Forex articles.

4/19/2008

Forex คืออะไร?

Forex คืออะไร?

Forex ย่อมาจาก Foreign Exchange บางครั้งเรียกย่อว่า FX คือ อัตราแลกเปลี่ยนเงินตรา
Forex Market หรือ ตลาด Forex เป็นตลาดการเงินที่ใหญ่ที่สุดในโลก ด้วยมูลค่าการซื้อขายมากกว่า US$ 2 trillion (2 ล้านล้านดอลลาร์) ต่อวัน เป็นตลาดการเงิน ที่มีสภาพคล่องสูงมาก ตลาดเปิดทำการซื้อขาย 24 ชั่วโมง ตลอดวันทำการ โดยหยุดการซื้อขาย แค่วัน เสาร์-อาทิตย์เท่านั้น
การซื้อขายใน ตลาด Forex เป็นการซื้อขายค่าเงิน โดยซื้อเงินสกุลหนึ่ง ในขณะเดียวกัน ก็ขายเงินอีกสกุลหนึ่งออกไป หรือเป็นการจับคู่แลกเปลี่ยน ซื้อขายค่าสกุลเงินนั่นเอง ตัวอย่างเช่น เงินสกุลยูโร/ดอลลาร์สหรัฐฯ (EUR/USD) หรือ เงินสกุลดอลลาร์สหรัฐ/เยนญี่ปุ่น (USD/JPY) เป็นต้น

ค่าเงินสกุลต่างๆ ที่มีการแลกเปลี่ยนซื้อขายในตลาด Forex ที่สำคัญ มีดังนี้
การที่เราจะซื้อขายใน ตลาด Forex จะต้องเปิดบัญชีกับ Forex Broker เป็นโบรกเกอร์ทางอินเตอร์เน็ต เราสามารถเทรดออนไลน์ได้ ตลอด 24 ชั่วโมง ตั้งแต่เช้าวันจันทร์ ถึง คืนวันศุกร์ สำหรับมือใหม่ ยังไม่เคยเทรดเลย แนะนำลองเปิดบัญชีของ Marketiva ดูครับ มีเงินปลอมให้เล่น $20000 (เบิกเป็นเงินจริงไม่ได้ เอาไว้ฝึกเทรด) และมีเงินจริงให้ฟรีอีก $5 ดอลลาร์ หรือ โบรกเกอร์ที่แนะนำ คลิกที่นี่

ตารางเวลาเปิด-ปิดตลาด ของแต่ละโซน (ค่าเงิน)

ตลาดของแต่ละโซนจะเปิด-ปิด คาบเกี่ยวกันตลอดทั้งวัน ทำให้เราสามารถเทรดได้ 24 ช.ม. แต่ช่วงที่เหมาะแก่การเทรดคือช่วง ตลาดยูโร (EUR) เปิด ถึง หลังตลาดอเมริกา (USD) เปิด 4-5 ชม. คือแถบสีแดงด้านบน ประมาณเวลา 13.00 - 24.00 ตามเวลาไทย ปกติจะเป็นช่วงที่ตลาดผันผวน ราคามีการเปลี่ยนแปลงมากกว่าช่วงอื่น

การบริหารเงินจาก เงินฟรี $5 ให้ได้ $20480 ใน 1 ปี

บรรทัดที่ 4 จากรูปด้านบนที่ เป็น % พื้นสีม่วงอ่อน คือแผนการเทรด ว่าเราจะเทรดครั้งละกี่ % ของเงินทุน บรรทัดที่ 3 pip/day คือเป้าหมายจำนวนจุดที่เราต้องทำใน 1 วัน และ บรรทัดที่ 2 pip/month คือจำนวนจุดที่เราต้องทำใน 1 เดือน ถ้าทำตามแผนได้ทุกวันในเดือนที่ 13 เราจะได้ ยอด $20480
ตัวอย่าง ถ้าเราใช้แผนการลงทุนแบบ 20% (แถบสีเขียว) ในเดือนแรก เราจะลงทุนวันละ 1$ หากเราทำได้วันละ 25 จุดทุกวัน พอครบ 1 เดือน ได้ 500 จุด เราจะได้กำไร 100% ได้เงินทุนเพิ่มเป็น $10 พอเดือนที่ 2 ก็ลงเพิ่มเป็น ครั้งละ $2 ทำตามตารางแบบนี้ไปเรื่อยๆ เพิ่มขึ้น 100% หรือ 2 เท่าในทุกเดือน จนครบทุกเดือน ก็จะได้ยอดเงินตามเป้าหมาย
หากเราเลือก แผนลงทุนที่ใช้เทรดต่อครั้งด้วย % ลดลง เราก็ต้องทำ จุด ให้ได้มากขึ้นต่อวัน และในทางกลับกัน หากลงทุนด้วย % เพิ่มขึ้น เราก็ทำกำไรด้วย จุด ที่น้อยลง
อันนี้เป็นตัวอย่างแบบแผนการลงทุน อาจจะเห็นว่าง่ายๆ แต่จริงๆ เวลาเทรดจะไม่ง่ายแบบในตารางนี้นะครับ เราจะต้องฝึกฝน ศึกษาหาความรู้ เพื่อให้เราชำนาญ เทรดให้ได้ตามเป้าหมายที่กำหนด ซึ่งไม่ใช่เรื่องง่ายเลย แนะนำให้ลองฝึกจากเงินปลอมก่อนให้เข้าใจ จึงเริ่มเทรดด้วยเงินจริง

การลงทุนคือความเสี่ยง ยิ่งผลตอบแทนเยอะความเสี่ยง ก็ยิ่งเยอะตามไปด้วย จึงควรศึกษาให้เข้าใจก่อน การลงทุนครับ

1. ศึกษากราฟ รูปแบบราคา อินดิเคเตอร์ เพื่อหาแนวโน้มของราคา และสัญญาณในการเข้าเทรด การหาจังหวะปิดเพื่อทำกำไร เหล่านี้สามารถหาศึกษา ได้ตามเว็บต่างๆ ตามลิงค์ด้านขวามือครับ
2. ศึกษาหลักการบริหารเงินในบัญชี และบริหารความเสี่ยง
3. ขยันศึกษาหาความรู้เพิ่มเติมเสมอครับ

What is FOREX?

