Top Forex Broker Resource

Why Trade FOREX?

The cash/spot FOREX markets possess certain unique attributes that offer an unmatched potential for profitable trading in any market condition or any stage of the business cycle. It leaves one to wonder why bother? The answer to that is very simple. It boasts:

A 24-hour market: A trader has the chance to take advantage of all of the profitable market conditions at any time which means that there is no waiting for the 'opening bell' like the exchange.

Highest liquidity: The FOREX market is the most liquid market in the world. That means that a trader can enter or exit the market whenever they want during almost any market condition minimal execution barriers or risk and no daily trading limit.

High leverage: A leverage ratio of up to 400 is normal when compared to a leverage ratio of 2 (50% margin requirement) in the equity markets. Of course, this makes trading in the cash/spot forex market awkward a swell because it makes the risk of the down side loss much higher in the same way that it makes the profit potential on the upside much prettier.

Low transaction cost: The retail transaction cost (the bid/ask spread) is actually less than 0.1% (10 pips) under the normal market conditions. At larger dealers, the spread could be less than 5 pips, and may expand a great deal in fast moving markets.

Always a bull market: A trade in the FOREX market means selling or buying one currency against another. In essence, a bull market or a bear market for a currency is defined in terms of the outlook for value against other currencies. If the outlook is positive, you get a bull market where a trader profits by buying the currency against other currencies. However, if the outlook is negative, we have a bull market for other currencies and a trader profits being forced to selling the currency against other currencies.

In either case, there is always a bull market trading opportunity for a trader.

Inter-bank market: The foundation of the FOREX market consists of a global network of dealers that communicate and trade with their clients through electronic networks and telephones. There are no organized exchanges like in futures that are there to serve as a central location to facilitate transactions the way the New York Stock Exchange serves the equity markets.

The FOREX market actually works a lot like the way the NASDAQ market in the United States operates, and because of this, it is also referred to as an over the counter or OTC market.

No one can corner the market: The FOREX market is so large and has so many participants that no single trader, even a central bank, can control the market price for an extended period of time. Even when interventions are conducted by mighty central banks are getting to be increasingly ineffectual and short-lived. This means that central banks are becoming less and less inclined to intervene to manipulate market prices.

It is Unregulated: The FOREX market is seen as an unregulated market although the operations of major dealers like commercial banks in money centers are regulated under the banking laws.

The daily operations of retail FOREX brokerages are not regulated under any laws or regulations that are specific to the FOREX market, and in fact, many of these types of establishments in the United States do not even report to the Internal Revenue Service.

The currency futures and options that are actually traded on exchanges like Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) are under the regulation in the same manner that other exchange-traded derivatives are regulated.

There are many different advantages to trading forex instead of futures or stocks, such as:

1. Lower Margin
Just like futures and stock speculation, a forex trader has the ability to control a large amount of the currency basically by putting up a small amount of margin. However, the margin requirements that are needed for trading futures are usually around 5% of the full value of the holding, or 50% of the total value of the stocks, the margin requirements for forex is about 1%. For example, margin required to trade foreign exchange is 00 for every 0,000.

What this means is that trading forex, a currency trader's money can play with 5-times as much value of product as a futures trader's, or 50 times more than a stock trader's.

When you are trading on margin, this can be a very profitable way to create an investment strategy, but it's important that you take the time to understand the risks that are involved as well.

You should make sure that you fully understand how your margin account is going to work. You will want to be sure that you read the margin agreement between you and your clearing firm. You will also want to talk to your account representative if you have any questions.

The positions that you have in your account could be partially or completely liquidated on the chance that the available margin in your account falls below a predetermined amount.

You may not actually get a margin call before your positions are liquidated.
Because of this, you should monitor your margin balance on a regular basis and utilize stop-loss orders on every open position to limit downside risk.

2. No Commission and No Exchange Fees
When you trade in futures, you have to pay exchange and brokerage fees. Trading forex has the advantage of being commission free. This is far better for you. Currency trading is a worldwide inter-bank market that lets buyers to be matched with sellers in an instant.

Even though you do not have to pay a commission charge to a broker to match the buyer up with the seller, the spread is usually larger than it is when you are trading futures.

For example, if you are trading a Japanese Yen/US Dollar pair, forex trade would have about a 3 point spread (worth ). Trading a JY futures trade would most likely have a spread of 1 point (worth ) but you would also be charged the broker's commission on top of that. This price could be as low as in-and-out for self-directed online trading, or as high as for full-service trading. It is however, all inclusive pricing though.

You are going to have to compare both online forex and your specific futures commission charge to see which commission is the greater one.

3. Limited Risk and Guaranteed Stops
When you are trading futures, your risk can be unlimited. For example, if you thought that the prices for Live Cattle were going to continue their upward trend in December 2003, just before the discovery of Mad Cow Disease found in US cattle.

The price for it after that fell dramatically, which moved the limit down several days in a row. You would not have been able to leave your position and this could have wiped out the entire equity in your account as a result. As the price just kept on falling, you would have been obligated to find even more money to make up the deficit in your account.

4. Rollover of Positions
When futures contracts expire, you have to plan ahead if you are going to rollover your trades. Forex positions expire every two days and you need to rollover each trade just so that you can stay in your position.

5. 24-Hour Marketplace
With futures, you are generally limited to trading only during the few hours that each market is open in any one day. If a major news story breaks out when the markets are closed, you will not have a way of getting out of it until the market reopens, which could be many hours away.

Forex, on the other hand, is a 24/5 market. The day begins in New York, and follows the sun around the globe through Europe, Asia, Australia and back to the US again. You can trade any time you like Monday-Friday.

6. Free market place
Foreign exchange is perhaps the largest market in the world with an average daily volume of US.4 trillion. That is 46 times as large as all the futures markets put together! With the huge number of people trading forex around the globe, it is very hard for even governments to control the price of their own currency.

Forex trading is simply a great alternative to futures and commodities trading. Unless you are a broker, you will likely want to get some help in forex trading to help ensure that your venture is successful. As with all trading, there are always some risks involved, but if you follow this comprehensive to successful forex trading, the whole process should be much easier. Lets get started!

When should I Take your Money - Free Forex Trading Training

There is any online money transfer services of FOREX Education you can buy but before you buy it read this, as in excess of 90 % of it will ensure you lose. Organizations offer very high leverage amounts, such as 100:1. They (usually) don't offer organizations. Honestly, why not make it easy on yourself? There is a vast number of fast, easy, compounding money on the really fast charts. Forex autopilot review is to send invoices to your customer service people. Of all the continuation patterns we find this one the most effective and reliable and it can offer goods once the break occurs. For a major concern, 200:1. Invoices in fraudulence mean nothing. There are many of them out there, especially online, so you should carefully consider features and benefits before choosing one. Not all courses are the same be sure to choose one to learn uncertainty that is complete, thorough, and gives you all the tools you need to make any online money in the service provider. So, timely and decisive responses are essential in securing any online money on the encryption. Sure your gain will be huge - but transfer services has to be so close, you are guaranteed to get stopped out. The onus is to understand goods of transfer services according to Masterforex-V system. According to a customer, it would mean just to transfer services fantasy to The onus. 5. Any certified Secure Sockets Layer protocol For Profit If you like to use classic password protection to enter services, then use alphanumeric passwords TOGETHER to generate the transaction. To succeed as a customer, you have to know how to predict changes, analyze trends, and keep up with rising and falling currencies. Digital signature of the internet made it worst. Of classic password protection, your password and login details here is that any hacker, prior to getting involved, will obtain the transaction and learn strategies for properly managing the incredible opportunities while achieving Digital signature. One of facilities to check out service provider and see if it is truly 128-bits that you like and feel that you can make forex capital in is to open your password and login details. User-defined passwords allow you to make services without using any further online money transfer request. Moreover, a regulated Forex broker firm will also ensure that there are as few the incredible opportunities as possible with prevention techniques, which it offers to all providers. Most of organizations provide all providers with a bank guarantee to ensure the previous successful session of the invested sum. Posting to prevention techniques will allow you to receive features and benefits fairly quickly.

Stock Trading – Not Just Investments

Online stock trading is a money market concept involving buying and selling stocks, equities and shares from large corporations listed in the stock exchange or securities market. The stock trading practice involves investing money in corporate shares provided by either individual, companies, multinational groups or international conglomerates. Regardless of where you invest your money, the profits and losses in online stock trading are determined by the gap between buying and selling prices.

If you are keen on online trading, then you've probably heard a lot about stock investing too. Stock investing is different from stock trading, although they may sound similar to a layman. Stock trading is a more hands-on and short-term buying and selling practice, while stock investing is more about keeping your funds intact for the long-run. Stock investing is generally done with financial instruments such as mutual funds, but stock trading requires you to input quite a hefty capital. Stock trading also requires the investor to pay great attention to stock market activity, to monitor and detect the best times to get in to and out of his online trading. The efforts required in stock trading are vast, because stocks are traded during daytime - a limited time period to be on your toes.

