Archive for August, 2008

Forex as Home-based business

Friday, August 29th, 2008

Forex trading has the ideal characteristics of adopting it as a home-based business. With the advancement of networking and communication technology you can now run your forex trading sitting comfortably in your home.

Forex trading is undoubtedly one of the fastest means to make money from home. If you are properly knowledgeable and prepared with your homework with proper forex education it turns out to be a most rewarding proposition.

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Forex Video Tutorials

Thursday, August 28th, 2008

If you are new to Forex trading, you would need a good tutorial that will gradually but steadily introduce you to the different facets of the actual trading process. A video tutorial is preferred by most of the learners as they have more impact than text-based tutorials.

Live charts and other methods of technical analysis are better explained with the help of video and three-dimensional graphics. Here we plan to discuss different types of video tutorials available and which one should you take up for a better understanding of the subject.

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FOREX: long and short of it

Thursday, August 21st, 2008

Making profit in Forex trading revolves around one basic principle, buying cheap and selling high. The ideal goal of a forex trader should be to invest in some currency that will give profit while selling it in future. With a little twist however you can also make money in forex trading by selling high and then buying low. Surprised? Let’s explore.

This happens because it is irrelevant in forex trading if the price of the currency is going up or coming down. You can make profit in both the situations. Here comes the concept of playing either Bull or a Bear.

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More types of Forex Orders

Wednesday, August 20th, 2008

Last week we discussed some forex orders like Market orders, Entry orders, Stop orders, Limit orders, and OCO orders. There are few other orders that we plan to discuss now.

There is one type of subsidiary or condition-driven orders known as If Done Order. This order is placed in the market owing to the contingency situation on the execution of the associated. This depends largely on combination. Two steps of limit orders or stop loss orders are associated with it. When the first order is filled, the other order is executed as well. This means the second order becomes valid only when the first one is executed. Therefore, it is just the opposite case of OCO orders.

The next is Position order, which is directly related to individual positions. These are active till the time the positions are open, and it can be either a stop loss or a limit order.

We have discussed Stop Loss order already. With stop loss order open positions are automatically liquidated at a pre-defined specific price. It becomes a market order when sold at or below the stop price. It is used to protect a trader against potential downward slip in a security. This also minimizes the exposure to losses if the market moves against the trader’s position.

Stop Market orders are placed when currency price reaches or passes through a specific price for buying and selling. It is mostly used by traders having a long or short position and when he or she wishes to close the position while the market moving against them. This is also applied when the trader wishes to open a new position when the currency price attains a specific level. The stop price on a sell stop is always below the current bid and the stop price on buy stop is always above the current offer.

Forex brokers may use different names or terminology for these common order types, but the working procedure is same. As a trader you must know their basic functionality to exploit their powers fully. Your profit and loss greatly depends on the orders you place.

Types of Forex Orders

Friday, August 15th, 2008

Forex market has some basic order types like Market Orders, Stop Losses, Limit Orders, etc. Depending on a particular broker they may vary slightly retaining the basics. Some automated orders are generated at pre-determined exchange rates that are placed to control the downside or to consolidate the upside. It is extremely important for the investors to know about different Forex orders to protect themselves and to earn more profits from the forex market.

Market Order is the one with which you can buy or sell a currency pair at the prevailing market price the moment the order is processed. Customers using some automated trading platform can simply click on the buy or sell option after specifying the size of the deal. The order gets executed instantly. You can place market order by phone as well, which may take few seconds more.

The next type is the Entry order, which you use while buying or selling a currency pair at a certain price. All you have to do is to place an entry order for either the low price the high price of a time period.

Stop Orders can be defined as a market order for a currency pair when it attains a specific price level. The order is placed below the current market price for the currency. Stop orders are placed to limit the loss for a particular transaction, whereas limit orders are placed to enter the market.

So, Limit Orders can be defined as a market order when the currency pair reaches a specific price level. Limit orders can be of two types, buy limit and sell limit. Buy limit order is executed to limit price or lower and a sell limit order is for limiting price or higher. A limit order is always placed above the current market value of the currency. Limit orders will have two variables, price and duration. The trader may define the price for buying and selling a certain currency pair and may also specify the time for which the order will remain valid.

OCO Order is placed for taking advantage of market price movement comprising stop and limit price. Once the first level is achieved, half of the order is executed and the balance order is canceled (in both the cases, either stop or limit). This ensures that your position is locked in case of the market moved toward either the stop rate or the limit rate. This will close the trade with canceling the other entry order.

We will discuss some more orders in future!!

Forex Money Management Styles

Thursday, August 14th, 2008

Money management in Forex is perhaps as critical as risk management. You must know it clearly in your mind how much money you can afford to lose without being affected. There are two widely adopted money management techniques.

Either you can take many frequent small stops while trying to get profits from the limited number of large winning trades, or you can opt for gaining small profits with infrequent but large stops with the anticipation that many small profits will overshadow few large losses. (more…)

Flip Side of Leverage in Forex

Friday, August 8th, 2008

Leverage means borrowing some amount for investing. In forex you can borrow the money from your broker. Leverage is quite high in forex trading with margin requirement. The margin-based leverage can be calculated dividing the total value of the transaction by the margin.

If you need to deposit, say, 1% of the transaction value as margin and you wish to trade one standard lot of USD/CHF, which is equivalent to $100,000, the margin would be $1,000. You are offered a leverage of 100:1 (100,000/1,000). (more…)

Most lucrative market hours for forex trading

Thursday, August 7th, 2008

Forex is a virtual, global market and it is open round the clock! This allows investors and traders to work during their normal business hours and long after the working hours, even during midnight. However, all the market hours are not equally lucrative. At times, the currency rates are constantly volatile and at times it is hushed. This variation is also observed in the behaviors of the currencies as well. At certain hours some currencies are traded actively. This is because of the difference in time zones.

There are three major trading sessions in which the level of activity heightens. This makes the life easy for the trader too. A trader can attend the market when it is typically volatile and can develop a strategy depending on the market timings. (more…)

Importance of forex training in developing Trading Strategy

Friday, August 1st, 2008

A solid, step-by-step formulated strategy is the most vital part of forex training, which offers you a particular method to follow the currency transaction. The high leverage and various other innate benefits of the forex market will attract you to invest in foreign exchange trading. Numerous new traders run after the ups and downs of currency prices without a particular strategy.

This kind of unplanned trading is quite similar to gambling and does not lead to any sustainable success. You can take help of several books available on technical analysis explaining various useful indicators and signals. A strategy should ideally incorporate the rules of utilizing the existing charting data for buying and selling different foreign currencies. The forex strategy incorporated in the free training programs offered by some firms exactly does that for you. (more…)