Learn Forex Trading And Investing

Learn Forex Trading And InvestingWhat Is FOREX? Well, FOREX stangs for FOReign EXchange, it is an exchange market, where investors buy and sell foreign currencies in hopes of making a profit. Indeed, FOREX can yield big profits. But to earn those big profits, you'll need to know what you're doing. That's where we come in. We're here to provide you with useful articles and information on FOREX trading, so that you can be informed before you start. So, read through our library of articles, learn what to do and what not to do in FOREX trading, and you may be on your way to some decent profits.What is a Forex Broker?By: Eddie Tobey The Currency / Foreign Exchange market is the worlds largest and most dynamic market. Nearly $1.8 trillion is traded every day. The word Forex is derived from the words Foreign Exchange. A Broker is an individual or firm that acts as an intermediary between buyer and seller. Forex brokers are firms that deal in foreign exchange. The foreign exchange market is quite similar to the equity markets, except that typical forex brokers do not charge a commission. However, forex brokers are required to have a license.Forex brokers earn money from the spread (also called "pip"). The spread is the difference between the prices at which a currency is bought and sold. A pip is the smallest price increment in a currency. For example, in Euro/US Dollar (EUR/USD), a move from 0.9008 to 0.9009 is one pip. In US Dollar/Japanese Yen (USD/JPY), a move from 127.41 to 127.42 is one pip. Forex brokers can be compared on the basis of the spread they charge. Most forex brokers publish live or delayed prices on their websites so that the investor can compare the spreads. It is, however, necessary to check if the spread is fixed or variable. Variable spreads appear small and attractive when the market is quiet, but when the market gets busy the forex broker widens the spread, meaning that the investor will gain only if the market is favorable.Forex brokers are usually tied to large banks or lending institutions. This is because of the huge sums of money traded in the foreign exchange markets. Forex brokers are required to register with the Futures Commission Merchant (FCM), and are regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).A new trend among forex brokers is the emergence of online forex brokers, who offer trading facilities to "retail traders" using advanced technology. With these facilities, anyone with a computer and an Internet connection can trade in the forex markets.How To" Start Trading The Forex Market? ( Part 2)By: Martin Maier Why is FOREX trading so popular? Because you can trade from anywhere. From your kitchen table, bedroom, garage or from the nearest Starbucks coffeehouse ( most of them have wireless Internet connection). If you have or like to travel, take your laptop with you and you can trade the FOREX anywhere in the world where you have an Internet connection. When you want to start trading the Forex Market nobody is asking you for a diploma, a formal license or a proof of how many hours you have spent studying the Foreign Exchange Market and/or Banking Industry. FOREX Trading is Economical and Start-up Costs are Low! You can open an account to trade Forex with as little as US$ 200 at he most brokerage firms. I personally do recommend Fenix Capital Management, LLC, which offers a state of art Trading platform, that allows you to place orders directly by clicking on the chart. The Main Benefits of Trading the FX Spot Market are: YOU dont pay commissions or fees! YOU can trade 24-hours a day ! YOU can trade up to 400:1 Leverage ! YOU can have FREE Streaming executable Price quotes and live charts! It is impo@@@nt to know the differences between cash FOREX (SPOT FX) and currency futures. In currency futures, the contract size is predetermined. With FOREX (SPOT FX), you may trade electronically any desired amount, up to $10 Million USD. The futures market closes at the end of the business day (similar to the stock market).If impo@@@nt data is released overseas while the U.S. futures markets is closed, the next days opening might sustain large gaps with potential for large losses if thedirection of the move is against your position. The Spot FOREX market runs continuously on a 24-hour basis from 7:00 am New Zealand time Monday morning to 5:00 pm New York Time Friday evening. Dealers in every major FX trading center (Sydney, Tokyo, Hong Kong/Singapore, London, Geneva and New York/Toronto) ensure a smooth transaction as liquidity migrates from one time zone to the next. Furthermore, currency futures trade in non-USD denominated currency amounts only, whereas in spot FOREX, an investor can trade in almost any currency denomination, or in the more conventionally quoted USD amounts. The currency futures pit, even during Regular IMM (International Money Market) hours suffers from sporadic lulls in liquidity and constant price gaps. The spot FOREX market offers constant liquidity and market depth much more consistently than Futures. With IMM futures one is limited in the currency pairs he can trade. Most currency futures are traded only versus the USD. With spot FOREX, you may trade foreign currencies vs. USD or vs. each other on a cross basis, for example: EUR/JPY, GBP/JPY, CHF/JPY, EUR/GBP and AUD/NZD More and more well informed investor and entrepreneurs are diversifying their traditional investments like stocks, bonds & commodities with foreign currency because of the following reasons: (will be continued) RISK WARNING: Risks of currency trading: Margined currency trading is an extremely risky form of investment and is only suitable for individuals and institutions capable of handling the potential losses it entails. An account with an broker allows you to trade foreign currencies on a highly leveraged basis (up to about 400 times your account equity). The funds in an account that is trading at maximum leverage may be completely