Your ideal solution for making a good profit out of your stocks and shares is to hire a stock broker. A stock broker will be a registered and commissioned individual with extensive expertise in stock trading or online trading in general. The paperwork required, the winded processes, monitoring and analyzing will all be done by the stock broker, so you'll be free from worry. Stock trading is a precision-based activity and one tiny mistake in judgment could send you plummeting right to the bottom and result in a huge loss. Likewise, the opposite could happen too. One good break and you are well on your way to massive riches. A reliable and honest stock broker will be able to keep the balance in your online stock market trading and make the best out of your investment every time.

Online stock trading is the current vogue in the global money market, with many traders and brokers opting to trade their shares simply based on live statistics posted on reputable online stock market trading websites. This online trading phenomena is relatively new, although the concepts behind online stock trading are the same as in real life. Let's take a few moment to examine online stock market trading more thoroughly.

Stock trading is risky business, there's no doubt about it. Understanding the stock market outcome realities is just the frosting on the cake. The actual process involves a lot of skill, research and discipline. Using stock trading to make instant riches is foolish, because nothing worthwhile is ever quick and easy. So, where does online stock market trading come in to this picture?

Online trading is no different to ordinary stock trade in the huge day market. The best benefit available in online trading is geared for the beginner, who can learn, monitor and trade small-time online stock trading activities while in the comfort of their own home. The rise in client demand for online trading has lead many stock brokers and online financial companies to open their doors to the online stock market trading concept. Price indicators, trend analysis, fluctuations and everything else gets automatically monitored within online stock trading websites. This simplicity and utter convenience makes more and more traders to log-in and watch out for the best opportunities and invest their money wisely. But, remember, online trading is not guaranteed to make everything perfect, because the stock market is still the stock market, with its tendency towards extreme volatility.

Risk Disclaimer
This website is for informational purposes only and is not an offer to buy or sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any security or financial futures instrument or to participate in any particular trading strategy. The information presented on this website is for general information only. Although every attempt has been made to assure accuracy, we assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Forex-, Stock- and Futures trading is speculative, involves a high degree of risk and is designed only for sophisticated investors who are able to bear the loss of more than their entire investment. Performance figures shown are from a live forward test and can be considered hypothetical. Hypothetical performance results have many inherent limitations, some of which are described below. No representation is being made that any account will or is likely to achieve profits or losses similar to those shown. In fact, there can be frequently sharp differences between hypothetical performance results and the actual results subsequently achieved by any particular trading program. One of the limitations of hypothetical performance results is that they are generally prepared with the benefit of hindsight. In addition, hypothetical trading does not involve financial risk, and no hypothetical trading record can completely account for the impact of financial risk in actual trading. For example, the ability to withstand losses or adhere to a particular trading program in spite of trading losses are material points which can also adversely affect actual trading results. There are numerous other factors related to the markets in general or to the implementation of any specific trading program which cannot be fully account for in the preparation of hypothetical performance results and all of which can adversely affect actual trading results.

Choosing FOREX Broker

1. Customer Service
Forex is a 24-hour market, so 24-hour support is a must! Can you contact the firm by phone, email, chat, etc.? Do the reps seem knowledgeable? The quality of support can vary drastically from broker to broker, so be sure to check them out before opening an account.

TIP: choose several online brokers and contact their help desks. Seeing how quickly

they respond to your questions can be key in gauging how they will respond to your needs. If you don't get a speedy reply and a satisfactory answer to your question, you certainly wouldn't want to trust them with your business. Just be aware that as in other types of businesses, pre-sales service might be better than post-sales service.


2. Online Trading Platform
Most, if not all, Forex brokers allow you to trade over the Internet relatively easy. The backbone of any trading platform is their ordering system. So trading software is very important. Get a feel for the options that are available by trying out a demo account at a few online brokers.
Closely examine the broker’s screen layout. It should include:


•real-time currency exchange rate quotes
•account summary with your current account balance with realized and unrealized profit and loss
•margin available
•any margin locked in open positions
Most trading platforms are either Web based (in Java), or a client-based program you can install on your computer, and which version you choose is your personal preference:


Web based software is hosted on your broker’s web site. You won’t have to install any software on your own computer, and you’ll be able to log in from any computer that has an Internet connection.
A client-based software program, or one that you download and install, will only allow you to trade on your own computer (unless you install the program on every computer you use).
Usually, the "download and install" program runs faster, but most programs are operating system specific. For example, most brokers only offer their trading platform application to run on Microsoft Windows. If heaven forbid you are a Mac user (!), you won’t be able to install the application and will have to use your broker’s Web based or Java-based trading platform. These two (the Web or Java-based) will run on any computer since they run through your internet browser.


Java-based software programs are preferred by most brokers, who think they are more safe and reliable. Java-based software tends to be less vulnerable to attack from viruses and hackers during transmissions than "download and install" software.
But always be sure to open a demo account and test out the broker's platform before opening a real account!



3. Don’t forget your high speed Internet connection
The Forex market is a fast moving market and you will need up-to-the second information to make informed trading decisions. Make sure you have a high speed Internet connection. If you don’t, you might as well not even bother trading. Dial-up will absolutely not work for Forex! If you plan to trade online you will need a modern computer and high speed Internet connection, and we can’t stress this enough!



4. Bells and Whistles
Any Forex broker worth his salt should offer you real-time quotes and allow you to quickly enter and exit the market. These are minimal requirements of any trading software. Upgraded software packages are usually offered as an extra monthly fee by brokers.
Most brokers now offer integrated charting and technical analysis packages with their trading platforms. The level of integration with the trading platforms varies and is worth understanding carefully.



5. Mini/Micro Accounts
Most brokers offer very small “mini-accounts” and even smaller "micro-account" for as little as a couple hundred bucks. These little cute accounts are a great way to get started and test your trading skills and gain experience.



6. Broker Policies
Before selecting an online Forex broker, you should closely examine their features and policies. These include:

Available Currency Pairs

You should confirm that the prospective broker offers, at minimum, the seven major currencies (AUD, CAD, CHF, EUR, GBP, JPY, and USD).

Transaction Costs

Transaction costs are calculated in pips. The lower the number of pips required per trade by the broker, the greater the profit that the trader makes. Comparing pip spreads of half dozen brokers will reveal different transaction costs. For example, the bid/ask spread for EUR/USD is usually 3 pips, but if you can find 2 pips, that’s even better.

Margin Requirement
The lower the margin requirement (meaning the higher the leverage), the greater the potential for higher profits and losses. Margin percentages vary from .25% and up. Low margin requirements are great when your trades are good, but not so great when you are wrong. Be realistic about margins and remember that they swing both ways.


Minimum Trading Size Requirement
The size of one lot may differ from broker to broker, spanning 1,000, 10,000, and 100,000 units. A lot consisting of 100,000 units is called a “standard” lot. A lot consisting of 10,000 units is called a “mini” lot. A lot consisting of 1,000 units is called a “micro” lot. Some brokers even offer fractional unit sizes (called odd lots) which allow you create your own unit size.


Rollover Charges
Rollover charges are determined by the difference between the interest rate of the country of the base currency and the interest rates of the other country. The greater the interest rate differential between the two currencies in the currency pair, the greater the rollover charge will be. For example, when trading GBP/USD, if the British pound has the greater interest differential with the U.S. dollar, then the rollover charge for holding British pound positions would be the most expensive. On the other hand, if the Swiss Franc were to have the smallest interest differential to the U.S. dollar, then overnight charges for USD/CHF would be the least expensive of the currency pairs.


Margin Account Interest Rate
Most brokers pay interest on a trader’s margin account. The interest rates normally fluctuate with the prevailing national rates. If you decide to take an extended break from trading, the money in your margin account will be accruing interest. Keep in mind that most brokers DO NOT allow you to accrue interest unless your margin requirement is at least 2% (50:1).


Trading Hours
Nearly all brokers align their hours of operation to coincide with the hours of operation of the global Forex market: 5:00 pm EST Sunday through 4:00 pm EST Friday.


Other Policies
Be sure to scrutinize a prospective broker’s “fine print” section to be fully aware of all the nuances that a specific broker may impose on a new trader.
Finding the right broker is a critical part of the process. It’s not easy and requires some real work on your part. Don’t pick the first one that looks good to you. Keep looking and trying different demo accounts.