What is FOREX?

FOREX (FOReign EXchange market) is an international foreign exchange market, where money is sold and bought freely. In its present condition FOREX was launched in the 1970s, when free exchange rates were introduced, and only the participants of the market determine the price of one currency against the other proceeding from supply and demand.

As far as the freedom from any external control and free competition are concerned, FOREX is a perfect market. It is also the biggest liquid financial market. According to various assessments, money masses in the market constitute from 1 to 1.5 trillion US dollars a day. (It is impossible to determine an absolutely exact number because trading is not centralized on an exchange.) Transactions are conducted all over the world via telecommunications 24 hours a day from 00:00 GMT on Monday to 10:00 pm GMT on Friday. Practically in every time zone (that is, in Frankfurt-on-Main, London, New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong, etc.) there are dealers who will quote currencies.

FOREX is a more objective market, because if some of its participants would like to change prices, for some manipulative purpose, they would have to operate with tens of billions dollars. That is why any influence by a single participants in the market is practically out of the question. The superior liquidity allows the traders to open and/or close positions within a few seconds. The time of keeping a position is arbitrary and has no limits: from several seconds to many years. It depends only on your trading strategies. Although the daily fluctuations of currencies are rather insignificant, you may use the credit lines, that are accessible even to currency speculators with small capitals ($ 1,000 - 5,000), where the profit may be impressive. (You can learn more about it in the section: The main principles of trading.)

The idea of marginal trading stems from the fact that in FOREX speculative interests can be satisfied without a real money supply. This decreases overhead expenses for transferring money and gives an opportunity to open positions with a small account in US dollars, buying and selling a lot of other currencies. That is, on can conduct transactions very quickly, getting a big profit, when the exchange rates go up or down. Many speculative transactions in the international financial markets are made on the principles of marginal trading.

Margin trading is trading with a borrowed capital. Marginal trading in an exchange market uses lots. 1 lot equals approximately $100,000, but to open it it is necessary to have only from 0.5% to 4% of the sum.

For example, you have analyzed the situation in the market and come to the conclusion that the pound will go up against the dollar. You open 1 lot for buying the pound (GBP) with the margin 1% (1:1000 leverage) at the price of 1.49889 and wait for the exchange rate to go up. Some time later your expectations become true. You close the position at 1.5050 and earn 61 pips (about $ 405). For the calculation of 1 pip click here.

Everyday fluctuations of currencies constitute about 100 to 150 pips, giving FX traders an opportunity to make money on these changes.

In FOREX, it's not obligatory to buy some currency first in order to sell it later. It's possible to open positions for buying and selling any currency without actually having it. Usually Internet-brokers establish the minimum deposit such as $ 2000, for working in the FOREX market, and grant a leverage of 1:100. That is, opening the position at $100,000, a trader invests $1,000 and receives $99.000 as a credit. The major currencies traded in FOREX, are Euro (EUR), Japanese yen (JPY), British Pound (GBP), and Swiss Franc (CHF). All of them are traded against the US dollar (USD).

In order to assess the situation in the market a trader has to be able to use fundamental and/or technical analysis, as well as to make decisions in the constantly changing current of information about political and economic character. Most small and medium players in financial markets use technical analysis. Technical analysis presupposes that all the information about the market and its further fluctuations is contained in the price chain. Any factor, that has some influence on the price, be it economic, political or psychological, has already been considered by the market and included in the price. The initial data for a technical analysis are prices: the highest and the lowest prices, the price of opening and closing within a certain period of time, and the volume of transactions.

A technical analysis is founded on three suppositions:

  • Movement of the market considers everything;
  • Movement of prices is purposeful;
  • History repeats itself.

That is, technical analysis is a statistical and mathematical analysis of previous quotes and a prognosis of coming prices.

A number of technical indicators have been installed into the PRO-CHARTS trading system. Analyzing the indicators one can come to the conclusion about further movements of the quoted currencies. For a more detailed description of the indicators, analyzing price charts and volumes of trading, click here.

Fundamental analysis is an analysis of current situations in the country of the currency, such as its economy, political events, and rumors. The country's economy depends on the rate of inflation and unemployment, on the interest rate of its Central Bank, and on tax policy. Political stability also influences the exchange rate. Policy of the Central Bank has a special role, as concentrated interventions or refusal from them greatly influence the exchange rate.

At the same time one should not consider fundamental analysis just as an analysis of the economic situation in the country itself. A far bigger role in the FOREX market belongs to the expectations of the market participants and their assessment of these expectations. Various prognoses and bulletins, issued by the participants, have a strong influence on the expectations. Very often an effect of the so-called self-filfilling prophecy occurs when market players raise or lower the exchange rates according to the prognosis. But a deep and thorough fundamental analysis is available only for big banks with a staff of professional analysts and constant access to a wide field of information.

In spite of these different approaches, both forms of analyses complement one another. Traders who act on the basis of a fundamental analysis, have to consider some technical characteristics of the market (the main rates of support, such as resistance and resale), and supporters of the technical approach to the market must track the main news (interest rates, important political events).


The main merits of the FOREX market are:

  • The biggest number of participants and the largest volumes of transactions;
  • Superior liquidity and speed of the market: transactions are conducted within a few seconds according to online quotes;
  • The market works 24 hours a day, every working days;
  • A trader can open a position for any period of time he wants;
  • No fees, except for the difference between buying and selling prices;
  • An opportunity to get a bigger profit that the invested sum;
  • Qualified work in the FOREX market can become your main professional activity;
  • You can make deals any time you like.

The Main Principles of Trading

In contrast to exchange transactions with real supply or real currency the participants of FOREX use trading with a margin deposit; i.e. marginal or leverage trading. In marginal trading, each transaction has two obligatory stages (they can be divided by period of time, which can be as long as you like): buying (selling) of currency at one price, and then selling (buying) it at another (or at the same) price. The first transaction is called opening the position, the second one, closing the position.

