Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Forex Glossary

Ask (Offer) — price of the offer, the price you buy for.
Aussie — a Forex slang name for the Australian dollar.
Bank Rate — the percentage rate at which central bank of a country lends money to the country's commercial banks.
Bid — price of the demand, the price you sell for.
Broker — the market participating body which serves as the middleman between retail traders and larger commercial institutions.
Cable — a Forex traders slang word GBP/USD currency pair.
Carry Trade — in Forex, holding a position with a positive overnight interest return in hope of gaining profits, without closing the position, just for the central banks interest rates difference.
CFD — a Contract for Difference — special trading instrument that allows financial speculation on stocks, commodities and other instruments without actually buying.
Commission — broker commissions for operation handling.
CPI — consumer price index the statistical measure of inflation based upon changes of prices of a specified set of goods.
EA (Expert Advisor) — an automated script which is used by the trading platform software to manage positions and orders automatically without (or with little) manual control.
ECN Broker — a type of Forex brokerage firm that provide its clients direct access to other Forex market participants. ECN brokers don't discourage scalping, don't trade against the client, don't charge spread (low spread is defined by current market prices) but charge commissions for every order.
ECB (European Central Bank) — the main regulatory body of the European Union financial system.
Fed (Federal Reserve) — the main regulatory body of the United States of America financial system, which division — FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) — regulates, among other things, federal interest rates.
Fibonacci Retracements — the levels with a high probability of trend break or bounce, calculated as the 23.6%, 32.8%, 50% and 61.8% of the trend range.
Flat (Square) — neutral state when all your positions are closed.
Fundamental Analysis — the analysis based only on news, economic indicators and global events.
GDP (Gross Domestic Product) — is a measure of the national income and output for the country's economy; it's one of the most important Forex indicators.
GTC (Good Till Cancelled) — order to buy or sell of a currency with a fixed price or worse. The order is alive (good) until execution or cancellation.
Hedging — maintaining a market position which secures the existing open positions in the opposite direction.
Jobber — a slang word for a trader which is aimed toward fast but small and short-term profit from an intra-day trading. Jobber rarely leaves open positions overnight.
Kiwi — a Forex slang name for the New Zealand currency — New Zealand dollar.
Leading Indicators — a composite index (year 1992 = 100%) of ten most important macroeconomic indicators that predicts future (6-9 months) economic activity.
Limit Order — order for a broker to buy the lot for fixed or lesser price or sell the lot for fixed or better price. Such price is called limit price.
Liquidity — the measure of markets which describes relationship between the trading volume and the price change.
Long — the position which is in a Buy direction. In Forex, the primary currency when bought is long and another is short.
Loss — the loss from closing long position at lower rate than opening or short position with higher rate than opening, or if the profit from a position closing was lower than broker commission on it.
Lot — definite amount of units or amount of money accepted for operations handling (usually it is a multiple of 100).
Margin — money, the investor needs to keep at broker account to execute trades. It supplies the possible losses which may occur in margin trading.
Margin Account — account which is used to hold investor's deposited money for FOREX trading.
Margin Call — demand of a broker to deposit more margin money to the margin account when the amount in it falls below certain minimum.
Market Order — order to buy or sell a lot for a current market price.
Market Price — the current price for which the currency is traded for on the market.
Momentum — the measure of the currency's ability to move in the given direction.
Moving Average (MA) — one of the most basic technical indicators. It shows the average rate calculated over a series of time periods. Exponential Moving Average (EMA), Weighted Moving Average (WMA) etc. are just the ways of weighing the rates and the periods.
Offer (Ask) — price of the offer, the price you buy for.
Open Position (Trade) — position on buying (long) or selling (short) for a currency pair.
Order — order for a broker to buy or sell the currency with a certain rate.
Pivot Point — the primary support/resistance point calculated basing on the previous trend's High, Low and Close prices.
Pip (Point) — the last digit in the rate (e.g. for EUR/USD 1 point = 0.0001).
Profit (Gain) — positive amount of money gained for closing the position.
Principal Value — the initial amount of money of the invested.
Realized Profit/Loss — gain/loss for already closed positions.
Resistance — price level for which the intensive selling can lead to price increasing (up-trend).
Scalping — a style of trading notable by many positions that are opened for extremely small and short-term profits.
Settled (Closed) Position — closed positions for which all needed transactions has been made.
Slippage — execution of order for a price different than expected (ordered), main reasons for slippage are — "fast" market, low liquidity and low broker's ability to execute orders.
Spread — difference between ask and bid prices for a currency pair.
Standard Lot — 100,000 units of the base currency of the currency pair, which you are buying or selling.
Stop-Limit Order — order to sell or buy a lot for a certain price or worse.
Stop-Loss Order — order to sell or buy a lot when the market reaches certain price. It is used to avoid extra losses when market moves in the opposite direction. Usually is a combination of stop-order and limit-order.
Support — price level for which intensive buying can lead to the price decreasing (down-trend).
Swap — overnight payment for holding your position. Since you are not physically receiving the currency you buy, your broker should pay you the interest rate difference between the two currencies of the pair. It can be negative or positive.
Technical Analysis — the analysis based only on the technical market data (quotes) with the help of various technical indicators.
Trend — direction of market which has been established with influence of different factors.
Unrealized (Floating) Profit/Loss — a profit/loss for your non-closed positions.
Useable Margin — amount of money in the account that can be used for trading.
Used Margin — amount of money in the account already used to hold open positions open.
Volatility — a statistical measure of the number of price changes for a given currency pair in a given period of time.
VPS (Virtual Private Server) — virtual environment hosted on the dedicated server, which can be used to run the programs independent on the user's PC. Forex traders use VPS to host trading platforms and run expert advisors without unexpected interruptions.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Forex News Trading

