply detects the CCI cross with the zero but is quite accurate.

Easy Trend Visualizer (MT4) — visualizes the trend beginning/end, along with the range periods. It's based on the standard ADX indicator and produces quite accurate trend signals.

Fisher (MT4, MT5) — finds the maximum and minimum levels on the given period, applies custom calculations to the relation of the current price to those levels and draws a histogram of the trend. Marks uptrend with green lines and downtrend — with red lines.

Float (MT4) — this MetaTrader indicator scans the latest trends and tries to apply the data to the current rate, showing a trend start/end in a separate window. It also shows Fibonacci retracement levels on the main chart window.

Laguerre (MT4, MT5) — a separate window indicator with one line signaling short and long positions, when it crosses the upper band from above or lower band from below, respectively.

Murrey Math Line X (MT4) — another kind of pivot points given in form of lines displayed on the main chart. It uses Murrey Math rules to calculate the lines’ position. Lines are shown for the current period and represent the support and resistance levels.

Not So Squeezy (MT4) — a set of indicators for the Not So Squeezy trading strategy.

Pattern Recognition Master (MT4) — an indicator for the automatic Japanese candlestick patterns recognition. It marks each candle, which fits any pattern, with the special code that represents the appropriate candlestick pattern. The legend for the patterns and the corresponding symbols is also attached to the chart with this indicator.

Price Alert (MT4, MT5) — an indicator that can notify you of certain price changes via the MetaTrader sound alerts. Can be used in manual trading when you want to know when the price reaches certain levels.

RSIOMA (MT4) — this indicator is composed of the RSI (Relative Strength Index) of two moving averages and moving average of this RSI. The cross of them means the change of the trend — when the bold line is above it is an uptrend, when the thin one is above it is a downtrend.

Spread (MT4, MT5) — an indicator that can display current spread for the given currency pair directly in the main window of the chart. Useful when dealing with variable spreads.

Support and Resistance (MT4) — as the name suggests, this indicators shows the levels of support and resistance directly on the chart. It uses standard MT4/MT5 Fractal indicator and does quite well in depicting the good levels for the next stop-loss and target-profit prices.

Trade Assistant (MT4) — a multi-timeframe indicator that analyzes the market conditions on timeframes from M5 to D1 using the Stochastic Oscillator, RSI and CCI standard indicators. The output is the set of buy or sell signalls displayed as a table below the chart. It's very easy indicator to trade using both small and large timeframes.

Traders Dynamic Index (MT4) — indicates trend direction, market volatility and trend strength in a separate window of the MetaTrader terminal. It is handy in many trading styles — long-term and scalping. Read the commentary in the code to learn using it (very easy).

TRO MultiPair (MT4) — a multiple timeframe indicator package for multiple currency pair. It shows as a separate terminal window with 3 indicating dots for each of 4 different currency pairs for each MetaTraer time period. Dots combinations serve as the entry signals. The more timeframes show the same combination the more accurate signal is. Red, red, magenta is used to enter short; green, green, cyan is used to enter long. You can select currency pairs via the input parameters. The timeframe and the currency pair of the chart, to which you attach this indicator don’t matter.

TzPivots (MT4) — daily pivot points indicator with an accurate and informative display. Trader has to set two input parameters: LocalTimeZone — time zone of the MT4/MT5 trading server (e.g. "-5" if it's New York time) and DestTimeZone — time zone of the session for which you want to calculate pivot points (e.g. "+9" for Tokyo trading session pivots).

Var Mov Avg (MT4, MT5) — indicator is based on the calculating of moving averages of the varying periods. It detects crosses that produce buy/sell signals as well as current trend indication. This indicator has a sound alert on signals, which can be turned on and off.

ZigZagOnParabolic (MT4) — improved version of the standard MetaTrader ZigZag indicator that is based on another MetaTrader standard indicator — Parabolic SAR. Detects chart extrema.

You want to share your own custom MetaTrader indicator for this page? Or do you have any comments/questions regarding any of indicators presented here? Please, visit our forum on MetaTrader Indicators.

Pivot Points Calculator

The presented pivot points calculator will generate pivot points in four different systems for you in seconds! Just fill the form below with the data for a previous period and press the "Calculate" button:

Results:

Floor Pivot Points

Woodie's Pivot Points

Camarilla Pivot Points

DeMark's Pivot Points

The floor pivot points, presented in the first column of the calculation results table, are the most basic and popular type of pivots used in Forex trading technical analysis. The pivot point is interpreted as the primary support/resistance level - the point at which the main trend will be born. First-third level resistance and support points serve as additional indicators of possible trend reversal or continuation. The rules to calculate floor pivot points are quite simple:

Pivot (P) = (H + L + C) / 3

Resistance (R1) = (2 X P) - L

R2 = P + H - L

R3 = H + 2 X (P - L)

Support (S1) = (2 X P) - H

S2 = P - H + L

S3 = L - 2 X (H - P)

Other popular method of calculating a simple TA indicator which helps trader to forecast future trend is Tom DeMark's pivot points. Which are not pivot points exactly, but predicted low and high of the period. To calculate DeMark's pivot points follow these rules:

If Close <>current Then X = H + 2 X L + C;

If Close > Open_current Then X = 2 X H + L + C;

If Close = Open_current Then X = H + L + 2 X C;

New High = X / 2 - L; New Low = X / 2 - H

Woodie's pivot points are similar to floor pivot points, but are calculated in a somewhat different way, giving more weight to the Close price of the previous period. Use the following rules to calculate Woodie's pivot points:

Pivot (P) = (H + L + 2 X C) / 4

Resistance (R1) = (2 X P) - L

R2 = P + H - L

Support (S1) = (2 X P) - H

S2 = P - H + L

Camarilla pivot points is a set of eight very probable levels which resemble support and resistance values for a current trend. The origin and the precise way to calculate these pivot points are unclear. The most important is that these pivot points work for all traders and help in setting the right stop-loss and take-profit orders. I use the following rules to calculate Camarilla pivot points:

R4 = (H - L) X 1.1 / 2 + C

R3 = (H - L) X 1.1 / 4 + C

R2 = (H - L) X 1.1 / 6 + C

R1 = (H - L) X 1.1 / 12 + C

S1 = C - (H - L) X 1.1 / 12

S2 = C - (H - L) X 1.1 / 6

S3 = C - (H - L) X 1.1 / 4

S4 = C - (H - L) X 1.1 / 2

You can find a history of the Camarilla pivot points method and some interesting examples of its usage in a short e-book entitled Camarilla Levels.

Pip Value Calculator

Use this pip value calculator if you want to know a price of a single pip for any Forex traded currency. Use this free Forex tool to calculate and plan your orders when dealing with many or exotic currency pairs. All you need to do is to fill the form below and press the "Calculate" button:

Although knowing the actual value of a pip in the U.S. dollars is trivial for such currency pairs as EUR/USD, GBP/USD, it is quite hard to tell the pip value for these currency pairs if your account is denominated in other currencies, or for any other pairs, which have a base currency other than your account is. These currency pairs also require the knowledge of the bid/ask price to convert the pip value to the account currency.

Fibonacci Calculator

The presented Fibonacci calculator will help you to generate four basic Fibonacci retracement values - 23.8%, 38.2%, 50% and 61.8%. All you need to do is to fill the current trend's highest and lowest values into the form below and press the "Calculate" button:

Fibonacci retracement levels is a powerful Forex tool of a technical analysis. The main idea behind these levels is the support and resistance values for a currency pair trend at which the most important breaks or bounces can appear. It is recommended to set your stop-loss, take-profit as well as stop and limit orders at these levels or around their values. This Fibonacci calculator will organize your currency trading experience and will allow you to be in the market full-time.

Risk and Reward Forex Calculator

The risk and reward calculator will help you to calculate the position's best targets and their respective reward-to-risk ratios based on the Fibonacci retracements from the local peak and bottom. It's a powerful tool to determine the potential risks before entering any positions.

The price needs to be inside the wave for you to use this calculator properly. Here are the two variants of the wave you can work with — bullish and bearish:

The current price is C; A is the beginning of the wave (bottom for bullish and peak for bearish); B is the local maximum (for bullish wave) or minimum (for bearish wave).

Fibonacci retracements (0.382 and 0.618) are calculated to form the entry, target and stop-loss levels. It's better to enter positions only if the current price (C) is close to 0.382 Fibonacci level.

Results:

It's not recommended to enter a trade if your reward-to-risk ratio is less than 2.

