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A Closer Look At Some Of The Investment Myths In The Foreign Exchange Markets
By Greg Hall
A common misconception among many newcomers to the Forex market is that they think just because they have seen people making huge sums of money trading currency that they can accomplish the same results just as quick. A common misconception among many newcomers to the Forex market is that they think just because they have seen people making huge sums of money trading currency that they can accomplish the same results just as quick. Just like anything else there is a learning curve plus there is a lot of research and strategy that goes on behind the scenes to make a trade successful. I have written this article to help you avoid some of the more common investment myths so you will know what to realistically expect when you begin trading.
Just like any other market investing, you must be disciplined to be successful in foreign currency trading if you intend to be successful at it. Another key point that you must always keep in mind is that your investments are open to risk just because of the nature of trading. Forex trading can be very volatile and things change rapidly throughout the day so you have to constantly stay on top of what is happening to protect against loss. Forex trading is not a get rich quick scheme; it can be a get poor quick scheme if you aren't careful though.
All trading brings with it inherent risk. If it were totally risk free everyone would be doing it and everyone would be wealthy. Obviously this is not the case. If you intend to make a large profit then you will have to assume risks. The larger the potential windfall, the larger the risk is that you take. Do not enter the Forex market if you are not prepared to accept the risk of loss that comes along with it. With that said, there is a lot that you can do to minimize the risk. For starters, you should educate yourself on the systems and study the market before you invest. Another good strategy is to set up a demo account that works just like a real one, except you are not investing with real money. Once you get comfortable with it and you are picking way more winners than losers you can move into actual trading with real currency.
Another misunderstood investment technique is that of leveraging, which can be very good or very, very bad. Many people who don't have much money to invest will often get a credit line to trade with so they can increase the potential profits. However, it also comes with the greatest risk of loss. The problem is that people think this is something than can be done easily by anyone and that is simply not the case. Only those who have been trading in the market for a number of years best use this principle. All it takes is one bad pick and then not only have you lost money, you now owe money.
Forex trading is for discretionary funds, money that you don't need. If you are barely paying your bills you don't belong in the Forex market. It is a volatile and rapidly changing market that will eat you up if you don't know what you are doing. Take the time to learn the market before you jump in and make sure you get with a reputable company who is willing to teach you the ropes before you commit your resources.
Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Beach, Florida. Find more about this as well as foreign currency trading at www.FXTradingStrategies.com
Thoughts On Forexforeign exchange students
Please study 8 hour or 4 hour line charts or candle charts, especially the patterns and 20 MA inside the charts for a few months everyday, and you will discover what I mean by accumulation and distribution for short-term trades in Forex market. Forex market always needs this process, so you can decide what tactics you will use at a given stage.
TECHNICALS and CHARTING
Why day trade once you get a good seat and the market is going your way. It is always more profitable to ride even the short wave for 2-10 days by adding up. In general, you must day trade only when you are losing. To find a buy entry seat for short-term trades, you can study the "accumulation and distribution patterns and 20 MA" in 8, 4 hourlies or 30 min "Line Charts" (or Candle Charts), together with MACD "overbought and oversold indicators" with its Patterns. If you study them for awhile you will understand when it the best entry point. The remainder is for money management and discipline and of course, experience. Good trades?
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The bid/ask spread for EUR/USD should never exceed 3 to 4 pips to improve profiting from Forex trading. For an active trader profiting in Forex with a 2 pip transaction cost is highly preferable.
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In Forex day trading, you can select your feasible time to trade, as it is round the clock (24-hour) market. The superior liquidity of forex, combined with a true 24-hour forex market that's traded 5 � days a week, offers you exceptional independence and Forex currency trading when you want to, not when the market wants you to. The Forex market literally follows the sun around the world moving from major banking and financial centers of the United States to Australia and New Zealand to the Far East, to Europe and finally back to the United States.
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The transaction costs are calculated in terms of pips. Profiting from FOREX fx is the greatest to the trader when the spread between the bid/ask is the lowest number of pips required per trade by the broker. By comparing pip spreads of a half dozen brokers or so will reveal different transaction costs.
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Introduction to Currency Exchange and the FX Market
What is Currency Exchange?
Currency exchange is the trading of one currency against another. Professionals refer to this as foreign exchange, but may also use the acronyms Forex or FX.
The Need for Currency Exchange
Currency exchange is necessary in numerous circumstances.
