A Short Introduction To FOREX
If you are an experienced ‘FOREX’ Trader or just a beginner looking for the opportunities offered in the ‘FOREX' market, ForexGen has created ForexGen Academy to give you the chance to get a ‘FOREX’ education and improve your trading skills. No hard expressions, no buzz words, and no rocket science language are used throughout these lessons.
Forex is the world's largest and most liquid trading market. Many consider Forex as the best home business you can ever venture in. Even though regular people have had the opportunity to take part in trading foreign currencies for profit (in the same way banks and large corporations do) since 1998, it is just now becoming the cool, hip, new "thing" to talk about at parties, business events, and other social gatherings.
Even though it has been somewhat of a loosely guarded secret, every day more and more investors are turning to the all-electronic world of Forex trading for income and profit because of its numerous benefits & advantages over traditional trading vehicles, like stocks, bonds and commodities.
But, still, whenever something seems new or is just becoming a part of social conversation, news articles, and water cooler gossip, misconceptions have to be overcome, the mind has to be open and the slate has to be clear for starting out fresh with the CORRECT information.
So, in this article, it is my attempt to give you some solid, but not over-detailed, information on just what the heck "FX" (Forex) means, what it is, and why it exists.
As a successful trader said, Trading Forex is like picking money up off the floor. Not trading Forex is like leaving it there for someone else to pick up." Others in the industry have also said, Trading Forex is like having an ATM machine on your own computer.
Here's an explanation (one I feel you'll appreciate) of what Forex is and how a bunch of traders, profit from it:
The Foreign Exchange Market, also referred to the "Forex" or "FX" market, is the spot (cash) market for currency.
But, don't mistake FX as trading the futures market, where you buy a contract to purchase a particular currency at a future price in time.
What FX traders do is much less risky than trading currencies on the futures market, much more profitable, and a lot easier, than trading stocks.
So, you're probably wondering where it's at ... or ... how to access the FX market?
The answer is: FX Trading is not bound to any one trading floor and is not centralized on an exchange, as with the stock and futures markets. The FX market is considered an Over-the-Counter (OTC) or 'Interbank' market, due to the fact that the entire market is run electronically, within a network of banks, continuously over a 24-hour period.
Yes, if that's the first time you've heard about an all-electronic market, I know this may sound somewhat intriguing to you.
Here's what you are actually trading when you participate in the Foreign Exchange (Forex) market:
Essentially, like the large banks who use the FX market to protect themselves fro
m the fluctuating exchange rate of different currencies, as an investor, what a FX trader is doing is simultaneously exchanging one countries currency for another. So, in actuality, they're electronically trading a currency-pair and the price that is quoted to us is the exchange rate between the two currencies.
In other words, simply the quoted price is how many of the one currency is worth 1 of the other currency.
Example:
EUR/USD last trade 1.2850 — One Euro is worth $1.2850 US dollars.The first currency (in this example, the EURO) is referred to as the base currency and the second (/USD) as the counter or quote currency.
The Forex has a DAILY trading volume of around $1.5 trillion dollars — 30 times larger than the combined volume of all U.S. equity markets. This means that 1,498,574 skilled traders could each take 1 million dollars out of the Forex market every day and the Forex would still have more money left than the New York Stock exchange every day!
The Forex plays a vital role in the world economy and there will always be a tremendous need for the Forex. International trade increases as technology and communication increases. As long as there is international trade, there will be a Forex market. The FX market has to exist so a country like Japan can sell products in the United States and be able to receive Japanese Yen in exchange for US Dollar.
Winning in trading depends on using the right strategy and controlling all the moves. Trading strategies are discussed in details at ForexGen Academy.
Simple, Short Introduction To FOREX | ForexGen
Thursday, September 25, 2008
History of FOREX Trading | ForexGen
The History of FOREX Trading
If you are an experienced ‘FOREX’ Trader or just a beginner looking for the opportunities offered in the ‘FOREX' market, ForexGen has created ForexGen Academy to give you the chance to get a ‘FOREX’ education and improve your trading skills. No hard expressions, no buzz words, and no rocket science language are used throughout these lessons.