Forex Strategies

Forex trading can't be consistently profitable without adhering to some Forex strategy. It takes time and effort to build your own Forex trading strategy or to adapt an existing one to your trading needs and style. It's important to choose a strategy or system that is easy to follow with your daily trading schedule and that can be applied successfully with your account balance size. In this Forex strategy repository you'll find various strategies that are divided into three major categories:

Indicator Forex Strategies
Price Action Forex Strategies
Fundamental Forex Strategies

Indicator Forex Strategies are such trading strategies that are based on the standard Forex chart indicators and can be used by anyone who has an access to some charting software (e.g. MetaTrader platform). These Forex strategies are recommended to traders that prefer technical analysis indicators over everything else:

Moving Average Cross Strategy

Parabolic SAR Strategy

Stochastic Oscillator Strategy

MACD Divergnce Forex Strategy

Price Action Forex Strategies are the trading strategies that don't use any chart or fundamental indicators but instead are based purely on the price action. These strategies will fit both short-term and long-term traders that don't like the delay of the standard indicators and prefer to listen as the market is speaking. Various candlestick patterns, waves, tick-based strategies, grid and pending position systems — they all fall into this category:

Inside Bar Strategy

Simple Price Based Trading System

Martingale Trading System

Scalping Forex Strategy

Fundamental Forex Strategies are the based on purely fundamental factors that stand behind the bought and sold currencies. Various fundamental indicators, such as interest rates and macroeconomic statistics, affect the behavior of the Forex market. These strategies are quite popular and will benefit long-term traders that prefer fundamental data analysis over technical factors:

Important News Trading Strategy

Carry Trade Strategy

Wednesday AUD/JPY Strategy

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Forex VPS Hosting

VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting allows the Forex traders to use the virtual environment on the hosting company's servers to run the MetaTrader expert advisors non-stop 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The VPS is always on-line, it won't reboot during the trading week, it's not affected by the power outages and you don't need to worry about keeping your PC always on. If you want to run your expert advisors continuously without the unplanned interruptions then Forex VPS hosting for MetaTrader is what you really need. The purpose of the list presented below is to help traders in finding the best VPS hosting for MetaTrader 4 expert advisors. Here's the list of the on-line companies that offer Forex hosting service via VPS:

Sort by: Order | Basic Package Price | Traders' Rating | Name

VPS Hosting Name	Basic Package Price	MT4Pre-Installed	Country	Trial	Rating
Swvps.com	$9.95	-	USA and UK	-	7.2
Zuit	$29.99	+	United States	-	5.2
Commercial Network Services	$30	+	United States	-	4.1
EZForexHost	$69.95	+	United States	-	3.8
Forex Hoster	$69.95	+	Slovakia	-	5.0
BostonTechVPS	$49	+	United States	-	3.3
HostEasier	$35	-	United States	-	1.8
eApps	$11	-	United States	-	2.5
VPSLAND	$18	-	United States	+	2.6
OmegaSupreme	$25	+	Canada	-	5.2
JFOC Network Solutions	$38	-	United States	-	2.3
Ultima Hosts	$29	+	USA, Australia and UK	-	2.5
ForexVPS.ch	CHF 59	+	Switzerland	-	5.8
Crucial Paradigm	A$55	+	Australia	-	2.5
ellict	$32.50	+	United States	+	1.8
ForexVPS	$35	+	United States	-	1.8
Gallant VPS	$74.95	+	United States	+	7.6

8 Basic Tips on choosing Best FOREX Broker.

2009-11-16T00:59:00.001-08:00

8 Basic Tips on choosing Best FOREX Broker

There are some basic notices that you should consider when you want choosing online forex broker.

#1- Spread Amount

The spread, which is calculated in pips, is the difference between how much you can buy or sell a currency at a specific point in time.

Forex currencies are not traded through a central exchange market, so the spread can be different depending on the forex broker you use. Some online forex brokers have variable spread; some of them have two spread amounts that depend to day and night.

Some of them their spread depends to the position of market. When market is quiet the spread is small and when market is busy the spread is high. I prefer forex brokers that have fixed spread, because over the long term fixed can be safer.

#2- Execution

— How fast is the broker's order execution?

— Do they offer automatic execution?

— How much can you trade before having to request a quote?

— Do they trade against their clients?

The best way to find out is to open a demo account and give them a test drive.

#3- Leverage Options

Leverage is expressed as a ratio between the total capital that is available to be traded and your actual capital. For example, when you have a ratio of 100:1, your forex broker will lend you $100 for every $1 of actual capital you have. Leverage is a necessity in forex trading because the price deviations in the currencies are set at fractions of a cent.

Before choosing an online forex broker notice that what is their leverage. Many brokerages offer a flexible margin that allows you to choose the leverage that's right for you.

#4- Account Types

Notice the forex broker you choose has mini account or not. Mini account is designed for those new to online currency trading and those with limited investment capital. There is a smaller deposit required to start trade of just $300 or less.

#5- Trading Platform

Good trading software will show live prices that you can actually trade at, not just indicative quotes. It will offer Limit and Stop orders, and ideally will let you attach these to your entry order. One-Cancels-Other orders are another useful feature — they mean you can set up your trade and then leave the software to get on with it.

#6- Dealing tools and value-added services

Find out online forex broker that offers the best resources and information to help you make the smartest trading decisions. A good company should offer real-time charts, technical analysis tools, real-time news and data, and software or website support. Be weary of any company that refuses to share information or trial versions before opening up an account. You will want to try out their system before you choose to invest money in it.

#7- Support

Forex is a 24 hour market, so your online forex broker should offer 24 hour support. You should also check if you can close positions over the phone — essential in case your PC or internet connection crash at a critical moment. You could contact to their Internet help desks to see how quickly they respond to enquiries.

#8- Get Referrals

Ask around and read forex forums to find out which forex brokers other people use and why they selected a specific broker.

by Mostafa Soleimanzadeh

How To Spot Forex Fraud.

2009-11-16T00:58:00.001-08:00

How To Spot Forex Fraud

As the popularity of Forex increases so do the number of scam artists attempting to cash in on the Forex gravy train. Since Forex involves trading money internationally, often over the Internet, a whole new breed of scams have come about. Ironically many of these scam artists are finding their marks through newspaper, television or other print media advertisements.

While these scams are generally easily spotted by experienced traders, new speculators may have problems knowing the difference between what is real and what isn't. It is absolutely essential to thoroughly research Forex trading, and any potential companies you may trade with before making an initial investment. The last thing you need is to find out that the company you have invested with is under investigation by the SEC for fraud. In this type of circumstance it can often be impossible to retrieve your money as the claims from all fraud of participants will be higher than the total payouts the government can guarantee.

One way to spot a scam on Forex is when someone promoting a Forex system guarantees no risk. It is a fact that there is risk with Forx trading, and generally anyone who claims otherwise is a liar, or more likely a criminal. Trading in Forex successfully requires knowledge, discipline, and a trading strategy. But there is no magic software or no risk way to assure that you will make money.

Another red flag indicating a sure sign of a Forex scam is a web site that guarantees profits. Nobody can guarantee profits and Forex trading. It is up to you as an investor to perform. If it were possible to guarantee profits in Forex trading then nobody would need to start a business showing others how to make guaranteed profits. The profit potential for anyone who could guarantee profits would be so enormous in Forex trading, that they would quickly become a billionaire by trades. So why would they waste time teaching others?

Another common tactic of Forex scam artists is to promise employment opportunities for people using their system. This is usually a trick to get you to spend your money with them. They are fishing for people with capital who can fund their enterprise. They typically promise to offer firm money to people using their system. But why would they do this? Instead what happens is they lure people into their training systems and convince people that they have done so well in the training session that they should start using their real money in order to make a fortune.

All reputable Forex trading web sites will be a member of the CFTC or the NFA. Make sure to check the company's claims out and assure that they are members of one of these organizations before dealing with them.

Keep in mind that Forex is a relatively unregulated system of exchanging money. In many cases Forex scams can become highly technical, involving brokers manipulating prices in ways that cannot be tracked by the average trader. Because of this is essential that you not become a mark for such brokers.

In the United States the CFTC is the federal agency responsible for regulating the trade of Forex currency. If you suspect that you have been a victim of some type of fraud contact the CFTC. They have jurisdiction for investigating and enforcing the laws.

by Willie Reynolds

Avoiding Forex-Related Frauds and Scams.

2009-11-16T00:56:00.000-08:00

Avoiding Forex-Related Frauds and Scams

A lot of people have been 'burnt' from scam operations on the Internet. Their sites may look so perfectly legitimate that you doubt whether they would have gone through all that trouble building a trading platform just to steal your money. Beware.

The first thing I look for is the geographical location of the broker. If I find that they are based in a country where the financial industry is, in my opinion, relatively unregulated and under-developed, I quickly forgo signing up. This is terrible news for honest brokers in those countries, but your job as a trader is to protect your capital. If you lose that, then you cannot trade. The onus is on them to convince you that they will do the right thing by you as an investor.

I started out with an Australian broker. Currently I am using an American one. I have not tried UK-based brokers but the British financial industry is one of the best. Companies that are based in countries such as Japan , Germany and France are probably just as good too, if their website speaks your language.

Notice any license numbers that they may have registered with regulatory bodies that act like government watchdogs who oversee the finance and investments industries. These are organisations that impose strict rules to safeguard your investment. Some of these rules may include the requirement that brokers segregate all customer funds from the operational funds of the business. Your money is required to be put in highly-reputable banks and the funds are only withdrawn from these accounts upon specific withdrawal requests.

Take note that there are some fake regulatory bodies being thrown around in cyber-space as well. Take a look at how long they have been operating for. Try and search out any reviews or comments made about them. See if you can find forums where traders have discussions about their brokers.

Below is a list of things to keep in mind to help you avoid being a victim of a scam:

Stay Away From Opportunities That Sound Too Good To Be True

There are people who may have just acquired a large amount of money just and recently are the same and are shopping around for safe investment vehicles. These may include retirees who have access to their retirement funds. It is understandable why retirees would be drawn to 'high-return, low-risk investments'. This is also what makes them very vulnerable. If you identify yourself to be one of these people, be careful. A lot of deceitful characters are after your money. Furthermore, only allocate a tiny amount of your money to trading until you can start growing it. Not all people can trade successfully, so it is a venture you should take on haphazardly. It is your life savings at risk.

Avoid Individuals Or Organizations Who Claim To Predict Or Guarantee Large Profits

Any form of trading is hard. Trading currencies is no different. Be wary of statements that make it sound easy. Statements like:

"Whether the market moves up or down, in the currency market you will make a profit";

"Make $1000 per week, every week";

"We are out-performing 90% of domestic investments";

"You'll make returns of 70% a year";

"Here is a no-risk strategy".