Consumers typically come into contact with currency exchange when they travel. They go to a bank or currency exchange bureau to convert one currency (typically, their "home currency") into another (i.e., the currency of the country they intend to travel to) so they can pay for goods and services in the foreign country. Consumers may also purchase goods in a foreign country or via the Internet with their credit card, in which case they will find that the amount they paid in the foreign currency will have been converted to their home currency on their credit card statement. Although each such currency exchange is a relatively small transaction, the aggregate of all such transactions is significant.
Businesses typically have to convert currencies when they conduct business outside their home country. For example, if they export goods to another country and receive payment in the currency of that foreign country, then the payment must often be converted back to the home currency. Similarly, if they have to import goods or services, then businesses will often have to pay in a foreign currency, requiring them to first convert their home currency into the foreign currency. Large companies convert huge amounts of currency each year; for example, a company such as General Electric (GE) converts tens of billions of dollars each year. The timing of when they convert can have a large affect on their balance sheet and "bottom line.
Investors and speculators require currency exchange whenever they trade in any foreign investment, be that equities, bonds, bank deposits, or real estate. For example, when a Swedish investor buys shares in Sun Microsystems on the NASDAQ, she will have to pay for the shares in U.S. Dollars and likely have to convert Swedish Krona to U.S. Dollars. Similarly, a Japanese real estate investor who sells a New York property may well want to convert the proceeds of the sale in U.S. Dollars to Japanese Yen.
Investors and speculators also trade currencies directly in order to benefit from movements in the currency exchange markets. For example, if an American investor believes that the Japanese economy is strengthening and as a result expects the Japanese Yen to appreciate in value (i.e., go up relative to other currencies), then she may want to buy Japanese Yen and take what is referred to as a long position. Similarly, if an American investor believes that the Euro will go down over time, then she may want to sell Euro to take a short position. Interestingly, investors and speculators can profit equally from currencies becoming stronger (by taking a long position) or from currencies becoming weaker (by taking a short position). Speculators are often day traders, trying to take advantage of market movements in very short time periods; buying a currency and then selling it again may happen within hours or even minutes. They are attracted to currency trading for numerous reasons, including (i) the size and daily volatility of the market, which gives them unparalleled excitement, (ii) the almost perfect liquidity of the currency exchange market, (iii) the fact that the currency exchange market is "open" 24 hours a day market, and (vi) the fact that currencies can be traded with no brokerage charges.
Commercial and Investment Banks trade currencies as a service for their commercial banking, deposit and lending customers. These institutions also generally participate in the currency market for hedging and proprietary trading purposes.
Governments and central banks trade currencies to improve trading conditions or to intervene in an attempt to adjust economic or financial imbalances. Although they do not trade for speculative reasons --- they are a non-profit organization --- they often tend to be profitable, since they generally trade on a long-term basis.
Currency Exchange Rates and Spreads
Currency exchange rates are determined by the currency exchange market. (The currency exchange market is described further below.) A currency exchange rate is always quoted for a currency pair using ISO code abbreviations. For example, EUR/USD refers to the two currencies Euro (the European currency) and U.S. Dollar. The first is referred to as the base currency, while the second as the quote currency. The EUR/USD exchange rate specifies how many US Dollars you have to pay to buy one Euro, or conversely how many US Dollars you obtain when you sell one Euro. More generally, if buying, an exchange rate specifies how much you have to pay in the quote currency to obtain one unit of the base currency, and if selling, the exchange rate specifies how much you get in the quote currency when selling one unit of the base currency.
A currency exchange rate is typically given as a pair consisting of a bid price and an ask price. The ask price applies when buying a currency pair and represents what has to be paid in the quote currency to obtain one unit of the base currency. The bid price applies when selling and represents what will be obtained in the quote currency when selling one unit of the base currency. The bid price is always lower than the ask price.
In the currency market, the following abbreviation for the currency exchange rate pair is used:
0.8423/28
The first component (before the slash) refers to the bid price (what you obtain in USD when you sell EUR), and in this case includes four digits after the decimal point. The second component (after the slash) is used to obtain the ask price (what you have to pay in USD if you buy EUR). The ask price is obtained by increasing the first component until the last two decimal places are equal to the digits in the second component. In this example, the ask price is 0.8428. As another example, 0.8498/03 refers to a bid price of 0.8498 and an ask price of 0.8503. (Note that for some exchange rates it is customary to quote rates in units of 100, as is the case with USD/JPY.)
