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Thursday, February 4, 2010

Global Forex Trading 02

You can work from anywhere in the world

Due to the fact that the markets are available to everybody 24 hours a day, with internet connection, your laptop, computer, or even 3G enabled cell phone, one can actually trade from anywhere in the world.
The markets are open 24 hours a day

Round the clock trading gives the trader the opportunity to trade within any time zone around the world.

The currency market is a 24-hour market. As a trader, this allows you to react to favourable/unfavourable events by trading immediately. It also gives traders the added flexibility of determining their trading day.

You can be independent from routine and not answer to anybody.

Largest market in the world

If you add all the volume on all the stock exchanges in the world, it would still not get close to the volume on the Forex markets. Volume ensures that a trader will never be stuck with a position – if you want to buy there will be sellers and if you want to sell there will be buyers.

In excess of 3 trillion USD gets traded on a daily basis, this is more than all the other speculative markets put together and with more than 120 currency pairs available for trading daily, it has a huge potential for day traders.


Limited infrastructure required

You only need your computer, set–up with the appropriate software and the necessary training to conduct your business. No offices and other costly infrastructure stretching your cash flow to the extreme are required.

Little or no staff required

In this business it is predominantly you and your computer and you have no staff, no labour problems, no cash flow planning, no salaries and wages, to be concerned about.

No stock

No business can operate without stock be it production or even stationery stock, this in itself is a huge expense to keep and protect and many hours are spent to control and check your stock... now you can conduct a business without these expenses.

No theft and shrinkage

No losses to be concerned about and investing huge amounts of money to protect yourself against potential losses from theft or shrinkage.

Free and user friendly software

The trading software with charting is Windows based and you only need to click on an icon to activate the desired function.

Non- Simulated Demo trading account

With this account you will be in a position to trade on the real money markets using demo money. You will see real movements in the market and be able to trade them without risking real money.

Professional Training and On-going Support

FREE state of the art training presented in 10 online modules to all traders opening a live account.

Global Forex Trading

The U.S. dollar is gaining against the sterling and the euro in forex trading today. High beta currencies are losing out as risk aversion rises and investors look for safety in the U.S. dollar.

Rate decisions in the euro zone and in Britain are no surprise: Both the ECB and the BOE decided to keep things the same. The situation has not improved enough for higher interest rates, and lower interest rates would send the message that panic is in order.

As a result of troubles in the euro zone, the euro has reached multi-month lows in forex trading. Greece is the dominating factor. For the sterling in forex trading, the problems are related to the massive amounts of public debt. After watching Greece go down, there are concerns that Britain could be approaching that point.

In any case, risk aversion is high, and the U.S. dollar is gaining in forex trading on the currency market. Dollar bulls are in control, and likely to remain so until the issues in Europe are worked out.

FOREX Pros

Just like futures and stock speculation, a FOREX trader has the ability to control a large amount of currency 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 if you are trading stocks. One of the FOREX pros is the margin requirements for FOREX are about 1%. For example, the margin required to trade foreign exchange is $1000 for every $100,000. This can be a very profitable way to trade, but it's important to fully understand the risks that are involved.

When you trade in futures, you have to pay exchange and brokerage fees. FOREX is commission free, a much better scenario and another FOREX pro. Currency trading occurs on a worldwide inter-bank market that lets buyers be matched with sellers in an instant. But even though you do not have to pay a commission charge to a broker to be matched up with a buyer or seller, the spread is usually larger than it is when you are trading futures. And the spread is where the brokerage makes their money.

For example, if you are trading a Japanese Yen/US Dollar pair, a FOREX trade would have about a 3 point spread (worth $30). Trading a JY futures trade would likely have a spread of only 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 for self-directed online trading, or as high as $50 for full-service trading. However, this is generally all-inclusive pricing. It’s a good idea to compare both online FOREX and your specific futures commission charges to see which commission is the greater one.

This may seem complicated, and frankly, it is a bit. The FOREX market is a technical market, but if you are willing to take the time to understand the workings of the market as well as the FOREx pros and apply good trading discipline, you will realize substantial profits.

