Basic Guide For Understanding Forex Trading

Foreign Exchange refers to the currency of foreign countries. There is a demand for the currencies of other countries due to reasons like international trade in goods and services, economy strength and other factors. The demand and supply requirements of the different currencies worldwide is the reason which affects their prices vis-à-vis other currencies. To regulate the prices better and centralize market (demand and supply) action, there are Forex exchanges where people can trade currency.

The currencies are represented by their symbols as C1/C2, where C1 and C2 are the currencies. For example, USD/EUR will mean the rate of 1 USD in terms of "n" Euros. The pairs of currencies are called by various names like majors, crosses and exotics. Majors are the currency pairs of Euro, Yen, Pound, Swiss Franc, Canadian dollar and Australian dollar with US dollar. "Crosses" are those currencies of the developed world which are not pitted against the dollar. Exotics are the currency pairs of developing economies with those of other developing or developed economies.

In FX trading jargon, the ask price is the selling price of the currency by the broker and the "bid" price is the buying rate by that broker. Whenever you go to a bank, you will find two rates of currencies on digital board. The higher one is the selling rate for the bank, meaning that you will be required to pay higher amount for buying that currency. The lower amount is the buying rate, meaning that the bank will buy at a lower rate than selling rate. In currency trading, the spread is the difference between ask and bid rate.

Spot, Forward And Contracts For Difference (Cfds)

Spot price of a currency is the current Forex trading rate. If you place the spot order, the currency will be bought or sold at the rate prevailing at the time of placing the order. If you think that the currency trading rate will change in the future and you want security against fluctuation, then you fix a rate and promise to buy or sell the currency on a future date at that very price. This is a forward contract.

Forex CFDs are different to buying currencies at a bank, where you don't physically own the currency you buy. Rather, they anticipate future movements and take a position in CFD trading accordingly so as to make profit from the difference of the current and future exchange rate on their booked position. Apart from the CFDs, there are other derivatives of different types which are meant for hedging or risk covering purposes like the futures and options. These are based on underlying security or assets called derivatives.

Forex trading platforms are generally provided online by a number of duly registered and licensed companies using special software. They allow ease and convenience of trading, enlarges the customer base and volume of business and also makes the market more liquid.

The customers use a number of charts to analyze the market movements and accordingly take their positions and enter into different types of contracts.

About the Author

Article Written By: ailicef

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Forex Trading - How Anyone Can Trade Forex Like A Pro

Over the last few years, there has been a great deal of interest in Forex trading. This interest has been fueled by the fact that people are now starting to look for greener pastures, especially after the housing bubble burst in various countries and the slow down in the economy. Amidst all these issues, it is unavoidable that most of us feel the urge to learn to trade forex and keep abreast of investment opportunities that are made available by this exciting market.

Want to learn more about Forex Trading? Check Out The Forex Trading University.

However, before anyone can just jump in and start trading, there is quite a bit of education, or learning that must take place if you want to become successful at it. At the very least, a basic understanding of the Forex market will help pave the way for more detailed studies.

The Forex market unlike the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is an Over the Counter (OTC) market. This means it is a decentralized market where trading is done through a system or communication network rather than on an actual physical trading floor.

Because of this, the Forex market actually spans across several time zones around the globe. As such, it is a 24 hour market where trading occurs continuously for around five and a half days a week.

Forex is a platform where traders can exchange different countries currencies at a rate determined by the market. There are two reasons why currencies are traded. One reason is for the payment of goods and services by international companies. The other reason is because traders speculate on the movement of the exchange rates and seek to gain profits from such fluctuations. The exchange rates fluctuate because the demand for a currency is always changing and this change is reflected in the differing rates. This explanation is actually an oversimplification of the Forex market, but its a good place to start.

Unlike share prices which are determined by the performance of the companies, currencies prices are affected by a myrad of factors. Hence, trying to forecast the rate of a currency is an extremely complex process.

It is a good idea to educate yourself well and seek the advice of a broker or licenced advisor or trainer as their advanced knowledge and experience of the market will be able to give your some direction in improving your own knowledge base. To gain a feel of what the Forex market is like, you can also always try out a "practice account" available through most forex brokers, where you will trade virtual money based on the actual exchange rates. You will note that it is an extremely dynamic market and can be quite exciting to observe.