If they could make such returns, why would they even bother letting you know about it.

Be Wary Of Companies Who Downplay Investment Risks

Hold your wallet tight and zip up your purse when companies say that written risk disclosure agreements are routine formalities imposed by the government. Watch out for statements like:

"With a $10,000 deposit, the maximum you can lose is $200 to $250 per day";

" We promise to recover any losses you have ".

Be Wary Of Companies That Claim To Trade In The 'Interbank Market'

Do not believe it when some people say that they have access to the 'Interbank market' or that they can give you access to trade in that market because that's where bargain prices can be obtained. This is not true. The 'interbank market' is not a place, it is not a physical building. It is simply a loose network of currency transactions that are negotiated between big financial institutions and other large companies.

Ethnic Minorities Are Often Targeted

Ethnic newspapers and television 'infomercials' are sometimes used to attract Russian, Chinese and Indian minorities. Sometimes these ads offer so-called 'job opportunities for account executives to trade foreign currencies', whereby the recruited 'account executive' is expected to use his own money to trade currencies and would often times be encouraged to recruit members like their friends and family to do the same.

Seek Out The Company's Background

Check any information you receive to be sure that the company is who they claim to be. If at all possible, try and get the background of the people operating the company. Do not rely solely on oral statements and promises made by the company's employees.

If You Are In Doubt, It Is Not Worth Risking Your Money

If after trying to solicit information and at the end of it all, you are still in doubt about the credentials of a particular company, my suggestion is to start looking elsewhere.

You may find further information by contacting government 'watchdogs' because they keep up to date with trends and reports regarding scams and other fraudulent activities. Please check the resource section of this site for the information of organizations that regulate the securities industry, sorted by country. There is also a list of brokers that you may want to look at.

This is an excerpt, modified from the book: The Part-Time Currency Trader.

by Marquez Comelab

Forex Glossary.

2009-11-16T00:55:00.002-08:00

Forex Glossary

Here are some of the most common terms used in FOREX trading.

Ask Price — Sometimes called the Offer Price, this is the market price for traders to buy currencies. Ask Prices are shown on the right side of a quote — e.g. EUR/USD 1.1965 / 68 — means that one euro can be bought for 1.1968 UD dollars.

Bar Chart — A type of chart used in Technical Analysis. Each time division on the chart is displayed as a vertical bar which show the following information — the top of the bar is the high price, the bottom of the bar is the low price, the horizontal line on the left of the bar shows the opening price and the horizontal line on the right of bar shows the closing price.

Base Currency — is the first currency in a currency pair. A quote shows how much the base currency is worth in the quote (second) currency. For example, in the quote — USD/JPY 112.13 — US dollars are the base currency, with 1 US dollar being worth 112.13 Japanese yen.

Bid Price — is the price a trader can sell currencies. The Bid Price is shown on the left side of a quote — e.g. EUR/USD 1.1965 / 68 — means that one euro can be sold for 1.1965 UD dollars.

Bid/Ask Spread — is the difference between the bid price and the ask price in any currency quotation. The spread represents the broker's fee, and varies from broker to broker.

Broker — the intermediary between buyer and seller. Most FOREX brokers are associated with large financial institutions and earn money by setting a spread between bid and ask prices.

Candlestick Chart — A type of chart used in Technical Analysis. Each time division on the chart is displayed as a candlestick — a red or green vertical bar with extensions above and below the candlestick body. The top of the extension shows the highest price for the chart division and the bottom of the extension shows the lowest price. Red candlesticks indicate a lower closing price than opening price, and green candlesticks indicate the price is rising.

Cross Currency — A currency pair that does not include US dollars — e.g. EUR/GBP.

Currency Pair — Two currencies involved in a FOREX transaction — e.g. EUR/USD.

Economic Indicator — A statistical report issued by governments or academic institutions indicating economic conditions within a country.

First In First Out (FIFO) — refers to the order open orders are liquidated. The first orders to be liquidated are the first that were opened.

Foreign Exchange (FOREX, FX) — Simultaneously buying one currency and selling another.

Fundamental Analysis — Analysis of political and economic conditions that can affect currency prices.

Leverage or Margin — The ratio of the value of a transaction to the required deposit. A common margin for FOREX trading is 100:1 — you can trade currency worth 100 times the amount of your deposit.

Limit Order — An order to buy or sell when the price reaches a specified level.

Lot — The size of a FOREX transaction. Standard lots are worth about 100,000 US dollars.

Major Currency — The euro, German mark, Swiss franc, British pound, and the Japanese yen are the major currencies.

Minor Currency — The Canadian dollar, the Australian dollar, and the New Zealand dollar are the minor currencies.

One Cancels the Other (OCO) — Two orders placed simultaneously with instructions to cancel the second order on execution of the first.

Open Position — An active trade that has not been closed.

Pips or Points — The smallest unit a currency can be traded in.

Quote Currency — The second currency in a currency pair. In the currency pair USD/EUR the euro is the quote currency.

Rollover — Extending the settlement time of spot deals to the current delivery date. The cost of rollover is calculated using swap points based on interest rate differentials.

Technical Analysis — Analysis of historical market data to predict future movements in the market.

Tick — The minimum change in price.

Transaction Cost — The cost of a FOREX transaction — typically the spread between bid and ask prices.

Volatility — A statistical measure indicating the tendency of sharp price movements within a period of time.

by Norman Fleming

How To Get Started In FOREX Trading.

2009-11-16T00:55:00.001-08:00

How To Get Started In FOREX Trading

The foreign exchange market (Forex) offers many advantages to investors. But you need to know where to begin.

This short guide will give you the Forex basics, so you can quickly start participating in this fast growing market.

In the past, foreign exchange trading was limited to large players such as national banks and multi-national corporations. In the 1980's the rules were changed to allow smaller investors to participate using margin accounts. Margin accounts are the reason why Forex trading has become so popular. With a 100:1 margin account, you can control $100,000 with a $1,000 investment.

A Learning Curve

Forex is not simple, though, so you'll need some knowledge to make wise investment decisions. Although it is relatively easy to start trading on the Forex, there are risks involved.

Your first move as a beginner should be to find out as much as possible about the market before risking a dime.

Find A Broker

Forex traders usually require a broker to handle transactions. Most brokers are reputable and are associated with large financial institutions such as banks. A reputable broker will be registered as a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as protection against fraud and abusive trade practices.

Open an Account

Opening a Forex account is as simple as filling out a form and providing the necessary identification. The form includes a margin agreement which states that the broker may interfere with any trade deemed to be too risky. This is to protect the interests of the broker, since most trades are done using the broker's money.

Once your account has been established, you can fund it and begin trading.

Many brokers offer a variety of accounts to suit the needs of individual investors. Mini accounts allow you to get involved in Forex trading for as little as $250. Standard accounts may have a minimum deposit of $1000 to $2500, depending on the broker. The amount of leverage (how much borrowed money you can use) varies with account type. High leverage accounts give you more money to trade for a given investment.

Trades are commission-free, meaning that you can make many trades in one day without worrying about incurring high brokerage fees. Brokers make their money on the 'spread': the difference between bid and ask prices.

Paper Trading

Beginning traders are strongly advised get accustomed to Forex by doing "paper trades" for a period of time. Paper trades are practice transactions that don't involve real capital. They allow you to see how the system works while learning how to use the various software tools provided by most Forex brokers.

Most online brokers have demo accounts that allow you to make free paper trades for up to 30 days. Every new Forex investor should use these demo accounts at least until they are consistently showing profits.

Forex Software

Each broker has its own set of software tools for making transactions, but there are a few tools that are common to all Forex brokers. Real-time quotes, news feeds, technical analyses and charts, and profit-and-loss analyses are some of the features you can expect to see on most online brokers' web sites.

Almost every broker operates on the Internet. To access a broker's online services you'll need a reasonably modern computer, a fast Internet connection, and an up-to-date operating system. Once your account is set up, you can access it from any computer just by entering your account name and password. If for some reason you are unable get to a computer, most brokers will allow you to make trades over the phone.

There are lots of ways to make money. Forex trading is just one more potential stream of income -- if you are prepared to learn and practice.

by Ron King

Online Forex Trading.

2009-11-16T00:54:00.000-08:00

Online Forex Trading

Do you know what Forex trading is? Some people have heard of this type of trading, others have not. If you haven't, it might be something you are interested in trying. Forex trading stands for foreign exchange trading. What it consists of is the buying and selling of different currencies. This is done simultaneously, and there are people who make a lot of money with this kind of trading. This is apparent by the 1.9 million dollar turnover in this market that happens every day. Also a lot of it is done online. Online Forex trading is very popular.

The most common currencies to trade are the Euro and the U.S. dollar, and the U.S. dollar and the Japanese Yen. However, nearly all of the Forex trading done involves the major currencies of the world. These include the Euro, Japanese Yen, U.S. dollar, Canadian dollar, British Pound, Australian dollar, and the Swiss franc. The Forex exchange is different from other exchanges, such as the New York Stock Exchange, in that it does not have a physical location or central exchange. The exchange day begins in Sydney, then moves to Tokyo, on to London, and finally ends in New York. Each country takes the responsibility of regulating the Forex exchange activities in their own country. So there is no overall regulatory agency. However, this does not seem to be a problem and most countries do very well at overseeing Forex exchange activities.

There are a lot of things that influence the Forex rate. For instance, economic things, like interest rates and inflation, and also political things, such as political unrest in other countries and major changes in government cause up and down changes in the Forex rate. However, these things tend to be short-term, and don't affect it for long.

