Forex Pairs

Before I deliberate on Forex Quotes, let me first update you on forex pairs and forex symbols. Let us not delve further into the history of how the currency pairs have evolved and standardized in the forex trading system.

Forex Symbols: There are seven most active currencies on the forex trading markets, besides number of other currencies that are traded sporadically.

1. US Dollar – USD
2. European currency – EURO
3. Japanese Yen – JPY
4. British Sterling Pound – GBP
5. Swiss Franc – CHF
6. Australian Dollar – AUD
7. Canadian Dollar – CAD

Forex Pairs: The term Forex pair may sound intriguing to those of you who are used to stock trading. Why forex in pairs? Well, even in stock trading, indirectly you are trading a pair. When you buy a stock, you are selling your money and vice versa. Similarly when you are trading forex you are buying once currency and selling the other currency. EURO/USD, USD/JPY, GBP/USD and USD/CHF are the most traded forex pairs that churn out the bulk of the daily trillion dollars turn over in global forex trading.

On any forex trading platform, you will find that almost half of the screen is occupied by flashing figures of forex quotes. Dealing rates is the alternate term often prescribed for forex quotes. Prima-Facie you may feel that it is very easy to read forex quotes. However if you are a novice, you may land up with a buy trade instead of a desired sell trade. I would suggest that you must thoroughly understand how the forex rates are quoted on the forex trading platforms.

Let us study an example of USD/JPY. There are essentially two aspects. The first aspect relates to the exchange rate and the second aspect relates to the forex quote as appearing on the screen of forex trading broker.

* The forex quote USD/JPY = 108.09 is in reality the exchange rate. Here in this quote, the first currency USD is termed as the base currency and the second currency JPY is termed as the quote currency. Thus for buying one unit of the base currency you have to pay 108.09 units of quote currency.
* If you see the forex quote for USD/JPY on the online forex trading software, you will find two separate quotes. USD/JPY Sell =108.07 and USD/JPY Buy=108.10. Offline forex trading brokers will quote USD/JPY = 108.10/108.07. The first price is the bid price and the second price is the ask price. Does it not sound confusing? Well, it is, but till the time you get used to the system. Here is where the concept of bid/ask spread comes into picture.

Advantages of Forex

Most of you must have often heard the term Forex or Fx. Forex is nothing but foreign exchange or international currency exchange. Simply speaking, if you are an American, then British Sterling Pound or European Euro or any other currency is a foreign exchange for you.

Huge amounts of Forex change hands in the global trade and commerce. Besides the international business transactions, forex has also established a firm foothold in the investment portfolio of large number of people. You may wonder how you can invest in forex. Is it like investment in stocks and bonds? Is it suitable to a layman like me? Well, according to me it is neither easy nor difficult. You must give it a try, provided you are willing to learn forex trading.

Let me tell you one astounding feature of forex markets. Rates of international currencies fluctuate tremendously depending upon the country specific factors. To realize the true potential of how the vast scale fluctuation or volatility in the forex rates can help you in reaping huge benefits, you must partake in online forex trading.

Let me first brief you on the Advantages of Forex Trading:

* Liquidity: Global forex trading witnesses a daily turn over of few trillion US dollars.
* Market Availability: Forex trading is a round the clock market place. Forex market wakes up with Sidney, moving around globally as each market comes to life. Tokyo wakes up next, then London and finally US.
* Low Trading Costs: Like all the other markets, forex trading requires an intermediary called as a forex broker. However unlike other markets, the forex trading brokers do not charge any commissions for executing your trade. On the contrary the forex trading brokers make a small profit from bid/ask spread on the currency pair.
* Small Capital and High Leverage: You do not need to deploy huge capital amounts as the exposure or leverage ratios are high of the order of 200:1. Most of the forex brokers allow you to start with a capital as low as 100 USD.