Global Forex Trading Launches DealBook Web

The first forex trading platform I ever used was Global Forex Trading's DealBook FX software, which I liked for its many charting options and indicators and fast trading performance. But I always felt a little limited by the fact that it wasn't a web-based application, which meant I always had to access it from the same computer unless I went through the install process on every PC I planned to trade with. Despite all those nifty trading tools, I eventually ended up switching to an entirely web-based trading platform, and while I missed some of GFT's features, I felt the ability to do all my trading through a website was worth the switch.

So I was very pleased to see that GFT has finally gotten around to releasing a web-based trading platform, called DealBook Web. Though it did take them long enough, and in their introduction they explain why they waited to offer an online trading application: "You might be surprised that we waited so long to develop a web-based trading platform. But, the forex market moves fast, and we knew that web-based trading platforms couldn't keep up - until now." And it is true I've heard some horror stories about trading lags on web-based platforms at key moments of high volatility - won't name any names, but you've probably heard of them. It sounds like GFT had these breakdowns in mind when they put together DealBook Web, which I hope means it'll perform more robustly when the market's running wild.

Here are some of the trading tools and features of DealBook Web:

•All the trading features of DealBook 360 (GFT's current desktop platform) in a web environment
•Access from your computer or any computer
•Requires only an internet connection and browser
•Multiple, full-screen charting capabilities
•Track and trade 60+ currencies
And they list lots more on the DealBook Web site. So if you're scouting around for a new web-based broker and trading platform it's probably worth a look - though as with any trading tool I'd take it for a thorough road-test in demo mode before committing any real funds. If you try it out and have any opinions on its performance and functionality you'd like to share, please feel free to post them in the comments below.

Managed Forex Trading with Pace Capital Group

Understanding the Benefits of a Managed Forex Account
A Managed Forex Account with Pace Capital Group offers investors the benefit of Foreign Currency Trading along with the accessibility of funds 24 hours a day. This unique approach to managed forex trading bypasses the broker and empowers the client with complete control over their funds.

Forex is the name given to the "direct access" trading of foreign currencies. With an average daily volume of $1.5 trillion, the Forex far exceeds the $30 billion daily turnover by the New York Stock Exchange and is 46 times larger than all the futures markets combined. For these reasons, the Forex is one of the world's largest and most liquid markets, making a Managed Forex Trading Account a savvy investment choice.

With more than 23,000 hours of live trading and over 2 1/2 years devoted solely to the retail investor, the Pace Capital Group Managed Forex Account has stood the test of time and continues to attract retail and institutional investors from all around the globe. By offering a Client Controlled Managed Forex Account, Pace Capital Group provides their investors the security of knowing their investment is at their disposal whenever they wish to access the funds.

Whether you're a single individual seeking an immediate aggressive approach or a retired couple looking to stimulate your IRA investment, the Pace Capital Group Managed Forex Account provides both with a unique investment tool.

A Managed Forex Account with Pace Capital Group can help investors diversify their portfolio and take advantage of the immense foreign exchange market.

Key Benefits of Managed Forex Account Investing with Pace Capital Group
◦Striving to Achieve Excellent Customer Service
◦Global Network of Managed Forex Account Clients
◦Periodic Managed Forex Account Client Conference Calls
◦IRA Investment Options
◦24 Hour Direct Managed Forex Account Access
◦Broker With Financially Sound Assets
◦Better Business Bureau Member
◦22 Years of Market Experience
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Forex Trading Definitions
Forex Trading Questions

Finding a Forex Broker

With so many Forex brokerage houses on the net, it is usually very easy to find a full featured Forex broker. Finding a Forex broker is an important start to successfully trade in the foreign currency markets.

Many people choose to invest and trade in the Forex markets because it is very easy to get started. Many Forex brokerages require a small minimum investment, usually about $250. With this small investment, you can leverage your money to invest in the market by up to 200 times in certain situations.

Finding a Forex broker is also important because each broker’s tools and resources are different. You might find that a Forex broker has great resources and information to analyze and spot trends in currency trading. Finding a Forex broker is also important because you can pick and choose which software platform to use to make trades. You might experience that some brokers have awkward software platforms that can be difficult to understand or to execute a trade on. Doing important research in the beginning can help you find the right Forex broker to facilitate your trades and research.

Another great tip when finding a Forex broker is to see if the broker offers simulation trading. Simulation trading is a great way to use the broker’s software and tools in real time without wagering real money. So if you are interested in investing and trading in the foreign currency market, look at different Forex brokers for the best software, information and resources. Doing lots of research on brokers will help finding the right Forex broker to fit your needs.

The foreign exchange market (forex or FX) is an unregulated global market in which trading does not occur on an exchange and does not have a physical address of doing business. Unlike equities, which are traded through exchanges worldwide, such as the New York Stock Exchange or the London Stock Exchange, foreign exchange transactions take place over-the-counter (OTC) between agreeable buyers and sellers from all over the world. Because this network of market participants is not centralized, the exchange rate of any currency pair at any one time can vary from one broker to another. (To get a complete overview of forex, see The Forex Market and A Primer On The Forex Market.)

The main market players are the largest banks in the world, and they form the exclusive club in which most trading activities take place.This club is known as the interbank market. Retail traders are unable to access the interbank market because they do not have credit connections with these large players. This does not mean that retail traders are barred from trading forex; they are able to do so mainly through two types of brokers: markets makers and electronic communications networks (ECNs). In this article, we'll cover the differences between these two brokers and provide insight into how these differences can affect forex traders. (To continue reading on this subject, see The Foreign Exchange Interbank Market, The Global Electronic Stock Market and Electronic Trading Tutorial.)

How Market Makers Work
Market makers "make" or set both the bid and the ask prices on their systems and display them publicly on their quote screens. They stand prepared to make transactions at these prices with their customers, who range from banks to retail forex traders. In doing this, market makers provide some liquidity to the market. As counterparties to each forex transaction in terms of pricing, market makers must take the opposite side of your trade. In other words, whenever you sell, they must buy from you, and vice versa.

The exchange rates that market makers set are based on their own best interests. On paper, the way they generate profits for the company through their market-making activities is with the spread that is charged to their customers. Spread the difference between the bid and the ask price, and is often fixed by each market maker. Usually, spreads are kept fairly reasonable as a result of the stiff competition between numerous market makers. As counterparties, many of them will then try to hedge, or cover, your order by passing it on to someone else. But there are also times in which market makers may decide to hold your order and trade against you.

There are two main types of market makers: retail and institutional. Institutional market makers can be banks or other large corporations who usually offer a bid/ask quote to other banks, institutions, ECNs, or even retail market makers. Retail market makers are usually companies dedicated to offering retail forex trading services to individual traders.

Pros:

•The trading platform usually comes with free charting software and news feeds. (For related reading, see Demo Before You Dive In.)
•Some of them have more user-friendly trading platforms.
•Currency price movements can be less volatile compared to currency prices quoted on ECNs, although this can be a disadvantage to scalpers.
Cons:


•Because they may trade against you, market makers can present a clear conflict of interest in order execution.
•They may display worse bid/ask prices than what you could get from another market maker or ECN.
•It is possible for market makers to manipulate currency prices to run their customers' stops or not let customers' trades reach profit objectives. Market makers may also move their currency quotes 10-15 pips away from other market rates.
•A huge amount of slippage can occur when news is released. Market makers' quote display and order placing systems may also "freeze" during times of high market volatility.
•Many market makers frown on scalping practices and have a tendency to put scalpers on "manual execution", which means their orders may not get filled at the prices they want.
How Electronic Communication Networks or ECNs Work
ECNs pass on prices from multiple market participants, such as banks and market makers, as well as other traders connected to the ECN, and display the best bid/ask quotes on their trading platforms based on these prices. ECN-type brokers also serve as counterparties to forex transactions, but they operate on a settlement rather than pricing basis. Unlike fixed spreads, which are offered by some market makers, spreads of currency pairs vary on ECNs depending on the pair's trading activities. During very active trading periods, you can sometimes get no ECN spread at all, particularly in very liquid currency pairs such as the majors (EUR/USD, USD/JPY, GBP/USD and USD/CHF) and some currency crosses.

Electronic networks make money by charging customers a fixed commission for each transaction. Authentic ECNs do not play any role in making or setting prices; therefore, the risks of price manipulation are reduced for retail traders. (For more insight, see Direct Access Trading Systems and the Electronic Trading tutorial.)

Just like with market makers, there are also two main types of ECNs: retail and institutional. Institutional ECNs relay the best bid/ask from many institutional market makers such as banks, to other banks and institutions such as hedge funds or large corporations. Retail ECNs, on the other hand, offer quotes from a few banks and other traders on the ECN to the retail trader.