lost if the position(s) held in the account experiences even a one percent swing in value, given the possibility of losing ones entire investment. Speculation in the foreign exchange market should only be conducted with risk capital funds that, if lost, will not significantly affect the investors financial well-being.FOREX Trading StrategiesBy: Terrence Tully FOREX Trading Strategies To be a successful FOREX trader you need to develop and adhere to a trading strategy. There are many different strategys available and no particular one is good for all traders; rather, each trader needs to develop his or her individual approach to the FOREX. We each have special skills that separate us from others and the FOREX trader needs to find what works best for him/her. Some traders rely solely on technical analysis while others prefer fundamental analysis, but many successful FOREX traders use a combination of both to get a broad overview of the market and for plotting entry and exit points. Technical analysis, or charting, relies on one key concept: Prices move by trends. The common saying in FOREX and stock trading is The trend is your friend. If prices are moving in one direction, the strength of the move can be observed by looking at the chart. Market movements have identifiable patterns that have been studied for many years and a thorough understanding of these trends and how to use the trends to make FOREX trading decisions form the basis of a good trading strategy. There are many analytical tools available to study market movements. FOREX traders can use computer software or even pen and paper to perform their own analysis. Books abound describing many of these strategies. The beginner FOREX trader should study each one well and acquire a working knowledge of the concepts. Study each method until it is mastered, then use itthe strategy to fully learn it. Once mastered, move on to the next strategy and repeat. It is a simple practice to "trade" FOREX simply on paper, without entering any actual trades. In fact, this method is highly recommended until the beginning FOREX trader builds some confidence. Support and resistance levels are used in many FOREX trading strategies. Support refers to the price level that is repeatedly seen as the bottom - when the price reaches this level it tends to rise. Prices will seldom fall below the "support" line. At the opposite spectrum is the Resistance levels. Resistance appears to be the peak that a price will reach when buyers and sellers seem to agree. At this apex prices will move up no further. The space in between "resistance" and "support" is known as the "trading range". Prices can move back and forth within this range for some time. The longer the time frame spent in this range, the more impo@@@nt the signal triggered when prices move outside of the range. When currency prices break through either support or resistance levels, the prices are expected to continue in that same direction. As mentioned, the longer prices stayed in a trading range, the more significant the "breakout", if prices move above "resistance" or "breakdown", if prices fall below "support" For example, if the price rises above the previous resistance level, it is seen as bullish - the price should continue to rise. This signifys that more buyers have entered the market and this increased "buy" pressure will move prices higher. Conversely, when sellers are too many and buyers few, a "breakdown" could signify prices moving lower again until buyers and sellers once again reach equqlibrium. To find support and resistance levels, price charts need to be analyzed for unbroken support and resistance levels. Charts can be analyzed in any time frame; short term traders will study daily or even hourly charts while the long term trader will use weekly or monthly charts to easily see the long term trend. Traders can use support/resistance levels to determine when to enter or exit a transaction. Moving averages are another common tool in FOREX trading strategies. If a trader only uses the closing price of a currency at the end of the day as a guide, it is hard to establish the true direction of the move. Moving averages "smooth" out the large moves and give us a much clearer look at the currency price. One average used is the simple moving average (SMA) shows the average price in a given period of time over a specified period of time. A 10 day SMA simply takes the past 10 day closing price of a currency and averages out the 10 day data. Another popular moving average is a weighted moving average. While similiar to the SMA, the WMA puts more emphasis on the last several days trading. So while still showing a 10 day average, more weight is added to the last couple of trading days to better reflect the true trend. When prices are above the MA, they will tend to stay above the MA line. When the MA is below the line, price decline can be expected as well. These are examples of trading strategies that can be used individually or in combination. In practice, the FOREX trader should have a repertoire of trading tools to examine market conditions and to support the findings of one trading method or another. Experienced traders will rely on several, rather than one, key indicators to base their trading decisions on. Similarly, fundamental analysis can be used to reinforce technical findings, or vice versa. The FOREX trader will study currency valuations, inflation rates, and other key financial indicators to decide whether a currency is "cheap" or "expensive" Ideally, the FOREX trader will use several indicators into account when plotting a trading strategy. Every trading strategy should provide clear guidelines about when to enter a trade, what to expect in terms of market movement, when to exit a trade, and how much loss can be accepted in case the deal moves against the trader. Following these simple guidelines and learning about technical analysis can help you become a successful FOREX trader. Regards