Traders on the Foreign Exchange market, Forex market for short, can potentially make thousands of dollars based on the volatility and fluctuations of a country’s currency. To better themselves and have a leading advantage over other traders, some Forex traders and investors participate in a practice known as news trading. The risks are very high, but the potential gains can be worth thousands of dollars and many traders and investors use this technique.
The technique of news trading is quite simple. It is the trading of foreign currency immediately before or after an important economic news announcement. After such announcements, there is a high possibility that market prices will fluctuate, either for the better or worse, depending on the announcement. For example, if the U. S. Federal Reserve announces another increase of the interest rate, many traders might invest in the U.S. dollar as it is expected that its value will appreciate. The main advantage of news trading is the potential for a country’s currency to make huge gains or losses in very little time. Within minutes of an economic announcement, a country’s currency can gain or lose one hundred points almost instantly. The potential of huge profits attracts Foreign Exchange traders and investors, however there are various risks associated with news trading.
Like any investment, there is always a risk, and news trading on the Forex market is no different. Though the potential profits are huge, the losses are also equally as large. The dangers of news trading come from the fact that a trade must be made quickly or else you are going to lose. If you are caught on the bad side of a trade, your money will be gone quicker than you can blink your eye. You will lose money so fast that there won’t even be time for you to manually close your trades, leaving you with nothing. Stop-loss orders are also potentially dangerous as there is a high probability of slippage because of the sudden price fluctuation.
Though some investors and traders might get lucky trading news, there is only a small probability that you will make a profit. Even if you are an expert news trader, you should still be very, very cautious when participating in this practice. Successful news trading depends solely on how you get your news. The most successful news traders are the ones with the fastest news feeds and those that are able to quickly place their trades immediately after an announcement has been made. Even using other forms of news trading, such as placing orders above or below the market price is still a guessing game, and those traders in the market who base their trades on guesses, won’t have much money after a short time.
For many Forex traders and investors, their trades are dictated by technical indicators and price indexes. Hours are spent researching every indicator, taking every risk into account and then making a decision based on everything they have studied. However, for a Forex news trader, none of this matter, and the only thing they take into account is economical news announcements.
News trading is possible because the Forex market is always open, unlike many financial markets. In a financial market, securities trades of certain stocks are suspended when an important company announcement is being made. These announcements are usually made after the market has closed for the day. However, because the Foreign Exchange market is open 24 hours, any economic announcement will have direct affects on the currency of that country, and maybe others as well. In the Forex market, there are eight major currencies that are traded, as well as over seventeen derivatives to be traded as well. This means that on any given day, there will always be economic announcements from any of the major traded currencies. The major trader currencies are as follows:
1.U.S. Dollar (USD) 2.Great British Pound (GBP) 3.Euro (EUR) 4.Japanese Yen (JPY) 5.Australian Dollar (AUD) 6.Swiss Franc (CHF) 7.Canadian Dollar (CAD) 8.New Zealand Dollar (NZD) Because of the availability of each currency, currency pairs, and its derivatives, such as USD/JPY, EUR/USD, AUD/USD, as well as several others, each currency can be traded at any given time because these currencies are globally traded.
Any Forex news trader or news investor will have to have the latest most up to the moment news announcements. Even if the news announcements are only a couple of minutes old, this can have devastating effects for any trader who has risked any sum of money. Most news traders like to keep an eagle eye on any news regarding economical activity, but most importantly news dealing with interest rates changes, FOMC rate decisions, retail sales figures, inflation indicators such as the consumer price index (CPI), producer price index (PPI), unemployment figures, industrial production announcements, boost in business and consumer confidence, as well as business sentiment surveys. Manufacturing sector surveys, trade balance release details, and foreign purchases of U.S. Treasuries may also prove useful for a news trader to better make decisions regarding when or when not to trade.
However, it should be remembered that these news announcements can have ranging impacts on a country’s currency, and after an announcement, the volatility of a currency may greatly fluctuate. It is important to take advantage of news that creates movements in volatility that will last for a few minutes or even hours. Trading on the Forex market based solely on news is a difficult and sometimes dangerous practice. However, there are some indicators that can make a news trader’s job easier, such as breakout indicators (Bollinger bands, breakout of a candlestick bar, or a price bar). Research has proved that news announcements can impact a currency’s value quite severely, in some cases it can gain or lose anywhere from 33 pips to 124 pips, opening up the ideal trading opportunity looked for by news traders. If a news trader is able to act quickly enough, even the smallest news release can be turned into a potential profit of thousands of dollars. However, it is important to remember the volatility of such announcements, and although the profits seem endless, the losses can happen too.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Forex: Don't Sweat the Risk