Online Forex trading sites are easy to find by surfing the Internet. Most of them provide a wealth of information for the first time trader. You can find out about the history of Forex trading, how to co it, tips on being successful, etc. You can also start trading with as little as $250 in your account on some sites. For anyone who is interested in currency or trading, it is something you should check out.

As with any type of trading, there are no guarantees that you will make money or that you won't make money. It is a smart choice to learn as much as you can about online Forex trading before investing any money and doing any trading. It is a fact that informed investors do better than those who don't know much about what they are trading. So get the fact before you dive in. You might just make a little money in a very interesting currency exchange.

by Bob Hett

Futures Versus Forex (Foreign Exchange Market)

2009-11-16T00:53:00.000-08:00

Futures Versus Forex (Foreign Exchange Market)

Todays current futures market is quite unlike the futures of the 19th century. Todays future market is a worldwide one that includes manufactured goods, financial currencies and treasury bonds, and agricultural products.

When you speculate on futures it is not the actual good that is speculated upon rather it is the contract for the goods that is traded as value. Every futures contract includes a buyer and a seller. The following is an example of a futures speculation: A farmer agrees to deliver 1000 bushels of corn to a baker at a price of $5.00 a bushel. If the daily price of corn futures falls to $4.00 a bushel, the farmer's account is credited with $1000 ($5.00 — $4.00 X 1000 bushels) and the baker's account is debited by the same amount. Futures accounts are settled every day.

Using the above as an example this is how the contract settlement would play out: If the price of corn futures is still at $4.00 the farmer will have made $1000 on the futures contract and the baker will have lost an equal amount. However, the baker can now purchase corn on the open market at $4.00 a bushel — $1000 less than the original contract, so the amount he lost on the futures contract is made up by the cheaper cost of corn. Also, the farmer must sell his corn on the open market for $4.00 a bushel, less than what he anticipated when entering the futures contract, but the profit generated by the futures contract makes up the difference.

Speculators profit by daily fluctuations in the futures market by choosing to buy from the seller (buying short) or from the buyer (buying long).

The FOREX market has advantages over the futures market. FOREX is the largest financial market in the world. It is a liquid market and stop orders can be executed more easily and with less slippage than in other markets. The FOREX market is open 5 days a week, 24 hours a day. Traders can take advantages of opportunities as they become available. FOREX transactions are usually instantly executed. FOREX transactions are commission free. Brokers earn money on the spread.

Some investors feel that due to built in safeguards that FOREX trading is safer than futures trading.

by Jeff Slokum

FOREX: What Is It And How Does It Work?

2009-11-16T00:52:00.000-08:00

FOREX: What Is It And How Does It Work?

The Foreign Exchange market, also referred to as the "Forex" is the biggest and largest financial market in the world. It has a daily average turnover of US$1.9 trillion- just imagine that amount of money! Don't you want to join this trillion-dollar industry?

Forex is the simultaneous buying of one currency and selling of another. Currencies are traded in pairs, for example Euro/US Dollar (EUR/USD) or US Dollar/Japanese Yen (USD/JPY). So basically, Forex is trading.

There are two reasons to buy and sell currencies. About 5% of daily turnover is from companies and governments that buy or sell products and services in a foreign country or must convert profits made in foreign currencies into their domestic currency.

The other 95% is trading for profit, or what you call speculation. Investors frequently trade on information they believe to be superior and relevant, when in fact it is not and is fully discounted by the market.

On one side of each speculative stock trade is a participant who believes he has superior information and on the other side is another participant who believes his information is superior.

For speculators, the best trading opportunities are with the most commonly traded (and therefore most liquid- meaning its in cash or convertible to cash) currencies, called "the Majors." Today, more than 85% of all daily transactions involve trading of the Majors.

A true 24-hour market, Forex trading begins each day in Sydney, and moves around the globe as the business day begins in each financial center, first to Tokyo, London, and New York. Unlike any other financial market, investors can respond to currency fluctuations caused by economic, social and political events at the time they occur — real time- day or night.

The Forex market is considered an Over The Counter (OTC) or 'interbank' market. This is because the transactions are conducted between two counterparts over the telephone or via an electronic network. Trading is not centralized on an exchange compared to stocks and futures markets.

Understanding Forex quotes

Reading a Forex quote may seem a bit confusing at first. However, it's really quite simple if you remember two things: 1) The first currency listed first is the base currency and 2) the value of the base currency is always 1.

The US dollar is the centerpiece of the Forex market and is normally considered the 'base' currency for quotes. In the "Majors", this includes USD/JPY, USD/CHF and USD/CAD. For these currencies and many others, quotes are expressed as a unit of $1 USD per the second currency quoted in the pair. For example, a quote of USD/JPY 110.01 means that one U.S. dollar is equal to 110.01 Japanese yen.

When the U.S. dollar is the base unit and a currency quote goes up, it means the dollar has appreciated in value and the other currency has weakened. If the USD/JPY quote we previously mentioned increases to 113.01, the dollar is stronger because it will now buy more yen than before.

The three exceptions to this rule are the British pound (GBP), the Australian dollar (AUD) and the Euro (EUR). In these cases, you might see a quote such as GBP/USD 1.7366, meaning that one British pound equals 1.7366 U.S. dollars.

In these three currency pairs, where the U.S. dollar is not the base rate, a rising quote means a weakening dollar, as it now takes more U.S. dollars to equal one pound, euro or Australian dollar.

In other words, if a currency quote goes higher, that increases the value of the base currency. A lower quote means the base currency is weakening.

Currency pairs that do not involve the U.S. dollar are called cross currencies, but the premise is the same. For example, a quote of EUR/JPY 127.95 signifies that one Euro is equal to 127.95 Japanese yen.

When trading Forex you will often see a two-sided quote, consisting of a 'bid' and 'offer'. The 'bid' is the price at which you can sell the base currency (at the same time buying the counter currency). The 'ask' is the price at which you can buy the base currency (at the same time selling the counter currency).

by Frederic Madore

Interested in FOREX Trading?

2009-11-16T00:51:00.000-08:00

Interested in FOREX Trading?

The Foreign Exchange Market (Forex) has no central exchange location yet it is the largest financial market in the world. It is over 3x's the size of the stock and futures markets combined and operates via an electronic network of a banks, corporations and investors.

Foreign exchange consists of a simultaneous buying of one currency and selling of another. Currency is traded in pairs, in other words, one currency is traded for another. The major currencies are:

USD — United States Dollar
EUR — Euro members Euro
JPY — Japan Yen
GBP — Great Britian pound
CHF — Switzerland franc
CAD — Canadian dollar
AUD — Australia dollar

There are 2 types of investors involved in the Forex market.The first type of investor is the hedger. The hedger is involved in International trades and utilizes Forex trading to protect their interest in a transaction from adverse currency fluctuations. The 2nd type of investor is the speculator who invests in currency solely for profit.

Currency prices fluctuate due to a variety of economic and political factors. The major factors are:

Interest rates
International trade
Inflation
Political stability

There are many reasons investors take a great interest in FX trading Some of the major reasons are:

No fees
No middlemen
No fixed trade sizes
Low transaction cost
High liquidity
Instant transactions
Low margin / High leverage
24 hour market
Online access via online trading platforms
Always good opportunities to trade, unlike the stock market the market is never bullish or bearish.
No one entity can control the market
No insider trading can occur

To begin trading in the Forex market, an investor only needs a computer, a high-speed internet connection and an online trading currency account. A mini account can be opened for as little as $100.

These are some of the reasons why Forex trading has become quite popular in recent years. For more information on getting started in FX Trading visit http://www.fx-trading-guide.com/

by Jill Kane

Forex Trading — Understanding Commissions, Spreads and Trading Costs.

2009-11-16T00:50:00.000-08:00

Forex Trading — Understanding Commissions, Spreads and Trading Costs

The forex market is quickly becoming one of the most popular markets for trading.

Not only are the experienced traders looking to this market to maximize their trading returns, but many new, individual investors are now able to trade the Forex market — just as they do stocks and futures.

More and more individuals are seeing Forex not only as a new way to diversify their portfolio, but are also finding that it is becoming the most profitable component of their investments.

And that's because of the many advantages Forex offers over other markets like stocks or commodities. Here's what you will typically see advertized about Forex:

— Unparallelled liquidity. It is the largest financial market in the world by far. Almost $2 trillion being traded daily!

— Excellent leverage potential. Individual investors have access to leverage of 100:1 and even 200:1

— No Commissions (more on this later on)

— Low trading costs.

And yes, the Forex market really does offer all these advantages.

But the last two points above talk about costs, and that's what we'd like to focus on in this article.

Like any trading, there are costs involved, and, while these may be much lower than they used to be, it is important to understand what those are.

Let's start by looking at stock trading, something that most of us investors are pretty familiar with.

When trading stocks, most investors will have a trading account with a broker somewhere and will have investment funds deposited in that account.

The broker will then execute the trades on behalf of the account holder, and of course, in return for providing that service, the broker will want to be compensated.

With stocks, typically, the broker will earn a commission for executing the trade. They will charge either a fixed dollar amount per trade, or a dollar amount per share, or (most commonly) a scaled commission based on how big your trade is.

And, they will charge it on both sides of the transaction. That is to say, when you buy the stock you get charged commission, AND then when you sell that same stock you get charged another commission.

With Forex trading, the brokers constantly advertise "no commission". And, of course that's true — except for a few brokers, who do charge a commission similar to stocks.

But also, of course, the brokers aren't performing their trading services for free. They too make money.