The origin of Forex trading traces its history to centuries ago. Different currencies and the need to exchange them had existed since the Babylonians. They are credited with the first use of paper notes and receipts. Speculation hardly ever happened, and certainly the enormous speculative activity in the market today would have been frowned upon.
In those days, the value of goods were expressed in terms of other goods(also called as the Barter System). The obvious limitations of such a system encouraged establishing more generally accepted mediums of exchange. It was important that a common base of value could be established. In some economies
, items such as teeth, feathers even stones served this purpose, but soon various metals, in particular gold and silver, established themselves as an accepted means of payment as well as a reliable storage of value. Trade was carried among people of Africa, Asia etc through this system.
Coins were initially minted from the preferred metal and in stable political regimes, the introduction of a paper form of governmental I.O.U. during the Middle Ages also gained acceptance. This type of I.O.U. was introduced more successfully through force than through persuasion and is now the basis of today's modern currencies.
Before the First World war, most Central banks supported their currencies with convertibility to gold. However, the gold exchange standard had its weaknesses of boom-bust patterns. As an economy strengthened, it would import a great deal from out of the country until it ran down its gold reserves required to support its money; as a result, the money supply would diminish, interest rates escalate and economic activity slowed to the point of recession. Ultimately, prices of commodities had hit bottom, appearing attractive to other nations, who would sprint into buying fury that injected the economy with gold until it increased its money supply, drive down interest rates and restore wealth into the economy.. However, for this type of gold exchange, there was not necessarily a Centrals bank need for full coverage of the government's currency reserves. This did not occur very often, however when a group mindset fostered this disastrous notion of converting back to gold in mass, panic resulted in so-called "Run on banks " The combination of a greater supply of paper money without the gold to cover led to devastating inflation and resulting political instability. The Great Depression and the removal of the gold standard in 1931 created a serious lull in Forex market activity. From 1931 until 1973, the Forex market went through a series of changes. These changes greatly affected the global economies at the time and speculation in the Forex markets during these times was little.
In order to protect local national interests, increased foreign exchange controls were introduced to prevent market forces from punishing monetary irresponsibility.
Near the end of World War II, the Bretton Woods agreement was reached on the initiative of the USA in July 1944. The conference held in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire rejected John Maynard Keynes suggestion for a new world reserve currency in favor of a system built on the US Dollar. International institutions such as the IMF, The World Bank and GATT were created in the same period as the emerging victors of WWII searched for a way to avoid the destabilizing monetary crises leading to the war. The Bretton Woods agreement resulted in a system of fixed exchange rates that reinstated The Gold Standard partly, fixing the USD at $35.00 per ounce of Gold and fixing the other main currencies to the dollar, initially intended to be on a permanent basis.
The Bretton Woods system came under increasing pressure as national economies moved in different directions during the 1960's. A number of realignments held the system alive for a long time but eventually Bretton Woods collapsed in the early 1970's following president Nixon's suspension of the gold convertibility in August 1971. The dollar was not any longer suited as the sole international currency at a time when it was under severe pressure from increasing US budget and trade deficits.
The last few decades have seen foreign exchange trading develop into the world's largest global market. Restrictions on capital flows have been removed in most countries, leaving the market forces free to adjust foreign exchange rates according to their perceived values.
The European Economic Community introduced a new system of fixed exchange r
ates in 1979, the European Monetary System. The quest continued in Europe for currency stability with the 1991 signing of The Maastricht treaty. This was to not only fix exchange rates but also actually replace many of them with the Euro in 2002. London was, and remains the principal offshore market. In the 1980s, it became the key center in the Eurodollar market when British banks began lending dollars as an alternative to pounds in order to maintain their leading position in global finance.
In Asia, the lack of sustainability of fixed foreign exchange rates has gained new relevance with the events in South East Asia in the latter part of 1997, where currency after currency was devalued against the US dollar, leaving other fixed exchange rates in particular in South America also looking very vulnerable.