Jim Martens, EWI's Senior Currency Strategist, regularly posts his thoughts on the business of forex trading in the "Market Insight" section of his intensive Currency Specialty Service. Here is an adaptation of Jim's latest "Insight."Market Insight, February 22, 2009By Jim MartensDon't know about you, but for me, being away from the markets for a few days is rarely relaxing. The entire time I’m wondering what prices are doing; is my outlook on the euro-dollar exchange rate, for example, proving correct or incorrect?What mainly concerns me is how much work I may have to do when I return. If the EUR/USD and other forecasts prove correct, I can jump right back in; if not, I may have to play a lot of “catch up.” But my concern is usually not about the risk associated with the forecast. Let me explain.In my daily commentary, I have frequently spelled out my lack of concern regarding market risk – which is, that as someone who analyses and forecasts currencies each day, I have already accepted that risk. If prices violate a “critical” level that I've identified for my Currency Specialty Service subscribers, by the very nature of Elliott wave analysis the associated loss was already known in advance and considered reasonable relative to the potential profit. If my “critical” price point was not broken, then my outlook still stands – so, again, where is the worry?What helped me to adopt this approach to risk is a book I read early in my study of markets and trading. For the life of me, I can't remember the author's name or the title – BUT I do remember two main points the book stressed:One: To succeed as a trader, you must understand at least the basics of the markets you trade. In one example the author described an analyst who suggested that coffee futures had gapped its limit because it was winter – he saw snow falling outside his New York office – and so a freeze must have damaged the coffee crop. The problem was that it was summer in the coffee-growing areas. Fundamental analysts' sole focus is on events related to the markets, but even a technical analyst must understand his or her market's basics: what, where and how.Two: Once you reach an opinion on the market, the risk must be reasonable relative to the potential reward. A disciplined trader should stay with their opinion until either a) it was proven incorrect, or b) the market offered new evidence sufficient to over-ride the original opinion. Bottom line, once committed stay committed – until the market tells you it's time to un-commit. Emotion should have no part in this process.The book gave sailing as the metaphor for the ideal trading scenario. Once you complete your analysis, identify the opportunity and place the orders – "board" your "sailboat" and sail along the coast. Every few days you could "pull into port, restock supplies," update your data and see which of your orders have been executed. Back at the "boat," you update the charts, make any adjustments to existing orders and enter new ones, as needed. Then you "shove off" your fictional boat until the next "port" – and repeat the same sequence.This approach, as well as taking time away from the market, removes the temptation to change your opinions with every tick. It reminds me of the days before the internet and real-time quotes were available to everyone. Back then, the lack of instant information made it easier to stick with your analysis and ride out the short-term swings. Maybe I should work just one day a week and sail the rest… How does that sound to you?