The way they do that is by charging the investor a "spread". Simply put, the spread is the difference between the bid price and the ask price for the currency being traded.

The broker will add this spread onto the price of the trade and keep it as their fee for trading.

So, while it isn't a commission per se, it behaves in practically the same way. It is just a little more hidden.

The good news though is that typically this spread is only charged on one side of the transaction. In other words, you don't pay the spread when you buy AND then again when you sell. It is usually only charged on the "buy" side of the trades.

So the spread really is your primary cost of trading the Forex and you should pay attention to the details of what the different brokers offer.

The spreads offered can vary pretty dramatically from broker to broker. And while it may not seem like much of a difference to be trading with a 5 pip spread vs a 4 pip spread, it actually can add up very quickly when you multiply it out by how many trades you make and how much money you're trading. Think about it, 4 pips vs 5 pips is a difference of 25% on your trading costs.

The other thing to recognize is that spreads can vary based on what currencies you're trading and what type of account you open.

Most brokers will give you different spreads for different currencies. The most popular currency pairs like the EURUSD or GBPUSD will typically have the lowest spreads, while currencies that have less demand will likely be traded with higher spreads.

Be sure to think about what currencies you are most likely to be trading and find out what your spreads will be for those currencies.

Also, some brokers will offer different spreads for different types of accounts. A mini account, for example may be subject to higher spreads than a full contract account.

And finally, because the spreads really are the difference between bid prices and ask prices as determined by the free market, it is important to recognize that they are not "guaranteed". Most brokers will tell you that there may be times during periods of low demand, or very active trading when the spreads widen and you will be charged that wider spread.

These do tend to be rarer situations because the Forex market really is so large and demand and supply are generally quite predictable, but they do occur, especially with some of the lesser traded currencies. So it's important to be aware of that.

In summary then, when trading Forex, understand that the "spread" is truly your most important consideration for trading costs.

Spreads can vary significantly between brokers, account types and currencies traded. And small differences in the spread can really add up to thousands of dollars in trading costs over even just a few months.

So be sure to understand what currencies you are going to be trading, how frequently, and in what type of account and use those factors to help decide which broker can offer you the best trading costs.

by Rich Cochrane

Forex: Benefits of Trading the Forex Market.

2009-11-16T00:48:00.000-08:00

Forex: Benefits of Trading the Forex Market

Trading the Forex market has become very popular in the last years. Why is it that traders around the world see the Forex market as an investment opportunity? We will try to answer this question in this article. Also we will discuss come differences between the Forex market, the stocks market and the futures market.

Some of the benefits of trading the Forex market are:

Superior liquidity.

Liquidity is what really makes the Forex market different from other markets. The Forex market is by far the most liquid financial market in the world with nearly 2 trillion dollars traded everyday. This ensures price stability and better trade execution. Allowing traders to open and close transactions with ease. Also such a tremendous volume makes it hard to manipulate the market in an extended manner.

24hr Market.

This one is also one of the greatest advantages of trading Forex. It is an around the click market, the market opens on Sunday at 3:00 pm EST when New Zealand begins operations, and closes on Friday at 5:00 pm EST when San Francisco terminates operations. There are transactions in practically every time zone, allowing active traders to choose at what time to trade.

Leverage trading.

Trading the Forex Market offers a greater buying power than many other markets. Some Forex brokers offer leverage up to 400:1, allowing traders to have only 0.25% in margin of the total investment. For instance, a trader using 100:1 means that to have a US$100,000 position, only US$1,000 are needed on margin to be able to open that position.

Low Transaction costs.

Almost all brokers offer commission free trading. The only cost traders incur in any transaction is the spread (difference between the buy and sell price of each currency pair). This spread could be as low as 1 pip (the minimum increment in any currency pair) in some pairs.

Low minimum investment.

The Forex market requires less capital to start trading than any other markets. The initial investment could go as low as $300 USD, depending on leverage offered by the broker. This is a great advantage since Forex traders are able to keep their risk investment to the lowest level.

Specialized trading.

The liquidity of the market allows us to focus on just a few instruments (or currency pairs) as our main investments (85% of all trading transactions are made on the seven major currencies). Allowing us to monitor, and at the end get to know each instrument better.

Trading from anywhere.

If you do a lot of traveling, you can trade from anywhere in the world just having an internet connection.

Some of the most important differences between the Forex market and other markets are explained below.

Forex market vs. Equity markets

Liquidity

FX market: Near two trillion dollars of daily volume.

Equity market: Around 200 billion on a daily basis.

Trading hours

FX market: 24hr market, 5.5 days a week.

Equity market: Monday through Friday from 8:30 EST to 5:00 EST.

Profit potential

FX market: In both, rising and falling markets.

Equity market: Most traders/investor profit only from rising markets.

Transaction costs

FX market: Commission free and tight spreads.

Equity market: High Commissions and transaction fees.

Buying power

FX market: Leverage up to 400:1.

Equity market: Leverage from 2:1 to 4:1.

Specialization

FX market: most volume (85%) is made on major currencies (USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, CHF, CAD and AUD.)

Equity market: More than 40,000 stocks to choose from.

Forex market vs. Futures market

Liquidity

FX Market: Near two trillion dollars of daily volume.

Futures market: Around 400 billion dollars on a daily basis.

Transaction costs

FX market: Commission free and tight spreads.

Futures market: High commissions fees.

Margin

FX market: Fixed rate of margin on every position.

Futures market: Different levels of margin on overnight positions than day time positions.

Trade execution

FX market: Instantaneous execution.

Futures market: Inconsistent execution.

All this makes the Forex market very attractive to investors and traders. But I need to make something clear, although the benefits of trading the Forex market are notorious; it is still difficult to make a successful career trading the Forex market. It requires a lot of education, discipline, commitment and patience, as any other market.

by Raul Lopez

Learn Currency Trade — Intro to The FOREX Market.

2009-11-16T00:47:00.001-08:00

Learn Currency Trade — Intro to The FOREX Market

The Foreign Exchange Market — better known as Forex — is a world wide market for buying and selling currencies.

It handles a huge volume of transactions 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. Daily exchanges are worth approximately $1.5 trillion (US dollars). In comparison, the United States Treasury Bond market averages $300 billion a day and American stock markets exchange about $100 billion a day.

The Foreign Exchange Market was established in 1971 with the abolishment of fixed currency exchanges. Currencies became valued at 'floating' rates determined by supply and demand. The Forex grew steadily throughout the 1970's, but with the technological advances of the 80's Forex grew from trading levels of $70 billion a day to the current level of $1.5 trillion.

The Forex is made up of about 5000 trading institutions such as international banks, central government banks (such as the US Federal Reserve), and commercial companies and brokers for all types of foreign currency exchange.

There is no centralized location of Forex — major trading centers are located in New York, Tokyo, London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Paris, and Frankfurt, and all trading is by telephone or over the Internet. Businesses use the market to buy and sell products in other countries, but most of the activity on the Forex is from currency traders who use it to generate profits from small movements in the market.

Even though there are many huge players in Forex, it is accessible to the small investor thanks to recent changes in the regulations. Previously, there was a minimum transaction size and traders were required to meet strict financial requirements. With the advent of Internet trading, regulations have been changed to allow large interbank units to be broken down into smaller lots.

Each lot is worth about $100,000 and is accessible to the individual investor through 'leverage' — loans extended for trading. Typically, lots can be controlled with a leverage of 100:1 meaning that US$1,000 will allow you to control a $100,000 currency exchange.

There are many advantages to trading in Forex, including:

— Liquidity: Because of the size of the Foreign Exchange Market, investments are extremely liquid. International banks are continuously providing bid and ask offers and the high number of transactions each day means there is always a buyer or a seller for any currency.

— Accessibility: The market is open 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. The market opens Monday morning Australian time and closes Friday afternoon New York time. Trades can be done on the Internet from your home or office.

— Open Market: Currency fluctuations are usually caused by changes in national economies. News about these changes is accessible to everyone at the same time — there can be no 'insider trading' in Forex.

— No commission Fees: Brokers earn money by setting a 'spread' — the difference between what a currency can be bought at and what it can be sold at.

How does the foreign currency exchange market work?

Currencies are always traded in pairs — the US dollar against the Japanese yen, or the English pound against the euro. Every transaction involves selling one currency and buying another, so if an investor believes the euro will gain against the dollar, he will sell dollars and buy euros.

The potential for profit exists because there is always movement between currencies. Even small changes can result in substantial profits because of the large amount of money involved in each transaction.

At the same time, it can be a relatively safe market for the individual investor. There are safeguards built in to protect both the broker and the investor and a number of software tools exist to minimize loss.

by Anna Rowe

Forex Trade: Main Drawbacks of a Forex Trader

2009-11-16T00:46:00.002-08:00

Forex Trade: Main Drawbacks of a Forex Trader

Why is it that very few traders succeed in the Forex trading environment while the grand majority of traders fail to achieve success? Although there is no hard answer to this question, there are a few things that will put you one step ahead and will definitely put the odds in your favor.

The main purpose of this article is to guide you through some important aspects of Forex trading. But in a different way, instead of telling you what to do or the best way to do it, it will tell you what to avoid. Sometimes it is better to identify the main drawbacks on a discipline and then isolate them so we have the best results at a certain level of development.

The search for the Holy Grail

Many traders spend years and years trying to find the Holy Grail of trading. That magic indicator or set of indicators, only known by a few traders, that will make them rich in a short period of time.