By registering on ForexGen, you create your ForexGen profile and you can go ahead and open as many Demo accounts, and live accounts as you need. All accounts can be created online and managed under your ForexGen profile. You can mix between Mini, Standard, Pro, Premium and No Dealing Desk accounts in one.
One Click Execution | ForexGen
Online Forex
If you are an experienced ‘FOREX’ Trader or just a beginner looking for the opportunities offered in the ‘FOREX' market, ForexGen has created ForexGen Academy to give you the chance to get a ‘FOREX’ education and improve your trading skills.
Q1: When you consider that the foreign exchange market has become the world's largest financial market, with over $1.5 trillion USD traded daily, where does it go from here?
A1:The FX market is unique, in the UK there is no central exchange, we trade via the inter bank market. With more and more private individuals taking up margin trading and new forex 
brokers setting up, I can only see the market grow in the near future.
Q2: Other than great liquidity, what are the principal benefits attached to the forex market?
A2: There is less to consider when trading the forex markets, there are only a number of variables that affect the pricing.
Main advantages include:
Forex Market allows 24 hour trading
Greater leverage — with most brokers offering 100 — 1,
Less starting capital required,
More Liquidity — day trading has to have enough volume to make it worth our while. The currency market is more liquid than all the world stock markets put together. Currencies are always in action,
Free trading systems
Better for shorting — There are artificial controls built into the market to prevent it from going down too fast. The reason is that we live in a biased world that likes to see things go up instead of down. One of these artificial contraptions is the "uptick rule," which comes into play when shorting stocks, making it more difficult to sell a stock short than to buy it. This is unheard of in the currency market. Selling currencies short while day trading is just as easy as buying them.
Ideal for Short Term Traders
Q3: Limited market access, liquidity issues-after market hours, commission fees, capital requirements and short selling/stop restrictions are just some of the issues investors f
ace when considering other markets. Given that the forex market removes many of these traditional barriers and therefore does not restrict the forex traders' ability to make a trade at the right time, are we likely to see an increase in trading volumes this year?
A3: With all these advantages, traders are finding it hard not to trade currencies, online trading volumes across all products is increasing at a substantial rate, however FX trading, predominantly amongst retail investors is becoming very popular.
Q4: There is stiff competition amongst online forex service providers for retail forex traders with some claiming to offer the same degree of technical analysis enjoyed by the world's largest banks and institutional traders. Is this possible?
A4: Technical Analysis has come a long way, more and more forex provides now have partnerships with firms who provide analysis. However the banks still have an advantage, the markets are still not under perfectly competitive economic model. The banks will always have access to information that is not readily available, ISX FX currently sources its information from a number of banks to fill this gap.
Q5: Do you subscribe to the theory that forex is less volatile than stocks because the market is much deeper?
A5: As a bet on the direction of a national economy, no currency has ever dropped 25 percent in a day, or imploded as rapidly and completely as an Enron or a Parmalat. In the wake of those scandals, many companies are meting out information more cautiously, making it harder to get the real "scoop" on stocks one problem of trading with too-high leverage is that one piece of surprise news can wipe out one's capital. If you treat forex trading like a business, including proper money management, you have a better chance of success."
Q6: U.S. interest rates-decade lows; global trade wars and terrorism fears have dominated the headlines recently. What impact has this had on retail volumes?
A6: The above factors have all led to a decline in the dollar. This coupled with tighter regulation of brokers has given investors more confidence in brokers. Also the stock market crash has driven individuals to look at the profit opportunities offered by forex.
Q7: Stateside the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has brought 58 actions against firms, since its new powers were awarded in 2000. Given that certain brokers continue to abuse the system, with investor money sometimes not being traded in the markets promised. What can investors do protect themselves?
A7: The retail forex market is in essence betting, as with any bookmaker there is always a risk that you will not get your winnings, or the odds will be highly stacked against you. With tighter regulation and increased competition, this risk of default has largely disappeared. The risk of price manipulation still exists and this will never really go away. Investors need to ensure that they have an independent price source and trade with a broker who offers true one click dealing. Most brokers work on the basis of the law of large numbers, acting like the bucket shops of 50 years ago, they do not hedge any positions and are directly competing against there clients. This will always lead to price manipulation and further actions by authorities will inevitably be taken.