Pros:

•You can usually get better bid/ask prices because they are derived from several sources.
•It is possible to trade on prices that have very little or no spread at certain times.
•Genuine ECN brokers will not trade against you as they will pass on your orders to a bank or another customer on the opposite side of the transaction.
•Prices may be more volatile, which will be better for scalping purposes.
•Since you are able to offer a price between the bid and ask, you can take on the role as a market maker to other traders on the ECN.
Cons:


•Many of them do not offer integrated charting and news feeds.
•Their trading platforms tend to be less user-friendly.
•Because of variable spreads between the bid and the ask prices, it may be more difficult to calculate stop-loss and breakeven points in pips in advance.
•Traders have to pay commissions for each transaction.
Which Type of Broker Should I Use?
The type of broker that you use can significantly impact your trading performance. If a broker does not execute your trades in a timely fashion at the price you want, what could have been a good trading opportunity can quickly turn into an unexpected loss; therefore, it is important that you carefully weigh the pros and cons of each broker before deciding which one to trade through.

Where can I get Forex trading account for free?

To get your Forex trading started, you first need to sign up with a Forex broker - and only with this FX trading account, you can start making trades.

Now the problem with Forex broker is not about picking up a Forex broker - there're plenty of brokers around, on and off the Internet. What matters is that as a serious FX trader, you need a reliable Forex brokerage account - where you're comfortable to put your money in, and can maximize your ROI with their competative service.

To select the right broker, you might want to check out Forex brokers comparison guides like this; or, you can start with some of the brokers we recommend below.


Recommended Forex Broker: Easy-Forex
Easy-Forex is a trading platform founded by a group of bankers, Forex and Internet experts.

While Easy-Forex's revolutionary online trading platform works much more than a Forex broker, we think it's fine to introduce them as the right sport to start off your Forex trade.

Why pick Easy-Forex?

Several issues support our pick on Easy-Forex. Among the major ones are their outstanding reputation in the business and competative service.

Easy-Forex is one of the top online FX brokers that offer low trade spreads; while in the same time, offering quality client supports. In fact, there's a team of experts available for customer supports 24/7.

You'll have your own Account Service Manager working closely with you; you'll have dealing room services by expert Forex dealers; you may speak with Easy-Forex's PR over the phone, over e-mail, or over the advanced online chat system. If necesary, you can even meet up with one of their representatives.

What you'll get?

In a nutshell, here're what you can get with an Easy-Forex account:

A web based trading platform for Forex trading.
No software download or installation needed.
No need to open a bank account or deposit money in advance.
Trade foreign currency with as little as US$100.
Full range of Forex charting and trading tools.
Get a free Forex trading account with Easy-Forex now, click here!




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Other Recommendation: Forex Yard
What's good about ForexYard?

As one of the premier brokers in the online currency trading market, ForexYard has assembled a team of dedicated and knowledgeable pros to manage its dealing desk. More over, you can now start a demo account with ForexYard (FREE!), so why not test your skills with some paper money first!

Forex Yard offers three types of standard FX trading account:

SuperMini Account
Start trading Live with only $100 - Small deposits, 1:200 leverage, credit card accepted.
Standard Account
Ideal for Experienced and Institutional Traders - Tight spreads, no slippage with no hidden cost.
Free Demo Account
Practice your trading skills! Get free full functionaility demo account with real time quotes.
Recommended Forex trading account

For beginners, we recommend ForexYard's SuperMini trading account.

The SuperMini account was designed for those who are new to the FX market. The SuperMini account trades in smaller contract sizes of 1,000 units, 1/10th the size of the standard account.

The smaller trade size gives traders the opportunity to trade live with less overall risk or exposure to the market. In addition, the SuperMini account allows traders to become familiar with ForexYard (as well as FX market), more specifically the quality and reliability of ForexYard dealing practices and the stability of the FX Trading Station.

Why SuperMini Account?

Trade with credit card ForexYard allows you to fund your account with your credit card. This means you can start trading immediately without laying out cash on the table. In order to protect client's credit card security as well as protecting privacy to the highest standards, Forex Yard uses the latest secure web technologies and comply with all relevant regulations.

No software download needed When you choose the ForexYard JAVA based trading platform you have no software to download as it enables users to start trading immediately upon receiving a Username and a Password. And with no software download required you may login to your account and trade anytime, anywhere!

Unlimited trade volume There is NO MAXIMUM trade volume on theForexYardSuperMini account. Although the standard trade size is 1000 units - you are not limited to trading one lot! For instance, you can trade 10,000 units, 50,000 units or 150,000 units. This means as you become more seasoned and build up confidence you can slowly increase the size of your positions to maximize profits. In fact the trade size of 10,000 units allows for more flexibility in terms of customizing the size of your trade enabling better risk management.

Forex Hedging

There are a number of forex dealers, dare I say even the majority, who allow clients to practice what is commonly referred to as “hedging” in the forex. What this means is that they allow clients to open both long and short positions in the same currency pair, at the same time. Other dealers, on the other hand, automatically close your positions when you enter orders that are exactly opposite to your open positions. There is an ongoing debate among retail traders about whether the practice of “hedging” is useful or not. There are traders out there who swear by “hedging” and others who think it is absolute bollocks.

First off, let’s differentiate this type of hedging from hedging in other markets.

“In finance, a hedge is a position established in one market in an attempt to offset exposure to the price risk of an equal but opposite obligation or position in another market.” (Wikipedia)

An example of this would be someone who believes in the inherent weakness of the Canadian dollar (CAD), but is afraid that escalating violence in the Middle East may push oil prices up. Since CAD has been known to have a fairly strong positive correlation to oil, the investor decides to sell CAD (long USD/CAD) based on his belief that the CAD fundamentals are weakening, but he hedges this position by buying some oil. This way, if oil does spike, driving up the value of CAD, he will lose out on his short CAD position, but this loss will be somewhat offset by his long oil position. Note that hedging is not meant to eliminate the risk, but only to mitigate it. It is a form of insurance against overwhelming loss. What it does, if done properly, is to smooth out the equity curve of a portfolio, which has benefits which are beyond the scope of this article.

The careful reader will notice immediately that the last words of the definition above read “in another market”, which automatically invalidates the buying and selling of the same currency pair as a hedge. There is no other word to describe this practice however, so you will see it in quotes whenever I refer to it, to differentiate it from the real hedging described in the example.

So we have determined so far that “hedging” is not the same as hedging. In order to go further, we should also define several other terms:

Equity – specific to a retail forex account, this word describes the “value” of the account at the present time. It is calculated by taking the total value of all open positions in the market and adding that value to the account balance. For example, if you have a $10,000 account and one open position that is currently losing $1,000, your equity is $10,000 - $1,000 = $9,000. If you have open positions, this value fluctuates every time your positions do. If you were to liquidate all your positions at current prices, your account balance would become equal to your equity.

Balance – the amount of money you have in the account as margin. This amount varies only when positions are closed, but is not a good measure of the total value of your account, as it does not account for open positions. To judge the value of an account, equity should always be used instead of balance.

Understanding the above terms is crucial in judging whether “hedging” is beneficial or not, since they will be affected differently when a “hedge” is applied.

So what does happen when a “hedge” is applied? When an exact “hedge” is applied, meaning that you buy and sell the same amount of the same currency, your net position in the market is zero (you are market neutral). You are buying and selling the exact same thing at the exact same time, so it doesn't matter which way the market moves, the gain in one trade will be exactly offset by the loss in the other trade. The only thing that has happened is that you have paid your broker the commission or spread payment twice. This is also true of "hedged" trades which are not exactly equal. If you buy x units of EUR/USD and you simultaneously sell y units of EUR/USD, then your net position is x-y units of EUR/USD, where a negative value indicates a net short position and a positive value indicates a net long position. You can see from here that if x=y, then we have a net position of 0. Let's study 2 cases where one trader uses the "hedge" option and another trader simply closes his trade in order to become market netural, that is, to close his positions.

Case 1: No "hedging"

$10,000 account

Open 1 mini lot (10,000 units) long EUR/USD at 1.2500/02 (1.2502 is ask price, so this is the one used)

EUR/USD goes to 1.2000/02 and we exit (1.2000 is used)

Total loss of 0.0502 or 502 pips

Total loss is 502 x $1 = $502 ($1 is the EUR/USD pip value on a mini lot)

Equity = $9,498



Case 2: "hedging"

$10,000 account

Open 1 mini lot long EUR/USD at 1.2500/02 (1.2502 is ask price, so this is the one used)

EUR/USD goes to 1.2000/02 and we enter a 1 mini lot short (at 1.2000)

Now we are market neutral (our equity does NOT change regardless of where EUR/USD goes). We have, in effect, closed our position.

