Forex Market Basics

By Frank M. Rivera

Trading on the forex market only became legal for individual investors in the 1990s, when that sort of trade was deregulated. Now, daily forex trades run to three trillion dollars or more, and it's something that lots of investors can get involved in. It's a popular investment conduit, and we're going to examine why.

First of all, the main thing about the forex market is accessibility. Anyone and everyone can trade the forex market at anytime. You don't have to go through a high priced broker to place your trades. You can simply download a trading platform directly to your computer and make whatever trades you want from the comfort of home.

Forex markets happen the world over, not in some fixed location; you're trading online (like the major brokerage houses do). An order gets put in and gets consolidated at the broker's desk with all of their other clients. From there, it goes on to the market, and that means you can run from the start of business on Monday in London to the close of business on Friday in Hong Kong, 24 hours a day, for almost six days a week including the time zone adjustments.

In addition to that, you get to control large sums of money without having to actually have that much money in your account. Some brokers allow you to use 500:1 leverage on your trades. This means that for every dollar of your money you're trading, you are actually trading 500 actual dollars in the markets. Using other people's money is how people can create massive wealth for themselves.

Forex trading can, with the right strategy (and tolerance for risks) can result in a huge gains in a short period of time. This requires playing the daily volatility, and riding sell offs when various exchanges close during the day. It's not something that can be automated, but you can learn to handle it as a day job.

You can literally make a killing in this type of profession if you know what you're doing. Obviously with so much potential for profit, there is also a lot of risk involved. If you're not careful, you can blow out an account pretty quickly. You have to use strict money management and rules in order to succeed in this market.

Forex has a lot of strategies that can be used; the one most Internet marketers are trying to sell is some variant of day trading, promising automatic profits while you sleep through some top secret automated program. If such a program actually existed, there wouldn't be any forex traders left; it's still coming down to judgment calls and making good decisions. Other strategies are position trading - you buy currency and hold it for a long term trend, then sell it. You won't make as much money as quickly, but you're likelier to end up with a profit at the end of a month, and you'll have the freedom to get up and go to the bathroom without feeling like you're losing money.

Forex is a good way to get a high paying job you can do from home. Make no bones about it - it IS a job. One that you have to pay attention to to do well. It is NOT a system where a computer program will make you money while you sleep; if there were any kind of automated way to beat the market, with trillions of dollars at stake, there is no way that the big trading houses wouldn't be using it; anyone who did have such a secret would be using it to make hundreds of millions of dollars per year, not selling it on the internet for $99. - 23196

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Successful Currency Trading Online Takes Understanding

By John Eather

It takes a certain amount of understanding for anyone to be successful when currency trading online. Not to say that only specialized forex traders can undertake this kind of business; that is not true. However anyone who wants to get involved in this industry has to look at it from the point of view of being a "new career", not as just "anyone can do it, no skill required".

There are some traders who have gone gung ho on very little knowledge at all and entered the market. These guys have even sometimes been successful at making a profit, but where the problem lies is in the long terms. Pure luck is not enough to carry any forex trader through in the long term. Most success stories in this industry tell us that a certain structure was adhered to when entering this market. It is safe to assume that this structure should be followed in order to achieve success.

Trading in foreign exchange is a highly specialized field. Anyone who is willing to learn, can learn the necessary skills, and any previous skills training in another career, may or may not be relevant. Entering the forex market is specifically done to make profits and therefore should be entered with caution.

Another very important factor in becoming successful, is they have realized that they can and will make losses. These come just as easily as the wins in this industry. It is therefore vitally important to learn a logical and systematic method of trading. No one who is successful in forex trading just plunges headlong into it without a care in the world. They commit themselves to educating themselves on how to open trading accounts, learning about the trading platform and knowing when to trade and when not to.

