Currency Trading Proceed With Caution

 

The key to a successful portfolio is diversification. One of many areas an individual can invest in is currency trading. Using the foreign-exchange rate, two currencies are compared to determine one currencies value compared to the other. The simple laws of supply and demand apply even in the foreign exchange market. A currencies value will increase when demand rises above the currently available supply.

When demand falls below the available supply the value will decrease. The demand for any particular currency is driven by speculation on the future of that currency. The speculation is based on factors like the gross domestic product GDP and business activity. In general, the higher the interest rates the higher the return on an investment. The foreign-exchange market exchanges billions of dollars on a daily basis. Commonly a bank is used for any forex trading to ensure that exchange rates are accurate.

As an investment option, currency trading can be profitable, but as always it is recommended that any sort of investing is done by using professional services. In the case of foreign currency trading, this is especially necessary. It is strongly recommended that a bank be used for the exchange of currency. In the last few years, a number of trading scams have duped traders out of millions of dollars. Forex scams are carried out in several different ways. Primarily it involves a broker assuring potential clients large profits either by selling useless software or managing accounts in a way that serves only their purposes. The reason why forex scams are able to operate for the most part is because the foreign exchange market is poorly regulated.

Foreign exchange opportunities that strike a potential investor as too good to be true usually are. No company can predict what a currency will do and any that predict large profits in the near future should not be trusted. Being approached with opportunities billed as having no risk for the investor should be considered a fraud. If being encouraged to trade on margin (the act of borrowing money for purchase of stocks or currency) can greatly increase risk. Always investigate any companys background before doing any business with them and especially prior to transferring any money either over the Internet or via postal services. If a brokerage firm won't divulge the path of their trades then be particularly wary.

Currency trading can indeed be a profitable form of investing, but those without access to large amounts of money will hardly see any notable gains unless taking large risks like investing in a nation whose currency isn't recognized by the world banks. It is easy to think of how much money can be gained if millions of useless bills suddenly become worth even a fraction of a dollar, but these dreams could easily turn sour if a government folds instead of recovers. If a government falls then it is basically the same as owning stock in a company that goes bankrupt. The shares, or in the case of foreign countries, the currency becomes useless and never gains any value. As with any investment, it is important to research the risk involved and think realistically about potential profits and losses.

Source: http://www.articlecircle.com/ - Free Articles Directory

About the Author

Mika Hamilton runs a website offering free investment tips and strategies for people looking to get started in the investment world. http://www.Global-Investment-Institute.com

Forex Trading and the Holy Grail

 

If you've ever looked into 'forex' (foreign exchange) trading, you will have a good idea of the potential gains. You can become wealthy in a very short space of time, although it pays to remember that one person's gain is another person's loss. Remember the warning 'prices can go down as well as up'.

There are a number of brokers or spread betting companies through which you can trade. I'm going to give you some advice on maximising your chances of succeeding. You will face challenges along the way but if you persevere for long enough you may find yourself in a very positive situation. First and foremost, know what you are getting into. Read as much as you can about every aspect of trading, and remain objective with regards to the many opinions you will hear on how to go about it.

If you are spread betting then you will need to find a company that offers a competitive 'spread'. Shop around. Find out what a spread is - this is very important. Be very sceptical about trading systems that offer instant wealth. Trading methods that worked last year may have run out of steam in the current market.

Once a system becomes widespread enough then too many people know how it works. Lots of people start using it and any advantage is wiped out. You may end up slaving away for little or no profit at all.

There is one system that can potentially make you rich. It's called 'your system'. That's right. The one you developed and didn't tell anybody about. This can take a good deal of work to develop. There are numerous software packages available to help you monitor market patterns, and design your killer strategy. If you develop a strategy that works then keep it quiet!

In my experience the most consistently profitable trading technique is a method called 'skimming'. This involves placing many trades for small market movements which build your profits based on a considerable number of transactions. It's only possible for spread betters to profit from this if they are able to place bets with a tiny spread. This requires experience and a good knowledge of the markets. Make sure you are fully prepared. This is an intensive method - you didn't expect it to be easy did you?

