What is Forex?

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

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

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

Currencies are traded against one another. Each pair of currencies thus constitutes an individual product and is traditionally noted XXX/YYY, where YYY is the ISO 4217 international three-letter code of the currency into which the price of one unit of XXX currency is expressed. For instance, EUR/USD is the price of the euro expressed in US dollars, as in 1 euro = 1.2045 dollar.

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

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

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

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

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

Forex Trading Forums - Tips for Beginners

Online forums are becoming popular places for people to go online and get information. Forex subject is no different there are many trading forums in Internet where traders can share their opinions and learn new stuff. However as with any online resource you need to be careful with the information you find on such forums.

The general meaning of word “forum” is a place where people can gather to talk and share their pinons. The beginning form of the Internet forum was bulletin boards - website where visitors could write their posts. Nowadays it’s much easier to join a forum and start immediately post messages.

Therefore nowadays it’s very simple to find an answer to any of your questions on online trading forums. If you don’t find it you can join a forum and start posting your questions and be certain that participants will answer them.

Forums can be very helpful for you to decide about certain online products. Since many traders who used the product you may be interested in give their opinion and feedback you can use it to your advantage and avoid scams. Just go to any Forex trading forum and use “search” option to find a feedback you are looking for.

Before you make a decision about the product go through many reviews. Otherwise a few people’s opinions will not give you a complete picture. Remember that some people may have extremely good or bad experience which may be unusual. Therefore search for good and bad feedback to construct a good picture about what you are looking for.

But of course the highest value forum provides when you have a question. You may ask it there and get answers from many people. However you have to remember that may not trust anyone who answers your question.

Sometimes you may find that people’s opinion contradict each other. That’s not the reason to get discouraged about the trading forums. Different people have different personalities therefore their way of making money in Forex may be completely different from yours.

There is a well known issue in online forums. You don’t know the people who are answering your question. Some of them may be really professional and know what they are talking and doing. However many such people who talk with authority but in reality they only trade on a demo account. Therefore you don’t have to be taking any advice from anyone without doing your own thinking.

Another issue with the online forums is that it’s very easy to get addicted to them. You may find yourself wasting a lot of time on forums instead of studying the market and taking the trades. That’s why you need to set a clear goals and carefully plan your trading day.

Forex Mini Account - Place to Start Your Trading Experience

If you are just starting to trade currencies and thinking about moving to trade real money then starting to trade on a mini account is the best option. A few years back only wealthy people could afford to trade in Forex. However today you don’t have to be a millionaire to do that. That’s one of the reason that attracts so many new people to start trading the real money.

A regular lot is 100,000 of units of currency. That’s a large amount of money you need to trade. However some brokers have an option of mini lots that consist of 10,000 units of currency.

Many brokers give you the leverage to trade as high as 100. With such leverage tradiding a mini lot of $10,000 you need only $100. For trading a regular lot you need $1000.

That’s the basic reason why Forex trading is so popular. Most people can commit $100 or so to open a mini account and start trading currencies.

The value of one price point or pip is also smaller. If the value of price point for the regular lot is $10 then the pip value for a mini account is just $1 for the pairs where US dollar is a base currency. For other pairs the pip value is close to that number but varies with the price.

Trading a mini lot of 10,000 and with leverage 100 you need to commit $100. Depending on a currency pair you are trading a price change by one pip will cost you or bring you around $1 or 1% of what you invested in one min lot.

Therefore you always need to use a stop loss. Otherwise a move of 100 pips against your position will wipe out your investment of $100. So allowing price to move 20 or 30 pips against your account will mean setting your stop loss at that level.

While you grow your trading experience and your trading account size you may want to switch trading regular lot sizes. However depending on your brokers policy you can still trade in mini account but using 10 mini lots. That will give you the same profit potential as for the regular lot size. At the same time using 10 mini lots instead of 1 regular lot gives you advantage of taking partial profits. In other words you may have a lot more flexibility wit 10 mini lots.

Trading currencies was available only to those people who could invest significant amount of money from the beginning. That’s why mini accounts appeared to give the opportunity for people who don’t have large capital to be able to start trading in Forex.