Most of the successful traders started off small, generally in mini forex accounts, got as much assistance as they could from mentors who were experienced traders and learned the ropes. You will also find that they focused on only one trading method, meaning just one currency, and followed their trading plan diligently. Not one of the online currency traders who have become successful have ever started out doing this as a living. Capital has been set aside, which was not required for living expenses. This is no overnight success story, and preparation as well as understanding is key to success. - 23196

About the Author:

Before you begin trading forex online, please sign up for John Eather's fantastic ecourse and reports about Currency Trading Online. Get the latest info regarding forex. Go to Online Forex Trading to learn more.

A Quick Look at the Saddle Rock Real Estate Market for 2009

By John Fitzgerald

Saddle Rock real estate and the communities that surround it had seen a huge drop in sales during 2008, which many communities have also endured. During the first quarter of 2009 we have seen some trends that have shown the strength of the Saddle Rock community.

The average price of homes in Saddle Rock for 2009 has been $285,332. The homes that have been sold were on the market for an average of 97 days and the concessions for them is about $2,500.

While this represents a 5% drop in average prices from the second half of 2008, there are several factors that suggest the underlying value of Saddle Rock real estate is continuing to hold up well. It doesn't help that there have been no sales above $600k, and very few above $500k. This drop-off in high-end sales and prices, is consistent with broader market trends in Denver, and a significant factor in the drop in average prices.

You must keep in mind that the averages have been lowered due to the increase of sales below $300k. Because of the $8,000 first home buyer's credit, lower interest rates, first time buyers, and the burning off of short sales, the Denver market has become very similar to Saddle Rock's market. There is an excellent chance that the average price is going to rise again in the summer of 2009 due to the length of time that homes are listed for and the fact that lender owned properties are decreasing.

If you want to find a good Saddle Rock real estate deal, you should expect that the number of bargains will drop throughout the 2009 year. If you are looking for a bargain above the $500k price range they can still be found however lower price ranges will continue to rise unless more economic hard times hit the area. Sellers in the $500k range should not expect a bounce back in their market until the lenders have resumed lending on higher loans and until buyers have better job security.

As the Denver market strengthens during 2009, you can expect Saddle Rock real estate to remain resilient. Seller's who price intelligently will see relatively fast results and prices not dissimilar to previous selling seasons. Distressed sales will lead to some bargains in the Saddle Rock real estate market however there is less risk compared to other markets because of the underlying value. - 23196

About the Author:

John Fitzgerald is a realtor/real estate investor with 15 years experience in Denver, Colorado. Visit his website Saddle Rock Real Estate that is regularly updated and get more information about the Saddle Rock homes area before making any decisions.

Reading Foreign Exchange Quotes

By Bart Icles

The foreign exchange market can overwhelm a lot of people. Having a good grasp of foreign exchange trading can help you a lot in starting your foreign exchange venture. After having substantial knowledge of the basics of the foreign exchange market, you can start working on learning how to buy and sell currencies.

Learning how to read foreign exchange quotes in spot markets is a basic step in foreign exchange trading. A currency is quoted in relation to another currency, wherein the value of one currency is shown through the value of another. A foreign exchange quote typically looks like this: USD/EUR = 0.7076. This reads that one US dollar is equivalent to 0.7076 Euros. The currency on the left side of the slash is the base currency and the one on the right is the quote or counter currency. When taken together, this is what foreign exchange market players refer to as a currency pair.

Normally, currencies are traded in the foreign exchange market with the US dollar as the base currency. When a quote does not indicate the US dollar as one of its components, it is called a cross currency. An example of a cross currency pair is EUR/JPY, wherein the quote will indicate how much Japanese yen does one Euro cost. Cross currencies can open new opportunities in the foreign exchange market. However, you should take note that cross currencies are not as actively traded than pairs that include the US dollar.

Currencies can be quoted in two ways: directly and indirectly. Direct currency quotes are simply currency pairs wherein the domestic currency is the base currency. In contrast, indirect currency quotes are those where the domestic currency is the quoted or counter currency. For example, you are looking at the Euro as the domestic currency and the US dollar as the foreign currency. The direct currency quote for this pair should read EUR/USD, and its indirect currency quote is USD/EUR.