The difference between the bid and the ask price is referred to as the spread. When trading large amounts of $1M or higher, the spread obtained in a quote is typically 5 basis points or PIPs, with each basis point referring to 0.0001 (or 0.01 when, say, the Yen is involved). In the example above, the spread is 0.0005 or 5 PIPs. When trading smaller amounts, the spread may be larger; for example, when trading less than $100,000, spreads of 50-200 PIPs are common. Credit card companies typically apply a spread of 200-300 PIPs. Banks and exchange bureaus typically use a spread in the range of 200-1000 PIPs (in addition to charging a commission). For investors and speculators, a lower spread translates into easier profit taking due to movements in exchange rates.
The Currency Exchange Market
The currency exchange market is an inter-bank or inter-dealer market that was established in 1971 when floating exchange rates began to materialize. In addition, it is an Over-The-Counter market, meaning that transactions are conducted between any two counter parties that agree to trade via the telephone or electronic network. Trading is thus not centralized, as is the case with many stock markets (i.e., NYSE, ASE, CME) or as the case for currency futures and currency options, which trade on special exchanges. Dealers often "advertise" exchange rates using a distribution network, such as the one provided by Reuters or Bridge. Dealers then use the information obtained there (or directly) to "agree" to a rate and a trade.
The major dealing centers today are: London, with about 30% of the market, New York, with 20%, Tokyo, with 12%, Zurich, Frankfurt, Hong Kong and Singapore, with about 7% each, followed by Paris and Sydney with 3% each.
In terms of trading volume, the currency exchange market is the worlds largest market, with daily trading volumes in excess of $1.5 trillion US dollars. This is orders of magnitude larger than the bond or stock market. For example, the New York Stock Exchange has a daily trading volume of approximately $60 billion. Thus, the currency exchange market is by far the most liquid market in the world today. Because of the volume in trading, it is impossible for individuals or companies to affect the exchange rates. In fact, even central banks and governments find it increasingly difficult to affect the exchange rates of the most liquid currencies, such as the US dollar, Japanese Yen, Euro, Swiss Frank, Canadian Dollar or Australian Dollar.
The currency exchange market is a true 24-hour market, 5 days a week. There are dealers in every major time zone. Trading begins Monday morning in Sydney (which corresponds to 3pm EST, Sunday) and then daily moves around the globe through the various trading centers until closing Friday evening at 4:30pm EST in New York.
Today, over 85% of all currency exchange transactions involve a few major currencies: the US Dollar (USD), Japanese Yen (JPY), Euro (EUR), Swiss Frank (CHF), British Pound (GBP), Canadian Dollar (CAD), and Australian Dollar (AUD). In the currency exchange market, most of the currencies are traded only against the US Dollar. The term cross rate refers to an exchange rate between two non-dollar currencies. Trading between two non-dollar currencies usually occurs by first trading one against the US Dollar and then trading the US Dollar against the second non-dollar currency. Because of this, the spread in the exchange rate between two non-dollar currencies is often higher. (There are a few non-dollar currencies that are traded directly, such as GBP/EUR or EUR/CHF.) The following directly traded currency pairs make up the vast majority of the trading volume and are thus considered to be the most important ones: EUR/USD, USD/JPY, EUR/JPY, USD/CAD, EUR/GBP, GBP/USD, USD/CHF, AUD/USD, and AUD/JPY.
How currency trading is done traditionally
Currency trading is always done with currency pairs, such as EUR/USD, and so it is useful to consider the currency pair as an instrument, which can be bought or sold.
* Buying the currency pair implies buying the first, base currency and selling (short) an equivalent amount of the second, quote currency (to pay for the base currency). (It is not necessary for the trader to own the quote currency prior to selling, as it is sold short.) A speculator buys a currency pair, if she believes the base currency will go up relative to the quote currency, or equivalently that the corresponding exchange rate will go up.
* Selling the currency pair implies selling the first, base currency (short), and buying the second, quote currency. A speculator sells a currency pair, if she believes the base currency will go down relative to the quote currency, or equivalently, that the quote currency will go up relative to the base currency.
After buying a currency pair, the trader will have an open position in the currency pair. Right after such a transaction, the value of the position will be close to zero, because the value of the base currency is more or less equal to the value of the equivalent amount of the quote currency. In fact, the value will be slightly negative, because of the spread involved.
