Forex stands for the Foreign Exchange market, or Forex (FX). The foreign exchange market (FOREX) is the largest financial market in the world, with a volume of over $1.5 trillion daily in the US alone; more than three times the total amount of the US Equity and Treasury markets combined.
Showing posts with label foreign currencies trading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label foreign currencies trading. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Be A Forex Expert
Any one who has ventured into the real market place would definitely have an idea what a Forex is and share the many promises and possibilities this horizon can bring.
What Is Forex?
FOREX stands for the very popular Foreign Exchange Market. Sometimes, though, people associate it or equate it to mean also currencies.
What Is Forex?
FOREX stands for the very popular Foreign Exchange Market. Sometimes, though, people associate it or equate it to mean also currencies.
Friday, January 22, 2010
FOREX: Exiting positions at a right time
The presented article covers one of the most important (in author’s opinion) aspects of trading in general and FOREX trading in particular – managing of orders and positions. This includes choosing entry points, making decisions about exit points, stop-loss and take-profit of the trader. I hope this article will help new traders, who just began to work with FOREX, and also to experienced traders who trade regularly and regularly make or loose their money to the market.
When I started to trade FOREX and made my first big losses and profits I began to notice when very important thing about the whole trading process. While the right time to enter a position was rarely a problem for myself (nearly 80% of all my open positions had gone into the “green” profit zone), the problem was hidden in the determining the right exit point for that position. Not only was it important to cut my risk on the potential losses with stop-loss orders, but to limit my greediness and take profit when I can take it and make it as high as I can. There are many known guidelines and ways to enter a right position at a right time – like major economic news releases, global world events, technical indicators combinations, etc. But while the entering into a position is optional and trade can decide to miss as many good/bad entry point moments as they wish, this is untrue if we talk about exiting a position. Margin trading makes it impossible to wait too long with an open position. More than that, every open position in a certain way limits trader’s ability to trade.
Choosing the good exit points for positions could be an easy task if only the FOREX market wasn’t so chaotic and volatile. In my opinion (backed by my trading experience) exit orders for every position should be toggled constantly with time and as the new market data (technical and fundamental) appear.
Let’s say, you took a short position on EUR/USD at 1.2563, at the time you are taking this position the support/resistance level is 1.2500/1.2620. You set your stop-loss order to 1.2625 and your take-profit order to 1.2505. So now, this position can be considered as an intraday or 2-3 days term position. This means that you must close it before it’s “term” is over, or it will become a very unpredictable position (because market will differ greatly from what it was at the time you have entered this position). After the position is taken and initial exit orders are set, you need to follow the market events and technical indicators to adjust your exit orders. The most important rule is to tighten the loss/profit limit as time goes by. Usually if I take a middle term position (2-4 days) I try to lower the stop and target order by 10-25 pips every day. I also monitor global events, trying to lower my stop-losses when very important news can hurt my position. If the profit is already quite high, I try to move my stop-loss the entry point, making a sure-win position. The main idea here is to find an equilibrium point between greed and caution. But as your position gets older the profit should be more limited and losses cut. Also, trader should always remember that if the market began to act unexpectedly, they need to be even more cautious with exit order, even if the position is still showing profits.
Every trader has their own trading strategy and habits. I hope this article will make its readers think about such an important aspect of trading as the exit orders and this will only improve their trading results.
When I started to trade FOREX and made my first big losses and profits I began to notice when very important thing about the whole trading process. While the right time to enter a position was rarely a problem for myself (nearly 80% of all my open positions had gone into the “green” profit zone), the problem was hidden in the determining the right exit point for that position. Not only was it important to cut my risk on the potential losses with stop-loss orders, but to limit my greediness and take profit when I can take it and make it as high as I can. There are many known guidelines and ways to enter a right position at a right time – like major economic news releases, global world events, technical indicators combinations, etc. But while the entering into a position is optional and trade can decide to miss as many good/bad entry point moments as they wish, this is untrue if we talk about exiting a position. Margin trading makes it impossible to wait too long with an open position. More than that, every open position in a certain way limits trader’s ability to trade.
Choosing the good exit points for positions could be an easy task if only the FOREX market wasn’t so chaotic and volatile. In my opinion (backed by my trading experience) exit orders for every position should be toggled constantly with time and as the new market data (technical and fundamental) appear.
Let’s say, you took a short position on EUR/USD at 1.2563, at the time you are taking this position the support/resistance level is 1.2500/1.2620. You set your stop-loss order to 1.2625 and your take-profit order to 1.2505. So now, this position can be considered as an intraday or 2-3 days term position. This means that you must close it before it’s “term” is over, or it will become a very unpredictable position (because market will differ greatly from what it was at the time you have entered this position). After the position is taken and initial exit orders are set, you need to follow the market events and technical indicators to adjust your exit orders. The most important rule is to tighten the loss/profit limit as time goes by. Usually if I take a middle term position (2-4 days) I try to lower the stop and target order by 10-25 pips every day. I also monitor global events, trying to lower my stop-losses when very important news can hurt my position. If the profit is already quite high, I try to move my stop-loss the entry point, making a sure-win position. The main idea here is to find an equilibrium point between greed and caution. But as your position gets older the profit should be more limited and losses cut. Also, trader should always remember that if the market began to act unexpectedly, they need to be even more cautious with exit order, even if the position is still showing profits.