There are also micro accounts offered by some brokers. You can trade with a micro lot of 1000 units that makes your risk very low. However before starting to trade currencies even on micro account you need to thoroughly understand the process on a demo account.
About the Author:
Albert Schmidt has been in the field of Forex Trading for a few years by now. He maintains a website about currency trading where you can find answers to the rest of your questions about how you can learn Forex trading.

Forex Currency Dealing

There is something magical about currency dealing which has led to traders around the world embracing it as a fantastic tool to trade Forex with.

The figures projected shows more than three trillion dollars worth of dealings being traded each day in the global currency markets. Thanks to the internet that the online currency trading can now be easily accessed by everybody.

Of course, Forex currency trading is not without risk. As with any investment market it can go for you or against you. Therefore a certain level of risk management is needed to avoid any large loss of money. The old adage of never risking more than you can afford to lose comes in to play.

Most importantly you must take the time to learn about Forex currency trading so that you can trade safely and efficiently.

Currency dealing is basically the buying of one currency in exchange for another, followed by the selling of that currency later as the exchange rate changes. The market is open 5 days a week, and thanks to different time zones, 24 hours a day.

The first tool you will need to engage in currency dealing is a platform where you can conduct your trading. There are many online Forex brokers available, some are kept very simple for the new traders and others are very technical for the veteran traders.

Currency trading works by pairing up currencies. For example the GBP can be paired with USD or EUR or one of many different national currencies. The platforms make their money from the trade you place by charging a margin. This means they make money whether you win or lose.

A leverage is offered where you can in essence trade thousands of dollars worth of currency with as little as $10-$20 USD. Of course this also makes your risk higher as you will lose your money faster if the rate goes the opposite way, however with stoploss you can limit your risk down to the dollar.

Undertaking the online currency trading will demand that you have good knowledge of trading and the markets situation around the world. Here it is not about taking chances but about knowing the details about investment and what it is all about and about its mode of operation.

There are companies available that, for a small charge, will provide all the latest currency news as it happens. They can also provide previews and analysis of what might happen and what has already happened. There are also free versions of this information available, however, not all free services are reliable.

When you take the proper precautions and monitor markets effectively, currency dealing has a lot to offer. There are many people making a living from trading currencies online.

Forex Megadroid Review Automatic Trading

Since the successes of the FAPTurbo, there have been many scalping robots released into the market that are little more than cheap copies. The majority of them don’t have the track record of successfully profitable trades and this has led people to avoiding them, believing they were rip-offs. Unfortunately the Forex Megadroid was released at a similar point in time and people instantly assumed it was just another knock-off robot. The truth is there is a lot more substance behind the Forex Megadroid robot than meets the eye.

What makes Forex Megadroid stand out from the others? This expert trader is able to be used with any MetaTrader 4 forex trading platform, so this gives you plenty of options for choosing your broker.

This robot trades in the pre-Asian trading session and you’ll find that it offers one extra currency pair than FAPTurbo can offer. The EUR/USD can display reasonable spreads throughout the pre-Asian session so you’ll find that there are frequent opportunities for trades.

The Forex Megadroid can boast having a slightly higher accuracy rate than the FAPTurbo and also many other comparable robots too. It also has the ability to pick entry points that can often be more accurate than its competitors. However, you might notice that the trading strategy used by the Forex Megadroid differs from the majority of other robots.
automated forex analysis

The major difference is that it places noticeably fewer trades, but the win percentage is also reported quite a lot higher too. At a reported 95% trading win percentage this is quite an impressive robot.

It’s also obvious that this software doesn’t require a lot of customization like its competitor FAPTurbo. This can make the Forex Megadroid ideal for novice trader as you simply download the software and install it onto your MetaTrader 4 platform. Drag and drop it onto the appropriate chart and let it run on its own.

The Forex Megadroid is very simple to install. Once you’ve downloaded the software, you just drag the robot and drop it onto your MetaTrader 4 charts. This allows you to begin trading within only a few minutes.

In conclusion, the Forex Megadroid is a quite effective trading robot that has a few similarities to the FAPTurbo, but also has the notable difference of having a higher accuracy rate and uses a different currency pair. While the amount of trades might be lower, the win rate is higher for those trades is does place.