Trading platforms


Among the main features of on-line trading resources that modern traders and investors demand are practicality, convenience, mobility, and quality. Broco clients enjoy all of these, thanks to the variety of trading terminals, which our company provides to help them access major financial markets around the globe.

Broco provides 4 trading terminals — to keep track of and trade a multitude of financial instruments in diverse financial markets. These provide virtually unlimited opportunities for profitable trading. This wide range of products is proof positive that the Broco understands the needs of traders and is faithful to its slogan "Made by traders for traders".

What is the Foreign Exchange Market

The foreign exchange market is the (market)place where different currencies are traded for one another.

As such, it is held to be the biggest financial market in the world, and one which is closest to the ideal of ‘perfect competition’ held by economists the world over.

The traders in this market include currency speculators, banks, central banks, governments, multinational corporations, and other financial organizations.

Foreign Exchange Market: Features

The foreign exchange market or the forex market is characterized by:
  • Huge trading volumes
  • 24 hour trading
  • Geographical Diversity
  • Liquidity
  • Large variety and number of traders
The trading volumes of the forex market exceed billions of dollars and the market is open 24 hours a day because currency is traded all throughout the globe. This geographical diversity is the reason that a large variety of traders exist in the foreign exchange market today. Also adding to this diversity is the capability of different platforms such as Internet trading, to create a diverse trader base in the market.

Of course, the fact that trade in this market consists of currency or foreign exchange is bound to create a very high amount of liquidity in this particular market.

The main feature of this market is that there is no central marketplace for the trade of foreign exchange. As such, the trade is carried out OTC or ‘Over The Counter’.

Depending upon the kind of foreign exchange or currency instrument being traded, and the kind of trade being conducted, the prices vary. For example, the price for buying currency notes would be different from the price for buying checks. Similarly a buy transaction exchange rate will differ from a sell transaction exchange rate.

The Top 5 currencies which are traded in the foreign exchange market are:
  • United States Dollar (USD)
  • Eurozone Euro (EUR)
  • Japanese Yen (JPY)
  • British Pound Sterling (GBP)
  • Swiss Franc (CHF)
Currency rates are always expressed in terms of another, more popular or stable currency. For example, the exchange rate of the Indian Rupee is always expressed in comparison with the United States Dollar.

Factors Affecting Foreign Exchange Currency Market Trade

Due to its particular features, foreign exchange rates and trade in the foreign exchange market are primarily the result of the demand and supply functions of currency.

Other than this point of view, the forex market is also affected by factors which can be broadly classified into:
  • Political Factors
  • Economic Factors
  • Market Psychology
Political conditions of a country can affect that country’s currency rates. Growth and economic prosperity can positively affect the currency rates, while political upheaval like civil war can negatively affect the currency rates of that country.

Economic factors include things such as the budget deficit or surplus conditions of that country, the balance of trade situation, levels of inflation and the general trend of economic growth in that country.

Market psychology includes the susceptibility of the forex market to rumors, perceptions of the market regarding the safety of a particular currency, and the definitive long term trends of a currency in the market.

All these factors contribute towards the currency rate of a particular country to rise or fall.

Types of Forex Financial Instruments

These are the different types of financial instruments or trading systems that are followed commonly in the foreign exchange market. Let us have a quick look at them.

Spot

In this kind of trade, the transaction has a 2-day delivery date. This is a direct exchange between two currencies and often involves cash and does not include any interest. This is by far the most voluminous trade that is carried out in the forex market.

Forward

In this kind of trade, currencies are exchanged on a future, agreed upon date. The seller and the buyer agree upon a future date on which to exchange their currencies with each other. The currency is then exchanged at the rate of exchange prevalent on that day.

Future

This is similar to the Futures trade which takes place in the stock market. This involves standard contracts which often have maturity dates. The contract will state how much currency is to be exchanged on which date and at which rate. There are often special exchanges for these trades. The contracts also often include interest costs.

