Saturday, August 1, 2009

Mini Forex Trading

Mini forex trading was created for new traders entering the forex market. The mini forex account is designed to be one tenth the size of the standard account and the is just $1 per pip. The mini forex account is beneficial for new traders to improve their forex trading skills while being exposed to less financial risk on the market.

Success in the forex market and becoming a profitable trader depends on a lot of practice and experience. It is still essential to practice first with the demo trading software to enable you to get comfortable with the trading platform and to get a feel of the real market. Once you get an idea of what to expect in the forex market, it is wise that you should open a mini forex trading account. Now you are dealing with real money.

Although you might risk losing real money, mini forex trading accounts only requires a small investment of money. It can also give you a small amount of profit. The key to mini forex trading is to enhance your skills until you are ready to trade with the big traders.

To start a mini forex account, there are some characteristics you should know:

• Required minimum account deposit, this is known as margin (eg: $100 - $250)
• Recommended account deposit
• Traded in 10,000-unit currency lots
• A default margin
• Leverage up to 200:1

Mini forex trading has little disadvantages than a regular forex account. Of course it can only make small profits but the risk in regular trading is much larger. Because of only investing small sums of money, mini forex trading reduces the risk of your loss. You can always make another deposit if you lose.

In mini forex trading, you can also use the same software used by regular forex traders, this can work in your advantage. It will be like trading like the big traders only you are just trading in small amounts. Therefore, it eliminates fear of losing. Mini forex trading can also acquire you the proper discipline a forex trader has to have.

Another great feature of starting a mini forex trading account is that there is no maximum trade volume. You are able to trade 10,000 units or even 200,000 units even if the standard size of a mini forex account is 10,000 units. This enables you to develop your skills, trading strategy and technique before slowly increasing the size of your trades

The mini forex trading account is ideal for beginners or novices that are just starting to enter the world of forex trading. Here, the risk is real and the money is real. Mini forex trading is an effective way to learn forex trading without the thought of losing too much money...

Forex vs Stock Market


Two of the main differences between (and some would say advantages over) the forex market compared to the stock market are:

1. Trading hours. The forex market is open 24 hours a day. Trading is done over three continents, allowing a trader to trade continhttpand to react immediately to events and new developments. The market opens on Sunday evening and closes Friday night.

2. Commissions. Electronic trading and competition have brought about a sizeable reduction in the bid-offer spread (the equivalent of commissions). The spread covers the risk of the market maker. The spread for the majors remain very low, but can increase as the liquidity of a specific currency drops. Despite recent reductions of commissions through online stock brokers, the Forex market is considered, by some, to have the lowest commissions relative to trade size when compared to other financial markets. This is also in part due to the 100:1 leverage offered by most trading houses. A client with a $10,000 deposit can leverage this to $1,000,000. Some electronic communication network brokerages have introduced a per trade commision alongside a narrow pip spread.

Many retail trading houses would suggest that the large size of the market makes it impossible for a speculator to affect the market. This is not quite the truth - the stakes are higher, larger quantities of money are involved, and the bigger banks spend a lot of time and effort trying to manipulate the market. Governments have been known to step in and affect prices.

Forex Trading Concept with SigmaForex


Forex, or the foreign exchange market (also commonly known as FX or simply, “currency”) involves trading one currency for another. Forex is by far and away the largest financial market in the world. Trades are made between large banks, central banks, currency speculators, multinational corporations, governments, and even the other financial markets. According to The Bank for International Settlements (BIS), a world-wide central bank organization, the average daily trade in the global forex and related markets is currently over three trillion US dollars – A DAY. This is several times larger than all the U.S stock markets combined. The trading is done from all round the world, with little or no hard cash changing hands

Forex Market Update - U.S. Dollar Still Low

Viewed by some as an upset in the forex market, U.S. currency almost hit a record low recently when compared to other major currencies. There still remains some pressure coming from China when reviewing recent comments that mention the possibility of the nation diversifying reserves separate from the American dollar.