Opening a position, a trader furnishes a deposit sum from 0.5 to 4 per cent of the credit line, granted for the transaction. So, in order to buy or sell 100,000 US dollars for Japanese yens, you will not need the whole sum, but only from 500 to 2000 US dollars depending on your policy of controlling risks. When the position is closed, the deposit sum returns, and calculation of profits or losses is done. All the profit or losses caused by the change of currency rates is credited on your account.

Let's take a concrete example of getting a profit from the changing the rate of the Euro, from 0,9162 to 0,9292. If you have anticipated this change by using technical or fundamental analysis, you can buy the Euro cheaper for dollars, and then sell it back at a higher price. For example, if you choose leverage 1:100, then 99,000 dollars of the credit line, granted by the Internet broker, is added to 1000 dollars, and you buy the Euro at the price of 0.9162. As a result of this transaction we get: $ 100,000 / 0.9162 = Euro 109.146, 47.

When the rate changes (an average daily change of Euro is about 70 to 100 pips), you close the position and sell the Euro for dollars, but at the rate of 0.9292. You get 109,146. 47*0.9292 =101,418.89 dollars. Your profit is $ 1,418.89. The same transaction with leverage 1:200 would give you $2, 837.78 of profit, with leverage 1:50 the profit would be 709.45, with leverage 1:25 - 354.72.

We'd like to remind you that the higher the credit leverage, the higher is your profit if the fluctuation of the currency rate was anticipated correctly. However, if your anticipation was wrong, your losses will be bigger.

One cannot feel confident in the FOREX market without a thorough knowledge of the terms used there.

Foreign exchange quotes are a relation between currencies.

  • USDCHF - the cost of $1 in Swiss Francs.
  • USDJPY - the cost of $1 in Japanese yens.
  • EURUSD - the cost of Euro 1 in US dollars.
  • GBPUSD - the cost of 1 GBP in US dollars.

That is, quotes are expressed in the units of the second currency for a unit of the first one. For example, quote USDJPY 108,91 shows that $1 costs 108,91 Japanese yens. Quote EURUSD 0.9561 shows that 1 Euro costs 0.9561 US dollars.

The last figure in the quote is called "pip". The cost of the pip is different for every currency, and depends on the leverage and current quote.

The formula for calculating 1 pip is:

100,000/current quote without commas * K


where К=1 at leverage 1:100,
К=2 at leverage 1:200,
К=0,5 at leverage 1:50,
K=0,25 at leverage 1:25.

Examples:

USDJPY = 108.91 leverage 1:100
100.000 / 10891 х 1 = 9,18 USD

EURUSD = 0.9561 leverage1:200
100.000 / 9561 х 2 =20,92 USD

GBPUSD and EURUSD are direct quotes, i.e. when the chart goes up, GBP and EUR become more expensive, and when it goes down, the currencies become cheaper. USDCHF and USDJPY are backward quotes, and when the chart grows, prices on CHF and JPY fall, and when the chart goes down, the prices grow.

On direct quotes you buy according to ASK and sell according to BID. With backward quotes, you buy according to BID and sell according to ASK .

Trading in the FOREX market is realized in lots. When you open a position, you can choose the number of lots you want from 1 to 10. One lot equals $ 100,000. The deposit sum for one lot will vary from $500 to $2000, depending on the credit leverage you choose. Leverage is a financial mechanism that allows crediting speculative transactions with a small deposit. We give you an opportunity to choose a credit leverage in the range of 1:200 to 1:25.

In the course of trading you can fix your profit or cut off your losses according to the commands LIMIT and STOP that have been set up.

LIMIT is set up higher than the current meaning of the price.
STOP is set up lower than the current meaning of the price.

With these commands the positions is closed without additional orders when the price reaches the agreed level.

In the process of trading you can create pending positions, that will be activated when the price reaches the agreed level (open price). When creating and closing orders, a temporary delay occurs, and lasts for about 30 to 40 seconds. When you make an inquiry, you are given a real market price, which is the current price at the moment of proposal, not at the moment of inquiry.

The process of trading is described in detail in section Description of the Trade Terminal.

The main terms that characterize the account:

  • Deal, realization of 2 trade transactions, when currency is bought (sold), and then the reverse conversion is realized.
  • Balance, the sum on the account of a client after the last transaction is conducted.
  • Floating Profit, the current profit on open positions.
  • Floating storage, fee for postponement of an opened position over midnight GMT.
  • Equity = Balance + Floating + Floating storage.
  • Margin requirement, a necessary deposit sum calculated according to the formula
  • 100,000 / K + 100,000 / K,
  • where K = leverage, and the number of items equals the number of open positions.
  • Percentage, index of an account.
  • Percentage = Equity / Margin Requirement. At Percentage lower than 50 % it's impossible to open new positions.
  • Margin call, condition of an account when all opened positions are closed by the Internet broker according to current quotes. It occurs at a Percentage lower than 10%.

Please note that contrary to the majority of other companies, in PRO-FOREX.com price levels of client's orders may differ from the current price only by 5 pips. However, very rarely are orders executed worse than requests, because of the high market volatility.

Foreign Exchange Markets

Participants of a foreign exchange market

The main participants of a foreign exchange market are:

  • Commercial banks
  • Exchange markets
  • Central banks
  • Firms that conduct foreign trade transactions
  • Investment funds
  • Broker companies
  • Private persons

Commercial banks conduct the main volume of exchange transactions. Other participants of the market have their accounts at the banks, conducting necessary conversion transactions. Banks accumulate (through transactions with the clients) the combined needs of the market in exchange conversions as well as in calling and distributing money, breaking with it into new banks. Besides satisfying clients' requests, banks can operate independently, using their own assets. In the end, a foreign exchange market is a market of interbank dealings, and when speaking about the exchange rates movement, one should bear in mind the existence of an interbank foreign exchange market. In international foreign exchange markets, international banks with the daily volume of transactions of billions dollars have the biggest influence. These are Barclays Bank, Citibank, Chase Manhatten Bank, Deutsche Bank, Swiss Bank Corporation, Union Bank of Switzerland, etc.

