Monday 24 March 2008

Dollar Reverses Previous Losses

EUR/USD reversed almost fully its previous weekly earnings today. It fell from 1.5642 to 1.5419 — that’s more than 1.4% in a single day. The euro, being fundamentally overbought, was doomed to a correction. But such a fast drop can mean something more than a short-term correction wave. Though the fundamental data that came out today in U.S. wasn’t very good for dollar.

Initial jobless claims last week increased to 378,000 from the previous week’s 356,000 (revised up from 353,000). The increase to 360,000 has been expected. This indicator is still very bad and is signaling that the employment market in U.S. is still suffering from the financial crisis.

Leading indicators isn’t very important indicator in Forex trading, but it can show the overall health of the economy in U.S. In February leading indicators index fell 0.3% — as expected.

Philadelphia Fed index measures the state of the manufacturing conditions. In March it improved slightly from the record low February’s -24.0 to -17.4. But its value is still very low and indicates the weakness of the manufacturing sector.

This content was originally posted on http://financialforex.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Forex Technical Analysis for 03/24—03/28 Week

EUR/USD trend: sell.

GBP/USD trend: sell.

USD/JPY trend: hold.

EUR/JPY trend: sell.

Floor Pivot Points
Pair3rd Sup2nd Sup1st SupPivot1st Res2nd Res3rd Res
EUR/USD1.47421.50691.52501.55771.57581.60851.6266
GBP/USD1.90741.94051.96101.99412.01462.04772.0682
USD/JPY92.0093.8696.7298.58101.44103.30106.16
EUR/JPY145.92148.81151.23154.12156.54159.43161.85

Woodie’s Pivot Points
Pair2nd Sup1st SupPivot1st Res2nd Res
EUR/USD1.50331.51771.55411.56851.6048
GBP/USD1.94051.96101.99412.01462.0477
USD/JPY93.8696.7298.58101.44103.30
EUR/JPY148.81151.23154.12156.54159.43

Camarilla Pivot Points
Pair4th Sup3rd Sup2nd Sup1st Sup1st Res2nd Res3rd Res4th Res
EUR/USD1.51521.52911.53381.53841.54781.55241.55711.5710
GBP/USD1.95201.96681.97171.97661.98641.99131.99622.0110
USD/JPY96.9798.2798.7099.14100.00100.44100.87102.17
EUR/JPY150.73152.19152.68153.16154.14154.62155.11156.57

Tom DeMark’s Pivot Points
PairEUR/USDGBP/USDUSD/JPYEUR/JPY
Resistance1.56672.0312102.37157.99
Support1.51591.977697.65152.68

Fibonacci Retracement Levels
PairsEUR/USDGBP/USDUSD/JPYEUR/JPY
100.0%1.59042.0272100.45157.01
61.8%1.57102.006798.65154.98
50.0%1.56502.000498.09154.35
38.2%1.55901.994197.53153.73
23.6%1.55161.986296.84152.95
0.0%1.53961.973695.73151.70
This content was originally posted on http://financialforex.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Sunday 23 March 2008

Forex Trading — Opportunities for Individuals

Forex Trading-How Can Individual Investors Benefit?

Indeed large multinational and individual banks and other major financial institutions have dominated FX trading (also known as Forex trading), but there is a paradigm change in the nature and type of investing. According to one estimate, in the new millennium, there are over 6 million online investment accounts, up from 1.5 million in 1997. As a result, start-up firms now compete directly with financial institutions to serve investors in the new technologically driven economy, and the clear winner is the customer. The competition between the brick and mortar institutions and the Internet-based companies has dramatically lowered the costs of investing, and empowered the individual investor to take control of their own investment strategy in Forex trading.

The Forex trading is perhaps 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 or USD/INR etc.

In the new millennium, the Forex trading has become accessible for an individual investor or small group of investors. In the current scenario, investors reap many benefits from Forex trading than stock market, e-mini futures and such other trading. Today mostly traders are choosing Forex trading than stock trading because there are approximately 4,500 stocks listed on the New York Stock exchange. Another 3,500 are listed on the NASDAQ. In spot Forex trading, you have 4 major markets, 24 hours a day 5.5 days a week. If you are so inclined, you have approximately 34 second-tier currencies to look at in your spare time. You can concentrate on the major forex and can find your trade. When you are investing in forex you can spend your afternoon on the golf course or with your spouse watching movie or celebrating holidays-in short it is easy and hassle free than stock/future market.

This content was originally posted on http://financialforex.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Forex Made Easy for Everyone

Forex made easy is as simple as you would want it to be. The foreign exchange market is a worldwide market and according to some estimates is almost as big as thirty times the turnover of the US Equity markets. That is some figure to chew on. Forex is the commonly used term for foreign exchange. As a person who wants to invest in the forex market, one should understand the basics of how this currency market operates. Forex can be made easier for beginners to understand it and here's how.

Foreign exchange is the buying and the selling of foreign exchange in pairs of currencies. For example you buy US dollars and sell UK Sterling pounds or you sell German Marks and buy Japanese Yen. Why are currencies bought or sold? The answer is simple; Governments and Companies need foreign exchange for their purchase and payments for various commodities and services. This trade constitutes about 5% of all currency transactions, however the other 95% currency transactions are done for speculation and trade. In fact many companies will buy foreign currency when it is being traded at a lower rate to protect their financial investments. Another thing about foreign exchange market is that the rates are varying continuously and on daily basis. Therefore investors and financial managers track the forex rates and the forex market it on a daily basis.

Those who are involved in the forex trade know that almost 85% of the trading is done in only US Dollar, Japanese Yen, Euro, British Pound, Swiss Franc, Canadian Dollar and Australian Dollar. This is because they are the most liquid of foreign currencies (can be easily bought and sold. In fact the US Dollar is most recognizable foreign currency even in countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam etc).

