Currency Trading Information

Forex Trading - Advantages and Disadvantages


What is Forex Trading?

Forex, or Foreign Exchange, is the simultaneous exchange of one country's currency for that of another. This market of exchange has more daily volume, both buyers and sellers, than any other in the world. Taking place in the major financial institutions across the globe, the forex market is open 24-hours a day.

Currencies are quoted in pairs. The first listed currency is known as the base currency, while the second is called the counter or quote currency. In the wholesale market, currencies are quoted using five significant numbers, with the last placeholder called a point or a pip.

The forex market is one of the most popular markets for speculation due to its enormous size, liquidity, and tendency for currencies to move in strong trends. An enticing aspect of trading currencies is the high degree of leverage available.

Advantages of forex trading

Leverage. Huge leverage is available in Forex trading, often up to 100:1 meaning that large profits can be generated from small margin deposits.

Liquidity. The enormous size and global trading of the forex markets means that the markets in the major currency pairs are very liquid making trade executions almost instant with little slippage.

Ability to go short. Since currency trading always involves buying one currency and selling another, there is no structural bias to the market. This means a trader has equal potential to profit in a rising or falling market.

Trends. Fundamentally, the value of a country's currency is determined by interest rates and the strength of the economy in relation to other countries. Currencies, therefore, have a greater tendency to trend until the fundamentals change.

Disadvantages of forex trading

Leverage. With huge leverage available to forex traders the danger is that positions which carry too much risk for the account size can be taken on, leading to margin calls. Effective money management rules must be adhered to.

Brokers. Retail traders must use a broker rather than dealing directly in the interbank market. The broker will be the counterparty in all transactions and is, effectively, making the market. They can, therefore, widen spreads or even refuse to trade during volatile trading conditions. To avoid dealing with brokers an alternative to forex is to use futures. See online futures trading for more details.

Spreads. As the retail trader must use a broker to trade, they cannot deal at the interbank rates. A broker will generally quote a fixed spread of 3-20 pips depending on the currency pair. The underlying interbank rate might be as little as 1 pip.

Forex is a very large market but for most retail traders dealing with brokers the odds are shifted against them. Online futures trading provides a much more level playing field for most traders who want to take part in forex trading.

Tim Wreford operates Online Futures Trading, a website that provides information and resources for traders. Tim also provides an article detailing the development of a day trading system, the results of which are updated daily on the site.


MORE RESOURCES:

PHP Error Message

Warning: set_time_limit() has been disabled for security reasons in /home/a1838320/public_html/forex/inc/rss.inc on line 8


Irw-Press: Worldlink Group Plc: Worldlink Offers Customers A Currency Trading ...
OfficialWire (press release)
Worldlink has taken the decision to enter the currency trading market because it takes advantage of REAL-time data, for which Worldlink owns the patents to ...



BM&FBovespa Cuts Fees by 55% on Spot Currency Trading
BusinessWeek
1 (Bloomberg) -- BM&FBovespa SA, the world's third- biggest exchange by market value, cut fees by 55 percent on spot currency trading to lure business ...

and more »


iFreshNews (blog)

FOREX: Bond auctions boost euro currency trading
iFreshNews (blog)
Government backed auctions in France and Spain helped increase the trading price of the euro but many traders became less confident of the currency's ...

and more »


Canada's Currency Trading Volume Falls for 1st Time Since 1983
BusinessWeek
Currency-trading in Canada reflected trends in the global market, as heightened price swings after the seizure of global credit markets cut risk appetite, ...

and more »


Reuters UK

Currency Trading Soars
Wall Street Journal
Currency trading volume around the world has hit $4 trillion a day, fueled by investors in the wealthiest nations looking ...
Currency-Trading Growth Slowed After Crisis, BIS SaysBloomberg
Global currency trading soars to $4 trillion a dayMarketWatch
Global currency trading jumps 20%BBC News
TopNews United States -Interactive Investor -InTheNews.co.uk
all 107 news articles »


Yen/Dollar: Take Your Shorts Off
CNBC
There were two big rumors going on around currency trading floors Wednesday. One was to ditch the short yen trade. A month ago, when the yen first made its ...

and more »


Euro Falls as ECB's Stark Adds to European Financial Concerns
Bloomberg
... number will put “real pressure on the Reserve Bank of Australia,” said Tony Allen, head of currency trading at ANZ National Bank Ltd. in Wellington. ...

and more »


MSN Money UK

The Currency Trading Market
DailyForex
The popularity of the currency trading market (FX or Foreign Exchange trading) has grown rapidly in recent years as the prospect of having a 24-hour, ...
Forex Trading and How You Can Make Money OnlineHope News

all 12 news articles »


'Investors' taken for $8M in scam
Honolulu Star-Advertiser
He told them he was able to pay such high returns because he used their money to invest in foreign currency trading. Rakotonanahary admitted yesterday that ...

and more »


Moneycontrol.com

PRECIOUS-Gold nears record as economy bears circle markets
FOXBusiness
On the wider markets, currency trading pointed to aresurgence in risk aversion. The yen struck a fresh 15-year high against the dollar andthe Swiss franc an ...
Gold nears record as economy bears circle marketsReuters India

all 356 news articles »

Google News

home | site map
© 2006