Exchange markets Contrary to stock markets and markets for terminal exchange dealings, exchange markets do not work in a definite building and they do not have definite business hours. Thanks to the development of telecommunications most of the leading financial institutions of the world use services of exchange markets directly and via mediators 24 hours a day. The biggest international exchange markets are the London, New York and Tokyo exchange markets. In some countries with transitional economies there are exchange markets for currency exchange by juristic persons and for forming a market exchange rate. The state usually regulates the exchange rate in an active manner, using the compactness of the exchange market.

Central banks control currency reserves, realize interventions that influence the exchange rate, and regulate the interest investment rate in the national currency. The central bank of the United States, the US Federal Reserve Bank, or "FED", has the greatest influence in the international exchange markets. It is followed by the central banks of Germany, (the Deutsche Bundesbank or BUBA) and of Great Britain (the Bank of England, nicknamed the "Old Lady").

Firms that conduct foreign trade transactions. Companies participating in international trade have a stable demand for foreign currency (importers) and supply (exporters). As a rule, these organizations do not have direct access to exchange markets, and they conduct their conversion and deposit transactions via commercial banks.

Investment funds. These companies, represented by various international investment, pension,and mutual funds, insurance companies, and trusts, realize the policy of diversified management of portfolio of assets by placing there money in securities of the governments and corporations of different countries. The world-know fund, Quantum, is owned by George Soros, and it executes successful exchange speculations. Big international corporations as Xerox, Nestle, General Motors a.o. that make foreign industrial investments (creating branches, joint ventures etc.), also are firms of this kind.

Broker companies bring together a buyer and a seller of foreign currency and conduct a conversion dealing between them. Broker companies take a broker's fee. As a rule, in the FOREX market there is no fee as a per cent from the sum of a transaction, or as a sum agreed in advance. Usually the dealers of broker companies quote currency with a spread, that includes their fee. A broker company, having the information about the asked rates, is a place where the real exchange rate is formed according to closed deals. Commersial banks get their information about the current exchange rate from broker companies. The biggest international broker companies are Lasser Marshall, Harlow Butler, Tullett and Tokio, Coutts, and Tradition.

Private persons. Natural persons realize a wide range of non-commercial transactions in the sphere of foreign tourism, transfers of salaries, pensions, royalties, buying and selling foreign currency. This is also the biggest group that realizes speculative exchange transactions.



The working hours of the markets

Exchange markets work all the time. Their work in the calendar twenty-four-hour period is started in the Far East, in New Zealand (Wellington), passing the time zones in Sydney, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Moscow, Frankfurt-on-Main, London, then finishing the day in New York and Los Angeles. The count of time zones begins from the zero meridian in Greenwich near London, and the time itself is called Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). Depending on the season (summer or winter), the time in different financial centers of the globe will differ from the GMT.

The working day of exchange brokers of Western commercial banks starts, as a rule, at 7:30 am by local time. At 8:00 am the dealers are already closing deals. The morning hours are usually devoted to short analyses of events on the international exchange markets at the moment. The dealers use economic and technical analyses of the situation in the market, read analytical articles in newspapers, then exchange points of view and the latest rumors with each other and with dealers from other commercial banks. On the basis of various data, a picture of possible behavior of the exchange rate on the coming day is put together, with variants of all sorts of possible events.

By 8:00 am the market, consisting of individual dealers, will have worked out the tactics of its behavior, and it enters the operations of the international exchange market, giving a new and powerful impulse to the movement of the exchange rate. Various territorial markets can be given the following characteristics of an average typical activity during a 24 hour day.

Far East. Here the most active deals in the market are conversion transactions with the dollar to the Japanese yen, the dollar to Euro, Euro to yen, and the dollar to the Australian dollar. Very often fluctuations of exchange rates at that time are insignificant, but there are days when currencies, especially the dollar against the yen, make breath-taking flights. Especially so when the central bank of Japan makes an intervention. In Moscow its night and morning at that time, so till noon one can work with Tokyo, till mid-day with Singapore.

Western Europe. At 10:00 am Moscow time the market in the European financial centers of Zurich, Frankfurt-on-Main, Paris, Luxembourg are open. However, the really powerful movement of the exchange rate against the main currencies starts after 11:00 am Moscow time, when the London market is opened. This continues, as a rule, for 2 to 3 hours, after that the dealers of the European banks go to have lunch, and the activity of the market falls down a bit.

North America. The situation livens up with the opening of the New York market at 4:00 pm Moscow time, when dealers of American banks start working, and when European dealers come back from their lunch. Powers of European and American banks are about equal, that is why fluctuations of the rate do not go out of the limits of usual European fluctuations. Nevertheless, exchange dealers look forward to the opening of the New York market in order to receive fresh data about a possible movement of the rate (the more so if the European market has been sluggish). But when the European market is closed about 7p m or 8pm Moscow time, aggressive American banks, left alone on the "thin" market, are able to cause a sharp change of the exchange rate of the dollar against other currencies.



What is a FX speculator?

In modern conditions practically all financial transactions in the market are speculative by their nature, and there's nothing abnormal or criminal in it. One of the most vivid indices of markets' globalization is their daily volume of exchange transactions. Only in 10 major financial centers it increased from 206 billion dollars in 1986 to 967 billion dollars in 1992. According to the IMF, on the whole the volume is over 1 trillion dollars a day, and on some days it reaches 3 trillions. It is enough to say that the volume of gold and foreign exchange reserves of all developed countries was only 555.2 billion dollars in 1992, which is two times less than a daily volume of market transactions. According to some calculations, the volume of exchange transactions is 40 times bigger that the daily volume of foreign trade transactions. Therefore, most of the deals are caused not by a commercial necessity, but by financial reasons. And a financial transaction is always caused by the fact that money is looking for some profitable usage.