In todays currency market, a trade goes through a three-step process:
1. the trader communicates the currency pair and the amount he/she would like to trade with another dealer.
2. the dealer responds with a bid and an ask price
3. the trader responds to the bid and ask price with one of:
1. buy (by saying "Mine" or "I buy" or "I take")
2. sell (by saying "yours" or "I give you" or "I sell")
3. refuse.
The transaction occurs if the final response is either a buy or a sell. The dealer is required to quote a "good" market price, since he does not know whether the trader will buy or sell.
The currency exchange market described above is referred to as the spot market and the transaction described is referred to as a spot deal. A spot deal consists of a bilateral contract between a party delivering a specified amount of a given currency against receiving a specified amount of another currency from a second counter party, based on an agreed exchange rate, within two business days of the deal date, which is referred to as the settlement date. (The settlement date for USD/CAD is one business day after the deal date.) Speculators rarely deliver, however. Instead, they use what is referred to as a rollover swap. The rollover swap is designed to allow the changing of an old deal date to the current date by simultaneously closing an open position for todays date and opening the same position for the next day at a price reflecting the interest rate differential between the two currencies.
When a trader buys or sells a currency pair, the value of the currency pair, as an instrument, initially is close to zero. This is because (in the case of a buy) the quote currency is sold to buy an equivalent amount of the base currency. As the market rates fluctuate, however, the value of the currency pair position held will also fluctuate. Thus, if the rate for the currency pair goes down, the speculators long position will lose in value and become negative. To ensure that the speculator can carry the risk for the case where the position results in a loss, banks or dealers typically require sufficient collateral to cover those losses. This collateral is typically referred to as margin.
To limit down-side risk, traders often specify a Stop-Loss rate for each open trade. The Stop-Loss specifies that the trade should be closed automatically when the currency exchange rate for the currency pair in question reaches a certain threshold. For long positions, the Stop-Loss rate is always lower than the current exchange rate; for short positions, it is always higher. Traders, at times, also specify a Take-Profit rate for their trades in order to lock in a profit when the exchange rate reaches a certain threshold. For long positions, the Take-Profit rate must be above the current rate, while for short positions, it must be below the current rate.
A trader may also leave an order with a bank, broker or dealer. These so called leave orders are orders that a trade should be executed (in the future) when certain market conditions occur. There are three types of leave orders:
1. entry orders: specifies that a currency pair should be traded when it reaches a certain exchange rate. Entry orders are used when the trade would not offset a current position.
2. take-profit orders: are used to clear a position by buying (or selling) the currency pair of the position when the exchange rate reaches a specified level.
3. stop-loss orders: are used to clear a position by buying (or selling) the currency pair of the position when the exchange rate reaches a specified level.
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Technological advancement, along with liberal market sentiments, has allowed almost everyone to deal in currency trading, unlikely to the past when there were only few organizations that could trade the currency. You also can open a mini account with as little as $300 US although $2000 US is recommended. You can open a regular account with as little as $2000 US although $10,000 US is recommended. Mainly major banks, international organizations and some other are doing well in currency trading.
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The 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.
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On the technical side of Forex trading, the first thing to do is to find out the trend in one?s trading time frame and the proper trading strategy for that trend. Some ride positions for months, while some ride positions for less than an hour or a day and their views of the trend obviously differ. For a trader who is running a position for months, a daily fluctuation may be just a meaningless noise while for a daytrader or an hour trader, a daily fluctuation could be a monstrous tsunami. Having a precise definition and a technique of identifying a trend and the turn of a trend in a trader?s time frame, and adopting the right strategies for that trend is the first elementary step in a hard school of trading. Imho.
I keep my technical side on any pair as simple as possible largely relying on other?s moves to see how I can take advantage of the situation. So for me the strategy is to "range trade". Please always give stop order per your risk profile when you open any new position. Medium-term reversals can be confirmed only in monthly, weekly and daily charts. Chart reading is not to predict the tops or bottoms of any move, but to confirm the change of trend as soon as they are made and adopt right strategies in that new trend. Good trades.
Forex Trading Systems NewsBritish Pound Soars on Surprisingly Strong Retail Sales ReportThu, 20 Mar 2008 22:00:28 -0400
The British pound is the only currency that has managed to strengthen against the US dollar today.
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