Swap

This is a very unique type of a forex transaction. In this, two parties decide to exchange currencies with each other for a pre-agreed length of time and then agree to reverse the transaction at a future date.

Option

This again is similar to the Options trade in the stock market. In this transaction, the owner of the transaction can exchange currency at a pre-agreed rate on a pre-agreed date. This is an option, a right, but not an obligation of the Option owner.

In conclusion, we can say that the foreign exchange market is thus a very important aspect of the measurement of the financial situation of a particular country in the global marketplace.

Stock Market

There are many small players that join the bandwagon of stock market investors every day. They trade successfully, armed with research and knowledge. No different from any other trading ground, the stock market too, can be conquered. The transactions and the outcome of the market are unique in a sense that they can be conducted via online trading or in real time. It is very important though to know how to start investing in the stock market before joining the fray.

Some Stock Market References:

Stock: Stock refers to a share in the profit. Stock trading involves 'buying into ownership' of a company. Stock is also referred to as equity or shares.

Investor: An investor is the owner of a particular company's stock. He has 'claim', in however small a proportion, to all company assets. The investor shares the company's earnings.

Stock certificate: The stock certificate represents the stock purchased and defines the return on investment. Offline, the certificate is a fancy document, while online it is a display available at a click on the mouse.

Dividend: This is a distribution of the owned portion of a company's earnings. It is commonly quoted in terms of a currency amount per share.

Common stock: Common stock represents ownership in a company and claim on a portion of profits. It yields higher returns in the long run.

Preferred stock: It guarantees a fixed dividend forever. In event of liquidation, preferred stock continues to be paid off.

How to Start Investing in the Stock Market:

Assimilate information: The stock market is just like any other trading arena. It is unique in application and hence, it is very important to get yourself educated on the basics and the terms and abbreviations used. You should use every resource to get acquainted with the roles of other players on the field and understand how one enriches the other. Set time aside to read and research about stocks, stock exchange and market trends. Inquire about seminars, symposiums and online resources.

Set financial goals: Like everything else in life, stock investing too can lead to 'aimless wandering' if there is no short and long term financial goal in place. You could look up any of the stock-picking strategies like options trading that are easily accessible to set your own goals.

Invest in market-specific knowledge: Indulge in preliminary reading of annual and quarterly reports. Look up dedicated documents accessible from the Securities and Exchange Commission. Once you get acquainted with the lingo and analysis, you will be better equipped to meet the market challenges.

Invest small and on familiar turf: It is very important to invest small in the beginning. Like any other fiscal arena, don't put all the eggs in one basket. Buy stocks to diversify. Invest primarily, in those companies that you are familiar with. This will add to your level of confidence while interacting within the 'ring'.

Compare and analyze research: It is important to conduct stock research and assimilate and analyze the performance of successful companies dealing in mutual-funds and stock. The profits could be yours if you follow similar trends and identify their success strategy.

Study the charts: Compare and study the charts relevant to your investment in the stock market. This enables you to home your investment skills by identifying upscale industries and major foreign investments.

Focus on the long term financial goal: Achieve short term, but don't let the long term financial goal out of sight. In order to achieve both, it is important to indulge in goal setting and be patient with stocks that are slow in making it to the charts and save on commissions. The latter can be achieved by making optimum use of discount brokerages.

The stock market can be a roller-coaster ride if you don't tread with caution. Use the three R's - Research, Review and Revise, for success on this turf.

Forex Is

Foreign exchange market or Forex is the market for buying and selling currencies. Currencies from all over the word can be traded in Forex which is an OTC (over the counter) market. The Forex market is loosely regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The National Futures Association (NFA) has regulatory authority over retail brokers and market makers. Forex, the most liquid market in the world operates round the clock.

Who are the Market Participants? Why do they trade ?