The international exchange system functioning in the world at the moment develops among people dealing with exchange and financial transactions: the so-called speculative psychology. In the world where exchange rates fluctuate for some per cent every week, where currencies, that are considered to be stable can lose 20 to 30 per cent of their cost during a few months, it's absolutely clear that the manager of a fund, trying to compensate for inevitable losses, has to use speculative operations. For example, a reasonable owner of dollars has to get rid of them very quickly and exchange them for Euro every time the expected fall of the dollar against Euro surpasses the difference between the profit from American notes and the profit from the respective German notes. For instance, if in the coming months the dollar is expected to fall against the Euro by 6%, and the profit from American notes is 6 per cent bigger than the profit from German notes, a speculator will probably decide to keep dollars. If the gap in the interest rates is less than the expected fall of the rate, the "running away from the dollar" begins.

Who are these speculators? An analysis shows that the main speculators acting in the market are institutional investors. Among them one can single out, first of all, official state institutions, and, secondly, private financial and other institutions. Thus according to the report of the "Group of Ten", state investors in Europe and Japan keep about 20 per cent of their assets in the form of foreign securities (in the USA only 7.5 per cent). However, the main feature of the 1980s was the growing international activity of private financial institutions: pension funds, insurance companies, and mutual funds. The Globalization of international financial markets is an objective process, reflecting the growing degree of economic relations in the world. It promotes a more effective distribution of financial resources.



Major world exchange markets:

AMEX - American Stock Exchange
BOVESPA - Sao Paulo Stock Exchange
CBOT - Chicago Board of Trade
CHX - Chicago Stock Exchange
CME - Chicago Mercantile Exchange
Commodities on the Web - List of the commodities
LIFFE - London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange
London Stock Exchange -London Stock Exchange
Nasdaq
NYMEX - New York Mercantile Exchange
NYSE - New York Stock Exchange
SBF - la Bourse de Paris
SES - Singapore Exchange
SET - Stock Exchange of Thailand
TSE - Tokyo Stock Exchange
TSE - Toronto Stock Exchange
LSEX - London Stock Exchange
CBOE - Chicago Board Options Exchange CBOE
PHLX - Philadelphia Stock Exchange

Other useful resourses

It's only natural that, for professional work as an FX trader, a mere wish alone and technical opportunity are not enough. A person may be very gifted, but first he should learn a craft with all its subtleties and peculiarities. It's also clear that our web-site can neither replace a pile of manuals nor present a huge amount of articles, online textbooks and other material, supplied by the Web.

Of course, we do have some auxiliary materials: advice, FAQ, but still it is not enough if you are a newcomer in the FOREX market. That is why we present here a rather extensive list of references supplied other recourses available for reading and copying by the user of the Internet. If you can offer an interesting reference or an article, we'd be pleased to place it in this section.



ANALYSIS:

  • Accurate Forex Trading Signals - Forex Trading Signals/Alerts for Swing Traders.
  • Foreign Currency Exchange - Make your international payments with North America’s leading foreign exchange services provider including funds transfer, forward contracts, and currency risk management.
  • AceTrader - trade signals on the majors, updated six times/day. Trade signals with stops and profit objectives, plus in depth technical analysis and wave analysis.
  • K.B. Advisory Ltd - Daily FX forecasts and trade signals for professional FX traders.
  • Elliott Wave Analysis by A. Bezrodny - technical analysis using Elliott wave analysis for yen, swiss, and euro.
  • BBSP - technical analysis, commentary and trade signals for currencies and other sectors.
  • Dukascopy Analysis - advanced proprietary TA for all markets, emphasis on fx using quantum mechanics.
  • Forex Market Outlook - elliott wave analysis.
  • Penny Stocks Guide - Get important information about penny stocks that will help with your investment choices.
  • Currency Trading USA - Trade currencies online and get free training when you open a forex account. Sign up for a 30-day free trial of our online trading system today. Great for swing trading and day trading.
  • Forex Day Trading Online - Get free training on our award-winning, online currency trading system. Use our platform to learn how to day trade free for 30 days. Trading currencies requires a lot less money than trading stocks. See how well you do trading the forex market in 30 days.
  • Stock Market Charts - Get stock market quotes, live charts, news and other financial information at The Financials.
  • Go Forex - A one-stop forex trading shop. Includes a wide range of information and resources about foreign exchange trading.
  • The Official Forex Training Site - Free information about the forexmarket, forex news, etc.



FINANCIAL MAGAZINES:



FINANCIAL SOFTWARE:

  • TradeStation by Omega Research - Imagine historically testing any idea you have for buying and selling, and revealing the results in seconds. Imagine if you could pinpoint the ones that could have worked (and those that wouldn't have) before you risk one penny on a trade. Now imagine being able to automate the real-time monitoring and execution of any strategy you ultimately select. In effect, to harness the power of your PC to identify and react to market opportunities (however your strategy defines them) more quickly and easily than you ever thought possible.
  • MetaStock by Equis International - The unparalleled market technical analysis software! Analyze market data in real time. Plan your own strategy to make money, regardless of upward or downward trending markets. Technical analysis has never been easier! MetaStock's incredibly intuitive drag-and-drop charting tools allow you to spend your time charting, without any confusing coding or programming. Powerful back-testing functions, over 100 preset indicators and easy formula customization give you unmatched control of your market trading strategy.

What is FOREX?

What is FOREX?

FOREX(FOReign EXchange market) is an international foreign exchange market, where money is sold and bought freely. In its present condition FOREX was launched in the 1970s, when free exchange rates were introduced, and only the participants of the market determine the price of one currency against the other proceeding from supply and demand.

As far as the freedom from any external control and free competition are concerned, FOREX is a perfect market. It is also the biggest liquid financial market. According to various assessments, money masses in the market constitute from 1 to 1.5 trillion US dollars a day. (It is impossible to determine an absolutely exact number because trading is not centralized on an exchange.) Transactions are conducted all over the world via telecommunications 24 hours a day from 00:00 GMT on Monday to 10:00 pm GMT on Friday. Practically in every time zone (that is, in Frankfurt-on-Main, London, New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong, etc.) there are dealers who will quote currencies.