I have one final recommendation which is extremely important. You may be raring to go but if you remember just this advice you will save yourself considerable amount of stress. The most important advice you will ever hear about trading is- 'only trade with money that you can afford to lose'.

'Is that all' you may ask. Talk to those who have lost the money they traded which they could not afford to lose. Beware anyone who suggests otherwise as they very probably have something to gain from your additional risk-taking. They don't care if you crash and burn, as long as they get their slice. If you are planning to win in the long term then limit your exposure to losses in the short term.

Source: http://www.articlecircle.com/ - Free Articles Directory

About the Author

Richard Barker co-publishes the Hammock Survival Guide. To learn more about forex trading visit http://www.hammocksurvivalguide.com/ in particular the 'Currency Trading' category. Feel free to reproduce any article as long as the author's resource box remains intact.

Forex and Forex Brokering - The Cheapest Way to Transfer Money Overseas

 The foreign exchange market exists wherever one currency is traded for another. This is an international exchange market where simultaneous buying of one currency and selling of another is done. Currencies are traded in pairs, for example Euro/US Dollars (EUR/USD) or US Dollars/Japanese Yen (USD/JPY). It is by far the largest market in the world, in terms of cash value traded and includes trading between large banks, central banks, multinational corporations, governments and other financial market and institutions.

The foreign exchange market is unique because of its trading volume, the extreme liquidity of the market (i.e. price stability even with the fastest buying or selling), the large number and variety of traders in the market, its geographical dispersion, its long trading hours (24 hours a day - except weekends) and the variety of factors that affect exchange rates.

The minimum trading size in this market is usually $1 million, with an overall trading volume of about $1.9 trillion per day worldwide. Buying and Selling of currencies is basically for two reasons. 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 mostly for profit. In fact, this market has the potential to earn almost $100,000 with an initial capital of only $500!

The ten most active traders account for almost 73% of trading volume. These are Deutsche Bank (17%), UBS (12.5%), Citigroup (7.5%), HSBC (6.4%), Barclays (5.9%), Merrill Lynch (5.7%), J.P. Morgan Chase (5.3%), Goldman Sachs (4.4%), ABN AMRO (4.2%), Morgan Stanley (3.9%). These large international banks continually provide the market with both bid (buy) and ask (sell) prices. The bid/ask spread is the difference between the price at which a bank or market maker will sell ("ask", or "offer") and the price at which a market-maker will buy ("bid") from a wholesale customer. This spread is minimal for actively traded pairs of currencies, usually only 1-3 pips. One pip is the smallest measure of price move used in forex trading and refers to 1/10,000 of the bid/ask spread. For example, the bid/ask quote of EUR/USD might be 1.2200/1.2203 (i.e. 3 pips difference).

Although the banks get the least and most stable bid/ask spread they never offer the same rates to their customers, since their key purpose of participating in this market is for profit.

Currencies are traded against one another. Each pair of currencies thus constitutes an individual product and is traditionally noted XXX/YYY, where YYY is the international three-letter code of the currency into which the price of one unit of XXX currency is expressed. For instance, EUR/USD is the price of the euro expressed in US dollars, as in 1 euro = 1.2045 dollar. According to April 2004's BIS (Bank for International Settlement) study, the most heavily traded products were: EUR/USD (28 %), USD/JPY (17 %) GBP/USD (14 %). The US currency was involved in 89% of transactions, followed by the euro (37%), the yen (20%) and sterling (17%) - (Note that volume percentages should add up to 200% - 100% for all the sellers, and 100% for all the buyers). Although trading in the euro has grown considerably since the currency's creation in January 1999, the foreign exchange market is thus still largely dollar-centred. For instance, trading the euro versus a non-European currency ZZZ will usually involve two trades: EUR/USD and USD/ZZZ. The only exception to this is EUR/JPY, which is an established traded currency pair in the inter-bank market.