Governments and Banks:Governments and central banks of various countries deal in the forex market with the intention of maintaining their foreign exchange reserves. Many a times governments buy and sell currency with the intention of achieving a favorable balance of payment (BOP) situation. For instance if a country is interested in increasing its exports, it might sell its currency in forex market. This would increase the supply of the currency. An increase in supply would result in currency depreciation. Once the currency depreciates, exports increase; making the current account balance favorable and the BOP satisfactory. Since governments and central banks have unlimited authority and access to money, they can exercise significant influence on the direction of the market.

Business Firms: Firms deal in the forex market mainly in order to hedge against unfavorable exchange rate movements. For example, a firm in the U.S. engaged in the business of supplying corn to Europe would receive payments in EUR. Suppose EUR depreciates, the U.S. based firm would suffer. This is because the firm can now buy fewer dollars with the euros. In order to avoid this situation the firm can enter into a future contract to lock in a favorable rate at which euros can be exchanged for dollars. This process is known as hedging.

Banks and Financial Institutions: Banks and other financial institutions also participate in the forex market. Banks profit from the bid-ask spread. They deal in a particular segment of the market known as the interbank market. In this market, banks who have credit relations with each other indulge in trading currencies. The size of the bank in monetary terms would determine its credit relation and its importance in the interbank market. Individuals who need to exchange currency can approach their local banks.

Automated Forex Trading System

Automated forex trading has become a popular way to make a profit by dealing in currency trading. Participants use the foreign currency exchange in much the same way they play the stock market. There are a number of advantages to trading currency instead of trading stocks.

If you are serious about getting a huge return on your investment by working smarter, not harder, check out this proven automated forex trading system.

Automatic forex trading utilizes a software program to predict rises and falls in currency rates and make profitable trading decisions. The software also makes the trades for you. With a Forex trading system like this one, you simply start up the program and begin turning a profit with very little effort. Your auto Forex trading can continue working around the clock so trades happen when news breaks rather than when the market opens.

Many people have seen success with automated forex trading but not all packages are created equal. Some have undergone a more rigorous testing process than others. For example, the FAP Turbo software has been tested in both back tests and live trades to ensure the product works. Most software packages have only been back tested, so they may or may not do well in live trading. It is better to find a software package that has been tested in both environments to ensure results.

Most people who opt for a forex trading system have little knowledge about the foreign currency trade market. That is one of the biggest advantages to forex trading software. These programs do all of the work for you, so all you have to do is install the software and kick off the program. Installation usually takes a few minutes and results can be seen the same day. Even people who have never traded currency before can make a profit with Forex.

Forex trading systems take much of the guesswork out of the foreign currency exchange market. You can begin the process with as little as $50 and quickly see the profits begin to accumulate. According to the makers of FAP Turbo, serious profits can be seen in just a few weeks' time. The more you make, the more you can invest and the more you invest, the more you make. The cycle has been a profitable one for many who have used these forex systems.

If you want to make money in the foreign currency market, check out automated forex trading. The FAP Turbo program is a particularly good choice because it has been well tested and proven. With forex trading software like FAP Turbo, you can make money without any prior experience in foreign currency trading. It's an excellent investment.

Free Forex Trading

Forex trading has taken the world by storm. Millions of people attempt to make their fortune on the Forex market. Unfortunately most of them will loose their money because they did not have proper forex education . Without proper education Forex trading is an expensive gamble. There are various training courses available on the internet but most of them are very expensive.


If you take the time time to learn the art of forex trading you can potentially earn $3,000 or more per month by working about 4 hours per day. Forex trading can be the best home based business you can dream of.


There are even some auto trade systems available today that can do it all for you. In order to make an online fortune you MUST first learn how to do it before you attempt to use your own hard earned money to try and make money on the forex market. There the patient forex trading gurus who earn millions of dollars per month from currency trading every month, but there are also those who loose millions of dollars. The only difference between the winners and losers is that the winners took the time to learn what it is about and they traded with dummy account before the dived into the market. It is not that difficult to make a good profit from forex trading, just about anybody can do it if you are dedicated and serious.