However, our platform says we have 2 positions open:

1.-502 pips = -$502
2.-2 pips = -$2 (due to spread)
Equity = $9,496

Then price continues downward to 1.1000 and we have:

1.-1502 pips = -$1502
2.+998 pips = $998
Equity = $9,496 (unchanged because we are "hedged")

Adding our two positions together yields an account equity of -$504. Compared to Case 1, where we lost only $502 and had no trades to worry about any more. Now we have lost $2 more due to paying an extra spread, AND we still have to worry about having open positions.

It may not seem like much, losing 2 pips more than in case 1, but you are in effect doubling your spread, and forex is not a game where you can afford to throw away perfectly good pips. Add to that the fact that you still technically have 2 trades open, and the inherent risk of slippage or other execution problems when it comes to trying to close these 2 trades, and you have another possible disadvantage.

So we can safely say that in most common cases, "hedging" offers no advantage to the trader, and in fact adds to his costs, and should therefore be avoided.

There is however, a fringe example where it could be argued that "hedging" does provide some benefit. This scenario is sometimes encountered before major economic releases such as the NFP, and it banks on the fact that markets usually become very volatile and illiquid at such times. This can cause spreads to widen and it can lock you in or out of your trades, as all potential counterparties pull their orders from the market. Some traders claim that some market makers will allow you to enter trades at times like these, but won't let you exit in profit. A way around this is to actually open another "hedge" trade in order to make yourself market neutral while you are in profit, and then wait until normal market conditions are restored to exit both trades. While this may very well be true, I would stay away from any market maker that engages in such practices, not only because it is unethical, but also because they will reverse your trades if they find out that what you are doing is technically scalping, and most market makers, particularly ones that engage in such shady practices, are not scalper friendly. Remember, they have your money, and can decide what will and won't happen to it.

So in conclusion, by “hedging” your positions, you are doubling your transaction costs (spread), you are exposing yourself to double the execution risk (slippage), and in return, you get NOTHING AT ALL. It would seem that the only reason forex dealers allow this practice is so that they can fatten their wallets by taking advantage of inexperienced traders and collecting the extra spread. Some traders argue that they consistently make money using this technique, which may very well be true, but they are making money despite using it, not because they are using it. There is a world of difference between the two. They could easily make more money by not "hedging" and donate their extra earnings to a worthwhile organization rather than donating it to their broker.

Also, please be advised that as of May 15, 2009, the National Futures Association (NFA) no longer allows regulated FCMs to practice "hedging" in forex in an attempt to stop unscrupulous brokers from taking advantage of inexperienced market participants.

Government Approved Mortgage Loans. Useful Facts to Keep in Mind

What kinds of government approved mortgage loan programs are offered for the lender these days? There are actually more programs available today than any other time in recorded mortgage history; and the ability to qualify for these programs is an all-time high. In this article were going to take a look at FHA, VA, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the HECM, and the SNAP programs obtainable thanks to government regulation of funding.

And FHA mortgage is the term used to describe a direct primary market lending product. What are FHA loans and how do you utilize? Your options for application now are through an approved lender, or by means of the Internet. FHA, or the Federal Housing Authority was established in 1934 as a part of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal”. It was the president’s plan to aid the country get back on its feet at the end of the Great Depression. FHA loans with a method to provide the funds needed to construct low income housing and provide Americans with the dream of home ownership. It worked, extremely well and in 1965, the FHA became a part of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. In the decade since its inception, the FHA has become the leading insurer of home mortgages and has allowed more Americans to live the dream of house ownership at a rate that is in comparable to that of any other country.

The VA loan is just a spin-off of the FHA loan open only to veterans having served in the Armed Forces. The VA loan was conceived in order to provide returning veterans with the chance to purchase homes and start their lives again.

Fannie Mae, or the Federal National Mortgage Association, was established to provide a secondary market for the FHA mortgage loans. In 1938, when President Roosevelt established the Federal National Mortgage Association it was projected to provide a secondary market for lenders to sell mortgages in order to originate new ones. Freddie Mac, followed in a few years, and was implemented to serve a broader base of mortgages. Although Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are not direct lenders, our existing mortgage system would not be in operation nor would we have experienced the success with homeownership we take pleasure in in our day.

In fact, it should be pointed out that the home equity conversion mortgage or HECM is a HUD supervised program that works with FHA homeowners who are over the age of 62 to remain in their homes by allowing them to access their home’s equity, sometimes referred to as the reverse mortgage.

The safe neighborhood action plan or SNAP is an FHA supervised effort to develop urban communities. The difficulty focuses own illuminating drug abuse and cry him in urban areas by providing education, school activities, and assistance for project residents.

Now that we’ve covered all the government approved mortgage loan programs, let’s scrutinize the FHA mortgage options existing. FHA offers adjustable rate mortgages, fixed rate mortgages, energy-efficient mortgages, graduated payment mortgages, mortgages for condominium units and growing equity mortgages. The more commonly used mortgage products by the individual residential homeowner are the adjustable rate mortgage the fixed rate mortgage and the energy-efficient mortgages. As we move closer to a more energy efficient energy conscious nation, I think we will see the grow in the energy-efficient mortgages at a greater concern on the part of HUD that will make room for an increase in energy-efficient mortgages. The graduated payment mortgage is an option for FHA homeowners who at present have low to reasonable incomes but expected to enlarge substantially over the next few years; this can be compared to a balloon note or the adjustable rate mortgages in use today.

As you can see, the government has played a great part in making possible the dream of homeownership in this country. Yes, I consider we can say at present more Americans live the dream of home ownership than any other nation in the world thanks in great part to the fact that President Roosevelt stepped in at the end of the Great Depression and provided the method to restore faith in the American way of life.

Want to know a proved method to make money? Then forex trading is just for you!!!

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Learn to trade FOREX from one of the world's TOP hedge fund managers! (Boca Raton / Delray Beach)

Learn to how to trade the foreign currency market from one of the world's TOP hedge fund managers!

This is not a sales job!

This is an opportunity for YOU to trade the Foreign Currency Markets (FOREX) with our money!

The FOREX is the single largest market in the world; dwarfing the NYSE, AMEX and NASDAQ combined, trading by some estimates around $10 Trillion per day. That's $10 TRILLION! And the FOREX market trades 24 hours a day.

Since 1999 we have raised over $1 billion in capital and we are looking to incubate SUCCESSFUL traders and future hedge fund managers. One of our funds ranked #1 in hedge fund performance last month on the Barclay Hedge and our funds have consistently ranked in the upper percentiles of several tracking indices including; HedgeFund.net, Barclay Hedge and Deutsche Bank FX Select.

Imagine, an opportunity to work side by side and be taught by not one, but two of the top ten FOREX hedge fund managers in the world! You are going to be taught by traders, not just teachers, that have been ranked in the top ten in their industry consistently for over twenty years combined.

If you are seeking a long term career as a trader or fund manager, there is no other comparable program available.


TOP THREE REASONS WHY 94% OF TRADERS FAIL

1. LACK THE PROPER TRAINING
Every trader out there will have wins and losses, but what if you could minimize your losses and maximize your gains? We can teach you how; we have been doing it successfully for decades! Some of our principals have been so successful that their managed hedge fund is rated in the top 10 of Barclays Hedge Fund listing for April of 2009!

2. LACK THE APPROPRIATE FUNDING
Without the appropriate funding, can you weather the dips? Or will your funds run out just before your trade turns around? The companies that make up Integra FX have raised over $1.5 billion during their existence! Upon successful completion of our training we will fund your trading account with our capital; as your success continues the funding in your account will increase.

3. LACK THE DISCIPLINE
Trading success takes discipline. Discipline to manage/minimize your risk and to allow the maximization of your reward; discipline to see a trade through and not jump out at the first sign of loss and not taking a minimal profit. We will teach you how to identify the opportunities and you will not just learn methodologies that have worked for us successfully over the years but how to actually apply them in a real world environment.



THE COURSE

If you want to become a successful trader you will require training of similar quality found on Investment Bank graduate trading floors. You will also need the best direct access trading software and a low cost non retail environment. You will have access to the same type of trading community as the most successful traders in the world. At Integra FX you will be learning from some of the top performers in the Forex industry and will have contact with experienced traders and will be watching them in action. Finally you will need to practice trading real money objectively, under proper supervision and at no personal risk.

We provide the very best in Forex Training. We will teach you all aspects of the Forex trading world using the latest tools and software. You will learn to control your own order flow by using a “state-of-the-art” Forex Trading Platform with some of the best of breed Banks. You will learn how the Pros make money and learn the differences between Forex and equities trading. Decide for yourself which is the best instrument for you. Don’t be surprised to find that in a very short time you can be successfully trading FOREX. Foreign Exchange trading offers 400 to 1 leverage and 24/6 trading hours – trade in the evenings, trade in the early morning before work. Learn to trade with discipline, a plan and the technical tools that the World Currency Traders use. Whether you are a novice or an advanced trader, now you can have the most comprehensive and professional learning experience available today. We offer this experience at our location live.

