Thursday, November 29, 2007

overview

An overview of the Forex marketThe Forex market is a non-stop cash market where currencies of nations are traded, typically via brokers. Foreign currencies are constantly and simultaneously bought and sold across local and global markets and traders' investments increase or decrease in value based upon currency movements. Foreign exchange market conditions can change at any time in response to real-time events.
The main enticements of currency dealing to private investors and attractions for short-term Forex trading are:
24-hour trading, 5 days a week with non-stop access to global Forex dealers.
An enormous liquid market making it easy to trade most currencies.
Volatile markets offering profit opportunities.
Standard instruments for controlling risk exposure.
The ability to profit in rising or falling markets.
Leveraged trading with low margin requirements.
Many options for zero commission trading.
Forex tradingThe investor's goal in Forex trading is to profit from foreign currency movements. Forex trading or currency trading is always done in currency pairs. For example, the exchange rate of EUR/USD on Aug 26th, 2003 was 1.0857. This number is also referred to as a "Forex rate" or just "rate" for short. If the investor had bought 1000 euros on that date, he would have paid 1085.70 U.S. dollars. One year later, the Forex rate was 1.2083, which means that the value of the euro (the numerator of the EUR/USD ratio) increased in relation to the U.S. dollar. The investor could now sell the 1000 euros in order to receive 1208.30 dollars. Therefore, the investor would have USD 122.60 more than what he had started one year earlier. However, to know if the investor made a good investment, one needs to compare this investment option to alternative investments. At the very minimum, the return on investment (ROI) should be compared to the return on a "risk-free" investment. One example of a risk-free investment is long-term U.S. government bonds since there is practically no chance for a default, i.e. the U.S. government going bankrupt or being unable or unwilling to pay its debt obligation.
When trading currencies, trade only when you expect the currency you are buying to increase in value relative to the currency you are selling. If the currency you are buying does increase in value, you must sell back the other currency in order to lock in a profit. An open trade (also called an open position) is a trade in which a trader has bought or sold a particular currency pair and has not yet sold or bought back the equivalent amount to close the position.
However, it is estimated that anywhere from 70%-90% of the FX market is speculative. In other words, the person or institution that bought or sold the currency has no plan to actually take delivery of the currency in the end; rather, they were solely speculating on the movement of that particular currency.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Wining Forex system

When analyzing a system you should take into consideration several factors. Many times the excitement and anxiousness to get started in a new investment makes people overlook basic things. Some years ago a study revealed that people spent more time shopping for a new TV than to decide which fund to invest in. While choosing the right TV is important, is the correct investment decision which will allow you (or not) to continue shopping for gadgets in the future, so you should not overlook the source.
The most common reasons why systems and strategies fail:
System only works for one currency pair: usually a bad sign. A logic and robust system will work on all or most currency pairs, of course will work better in some and worse in others, but should still work. Working on 1 or 2 currency pairs usually means the system is curve fitted, or is only able to trade in specific currency conditions, as soon as the currency change its behavior it will stop working. Our system trades 6 different pairs with consistent results. We choose the mix based on correlation between the pairs, daily swap paid and historical drawdowns.
Systems with +90% of win rate: is very difficult to obtain those results if not curve fitted or only few samples in the data. While newbies are attracted to this high win rate, usually means that as soon as the rate falls to 70% or 80% the win/loss ratio is not enough for the system to maintain. Our system has a 65%-75% win rate, delivering robust results.
Small sample data backtested: amount of data and trading frequency must be relevant. If you find a system that in the past 3 years produced 20 trades is probably not too relevant from a statistic point of view. The more trades generated means more relevancy. Also 6 or 12 months of data is not enough, you need to test the system against years and years of data to show the consistency in different market conditions. Our system was generated with more than 8 years of past data, and more than 2000 trades in the analysis.
Subjective or emotional criteria involved: very common problem. In the past is always easy to guess what "was" the best action to take, as the old saying reads ...hindsight is always 20/20. However, in real time emotions make it hard to take the right decision. Our system has no emotional or subjective criteria to generate the trades.
Not considering the impact of spreads and swaps: a pip here and there in every trade weights towards the end of year. Spread is where the broker makes it cut, so they must be factored in the system. Swap/Interest plays an important role, use them to your advantage. All our pairs are swap/interest positive, meaning that for every day holding the trades you will receive positive interest. Consider it as a bonus for holding the trades a few days.
Not considering real drawdown: in order to know your capital requirements you must know the system drawdown figure. Always stay in control of your account, that means never overeager it. When you over leverage it you pass the control of your account to the market swings and the broker who may liquidate your account if you margin falls below the requirements. You can trade our with low leverage, adjust the margin to your risk tolerance and depending if you trade more systems at the same time in your account.
We suggest to trade all pairs, since winners and losers will tend to compensate. However, is important to understand each pair characteristic and how they impact the system. We choose to show ALL available performance history, and not just the latest months. As much information as possible help our customers to make better decisions:
Stats for the latest 8 years for the six pairs traded by PipsExpert:
EUR/USD

Number of lots per trade
2
Profit Factor
3.85
Win Rate
77%
Avg Days in Trade
2
Worst drawdown (pips)
419
Comments
One of the most stable, liquid and consistent trading pair for PipsExpert system. If you prefer to start with only one pair then Eur/Usd would be the best choice. While interest/swap received is low, its usually a very stable pair.


