Monday, November 06, 2006

Why trade Forex?
There are many benefits and advantages to trading forex. Here are just a few reasons why so many people are choosing this market:

A 24-hour market
There is no waiting for the opening bell. One of the major advantages of trading forex is the opportunity to trade 24 hours a day from Sunday 5:00pm ET to Friday 4:00pm ET. This is very desirable for those who want to trade on a part-time basis, because you can choose when you want to trade--morning, noon or night.

No one can corner the market
The forex market is so huge and has so many participants that no single entity, not even a central bank, can control the market price for an extended period of time. Even interventions by central banks are becoming increasingly ineffective and short-lived. Central banks are becoming less and less inclined to intervene to manipulate market prices.

Superior liquidity
The forex market is so liquid that there are always buyers and sellers to trade with. The liquidity of this market, especially that of the major currencies, helps ensure price stability and narrow spreads. The liquidity comes mainly from banks that provide liquidity to investors, companies, institutions and other currency market players.

Leverage
In forex trading, a small margin deposit can control a much larger total contract value. Leverage gives the trader the ability to make extraordinary profits and at the same time keep risk capital to a minimum. For example, forex brokers offer 200 to 1 leverage, which means that a $50 dollar margin deposit would enable a trader to buy or sell $10,000 worth of currencies. Similarly, with $500 dollars, one could trade with $100,000 dollars and so on. But leverage is a double-edged sword. Without proper risk management, this high degree of leverage can lead to large losses as well as gains.

Profit potential in falling markets
Since the market is constantly moving, there are always trading opportunities, whether a currency is strengthening or weakening in relation to another currency. When you trade currencies, they literally work against each other. If the EUR/USD declines for example, it is because the U.S. dollar gets stronger against the Euro and vice versa. So, if you think the EUR/USD will decline (i.e. Euro will weaken versus the dollar), you would sell EUR now and then later you buy Euro back at a lower price and take your profits. The opposite trading scenario would occur if the EUR/USD appreciates.

Free demo accounts, charts, news, and analysis
Most online forex brokers offer free demo accounts to practice trading, along with breaking forex news and charting services. These are very valuable resources for “poor” traders who would like to hone their trading skills with 'virtual' money before opening a live trading account.

Mini trading
You would think that getting started as a currency trader would cost a lot of money. The fact is, it doesn't. You can open real forex mini account with as little as $250. This makes forex much more accessible to the average individual, who doesn't have a lot of start-up trading capital.

Monday, October 30, 2006

Which currencies are traded?

Any currency backed by an existing nation can be traded at the larger brokers. Forex currency symbols are always three letters, where the first two letters identify the name of the country and the third letter identifies the name of that country’s currency. The most popular currencies along with their symbols are below for your information:

Symbol Country Currency:
USD United States Dollar
EUR Euro members Euro
JPY Japan Yen
GBP Great Britain Pound
CHF Switzerland Franc
CAD Canada Dollar
AUD Australia Dollar

Currency pair terminology:
EUR/USD = Euro
GBP/USD = Cable or Sterling
USD/JPY = Dollar Yen
USD/CHF = Swissy
USD/CAD = Dollar Canada (CAD referrred to as the Loonie)
AUD/USD = Aussie Dollar
NZD/USD = Kiwi

Friday, October 27, 2006

What is the "Spread"?

What is the "Spread"?

The spread is the difference between the price that you can sell currency at (BID) and the price you can buy currency at (ASK). This spread is revealed when you compare the bid and the ask price. For example EUR/USD is quoted at a bid price of 1.2553 and an ask price of 1.2556. The difference is USD 0.0003, which is equal to 3 pips.

When trading Forex, you are quoted a dealing spread offering you a buying (ASK) and a selling (BID) level for your trade. Once you accept the offered price and receive confirmation from your broker, the trade is done. There is no need to call an exchange floor. There are no other delays. This is possible due to live streaming prices, which are also a great advantage in times of fast moving markets. You can see where the market is trading and you know whether your orders are filled or not.

What is a "PIP"?

What is a "PIP"?

A pip is the smallest increment a price moves and it determined the profit or loss.

For instance, the EUR/USD pair moves from 1.2500 to 1.2505 it has moved 5 pips up. When you have an open position, each up or down pip movement in the market price can be either a profit or a loss.

What are “long” or “short” positions?

What are “long” or “short” positions?

A long position is one in which you buy a currency at one price, with the expectation of selling it later on at a higher price. Obviously, you anticipate that the market will rise.

A short position is one in which you sell a currency with the expectation of buying it back at a lower price. Here, you expect the market to fall.