The U.S. dollar hit a rock bottom record low of 1.4729 when put next to the euro, and 2.1070 when compared to the pound. This was only after Cheng Siwei, vice chairman of China's National People's Congress, mentioned that the nation may change to “stronger” forms of currency.

Jeffery Lacker, president of the Richmond Federal Reserve Bank, also made some comments that support the Reserve's choice to slash key Federal fund rates by 1/2 of a point. Lacker, who does not actively vote on the Federal board, mentioned that the Federal Reserve most likely “did the right thing” when referring to the recent rate cuts.

Thomson IFR Markets representative Rhonda Staskow mentioned that Lacker's remarks “also suggest that there is a great deal of uncertainty over the sub-prime/housing/CDO issue and how that will play out.”

Staskow also mentioned that, “A crisis of confidence of the dollar and over the asset levels of banks continues.”

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Forex Market


Some Basic Facts

The forex market is the largest and most popular financial exchange in the world. The average volume traded on the forex market is 4 trillion dollars a day compared to 25 billion dollars a day on the New York Stock Exchange.

You may already be familiar with some of the main currencies that are traded on the forex exchange but here are just a few: The US Dollar, Euro, British Pound, Swiss Franc, and the Japanese Yen. The players in the forex market are central banks, large commercial banks, hedge funds, brokerage firms, and private individuals.


Forex Market Hours

One of the main reasons why the forex market is so popular is because it is a 24 hour continuous market. Although the sessions on each of the separate exchanges generally open from 10AM to 6PM local time, they overlap each other like a relay race. Therefore, you can trade at any time and you can set your own hours. This is great for those who are not interested in a typical 9 to 5 job or for those who want to start trading on a part time basis.

Equal Opportunity Trading

The forex market is considered part of the Over The Counter, or OTC market, which means it doesn’t have a physical or central location. The forex market is run electronically within a network of banks and is made up of all participants that trade between themselves. The sheer size of the forex market makes it impossible for large investment or central banks to manipulate pricing for extended periods of time. This levels the playing field for all the average joe traders out there.

What it Means for You

Since there isn’t a centralized location and because there is little regulation of the forex market, there is heavy competition between different providers to attract the most traders and volume. It also means that the firm you trade with is your counterpart. The advantages are that you can trade directly with the market and that your transaction costs are kept down. The ability to make large profit off leverage is another advantage to the stock exchange. With some firms, you can trade or borrow up to 200 times the balance in your account. This means that a .5% move in the market can turn into a 100% gain.

The forex market is also popular because it doesn’t cost much to start trading. You have to be in it to win it, as some lotto slogans say. There are some online forex brokers that require as little as $10.00 to deposit in a trading account to get started. In the beginning, only large institutions could trade on the forex market; however the internet has made it possible for smaller investors to trade as well. Due to the popularity of online forex trading, the competition between online forex brokers is fierce. As a direct result, the minimum deposits to trade have now become very low

What is Foreign Exchange?


The Foreign Exchange market, also referred to as the "FOREX" market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average turnover of approximately $1.5 trillion. Foreign Exchange is the simultaneous buying of one currency and selling of another. The world's currencies are on a floating exchange rate and are always traded in pairs, for example EUR/USD or USD/JPY

Why haven't I heard of Foreign Exchange?
The answer is simple: the currency market was simply financially inaccessible to the general population of investors and traders, and the minimum account requirements were beyond the resources of the average investor. Since then, the situation has changed dramatically. Now under new bank regulations, instead of a minimum investment of $200K, accounts can be opened for $10 - $50K.

Who are the participants in the FOREX Market?
The FOREX market is called an 'Interbank' market due to the fact that historically it has been dominated by banks, including central banks, commercial banks, and investment banks. However, the percentage of other market participants is rapidly growing, and now includes large multinational corporations, global money managers, registered dealers, international money brokers, futures and options traders, and private speculators.

When is the FOREX market open for trading?
A true 24-hour market begins at 7 p.m. Sunday evening through 3 p.m. Friday EST. FOREX trading begins each day in Sydney, and moves around the globe as the business day begins in each financial center, first to Tokyo, then 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 - day or night.