Being a truly 24/7 market, the currency trading markets opens in the financial centers of Sydney, Tokyo, London and New York in that sequence. Investors and speculators alike respond to the ever-changing situations and can buy and sell simultaneously the currencies. In fact many operate in two or more currency market using arbitrage to gain profits (buying in one market and selling in another market or vice versa to take advantage of the prices and book profits).

While dealing in forex, one should have a margin account. Quite simply put if you have US$ 1,000 and have a forex margin account which leverages 100:1 then you can buy US$ 100,000 since you only need 1% of the US$100,000 or US$1,000. Therefore it means that with margin account you have US$ 100,000 worth of real purchasing power in your hand.

alpinesprings@dccnet

This content was originally posted on http://financialforex.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Thursday 20 March 2008

Internet Marketing VS Forex Currency Trading

Have you noticed that when someone's trying to sell you something — such as a system for making money — they always make it look far easier than it is?

Let's look at two Internet businesses, almost as diametrically opposed as it's possible to be — Internet Marketing and Forex Currency Trading.

You've probably heard the old Internet adage — build a better website and they will come. Well it ain't true!

You could put up a site advertising dollars for a dime and they still wouldn't come — because they wouldn't know where to look!

Let's look at what you need to have in place in order to build a successful Internet marketing business.

First of all, you need a product. If you've been reading the recent Internet marketing blurb you'll know you need a niche product.

Actually, the new thing is sub-niche but whatever they call it, you need a product for which there is high demand but low supply.

Finding a suitable niche is the hardest part of the whole process but let's say you have a killer product, what else do you need?

The List.

Ask any Internet marketeer and they will say that the most important part of your business is your opt-in list.

For people to join your list you usually have to give them something of value such as a free eBook or report on a subject related to your main product line.

To keep them interested, you need to keep in touch with them offering them additional information, advice and tips.

Website.

To promote your opt-in list you need a website (although there are other ways of promoting your list, too) with features that will encourage people to sign up to your list.

You also need a killer website with killer copy to describe — and sell — your killer product. This may or may not be the same as the one you use for your opt-in list.

Killer copy.

Maybe you're not a good copywriter. There are many eBooks on the subject that can help you or you can pay someone to write copy for you.

You need a domain name, preferably one with some relation to the product but good domain names are becoming increasing difficult to find.

Ads.

To get people to visit your website in the first place you need to register it with the search engines.

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is an art in itself. You can mug up on the subject or pay someone to do the job for you (but be aware that not all experts are!).

You might also want to place ads for your list in newsletters and ezines. The better ones will charge you although you might get a free ad in return for an article.

Autoresponder.

To automate your business you need an autoresponder. These clever devices automatically send emails to everyone on your opt-in list at predetermined intervals, and contain predetermined copy.

For example, you could create a series of emails containing, say, five parts of a free course to be sent one a day over the first five days.

Then emails would be sent once a week advertising a different product each time.

Whenever anyone signs up to your list they automatically start at the beginning so everyone gets the full cycle of marketing material.

We haven't even looked at affiliate sales and marketing but I'm sure you get the picture.

The basic idea of selling over the Internet sounds good but there's a lot more to it than most people realise.

Forex Currency Trading

Someone said that trading is the last frontier, the last place where men and women can stand up and pit themselves against the world.

However, even owning a bank is a business and you still have to work hard to put the money there — and to keep it!

Unlike Internet marketing where all your efforts, in one form or another, are geared towards making people join your list and then selling them stuff,

Currency Trading has no customers. That's worth repeating — with currency trading, you don't need customers.

No customers means you don't need any of the associated accoutrements that go with Internet marketing such as:



Products

Web site

Domain name

Opt-in list

Ads

eBooks and reports

Autoresponder

Any other marketing aids

So far so good, but what do you have to do and what do you need? Well, you need to know what currency prices are doing.

You can get a list of prices at the close of each trading day free from many web sites. If you want to trade during the day — intraday trading, you can get real-time prices for a nominal fee from several data suppliers.

In the foreign exchange currency market, commonly called forex, you can get this data and charting software free from many web sites.

Okay, that's the easy bit. In order to trade currencies, you need to analyse the data and determine which way price is heading.

In other words you need a system and this will require study and dedication.

There's lots of other stuff you have to know, too — trading terminology, margin, leverage, money management, order types, trader psychology and more.

But all of this is available in eBooks and courses and on the Net.

You also need some money upfront to fund your trading account. With forex you can begin with as little as $300-500 although you would be advised to start with more.

So while you don't have the ongoing quest for new customers, new products and inventive sales techniques, you do need some sort of education or training before you begin and you need discipline while you're trading.

For more information on getting started with forex currency trading, go to: www.webkept

Making money takes work whether it's online or off. Make sure you know what's involved before you start and remember that the more you put into a business, the easier it gets.

admin@webkept

This content was originally posted on http://financialforex.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Reality of Online Forex Trading

Foreign exchange trading is the trading of currencies. Most currencies can be traded. Huge amounts of currencies are traded 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. On average $1.9 trillion is traded a day. The most traded are United States Dollar, Japanese Yen, Euro, Canadian Dollar, British Pound Sterling, Australian Dollar and Swiss Franc.

Many brokers will let you open an account with a starting balance of just $250. Though that may seem small, remember you will be trading on margin. Your $250 investment may let you control $25,000. As with all investments there are risks so make sure you take the time to study the markets and your exposure before making your first trades. I highly recommend that you do some paper trades first to make sure you have understood how the markets work. No risk training, just write down the trades you would have done for real and chart the prices. Buy and sell and see if you have the right strategy before making real trades.

A fast internet connection will allow you to do forex trading online. Your broker will give you many online tools to allow you to study the markets: Real time quotes, news feeds:

Visit different broker's websites and compare the services they offer. Some brokers give you the possibility to open demo accounts. Do so, to test their software and find the one you like best.