Fx Trading Tournament

Forex or Fx as is fondly known in the global foreign exchange trading community, could probably rank as the most fancied investment avenue. I am sure that a popular search engine would yield millions of results for forex or fx. What does it imply? It simply means that a lot has been written on the subject of Fx trading and I don’t intend to bore you any more with stuff like basics of forex, introduction to forex and fundamentals of forex.

I am going to write something about Fx trading tournaments. Have you ever heard of it? Well, unlikely, as it is probably a new idea. I am inclined to say that it is indeed an innovative approach to forex training. Carry on further with a short FAQ on Fx Trading Tournaments.

What does it mean?
Fx trading tournament has nothing to do with any of your favorite sports. Fx trading tournament or alternatively Fx championship is an innovative opportunity offered by few forex brokers to forex investors to test their trading skills. Essenially, it is an event where large numbers of forex traders participate in online foreign currency trading at one common forex platform

Construction of CandlestickConstruction of Candlestick

Chart is the most essential element for any technical analyst. There are various methods of plotting the charts. Candlestick charting is one of the most favored techniques for visual analysis. Candlestick charting was first developed by Japanese and hence the name Japanese Candlestick chart has become very famous.

As a matter of fact, this method of charting captured the attention of Wall Street traders much later. Japanese were using this technique for tracking the price movement of agricultural commodities. For all the practical purposes when a technical analyst refers to Candlestick charts, it essentially implies Japanese Candlestick chart.

Construction of Candlestick charts (refer drawing):

japanese-candlestick
Like bar chart, construction of candlestick charts is also very easy. Let us try to understand how it is done.

* Each candlestick line represents the activity for a fixed period that could be an hour or a day or a week or a month. It shows the prices at opening, high price, low price and closing price. OHLC is a frequently used acronym for open high low close.
* Main body or real body is either filled in (black or red) or hollow (white or green) and
* It represents the price range between the opening and closing prices. Black and white colors were used as per the traditional methods when the charts were drawn manually. However, in most of the latest computer aided charting red and green colors are used.
* If the opening price is higher than the closing price then the main body is filled.
* If the closing price is higher than the opening price then the main body is hollow.
* The thin lines above and below the main body are called as shadows or wick. Shadows represent the high and low prices for the particular period.

Patterns of Japanese

Comparison between a standard bar chart and a Japanese Candlestick chart:

* Scaling is same.
* Overall shape is same.
* Both the charts can be used in conjunction to study other technical analysis tools such as moving averages, oscillators and other methods.
* Range of high and low is same for each period.
* Different types of patterns develop in both the charts that can help to identify the market trend.
* There is only one difference. How the opening and closing prices are displayed.


Advantages of Japanese Candlestick chart over the standard bar chart:

* Visual analysis is much easier and hence the traders can read the price action much faster.
* Comprehension of market sentiments can be done in a better way.
* Many traders believe that the Japanese Candlestick charts provide a better depth of information over the traditional bar charts.
* Traders find it easy and quick to analyze the trend reversal, trend continuation and other patterns. Identifying the pattern is usually considered as one of the most difficult part of technical analysis.

Patterns of Japanese Candlestick chart:

Candlesticks can take variety of shapes depending upon the relationship of OHLC. Shape of each Candlestick represents different interpretations such as extremely bullish, extremely bearish, bullish, bearish, neutral, turning period and end of the trend. Besides the shapes of individual Candlestick, various patterns develop on the Candlestick chart. Major patterns are Bullish Reversal, Bearish reversal and Continuation.

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Interest rate differential

Different currencies pay different interest rates. This is one of the main driving forces behind foreign exchange trends. It is inherently attractive to be a buyer of a currency that pays a high interest rate while being short a currency that has a low interest rate.

Although such interest rate differentials may not appear very large, they are of great significance in a highly leveraged position. For example, the interest rate differential between the US dollar and the Japanese yen has been approximately 5% for several years. In a position that can be supported by a 5% margin deposit, this results in a 100% profit on capital per annum when you buy the US dollar. Of course, an even more important factor normally is the relative value of the currencies, which changed 15% from low to high during 2005 – disregarding the interest rate differential. From a pure interest rate differential viewpoint, you have an advantage of 100% per annum in your favour by being long US dollar and an initial disadvantage of the same size by being short.
Please refer to our page Forex Rates & Conditions for current Spreads, Margins and Conditions!

