foreign exchange trading
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Online Currency Trading and the FOREX Market - A Flexible Alternative to Commodity Trading
By Geoff Morris
Online currency trading takes on more than just a speculators or investors role in today's complex markets. If you are running a multi-company trading business, or even if you are 'just' a property Read more...
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FOREX versus Futures
By Phil Skills
FOREX Trading vs Futures TradingThe origins of today's futures market lies in the agribusiness markets of the 19th century. At that period, farmers began selling contracts Read more...
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FOREX Trading Philosophy
By David Greene
Numerous beginning FOREX traders are enamored by the allure of effortless money. FOREX websites offer 'risk-free' trading, 'high returns' and 'low investment' . These claims have Read more...
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Risks of FOREX Trading
By Jamie Hendricks
Despite the claims you may see on some FOREX web sites, FOREX is not risk-free. You are trading with substantial sums of money and no matter how much you think that you know there is always a possibility that trades will move against you. There are several trading tools, however, that can reduce your risk, and with caution, and above all education, the FOREX trader can learn how to trade profitably while minimizing losses.
No one gets it right on every trade, so be prepared to accept some losses along the way. In fact one of the keys to successful trading is to get out of losing trades early on and take your small loss if the market doesn't move as you had anticipated. Many very successful traders are right only on 50% of their trades. They take small losses and let their profits run.
Unfortunately, many novice traders do just the opposite. They don't want to take a loss so they wait until a small loss has become a major loss. Then due to a serious depletion of capital they are either forced to accept the big loss or just get plain scared and bail out.
Than when they have a winning trade they get so excited they cash out way too early and leave a lot of money on the table. This type of trading pattern must be overcome if you are to become a successful trader. You must learn to cut losses short and let good positions run into serious money. Easier said than done for most traders.
Scams
FOREX scams were fairly common a few years ago. The industry has cleaned up considerably since then, but you still need to exercise caution when signing up with a FOREX broker. Do some background checking ? reputable FOREX brokers will be associated with large financial institutions like banks or insurance companies and they will be registered with the proper government agencies. In the United States brokers should be registered with the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) or a member of the National Futures Association (NFA). You can also check with your local Consumer Protection Bureau and the Better Business Bureau.
Risks
Assuming you are dealing with a reputable broker, there are still risks to FOREX trading. Transactions are subject to unexpected rate changes, volatile markets and political events.
Exchange Rate Risk - This refers to the fluctuations in currency prices over a trading period. Prices can fall rapidly resulting in substantial losses unless stop loss orders are used when trading FOREX. Stop loss orders specify that the open position should be closed if currency prices pass a predetermined level. Stop loss orders can be used in conjunction with limit orders to automate FOREX trading ? limit orders specify an open position should be closed at a specified profit target.
Interest Rate Risk - can result from discrepancies between the interest rates in the two countries represented by the currency pair in a FOREX quote. This discrepancy can result in variations from the expected profit or loss of a particular FOREX transaction.
Credit Risk - This is the possibility that one party in a FOREX transaction may not honor their debt when the deal is closed.
This may happen when a bank or financial institution declares insolvency. Credit risk is minimized by dealing on regulated exchanges which require members to be monitored for credit worthiness.
Country Risk - is associated with governments that may become involved in foreign exchange markets by limiting the flow of currency. There is more country risk associated with 'exotic' currencies than with major currencies that allow the free trading of their currency.
Limiting Risk
FOREX trading can be risky, but there are ways to limit risk and financial exposure. Every FOREX trader should have a trading strategy. You must develop a system to assist you in knowing when to enter and exit the market and what kind of movements to expect. Developing strategies requires education - the key to limiting FOREX risk. At all times follow the basic rule: Do not place money in the that you cannot afford to lose.
Every FOREX trader needs to know at least the basics about technical analysis and how to read financial charts. He should study chart movements and indicators and understand how charts are interpreted. There is a vast amount of information on FOREX trading available both on the Internet and in print. If you want to be successful at FOREX, know what you are doing.
Even the most knowledgeable traders, however, can't predict with absolute certainty how the market will behave. For this reason, every FOREX transaction should take advantage of available tools designed to minimize loss. Stop-loss orders are the most common ways of minimizing risk when placing an entry order.
A stop-loss order contains instructions to exit your position if the currency price reaches a certain point. If you take a long position (expecting the price to rise) you would place a stop loss order below current market price. If you take a short position (expecting the price to fall) you would place a stop loss order above current market price.
As an example, if you take a short position on USD/CDN it means you expect the US dollar to fall against the Canadian dollar. The quote is USD/CDN 1.2138/43 - you can sell US$1 for 1.2138 CDN dollars or sell 1.2143 CDN dollars for US$1.
You place an order like this:
Sell USD: 1 standard lot USD/CDN @ 1.2138 = $121,380 CDN
Pip Value: 1 pip = $10
Stop-Loss: 1.2148
Margin: $1,000 (1%)
You are selling US$100,000 and buying CDN$121,380. Your stop loss order will be executed if the dollar goes above 1.2148, in which case you will lose $100.
However, USD/CDN falls to 1.2118/23. You can now sell $1 US for 1.2118 CDN or sell 1.2123 CDN for $1 US.
Because you entered the transaction by selling US dollars (buying short), you must now buy back US dollars and sell CDN dollars to realize your profit.
You buy back US$100,000 at the current USD/CDN rate of 1.2123 for a cost of 121,223 CDN. Since you originally sold them for CDN$121,380 you made a profit of $157 Canadian dollars or US$129.51 (157 divided by the current exchange rate of 1.2123).
Sounds like fun, eh?
Jamie trades Forex from London and has done very well for herself over the past five years. Jamie often flys to New York to see what is going on up and down Fifth Avenue. Yes, she does like to shop almost as much as trading forex.
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