GBP/CHF

Number of lots per trade
1
Profit Factor
2.56
Win Rate
81%
Avg Days in Trade
4
Worst drawdown (pips)
780
Comments
Another steady performer and excellent swap/interest paid for holding it. Is more volatile than Eur/Usd but also more profitable. Be aware that this pair, like Gbp/Jpy, is the choice for carry traders. That means when market conditions start to get volatile this pair will move according.

Forex System Trading Formula

If You Would Like The Secret Forex System Trading Formula That Only A Handful Of Trader's Know About, Then Here's Your Shortcut Guide To Forex Trading Success!

Fact: The Forex is by far the largest & most liquid market in the world. With over 1.4 trillion dollars traded & 100:1 leverage…You need to read this article!

If you already know only a little about Forex System Trading click the link above... If you don't know anything about Forex trading, I recommend you first read the article below:Forex, short for foreign exchange, is trading where the commodity is not stocks or shares, but currency.
Not only does this market trade 24 hours, but the daily volume exceeds $1.4 trillion, making it the largest and most liquid market in the world. Unlike other financial markets, the forex market has no physical location or central exchange. It is an over-the-counter market where buyers and sellers including banks, corporations, and private investors conduct business.
Foreign exchange trading takes place in financial trading centers all over the world, including New York, London, and Tokyo creating one cohesive, international market. The huge number and diversity of players involved make it difficult for even governments to control the direction of the market. The unmatched liquidity and around-the-clock global activity make forex the ideal market for active traders.
In the forex market currencies are always priced in pairs; therefore all trades result in the simultaneous buying of one currency and the selling of another. The trick in the black art that is Forex System Trading is accurately forecasting the direction of the fluctuation between two currencies. So how do you make money withForex System Trading?For example, suppose you had $100 and bought Euros when the exchange rate was two Euros to the dollar. You would then have 200 Euros. If the value of Euros against the US dollar increased then you would sell (exchange) your Euros for dollars and have more dollars than you started with. This scenario, simple as it is, is the nub of Forex trading – buying and selling currency when exchange rates move in the right direction.
Now, all this sound fine and dandy,but what are the risks of Forex System Trading? Surprisingly, compared with other money market trades, the sheer scale of the Forex market ensures greater price stability and better leverage. With built-in protection in the form of automatic limits for buying and selling, safety margins and other risk protection measures the likelihood of ending up in the red even when the Forex market is volatile is infinitely reduced. But all Forex traders should note that the market is one of the most liquid around and subject to strong currency trends. While leverage figures of 100:1 are often times quoted, without adequate risk protection in place the pendulum swing between profit and loss can be stark. Even veteran Forex System traders can be caught out and take large hits from time to time. With this type of investor speculation, the golden rule must be: don’t risk what you can’t afford to lose.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

forex trading news

New Forex Search Engine ForexSearchEngine.net is the first search engine that has been designed to focus on information for forex traders. If you want to learn forex or you want to find a forex cour...

As they say currency markets don't get much sleep and how could they when they have to handle trillion of dollars everyday. Yes, currency trading is by far the biggest and perhaps the most interesting investment market in the world. In the past years, making use of mechanical currency trading systems has really picked up. These currency trading systems actually allow traders to analyze and predict movements in the markets.

This may sound obvious but many traders simply don't know and lose.
Lets find out exactly what moves prices and why and how you can take advantage.
Understand the following equation
Supply and Demand Fundamentals + Trader Psychology = Price movement
Prices are not simply a tug of war between supply and demand. As humans we put a value on the market and this is the unpredictable part of the equation.
When considering trader psychology keep in mind that it is humans that determine the price of anything, based upon how they see the facts.
Why is this important?
It's important because its humans that drive prices, with the emotions of greed and fear to the fore. It is the human element that you need to consider when trading the markets.
So how do you do it?
The obvious answer in FOREX trading is to use a system based upon technical analysis, simply follow charts and let them tell you which way prices will go.
As with today's fundamentals are instantly discounted in the price the news and data wont help you - understanding trader psychology will.
Technical analysis acts as a way of studying the fundamentals, as it assumes that all the fundamentals are discounted by the market and will show up instantly in price action.
Charts do something much more - they show up the long term repetitiveness of human nature.
Unpredictable in the short term, but over the longer term certain reliable chart patterns can be spotted that are a reflection of repetitive human psychology.
Now consider this:
Each trillions of dollars are traded in the markets, by numerous participants and while in the short term these participants can be unpredictable, in the longer term human nature is constant and chart patterns repeat.
How to trade
When trading don't fall for the day trading story.
All short term moves are random and you can prove this by asking any day trader for a long term track record of REAL profits made in trading.
Ask for one and you won't get one.
Many new traders try and trade short term but as you can see above its why they lose.
You need to trade longer term and we would suggest using the weekly chart to spot the long term trend ( currency trends tend to last for months or even years) and then time your entry on the daily chart.
If you understand what we have just discussed you will see that a long term technical approach to trading is the best way to make long term profits from Forex trading.

