Friday, March 25, 2011

What Kind of Stop-Loss Order Should a Trader Use?

The great headway of a non-numerical stop-loss order is its partial immunity to price swings. If the trader has confidence significance his analysis, and is satisfied that standing uncompromising in the face of market volatility is sensible further acceptable inured the major dynamics and currents clout the market, maintaining positions hush up non-numerical stop loss orders can act for advisable besides lucrative. In order to complete the inevitable great swings leadership account value, proficient managers will implement hedging strategies in addition to money management methods, to direct and minimize the volatility of the portfolio. Thus, even if the bonkers stop triggers a large drawn down in our position, we duty minimize the effect on the portfolio now diversifying further distributing the risk among various currency pairs.
A volatility stop depends on volatility indicators, such over the VIX for determining the annihilation speck for the trade. owing to such, market panics and shocks entrust set up the order to put on executed, but mere fee fluctuations in the currency market which loss their counterpart leadership other asset classes will be ignored for the most representation. The trader who utilizes a volatility stop expresses the opinion that unless a major, unexpected shock hits the market, his position should be constrained regardless of the behavior of the markets. This is a supplementary risky strategy than the justice stop, but can be profitable and valid depending on tout conditions and the economic environment. In general, evident is doubtful that a volatility stop can be plenty useful in a overly nervous further volatile market. But it could perform very helpful network maintaining a long-term position where venture perception is low.
Both the disadvantage, and the advantage of the equity stop is its inflexibility. The correction stop provides a very solid criterion over deciding on the success or failure of a different trade, over there’s no way of being deceptive about an account in the red. On the other hand, the same inflexibility may discourage the trade from functioning because expected. The markets are volatile, again a bag that has a totally valid cause behind it may yet be invalidated by the random fluctuations that are not predictable.
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Sunday, March 20, 2011

Economic indicators

The Gross National Product (GNP). The Gross National Product measures the economic performance of the whole economy. This indicator consists, at macro scale, of the sum of consumption spending, investment spending, government spending, and net trade. The gross national product refers to the
sum of all goods and services produced by United States residents, either in the United States or abroad.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The Gross Domestic Product refers to the sum of all goods and services produced in the United States, either by domestic or foreign companies. The differences between the two are nominal in the case of the economy of the United States. GDP figures are more
popular outside the United States. In order to make it easier to compare the performances of different
economies, the United States also releases GDP figures.

Consumption Spending. Consumption is made possible by personal income and discretionary income. The decision by consumers to spend or to save is psychological in nature. Consumer confidence is also measured as an important indicator of the propensity of consumers who have discretionary income to switch from saving to buying.

Investment Spending. Investment or gross private domestic spending — consists of fixed investment and inventories.

Government Spending. Government spending is very influential in terms of both sheer size and its
impact on other economic indicators, due to special expenditures. For instance, United States military
expenditures had a significant role in total U.S. employment until 1990. The defense cuts that occurred at the time increased unemployment figures in the short run.

Net Trade. Net trade is another major component of the GNP. Worldwide internationalization and
the economic and political developments since 1980 have had a sharp impact on the United States' ability to compete overseas. The U.S. trade deficit of the past decades has slowed down the overall GNP. GNP can be approached in two ways: flow of product and flow of cost.

Friday, March 18, 2011

FOREX Internet Trade

A FOREX Internet trader does not have to speak with a broker by telephone. The elimination of the middleman (broker salesman) lowers expenses and makes the process of entering an order faster and has eliminated the possibility for misunderstanding.

Execution Costs: Unlike other markets, the FOREX does not charge commissions. The cost of a trade is represented in a Bid/Ask spread established by the broker. (Approximately 4 pips)

Trendiness: Over long and short historical periods, currencies have demonstrated substantial and identifiable trends. Each individual currency has its own “personality,” and each offers a unique historical pattern of trends, providing diversified trading opportunities within the spot FOREX market.
     
Focus: Instead of attempting to choose a stock, bond, mutual fund or commodity from the tens of thousands available in those markets, FOREX traders generally focus on I to 4 currencies. The most common and most liquid are the Japanese Yen, British Pound, Swiss Franc and the new EURO. Highly successful traders have always focused on a limited number of investment options. Beginning FOREX traders usually will focus on one currency and later incorporate one to three more into their trading activities.