Q8: What is this best way for "currency rookies" to get involved in the market?
A8: Like with any new form of trading you need to know what you are doing, especially as there is margin involved. Take all the time you need to learn this new trading skill well -- practice everything you learn with a demo account before you consider going 'live' with your own money. Investors should read books, attend seminars and paper trade until they are comfortable with there strategy.
By registering on ForexGen, you create your ForexGen profile and you can go ahead and open as many Demo accounts, and live accounts as you need. All accounts can be created online and managed under your ForexGen profile. You can mix between Mini, Standard, Pro, Premium and No Dealing Desk accounts in one.
Rollover And Swaps With ForexGen
ForexGen offers the swap-free accounts. Swaps will not be applied to ForexGen accounts.
ForexGen will not charge a fee of per traded lot round turn.
In the spot forex market, all trades must be settled in two business days. A rollover refers to the process of closing open position for today's value date and the opening of the same position for the next day's value date at a price reflecting the difference in interest rates between the two currencies.
In accordance with international banking practices, Forex brokers automatically rolls over all open positions to the next date at 5 PM EST for settlement.
Rollover involves exchanging the position being held for a position expiring the following settlement date. For example, for trades executed on Monday, the value date is Wednesday.
However, if a position is opened on Monday and held overnight, the value date is now Thursday. The exception is a position opened and held overnight on Wednesday. The normal value date would be Saturday; because banks are closed on Saturday the value date is actually the following Monday. Due to the weekend, positions held overnight on Wednesday incur or earn an extra two days of interest.
Trades with a value date that falls on a holiday will also incur or earn additional interest. Forex Traders can earn interest on rollovers, depending on the direction of their posit
ions and interest rate differential between the two currencies involved.For instance, the primary interest rates in Great Britain are much higher than in Japan, so if a trader buys GBP, he/she will earn interest at 5 PM EST time. on the other hand, if he/she sells GBP in this currency pair, he/she will pay interest at 5 PM EST time.
The quickest, easiest and secure way to open a ForexGen trading account is online. Complete and submit your application online in just a few minutes.
ForexGen Main Types Of Orders
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
The 4 Main Types Of Orders In The Foreign Exchange Market
The term "order" refers to how you will enter or exit a trade. Here we discuss the different types of orders that can be placed into the foreign exchange market, and because ForexGen believes of the importance of having full knowledge of trading Forex. Be sure that you know which types of orders your broker accepts. Different brokers accept different types of orders.
Market Order
The simplest form of order is the market order in which the trader simply buys or sells a currency pair at the current market price. Because of the enormous size of the market and its high liquidity there is little if any delay or slippage in the market and market orders are in essence guaranteed.
Limit Order
A limit order allows the trader to set the price at which he wants to take his profit and close out his position. For example, where a trader has bought GBP/USD at 1.9450 he might place a limit order at 1.9465 so that, if the price rises to this level, his position would automatically be closed and he will take his profit.
Stop Loss Order
A stop loss order is another form of limit order but in this case it indicates the maximum loss which a trader is prepared to take. In our example above the trader could place a stop loss order at 1.9430 so that he would limit his losses to 20 pips if the market turned against him.
Entry Order
An entry orders is an order which is only filled when the market meets certain conditions which are specified in the order. An entry order can take the form of either a limit entry order or a stop entry order.
Limit Entry Order
Let's start by assuming that the market price for the GBP/USD is 1.9740-45. This means that a trader can enter the market to sell at 1.9740 or buy at 1.9745. A trader could place a limit entry order to sell above the current market price at a level of say 1.9750 and this order would then only be executed if the market price reached this point. Similarly, he could place an order to buy at a price below the current market price - in this case below the buying price of 1.9745. So, were the trader to place a limit entry order to buy at 1.9730 this order would only come into effect if the price dropped to this point.
A limit entry order is commonly used where a trader believes that a currency is trading within an upper and lower range and is expecting a reversal in the currency's price movement.