Choose One Currency: Importance of Focus In Forex Trading

Many beginner forex traders start out making a common mistake. They will begin trading one currency but within a month and sometimes much less, will have traded almost all the major currencies. If you take a peek at some of the forex chat forums on the Internet, you will see enthusiastic newbie traders making the same mistake. They will ask questions, discuss and trade the yen, the pound, the euro, the Swiss franc and go back and forth between them all.Why do they do this and why is it foolish?Let’s see. If you ask them why they do this, they will probably reply that either they saw an opportunity for a profitable trade on their charts that was too good to pass up or that they were just increasing their chances of success by spreading their bets. Fair enough, that seems like a perfectly fine answer.Imagine this however: You are a pretty strong guy and you think you can handle yourself in a street fight. Then you are thrown into a ring with a guy who’s been training boxing for years. The outcome of this fight? Well, there really is no fight – you will get slaughtered.Forex trading is the same. To be a success, you must always be looking at ways to swing the odds in your favour. The fundamentals that influence the yen are totally different to that of the Swiss franc or that of the Australian dollar. If you are trading them all, while it may appear the same, its not. Just like the fight against the boxer, you are up against highly paid institutional traders and currency analysts - experts in a particular currency.When a news announcement breaks, without thinking they know and incorporate its effect on a particular currency and its relationship to other currencies, the interest rates, bonds and gold market. The Australian dollar is a commodity price driven currency; the Swiss franc will do well when global security is a problem; the yen is a currency reflecting a nation with a huge export surplus and so on. All these currencies have different characters, moods and personas. They are influenced by different and conflicting information that you need to be aware of.To increase your chances of success in trading, it is much better to master one chosen currency. This will help you build focus and trading discipline. Sticking to trading one currency will eliminate the need to have to focus on numerous sets of information. However, the most important thing: with time, as you understand your chosen currency and its character traits inside out, you will gain conscious confidence in your trading – something invaluable in this game.If you are switching back and forth from trading one currency to another, understand that no one currency is easier or better to trade than another. There are no guarantees that you will make more money trading one particular currency over another. If you were doing poorly trading one currency and decided to switch to another thinking this might improve your chances, think why should it?It is much smarter to stay focused, learn the particularities of your currency inside out and in the process develop trading discipline. Over the long run, you will have swung the odds of success in your favour.

All About Forex

In order to succeed successfully in forex trading you need to know what the purpose of trading forex is. Forex trading as you know is the trading of online currency and the key to success is to buy low and sell high just as with any other market. You task as a forex trader is to try to determine the trend of the particular currency you are looking to either buy or sell and to utilise the forex trading strategies to ensure that a profit is made.Now that you know the purpose of forex trading the next step in knowing all about forex is to understand the codes, definitions and numbers used when trading. All currencies used in forex trading are assigned a three letter code. An example of this is the US dollar which is USD or the Euro EUR. Online currency trading is done in combinations that are known as a cross and these are represented by 6 letter words with the more expensive currency coming first. An example of this is GBPUSD which will show you how many US Dollar you will need to pay for one British pound. These rates are shown as five digit numbers for example GPBUSD = 1.6262 which means that 1 British pound is worth 1.6262 US dollars. When the rate changes the change will be displayed in bold, eg GPBUSD = 1.6264 which will mean that the rate has moved by 2 points. Knowing this is the key to successful forex trading and your key to profit.When you enter the forex trading market you will enter as a buyer or a seller of a particular currency. If you are a seller you price is known as the ASK price and the buyers price is known as the BID. You can only buy currency from a seller with an asking price the same as the BID price.These are the main beginner’s points to note when it comes to forex trading and knowing what the purpose of trading forex is and knowing all about forex before you enter into the market can make a big difference when it comes to your profits.