Margin Accounts: Trading on the FOREX requires a margin account. You are committing to trade and take positions today. As a speculator trader you will not be taking delivery on your product that you are trading. As a Stock Day Trader, you will only hold a trading position for a few minutes to a few hours, and then you need to close out your position by the end of the trading session.
All orders must be placed through a broker. To trade stocks you will need a stockbroker and to trade currencies you will need a Forex currency broker. Most brokerage firms have different margin requirements. You need to ask them their margin requirements to trade stocks and currencies.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

A spot transaction

A spot transaction is a straightforward exchange of one currency for another. The spot rate is the current market price, which is also called the “benchmark price”. Spot transactions do not require immediate settlement, or payment “on the spot”. The settlement date, or “value date” is the second business day after the “deal date” (or “trade date”) on which the transaction is agreed by the trader and market maker. The two-day period provides time to confirm the agreement and to arrange the clearing and necessary debiting and crediting of bank accounts in various international locations.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Leverage

Leveraged financing is a common practice in Forex trading, and allows traders to use credit, such as a trade purchased on margin, to maximize returns. Collateral for the loan/leverage in the margined account is provided by the initial deposit. This can create the opportunity to control USD 100,000 for as little as USD 1,000.

There are five ways private investors can trade in Forex, directly or indirectly:
• The spot market
• Forwards and futures
• Options
• Contracts for difference
• Spread betting

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Prices, Quotes and Indications


The price of a currency (in terms of the counter currency), is called “Quote”. There are two kinds of quotes in the Forex market:
Direct Quote: the price for 1 US dollar in terms of the other currency, e.g. –Japanese Yen, Canadian dollar, etc.
Indirect Quote: the price of 1 unit of a currency in terms of US dollars, e.g. –British pound, euro.
The market maker provides the investor with a quote. The quote is the price the market maker will honor when the deal is executed. This is unlike an indication” by the market maker, which informs the trader about the market price level, but is not the final rate for a deal.
Cross rates – any quote which is not against the US dollar is called “cross”. For example, GBP/JPY is a cross rate, since it is calculated via the US dollar. Here is how the GBP/JPY rate is calculated:

GBP/USD = 1.7464;
USD/JPY = 112.29;

Therefore:  GBP/JPY = 112.29 x 1.7464 = 196.10.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

The “majors” and the “exotics”


In forex trading “parlance” there are 6 “major” trades, they comprise over 70% of trading:-
€ / US$; 28.2%
US$/ JPY; 16.7%
£ / US$; 13.8%
A$ / US$; 5.1%
US$/ C$: 4.4%
US$/ SwF; 4.0%
Other trades involving the US$ account for 16.5% of trading.
 “Minor” currencies are usually those of developing countries including Russia, Brazil, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico. The annual traded volumes of these currencies are around 6-10x annual the respective GNP. 
“Exotic” currencies are currencies that are thinly traded outside their own countries. The Thai baht is a good example of a currency traded mainly between neighbouring countries reflecting physical trade in goods. The Thai baht considered exotic because it trades only low volumes in international markets.
The difference between trading the majors and the exotics is largely in the “spread”. For the very liquid majors, the spread ie the difference between the buying and selling price is very small. However for the exotics, the difference between buying and selling price can be quite large.
The size of the spread is a key factor. For an investor to profit, the position has to “get though the spread” i.e. move in the investors favour by an amount larger than the spread. Hence it is easier to profit from engaging in major trades than in the exotics.

What is “Forex trading”?


“Forex” (foreign exchange) is the buying or selling of overseas currencies. “Forex trading” can be an extremely lucrative business. Famously wealthy currency speculators include Joe Lewis and George Soros. These guys have made fortunes identifying currency trends and anticipating market movements! When we buy overseas goods in local shops, or buy petrol or go abroad, we are part of a currency exchange. The retailer has acquired goods from a wholesaler, who has acquired the goods from a local or EU distributor. Somewhere in this process of goods changing hands, currency trading has been employed as the tool of international trade. The management of currencies is the task of the country’s central bank and/or the Government. There are many forex market participants, including banks, brokers, multi-national companies and investment institutions. Since the relaxation of UK exchange controls in 1979 individuals have been active in the forex market.
Currency dealing or “forex” dealing/ trading takes place in every major city in the world. Major forex centres are London, New York, Tokyo and Sydney. London is the world’s biggest centre for foreign exchange trading worth $3,000bn per day. Forex dealing is popular because it is a highly liquid, transparent market open 24 hours and uses standard terms that are easily understandable. These days forex dealing is so easy you can trade from your own home computer! You can use leverage to increase your exposure to market movements. Forex dealing offers flexibility in that the investor is able to take a more intuitive approach.