Stop Entry Order
A stop entry order is frequently used when a trader believes that a currency which has been trading within an upper and lower range is about to break out of that range and he wants to either buy at a price above the present market price or to sell at a price below the current market price.
Our GBP/USD trader above, who can enter the market to buy at 1.9740 or to sell at 1.9745, might place an order to sell at say 1.9735. In this case the trader believes that the currency will reach this level and then continue to fall. Alternatively, he might place an order to buy at say 1.9750 again believing that the market will reach this level and continue to move in the same direction.
A stop entry order is commonly brought into play when a trader foresees large movements in the market.
By registering on ForexGen, you create your ForexGen profile and you can go ahead and open as many Demo accounts, and live accounts as you need. All accounts can be created online and managed under your ForexGen profile. You can mix between Mini, Standard, Pro, Premium and No Dealing Desk accounts in one.
ForexGen Analyze Movements In The Forex Market
How To Analyze Movements In The Forex Market
Like many other markets the Forex market is driven by supply and demand. When 
there is a demand for a currency its price rises and when there is an excessive supply of a currency its price falls. This may seem simple enough but unfortunately predicting movements in currency prices can be extremely difficult.
ForexGen studies past price and volume changes in order to build up simulations on future price movements. ForexGen's analysts mainly make use of charts and financial formulas to gather enough information used in technical price speculations.
Today there are two main methods used to predict movements in the Forex market:
Fundamental Analysis
Fundamental analysis was the dominant predictive tool in the Forex market until the mid 1980s, although it has since declined in popularity. Fundamental analysis focuses its attention on the political, social and economic factors which drive supply and demand and is based upon such things as interest rates, inflation, unemployment and economic growth rates. All of these different indicators are used to assess a currency's present performance and then to predict its future movement.
The problem with fundamental analysis is that the trader has to keep up with events and to analyze a huge amount of data. Additionally, there is a great deal of debate about just what data needs to be included in any fundamental analysis and how much weight should be put upon each of the different indicators.
One thing about which there is general agreement is that a country's balance of payments is key to fundamental analysis as it shows the flow of money in and out of the country. In theory, a balance of payments of zero will produce a stable price while a balance of payments deficit or surplus will cause the currency to fall or rise.
Technical Analysis
Technical analysis is based simply upon movements in currency prices and uses historical price data to predict future prices.
The main principle behind technical analysis is that history repeats itself and that price movements today merely follow well established patterns. The second principle is that it is not necessary to study current market information to predict movements in the market as this is already reflected in currency prices. It is simply the movement in prices themselves that needs to be studied in order to predict the direction in which prices are moving.
Technical analysis uses charts to provide a graphical representation of the market over time and allows the trader to identify trends in the pattern of price movements. There are various different charting techniques used today including such things as moving averages, oscillators, candlestick charts, Fibonacci retrace levels, Bollinger bands and others.
ForexGen services are all controlled by the international banking and financial regulatory standards.ForexGen is continuously providing the Forex market's safest trading terms & conditions. Providing professional currency trading services that meet our client's expectations is our first priority.
ForexGen Calculating Interest On Forex Trades
One of the great things about Forex trading is your ability to trade using leverage, effectively borrowing sometimes as much as 1,000 times your capital to make a trade. But borrowing money for currency trading is exactly the same as borrowing money for any other purpose and you will have to pay interest on your loan.
Currency transactions involve both buying and selling currencies however and this means that interest payments due on money which you borrow to fund a sale can be offset by interest earned on the currency you buy. If this seems a bit confusing we will take a look at an example in a minute but, first, let's take a moment to look at the subject of interest rates in general to see the wider picture as it affects the foreign exchange market.
Central banks set interest rates to meet a country's monetary policy and interest rates raise or lower the cost of a currency. High interest rates will make it expensive to buy a currency and low interest rates will make a currency more affordable.
As an example of how interest rates are used imagine the government of a country with high inflation. With the price of goods and services rising rapidly, the government might decide to raise interest rates. This would increase the cost of the country's currency making borrowing more expensive and both demand and consumption fall. As demand begins to fall, so the rate at which prices rise will also begin to fall and inflation will come down.