According to the BIS study, 53% of transactions were strictly inter-dealer (i.e. inter-bank), 33% involved a dealer (i.e. a bank) and a fund manager or some other non-bank financial institution, and only 14% were between a dealer and a non-financial company. The inter-bank market caters for both the majority of commercial turnover and large amounts of speculative trading every day. A large bank may trade billions of dollars daily. Some of this trading is undertaken on behalf of customers, but much is conducted by proprietary desks, trading for the bank's own account.

On the other hand, retail forex brokers handle a minute fraction of the total volume of the foreign exchange market, estimated at $25-50 billion daily, which is about 2% of the whole market. In the retail forex industry market makers more often than not run two separate trading desks- one that they use to actually trade foreign exchange (essentially serving as a proprietary trading desk or "non-dealing desk") and one that is set up for the expressed purpose of off-exchange trading with retail customers (called the "dealing desk" or "trading desk"). The dealing desk operates much like the currency exchange counter at a bank. Inter-bank exchange rates, those coming in from the inter-bank system and displayed at the non-dealing desk, are adjusted to incorporate spreads that safeguard the bank's (in this instance the market maker's) profit before they are displayed in the lobby (at the dealing desk) to the retail customer. Dealing desk pricing is, therefore, not a direct reflection of the currency exchange but artificial pricing created and controlled by the originating broker.

Forex Brokers tend to provide better exchange rates compared to the banks also trading in the forex market as well as companies such as Western Union or MoneyGram in order to keep up their competition against them. Hence dealing with specialist international forex brokering companies is a suitable way to transfer money overseas both in large and small amounts.

Source: http://www.articlecircle.com/ - Free Articles Directory

About the Author

M. Ali Jamalan is an internet researcher who has now launched a free information website discussing his topics of interest. You can read more such articles on (http://www.tell-me-more-about.co.uk).

Forex Trading: Getting Started

 

It is not so easy to get started with the forex trading business for a beginner especially when one is a retailer. But, there are several avenues that one can explore which introduce the beginner systematically to get started with forex trading. I will deal with this article with the beginner in the mind.

Look Around For Information First
Internet is replete with information on forex trading. There are dedicated websites for just information and educating the investors. One such website of repute is http://www.investopedia.com/. Apart from offering a flood of information and tutorial these websites let you work on their simulated mock trading sessions where you get a feel of real like situations. For this you will be required to open a free demo trading account with them. Another similar website is http://www.forex.com/.

But one can not discount the offline source of information. Books journals and workshops conducted by the industry associations all are more than useful to begin with. Workshops/seminars will be for both beginners and advanced investors. Look around for announcements before you enroll with them.

Studying the Pulse of Forex Market
Really the essence of learning in the seminars and workshops is to know the process of market prediction through fundamental and technical analysis. Fundamental analysis basically deals with the macro economic background of a currency and its liquidity so has more to do with the economic health and trading turnovers of that currency with a long term perspective. Technical analysis is although a reflection of fundamentals, deals more with the market behavior at large. The market behavior of currencies, just like equities, reacts to fundamentals but not as quickly as to the investor sentiments. Thus there are different sets of indicators for each of these. While technical analysis relies more on computerized statistical charts fundamentals depend on the economic milestones and policies of that economy.

Demo or mock trading experiences expose you to the heat of fast paced decision making process. This, you will appreciate before you actually put in your stake to risk. When you actually open an account with a forex broker, you will get access to their softwares, either standalone or internet based, through which you can analyze and trade in real time.

A Word of Advice
If you are a fresher, it would be prudent of you to have slower and smaller exposure till such times when you are comfortable with market predictions even for intraday calls. Another point is not to go for shorts unless you are truly confident of your decision. How long it takes to become a seasoned forex trader? It depends on the background and exposure of the individual and as such there is no standard.

Source: http://www.articlecircle.com/ - Free Articles Directory

About the Author

Jason Uvios writes about "Forex Trading: Getting Started" to visit: http://www.freeforextradingnews.info, http://www.free-forextrading-news.info and http://www.freeforextradingresearch.info

              Forex for Express Fortunes

 

Have you heard about the simple, quick and convenient trading opportunity called forex? Foreign currency exchange is making millionaires out of people just like you and me.