All currencies have standard identifying code used worldwide, some examples are: EUR (European euros), GBP (United Kingdom pounds), AUD (Australian dollars). Of course you don't have to know them all but it may be good to be able to recognize all the major currencies codes so that you will be able to make quick decisions.

To make sound evaluations, you need information. Follow carefully the world's current events, economic and political news. You will be surprised to see how, what may seem to you as insignificant will cause the currencies markets to fluctuate wildly.

This content was originally posted on http://financialforex.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Tuesday 18 March 2008

How To Get Started In Forex Trading

You may have been hearing about the foreign exchange market (Forex) and the investment advantages it offers. You would like to try it out, but don't know where to start. This short guide will give you the basics in Forex and tell you what you need to participate in this fast growing field.

Foreign exchange used to be limited to large players such as national banks and multi-national corporations. In the 1980's the rules were revised to allow smaller investors to participate using margin accounts. Margin accounts are the reason why Forex trading has become so popular. With a 100:1 margin account, you can control $100,000 with a $1,000 investment.

Forex is not simple, however, and education is needed to make wise investment decisions. Although it is relatively easy to start trading on the Forex, there are risks involved, so finding out as much as possible about the market is a good move for any beginner.

Forex traders usually require a broker to handle transactions. Most brokers are reputable and are associated with large financial institutions such as banks. A reputable broker will be registered as a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as protection against fraud and abusive trade practices.

Opening a Forex account is as simple as filling out a form and providing the necessary ID. The form will include a margin agreement that states that the broker can interfere with any trade it deems to be too risky. This is to protect the interests of the broker — most trades, after all, are done using the broker's money. Once your account has been established, you can fund it and begin trading.

Many brokers have different types of accounts to suit the needs of individual investors. Mini accounts allow you to get involved in Forex trading for as little as $250, while standard accounts may have a minimum deposit of $1000 to $2500 depending on the broker. The amount of leverage — using borrowed money — varies with accounts. High leverage gives you more money to trade for a given investment.

Most online brokers have demo accounts that allow you to make free paper trades for up to 30 days. Every new Forex investor is strongly advised to use these demo accounts at least until they are showing consistently steady profits.

Each broker has their own set of software tools to aid in making transactions, but there are a few tools that are common to all Forex brokers. Real time quotes, news feeds, technical analyses and charts, and profit and loss analyses are some of the features you should expect to see on most online brokers' web sites.

Almost every broker operates on the Internet. To access their online services you should have a reasonably modern computer, a fast Internet connection, and an up-to-date operating system such as Windows XP. Once your account is set up, you can access it from any computer — just enter your account name and password. If for some reason you are not able get access to a computer, most brokers will allow you to make trades over the phone.

Trades are commission free, meaning that you can make many trades in one day without worrying about incurring high brokerage fees. Brokers make their money on the 'spread' — the difference between bid and ask prices.

support@arundel.net

This content was originally posted on http://financialforex.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Introduction To Forex

The Foreign Exchange Market — better known as Forex — is a world wide market for buying and selling currencies. It handles a huge volume of transactions 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. Daily exchanges are worth approximately $1.5 trillion (US dollars). In comparison, the United States Treasury Bond market averages $300 billion a day and American stock markets exchange about $100 billion a day.

Even though there are many huge players in Forex, it is accessible to the small investor thanks to recent changes in the regulations. Previously, there was a minimum transaction size and traders were required to meet strict financial requirements. With the advent of Internet trading, regulations have been changed to allow large interbank units to be broken down into smaller lots. Each lot is worth about $100,000 and is accessible to the individual investor through 'leverage' — loans extended for trading. Typically, lots can be controlled with a leverage of 100:1 meaning that US$1,000 will allow you to control a $100,000 currency exchange.

There are many advantages to trading in Forex.

— Liquidity — Because of the size of the Foreign Exchange Market, investments are extremely liquid. International banks are continuously providing bid and ask offers and the high number of transactions each day means there is always a buyer or a seller for any currency.

— Accessibility — The market is open 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. The market opens Monday morning Australian time and closes Friday afternoon New York time. Trades can be done on the Internet from your home or office.

How does it work?

Currencies are always traded in pairs — the US dollar against the Japanese yen, or the English pound against the euro. Every transaction involves selling one currency and buying another, so if an investor believes the euro will gain against the dollar, he will sell dollars and buy euros.

The potential for profit exists because there is always movement between currencies. Even small changes can result in substantial profits because of the large amount of money involved in each transaction. At the same time, it can be a relatively safe market for the individual investor. There are safeguards built in to protect both the broker and the investor and a number of software tools exist to minimize loss.

support@arundel.net

This content was originally posted on http://financialforex.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Sunday 16 March 2008

Forex Glossary

Here are some of the most common terms used in FOREX trading.

Ask Price — Sometimes called the Offer Price, this is the market price for traders to buy currencies. Ask Prices are shown on the right side of a quote — e.g. EUR/USD 1.1965 / 68 — means that one euro can be bought for 1.1968 UD dollars.

Bar Chart — A type of chart used in Technical Analysis. Each time division on the chart is displayed as a vertical bar which show the following information — the top of the bar is the high price, the bottom of the bar is the low price, the horizontal line on the left of the bar shows the opening price and the horizontal line on the right of bar shows the closing price.

Base Currency — is the first currency in a currency pair. A quote shows how much the base currency is worth in the quote (second) currency. For example, in the quote — USD/JPY 112.13 — US dollars are the base currency, with 1 US dollar being worth 112.13 Japanese yen.

Bid Price — is the price a trader can sell currencies. The Bid Price is shown on the left side of a quote — e.g. EUR/USD 1.1965 / 68 — means that one euro can be sold for 1.1965 UD dollars.