Every trader has their own trading strategy and habits. I hope this article will make its readers think about such an important aspect of trading as the exit orders and this will only improve their trading results.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Forex Profits by buying and selling at the same time?
This article is one of a series which looks at the advantages and weaknesses of trading using the hedged, grid trading system to trade volatile markets.
We will look at how money can be made by breaking a number of trading truths or principles; * cut your losses and let your profit run and * there is nothing to gained by entering into buy and sell deals at the same time.
The hedged grid trading system uses the principle that one should be able to cash in at a gain no matter which way the market moves. No stops are therefore required at all. The only way this is logically possible is that one would have a buy and sell active at the same time. Most traders will say that that is trading suicide but let’s take some to look at this more closely.
Let’s say that a trader enters the market with a buy and sell active when a currency is at a level of say 100. The price then moves to 200. The buy will then be positive by 100 and the sell will be negative by 100. At this point we start breaking trading rules. We cash in our positive buy and the gain of 100 goes to our account. The sell is now carrying a loss of -100.
The grid system requires one to make sure that cash in on any movement in the market. To do this one would again enter into a buy and a sell transaction. Now, for convenience, let’s assume that the price moves back to level 100.
The second sell has now gone positive by 100 and the second buy is carrying a loss of -100. According to the rules one would cash the sell in and another 100 will be added to your account. That brings the total cashed in at this point to 200.
Now the first sell that remained active has moved from level 200 where it was -100 to level 100 where it is now breaking even.
The 4 transactions added together now magically show a gain:- 1st buy cashed in +100, 2nd sell cashed in +100, 1st sell now breaking even and the 2nd buy is -100. This gives an overall a gain of 100 in total. We can liquidate all the transactions and have some champagne.
There are many, many other market movements that turn this strange “buy and sell at the same time” activity into gains. These will be covered in future articles and are covered in a free grid trading course which is available at the expert-4x.com website for those traders whose curiosity has been aroused.
There will be more on the hedged grid trading articles to be issued regularly. Please watch this site.
We will look at how money can be made by breaking a number of trading truths or principles; * cut your losses and let your profit run and * there is nothing to gained by entering into buy and sell deals at the same time.
The hedged grid trading system uses the principle that one should be able to cash in at a gain no matter which way the market moves. No stops are therefore required at all. The only way this is logically possible is that one would have a buy and sell active at the same time. Most traders will say that that is trading suicide but let’s take some to look at this more closely.
Let’s say that a trader enters the market with a buy and sell active when a currency is at a level of say 100. The price then moves to 200. The buy will then be positive by 100 and the sell will be negative by 100. At this point we start breaking trading rules. We cash in our positive buy and the gain of 100 goes to our account. The sell is now carrying a loss of -100.
The grid system requires one to make sure that cash in on any movement in the market. To do this one would again enter into a buy and a sell transaction. Now, for convenience, let’s assume that the price moves back to level 100.
The second sell has now gone positive by 100 and the second buy is carrying a loss of -100. According to the rules one would cash the sell in and another 100 will be added to your account. That brings the total cashed in at this point to 200.
Now the first sell that remained active has moved from level 200 where it was -100 to level 100 where it is now breaking even.
The 4 transactions added together now magically show a gain:- 1st buy cashed in +100, 2nd sell cashed in +100, 1st sell now breaking even and the 2nd buy is -100. This gives an overall a gain of 100 in total. We can liquidate all the transactions and have some champagne.
There are many, many other market movements that turn this strange “buy and sell at the same time” activity into gains. These will be covered in future articles and are covered in a free grid trading course which is available at the expert-4x.com website for those traders whose curiosity has been aroused.
There will be more on the hedged grid trading articles to be issued regularly. Please watch this site.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
“How To” Start Trading The Forex Market?
What Is FOREX or FOREX MARKET? PART I
The Foreign Exchange market (also referred to as the Forex or FX market) is the largest financial market in the world, with over $1.5 trillion changing hands every day.
That is larger than all US equity and Treasury markets combined!
Unlike other financial markets that operate at a centralized location (i.e. stock exchange), the worldwide Forex market has no central location. It is a global electronic network of banks, financial institutions and individual traders, all involved in the buying and selling of national currencies. Another major feature of the Forex market is that it operates 24 hours a day, corresponding to the opening and closing of financial centers in countries all across the world, starting each day in Sydney, then Tokyo, London and New York. At any time, in any location, there are buyers and sellers, making the Forex market the most liquid market in the world.