Japan to watch 'with interest' China's new forex system: MOF

Japan to watch 'with interest' China's new forex system: MOF

The Japanese government will watch ''with interest'' how China runs its newly adopted managed float system for the yuan, China's currency, a senior Finance Ministry official said Monday.
Vice Finance Minister Koichi Hosokawa said at a news conference China's scrapping of its fixed exchange system Thursday was an ''appropriate measure'' given the country's growing clout in the global economy.
The People's Bank of China said Thursday it scrapped the yuan's 11-year-old peg to the U.S. dollar, allowing the yuan, also known as renminbi, to float against a basket of other currencies.
The yuan was revalued to 8.11 to the dollar from the fixed rate of 8.28.

Critics had said the dollar-peg kept the yuan artificially low, giving Chinese exports an unfair trade advantage.

Monday, November 12, 2007

forex books

Technical Analysis Applications in the Global Currency Marketsby Cornelius Luca
Now updated and revised with all new charts and key information on the euro. The introduction of the euro and the recent explosion of electronic trading has changed the outlook of the foreign exchange market dramatically. Global currency trading offers staggering rewards for those with the knowledge to capitalize on it.
This updated guide provides an easy-to-follow roadmap for beginners and experienced traders alike on how to use technical analysis-with revised charts and graphs-to cash in on these enormous opportunities.
The only guide of its kind to focus solely on all aspects of technical analysis, Luca explains and illustrates:
* The fundamentals of technical analysis and how it applies to foreign exchange What one must learn about trends and trend patterns* How the major players in foreign exchange analyze their charts* The quantitative methods of analysis-including all types of moving averages, oscillators, and other indicators
This book provides a thorough, yet easy-to-grasp explanation and analysis of point and figure charting, candlestick charting, the Gann methods, and the Elliot Wave principle. Also included is an updated CD-ROM that lets readers test the methods presented and apply them to real trading-and quickly increase proficiency in charting and chart analysis.

An Introduction to Foreign Exchange & Money Marketsby UK London Reuters Limited
A new concept in financial education training - The Reuters Financial Training Series: An Introduction to Foreign Exchange & Money Markets, will guide novices through the intricacies of the world's wealthiest capital exchange markets. This book sets out to give a clear understanding of how and why these markets function, and explains the associated jargon. Readers will be able to take a more detailed look at Money Market and Foreign Exchange instruments and will be able to examine, in particular, the parameters which must be defined in order to place a value on these instruments, together with basic valuation techniques.

Currency Strategyby Callum Henderson
Currency Strategy develops new techniques and explains classic tools available for predicting, managing, and optimizing fluctuations in the currency markets. Author Callum Henderson shows readers how traditional macroeconomic theory has repeatedly failed in the face of practical experience in these markets and develops a new approach based on experience. He draws on the technical expertise of his bank to develop mathematical models to assist in the prediction of crises and gives practical advice on how to use these and other tools successfully.

Currency Tradingby Philip Gotthelf
The first and last word on trading within currency markets. Expert trading veteran Philip Gotthelf provides the first comprehensive guide to currency speculation aimed toward the average investor. Combining fundamental and technical analysis, this book teaches traders how to take advantage of fluctuations within the currency markets and capture enormous gains. Currency Trading takes the latest developments in the FOREX market and provides readers with a complete trading plan.