FOREXis a more objective market, because if some of its participants would like to change prices, for some manipulative purpose, they would have to operate with tens of billions dollars. That is why any influence by a single participants in the market is practically out of the question. The superior liquidity allows the traders to open and/or close positions within a few seconds. The time of keeping a position is arbitrary and has no limits: from several seconds to many years. It depends only on your trading strategies. Although the daily fluctuations of currencies are rather insignificant, you may use the credit lines, that are accessible even to currency speculators with small capitals ($ 1,000 - 5,000), where the profit may be impressive. (You can learn more about it in the section:

The idea of marginal trading stems from the fact that in FOREX speculative interests can be satisfied without a real money supply. This decreases overhead expenses for transferring money and gives an opportunity to open positions with a small account in US dollars, buying and selling a lot of other currencies. That is, on can conduct transactions very quickly, getting a big profit, when the exchange rates go up or down. Many speculative transactions in the international financial markets are made on the principles of marginal trading.

Margin tradingis trading with a borrowed capital. Marginal trading in an exchange market uses lots. 1 lot equals approximately $100,000, but to open it it is necessary to have only from 0.5% to 4% of the sum.

For example, you have analyzed the situation in the market and come to the conclusion that the pound will go up against the dollar. You open 1 lot for buying the pound (GBP) with the margin 1% (1:1000 leverage) at the price of 1.49889 and wait for the exchange rate to go up. Some time later your expectations become true. You close the position at 1.5050 and earn 61 pips (about $ 405). For the calculation of 1 pip click

Everyday fluctuations of currencies constitute about 100 to 150 pips, giving FX traders an opportunity to make money on these changes.

In FOREX, it's not obligatory to buy some currency first in order to sell it later. It's possible to open positions for buying and selling any currency without actually having it. Usually Internet-brokers establish the minimum deposit such as $ 2000, for working in the FOREX market, and grant a leverage of 1:100. That is, opening the position at $100,000, a trader invests $1,000 and receives $99.000 as a credit. The major currencies traded in FOREX, are Euro (EUR), Japanese yen (JPY), British Pound (GBP), and Swiss Franc (CHF). All of them are traded against the US dollar (USD).

In order to assess the situation in the market a trader has to be able to usefundamental and/or technical analysis, as well as to make decisions in the constantly changing current of information about political and economic character. Most small and medium players in financial markets usetechnical analysis. Technical analysis presupposes that all the information about the market and its further fluctuations is contained in the price chain. Any factor, that has some influence on the price, be it economic, political or psychological, has already been considered by the market and included in the price. The initial data for a technical analysis are prices: the highest and the lowest prices, the price of opening and closing within a certain period of time, and the volume of transactions.

Atechnical analysis is founded on three suppositions:

  • Movement of the market considers everything;
  • Movement of prices is purposeful;
  • History repeats itself.

That is, technical analysis is a statistical and mathematical analysis of previous quotes and a prognosis of coming prices.

Anumber of technical indicators have been installed into the PRO-CHARTS trading system. Analyzing the indicators one can come to the conclusion about further movements of the quoted currencies. For a more detailed description of the indicators, analyzing price charts and volumes of trading, click

Fundamental analysisis an analysis of current situations in the country of the currency, such as its economy, political events, and rumors. The country's economy depends on the rate of inflation and unemployment, on the interest rate of its Central Bank, and on tax policy. Political stability also influences the exchange rate. Policy of the Central Bank has a special role, as concentrated interventions or refusal from them greatly influence the exchange rate.

At the same time one should not consider fundamental analysis just as an analysis of the economic situation in the country itself. A far bigger role in the FOREX market belongs to the expectations of the market participants and their assessment of these expectations. Various prognoses and bulletins, issued by the participants, have a strong influence on the expectations. Very often an effect of the so-called self-filfilling prophecy occurs when market players raise or lower the exchange rates according to the prognosis. But a deep and thorough fundamental analysis is available only for big banks with a staff of professional analysts and constant access to a wide field of information.

In spite of these different approaches, both forms of analyses complement one another. Traders who act on the basis of a fundamental analysis, have to consider some technical characteristics of the market (the main rates of support, such as resistance and resale), and supporters of the technical approach to the market must track the main news (interest rates, important political events).


The main merits of the FOREX market are:

  • The biggest number of participants and the largest volumes of transactions;
  • Superior liquidity and speed of the market: transactions are conducted within a few seconds according to online quotes;
  • The market works 24 hours a day, every working days;
  • A trader can open a position for any period of time he wants;
  • No fees, except for the difference between buying and selling prices;
  • An opportunity to get a bigger profit that the invested sum;
  • Qualified work in the FOREX market can become your main professional activity;
  • You can make deals any time you like.

Developing A Sound Forex Trading System

Developing A Sound Forex Trading System

By: Bret Freak

Before going head first into trading the forex market, you may want to consider whether or not your forex trading system is actually based on sound concepts that will make you money over the long term. The most important aspect of your forex trading system should be the expectancy it produces. The expectancy of your trading system will give you an idea of how much you could expect to make over a certain period of time. This is explained further below.

Although you should aim at producing a high expectancy trading system, you should also consider exactly what your system is made up of. Most traders would agree that your trading system shouldn’t just be composed of mainly ’lagging’ technical indicators, but rather include ‘leading’ indicators such as price action, and chart patterns.

The Mathematics Of A Trading System

The whole point of a forex trading system is to make you as much profits as possible while keeping your risk down to an absolute minimum. To determine whether or not your trading system does this, a few mathematical calculations can be made to determine how much your system will make on average, over a period of time. This is often referred to as the ‘Expectancy’ of a system.

To calculate the expectancy of your trading system, you will need to take into account the following:

1. How often is your system correct? 2. How much are your profits compared to your losses? 3. How often are you able to trade your system? And 4) What does it cost to trade?

The following is an example taking these factors into account to determine its expectancy. Assuming the following:

1. The system is correct 70% of the time. 2) On average your profits are 2 times the amount you loose (make 80 pips, loose 40 – assume spread cost is taken into account). 3) you are able to trade 3 times per week.