Nevertheless, learning how to trade Forex properly requires patience and some investment to learn about the intricacies of the market. Thus, it would be a good idea for anyone who wants to learn how to trade Forex to enroll themselves in some Forex education courses to further understand how this market really works.

There are also many sources of information about Forex available on the internet. This information can sometimes be offered for free or other times will require some form of payment to acquire. Free information is usually very basic and if you wish to learn more advanced concepts, you would most likely be required to pay for it. You should do as much research as possible and read as many reviews as possible before you join any Forex training program. This way, you will avoid any disappointments by knowing upfront what to expect.

Paul Hamilton Paul Hamilton

Ready to learn more about Forex Trading? Visit the Forex Trading University (show bio)

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Forex charts: Cup with Handle

It is a type of continuation chart pattern which has appearance like cross section of tea cup with a small handle on the right side of the cup. The chart pattern has the typical duration of seven to sixty-five weeks handle duration must be at least one-two weeks and can exceed for long.

Explanation: The appearance of this chart pattern is quite pretty that s had a cup with handle formation and as soon as the interested traders apply the filtering procedures with the goal to achieve maximum targets and increase the ratio of success. As a consequence many of the implied correlation have a little statistical importance so utilize them with full care. To keep it simple, it is assumed that the chart pattern is having a uptrend formation but the conditions apply for the down trends as well inversely.

Conditions:

• U- Shaped cup not V-shaped with a handle because cups without handle are a different chart pattern.

• The cup with a handle must be preceded by a 30% rise or more that occurs very rarely in forex.

• It should be noted that the handle of the cup should not dip below the mid-point of cup, if such situation occurs, the pattern is considered to be invalidated

• The shorter the handle of the cup chart pattern with respect to the time it has the tendency to produce higher gains, the sample size is too diminutive to authenticate the consequences statistically

• The cup pattern forex charts having higher right lips executes more accurately as compared to the higher lips or equal lip heights and gives significant outcome

• The most probable outcome is approximately 15% after a breakout

• The duration required for the complete formation of the cup-handle chart pattern and touch the exact heights is around 6 months

• Keeping aside all these there are certain throwbacks or false breakouts that mislead the trading patterns before actual price action touches the target and are very common, false breakouts completes in approximate time of two-weeks and do not take more than thirty days.

Strong Points: It can be a high possibility trading if all the mentioned criteria are put into application correctly particularly to the lip heights as that it is the most statistically sound criteria. The possibility of false breakouts is so high that it can be used to fetch advantage.

Weak Points: A well set up cup with handle pattern is hard to find at Forex trading platform, as the necessities are fairly rigid. The standard expansion following breakout is quite small, implying reward-risk ratios need to be closely analyzed before actually starting trading on the basis of the forex chart patterns.

This is the sum up of information related to the forex trading that gives information to utilize these chart patterns in making position at the market.

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Article Written By: Linda Green

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How to Trade Forex Using the Support and Resistance Forex Trading Techniques

Many professional forex traders have been using support and resistance levels as part of their forex trading strategies to trade the currency market. Besides currency trading, there are other financial instruments like stocks which also use support and resistance. It is considered to be one of the most powerful ways to trade forex as it is based on price actions itself. 

Support and resistance trading is understood as once the price reaches a certain level, it may stop, find it hard to break through that level and then reverses. When traders are able to identify these activities, they will be able to gain huge profits from the forex financial market. Support levels are identified when buyers push the price up when price reaches a certain level which finds it hard to break through. Vice versa for resistance levels. 

We will now look at how we spot resistance and support levels on the forex charts. There are a few forex trading techniques to spot those levels but I will list those that are more commonly and effectively used. The top five are Moving Averages, Trend Lines, Pivot Points, Chart Patterns and Fibonacci Levels.

Moving Averages: Some moving averages value may have an impact on the currency market and they are the 200 EMA (Exponential Moving Average), 100 EMA, 62 EMA and 23 EMA. When price reaches the EMA levels, sometimes it tests the levels, bounces off and reverses. That is why they are used as support and resistance levels and even used for forex day trading strategy.

Trend Lines: We draw trend lines to give us an idea on how trendy the market is when the price travels up or down. This is also known as channels and let us predicts how the price will move. For example, when the price is trending up, we draw a up trend line, so when the price breaks below the trend line significantly, we know that it is a breakout and the trend will change. Vice versa for trending down.