forex business

For the last three decades Foreign Exchange market - briefly Forex or FX, had integrated into the world's biggest financial market. The volume of daily transactions is about 1-3 trillion of US dollars. The trading instruments on this market are the currencies of different countries, so the fluctuation of currency's rates allows to gain a real profit.
Of course monetary assets of different countries exchanged since the term money appeared as well as an idea to obtain profit from currency's rates difference. Now it is not a new idea, but the transformation of foreign exchange market to the modern stage with an opportunity to conduct conversional operations of such volumes arose only after an introduction of floating rates regime by the state-members of IMF. Within this regime's framework the rate of one currency to another is defining only by the supply and demand on the market.
Presently Forex market is a global telecommunication network of banks and different financial organizations. It does not have any fixed trading place and time restrictions - the trade starts on Monday morning in New Zealand and closes on Friday evening in USA
The advantages of Forex market are:
Round-the-clock trading access: the ability to trade for 24 hours a day;
Liquidity: the market works with a huge money and gives the customers complete freedom to open or close their position of different volume;
Leverage: an ability to use leverage. It decreases requirements to the sum of the initial deposit (margin trade). So in case you deposit 10 000 USD into your account you'd have an opportunity to work with 1 000 000 USD (leverage 1:100);
Objectivity: no exterior regulated structures, so the currency's rate is establishing in accordance with current supply and demand on the market;
Globality: everyone can become a market participant irrespective to the living place, as trading requires only your skills and Internet access.
At present mostly all the operations on the market are conducting only to obtain profit. With the development of Internet and other means of communication this sector of the financial markets becomes more accessible and attractive for the investors of different levels.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Euro Zone..

The Euro Zone:
The Euro Zone comprises the following countries:
Austria
Belgium
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Ireland
Italy
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Portugal
Slovenia
Spain
Thus 13 of the Member States of the European Internal Market have adopted the Euro.
Monaco, San Marino, and Vatican City also use the Euro, although they are not officially Euro members nor members of the EU. These countries use the Euro by virtue of agreements concluded with EU member states (Italy in the case of San Marino and Vatican City, France in the case of Monaco), on behalf of the European Community.
Conversion rates:
1 Euro= 13.7603 Austrian schillings= 40.3399 Belgian francs= 5.94573 Finnish markka= 6.55957 French francs= 1.95583 German marks= 340.750 Greek drachmas= 0.787564 Irish pounds= 1 936.27 Italian lire= 40.3399 Luxembourg francs= 2.20371 Dutch guilders= 200.482 Portuguese escudos= 239.64 Slovenian tolars= 166.386 Spanish pesetas(The Euro replaced the ECU at the rate of 1 Euro = 1 ECU )

UKForex Foreign Exchange Services

About UKForex Foreign Exchange Services
UkForex Limited is the UK subsidiary of OzForex, Australia's largest online foreign exchange provider that operates dealing rooms in Sydney and London. Offering seamless 24 hour access to Corporate and Private Client Dealers, UKForex and OzForex complete over 60,000 funds transfers per year on behalf of Clients. The company employs a blend of technology and tailored customer service to bring a better deal to smaller customers. UKForex uses the Internet and technology to provide 'on demand' information and dealing facilities, and focuses on delivering a 'high touch' approach to customer service which makes our service unique in the online financial services industry. OzForex was launched in April 1998 to provide customers with better and more efficient foreign exchange services than offered by the banks. OzForex now operates in the Australian, UK and NZ markets and has become one of the world's leading online foreign exchange services, with over 300,000 visitors per month and more than 11,000 transacting customers globally. UKForex's ever-growing client base includes small and medium-sized businesses that import and export goods, as well as migrants transferring financial assets, expatriates repatriating funds, and individuals investing overseas. OzForex was recently officially recognised as one of Australia's fastest growing companies with a ranking of 6th place in the 2005 BRW Fast 100 awards. OzForex also received 5th place in the recent 2005 Deloitte Technology Fast 50 awards. UKForex Limited holds a certificate of registration for Money Laundering Regulation (MLR). Registration number: 12219180.

JObs in UK

We're Hiring!
UKForex's approach is to deliver the highest level of service by hiring customer focused people and operating innovative and efficient business systems that ensure we can offer customers the best deal in terms of price and service.

Office Assistant (x1)
UKForex is looking for a enthusiastic individual with great communication skills and an eye for detail to join our team in London. As part of the Australian based OzForex group, UKForex are fast becoming the UK’s leading online foreign exchange services provider. As such we now require a fulltime Office Assistant to help support our London based dealing team. An eye for detail, initiative and the ability to form good working relationships are essential. You must also possess a friendly phone manner and be willing to work in a fast paced environment. Previous office experience in not necessary but would be an advantage. For a conscientious employee this role could form the starting point for a career in the finance industry. Salary range: £12-15K
Location: London
Corporate Dealer (x1)
UKForex is looking for a dynamic and efficient individual with superb telephone skills to join our team in London. You will possess a positive manner and be able to work unsupervised. Responsibilities:
Anticipate and meet the needs of customers
Clearly explain UKForex services to new customers
Efficiently handle customer enquires
Respond to written enquiries
Build on our reputation for great customer serviceSkills:
Have integrity and a good work ethic
Excellent written and oral communications skills
Dedicated to customer service
Great process management and multi-tasking abilities
Excellent computer skills
Be a detail orientated person
Knowledge of foreign exchange or banking an advantage
Location: London

Trend Watch