Have you been thinking of investing and wondering what is the most efficient path? Real estate ties up your money for extended periods of time, so does the futures market and the stock exchange provides complications of the harrowing kind. Forex, foreign currency exchange, is relatively new to the public and offers many benefits over traditional investments.

Start Up Capital
Traditional investment opportunities are often only available to those with plenty of cash and the confidence to trade it. Forex requires a minimal investment to get started. If you can afford dinner and a movie for 2 you can afford to get started with forex. Throw in the cash for tickets to a concert and a couple promotional tee shirts and you've got a real start in making your trades pay off.

Low Risk, High Yield
You can be wrong 50% of the time and still make money with forex. Learn to watch the trends and you've got a significant edge on the volatile stock market.

Convenience
Unlike stock markets, you can do forex trading quickly and easily, on your laptop, at the end of your busy day or at the beach. Forex trades seven days a week twenty-four hours a day. No setting your alarm for the market to open on the other side of the world.

Leverage
Does this sound like magic to you? If you trade in "mini lots" and have $1,000 invested you are trading a hunk of change valued at $10,000. That's a lot for a mini investment!

Bulls & Bears
Makes no difference what the stock market trends are, which way real estate prices are moving, you can always make money with forex. No matter what the trend, you can make a profit in rising and falling markets. Just learn to watch the trends.

Liquidity
No need to tie up your money for long periods of time. Your capitol is accessible any time you want it. You haven't bought an office building, gold or pork bellies. You bought cash and you can cash in at a moments notice.

Real Time Practice
Paper trading with forex gives you instant feedback on your trades and understanding of the system. It's simple to understand if you get the concepts sufficiently to invest your cash in the market without having to wait.

Forex for Express Fortunes
Foreign currency exchange is making millionaires out of people just like you and me. Does everyone get rich trading forex? Of course not! But many do, by taking the time to learn the ups and downs and get some free expert advice. If you are looking for an exciting opportunity to turn $300 into $30,000, it's time to look at the exciting new opportunity available to you in forex, the foreign currency exchange.

Source: http://www.articlecircle.com/ - Free Articles Directory

About the Author

Kristin S. Kopp, President of Partners in Progress since 1988, is in the business of helping people get what they want. If you want financial freedom and the ability to call your own shots, check out the FREE introductory report, Forex Freedom available at http://www.rapidforexcoaching.com

How Can the Employment Report Make You Money?

The reports both measure employment levels, just from different angles. Due to the vastly different size of the survey samples (the establishment survey not only surveys more businesses, but each business employs many individuals), the measures of employment may differ markedly from month to month. The household survey is used only for the unemployment measure - the market focusses primarily on the more comprehensive establishment survey. Together, these two surveys make up the employment report, the most timely and broad indicator of economic activity released each month.

Total payrolls are broken down into sectors such as manufacturing, mining, construction, services, and government. The markets follows these components closely as indicators of the trends in sectors of the economy; the manufacturing sector is watched the most closely as it often leads the business cycle. The data also include breakdowns of hours worked, overtime, and average hourly earnings.

The average workweek (also known as hours worked) is important for two reasons. First, it is a critical determinant of such monthly indicators as industrial production and personal income. Second, it is considered a useful indicator of labor market conditions: a rising workweek early in the business cycle may be the first indication that employers are preparing to boost their payrolls, while late in the cycle a rising workweek may indicate that employers are having difficulty finding qualified applicants for open positions. Average earnings are closely followed as an indicator of potential inflation. Like the price of any good or service, the price of labor reacts to an overly accommodative monetary policy. If the price of labor is rising sharply, it may be an indication that too much money is chasing too few goods, or in this case employees.

Source: http://www.articlecircle.com/ - Free Articles Directory

About the Author

Maceo Jourdan is recognized as an expert trainer, trader and author of three best-selling trading books and Home Study Courses including "How To Get Filthy Stinking Rich Trading The Forex" book and Home Study, "How To Trade The Harmonics of The Foreign Exchange Markets" Vol. 1, 2 and 3. Maceo has trained over 1,300 students in large seminars, one-on-one and small groups. Get Forex Trading information from Maceo at http://www.TheInsiderCode.com.