Recently Forex Trading became even easier with the introduction of Forex Trading Robots, also called Expert Advisors. A Forex Automated Trading Robot is software you plug into your trading software. The robots does its own technical analyses and execute trades by itself. This removes the human interaction and emotion. If you use them without being greedy you can make a profit of more than 90% on your trades. We have tried FAP Turbo and Forex Megadriod with positive results so far. Click here to see the Automated systems category on our blog.

Forex News

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Our forex trading sentiment gauge continues to forecast further US Dollar gains, as trading crowds have persistently sold into USD rallies and given contrarian signal to go long. In fact, the majority of traders flipped net-short the US Dollar against the Euro when the pair crossed below 1.4400 and gave clear signal to go short. Crowd sentiment has still remained fairly net-short the US Dollar, and we have little reason to trim our exposure to bets on USD appreciation. Of course, the faster it rallies the more likely it will post a short-term turnaround, and risk/reward ratios on USD-long positions has faded with its recent gains.

Forex Charts


Forex Club is here to provide you with trading tools you may need to get the most out of the world's largest financial market and tries to give you as much currency trading related information as possible. Here you will find live streaming prices, demo accounts, Forex analysis, forecasts, statistics, commentaries and real time Forex charts to get clear understanding of factors affecting the foreign exchange market and make the most deliberate investment decisions.


Web Forex charts and news give traders a comprehensive view of Forex trading market and various aspects of currency rate movements. Forex Club trading platform is for active Forex traders and includes online Forex trading recommendations and information, live Forex charts, Forex quotes for most currencies, daily currency news and Forex forecasts – in other words everything needed to analyze and learn about the market price movements.


If you are thinking seriously about trading on Forex market, but want to get full control over your investments, web Forex charts, news, analysis and forecasts are available online on our website to let you become increasingly familiar with technology and gain greater control over your finances. Forex Club allows you to practice your Forex trading skills before risking any money by using demo account that will help you to get real-market experience with live Forex charts, rates and news affecting the price fluctuations. Don't miss a chance to practice Forex with tradable prices, real time data and world breaking news, real time Forex charts and technical indicators available online.


In order to make your Forex trading as productive as possible, you need to get the most of the information at your finger tips as well as plenty of useful tools, such as real time Forex charts, daily market comments and news, Forex forecast and Forex tutorials. Forex Club is an innovative foreign currency exchange broker that is here to help you start exploring the world of currency trading in the most effective manner
The chart and table below measures the performance of the different currency pairs in percentage terms since the close of the previous day (starting from 3:00 pm EST), previous month and previous year. The bar charts illustrate the performance of these currencies over different time spans.












Forex 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 central bank of a country lends money to the country's commercial banks.

Bid — price of the demand, the price you sell for.

Broker — the market participating body which serves as the middleman between retail traders and larger commercial institutions.

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) — a cyclical technical indicator that is often 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 (or with little) manual control.

ECN Broker — a type of Forex brokerage firm that provide its clients direct access to other Forex market participants. ECN brokers don't discourage scalping, don't trade against the client, don't charge spread (low spread is defined by current market prices) but charge commissions for every order.

ECB (European Central Bank) — the main regulatory body of the European Union financial system.

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.

GDP (Gross Domestic Product) — is a measure of the national income and output for the country's economy; it's one of the most important Forex indicators.

GTC (Good Till Canceled) — order to buy or sell of a currency with a fixed price or worse. The order is alive (good) 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 — New Zealand dollar.

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 which 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.

Offer (Ask) — price of the offer, the price you buy for.

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.

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.

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 — order to sell or buy a lot for a certain price or worse.

Stop-Loss Order — 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.

Technical Analysis — the analysis based only on the technical market data (quotes) with the help of various technical indicators.

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 — a statistical measure of the number of price changes for a given currency pair in a given period of time.

VPS (Virtual Private Server) — virtual environment 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.

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

  • Combined Stochastic Oscillator/MA 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

If you want to share your Forex trading strategy with other traders, or want to ask some questions regarding the strategies presented here, please, join a discussion of the Forex strategies at the forum.