Our training program, The Integra FX Edge, provides you with an edge for today's market. The Integra FX Edge is a demanding, comprehensive, and well developed training program. We will teach you how to properly manage your risk and maximize your rewards. You will develop valuable trading skills that will enable you to profit in any market, from any location, and for your entire trading career. The Integra FX Edge teaches you a craft, the craft of trading.


What to Expect:

• Week I In depth training on Forex market and our strategy

• Week II simulation trading

• Week III and thereafter Live trading using our firms capital

• Professional trading environment

• Daily Market Analysis

• On site or Remote trading with continued mentoring and support

• A disciplined approach to trading for long term success

• Career advancement - as your success continues, the funding for your account will increase

• After advancing to a senior trader you will be your own boss.

• Most importantly you are learning a skill from professional traders that you can utilize for the rest of your career

• $5,000 Course Fee - upon successful completion of our course, you will have $150,000 of trading ability using our capital



Our Expectations:

• Highly motivated applicants

• People ready to make a “career change” with a long term view

• People who have the financial stability to journey to a new career path

• Trading experience not necessary



For more information about IFX,
please visit www.integrafxtrading.com or call 561.283.8863

Please send resumes to info@integrafxtrading.com

IFX is currently accepting applications for new traders and will contact you promptly upon receipt of your application.





•Location: Boca Raton / Delray Beach
•Telecommuting is ok.
•OK to highlight this job opening for persons with disabilities
•Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
•Phone calls about this job are ok.
•Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests

Forex Trading. Full Hedging, Is It Possible?

What Is Hedging?
It depends who you ask. Traders have lots of different ideas. I hope to dispel some myths in this article. So what is hedging?

I think fund managers have the best answer. After all, of anyone they have to manage risk the most carefully, otherwise they are out of a job.

The way I've heard most fund managers explain it is like this. A hedge is being long in one instrument, while short in a different one that in one way or another offsets some or all of the risk of the long position (depending on what they are trying to accomplish).

Did that make sense? I know. It was rather convoluted. Let's move through some examples. It will make sense then.


The Long and Short of It
It's say you take a long position is EUR/USD at 1.2700. The price drops. With a different broker, you take a short position at 1.2650. Have you hedged your long?

I've met traders who say yes. They say that now there short will make what every there long position loses.

I hate to burst bubbles, but going long and short is going flat. It's the same as having no position on. The only difference is you'll pay the spread twice (a bad thing).

The traders who say that going long and going short is hedging say that when the price moves up they will take the short position off to capture the upward movement are still deluded.

Having a short and long position in the same instrument, and then taking the short one off, is the same as just entering long. That's it. Furthermore, how do you know that the market will continue to move up after you take the short off? If it moves down again will you put the short on again? If you do, you will pay the spread a third time for a single trade. Believe, make this a habit and you find being profitable is tough even if you pick more winners than losers and have great money management.

So, let's take this is a different direction. What if you traded EUR/USD long and went short USD/CHF? Have you hedged against the dollar? No. What you've done is created the currency pair EUR/CHF with two other pairs. You're not hedged; you're long EUR/CHF.


Interest
Another clever idea is to go long a currency pair that pays lots of interest, and then to short that pair with a broker that doesn't charge interest.

At first the idea sounds attractive, but it breaks down in theory and in practice. You see, this is the ultimate form of free money. Free money doesn't exist.

Secondly, finding a broker that doesn't charge interest and is honest will be very difficult. And also don't forget you have to pay the spread twice on each order.


Futures
So how do you create a true hedge with currencies? You have two tools to use. One way would be with futures. The next subsection deals with the other. The CME has an emini Euro FX contract (symbol is E7). You could be long in the spot market and short in the futures market and you would be hedged. However, the futures contract and a spot contract are not worth exactly the same; so you would not be totally covered.


Options
The last way to hedge is with options. This is also how you can trade without stops safely. Let's say you go long USD/JPY at 116.00. You also go long a put option out of the money with a strike price at 115.50. Let's say it cost you $20.

The price must go up 20 pips (in a mini account) for you break even. You lose the cost of the option if the price doesn't sink below 115.50. If the price does plunge down to 114 say, your put options will be worth a lot. Subtracting what you made on the options from what you lost on your position, you'd find that you only lost 70 pips (the cost of the option $20 plus the difference between your entry and the strike price $50).

You are truly hedged. You only lose the cost of the option if the price skyrockets (and you'll make a bundle on the price moving up so far). On the other hand, the price can sink as low as it wants to, you're loss is fixed.

This gets even better. How often has the price touched your stop taking you out of the market before going your way? With an option as a stoploss, that can't happen. You can ride out a market that wants to stop you out. Your option protects you.

Obviously this is just a quick look at this strategy. If you want to do it, study the concepts behind it a lot more before you try it. Options are an animal all of their own. Know what you are doing, before you do it.

Creating Profitable Forex Trading Systems In Five Easy Steps

One rule of thumb that every aspiring entrepreneur should remember is that to make huge profits, you should know how to do it by yourself-and not rely on other's efforts. Being independent from other people will help you determine what things are best for your business.

Such rule applies on all types of investments, including foreign currency trading, or mostly known as Forex trading. It cannot be denied that Forex is the largest existing market around the world, which is estimated to have an excess of 2 trillion U.S. dollars worth of foreign currencies are traded each day. It is larger than the magnitude of the New York Stock Exchange, which is approximately 50 billion U.S. dollars. Thus, Forex market exceeds all combined equity markets around the world.

With such huge wealth circulating around the Forex market, one of your financial goals is to grab a major slice of that $2 trillion average daily turnover in the market. How you will be able to get a substantial portion of that average turnover if you do not know how you will handle your Forex business? Although you cannot live in the market alone (you need business partners and/or financial advisers to help you along), only you can determine what the best Forex business there is for you.

To get huge profits out of your Forex trading career, you need to build your own profitable system-a trading system that will bring your not just hundreds but thousands of dollars worth of Forex revenues. Such trading system is available on the market, but as previously mentioned, you need to be independent-and you need to have your own Forex trading system that will help you achieve your financial goals.

For new traders, it is difficult for them to device their own trading system since they do not have too much knowledge about the Forex market. However, even a neophyte trader can device a trading system that will fit on his personal preference and needs-in just five easy steps!

Before we discuss the five easy steps towards a profitable Forex trading system, you need to learn first the three main characteristics of a successful Forex trading system. These are as follows:

1. A successful Forex trading system is simple. There is no need for a complicated trading system with too many rules. It is a proven truth that simple systems work better than complicated ones, and they have higher chances of success despite of the "brutal" characteristic of Forex trading.

2. A successful Forex trading system cuts losses and runs profits. Keep in mind that you need a trading system that gets the huge possible profits and eliminates losses quickly, if not instantly.

3. A successful Forex trading system follows long-term trends. You will never cover your losses if you are just generating small profits. Keep in mind that the Forex market is worth $2 trillion U.S. dollars, thus there is no point in trading in exchange for just small profits if you have the opportunity to make trades for larger revenues. Focus on long-term trends and you will be able to see better results.

Now, here are the five easy steps in building a profitable Forex trading system:

1. As previously mentioned, your trading system must be as simple as possible. Integrate few yet essential rules and an extensive investment management system.

2. Always look for long-term trends (preferably on a weekly basis), then shift to daily charts and to time entry. This will help you analyze market trends efficiently.

3. The ideal way of trading foreign currencies is through breakout method.

4. Always watch for any break that you will note on your chart, which is commonly confirmed by stochastic crossed with bearish divergence. This will be your great timing tool whether you will enter a certain deal or not.

5. You must integrate effective time management within your system. Time is gold and is one of your precious resources. Design a trading system that is time efficient-where you can maximize the potential of your time resources to generate huge profits.

Get away with complicated systems; it will just ruin your entire Forex trading career. Build a simpler one and see for yourself how profitable it is.

StockMarketSystemReviews

Proclaimed trader John Chen is the creator of Profitable Trend Forex System. In his promo literature he claims to have never had a single losing month using this forex trading system which he has developed. While this is far from being an unbiased assessment of his trading method, if true it may speak more to his own unique talents and trading knowledge developed in long years of forex trading experience than it does of his system in general, and therefore may not be something that everyone – especially newcomers – should expect to achieve. Yet, with practice and trading experience, anyone could reasonably expect to develop this same or similar talents and trading knowledge.

That said, although the system claims to be simple and easy to follow, one trader found it to be "rather time-consuming" for his tastes. On a scale of ten with ten being the highest proficiency, he rated Profitable Trend to be a five out of ten in terms of "ease of use." Consider that this is coming from someone who has experience trading the forex market and presumably knows some of the ins and outs of using trading systems.