Pivot Points: This is one of the forex indicators that is based on previous period. It can be used by breakout traders or range-bound traders. For breakout trades, prices which are above the pivot are considered bullish while below are pivot are bearish. Using pivot in forex trading systems, after the range-bound traders identify the upper resistance or lower support levels, they will place sell or buy orders, and target profit at S1, S2 or R1, R2 respectively.

Chart Patterns: Some of the examples are ascending/descending triangles, double top/bottom, head and shoulders and reverse H & S. You can find examples in some of the few forex ebooks and learn how to identify the patterns from there.

Fibonacci Levels: When we draw swing low to high or swing high to low, we use the Fibonacci levels of 23.6%, 38.6%, 50.0% and 61.8% as support and resistance levels. For example, when it is swing low to high, traders may buy when the price hit one of the levels, as that is support in this case. Some traders may only trade when the price went out of the 61.8%, which means a reversal of trend.

The key to master these forex trading techniques mentioned above is to experience it yourself. You can start by doing demo trading before going live. Practice makes perfect.

About the Author

Daniel S. 

To learn how to trade forex successfully using a simple, time-tested and proven forex trading system, download my FREE 56-page "Forex... (show bio)

Forex Signals: Effectively Using Forex Signals to Maximize Your Forex Trading Profits

Submitted by: Ron Henson

FOREX trading has some shortcomings; one is the fact that you have to spend a great deal of time scrutinizing the market. Indeed, you may have to spend many hours at your PC, keeping your eyes peeled for entrance and exit situations that will be helpful in your overall investment strategy.

It is possible to utilize automated orders. Limits and stops prevent eye strain by letting you have some time away from your monitor, secure that any potential for loss is minimal. However, you can also lose out on prospective gains, if such orders, in your absence, take effect sooner than you’d like.

To minimize the risk of automated orders, and yet still get away from your desk, a FOREX signal service may be helpful. Someone else does the market watching and analyzing for you, and the results are sent to you directly, by email, cell phone, pager, etc. Such services aren’t free; usually a monthly or annual subscription is required. However, some brokerages have integrated such services into Forex trading software which sends signals to you by screen “pop-up” messages, or by the other direct methods already mentioned.

FOREX signals are usually only to be had in a restricted quantity of currency pairings. Most frequently, one of the following will be offered: EUR/USD, USD/JPY, GBP/USD, or USD/CHF. However, other such duos may be offered by certain specialty services.

A high level of technical market analysis is generally required for FOREX signal creation. Most services utilize a mix of indicators to recognize primary trends and entrance/exit signifiers. Subscribers are then given the option of exercising or foregoing a trade based on the results; some companies may even give you the ability to place trade orders that can be exercised by an analyst without consultation with you, to give you even more freedom from having to monitor the markets – or even the signals – yourself.

A variety of signals are possible as the results of the analysis of currency charts. A Simple Moving Average (SMA) signals to buy if the price for the specified currency moves higher than the line indicating the average price, or to sell if the price goes below the line.

A Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) study also has a signal line where “buy” is indicated if the price goes above, or “sell” if the price goes below, the line.

Market interest may be found using indicators of volume. Especially near the market low, high volume tends to signal that a new trend is beginning. Conversely, low volume may signal that investors are unsure of the wisdom of purchase at this time. The possibility of market change may be signaled by a variety of different indicators.

The utility of such signals can be reinforced with a mixture of additional indicators from a variety of sources. Such a combination provides insight into market behavior that can be fairly dependable. Of course, nothing is 100% certain – if such signals were absolutely reliable, we’d all be rich. No respectable service will ever guarantee absolute success. However, a particular service’s result history can be a good indicator of whether or not you can rely on their currency trading advice being useful to you in the future.

Subscription services that provide such data typically cost between $50 and $200 per month. You may find that the cost outweighs the benefits, or you might find that your profits make the information worth the price. Such data can never take the place of true knowledge, however; signals are simply a form of guidance. If you lack the basic tools to use the information provided, such a service will probably be useless to you until you can obtain some additional training.

About the Author: Get the latest Forex Signals tips, tools, and techniques at Forex Counselor. Start to trade profitably with our no cost Forex trading report. Get your complimentary copy here http://www.ForexCounselor.com today.

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