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:

MT4/MT5 Expert Advisors — Download free expert advisors for the MetaTrader 4 (and MetaTrader 5) trading platform. Test and use these EAs to empower your automated Forex trading and also to help the developing of your own MetaTrader expert advisor or Forex strategy.

MetaTrader Indicators — Free downloads of the MetaTrader indicators for an MT4 and MT5 trading platforms. You can use these indicators to improve your Forex trading strategy or develop your own MetaTrader expert advisors.

Pivot Points Calculator — Four online web based pivot points calculators will help you to generate pivot points for any given time period. Pivot points are used as the most important market trend points, where trend can meet support or resistance and actually change its course. Floor, Tom Demark's, Woodie's and Camarilla pivot points building rules are available with this free calculator. You don't need to download any software, just fill the form and get instant pivot point, resistance and support levels.

Pip Value Calculator — How much is one pip? How about EUR/CHF or CAD/JPY? With this free and fast online tool you can find out the value of 1 pip in USD for any lot size and any major or cross currency pair. Fill the form and get the pip value in one moment. No need to download any software!

Fibonacci Calculator — The web based Fibonacci retracement calculator will help you to generate basic Fibonacci retracement values for any given trend. These retracement values can be used as the most natural points of support and resistance for a given trend for any currency pair. On the currency trading market, the use of Fibonacci retracement levels to set orders and targets is one of the best ways to organize trader's portfolio.

Risk and Reward Forex Calculator — online calculator that will help you to find out the risks and rewards associated with your possible position's targets and stop-losses based on the Fibonacci retracement levels of the current market wave.

Forex Strategies — free Forex strategies available for all traders, including strategies based on the technical idicators, fundamental events and bare price action. All presented Forex strategies have examples and detailed descriptions.

MetaTrader VPS hosting — special dedicated hosting for your MetaTrader (and usually any other) Forex platform and expert advisors. It's a good way to keep your strategy always active independently from your home or work PC.

Spread


The spread is the difference between the price that you can sell currency at (Bid) and the price you can buy currency at (Ask). The spread on majors is usually 3 pips under normal market conditions. For more information on the trading conditions at Saxo Bank, go to the Account Summary on your Client Station and open the section entitled “Trading Conditions” found in the top right-hand corner of the Account Summary.


Pips



A pip is the smallest unit by which a cross price quote changes. When trading Forex you will often hear that there is a 3-pip spread when you trade the majors. This spread is revealed when you compare the bid and the ask price, for example EURUSD is quoted at a bid price of 0.9875 and an ask price of 0.9878. The difference is USD 0.0003, which is equal to 3 “pips”.


On a contract or position, the value of a pip can easily be calculated. You know that the EURUSD is quoted with four decimals, so all you have to do is cancel out the four zeros on the amount you trade and you will have the value of one pip. Thus, on a EURUSD 100,000 contract, one pip is USD 10. On a USDJPY 100,000 contract, one pip is equal to 1000 yen, because USDJPY is quoted with only two decimals.

Why Trade Forex?

24 hour trading


One of the major advantages of trading Forex is the opportunity to trade 24 hours a day from Sunday evening (20:00 GMT) to Friday evening (22:00 GMT). This gives you a unique opportunity to react instantly to breaking news that is affecting the markets.

Superior liquidity


The Forex market is so liquid that there are always buyers and sellers to trade with. The liquidity of this market, especially that of the major currencies, helps ensure price stability and narrow spreads. The liquidity comes mainly from banks that provide liquidity to investors, companies, institutions and other currency market players.

No commissions


The fact that Forex is often traded without commissions makes it very attractive as an investment opportunity for investors who want to deal on a frequent basis.
Trading the “majors” is also cheaper than trading other cross because of the high level of liquidity. For more information on the trading conditions of Saxo Bank, go to the Account Summary on your SaxoTrader and open the section entitled “Trading Conditions” found in the top right-hand corner of the Account Summary.


100:1 Leverage


Leverage (gearing) enables you to hold a position worth up to 100 times more than your margin deposit. For example, a USD 10,000 deposit can command positions of up to USD 1,000,000 through leverage. You can leverage the first USD 25,000 of your investment up to 100 times and additional collateral up to 50 times.