What are the most commonly traded currencies in the FOREX market?
The most often traded or 'liquid' currencies are those of countries with stable governments, respected central banks, and low inflation. Today, over 85% of all daily transactions involve trading of the major currencies, which include the US Dollar, Japanese Yen, Euro, British Pound, Swiss Franc, Canadian Dollar and the Australian Dollar.

What is Margin?
Margin is a faith deposit for each opened position. This deposit is used to secure a position within the market and is added to or deducted from when profits or loss is in effect, then returned to the account when positions are closed.

How are currency prices determined?
Currency prices are affected by a variety of economic and political conditions, most importantly interest rates, inflation and political stability. Moreover, governments sometimes participate in the FOREX market to influence the value of their currencies, either by selling their domestic currency in an attempt to lower the price, or conversely buying to raise the value of their currency. This is known as Central Bank intervention. Any of these factors, as well as large market orders, can cause high volatility in currency prices. However, the size and volume of the FOREX market makes it impossible for any one entity to "drive" the market for any length of time.

How much money do I need to open a FOREX trading account with Pinnacle Exchange?
Pinnacle-Exchange offers both self-traded and dedicated managed accounts. The minimum deposit for a self-traded account is $1,000. Managed accounts require a minimum of $10,000.

Is Foreign Exchange as risky as everyone thinks?
One way to measure risk is to compare a financial product's risk relative to its return. If you take the time to compare an investment in FOREX to common investments such as equities and fixed income, you will find that from a risk/reward standpoint, FOREX investments provide respectable returns and should be considered viable portfolio diversification tools

Forex Market Basics

The Foreign Exchange market (also referred to as the Forex, FX market, “Cash” Forex or Spot Forex market ) is the largest financial market in the world, with more than $1.5 trillion changing hands every day — 30 times larger than the combined volume of all U.S. equity markets. Another major feature of the Forex market is that it operates 24 hours a day, corresponding to the opening and closing of financial centers in countries all across the world, starting each day in Sydney, then Tokyo, London and New York. At any time, in any location, there are buyers and sellers, making the Forex market the most liquid market in the world.

What to trade in Forex Market?

In the forex market, currency trading is always done in currency pairs, such as EUR/USD or GBP/USD. Accordingly, all trades result in the simultaneous buying of one currency and the selling of another. The base currency is the “basis” for the buy or the sell. It is useful to consider the currency pair as an instrument, which can be bought or sold.

Understanding Forex quote

  • Base currency: The first currency in the pair.
  • Counter Currency: The second currency in the pair. Also known as the terms currency.

The US dollar is the centerpiece of the Forex market and is normally considered the ’base’ currency for quotes. 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/CAD 1.1302 means that one U.S. dollar is equal to 1.1302 Canadian dollar.

BID and ASK Prices

When trading forex you will often see a two-sided quote, consisting of a ’bid’ and ’ask’. 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).

Commission-free, but with spreads

Most Forex brokers offer commission-free Forex trading. Spread - The difference between the bid and ask price of a currency. Normally 3-5 pips on the Majors.

Rollover - What happens to my open positions at the end of the trading day?

Process whereby the settlement of a deal is rolled forward to another value date. The cost of this process is based on the interest rate differential of the two currencies. Most brokers will automatically roll over your open positions, allowing you to hold a position for an indefinite period of time.

Leverage & Margin

The leverage available in forex trading is one of main attractions for many traders. Leveraged trading, or trading on margin, simply means that you are not required to put up the full value of the position. Forex brokers provide more leverage than stocks or futures. In forex trading, the amount of leverage available can be up to 400 times the value of your account.

Short History of Forex Markets


In the 1980’s the movement of money across borders accelerated with the advent of computers and the market became a continuum, trading through the Asian, European and American time zones. Large banks created dealing rooms where hundreds of millions of dollars, pounds, euros and yen were exchanged in a matter on minutes. Today electronic brokers trade daily in the forex market, in London for example, single trades for tens of millions of dollars are priced in seconds. The market has changed dramatically with most international financial transactions being carried out not to buy and sell goods but to speculate on the market with the aim of most dealers to make money out of money.