Fact: Well, there is no magic indicator, nor a set of indicators that will make anyone rich in a short period of time. The main reason of this is because market changes, every single moment is unique. Every Forex trading system will fail from time to time. Our work here is to find a Forex trading system that fits our personality as traders, otherwise the trader will find it hard to follow it.

Looking for Easy Money

Unfortunately most traders are attracted to the Forex market for this reason. Mainly because of the publicity showing or rather trying to show how easy is to trade and make money in the Forex market.

Fact: Yes, it is very easy to trade, anyone can do it. It is as hard as one click. But the second part of it isn't that easy. Making money or achieving consistent profitable results is hard. It requires lots of education, patience, discipline, commitment, and this list could go to infinite. In a few words, it is possible to have consistent profitable results, but definitely it is not easy.

Looking for Excitement

Some other traders are attracted to the Forex market or any other financial market because they think it is exciting to be a trader.

Fact: Yes, it is very exciting to trade the Forex market. But if this is the main reason you are still trading the Forex market, sooner or later you will discover the most expensive adventure you have ever known. Do some thinking on it.

Not Using Money Management.

Most traders forget about this important aspect of trading. They think they shouldn't be using money management until they achieve consistent profitable results. They totally forget about the risk side of trading.

Fact: Money management allows your profits to increase geometrically, but also limits your risk on every single trade. Money management tells you how much to risk on each trade. Using money management is a must if you want to achieve your trading goals. By using money management you make sure you are going to be able to trade tomorrow, the next week, month and the following years.

Not Being Psychology Tuned

This is one of the most underestimated subjects when it comes to trading. One of the main principles of financial markets is that the price of each instrument is based on the perception of each individual participant "the crowd." In other words the price of each instrument is determined by the fear, greed, ego and hope of all traders.

Fact: Being aware of all psychological issues that affect the decisions made by traders will definitely put the odds in your favor.

Lack of Education

Education is the base of knowledge on every discipline. As lawyers and doctors require several years of college until they get their degree, Forex traders also require long years of study. It is better to have someone experienced to guide you through your trading, since some information could take you in the wrong path.

Fact: The market teaches us invaluable lessons on every single trade made. The process of education for a Forex trader could take for ever. That's right, we never stop learning. We should be humble about the markets and our knowledge; otherwise the market will prove us wrong.

These are some of the most important barriers every trader faces when trying to trade successfully.

Trading successfully the Forex markets is no easy task, it requires a lot of hard work to do it right, but with the right education, you will put yourself closer to your trading goals.

by Raul Lopez

What Is Forex Trading?

2009-11-16T00:46:00.001-08:00

What Is Forex Trading?

Forex trading is nothing more than direct access trading of different types of foreign currencies. In the past, foreign exchange trading was mostly limited to large banks and institutional traders. However recent technological advancements have made it so that small traders can also take advantage of the many benefits of forex trading just by using the various online trading platforms to trade.

The currencies of the world are on a floating exchange rate, and they are always traded in pairs. About 85 percent of all daily transactions involve trading of the major currencies. Four major currency pairs are usually used for investment purposes. They are: Euro against US dollar (EUR/USD), US dollar against Japanese yen (USD/JPY), British pound against US dollar (GBP/USD) and US dollar against Swiss franc (USD/CHF).

If you think one currency will appreciate against another, you may exchange that second currency for the first one and be able to "stay" in it. If everything goes as you plan it, eventually you may be able to make the opposite deal in that you may exchange this first currency back for that other and then collect profits from it. As a note bear in mind that no dividends are paid on currencies.

Transactions on the FOREX market are performed by dealers at major banks or FOREX brokerage companies. FOREX is a necessary part of the worldwide market, so when you are sleeping in the comfort of your bed, the dealers in Europe are trading currencies with their Japanese counterparts. Therefore, the FOREX market is active 24 hours a day and dealers at major institutions are working 24/7 in three different shifts. Clients may place take-profit and stop-loss orders with brokers for overnight execution. Price movements on the FOREX market are very smooth and without the gaps that you face almost every morning on the stock market. The daily turnover on the FOREX market is somewhere around $1.2 trillion, so a new investor can enter and exit positions without any problems.

The fact is that the FOREX market never stops; even on September 11, 2001 you could still get your hands on two-side quotes on currencies. The currency market is the largest and oldest financial market in the world. It is also called the foreign exchange market or FX market for short. It is the biggest and most liquid market in the world, and it is traded mostly through the 24 hour-a-day inter-bank currency market.

When you compare them, you will see that the currency futures market is only one per cent as big. Unlike the futures and stock markets, trading currencies is not centered on an exchange. Trading moves from major banking centers of the U.S. to Australia and New Zealand, to the Far East, to Europe and finally back to the U.S. it is truly a full circle trading game. In the past, the forex inter-bank market was not available to small speculators because of the large minimum transaction sizes and strict financial requirements. Banks, major currency dealers and sometimes even very large speculator were the principal dealers. Only they were able to take advantage of the currency market's fantastic liquidity and strong trending nature of many of the world's primary currency exchange rates.

Today, foreign exchange market brokers are able to break down the larger sized inter-bank units, and offer small traders like you and me the opportunity to buy or sell any number of these smaller units. These brokers give any size trader, including individual speculators or smaller companies, the option to trade at the same rates and price movements as the big players who once dominated the market.

The 6 Advantages Forex Trading Has Over Other Investments.

2009-11-16T00:45:00.001-08:00

The 6 Advantages Forex Trading Has Over Other Investments

There are many different advantages to trading forex instead of futures or stocks, such as:

1. Lower Margin

Just like futures and stock speculation, a forex trader has the ability to control a large amount of the currency basically by putting up a small amount of margin. However, the margin requirements that are needed for trading futures are usually around 5% of the full value of the holding, or 50% of the total value of the stocks, the margin requirements for forex is about 1%. For example, margin required to trade foreign exchange is $1000 for every $100,000. What this means is that trading forex, a currency trader's money can play with 5-times as much value of product as a futures trader's, or 50 times more than a stock trader's. When you are trading on margin, this can be a very profitable way to create an investment strategy, but it's important that you take the time to understand the risks that are involved as well. You should make sure that you fully understand how your margin account is going to work. You will want to be sure that you read the margin agreement between you and your clearing firm. You will also want to talk to your account representative if you have any questions.

The positions that you have in your account could be partially or completely liquidated on the chance that the available margin in your account falls below a predetermined amount. You may not actually get a margin call before your positions are liquidated. Because of this, you should monitor your margin balance on a regular basis and utilize stop-loss orders on every open position to limit downside risk.

2. No Commission and No Exchange Fees

When you trade in futures, you have to pay exchange and brokerage fees. Trading forex has the advantage of being commission free. This is far better for you. Currency trading is a worldwide inter-bank market that lets buyers to be matched with sellers in an instant.

Even though you do not have to pay a commission charge to a broker to match the buyer up with the seller, the spread is usually larger than it is when you are trading futures. For example, if you were trading a Japanese Yen/US Dollar pair, forex trade would have about a 3 point spread (worth $30). Trading a JY futures trade would most likely have a spread of 1 point (worth $10) but you would also be charged the broker's commission on top of that. This price could be as low as $10 in-and-out for self-directed online trading, or as high as $50 for full-service trading. It is however, all inclusive pricing though. You are going to have to compare both online forex and your specific futures commission charge to see which commission is the greater one.

3. Limited Risk and Guaranteed Stops

When you are trading futures, your risk can be unlimited. For example, if you thought that the prices for Live Cattle were going to continue their upward trend in December 2003, just before the discovery of Mad Cow Disease found in US cattle. The price for it after that fell dramatically, which moved the limit down several days in a row. You would not have been able to leave your position and this could have wiped out the entire equity in your account as a result. As the price just kept on falling, you would have been obligated to find even more money to make up the deficit in your account.

4. Rollover of Positions

When futures contracts expire, you have to plan ahead if you are going to rollover your trades. Forex positions expire every two days and you need to rollover each trade just so that you can stay in your position.

5. 24-Hour Marketplace

With futures, you are generally limited to trading only during the few hours that each market is open in any one day. If a major news story breaks out when the markets are closed, you will not have a way of getting out of it until the market reopens, which could be many hours away. Forex, on the other hand, is a 24/5 market. The day begins in New York, and follows the sun around the globe through Europe, Asia, Australia and back to the US again. You can trade any time you like Monday-Friday.

6. Free market place

Foreign exchange is perhaps the largest market in the world with an average daily volume of US$1.4 trillion. That is 46 times as large as all the futures markets put together! With the huge number of people trading forex around the globe, it is very hard for even governments to control the price of their own currency.

by David Morrison

Trading Forex To Advance Your Financial Position

2009-11-16T00:44:00.001-08:00

Trading Forex To Advance Your Financial Position

Everyday, currencies are traded in an international foreign exchange market, otherwise known as the forex market, with the main marketplaces (otherwise known as bourses) existing in the world's financial centes New York, London, Tokyo, Frankfurt and Zurich. Historically, the only way to participate was from the trading floor of one of these bourses, but today, people can trade forex from anywhere through a secure internet connection and a PC.

Today's traders operate in a global network, taking positions in the market and making investment decisions based on either relative value between two currencies, or a particular currency's actual price. Currency value fluctuations are constantly renegotiated through trading activity, and this activity, and the corresponding currency values are also indicators of the levels of currency supply.

An example of market behaviour greater demand for the Euro might indicate a weakening supply. Low supply and increased demand will drive the price of the Euro up against other currencies like the dollar, until the price better reflects what traders are prepared to pay when short supply exists. Another way to look at this situation is this higher demand means it will cost more dollars to buy the Euro, which equates to a weakening of the dollar in comparison. Analysis of situations such as in this example forms the basis for a trader's investment decisions, and they will purchase or sell currency accordingly.