Profit potential in falling markets


Since the market is constantly moving, there are always trading opportunities, whether a currency is strengthening or weakening in relation to another currency. When you trade currencies, they literally work against each other. If the EURUSD declines, for example, it is because the US dollar gets stronger against the euro and vice versa. So, if you think the EURUSD will decline (that is, that the euro will weaken versus the dollar), you would sell EUR now and then later you buy euro back at a lower price. In case that the EURUSD indeed declines, then you can take your profit. The opposite trading scenario would occur if the EURUSD appreciates.

What is Forex?

FOREX - the foreign exchange market or currency market or Forex is the market where one currency is traded for another. It is one of the largest markets in the world.

Some of the participants in this market are simply seeking to exchange a foreign currency for their own, like multinational corporations which must pay wages and other expenses in different nations than they sell products in. However, a large part of the market is made up of currency traders, who speculate on movements in exchange rates, much like others would speculate on movements of stock prices. Currency traders try to take advantage of even small fluctuations in exchange rates.

In the foreign exchange market there is little or no 'inside information'. Exchange rate fluctuations are usually caused by actual monetary flows as well as anticipations on global macroeconomic conditions. Significant news is released publicly so, at least in theory, everyone in the world receives the same news at the same time.

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 ISO 4217 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.

Unlike stocks and futures exchange, foreign exchange is indeed an interbank, over-the-counter (OTC) market which means there is no single universal exchange for specific currency pair. The foreign exchange market operates 24 hours per day throughout the week between individuals with forex brokers, brokers with banks, and banks with banks. If the European session is ended the Asian session or US session will start, so all world currencies can be continually in trade. Traders can react to news when it breaks, rather than waiting for the market to open, as is the case with most other markets.

Average daily international foreign exchange trading volume was $1.9 trillion in April 2004 according to the BIS study.

Like any market there is a bid/offer spread (difference between buying price and selling price). On major currency crosses, the difference between the price at which a market maker will sell ("ask", or "offer") to a wholesale customer and the price at which the same market-maker will buy ("bid") from the same wholesale customer is minimal, usually only 1 or 2 pips. In the EUR/USD price of 1.4238 a pip would be the '8' at the end. So the bid/ask quote of EUR/USD might be 1.4238/1.4239.

This, of course, does not apply to retail customers. Most individual currency speculators will trade using a broker which will typically have a spread marked up to say 3-20 pips (so in our example 1.4237/1.4239 or 1.423/1.425). The broker will give their clients often huge amounts of margin, thereby facilitating clients spending more money on the bid/ask spread. The brokers are not regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (since they do not sell securities), so they are not bound by the same margin limits as stock brokerages. They do not typically charge margin interest, however since currency trades must be settled in 2 days, they will "resettle" open positions (again collecting the bid/ask spread).

Individual currency speculators can work during the day and trade in the evenings, taking advantage of the market's 24 hours long trading day.

Forex Trading

This short introduction explains the basics of trading Forex online, a brief explanation of the markets and the major benefits of trading Forex online. There are also two scenarios describing the implications of trading in a bear as well as a bull market to better acquaint you with some of the risks and opportunities of the largest and most liquid market in the world.

Foreign exchange, Forex or just FX are all terms used to describe the trading of the world's many currencies. The Forex market is the largest market in the world, with trades amounting to more than USD 3 trillion every day. Most Forex trading is speculative, with only a low percentage of market activity representing governments' and companies' fundamental currency conversion needs.

Unlike trading on the stock market, the Forex market is not conducted by a central exchange, but on the “interbank” market, which is thought of as an OTC (over the counter) market. Trading takes place directly between the two counterparts necessary to make a trade, whether over the telephone or on electronic networks all over the world. The main centres for trading are Sydney, Tokyo, London, Frankfurt and New York. This worldwide distribution of trading centres means that the Forex market is a 24-hour market.