Bid/Ask Spread — is the difference between the bid price and the ask price in any currency quotation. The spread represents the broker's fee, and varies from broker to broker.

Candlestick Chart — A type of chart used in Technical Analysis. Each time division on the chart is displayed as a candlestick — a red or green vertical bar with extensions above and below the candlestick body. The top of the extension shows the highest price for the chart division and the bottom of the extension shows the lowest price. Red candlesticks indicate a lower closing price than opening price, and green candlesticks indicate the price is rising.

Cross Currency — A currency pair that does not include US dollars — e.g. EUR/GBP.

Currency Pair — Two currencies involved in a FOREX transaction — e.g. EUR/USD.

First In First Out (FIFO) — refers to the order open orders are liquidated. The first orders to be liquidated are the first that were opened.

Foreign Exchange (FOREX, FX) — Simultaneously buying one currency and selling another.

Fundamental Analysis — Analysis of political and economic conditions that can affect currency prices.

Leverage or Margin — The ratio of the value of a transaction to the required deposit. A common margin for FOREX trading is 100:1 — you can trade currency worth 100 times the amount of your deposit.

Limit Order — An order to buy or sell when the price reaches a specified level.

Lot — The size of a FOREX transaction. Standard lots are worth about 100,000 US dollars.

Major Currency — The euro, German mark, Swiss franc, British pound, and the Japanese yen are the major currencies.

Minor Currency — The Canadian dollar, the Australian dollar, and the New Zealand dollar are the minor currencies.

One Cancels the Other (OCO) — Two orders placed simultaneously with instructions to cancel the second order on execution of the first.

Open Position — An active trade that has not been closed.

Pips or Points — The smallest unit a currency can be traded in.

Quote Currency — The second currency in a currency pair. In the currency pair USD/EUR the euro is the quote currency.

Rollover — Extending the settlement time of spot deals to the current delivery date. The cost of rollover is calculated using swap points based on interest rate differentials.

Technical Analysis — Analysis of historical market data to predict future movements in the market.

Tick — The minimum change in price.

Transaction Cost — The cost of a FOREX transaction — typically the spread between bid and ask prices.

Volatility — A statistical measure indicating the tendency of sharp price movements within a period of time.

support@arundel.net

This content was originally posted on http://financialforex.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Forex Market Offers Opportunity And Information

The forex market is what is called an international exchange currency market, where currencies are exchanged on a daily basis. There are five forex market centers around the world — New York, London, Tokyo, Frankfurt and Zurich. One does not need to be on the trading floor, so to speak to be involved in the forex market. Today, forex trading can be done from home on a computer.

The forex market itself is basically a worldwide connection of traders, who make investment moves based on the price of currencies, or their values relative to other currencies. These traders constantly negotiate prices with other traders resulting in the fluctuation or movement of a currency's value. The value of a currency on the forex market also corresponds with supply. If there is greater demand for the Euro, let's say, then there will be less supply of it on the forex market, which means, in time, it will make a Euro more valuable compared to let's say the dollar. In short, in this forex market situation, one Euro would yield more dollars, subsequently weakening the dollar as well. Analyzing the forex market's fluctuations allows investors to make predictions on how a currency will move in relation to another currency. They then can make predictions and buy and sell currency accordingly.

While some people view the forex market as a place to see what their exchange rate will be when they travel abroad, others view it as an opportunity to make great gains in their financial planning and future.

This content was originally posted on http://financialforex.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Wednesday 12 March 2008

How To Get Started In FOREX Trading

The foreign exchange market (Forex) offers many advantages to investors. But you need to know where to begin.

This short guide will give you the Forex basics, so you can quickly start participating in this fast growing market.

In the past, foreign exchange trading was limited to large players such as national banks and multi-national corporations. In the 1980's the rules were changed to allow smaller investors to participate using margin accounts. Margin accounts are the reason why Forex trading has become so popular. With a 100:1 margin account, you can control $100,000 with a $1,000 investment.

A Learning Curve

Forex is not simple, though, so you'll need some knowledge to make wise investment decisions. Although it is relatively easy to start trading on the Forex, there are risks involved.

Your first move as a beginner should be to find out as much as possible about the market before risking a dime.

Find A Broker

Forex traders usually require a broker to handle transactions. Most brokers are reputable and are associated with large financial institutions such as banks. A reputable broker will be registered as a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as protection against fraud and abusive trade practices.

Open an Account

Opening a Forex account is as simple as filling out a form and providing the necessary identification. The form includes a margin agreement which states that the broker may interfere with any trade deemed to be too risky. This is to protect the interests of the broker, since most trades are done using the broker's money.

Once your account has been established, you can fund it and begin trading.

Many brokers offer a variety of accounts to suit the needs of individual investors. Mini accounts allow you to get involved in Forex trading for as little as $250. Standard accounts may have a minimum deposit of $1000 to $2500, depending on the broker. The amount of leverage (how much borrowed money you can use) varies with account type. High leverage accounts give you more money to trade for a given investment.

Trades are commission-free, meaning that you can make many trades in one day without worrying about incurring high brokerage fees. Brokers make their money on the 'spread': the difference between bid and ask prices.

Paper Trading

Most online brokers have demo accounts that allow you to make free paper trades for up to 30 days. Every new Forex investor should use these demo accounts at least until they are consistently showing profits.

Forex Software

Each broker has its own set of software tools for making transactions, but there are a few tools that are common to all Forex brokers. Real-time quotes, news feeds, technical analyses and charts, and profit-and-loss analyses are some of the features you can expect to see on most online brokers' web sites.

There are lots of ways to make money. Forex trading is just one more potential stream of income -- if you are prepared to learn and practice.