London has grown to become the world’s leading international financial centre and is the world’s largest forex market. This arose not only due to its location, operating during the Asian and American markets, but also due to the creation of the Eurodollar market. The Eurodollar market was created during the 1950’s when Russia’s oil revenue, all in US dollars, was deposited outside the US in fear of being frozen by US authorities. This created a large pool of US dollars that were outside the control of the US. These vast cash reserves were very attractive to foreign investors as they had far less regulations and offered higher yields.

Today London continues to grow as more and more American and European banks come to the city to establish their regional headquarters. The sizes dealt with in these markets are huge and the smaller banks, commercial hedgers and private investors hardly ever have direct access to this liquid and competitive market, either because they fail to meet credit criteria or because their transaction sizes are too small. But today market makers are allowed to break down the large inter-bank units and offer small traders the opportunity to buy or sell any number of these smaller units (lots).

What's Forex?


Forex is an acronym for foreign exchange, a market where people exchange the currency of one country for the currency of another in order to do business internationally. Typical situations in which such currency exchange is necessary include payments of import and export purchases and the sale of goods or services between countries
Forex is also called the cash market or spot interbank market. The spot market means trading on-the-spot, at whatever the price is at that moment.

Introduction to Forex Trading

Foreign Exchange is the simultaneous buying of one currency and selling of another. In other words, the currency of one country is exchanged for that of another.

The currencies of the world are on a floating exchange rate, and are always traded in pairs - Euro/Dollar, Dollar/Yen, etc. In excess of 85 percent of all daily transactions involve the trading of the major currencies - U.S. Dollar, British Pound, Euro, Swiss Franc, Japanese Yen, Canadian Dollar and Australian Dollar.

The Foreign Exchange market (FOREX) is the largest and most liquid financial market in the world with a daily turnover of over $2 trillion, more than three times the aggregate amount of the United States Equity and Treasury markets combined. By comparison, the currency futures market is only one percent the size of the Foreign Exchange Market.

The internet changed the way we trade!

Unlike other financial markets like the futures and stock markets, the Forex market has no physical location and no central exchange. It operates through an electronic network of banks, corporations and individuals (referred to as Interbank) trading one currency for another.

Forex Market Explained


In the forex market, currencies are exchanged through a floating exchange rate system. The forex market has no central exchange and has no trading floor. It is considered as an 'over-the-counter' (OTC) market and is run electronically within a network of banks known as the interbank market. The FX market runs continuously 24 hours a day from Sunday afternoon to Friday afternoon.

In the past, the forex interbank market was not available to small investors and only the world’s largest banks were allowed to trade openly. Since the introduction of the internet, have emerged to cater for the needs of almost any individual with the use of online forex currency trading platforms. The trading platform is where you will execute all of your trades with your broker with just a few clicks of the mouse.

Individual traders like you and I are known as “Retail Traders”, and must go through retail brokerage firms in order to buy and sell currencies on the foreign exchange market. Today, however, you can buy and sell currencies at the click of a button, in much the same way as you buy and sell stocks. Everything has been automated and linked up electronically. Exchanges in the Forex market happen instantaneously.

You should know up front that online retail trading by individuals (represented by online retail brokers) is still in its infancy. Prior to the Internet, and subsequent availability of real-time market data, it was virtually impossible for the average person to get involved in the foreign exchange market with any degree of success.

The Key to Learning Forex Markets and Winning Big


The Popularity of Foreign Exchange

The Foreign Exchange market is getting a lot of attention from people trying to make cash on the Internet. Most people want to supplement the income they are getting from their everyday 9-to-5. The Foreign Exchange market has become an opportunity for people to take control of their lives financially and be their own bosses which makes learnig forex markets very appealing in this day and age.