The formula to calculate expectancy is:
(probability of a win × average win) less the (probability of a loss × average loss) × opportunity

Using the above values we would conclude:
(0.70 × 80 pips) minus (0.30 × 40 pips) × 3
= 132 pips. This means you could expect to make on average 132 pips every week.

Combining Leading & Lagging Indicators

So why include leading indicators in your trading system? The fact is, leading indicators have more predictive power, and can predict market moves before they occur. Lagging indicators cannot do this, however they can still complement other leading indicators. Some well known leading indicators include: pivot points, chart patterns, fibonacci retracements, and candlestick patterns.

In fact candlesticks are probably one of the most powerful leading indicators, since you are observing price action itself. Traders around the world have found that candlesticks can add an extra dimension to their trading system. The reason for this can be largely contributed to Steve Nison’s book Japanese Candlestick Charting Techniques. Here is a quote from the book:

“If you are a seasoned technician, you will discover how joining Japanese candlesticks with your other technical tools can create a powerful synergy of techniques.”

Of course there are many different ways you can incorporate the use of leading indicators in your forex trading system. Here I have aimed at giving you a taste of what is possible. I also recommend that you check out investopedia’s lesson on how to develop a medium term forex trading system. This lesson also puts forward some interesting concepts which include combining leading indicators with other technical tools.

Conclusion

By including the use of leading indicators in your trading system, you will be able to add an edge to your system that will enable you to catch trends earlier, and hence make more money. And by understanding the basic mathematics involved in determining a trading systems profitability, you should be able to determine whether or not you have a good forex trading system.

Article Source: http://www.articlecafe.net

Making Money Through Forex Trading

Making Money Through Forex Trading

By: Kip Goldhammer

There is loads of cash to make from foreign currency trading. And people are earning huge profits from it all the time. Every fluctuation in the currency markets poses an opportunity to earn money for someone who has a good grasp on foreign currency trading. There are several factors that influence the currency markets and sometimes there are big events (e.g. introduction of euro) too.

The forex trading system involves buying and selling foreign currency. Unlike the stock market there is no fixed market for the forex trading system. A good and effective forex trading system allows the traders to transact easily and provide more chances to increase the earnings. Forex, foreign exchange market, is a market place where a currency of one country is sold for another country's currency for some profit. Currencies are traded in pares, like, US Dollar and Japanese Yen or US Dollar and Euro.

Foreign exchange tradings are a great money making opportunity for those who know their way around, for newbie it's a dream world where they either fall hard, sail well or fly high, its not easy to be a successful trader in the forex trading system., it's a mix of luck and experience that must work to find success. There are a lot of companies and individuals over the internet and offline willing to help you earn money from the forex trading system but only a handful of these are true and can actually help.

Nowadays most of the calculations are done by easy to use software that need minimum input from the user. You will need help initially, and may take some time for you to get to know the forex trading system. The high degree off leverage can sweep you either way, in the forex trading system one has to assess the risk for self, think of the chance one may have individually or with the help of a broker and/ or signal provider one may have and the amount which one can safely risk without putting yourself into financial trouble. It's a law of nature, where there's potential to earn there' potential to loose so just be prepared before you dive in.

To make good profits from foreign currency trading, you need to keep a close eye on the foreign currency markets. You need to do your own analysis of foreign currency trading and you need to know what other people are thinking about the emerging trends in foreign currency markets. You also need to keep track of the news items that could move the foreign currency markets. Each fluctuation presents an earning opportunity. You need to time your moves well. You need to develop strategies and execute them well.

Article Source: http://www.articlecafe.net

The Elliott Wave Principle And Hurst Envelope Analysis Support Chart Patterns

The Elliott Wave Principle And Hurst Envelope Analysis Support Chart Patterns

By: Bret Freak

Still wondering whether chart patterns are a valid form of analysis to trade the forex market? Well, just recently I have realized that both Elliott Wave, and. Hurst Envelope analysis support the validity of chart patterns, and even go as far to explaining why they occur! What’s interesting is the fact that both Elliott Wave & Hurst Envelope analysis are two very different analysis techniques, yet both explain exactly why these patterns continue to repeat time and time again.

Here is a quote from the Elliott Wave Principle on chart patterns:

“The Elliott Wave Principle not only supports the validity of chart analysis, but it can help the technician decide which formations are most likely of real significance” It goes onto explaining how chart patterns relate to Elliott Wave analysis and how you can use it in your trading.

And here is a quote from James Hurst’s book entitled: “Profit Magic of Stock Transaction Timing”

“If the “X” motivation concept is valid, it must be able to explain the existence and, reoccurrences of common chart patterns and, why they impart information to the investor.” And:

“The second purpose of the chapter is to show you how the price motion model can be used to resolve chart patterns. Such patterns can be used to determine which way and when price motion will go at pattern termination.”

Although the above may sound very confusing to those who haven’t read Hurst’s book, it’s still an interesting fact that the validity of chart patterns have been confirmed and supported by two very different market timing techniques. Now this brings us to another question: Can both Elliott Wave and Hurst Envelope analysis be somehow combined together to take chart analysis to a new level? Perhaps.

It’s not however my aim here to go into any details on how this may be achieved, but rather, allow those interested to follow up on this interesting idea themselves, and give those who are unsure if chart patterns are really a valid form of trading analysis, some confidence in their value in trading the forex market.

A Parting Comment:

Before you go out and buy a copy of Hurst’s book “Profit Magic of Stock Transaction Timing” I would like to warn you in advance that the content presented in this book can be at times hard to understand. And on top of this, the market timing technique Hurst presents in that book can be very time consuming. Since it involves manually drawing in “Envelopes” around price action. It is still however an interesting read, especially for those who are interested in how Hurst’s timing technique can be used to add accuracy to chart pattern recognition.

I believe the Majority of traders would be content on using the Elliott Wave Principle to further analyze chart patterns. Since it is more widely known than Hurst’s Envelope technique, and has more extensive information and education available on it than Hurst’s technique.