Every Forex position you take automatically entails going long in one currency, and short the other. If you buy one, by default you are shorting the other.

Entry Orders:

Buy Entry Limit order– Buy Below current market price
Buy Entry Stop order – Buy Above current market price
Sell Entry Limit order – Sell Above current market price
Sell Entry Stop order – Sell Below current market price


A market order is an order to buy or sell at the current market price. For example, EUR/USD is currently trading at 1.2540. If you wanted to buy at this exact price, you would click buy and your trading platform would instantly execute a buy order at that exact price.

Use appropriate stop-loss orders at all times to cut your losses. Almost every trader at some point makes the mistake of letting his or her losses run in hopes that the market will eventually turn around in his or her favor. More often than not it simply leads to an even greater loss. Simply learn to cut your losses. Cutting losses is painful for every trader. The ability to cut one’s losses in time is the sign of a seasoned trader. Using a stop is always the smart move. Avoid placing protective stops at obvious round numbers. Stops on long positions should be placed below round numbers (10, 20, 25, 50, 75) and on short positions above such numbers.

When I gain, who losses AND/OR when I loss, who gains?

When I gain, who losses AND/OR when I loss, who gains?

Currency trading is a zero sum game. A zero-sum game is a game where the amount lost by one or more players is equal to the amount gained by the other players. One trader’s winnings are another trader’s losses.

At Forexmentor.com, we equip the aspiring forex traders with the necessary tools and skills to turn trading into a career.

Do I need to have any special educational background in order to be successful trader?

Do I need to have any special educational background in order to be successful trader?

Not at all. Successful traders come from many different professions. Our popular Complete Home Study Forex Pivot Course and Mentorship Program will introduce you to all the essential aspects of foreign exchange in an easy-to-understand manner. Anyone can learn it. Trading has its own learning pace and curve. All you need is average intelligence to learn the course content and self-discipline to follow rules.

According to recent studies some of the poorest trading results based on previous profession are dentists, doctors, attorneys, engineers, accountants and computer programmers. That is not to say there are no trading success stories from these professions. These groups have certain psychological characteristics – they don’t want to be wrong. Engineers in particular don’t seem to deal well with chaos.

Younger traders often show a better track record then seasoned MBAs, who tend to want to back test and measure every move.

Some of the most successful traders are commercial airline pilots. Everything in their job points to success: getting a feel for the flight and the market at both the subconscious and conscious level; they are trained to deal with stressful situations; they follow rules.

As with any type of trading, there are no guarantees that you will make money or that you won’t make money. It is a smart choice to learn as much as you can about online Forex trading before investing any money and doing any trading. It’s amazing how many people simply don’t know what they are doing. In order to compete at the highest level in the trading business and be one of the few truly successful participants you must be well educated about what you are doing. So get the facts before you dive in.

What is Forex trading and what does it require?

What is Forex trading and what does it require?

Forex is short for foreign exchange. Forex trading is the simultaneous exchange of one countries currency for another countries currency. This is done simultaneously in hopes of gaining a profit. By doing so at the right times, you can gain a profit.

Forex trading, like anything else, requires certain education and skills in order to be successful. Most importantly, it requires education, practice, motivation, time and more practice! Many young eager traders jump in without a full understanding of the market and without enough knowledge to even execute a trade. You should never get into Forex trading without Forex trading education. With the proper Forex trading education, you can be on your way to making a tidy profit. As with anything in life, what you put in will determine what you get out.

There are two common mistakes that many beginner traders make:
  1. Trading without a strategy
  2. Letting emotions rule their decisions

After opening a Forex account it may be tempting to dive right in and start trading. Watching the movements of EUR/USD for example, you may feel that you are letting an opportunity pass you by, if you don't enter the market immediately. You buy and watch the market move against you. You panic and sell, only to see the market recover. This kind of undisciplined approach to Forex is guaranteed to lose you money. Forex traders need to have a rational trading strategy and not allow emotions to rule their trading decisions.

The two emotions prevalent in the above example are greed (entering the market immediately) and fear (selling when the market temporarily moves against you). Fear is the most ever-present of the trading emotions, followed in a close second by its partner, greed. Keep these two emotions out of your trading and you will see results.

The trader who lacks rules and guidelines is playing a losing game. Large organizations and educated traders approach the Forex with strategies, and if you hope to succeed as a Forex trader you must play by the same rules.

The lessons contained in our complete home study course will help you to learn all aspects of the Forex trading world in an easy to understand manner, as well as how professional traders make their money. Our trading system will empower you to trade any currency pair. With the right forex training, you will soon be on your way to a profitable way to supplement your income.