Traditionally, access to the Forex market has been made available only to banks and other large financial institutions. With advances in technology over the years, however, the Forex market is now available to everybody, from banks to money managers to individual traders trading retail accounts. The time to get involved in this exciting, global market has never been better than now. Open an account and become an active player in the largest market on the planet.
The Forex Market is very different than trading currencies on the futures market, and a lot easier, than trading stocks or commodities.
Whether you are aware of it or not, you already play a role in the Forex market. The simple fact that you have money in your pocket makes you an investor in currency, particularly in the US Dollar. By holding US Dollars, you have elected not to hold the currencies of other nations. Your purchases of stocks, bonds or other investments, along with money deposited in your bank account, represent investments that rely heavily on the integrity of the value of their denominated currency ¨the US Dollar. Due to the changing value of the US Dollar and the resulting fluctuations in exchange rates, your investments may change in value, affecting your overall financial status. With this in mind, it should be no surprise that many investors have taken advantage of the fluctuation in Exchange Rates, using the volatility of the Foreign Exchange market as a way to increase their capital.
Example: suppose you had $1000 and bought Euros when the exchange rate was 1.50 Euros to the dollar. You would then have 1500 Euros. If the value of Euros against the US dollar increased then you would sell (exchange) your Euros for dollars and have more dollars than you started with.
Example:
You might see the following:
EUR/USD last trade 1.5000 means
One Euro is worth $1.50 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 plays a vital role in the world economy and there will always be a tremendous need for the exchange of currencies. 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 Germany can sell products in the United States and be able to receive Euros in exchange for US Dollar.
RISK WARNING:
Risks of currency trading
Margined currency trading is an extremely risky form of investment and is only suitable for individuals and institutions capable of handling the potential losses it entails. An account with an broker allows you to trade foreign currencies on a highly leveraged basis (up to about 400 times your account equity).The funds in an account that is trading at maximum leverage may be completely lost if the position(s) held in the account experiences even a one percent swing in value. Given the possibility of losing one's entire investment, speculation in the foreign exchange market should only be conducted with risk capital funds that, if lost, will not significantly affect the investors financial well-being.
The Foreign Exchange market (also referred to as the Forex or FX market) is the largest financial market in the world, with over $1.5 trillion changing hands every day.
That is larger than all US equity and Treasury markets combined!
Unlike other financial markets that operate at a centralized location (i.e. stock exchange), the worldwide Forex market has no central location. It is a global electronic network of banks, financial institutions and individual traders, all involved in the buying and selling of national currencies. Another major feature of the Forex market is that it operates 24 hours a day, corresponding to the opening and closing of financial centers in countries all across the world, starting each day in Sydney, then Tokyo, London and New York. At any time, in any location, there are buyers and sellers, making the Forex market the most liquid market in the world.
Traditionally, access to the Forex market has been made available only to banks and other large financial institutions. With advances in technology over the years, however, the Forex market is now available to everybody, from banks to money managers to individual traders trading retail accounts. The time to get involved in this exciting, global market has never been better than now. Open an account and become an active player in the largest market on the planet.
The Forex Market is very different than trading currencies on the futures market, and a lot easier, than trading stocks or commodities.
Whether you are aware of it or not, you already play a role in the Forex market. The simple fact that you have money in your pocket makes you an investor in currency, particularly in the US Dollar. By holding US Dollars, you have elected not to hold the currencies of other nations. Your purchases of stocks, bonds or other investments, along with money deposited in your bank account, represent investments that rely heavily on the integrity of the value of their denominated currency ¨the US Dollar. Due to the changing value of the US Dollar and the resulting fluctuations in exchange rates, your investments may change in value, affecting your overall financial status. With this in mind, it should be no surprise that many investors have taken advantage of the fluctuation in Exchange Rates, using the volatility of the Foreign Exchange market as a way to increase their capital.
Example: suppose you had $1000 and bought Euros when the exchange rate was 1.50 Euros to the dollar. You would then have 1500 Euros. If the value of Euros against the US dollar increased then you would sell (exchange) your Euros for dollars and have more dollars than you started with.
Example:
You might see the following:
EUR/USD last trade 1.5000 means
One Euro is worth $1.50 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 plays a vital role in the world economy and there will always be a tremendous need for the exchange of currencies. 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 Germany can sell products in the United States and be able to receive Euros in exchange for US Dollar.
RISK WARNING:
Risks of currency trading
Margined currency trading is an extremely risky form of investment and is only suitable for individuals and institutions capable of handling the potential losses it entails. An account with an broker allows you to trade foreign currencies on a highly leveraged basis (up to about 400 times your account equity).The funds in an account that is trading at maximum leverage may be completely lost if the position(s) held in the account experiences even a one percent swing in value. Given the possibility of losing one's entire investment, speculation in the foreign exchange market should only be conducted with risk capital funds that, if lost, will not significantly affect the investors financial well-being.
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