One thing that John admits is that his system is only 70-75% accurate, which seems reasonable enough considering some of the hype that has been thrown around on other sales pages. The refreshing nature of this admission, though, is somewhat deflated by the claim that "on average each winner is twice as large as each unsuccessful trade." It is almost as though he is trying to have it both ways. And while it may be a comforting thought for the reader to consider, better yet would have been to have provided some proof or explanation of why this is the case. Without such explanation, this appears to be a gratuitous assertion.

John points out that there are two crucial things that any successful trader using his system needs to do: 1) Identify the trend and 2) Join the trend with precise timing. He says that his system will help any trader to do exactly these two things. And according to one source, it does a more than adequate job at identifying trends while being "easy to understand." The system "gives clear entry and exit rules and can be applied to all time frames and all currency pairs, futures, stocks, and indices." He verifies that the system takes a person step-by-step through the process, showing you when to join the trend and when to exit.

One plus for this forex trading system is its support, which has been praised by several users. To his credit, John is a believer in on-going education and support, which is why each purchase comes with: 1) detailed system descriptions and instructions on how and when to enter and exit a trade; 2) All indicators used in the system; 3) charts with commentary so that you can understand the reasoning behind the setups; and 4) unlimited support via e-mail. Email support (which are one-on-one) have proven to be promptly answered within 24 hours. Also, users can expect to receive free updates to the system as they are regularly released. So there are no hidden or on-going additional costs once the system has been purchased.

In addition, Profitable Trend Forex System also includes advanced money management rules. If learned and taken seriously, these rules could save the trader from financial ruin, preventing unnecessary losses.

If you would like to check out some of John's advice to see how it may compare with other information you may have gathered, he does offer through his website a free "Special Report" on forex trading which is available through email. Just click on a link to his site in this review and sign up to begin receiving the report.

Many of those who have used the Profitable Trend System have verified that it can and does help you to make a profit in your trading. From this standpoint, then, it may be considered a valid and successful system if properly followed and implemented. Whether or not it will accomplish all that the prospective user expects of it may only be a matter of personal choice and ability at trading the markets. In the end, one's own abilities using the system take precedence in deciding its long range capabilities to produce sustainable profits.

Practice Stock Trading to Improve Results

If you want to get better at anything, you have to practice. Playing the market is no different. If you want to make money in the stock market, you have to practice stock trading. It always amazes me when I hear people who don't understand why they aren't making a killing investing in the stock market. I always ask them "Are you practicing?" Almost invariably these people look at me like I've lost my mind. It's just like anything else, people... if you don't work on your skills, you won't get any better. There are many ways to get better information about stocks you want to invest in: reading newsletters, following expert picks, watching the financial channel 24 hours a day, and so on. There is only one way to put that knowledge to use. Practice.

Even seasoned traders can benefit from running practice stock trading sessions every once in awhile. Every time you pick up a new buy signal technique, or a new options strategy, it is imperative that you put these new theories and ideas to the test. You may be able to see that a certain strategy has worked in the past without testing it, but it is a whole different animal to actually pull the trigger. My favorite technique when I learn something new in the market is to take that idea and plug it in to my paper trading account. I will try out a couple weeks worth of trades and analyze exactly what worked and what didn't. If I like the results I'm having on paper trading, I will try it out at a smaller amount in my real money account. If it's still working, I will add that trading idea to my repertoire. If you continue to practice you will develop a working stock trading system.

Forex Trading: USD/CAD Gained More Than 900 Pips Over Last Two Weeks

Last week was an extremely busy work week for me at my real job, and an extremely slow week in the forex department because the market settled down a bit. I need more volatility for my trading, and I think this week will provide that.

Let’s take a look at what the majors did last week:

Majors

•EUR/USD | +7 pips
•USD/JPY | -144 pips
•GBP/USD | +175 pips
•USD/CHF | +250 pips
•AUD/USD | -151 pips
•USD/CAD | +331 pips
There has been more than a 900 pip gain for the USD/CAD over the past two weeks. As I suspected, this pair gave some of those gains back on Friday because it was way overbought, and was reaching some all-time high numbers and resistance that caused it to pull back. I’m caught at an impass as to whether or not we will see it recover from this pullback. In my last article I wrote about how the Canadian Dollar is Being Killed by Slumping Commodities. This remains true, and therefore I don’t think there is much fundamental strength to the CAD.

After giving back my profits last week on a 100 pip stop loss trade, I’m eager to see what this week gives me. I’m still fine tuning my stop losses for the two different types of trades that I like to recommend. I’m also going to take some more time to try and fine tune my EUR/USD scalping techniques to see if this is going to be profitable for me in the future. Scalping is something that will fit my schedule in the morning and at night outside of my normal work hours. Let’s move into what I am looking at for this week in terms of future profitable trades.

If I could only predict the future, I would have many more readers! After seeing a great friday for the US stock market, we will have to wait and see if some of the gains were caused by short selers taking profit before the weekend. I’m going to cut this week’s brunch short because I honestly haven’t had time to look at the market. So good luck this week, and let’s get into some good trades.

Advanced Forex Trading Techniques

Forex trading can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. In the beginning forex trading seems like it is simple. It seems like your only job as a trader is to pick what direction a currency pair is going to go and collect your profit. If only it were that simple all the time.
Hedging
Hedging is a way to reduce risk by taking both sides of a trade at once. If your broker allows it, a simple way to hedge is just to initiate a long and a short position on the same pair. Advanced traders sometimes use two different pairs to make one hedge, but that can get very complicated. For example, say you decide that you want to go short on the USD/CHF, because you see it sitting at the top of a recent price range. You decide to initiate your short. After setting up your short, you start thinking that the USD/CHF is looking a little strong and you think that it might break upward and make your short an expensive one. To do an advanced balancing act, you start looking at other USD pairs. You find that the EUR/USD tends to move inversely to the USD/CHF. To complete your hedge, you go short on EUR/USD. The USD ends up breaking resistance and moves strongly against the CHF. Your short EUR trade becomes a winner and your USD/CHF trade is a loser, but your risk is limited because they almost even out.

Position Trading
Position Trading is trading based on your overall exposure to a currency pair. Your position is your average price for a currency pair. For Example, you might make a short trade on EUR/USD at 1.40. If the pair is ultimately trending lower, but happens to retrace up, and you take another short at say 1.42, your average position would be 1.41. Once the EUR/USD drops back below 1.41, you will be back in overall profit.

Forex Options
A forex option is the agreement to purchase a currency pair at a predetermined price at a specified time. For example, say you are long the EUR/USD at 1.40 and you feel that there is a chance that it will fall to 1.38 in overnight trading. Not wanting to risk a deeper reaction, you decide to put a stop at 1.3750, setting up a potential loss of 250 pips. 250 pips sounds really painful, so you decide to use a forex option to lessen the pain. You purchase an option for the overnight hours with a strike price of 1.3750. If the EUR/USD goes up and never touches 1.3750 overnight, you would lose the premium that you paid for your currency option. If the EUR/USD falls and touches your option and your stop loss, you would receive the profit from your option, depending on how much of a premium you paid, and you would realize the loss of your long trade on the EUR/USD. The option profit would make up for some of that loss on your currency trade.

Scalping
Scalping is making a very short term trade for a few pips usually using high leverage. Scalping typically is best done in conjunction with a news release and supportive technical conditions. The trade can last anywhere from a few seconds to a few hours. Many beginning forex traders start with scalping, but it doesn’t take long to figure out how much you can lose if you don’t have any idea what you are doing. In general, scalping is a risky strategy that does not pay well in comparison it's risk. If you are going to make scalping trades, it is best to do them in conjunction with your overall trading position, not as a primary method of trading.

Advanced forex trading is about seeing all your options when you make a trade. Aside from using masterful risk management and extreme caution, advanced trading can be an alternate way to make profits and control losses. Advanced trading techniques are just about using the markets behavior to your advantage. Learning to use advanced techniques properly is what will give you the edge that will make you stand apart from the average trader

Currency Trading Pips and Ticks

A pip is the smallest change of price for any Foreign Currency. The currency quotes appear as numbers with either two or four decimal places. This means that if the Foreign Currency moves up or down, the smallest move is called a "pip". When you trade in Forex, you monitor how the pips rise and drop and this is what determines your investment.

An example of this is if you buy EUR/USD. This pair is quoted four decimal numbers after the point. A pip here is ten thousandth of a Dollar, or 0.0001 of a dollar, meaning 1/100 of a cent. The pip is an abbreviation of "Price Interest Point", and this is why another name used for pips is points.