In a similar fashion, a country experiencing recession might decide to lower interest rates in an effort to stimulate the economy into growth. As the cost of the currency falls, so too will the cost of borrowing and investors, companies and individuals will be enticed to borrow and thus spend more, increasing demand and stimulating supply to meet that increased demand.
The interest rates which are set by central banks also determine the rate at which the commercial banks can borrow from the government and the rate at which they lend to their customers, which of course includes foreign currency traders.
So how do interest rates impact Forex trades?
Imagine a trader who buys GBP/USD. In this case he needs to borrow US Dollars to buy UK Pounds and will both pay interest on the US Dollars he borrows and earn interest on the UK Pounds he buys.
As long as the Bank of England interest rate is higher for the UK Pound than the interest rate set for the US Dollar by the Federal Reserve, the trader has the opportunity to earn more in interest on his holding of UK Pounds that he is paying on the US Dollars he had borrowed.
In general however, unless the difference between the two interest rates is significant, any net gain or loss will usually be quite small. It also has to be remembered that interest rates are set at an annual rate and that most trading position are held open for only a short, or very short, period of time. This acts to lower any interest gained or paid significantly.
Active traders who wish to enjoy the Forex trading advantages can work with the ForexGen account. ForexGen provides leverage up to 500:1 and 100,000 - 10,000 Trade Sizes. Open an account with as little as $250. ForexGen offer swap-free accounts. Swaps will not be applied to ForexGen accounts. ForexGen will not charge a fee of per traded lot round turn.
ForexGen Profiting From Rising
Forex Trading - Profiting From Rising and Falling Exchange Rates
ForexGen provides a unique online trading experience based on our intelligent online Forex trading package, the ForexGen Trading Station, including the best online trading system.
The easiest way to demonstrate the ability to profit from Forex trading as the exchange rate rises and falls is to look at some examples. Let's start by looking at how you might profit when exchange rates rise.
Let's assume that you believe that the UK Pound is going to rise against the US Dollar and that you can buy GBP/USD at 1.8730. We'll also assume that you are trading a standard InterBank lot of 100,000 so that 100,000 UK Pounds will cost 187,300 US Dollars.
To open a trade you start by borrowing 187,300 US Dollars, which you will have to repay when you close out your position.
ForexGen serves both private and institutional clients. We have a strong commitment to maintain a long term relationship with our clients.
[Note: We will not discuss the idea of borrowing to fund your Forex trading at this point but will simply note that the majority of trading is done using borrowed funds making use of leverage.]
Assuming that you are correct and that the UK Pound rises against the US Dollar and that the price moves 100 pips to a rate of 1.8830, the 100,000 UK Pounds which you purchased are now worth 188,300 US Dollars and you can close out your position and repay the original borrowing, leaving you with a profit of 1,000 US Dollars.
In real life of course it is not quite as simple as this because there will be transaction costs to pay. However, this does demonstrate the principle of profiting when exchange rate rise.
Now let's turn our attention to profiting when the exchange rate falls.
Assume this time that you believe that the UK Pound will fall against the US Dollar from its present rate of GBP/USD = 1.8730. In simple terms, you believe that the UK Pound is going to buy fewer US Dollars.
This time you will need to place a sell order for 100,000 UK Pounds at a cost of 187,300 US Dollars. In other words, you borrow 100,000 UK Pounds and sell them for 187,300 US Dollars.
Assuming once more that you are right and that the rate falls by 100 pips to GBP/USD = 1.8630, you can now close your position by buying back and repaying the 100,000 UK Pounds which you originally sold. In this case this will now cost you 186,300 US Dollars and you will once more make a profit of 1,000 US Dollars.
Again we have ignored any transaction costs to simply demonstrate the principle of profiting from a fall in exchange rates.
By registering on ForexGen, you create your ForexGen profile and you can go ahead and open as many Demo accounts, and live accounts as you need. All accounts can be created online and managed under your ForexGen profile. You can mix between Mini, Standard, Pro, Premium and No Dealing Desk accounts in one.