Such a situation clearly benefits the high interest rate currency and as result, the US dollar was in a strong bull market all through 2005. But it is by no means a certainty that the currency with the higher interest rate will be strongest. If the reason for the high interest rate is runaway inflation, this may undermine confidence in the currency even more than the benefits perceived from the high interest rate.

Gross Domestic Product

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the broadest measure of aggregate economic activity available. Reported quarterly, GDP growth is widely followed as the primary indicator of the strength of economic activity.

GDP represents the total value of a country’s production during the period and consists of the purchases of domestically produced goods and services by individuals, businesses, foreigners and the government.

As GDP reports are often subject to substantial quarter-to-quarter volatility and revisions, it is preferable to follow the indicator on a year-to-year basis. It can be valuable to follow the trend rate of growth in each of the major categories of GDP to determine the strengths and weaknesses in the economy.

Stop-Loss Disciline

As you can see from the description above, there are significant opportunities and risks in foreign exchange markets. Aggressive traders might experience profit/loss swings of 20-30% daily. This calls for strict stop-loss policies in positions that are moving against you.

Fortunately, there are no daily limits on foreign exchange trading and no restrictions on trading hours other than the weekend. This means that there will nearly always be an opportunity to react to moves in the main currency markets and a low risk of getting caught without the opportunity of getting out. Of course, the market can move very fast and a stop-loss order is by no means a guarantee of getting out at the desired level.

But the main risk is really an event over the weekend, where all markets are closed. This happens from time to time as many important political events, such as G7 meetings, are normally scheduled for weekends.

For speculative trading, we always recommend the placement of protective stop-lossorders. With Saxo Bank Internet Trading you can easily place and change such orders while watching market development graphically on your computer screen

Dealing Spread, But no comission

When trading foreign exchange, you are quoted a dealing spread offering you a buying and a selling level for your trade. Once you accept the offered price and receive confirmation from our dealers, the trade is done. There is no need to call an exchange floor. There are no other time-consuming delays. This is possible due to live streaming prices, which are also a great advantage in times of fast-moving markets: You can see where the market is trading and you know whether your orders are filled or not.

The dealing spread is typically 3-5 points in normal market conditions. This means that you can sell US dollars against the euro at 1.7780 and buy at 1.7785. There are no further costs, commissions or exchange fees.

This ensures that you can get in and out of your trades at very low slippage and many traders are therefore active intra-day traders, given that a typical day in USDEUR presents price swings of 150-200 points

Base Currency And Variable

When you trade, you will always trade a combination of two currencies. For example, you will buy US dollars and sell euro. Or buy euro and sell Japanese yen, or any other combination of dozens of widely traded currencies. But there is always a long (bought) and a short (sold) side to a trade, which means that you are speculating on the prospect of one of the currencies strengthening in relation to the other.

The trade currency is normally, but not always, the currency with the highest value. When trading US dollars against Singapore dollars, the normal way to trade is buying or selling a fixed amount of US dollars, i.e. USD 1,000,000. When closing the position, the opposite trade is done, again USD 1,000,000. The profit or loss will be apparent in the change of the amount of SGD credited and debited for the two transactions. In other words, your profit or loss will be denominated in SGD, which is known as the price currency. As part of our service, Saxo Bank will automatically exchange your profits and losses into your base currency if you require this.

Spot and Forward Trading

When you trade foreign exchange you are normally quoted a spot price. This means that if you take no further steps, your trade will be settled after two business days. This ensures that your trades are undertaken subject to supervision by regulatory authorities for your own protection and security. If you are a commercial customer, you may need to convert the currencies for international payments. If you are an investor, you will normally want to swap your trade forward to a later date. This can be undertaken on a daily basis or for a longer period at a time. Often investors will swap their trades forward anywhere from a week or two up to several months depending on the time frame of the investment.