This content was originally posted on http://financialforex.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Tuesday 11 March 2008

Online Forex Trading

The most common currencies to trade are the Euro and the U.S. dollar, and the U.S. dollar and the Japanese Yen. However, nearly all of the Forex trading done involves the major currencies of the world. These include the Euro, Japanese Yen, U.S. dollar, Canadian dollar, British Pound, Australian dollar, and the Swiss franc. The Forex exchange is different from other exchanges, such as the New York Stock Exchange, in that it does not have a physical location or central exchange. The exchange day begins in Sydney, then moves to Tokyo, on to London, and finally ends in New York. Each country takes the responsibility of regulating the Forex exchange activities in their own country. So there is no overall regulatory agency. However, this does not seem to be a problem and most countries do very well at overseeing Forex exchange activities.

There are a lot of things that influence the Forex rate. For instance, economic things, like interest rates and inflation, and also political things, such as political unrest in other countries and major changes in government cause up and down changes in the Forex rate. However, these things tend to be short-term, and don't affect it for long.

As with any type of trading, there are no guarantees that you will make money or that you won't make money. It is a smart choice to learn as much as you can about online Forex trading before investing any money and doing any trading. It is a fact that informed investors do better than those who don't know much about what they are trading. So get the fact before you dive in. You might just make a little money in a very interesting currency exchange.

This content was originally posted on http://financialforex.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Futures Versus Forex (Foreign Exchange Market)

Todays current futures market is quite unlike the futures of the 19th century. Todays future market is a worldwide one that includes manufactured goods, financial currencies and treasury bonds, and agricultural products.

The FOREX market has advantages over the futures market. FOREX is the largest financial market in the world. It is a liquid market and stop orders can be executed more easily and with less slippage than in other markets. The FOREX market is open 5 days a week, 24 hours a day. Traders can take advantages of opportunities as they become available. FOREX transactions are usually instantly executed. FOREX transactions are commission free. Brokers earn money on the spread.

Some investors feel that due to built in safeguards that FOREX trading is safer than futures trading.

This content was originally posted on http://financialforex.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Monday 10 March 2008

Forex Technical Analysis for 03/10—03/14 Week

EUR/USD trend: hold.

GBP/USD trend: hold.

USD/JPY trend: sell.

EUR/JPY trend: sell.

Floor Pivot Points
Pair3rd Sup2nd Sup1st SupPivot1st Res2nd Res3rd Res
EUR/USD1.48721.50081.51821.53181.54921.56281.5802
GBP/USD1.93391.95301.98322.00232.03252.05162.0818
USD/JPY98.5699.98101.33102.75104.10105.52106.87
EUR/JPY152.74154.34156.00157.60159.26160.86162.52

Woodie’s Pivot Points
Pair2nd Sup1st SupPivot1st Res2nd Res
EUR/USD1.50181.52011.53281.55111.5638
GBP/USD1.95301.98322.00232.03252.0516
USD/JPY99.98101.33102.75104.10105.52
EUR/JPY154.34156.00157.60159.26160.86

Camarilla Pivot Points
Pair4th Sup3rd Sup2nd Sup1st Sup1st Res2nd Res3rd Res4th Res
EUR/USD1.51861.52711.52991.53281.53841.54131.54411.5527
GBP/USD1.98631.99982.00442.00892.01792.02242.02702.0405
USD/JPY101.15101.91102.16102.42102.92103.18103.43104.19
EUR/JPY155.87156.76157.06157.36157.96158.26158.56159.45

Tom DeMark’s Pivot Points
PairEUR/USDGBP/USDUSD/JPYEUR/JPY
Resistance1.54052.0174104.81160.06
Support1.50951.9681102.04156.80

Fibonacci Retracement Levels
PairsEUR/USDGBP/USDUSD/JPYEUR/JPY
100.0%1.54542.0214104.18159.20
61.8%1.53362.0026103.12157.95
50.0%1.52991.9968102.80157.57
38.2%1.52621.9909102.47157.19
23.6%1.52171.9837102.06156.71
0.0%1.51441.9721101.41155.94

Tags: EUR/JPY, EUR/USD, Fibonacci, GBP/USD, pivot points, technical analysis, USD/JPY

This content was originally posted on http://financialforex.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Nonfarm Payrolls Depress Dollar

Dollar went straight down today on the currency market after the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its report on the February’s stressed employment situation. EUR/USD reached 1.5454 — a new historical maximum on the release, but then corrected significantly and now (as of 16:00 GMT) is trading at 1.5345.

Nonfarm payrolls in February decreased by 63,000 compared to the 22,000 decrease in January. Market analysts forecasted 25,00 growth for the last month, but they failed to predict such a bad outcome. Surprisingly enough, unemployment rate became lower after February and is now at 4.8% against 4.9% last month. For some unknown reason overall unemployment rate decreases while nonfarm payrolls decrease and the jobless claims grow. Maybe workers are moving into farming sector in U.S.?

Tags: EUR/USD, Forex, nonfarm payrolls, unemployment rate

This content was originally posted on http://financialforex.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Is 1.5400 a Limit for EUR/USD?

Today EUR/USD renewed its historical maximum on Forex market again. With almost every day for this currency pair being positive in gain, the question arises — where will it stop? So, where is the medium-term resistance for EUR/USD? Is it 1.5400? 1.5000 was a major psychological barrier; after it was broken recently the EUR/USD has already reached 1.5372. In my opinion, dollar will continue to fall for as long as the Fed will be cutting the interest rates and the ECB will be holding or increasing the rates. It’s possible that the pair will touch 1.5800 until they both stop.

Initial jobless claims report failed to hold EUR/USD from reaching a new maximum; in the past week they were at 351,000, below the previous value (375,000) and the forecasted value (360,000).

Pending Home Sales Index in January remained at the same low level as in December — at 85.9%.

Tags: EUR/USD, fundamental analysis, initial jobless claims

This content was originally posted on http://financialforex.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Dollar Continues to Lose Positions

Dollar continued to lose its positions on Forex market today. After the major economic releases came out in U.S. EUR/USD touched a new absolute maximum at 1.5300 and even GBP/USD recovered from the weekly bottom, which was formed after the bad macroeconomic statistics in was released in U.K this morning.