This should be remembered, as while many see the foreign exchange market as the vehicle for converting their home currency while travelling abroad, many others choose to use the market to advance their financial position and secure their future.

by Jay Moncliff

The Benefits of Trading The Forex Market.

2009-11-16T00:43:00.000-08:00

The Benefits of Trading The Forex Market

Historically, the FX market was available most to major banks, multinational corporations and other participants who traded in large transaction sizes and volumes. Small-scale traders including individuals like you and I, had little access to this market for such a long time. Now with the advent of the Internet and technology, FX trading is becoming an increasingly popular investment alternative for the general public.

The benefits of trading the currency market:

It is open 24-hours and it closes only on the weekends;

It is very liquid and efficient;

It is very volatile;

It has very low transaction costs;

You can use a high level of leverage (borrowed money) with ease; and

You can profit from a bull or a bear market.

Continuous, 24-Hour Trading

The currency exchange is a 24-hour market. You may decide to trade after you come home from work. Regardless of what time-frame you want to trade at whatever time of the day, there would be enough buyers and sellers to take the other side of your trade. This feature of the market gives you enough flexibility to manage your trading around your daily routine.

Liquidity And Efficiency

When there are a lot of buyers and a lot of sellers, you can expect to buy or sell at a price that is very close to the last market price. The currency market is the most liquid market in the world. Trading volume in the currency markets can be between 50 and 100 times larger than the New York Stock Exchange (Source: Oanda.)

When you are trading stocks, you may have experienced events where one piece of news accelerates or decelerates the price of the underlying stock you may have bought into. Perhaps a director has been kicked out by the shareholders of a company or the company has just released a new product and big investors are buying the shares of a particular company. Share prices can be drastically affected by the actions or inactions of one or a few individuals. So if you are relying on television reports and newspapers to get your news, most of the opportunities or warnings will have come too late for you to take advantage by the time you get them.

The value of currencies on the other hand is affected by so many factors and so many participants that the likelihood of any one individual or group of individuals drastically affecting the value of a currency is minute. Because of its sheer size, the currency market is hard to manipulate. The ability for people to engage in 'insider trading' is virtually eliminated. As an average trader, you are less disadvantaged. You are likely to be playing on relatively equal ground along with all the other traders and investors whom you are competing against.

Note about price gaps:

For those people who have already traded other markets, you probably know about price 'gaps'. 'Gaps' occur when prices 'jump' from one price level to another without having taken any incremental steps to get there. For example, you may be trading a share that closes at $10 at the end of today but due to some event that happens overnight; it opens tomorrow at $5 and continues to go downwards for the rest of the day.

Gaps bring about another degree of uncertainty that may meddle with a trader's strategy. Probably one of the most worrying aspects of this is when a trader uses stop-losses. In this case, if a trader puts a stop-loss at $7 because he no longer wants to be in a trade if the share price hits $7, his trade will remain open overnight and the trader wakes up tomorrow with a loss bigger than he may have been prepared for.

After looking at a couple of forex charts, you will realize that there are little price 'gaps' or none at all, especially on the longer-term charts like the 3-hour, 4-hour or the daily charts.

Volatility

Trading opportunities exist when prices fluctuate. If you buy a share for $2 and it stays there, there is no opportunity to make a profit. The magnitude of level of this fluctuation and its frequency is referred to as volatility. As a trader, it is volatility that you profit from. Large volume transactions and high liquidity combined with fewer trading instruments generate greater intra-day volatility in the currency market that can be exploited by day-traders. The high volatility of the currency market indicates that a trader can potentially earn 5 times more money from currency trading than trading the most liquid shares.

Volatility is a measure of maximum return that a trader can generate with perfect foresight. Volatility for the most liquid stocks are between 60 to 100. Volatility for currency trading is 500. (Source: Oanda.)

In this respect, currencies make a better trading vehicle for day-traders than the equity markets.

Low Transaction Costs

A currency transaction typically incurs no commission or transaction fees. For a forex trader, the spread is the only cost he or she needs to cover in taking on a position. In addition, because of the currency market's efficiency, there is little or no 'slippage' costs.

'Slippage' is the cost involved when traders enter the market at a price worse than the level they wanted to get into. For example, a trader wants to buy a share at $2.00 but by the time, the order gets executed, his gets to buy the shares at $2.50. That fifty cents difference is his slippage cost. Slippage cost affects large-volume traders a lot. When they buy large quantities of a commodity, it oversupplies the market with buy orders. This applies a pressure for the price to go up. By the time they get to buy all the quantities they wanted, the average price they got their commodities would be higher than the price they intended to get them for. Conversely, when they sell large quantities of a commodity, they oversupply the market with sell orders. This applies a pressure for the price to go down. By the time they finish selling all their commodities, their average selling price is less than what they initially intended to sell them for.

Due to lower transaction costs, minimum slippage and strong intra-day volatility, individuals can trade frequently at small costs. As an approximate, you may only expect to have a spread of 0.03% of your position size. To give you an example, you can buy and sell 10,000 US Dollars and this will only incur a 3-point spread, equivalent to $3.

Leverage

There are not a lot of banks or people who would lend you money so that you can use it to trade shares. And if there are, it would be very hard for you to convince them to invest in you and in your idea that a certain share is going to go up or down. Therefore, most of the time, if you have a $10,000 account, you can only really afford to buy $10,000 worth of stocks.

In currency trading however, because you use 'borrowed money', you can trade $10,000 of a currency and you only need anywhere between fifty (For a margin lending ratio of 200:1) to two hundred dollars ( For a margin lending ratio of 50:1) in your trading account. This makes it possible for an average trader with a small trading account, under $10,000 to be able to profit sufficiently from the movements of the currency exchange rates. This concept is explained further in The Part-Time Currency Trader.

Profit From A Bull And Bear Market

When you are trading shares, you can only profit when the price of a stock goes up. When you suspect that it is about to go down or that it is just going to be moving sideways, then the only thing you can do is sell your shares and stand aside. One of the frustrations of trading shares is that an individual cannot profit when prices are going down. In the currency market, it is easy for you to trade a currency downward so that you can profit when you think it is going to lose value. This is easy to do because currency trading simply involves buying one currency and selling another, there is no structural bias that makes it difficult to trade 'downwards'. This is why the currency market has been occasionally referred to as the eternal bull market.

This is an excerpt, modified from the book: The Part-Time Currency Trader.

by Marquez Comelab

Introduction To Forex Trading.

2009-11-16T00:42:00.000-08:00

Introduction To Forex Trading

There are many markets: markets for stocks, futures, options and currencies. These are probably the most accessible markets for everyday traders like you and I. People easily understand the basics of trading shares, so I will occasionally use examples from that market.

I began trading shares first and then I moved on to trading currencies; therefore, most of the examples I will be using in this book are derived from trading currencies.

If you do not know a lot about currency trading, allow me to introduce it to you. It is what I trade and I believe that it is one of the best markets to trade because of its efficiency. The transaction costs to execute a trade are minimal and most brokers provide you with the tools and data you need to make your trading decisions, they usually provide them for free. The market is open 24 hours a day which allows you to design your trading hours around your daily commitments. It is very volatile, which is great for those people who are looking for day-trading opportunities.

The foreign exchange market is the market in which currencies are bought and sold against one another. People may loosely refer to this market under different labels, including foreign exchange market, forex market, fx market or the currency market.

The foreign exchange market is the largest market in the world, with daily trading volumes in excess of $1.5 trillion US dollars. All transactions involving international trade and investment must go through this market because these transactions involve the exchange of currencies.

It is the most perfect market that exists because it has a large number of buyers and sellers all selling the same products. There is a free flow of information and there are little barriers to participate.

The currency exchange market is an over-the-counter (OTC) market which means that there is not one specific location where buyers and sellers can actually meet to exchange currencies. Instead, transactions are conducted by phone, fax, e-mail or through the websites of brokers who specialize in currency trading.

The major dealing centres at the time of writing are: London , with about 30% of the market, New York , with 20%, Tokyo , with 12%, Zurich , Frankfurt, Hong Kong and Singapore , with about 7% each, followed by Paris and Sydney with 3% each. Because of the fact that these centres are all over the world, foreign exchange traders can execute transactions 24 hours a day. The market only closes on the weekends.

THE MAIN 'PLAYERS' IN THE FOREX MARKET

The five broad categories of participants are: consumers, businesses, investors, speculators, commercial banks, investment banks and central banks.

Consumers, including visitors of countries, tourists and immigrants, do need to exchange currencies when they travel so that they can buy local goods and services. These participants do not have the power to set prices. They just buy and sell according to the prevailing exchange rate. They make up a significant proportion of the volume being traded in the market.

Businesses that import and export goods and services need to exchange currencies to receive or make payments for goods they may have bought or services they may have rendered.

Investors and speculators require currencies to buy and sell investment instruments such as shares, bonds, bank deposits or real estate.

Large commercial and investment banks are the 'price makers'. They are the ones who buy and sell currencies at the bid-and-offer exchange rates that they declare through their foreign exchange dealers.

Commercial banks deal with customers on one hand, and with the Interbank or other banks, on the other hand. They profit by utilizing the bid-and-offer spread. The bid price is the exchange rate that the buyer is willing to buy and the offer price is the exchange rate at which the seller is willing to sell. The difference is called the bid-offer spread. They also make profits from speculating about whether the exchange rate will rise or fall.