Conclusion

By understanding the Elliott Wave Principle, and Hurst Envelope analysis, you are able to take chart pattern recognition to a new level of accuracy, and therefore profitability. So, if you are the type of person who is interested in trading chart patterns more successfully you may be interested in doing some further research into Hurst Envelope analysis, and the Elliott Wave Principle.

Article Source: http://www.articlecafe.net

Understanding Foreign Currency Pairs

Understanding Foreign Currency Pairs

By: Martin Chandra

Trading the forex market has many benefits over other financial markets, among the most important are: superior liquidity, 24hrs market, better execution, and others. Traders and investor see the forex market as a new speculation or diversifying opportunity because of these benefits.

Simply said, no other trading instrument comes even closely to forex market when it comes to liquidity, 24hr market environment and last but not the least, profit potential. Forex (currency) market is the largest (most liquid) financial market in the world, with an average daily volume of more than US$ 1.5 trillion, which is more than all of the global equity markets combined.

Foreign exchange market is where the currency of one nation is traded for that of another. Therefore, forex trading is always traded in pairs.

However, the way currencies are quoted against each other can initially seem a little confusing, especially for beginner. Basically, there are two rules of thumb - and three exceptions to the first rule.

Rule No. 1: All currency rate quotes are expressed as units per dollar. For example, the rate between the Japanesse yen (JPY) and the U.S. Dollar (USD) is expressed as 103.14 Japanese yen per dollar. The technical term for this is that USD is the "base currency" against which JPY is quoted.

A higher quote, such as 104.33, means that the dollar has appreciated in value compared to the yen, because it now takes more JPY to the same amount of USD. When charted, this means that a continuously stronger dollar will result in an uptrend on the chart. If you believe USD will continue to trend higher, which means JPY will trend lower, then you would sell JPY.

The exceptions to the first rule are the British poundsterling (GBP), European euro (EUR), and Australian dollar (AUD). These currencies are the base currencies against the USD. When rates between the USD and any of these currencies are charted, a continously stronger dollar will appear as a downtrend on the chary. If USD has appreciated relative to GBP from yesterday to today, today's quote between GBP and USD is lower than yesterday's quote. If you believe USD will continue to trend lower, and consequently GBP to trend higher, you should sell GBP.

Rule No. 2: All quote denominations are backwards with the base currency stated first. For example, the Swiss franc (CHF) and USD is denominated as USD/CHF. The quote between USD and EUR is denominated EUR/USD. Another example of denominations are USD/JPY, USD/CAD, GBP/USD, AUD/USD, etc.

Article Source: http://www.articlecafe.net

Forex Currency Trading System Possibilities

Forex Currency Trading System Possibilities

By: Bret Freak

So many people continue to discuss the use of common technical indicators in trading systems, without realizing or perhaps just not bothering to look at more predictive trading tools that are available to trade the forex market.

And so the purpose of this article is to present to you a few alternatives to using lagging indicators and instead incorporate leading indicators in your system, and that means looking directly at price action which some refer to as trading naked.

What I’m about to explain here, is a number of analysis techniques which I have combined together giving you an idea of what is possible. Now just because I have combined the use of all four market timing techniques in this article, doesn’t mean you have to use them together in your trading system, rather incorporate the use of one or more of these tools in your own forex trading system to suit yourself.

The first thing to do, is to identify a main market move, then apply fibonacci retracement levels to that move. These fibonacci resistance levels will now act as a reference point. We will now refer to other tools to indicate a possible reversal around one of these resistance levels.

We now wait for a candlestick reversal signal to occur around one of the main fibonacci resistance levels to indicate a possible reversal trend. When you think about it, fibonacci and candlestick reversal patterns are a great combination of analysis tools to use. Think about it for a moment. Once you observe a natural level of resistance in the form of a fibonacci, and at the same time you notice a candlestick reversal signal occurring aroung this level, for example a shooting star pattern, it gives you added confidence that a change in trend to the downside may be about to occur.

This brings me to our third indicator which gives further indication of a reversal occuring. This third analysis technique is called Elliott Wave. Now it is not my purpose here to go into detail about the Elliott Wave Principle, but rather show you the possibility of the tools you could use in your forex trading system.

To give you an idea of what Elliott Wave is all about, I quote from the Elliott Wave Principle book:

“In the 1930’s, Ralph Nelson Elliott discovered that stock market prices trend and reverse in recognizable patterns, the patterns he discovered are repetitive in form but not necessarily in time of amplitude. Elliott isolated five such patterns or waves that recur in market data. He named, defined, and illustrated these patterns and their variations. He then described how they link together to form larger variations. He then described how they in turn link to form the same patterns of the next larger size and soon producing structured progression.”

And further on into the book it goes onto saying:

“The primary value of the wave principle is that it provides a context for market analysis.”

And that is exactly how you should use it in your own forex trading system, in context with your other indicators or tools such as Fibonacci retracements, and candlestick reversal patterns.

Now to the fourth and final market timing technique you could incorporate in your forex trading system, or use with the other technical tools I have presented here in this article. This last market timing technique is called the Delta Phenomenon. More information about this technique and all the others presented here in this article can be found on my website listed below.

Basically the Delta Phenomenon is a cyclic phenomenon that was observed to be common in all financial markets around the world. Here is a quote from the book:

“Once one discovers the number of points that repeat and where the repeat begins, he is able to predict where in time each of these points will occur as far in the future or the past as he may want to go.”

The interesting thing here is the fact that this sounds similar to the paragraph I read out of the Elliott Wave Principle book which stated that, Elliott Wave patterns are repetitive in form but not necessarily in time or amplitude. This is where the Delta Phenomenon could complement EW, since DP gives you an idea of the time period to expect a reversal.

I would also like to mention here that the delta phenomenon is one of those market timing techniques that can be incorporated with any trading system, and it’s definitely worth looking into further if you’re interested in increasing both profitability and accuracy in your forex trading system.

Conclusion

It is up to you which market timing techniques you choose to use in your trading system.
However you should be able to add an extra layer of both confidence and accuracy, by incorporating the use of any of these four market timing techniques in your own forex trading system.

Article Source: http://www.articlecafe.net