Productivity in the non-farm sector of economy in the fourth quarter of 2007 grew faster than expected — at 1.9%, against annual average of 1.8%; the forecasts were also at 1.8% growth.

Factory orders for the manufactured goods in January fell down at the same pace as they were expected to fall — by 2.5%, that followed a month of 2.0% growth in December.

ISM non-manufacturing index unexpectedly improved in February and went up from 44.6 to 49.3, while an insignificant growth to 47.5 was expected.

Crude oil inventories brought a negative surprise the dollar bulls and the oil bears, as in the past week they declined for the first time in more than two months. They went down by almost 3.06 million barrels.

Tags: crude oil inventories, EUR/USD, factory orders, ISM services, productivity

This content was originally posted on http://financialforex.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

EUR/USD Renews Its Maximum

Today EUR/USD renewed its historical maximum value on Forex. It touched 1.5275 shortly after the news releases from U.S. concerning the construction spendings and ISM index for manufacturing business came out. The currency pair dropped down significantly after hitting this new maximum and is now trading near 1.5210.

Construction spending in January fell compared to December by 1.7%. That’s worse than the last month’s 1.1% drop and much worse than the forecasted 0.8% drop.

ISM index for manufacturing business in February was at 48.3% — a little better than 48.0% expected by the market analysts, but still worse than 50.7% in January.

Tags: construction spendings, EUR/USD, ISM

This content was originally posted on http://financialforex.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Martingale Trading System in Forex

Martingale system is a popular betting and trading system, which is commonly used in bets with equal or close to equal chances (red-black, odd-even, heads-tails etc.) According to martingale system gambler (trader) should double his bet after every loss and return the bet to initial amount with every winning bet. E.g. gamblers bets $10 on red, if he wins he bets $10 again, if he loses he bets $20 on red, if he loses again he bets $40 etc. If the gambler is has an infinite amount of money he will be always winning, because his next bet will not only return his losses, but will guarantee a win of the initial bet ($10 in the example). Martingale system was very popular in 18th century, but it still remains popular, despite its obvious and very important disadvantage.

Why all martingale systems fail? Because in reality gamblers and traders don’t possess infinite funds. A losing streak of 10 rounds will require a bet of 1,024 initial bets (e.g. $10,240 if your initial bet was $10) to recover from losses, 20 rounds long losing streak will require 1,048,576 initial bets and so on. Your next bet after a losing round should be B × (2 in a power of N), where B is the initial bet, N is the number of round. Another problem is that the chances are usually not equal for gamblers and traders — martingale system can’t be profitable with a chance to win less than 0.5. In roulette red or black has only 18/37 chance to win (because of zero), in Forex trading there is a broker’s spread, which shifts the chances against the trader.

Martingale trading systems are very popular in Forex automated trading, because it’s quite easy to create an expert advisor that would trade using martingale; also the system looks very interesting and profitable to many Forex newbies. Let’s look at the example of the martingale Forex trading. A trader starts his betting with 0.1 lot of EUR/USD on 1:100 leverage with 20 pips target and stop-loss. Every winning trade will bring him $20, first losing one will take $20, second losing — $40 etc. A standard account with $10,000 will be able to handle a longest losing streak of no more than 8 rounds (9th losing position will require $10,240 to recover). If he uses a classical martingale system he will be either always buying or always selling. Strong trends often happens on Forex, so it wouldn’t take long for the EUR/USD to go 162 (180 minus 18 for 2 pips spread on every positions) pips without significant corrections. As the option Forex trader might modify martingale system to use a random direction to enter every next position. This approach adds more randomness to the whole process.

In Forex there are flexible tools to control martingale trading — stop-loss and take-profit. One of the most obvious modifications is to use 22 pips stop-loss in the above example to equate the chances for losing and winning (unfortunately it will also increase the amount of money lost with every losing position, so, the win after 5 losses won’t fully recover them). Forex trader can go even farther and make stop-loss twice bigger than take-profit and quadrupling the position size after every loss (this approach looks like a good idea if the currency pair is volatile enough for the 20 pips movements (for example) in both directions are significantly more common than 40 pips movements); obviously it’s even more dangerous method.

The major problem for martingale systems in gambling is that every next result is completely independent of the previous results, so the streak of any number of losses is totally possible. In Forex the probabilities are not linear, so the streaks can have some inner logic dependent on markets. It makes martingale trading system less predictable and potentially profitable if optimized to the market conditions. But well optimized and modified martingale systems, in my opinion, can’t be called martingale and can’t be discussed as the one.

Despite what I think about this system, I would recommend every Forex trader (especially beginner) to try using martingale trading system on demo account and see the results and then try to modify it to be less dangerous and more stable.

Tags: Forex strategy, Forex trading, martingale

This content was originally posted on http://financialforex.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

FOREX: What Is It And How Does It Work?

The Foreign Exchange market, also referred to as the "Forex" is the biggest and largest financial market in the world. It has a daily average turnover of US$1.9 trillion- just imagine that amount of money! Don't you want to join this trillion-dollar industry?

Forex is the simultaneous buying of one currency and selling of another. Currencies are traded in pairs, for example Euro/US Dollar (EUR/USD) or US Dollar/Japanese Yen (USD/JPY). So basically, Forex is trading.

There are two reasons to buy and sell currencies. About 5% of daily turnover is from companies and governments that buy or sell products and services in a foreign country or must convert profits made in foreign currencies into their domestic currency.

On one side of each speculative stock trade is a participant who believes he has superior information and on the other side is another participant who believes his information is superior.

For speculators, the best trading opportunities are with the most commonly traded (and therefore most liquid- meaning its in cash or convertible to cash) currencies, called "the Majors." Today, more than 85% of all daily transactions involve trading of the Majors.

