Currency Trading Information

Forex Trading - Advantages and Disadvantages


What is Forex Trading?

Forex, or Foreign Exchange, is the simultaneous exchange of one country's currency for that of another. This market of exchange has more daily volume, both buyers and sellers, than any other in the world. Taking place in the major financial institutions across the globe, the forex market is open 24-hours a day.

Currencies are quoted in pairs. The first listed currency is known as the base currency, while the second is called the counter or quote currency. In the wholesale market, currencies are quoted using five significant numbers, with the last placeholder called a point or a pip.

The forex market is one of the most popular markets for speculation due to its enormous size, liquidity, and tendency for currencies to move in strong trends. An enticing aspect of trading currencies is the high degree of leverage available.

Advantages of forex trading

Leverage. Huge leverage is available in Forex trading, often up to 100:1 meaning that large profits can be generated from small margin deposits.

Liquidity. The enormous size and global trading of the forex markets means that the markets in the major currency pairs are very liquid making trade executions almost instant with little slippage.

Ability to go short. Since currency trading always involves buying one currency and selling another, there is no structural bias to the market. This means a trader has equal potential to profit in a rising or falling market.

Trends. Fundamentally, the value of a country's currency is determined by interest rates and the strength of the economy in relation to other countries. Currencies, therefore, have a greater tendency to trend until the fundamentals change.

Disadvantages of forex trading

Leverage. With huge leverage available to forex traders the danger is that positions which carry too much risk for the account size can be taken on, leading to margin calls. Effective money management rules must be adhered to.

Brokers. Retail traders must use a broker rather than dealing directly in the interbank market. The broker will be the counterparty in all transactions and is, effectively, making the market. They can, therefore, widen spreads or even refuse to trade during volatile trading conditions. To avoid dealing with brokers an alternative to forex is to use futures. See online futures trading for more details.

Spreads. As the retail trader must use a broker to trade, they cannot deal at the interbank rates. A broker will generally quote a fixed spread of 3-20 pips depending on the currency pair. The underlying interbank rate might be as little as 1 pip.

Forex is a very large market but for most retail traders dealing with brokers the odds are shifted against them. Online futures trading provides a much more level playing field for most traders who want to take part in forex trading.

Tim Wreford operates Online Futures Trading, a website that provides information and resources for traders. Tim also provides an article detailing the development of a day trading system, the results of which are updated daily on the site.

  


MORE RESOURCES:

Reuters

Stampede for Yen Saps Asian Currency Trading
Wall Street Journal - Oct 9, 2008
Meanwhile, hedging against foreign-exchange risk has become more difficult as options related to currency trading have become more expensive, Mr. Liu said. ...
GLOBAL MARKETS-Selling frenzy persists as confidence crumbles guardian.co.uk
Yen Rises on Speculation Stocks Rout Will Reverse Carry Trades Bloomberg
Dollar gains as global equities keep sinking Forbes
HoweStreet.com - MarketWatch
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ABC News

Iceland's Krona Currency Trading Halts as Kaupthing Taken Over
Bloomberg - Oct 9, 2008
... a currency analyst in Frankfurt at Commerzbank AG, Germany's second-largest lender. The krona plummeted to 350 per euro this week in trading between ...
Shortest. Currency Peg. Ever. Wall Street Journal Blogs
Iceland Nationalizes Third Major Bank, Halts Stock Trading findingDulcinea
Iceland Faces National Bankruptcy CounterCurrents.org
New Straits Times - Irish Times
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Forex Trading Signals Outperform on Explosive Market Volatility ...
Daily FX, NY - Oct 9, 2008
Forex markets continue to see tremendous volatility on persistent turmoil in broader financial markets, and our “Breakout” currency trading signals have ...
Euro/US Dollar Forecast to Decline According to Forex Trading Signals Daily FX
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Growing Fears, High Dollar Demand Engulf FX Market
동아일보, South Korea - Oct 9, 2008
“Unless the market has sufficient foreign currency trading volume to absorb the impact of foreign stock sell-offs, a sharp depreciation cannot be avoided,” ...


Times Online

Iceland, in Financial Collapse, Is Likely to Need IMF Help
New York Times, United States - 16 hours ago
Trading in the Icelandic krona ceased, with foreign banks no longer willing to take the currency — even at what seemed like bargain rates. ...
Isolated Iceland wonders who to turn to for help International Herald Tribune
Why now is the time to visit Iceland Times Online
Biz Briefs The Statesman
Wall Street Journal Blogs - DW Online
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Loonie takes steepest one-day dive ever, trading extremely volatile
The Canadian Press, TORONTO - 16 hours ago
However, the volatile trading in the currency makes it difficult for companies and consumers to adapt to such rapid changes. ...
Loonie pounded again, heading for worst week since '71 CBC.ca
Loonie takes steepest one-day dive ever, trading extremely volatile 660 News
Loonie’s tumble continues TheChronicleHerald.ca
The Associated Press - FXstreet.com The Foreign Exchange Market
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Sify

MCX Stock Exchange begins currency trading
Sify, India - Oct 7, 2008
Mumbai: MCX Stock Exchange (MCX-SX) has recorded a turnover of Rs 287.49 crore with 59952 contracts valued at $1000 traded on the first day of currency ...


Ninemsn

Dollar bounces back
Sydney Morning Herald, Australia - Oct 8, 2008
The local currency was trading at $US0.6698 just before the data was released at 11.30am, but fell to $US0.6684 shortly afterwards. ...
$A opens lower after weak Wall St finish The Age
Dollar falls lower, to US66c NEWS.com.au
Dollar closes down, at US66c The Australian
The Australian - NEWS.com.au
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Reuters

Brazil stocks, currency plunge on global turmoil
Forbes, NY - 19 hours ago
After the intervention, the real was trading at 2.276 per US dollar, weakening 3.2 percent. The bank offered dollars in the spot currency markets three ...
Brazil's currency jumps, stocks fall on US rout Reuters
Trading suspended in Sao Paulo Stock Exchange as prices plunge Monsters and Critics.com
Brazil stocks open sharply down on global losses The Associated Press
guardian.co.uk - Reuters
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Iceland goes bankrupt
BusinessWeek - 8 hours ago
What’s worse, with Iceland sitting outside the major currency trading blocs, there may be no one with the incentive or ability to save it. ...

currency trading - Google News

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