Forex Trading Education

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Foreign Exchange (FOREX) Trading is the concurrent buying and trading of different currencies. The industry is very fast paced with sudden changes happening everyday. There are a lot of factors that affect the market value of each currency, a lot of analysis and computation involved to try to make accurate predictions of the next direction the market will take. With all the aspects involved in a FOREX trade, getting involved in the industry can be overwhelming. Getting proper education about the industry is the best course of action before stepping into FOREX trading.

You will need to learn the basics of making trades. A good area to start with is to use a major currency like the US Dollar (USD) or the Euro (EURO) as your base currency for trading. Because these currencies are considered the more stable currency internationally, you will have more options in buying or selling using these currencies.

By using these base currencies to trade with, you will gain experience and see first hand what factors affect the rise and fall of the currencies you trade with. Later , you will be able to move to other currencies such as the Japanese Yen (JPY) or others.

A basic knowledge you have to pay attention to as you progress in your FOREX education is the computation of the difference that takes place everyday. By knowing how to compute and predict the inflation or depreciation of the currency you are trading with, you can avoid large losses, or engage in transactions that are very profitable for you and your clients. If through your basic education, you gain the analytical skills to predict the next outcome of the market, then you can quickly succeed in the industry as a FOREX trading broker.

Forex Trading Brokers

Foreign Exchange (FOREX) Trading is the simultaneous buying of one currency after selling the currency that you possess. If you want to get ahead in this industry, the usual practice is to employ the services of a broker.

In the overall picture, brokers do not handle a whole lot. Each transaction they engage in is actually just a fraction of the total number of transactions that takes place on a daily basis. It is the volume of transactions that makes a big significance in the whole industry.

A service that is important to ask for from your broker is the access to 24-hour online updates that allow you to monitor progress anytime of the day. You might also want to look for a broker who does not charge unreasonable commissions.

Remember that you might not be able to find a broker that has access to inter-bank markets. Instead, he or she will probably buy or sell the currency from you. There are also brokers that possess leverages as high as a 100-to-1 ration, which gives you more trading room. You should find a broker that is registered under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and is a member of the National Futures Association (NFA), because unlike the stock market, FOREX trading is not greatly regulated.

You also want to be cautious of brokers who might want to scam you of your currency. CFTC has actually warned of an increase in scam incidents involving FOREX trading. There are opportunistic brokers who manipulate the exchange rate prices and spike the increase just to gain a profit at your expense. And because there are many factors that affect the rise and fall of the market, it is hard to detect such an action. The industry is fairly unregulated, and there are fast-paced changes happening everyday; so it is hard to track down and stop these scammers. Be extra careful.

Forex Trading Tips

Foreign Exchange Trading better known as FOREX trading is the buying and selling of currencies from different nations. With different factors involved in this trading and its fast paced nature, it is best that you find simple ways to give you a head start in the industry.

The main purpose of getting involve in FOREX trading, just like every form of trade, is the opportunity to buy one currency low, and to be able to sell another currency high. The simplest tip you can get is to always remember to buy low and sell high. There is no point in engaging a trade if you will not profit from it.

In FOREX trading, each currency is given a three letter code like the American (United States of America) dollar has the code USD, European Euro is assigned EUR, Australia Dollars is AUD, China, Yuan Renminbi is CNY, Chile, Pesos is CLP, Philippines, Peso is PHP, so on and so forth. Because many currencies like dollars and peso have the same names, it is important that you know the code of the country’s currency you are trading with. If a currency has the same code, it means that they have the same currency, just like the European Euro that is a standard across Europe, which is given the code EUR. Whether it is RĂ©union, Europe or Saint-Martin, Euro has the same code--EUR.

It is also important to pay attention to the trading hours on the market you intend to trade with. Since this is a global industry, many of the markets open and close at different hours. The market in Sydney, Australia opens at 4:00 pm. Tokyo, Japan opens at 7. :00 pm, Singapore and Hong Kong markets open at the same time at 9:00 pm. Frankfurt and London opens at 2:00 and 3:00 am, respectively for the European market. New York opens at 4:00 am. All these times are based on Eastern Standard Time.

An Introduction To Forex Trading

Foreign Exchange Trading, commonly known as FOREX, is the trading of different currencies in the world. FOREX is not a new concept. Since the dawn of man, people used exchanging of currencies for transactions, but not necessarily in the form that we are currently familiar with.

When man started practicing early forms of ‘business,’ they learned how to trade using the concept of bartering. Citizens of different nations would bring valuables from their land to swap for valuables of the same value in the local land. As currency evolved into bills and coins, the concept of exchange did not die – it was simply updated.

Nowadays, currencies are not only used for purchasing material properties and services. It has evolved into an area of trade on its own. The industry of trading foreign currencies emerged – it is a transaction where you engage in exchange of one currency to another. It is not the mere exchange for the sake of consumption during travels. Trading is done with the intention of gaining some profit from the transaction.

FOREX trading is very appealing for interested business people, because you can engage in transactions 24-hours a day from Monday to Friday. There are always interested buyers and sellers to engage in transactions. If you hold on to a major currency, you can be assured of a stable price, because of the frequency of transactions available, and FOREX transactions do not have commissions. Therefore, it is a very lucrative transaction industry to go into.

And with the trading market constantly moving on a daily basis, there are always opportunities for you to engage in a profitable transaction. There is also a margin of trading that allows you a 50 to 1 ratio – meaning, that with an account of $10,000, you can trade up to $500,000, with the guarantee that you can regain in future transactions.

Forex Trading Systems

Forex stands for a foreign exchange (market) where dollars, Euros, and yen, the main currencies of countries like the USA, Japan, and the members of the European Union, are traded daily. Simply stated, these currencies are bought and sold. The purchase value of these currencies, in comparison with each other, keeps fluctuating on a daily basis due to the economic and political situation prevailing in the respective countries. Forex trading functions like any other trade. You buy a commodity when it is cheap and sell it at a profit when its price goes up. Or, if you are not lucky enough, the price of the commodity may go down and you may be forced to sell it at a loss.

Since the fluctuation in the value of the currencies takes place very quickly, you can make quick profits. On the flip side, you may lose equally fast as well.

Forex traders study the political and economic trends in the economically important countries, including USA, Japan, England or the European Union, and make an assessment of the present or future purchase values of these currencies in comparison with each other. Again, the process of sale and purchase is like any other market activity, except that the time period varies.

Consider a situation where you think that the price of a given commodity, say, silver, gold, or wheat, will increase in the near future. You invest in its purchase and wait for some time until its price increases to your satisfaction, and then you sell it off. The same applies for the forex market as well, except that the retention period in the foreign currency market is usually not very long. You buy and sell, sell and buy, since the prices rise and fall very quickly, and in this way you either gain or lose.

The profit potential of any business venture is determined by the risks involved in it; the greater the risks, the higher the profits. This holds particularly true for the forex market. Fortunes are made or marred in a matter of minutes or even seconds.