Fundamentals of the Market

The fundamental thing to keep in mind when learning Forex markets is that it runs on the same principle that other markets such as the stock market and commodities market does. It runs on the simple concept of supply and demand. But not only that, the most fundamental practice of investing is to buy low and sell it high. If the dollar in Australia is worth $.50 at the moment and you’re using technical analysis that tells you it’s probable for an uptick, then you would make a guess that it will gain up and value. This is when you would acquire the Australian currency at around $.75 and sell it when the value increases much higher. This is done with something called pairs of currencies. This is what traders in the Forex market look for when trying to probe. This allows a traitor to look out for indicators in the economic conditions that will allow them to sell and make enormous profits.

The Powerful Automatic

Traders in market use software programs that can spot trading automatically. Anyone that is a professional and has been trading for quite a while will utilize this software to maximize their profit potential drastically. When you start out learning Forex markets and began trying to reap profits it will be important to learn how to use this trading software sufficiently. These very programs will be the difference between what will either make or break you in the Foreign market. There are many pieces of software out there and there are many trading systems and the best ones, when implemented, will create tremendous wealth. Learning Forex markets does not have to be difficult or complex. It will seem at first very daunting but once you become familiar with trading minute by minute, things will fall into place so easily that you’ll be well on your way to being your own boss and working from the comfort of your own home. This is what drives so many people to get into learning Forex markets in the first place.

This article is about basics but you can learn more about a specific method that I personally use to make gains upwards of 300-500% weekly on every trade with very minimal losses in between at freely and I recommend stopping by if Forex trading sounds of the slight bit interest to you or if you are serious about making money right from in front of your computer.

The Forex market, established


Forex or Foreign Exchange market is the largest financial market in the world. This market has a daily average turnover of US$1.9 trillion dollars a day which is greater than the combined volume of all U.S. equity markets.


Foreign Exchange is a cash market in foreign currencies made by large banks. In this market, currencies are bought and sold and exchange rates are determined. Unlike the Stock Market, Forex works on a 24 hour clock allowing for after hours trading. The Forex Market allows you the freedom and flexibility to build your portfolio on your timetable not the Stock Exchanges.


Forex market trading does not occur on the Stock Exchange and is considered an Over The Counter market as is the NASDAQ. These transactions can occur electronically or over the phone.

forexeducation


The Forex market, established in 1971, was created when floating exchange rates began to materialize. The Forex market is not centralized, like in currency futures or stock markets. Trading occurs over computers and telephones at thousands of locations worldwide.

The Foreign Exchange market, commonly referred as FOREX, is where banks, investors and speculators exchange one currency to another. The largest foreign exchange activity retains the spot exchange (i.e.., immediate) between five major currencies: US Dollar, British Pound, Japanese Yen, Eurodollar and the Swiss Franc. It is also the largest financial market in the world. In comparison, the US stock market may trade $10 billion in one day, whereas the Forex market will trade up to $2 trillion in one single day. The Forex market is an opened 24 hours a day market where the primary market for currencies is the 24-hour Interbank market. This market follows the sun around the world, moving from the major banking centres of the United States to Australia and New Zealand to the Far East, to Europe and finally back to the Unites States.

Until now, professional traders from major international commercial and investment banks have dominated the FX market. Other market participants range from large multinational corporations, global money managers, registered dealers, international money brokers, and futures and options traders, to private speculators.

There are three main reasons to participate in the FX market. One is to facilitate an actual transaction, whereby international corporations convert profits made in foreign currencies into their domestic currency. Corporate treasurers and money managers also enter the FX market in order to hedge against unwanted exposure to future price movements in the currency market. The third and more popular reason is speculation for profit. In fact, today it is estimated that less than 5% of all trading on the FX market is actually facilitating a true commercial transaction.

The FX market is considered an Over The Counter (OTC) or ‘Interbank’ market, due to the fact that transactions are conducted between two counterparts over the telephone or via an electronic network. Trading is not centralized on an exchange, as with the stock and futures markets. 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 - day or night.