The Forex market is considered an Over The Counter (OTC) or 'interbank' market. This is because the transactions are conducted between two counterparts over the telephone or via an electronic network. Trading is not centralized on an exchange compared to stocks and futures markets.

Understanding Forex quotes

Reading a Forex quote may seem a bit confusing at first. However, it's really quite simple if you remember two things: 1) The first currency listed first is the base currency and 2) the value of the base currency is always 1.

The US dollar is the centerpiece of the Forex market and is normally considered the 'base' currency for quotes. In the "Majors", 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/JPY 110.01 means that one U.S. dollar is equal to 110.01 Japanese yen.

When the U.S. dollar is the base unit and a currency quote goes up, it means the dollar has appreciated in value and the other currency has weakened. If the USD/JPY quote we previously mentioned increases to 113.01, the dollar is stronger because it will now buy more yen than before.

The three exceptions to this rule are the British pound (GBP), the Australian dollar (AUD) and the Euro (EUR). In these cases, you might see a quote such as GBP/USD 1.7366, meaning that one British pound equals 1.7366 U.S. dollars.

In these three currency pairs, where the U.S. dollar is not the base rate, a rising quote means a weakening dollar, as it now takes more U.S. dollars to equal one pound, euro or Australian dollar.

In other words, if a currency quote goes higher, that increases the value of the base currency. A lower quote means the base currency is weakening.

Currency pairs that do not involve the U.S. dollar are called cross currencies, but the premise is the same. For example, a quote of EUR/JPY 127.95 signifies that one Euro is equal to 127.95 Japanese yen.

When trading Forex you will often see a two-sided quote, consisting of a 'bid' and 'offer'. 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).

This content was originally posted on http://financialforex.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Friday 7 March 2008

Interested in FOREX Trading?

The Foreign Exchange Market (Forex) has no central exchange location yet it is the largest financial market in the world. It is over 3x's the size of the stock and futures markets combined and operates via an electronic network of a banks, corporations and investors.

Foreign exchange consists of a simultaneous buying of one currency and selling of another. Currency is traded in pairs, in other words, one currency is traded for another. The major currencies are:



USD — United States Dollar

EUR — Euro members Euro

JPY — Japan Yen

GBP — Great Britian pound

CHF — Switzerland franc

CAD — Canadian dollar

AUD — Australia dollar

There are 2 types of investors involved in the Forex market.The first type of investor is the hedger. The hedger is involved in International trades and utilizes Forex trading to protect their interest in a transaction from adverse currency fluctuations. The 2nd type of investor is the speculator who invests in currency solely for profit.

Currency prices fluctuate due to a variety of economic and political factors. The major factors are:



Interest rates

International trade

Inflation

Political stability

There are many reasons investors take a great interest in FX trading Some of the major reasons are:



No fees

No middlemen

No fixed trade sizes

Low transaction cost

High liquidity

Instant transactions

Low margin / High leverage

24 hour market

Online access via online trading platforms

Always good opportunities to trade, unlike the stock market the market is never bullish or bearish.

No one entity can control the market

No insider trading can occur

To begin trading in the Forex market, an investor only needs a computer, a high-speed internet connection and an online trading currency account. A mini account can be opened for as little as $100.

This content was originally posted on http://financialforex.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Tuesday 4 March 2008

Forex Trading — Understanding Commissions, Spreads and Trading Costs

The forex market is quickly becoming one of the most popular markets for trading.

Not only are the experienced traders looking to this market to maximize their trading returns, but many new, individual investors are now able to trade the Forex market — just as they do stocks and futures.

More and more individuals are seeing Forex not only as a new way to diversify their portfolio, but are also finding that it is becoming the most profitable component of their investments.

And that's because of the many advantages Forex offers over other markets like stocks or commodities. Here's what you will typically see advertized about Forex:

— Excellent leverage potential. Individual investors have access to leverage of 100:1 and even 200:1

— No Commissions (more on this later on)

— Low trading costs.

And yes, the Forex market really does offer all these advantages.

But the last two points above talk about costs, and that's what we'd like to focus on in this article.

Like any trading, there are costs involved, and, while these may be much lower than they used to be, it is important to understand what those are.

When trading stocks, most investors will have a trading account with a broker somewhere and will have investment funds deposited in that account.

The broker will then execute the trades on behalf of the account holder, and of course, in return for providing that service, the broker will want to be compensated.

With stocks, typically, the broker will earn a commission for executing the trade. They will charge either a fixed dollar amount per trade, or a dollar amount per share, or (most commonly) a scaled commission based on how big your trade is.

And, they will charge it on both sides of the transaction. That is to say, when you buy the stock you get charged commission, AND then when you sell that same stock you get charged another commission.

With Forex trading, the brokers constantly advertise "no commission". And, of course that's true — except for a few brokers, who do charge a commission similar to stocks.

But also, of course, the brokers aren't performing their trading services for free. They too make money.

The broker will add this spread onto the price of the trade and keep it as their fee for trading.

So, while it isn't a commission per se, it behaves in practically the same way. It is just a little more hidden.

The good news though is that typically this spread is only charged on one side of the transaction. In other words, you don't pay the spread when you buy AND then again when you sell. It is usually only charged on the "buy" side of the trades.

So the spread really is your primary cost of trading the Forex and you should pay attention to the details of what the different brokers offer.

The other thing to recognize is that spreads can vary based on what currencies you're trading and what type of account you open.

Most brokers will give you different spreads for different currencies. The most popular currency pairs like the EURUSD or GBPUSD will typically have the lowest spreads, while currencies that have less demand will likely be traded with higher spreads.

Be sure to think about what currencies you are most likely to be trading and find out what your spreads will be for those currencies.

Also, some brokers will offer different spreads for different types of accounts. A mini account, for example may be subject to higher spreads than a full contract account.