Central banks participate in the foreign exchange market in their effective duty as banks for their particular government. They trade currencies not for the intention of making profits but rather to facilitate government monetary policies and to help smoothen out the fluctuation of the value of their economy's currency.

by Marquez Comelab

Forex Enterprise — A Full Review

2009-11-16T00:41:00.002-08:00

Forex Enterprise — A Full Review

A new marketing course to hit the internet by Nick Marks that advertises earnings of $1000 a day and $30,000 a month respectively. This turnkey system generating multiple streams of income is relatively new and so it is my pleasure to review it for you.

After purchasing you are given a login page where you are introduced to the system which is in website format. Everything is easy to access and well organized.

After Nick gives you a little pep talk about positive thinking and goal setting, you will be introduced to his first recommendation: join Coastal Vacations. While not a part of his main Forex system this is a recommendation I could've done without.

In the pay per click section you are given a large list of keywords that Nick found convert really well with his system. Some of the keywords in the list have bid prices already attached to them so you can get front page exposure.

The course also has $50 in free adwords credit that unfortunately only works with new accounts so I was out of luck. If you don't already have an account this is worth the price of the course alone.

The forex course shows you some inexpensive traffic methods and provides links to these sources. He also covers stuff like pop-over ads, e-mail lists and autoresponders. Not bad information by any means, and is an alternative to pay per click advertising if you have a smaller budget.

He has an ebook package that seemed like it was going to be really cool as there were dozens of bonus ebooks and software programs covering everything from creating ebooks and website templates, to getting top positions in the major search engines.

As I took a closer look at this package I realized there were some bargain bin informational products included. However, there were also alot of goodies in there as well that I found rather useful. You get so many ebooks and software in here that it really is worth far more than the price of the course.

There is a section on becoming an Ebay power seller in 90 days that goes into a fair amount of detail and wasn't bad. However, Ebay isn't something I have ever been particularly interested in doing. There is also a section on baccarat strategies that I had no interest in.

One of the last sections of his course introduces you to e-currency exchanging using the DXINONE system. It is a great way to acquaint yourself with this increasingly popular opportunity without having to buy standalone e-currency courses which can cost a couple hundred dollars.

The author has combined several effective ways to earn money online and rolled them all into one course. While I didn't jump up and down about all of his strategies, the free ebooks, software, and adwords credit make Forex Enterprise worth the money.

by Joey Merrick

Forex Trading Terms.

2009-11-16T00:41:00.001-08:00

Forex Trading

So what is is Forex trading you may ask? Forex is the exchange you can buy and sell currencies. For example, you might buy British pounds (by exchanging them to the dollars you had), then, after pounds / dollar ratio goes up, you sell pounds and buy dollars again. At the end of this operation you are going to have more dollars, then you had at the beginning.

The Forex market has much higher liquidity, then the stock market, as much more money is being exchanged. Forex is spread between banks all over the planet and as a result it means 24 hour trading.

Unlike stocks, Forex trades are performed with high leverage, usually it is 100. It means that by investing $1000 you can control $100,000, and increase potential profits accordingly. Some brokers provide also so called mini-Forex, where the size of minimum deposit equals $100. It makes possible for individuals to enter this market easily.

The name convention. In Forex, the name of a "symbol" is composed of two parts — one for first currency, and another for the second currency. For example, the symbol usdjpy stands for US dollars (usd) to Japanese yen (jpy).

As with stocks, you can apply tools of the technical analysis to Forex charts. Trader's indexes can be optimized for Forex "symbols", allowing you to find winning strategy.

Example Forex transaction

Assume you have a trading account of $25,000 and you are trading with a 1% margin requirement. The current quote for EUR/USD is 1.3225/28 and you place a market order to buy 1 lot of 100,000 Euros at 1.3228, expecting the euro to rise against the dollar. At the same time you place a stop-loss order at 1.3178 representing a maximum loss of 2% of your account equity if the trade goes against you, 50 pips below your order price, and a limit order at 1.3378, 150 pips above your order price. For this trade, you are risking 50 pips to gain 150 pips, giving you a risk/reward ratio of 1 part risk to 3 parts reward. This means that you only need to be right one third of the time to remain profitable.

The notional value of this trade is $132,280 (100,000 * 1.3228). Your required margin deposit is 1% of the total, which is equal to $1322.80 ($132,280 * 0.01).

As you expected, the Euro strengthens against the dollar and your limit order is reached at 1.3378. The position is closed. Your total profit for this trade is $1500, each pip being worth $10.

by Richard Goldie

Forex Avenue: The Road to Riches

2009-11-16T00:40:00.001-08:00

Forex Avenue: The Road to Riches

In my continuing quest to provide visitors of my site with a large amount of options to chose from when considering working from home I have done some research on Forex trading. I first learned of Forex trading while pursuing my MBA program. For those of you who have never heard of this, Forex trading is the exchange of foreign currency.

I know I would have never even know this was an option for making money had I not found out in class. Most of the really big corporations have departments of people that do this for a living because it can be very lucrative if done correctly. The best news I have learned about this process of exchanging currencies is that many of the websites that you can sign up with to do this offer free trial accounts to help you learn before you invest your money into trying it. You won't make any money in the trial accounts if you do well, it is just pretend money essentially but with the real market conditions. If you do well in the trial account you will know if this is something you want to try on your own.

Benefits to Forex trading are that is can be done 24/7 whereas the stock market is a business hours only exchange. It is 24/7 because it is done with countries around the world so clearly there are countries that are awake and working while we sleep. Another benefit is you are in control of the trading on your account. You do not need to hire a licensed broker to make your trades and charge you fees. Along those same lines, anyone who does any investing most likely knows that some funds require you to own then for a certain period of time or pay early withdrawal fees. You do not need to concern yourself with this either. One last benefit that I would like to point out is the fact that Forex is not really subject to the same kinds of swings in the market that stocks are subject to. Of course if you always buy and sell the same currencies then there will be market swings. But, because there are hundreds of currencies out there, there is always going to be something for you to make money on because while one currency is up in value another one is down and vice versa.

There are many resources available to someone interested in becoming involved in this type of training. The Federal Reserve Bank's website is just one example of the information available — http://www.ny.frb.org/markets/foreignex.html. Here is another article that you will find helpful in starting out in this field. http://www.forex.com/pdf/pro2.pdf . I have also included one of the sites that does offer a free lesson.

While there are many benefits to this type of training, as I mentioned above, there are certainly risks involved as well. There are risks with exchange rates, central banks in foreign countries, and risks involving interest rates and credit. Forex is quickly becoming a popular way to help diversify your investment portfolio. If you are good with understanding investing concepts and enjoy doing it this may be the home business opportunity for you. Just do your research and try to find one of the sites offering the free trial account to practice with and you are well on your way down the Road to Riches.

by Scott Bianchi

High price:
Low price:
Close price:
Current Open price:^*

^* For DeMark's pivot points.

4th Resistance =
3rd Resistance =
2nd Resistance =
1st Resistance =
Pivot Point =
1st Support =
2nd Support =
3rd Support =
4th Support =

Account Currency:
Currency pair:
Position size, units:


Results:
Price of pip:

High price:
Low price:

	Direct	Reverse
100,0% Retracement Value:
61,8% Retracement Value:
50,0% Retracement Value:
38,2% Retracement Value:
23,6% Retracement Value:
0,0% Retracement Value:

	Risk	Reward	Ratio
1st Target:
2nd Target:
3rd Target:

0.382 Retracement:
0.618 Retracement:

FOREX

Forex Trading Information

Forex Broker Reviews

Forex Glossary

How did you select your forex broker?

FX-BAR Forex toolbar 2.0

FX-BAR Forex toolbar 2.0

Forex Fibonacci Calculator 2.1

Forex Fibonacci Calculator 2.1

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Risk and Reward Forex Calculator

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Forex Strategies

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8 Basic Tips on choosing Best FOREX Broker.

8 Basic Tips on choosing Best FOREX Broker

How To Spot Forex Fraud.

How To Spot Forex Fraud

Avoiding Forex-Related Frauds and Scams.

Avoiding Forex-Related Frauds and Scams

Forex Glossary.

Forex Glossary

How To Get Started In FOREX Trading.

How To Get Started In FOREX Trading

Online Forex Trading.

Online Forex Trading

Futures Versus Forex (Foreign Exchange Market)

Futures Versus Forex (Foreign Exchange Market)

FOREX: What Is It And How Does It Work?

FOREX: What Is It And How Does It Work?

Interested in FOREX Trading?

Interested in FOREX Trading?

Forex Trading — Understanding Commissions, Spreads and Trading Costs.

Forex Trading — Understanding Commissions, Spreads and Trading Costs

Forex: Benefits of Trading the Forex Market.

Forex: Benefits of Trading the Forex Market

Learn Currency Trade — Intro to The FOREX Market.

Learn Currency Trade — Intro to The FOREX Market

Forex Trade: Main Drawbacks of a Forex Trader

Forex Trade: Main Drawbacks of a Forex Trader

What Is Forex Trading?

What Is Forex Trading?

The 6 Advantages Forex Trading Has Over Other Investments.

The 6 Advantages Forex Trading Has Over Other Investments

Trading Forex To Advance Your Financial Position

Trading Forex To Advance Your Financial Position

The Benefits of Trading The Forex Market.

The Benefits of Trading The Forex Market

Introduction To Forex Trading.

Introduction To Forex Trading

Forex Enterprise — A Full Review

Forex Enterprise — A Full Review

Forex Trading Terms.

Forex Trading

Forex Avenue: The Road to Riches

Forex Avenue: The Road to Riches