You should also be familiar with the bidding and asking prices in the foreign exchange market. Currency pairs are traded with bid and ask prices, wherein the bid price is they buying price and the ask price is the selling price in relation to the base currency. In buying a currency pair, the ask price is the amount of quoted currency that need to be paid to buy one unit of the base currency. The bid price on the other hand is the amount of quoted currency that can be bought with one unit of the base currency.

Two other terms that you also need to be familiar with are spreads and pips. Spreads refer to the difference between the bid price and the ask price. A pip is the smallest movement that a currency price can make. In a currency pair that reads USD/EUR = 0.7076/03, the spread is 0.0003 or 3 pips. A change of three pips would result to 0.7079 from 0.7076. - 23196

About the Author:

Your forex training software starts with a desire to learn and a drive to become a great trader. Using the best forex training takes dedication and a good teacher. But once you learn how to trade and do so successfully your life will change and you have options and financial resources you never had before.

Forex Accounts Explained

By Ahmad Hassam

Good money management is the essential key that many currency traders miss. Many traders ignore adapting good money management rules at their own peril. As a consequence, they get their account blown in a few weeks of trading. You need to become a disciplined trader. Trading discipline means developing a trading system based on money management rules that limit your risk and avoid making trading decisions based on emotions. In the end, every trader has to develop his/her own insights and systems.

You need to have sufficient capital in your account if you want to make meaningful profits. One of the worst blunders that currency traders can make is to trade without sufficient capital. Low capital increases your chances of getting blown out too soon. This does not mean that you should have a lot of money before you start trading. It only means that you need to have enough capital in your account in order take advantage of the movements in the currency markets.

A trader with limited capital is always a worried traders always looking to minimize losses beyond the point of realistic trading. The minimum amount required to open a standard account with most forex brokers is $2000. You can start with $2000 but it is recommended by most of the professional traders that you should start with $5000-$10,000 to get good results.

A regular account or a standard account often also called 100k account lets you trade a $100,000 standard lot with a $1000 deposit. This $1000 is kept as the margin by the broker. This is a 1% margin.

When you open an account with the broker, you must determine what the default margin is. You can change the account margin to whatever you feel comfortable with. If you start with a 2% margin, then it will cost you $2000 to trade one standard lot.

Many brokers try to offer huge leverage to the new trades in order to entice them. You can get a leverage of 200% in most of the standard accounts. Using 200% leverage means trading $200,000 with a $1000 deposit. With this small deposit you are controlling a huge amount. Be careful! Dont use more than 4% leverage while trading in the beginning. Too much leverage is dangerous.

Its not that leverage is bad. It is a double edged sword that cuts both ways. It increases your profit but at the same time wipes you out in case of a slight miscalculation on your part. Its just that you need to understand and learn how to use it. You can only do so with practice. With practice and more experience, you can increase the level of leverage in your trading.

Mini accounts are great for newbies. You can open a mini account with a deposit of only $300. The mini account was developed to accommodate investors who were looking for diversification out of their stocks portfolios. This small dollar requirement allows many investors to participate in the forex markets who were previously unable to do so. Recently micro accounts have also been introduced.

One lot on a mini account is equal to $10,000. This is known as a mini lot. As compared to a standard account, on a mini account you have a different lot size. You only need $50 to trade a mini lot of $10,000. This means a leverage of 200%. As compared to the standard account, pips size on a mini account is also small. A pip size on the mini account is equal to $1. 1 pip is equal to $10 on a standard lot.

If you lose 100 pips on a mini account, it means losing only $100 as compared to losing $1000 on a standard lot. You can say a mini account reduces your risk by 10%. But it also reduces the amount of profit that you can make. Start with at least $500 on a mini account. A mini account is a great way for beginners to practice forex trading. Once you develop the feel of how the currency markets work, you will have to open a standard account. It is on the standard account that you can make good money. - 23196

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam is a Harvard University Graduate. He is interested in day trading and swing trading stocks and currencies. Discover A Revolutionary New Forex Robot. Develop your own Forex Trading System.