These do tend to be rarer situations because the Forex market really is so large and demand and supply are generally quite predictable, but they do occur, especially with some of the lesser traded currencies. So it's important to be aware of that.

In summary then, when trading Forex, understand that the "spread" is truly your most important consideration for trading costs.

Spreads can vary significantly between brokers, account types and currencies traded. And small differences in the spread can really add up to thousands of dollars in trading costs over even just a few months.

So be sure to understand what currencies you are going to be trading, how frequently, and in what type of account and use those factors to help decide which broker can offer you the best trading costs.

This content was originally posted on http://financialforex.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Monday 3 March 2008

Forex: Benefits of Trading the Forex Market

Trading the Forex market has become very popular in the last years. Why is it that traders around the world see the Forex market as an investment opportunity? We will try to answer this question in this article. Also we will discuss come differences between the Forex market, the stocks market and the futures market.

Some of the benefits of trading the Forex market are:

Superior liquidity.

24hr Market.

This one is also one of the greatest advantages of trading Forex. It is an around the click market, the market opens on Sunday at 3:00 pm EST when New Zealand begins operations, and closes on Friday at 5:00 pm EST when San Francisco terminates operations. There are transactions in practically every time zone, allowing active traders to choose at what time to trade.

Leverage trading.

Trading the Forex Market offers a greater buying power than many other markets. Some Forex brokers offer leverage up to 400:1, allowing traders to have only 0.25% in margin of the total investment. For instance, a trader using 100:1 means that to have a US$100,000 position, only US$1,000 are needed on margin to be able to open that position.

Low Transaction costs.

Almost all brokers offer commission free trading. The only cost traders incur in any transaction is the spread (difference between the buy and sell price of each currency pair). This spread could be as low as 1 pip (the minimum increment in any currency pair) in some pairs.

Low minimum investment.

Specialized trading.

The liquidity of the market allows us to focus on just a few instruments (or currency pairs) as our main investments (85% of all trading transactions are made on the seven major currencies). Allowing us to monitor, and at the end get to know each instrument better.

Trading from anywhere.

If you do a lot of traveling, you can trade from anywhere in the world just having an internet connection.

Some of the most important differences between the Forex market and other markets are explained below.

Forex market vs. Equity markets

Liquidity

FX market: Near two trillion dollars of daily volume.

Equity market: Around 200 billion on a daily basis.

Trading hours

FX market: 24hr market, 5.5 days a week.

Equity market: Monday through Friday from 8:30 EST to 5:00 EST.

Profit potential

FX market: In both, rising and falling markets.

Equity market: Most traders/investor profit only from rising markets.

Transaction costs

FX market: Commission free and tight spreads.

Equity market: High Commissions and transaction fees.

Buying power

FX market: Leverage up to 400:1.

Equity market: Leverage from 2:1 to 4:1.

Specialization

FX market: most volume (85%) is made on major currencies (USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, CHF, CAD and AUD.)

Equity market: More than 40,000 stocks to choose from.

Forex market vs. Futures market

Liquidity

FX Market: Near two trillion dollars of daily volume.

Futures market: Around 400 billion dollars on a daily basis.

Transaction costs

FX market: Commission free and tight spreads.

Futures market: High commissions fees.

Margin

FX market: Fixed rate of margin on every position.

Futures market: Different levels of margin on overnight positions than day time positions.

Trade execution

FX market: Instantaneous execution.

Futures market: Inconsistent execution.

All this makes the Forex market very attractive to investors and traders. But I need to make something clear, although the benefits of trading the Forex market are notorious; it is still difficult to make a successful career trading the Forex market. It requires a lot of education, discipline, commitment and patience, as any other market.

This content was originally posted on http://financialforex.blogspot.com/ © 2008 If you are not reading this text from the above site, you are reading a splog

Sunday 2 March 2008

Learn Currency Trade — Intro to The FOREX Market

http://financialforex.blogspot.com

The Foreign Exchange Market — better known as Forex — is a world wide market for buying and selling currencies.

It handles a huge volume of transactions 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. Daily exchanges are worth approximately $1.5 trillion (US dollars). In comparison, the United States Treasury Bond market averages $300 billion a day and American stock markets exchange about $100 billion a day.

The Forex is made up of about 5000 trading institutions such as international banks, central government banks (such as the US Federal Reserve), and commercial companies and brokers for all types of foreign currency exchange.

Even though there are many huge players in Forex, it is accessible to the small investor thanks to recent changes in the regulations. Previously, there was a minimum transaction size and traders were required to meet strict financial requirements. With the advent of Internet trading, regulations have been changed to allow large interbank units to be broken down into smaller lots.

Each lot is worth about $100,000 and is accessible to the individual investor through 'leverage' — loans extended for trading. Typically, lots can be controlled with a leverage of 100:1 meaning that US$1,000 will allow you to control a $100,000 currency exchange.

There are many advantages to trading in Forex, including:

— Liquidity: Because of the size of the Foreign Exchange Market, investments are extremely liquid. International banks are continuously providing bid and ask offers and the high number of transactions each day means there is always a buyer or a seller for any currency.

— Accessibility: The market is open 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. The market opens Monday morning Australian time and closes Friday afternoon New York time. Trades can be done on the Internet from your home or office.

How does the foreign currency exchange market work?

Currencies are always traded in pairs — the US dollar against the Japanese yen, or the English pound against the euro. Every transaction involves selling one currency and buying another, so if an investor believes the euro will gain against the dollar, he will sell dollars and buy euros.

The potential for profit exists because there is always movement between currencies. Even small changes can result in substantial profits because of the large amount of money involved in each transaction.

At the same time, it can be a relatively safe market for the individual investor. There are safeguards built in to protect both the broker and the investor and a number of software tools exist to minimize loss.

Related Articles by Labels