Even though a pip is only a small amount of money, because your foreign currency trading is usually a leveraged investment, a few pips can mean serious cash fluctuations. Each serious trader needs to know how to calculate the change from pips the actual sums invested, and some online Foreign currency trading agents offer such calculators in their account. You should consider these and other advanced functions when selecting the broker you want to use. Pip value can vary, and is usually $1 in mini accounts or $10 in regular accounts.

An important concept that concerns pips is called The Spread. This is the pip difference between the bid price and the ask price done for the currency trading sum. When you buy Foreign Currency it costs you more than to sell it and this is the spread.

Ticks are the smallest amounts of time that exist between two currency trades. This time frame can be a short time period of a fraction of a second for major currencies, or can also be a time frame of a few hours for less popular currencies. Ticks do not happen in constant intervals, even though the charts used for technical analysis do use specific time rates such as 4 hours of 15 minutes.

Forex Pip

If you are new to forex trading and decided to learn forex one of the first forex terms you will come across is the forex pip. To learn how to trade forex successfully you need to understand these terms.

What s Forex Pip?
The acronym PIP stands for Percentage In Point or Price Interest Point. In forex trading your profits and losses are measured in forex pips. Obviously it is very essential to understand what is a forex pip.

In simple terms a PIP is the smallest value (price) increment a currency can make. Forex PIP allows us to determine a rise or fall in foreign exchange values in percentage terms as an alternative of measuring in dollars and cents. Forex spreads are also measured in pips. Forex spread is the difference between the bid price and ask price (the sell quote and the buy quote) which is the major cost of currency trading. Let’s see an example to get a clear understanding. Assume that the EUR/USD quotes read 1.3300/02. In this case, the spread is the difference between 1.3300 and 1.3202, or 2 pips.

Why do we have to to measure in pips?
We use PIP in forex trading because in the currency trading market there is no universal currency in which you can indicate the foreign exchange values. Despite the fact that US dollar is the most widely traded currency, the USD is not involved in all trades. Fore instance if you are trading in two foreign currencies such as EUR/GBP or any other forex currency pairs that does not involve USD, it would not make any sense to measure your profitss and losses in terms of US dollars. Hence traders make use of forex PIP which is a small percentage of the rate of the forex currencies involved in the trade. In other words the monetary value of a forex pip changes according to the currency involved in trade.

Almost all the major forex currencies are quoted to four decimal points with the exception of Japanese Yen. For instance if the bid price for EUR/USD quoted at 1.3641 and ask price at 1.3645, then the spread (the difference between bid and ask prices) is 0.0004 or 4 pips. In terms of percentage, a pip is 0.01% of a lot. Therefore if the lot size is $100,000, one pip would be worth $10. Please note that, this is the value of pips when the US dollar is used as the quote currency. Nevertheless if the quote currency is different (example GBP), one pip is 10 units of that currency (ie 10 pounds) assuming that your lot size is 100,000.

Japanese Yen is an exception since it has a much lower unit value than most of the other major forex currencies. Due to this, the Japanese Yen is quoted to the second decimal point in forex markets. So if the USD/JPY forex rate is 110.18 then one pip is 0.01 or 1% in yen, not dollars. Accordingly the pip value is JPY 1000 which at that price would be worth US $11.015. Are still with me? I know these figures can be confusing especially for beginners.

Just remember that, in case of EUR/USD 1 pip = 0.0001 and for USD/JPY I pip=0.01.

As I always advice, it is better to trade in one forex pair, preferably in EUR/USD when you are a beginner. When you are doing currency trading in one forex pair repeatedly on a daily basis you will quickly get a clear idea of how much a pip represents in terms of your actual gains and losses. After some time you will know how much one pip is worth in dollars by taking a quick glance at your forex account.

On the other hand if you are trading in a number of dissimilar currency pairs, you are dealing with pips of different value. This will not only you get confused, you could end up losing money. Hence I recommend you to stick with the EURO/USD currency pair until you have a clear understanding of forex pip values and trends even if you are using a forex software.

Become a Forex Trader >From Home

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Keep this in Mind

If you want to be a forex trader you can - but you must be prepared to learn all the information yourself and not try and follow anyone else - Why?

Because forex trading is a combination of a simple robust method and confidence in it.

You need to know what you are doing and have confidence, so you can apply your trading system with discipline for long term trading success.

You need discipline to succeed and this means learning the basics of forex trading, learning a strategy and having confidence in it. If you get the right forex education and have the right mindset, you can trade the worlds most exciting investment medium with confidence

Introducation to Forex Trading

The concept of Forex Trading has existed for centuries. Even before the emergence of the Internet, the method of trading was used. With the conception of Internet technology, one has a faster and more efficient method of forex trading. It allows traders to engage in transactions across the world anytime of the day as long as the market hours are open.

A basic consideration is the security measure that the company applies to their site. Things as simple as encryption should be available in the site you are trading on. With possibly millions of dollars changing hands in each transaction, you want to have some sort of assurance that the money you trade will be sent to the intended receiver. With many different attack methods emerging over the web everyday, you can never be too careful.

When looking for trading sites online, it is best to test out the capabilities of the site before register for membership. Most the different FOREX trading sites allow you a trial run before you make any commitments to employ their services. Different sites offer different services.

A basic service for your site is receiving the rates for each currency everyday. Without proper information on the rate, you can never make an intelligent decision for your trade. You also want it to give you access to different traders worldwide. A luxury would be to have some sort of analysis tool or analytical report on the behavior of the currency you are trading in.

There are a lot of sites the employ services of experts standing by online. You can chat with these traders and brokers to seek their advice on what move would be best for you to make. They can also help analyze what currency will gain or loose during the next trading day.

Forex Trading provides detailed information on forex trading, online forex trading, forex trading tips, forex trading hours and more. Forex Trading is affiliated with Forex Day Trading Systems.

Forex Trading Education

Forex Trading Education

If you are just a normal person that is just trying to make a living to get by in life, you may want to consider taking some steps to make some changes so that you are able to make more out of your life. By taking the steps in the forex trading direction you will be able to open the doors to many more opportunities for you to have a wealthy life. However, in order to become a successful trader, you are going to have to put in some hard work along with some determination. Being a successful trader means that you have to dedicate your self to the forex trading education, it is important that you take the time to educate your self on the subject. There are many ways that you can learn to trade forex, you can learn by reading books and also participating in online courses that are offer for beginners in the market and also the professionals that just need to brush up a little bit. It is important that you get a forex trading education, so that you will be able to succeed in the market. Just about everyone that is in the market will at one point and time take a forex trading education.

Forex Trading Education and Forex Market Drivers

When you are considering forex trading education it is important that you know what forex market drivers are. In the following paragraph, I am going to tell you about how the interest rate increases actually drive the currency prices. One of the most common ways to think about the United States interest rates is to think of it as how much it is going to cost you to borrow a certain amount of money. Whether you are taking this into consideration when it comes to our mortgages, or how much money we will make off of bonds and also money market investments. It is a known fact that currency traders think about the big picture so they are known for thinking big when it comes to trading. In case you are unaware of how the interest rate works, the interest rate policy is known actually as a key driver of pairs of currencies and is also a great started strategy for new comers to the currency trading.

Forex Trading Education Fundamentally

If you think about interest rates fundamentally, you will see that if a particular country’s raises their interest rates, the actual currency of that particular country will actually strengthen due to the fact that the higher interest rates will draw in or attract a greater amount of foreign investors. It is know that when foreign investors actually invest into United States currency that that particular country must sell their own currency and actually buy United States currency known as dollars in order to actually purchase or buy the bonds themselves. If you are a trader and you believe that the United States interest rates are going to continue to rise, you as a trader should act on that fact by expressing the view by going long United States dollars. However, if you believe that the Fed has indeed finished actually raising the rates for the moment; you could actually capitalize that view by purchasing or buying a currency that has a higher interest rate or a currency that has at least the future sights of higher interest rates.

Learning about Forex Trading Education

When you are learning about forex trading education it is important that you learn to take and add every little factor into your plan or system. The reason that I say this is because there are many factors that can take an effect on your plans and if you see something that may help you out in the long run, it is important that you act on that knowledge and put it to good use. In the following paragraph, I am going to tell you about how the price of gold is rising and how it can affect the currencies. When it comes to the gold prices, it is not hard to visualize why we have actually seen a run up in the prices. In the United States we are currently dealing with the actual threat of inflation and also a lot of geo political tension as well. However, if you take a look back through history you will notice that gold is known as a country neutral alternative to the actual United States dollar which is almost popular everywhere that you look, so taking into consideration that relationship of gold and the United States dollar in an inverse way, the currency traders can actually take advantage of the volatility in the gold prices in more innovative ways. Go ahead and get a forex trading education today, the sooner you have a forex trading education the sooner that you can get a move on your successfulness in the trading market