Although a forward trade is for a future date, the position can be closed out at any time - the closing part of the position is then swapped forward to the same future value date.

Forex Tradding Basics

The global foreign exchange market is the biggest market in the world. The 3.2 trillion USD daily turnover dwarfs the combined turnover of all the world's stock and bond markets.

There are many reasons for the popularity of foreign exchange trading, but among the most important are the leverage available, the high liquidity 24 hours a day and the very low dealing costs associated with trading.

Of course many commercial organisations participate purely due to the currency exposures created by their import and export activities, but the main part of the turnover is accounted for by financial institutions. Investing in foreign exchange remains predominantly the domain of the big professional players in the market - funds, banks and brokers. Nevertheless, any investor with the necessary knowledge of the market's functions can benefit from the advantages stated above.

In the following article, we would like to introduce you to some of the basic concepts of foreign exchange trading. If you would like any further information, we suggest that you sign up for a FREE Membership on this website, where you will be able to exchange views with other Forex traders and get answers to any questions you might have.

Market is Reaching Now

t appears that the market is reaching now most pairs are trading in a clear market condition (finally after two weeks of very few opportunity) and there are good opportunities in some pairs and crosses.
However, there is one cross that continues to trade in a undefined range(the most difficult market conditions to trade since we have no clear support or resistance levels), and it is the GBPJPY.
I know many traders like the GBPJPY because it moves pretty fast and the average daily range is greater than most currency pairs, but these weeks have been difficult to find any opportunity in this one,Forex marketings.

Margins Trading

eposit can control much larger positions in the market. For trading the main currencies, Saxo Bank requires a 1% margin deposit. This means that in order to trade one million dollars, you need to place just USD 10,000 by way of security.

In other words, you will have obtained a gearing of up to 100 times. This means that a change of, say 2%, in the underlying value of your trade will result in a 200% profit or loss on your deposit. See below for specific examples. As you can see, this calls for a very disciplined approach to trading as both profit opportunities and potential risks are very large indeed. Please refer to our page Forex Rates & Conditions for current Spreads, Margins and Conditions.

FOREX Scams AND Commodities Fraud

Tired of the stock market? Leverage your dollars into millions in foreign currencies traded on the spot market and thousands of dollars daily with little risk. Never mind that your FOREX trader lacks any financial education and isn't registered with any administrative body, as the money to be made in FOREX completely overwhelms any slight risk that you will have. Yes, believe that and I've got some beautiful beachfront property outside of Albuquerque to sell you. 
More benificial

FOREX INFORMATION

FOREX:
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has witnessed increasing numbers, and a growing complexity, of financial investment opportunities in recent years, including a sharp rise in foreign currency (forex) trading scams. A new federal law enacted in December 2000, called the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 (CFMA), makes clear that the Commission has the jurisdiction and authority to investigate and take legal action to close down a wide assortment of unregulated firms offering or selling foreign currency futures and options contracts to the general public. In addition, the CFTC has jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute foreign currency fraud occurring in its registered firms and their affiliates.
In light of the CFMA, the CFTC has issued an Advisory concerning the offering and trading of foreign currency futures and options contracts involving the retail public, and also revised and re-issued its 1998 Consumer Alerton foreign currency trading to help the retail public identify foreign currency trading scams. The CFTC’s Advisory reaffirms that off-exchange trading of foreign currency futures and options contracts with retail customers by a counterparty that is not a regulated financial entity as set forth in the CFMA is unlawful.

In its separate Consumer Alert, the CFTC warns consumers of sales solicitations appearing in newspapers, radio or television promotions, or attractive Internet websites, touting high-return, low-risk investment opportunities in foreign currency trading, and of highly paid currency-trading employment opportunities. The CFTC urges the public to be skeptical of such claims and suggests some "red flags" to look for, and cautionary steps to take,before trading foreign currency products.