Archive for May, 2008

Place Forex Orders Properly

Saturday, May 10th, 2008

Forex trading is all about buying and selling currency. You buy one currency against another currency and when the price of the currency that you bought goes up, you sell that currency against some other currency. However, before buy or sell occurs you need to place your forex order properly.

There are two methods with which you can place your order for forex. The first is known as market order in which you express your willingness to buy or sell a currency on its market price. In other words, this is like you buy and sell the currency on exactly the price of them at the time of execution of your order.

The second type of order is known as entry order where you set a target price at which you are willing to buy or sell a certain currency. You set a target and when the market price reaches that level you buy or sell the currency.
 
After you place your entry order, you should now place a stop or limit order to ensure your security. Stop and limit orders are two different methods to exit your trade automatically. In this case, you do not close your position yourself manually but it gets executed when it reaches the price level set by you.

A stop order is to stop the losses and a limit order is to redeem your profits. A stop order is placed always below the current market value and limit order is placed above the current market value in a long trade.

Therefore, orders should always be placed according to the nature of your trade, that is, how you plan to enter and exit the currency market. Inappropriate order placement can distort your entry and exit points.

Advantages of Mini Forex Accounts

Saturday, May 3rd, 2008

Mini Forex trading accounts can be described as a perfect combination of profit potential and risk management. With a mini account you experience all the advantages of a standard forex account but not exposed to the market and therefore has no or limited risk. In all regard, mini forex accounts work as a standard forex account, but the only major difference is the account size, which is much small than a standard account. Now a days, you will find many traders offering Micro accounts with a minimum contract size for all trading accounts with 0.01 of a lot, which is 1,000 units of base currency.

Mini forex accounts or forex minis typically offers contract sizes of 10,000 instead of the standard account where it is 100,000 or more. Margin requirements per contract for a mini account is of usually $50 or more instead of the $1,000 to $2,000 required for a regular account. The wining combination of high leverage and low margin makes the mini forex accounts so much popular among forex traders. Forex mini accounts can also be managed with lower account minimums than any regular accounts, which enables small investors and traders to day trade in foreign currencies.

In a mini account, if the mini contract is 10,000 units of the base currency, then all of the extents are one tenth of a regular account with a lot size of 100,000 lot sizes. For example, the value of 1 pip for the EUR/USD on a mini contract is $1 instead of $10 as in a standard account.

Mini forex accounts are designed for new investors. It would let you understand the process of forex trading and how you are expected to behave in a particular situation where you will have to take a buy or a sell decision following some advice or a forex signal. The smaller trade size gives you the opportunity to trade live but with less risk or exposure to the market.

As the pip value on the mini forex account is just $1 per pip, you can develop your own forex trading strategy in this stage and apply it to find its effectiveness. In a mini forex account, a 50 pip floating loss is approximately $50 instead of $500 for a standard forex account.

Therefore, it is ideal for a new traders or investors with an account balances less than $10,000 to start forex trading with a mini forex account. It gives you more staying power in the market without over-leveraging. Mini forex accounts are a great way to enjoy currency trading while minimizing your risk.

Who participate in forex trading?

Saturday, May 3rd, 2008

In the last few years, the Forex market has opened up to different financial institutions other than banks like brokers, market-makers, and other non-financial corporations, investment firms, and pension funds and hedge funds.

The forex market, which was only a machinery to be employed by importers and exporters of goods and services, has now widened to handle the huge amounts of overseas investment and other capital flows around different countries. Moreover, foreign exchange day trading has revolutionized the entire currency-trading scenario with the participation from small and medium investors.

Foreign exchange is considered as an over the counter or OTC market. There is no central exchange and clearing house for matching the orders. Although, geographic trading markets are there around the world like London, New York, Tokyo, Singapore, Frankfurt, Geneva and Zurich, Paris, and Hong Kong, but they are also virtual.

Forex transactions are purely made between participants on the basis of mutual trust and reputation. It is true for big institutions like banks. For the retail market, customers receive some form of legally accepted contract in exchange of a deposit for their trading.

The high liquidity in the forex market is because of the enormous volume of transactions, which is mostly generated by the primary market called the “interbank market.” This liquidity is enjoyed by the retail clients in the secondary over-the-counter market and makes the forex market, in general, liquid.