The foreign currency exchange market offers today's investor many advantages and here are just reasons why you might want to become a world currency trader.
A Market Which Never Closes
Many of the trading markets around the world are situated in fixed locations and operate within strict trading hours, often limited to just five or six hours a day between Monday and Friday. The Forex market however is open 24 hours a day.
This means that traders can not only take advantage of international events and react literally as they happen, but they also have the ability set their own trading hours. If you prefer to work in the mornings then that's fine but, if this doesn't suit you, then you can choose to trade during the afternoon, late evening or even in the middle of the night if you want to.
Low Trading Costs
In many markets, like the equity market, traders not only have to pay a spread (the difference in price between buying and selling a stock) but also have to pay a commission to the broker. On small trades this commission can typically be about $20 and this can rise rapidly to over $100 for larger trades.
Because the foreign currency exchange market is a wholly electronic market many of the traditional trading costs are eliminated and you are in affect reduced to paying nothing more than the spread. In addition, the extremely liquid nature of the global currency exchange market means that spreads are normally much tighter than those seen in other markets.
The Ability To Trade On High Leverage
In most markets where a trader has an opportunity to trade on leverage the leverage offered is often quite low. In the case of equity markets, for example, professional equity day traders will normally operate on a leverage of about ten times their capital. In the Forex market by contrast it is quite common to find that traders are permitted to trade at one hundred to two hundred times their capital.
A downside of high leverage is that it can of course lead to high losses as well as high gains. However, within the foreign currency market, risk management is extremely tightly controlled.
Limited Slippage
In currency trading trades are executed immediately using real-time prices at which firms will buy or sell the currencies quoted. In almost all cases this means that the price you see and the price you pay are the same.
This is not often the case in other markets where there can be often considerable delays between placing an order and that order being executed during which time the price will often move against you.
The Chance To Profit In Both Rising And Falling Markets.
Equity markets follow rising and falling trends (cycling between Bull and Bear markets), but the Forex market does not suffer this cycling which comes from structural bias in the market.
World currency trading always involves two currencies so that if you are down on one currency then you are up on the other. There is therefore always the potential for making a profit whether the market is rising or falling.
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Tuesday, October 28, 2008
The 4 Elements Of Any Good Trading Market
The foreign exchange market (forex market or fx market) is the world's largest market and consists largely of the forex spot market (spot foreign exchange market) and the currency futures market. Today however the majority of smaller traders tend to confine themselves to trading spot forex.
There are four elements which must be present in any good financial market, whether you are trading in the stock, bond, futures, currency market or any other market. These four elements are liquidity, transparency, low trading costs and market trends.
Liquidity
There are always two sides to a trade, a purchase and a sale, and in its simplest form liquidity refers to the ease with which traders can buy and sell. To be truly liquid traders must also be able to trade in substantial volume without this having any marked effect on prices.
If a market lacks liquidity then traders will often encounter delays in meeting orders to buy, frequently leading to a significant variation between the price when an order is placed and when it is executed. In addition, it may be hard to sell in a market that is not sufficiently liquid.
Fortunately the currency exchange market (especially when trading in major world currencies such as the USD and GBP) is extremely liquid and a huge number of trades are conducted each day on the Forex money market with a trading volume that far exceeds that of other markets.
Transparency
A market is said to possess transparency when traders can access accurate information at all stages of the trading process.
Information is the key to many things in life and the world's various markets are no exception. There are many examples, especially in the world stock markets, of companies and individuals which have run into difficulty because the parties to a trade did not have access to accurate information.
The foreign currency exchange market is without doubt the world's most transparent market and this is especially true when it comes to pricing.
Low Trading Costs
Markets carry trading costs which inevitably lower a trader's profits or increase his losses. However, when a market can keep its trading costs low it becomes attractive to traders and encourages both an increased number of trades and an greater trading volume.
The absence of commission and other usual trading costs, together with the tight spread of prices, in currency trading mean that trading costs in the Forex market are kept very low.
Market Trends
In many markets it can be difficult to know just when to enter the market and when to exit it (when to 'buy' and when to 'sell'). As a result, it is important to have some way of assessing the present state of a market and to predict its future direction.
In the foreign currency exchange market this is achieved by employing various forms of technical analysis which examine the past performance of the market and identify trends which can then be used to predict its future.
Most markets display trends of one form or another, but in some markets these are far more clearly defined than in others, making it far easier for traders to enter and exit the market. The foreign currency market displays a particularly strong trending characteristic.
There are four elements which must be present in any good financial market, whether you are trading in the stock, bond, futures, currency market or any other market. These four elements are liquidity, transparency, low trading costs and market trends.
Liquidity
There are always two sides to a trade, a purchase and a sale, and in its simplest form liquidity refers to the ease with which traders can buy and sell. To be truly liquid traders must also be able to trade in substantial volume without this having any marked effect on prices.
If a market lacks liquidity then traders will often encounter delays in meeting orders to buy, frequently leading to a significant variation between the price when an order is placed and when it is executed. In addition, it may be hard to sell in a market that is not sufficiently liquid.
Fortunately the currency exchange market (especially when trading in major world currencies such as the USD and GBP) is extremely liquid and a huge number of trades are conducted each day on the Forex money market with a trading volume that far exceeds that of other markets.
Transparency
A market is said to possess transparency when traders can access accurate information at all stages of the trading process.
Information is the key to many things in life and the world's various markets are no exception. There are many examples, especially in the world stock markets, of companies and individuals which have run into difficulty because the parties to a trade did not have access to accurate information.
The foreign currency exchange market is without doubt the world's most transparent market and this is especially true when it comes to pricing.
Low Trading Costs
Markets carry trading costs which inevitably lower a trader's profits or increase his losses. However, when a market can keep its trading costs low it becomes attractive to traders and encourages both an increased number of trades and an greater trading volume.
The absence of commission and other usual trading costs, together with the tight spread of prices, in currency trading mean that trading costs in the Forex market are kept very low.
Market Trends
In many markets it can be difficult to know just when to enter the market and when to exit it (when to 'buy' and when to 'sell'). As a result, it is important to have some way of assessing the present state of a market and to predict its future direction.
In the foreign currency exchange market this is achieved by employing various forms of technical analysis which examine the past performance of the market and identify trends which can then be used to predict its future.
Most markets display trends of one form or another, but in some markets these are far more clearly defined than in others, making it far easier for traders to enter and exit the market. The foreign currency market displays a particularly strong trending characteristic.
The History Of Forex Trading
Currency trading can trace its history back to the middle ages when international merchant banker devised the system of using bills of exchange. It is however changes which have occurred during the twentieth century which have really shaped trading in the global currency market we see today.
In the 1930s the British pound was considered to be the world's principle trading currency and was the currency held by many countries as their main 'reserve' currency. London was also seen as the world's leading foreign exchange center.
Following the Second World War however the British economy was all but destroyed and so the United States dollar took over as the world's major trading and reserve currency - a position which it still holds today. This said however there are now a number of other currencies, including the Japanese Yen and the Euro, which are also beginning to be seen as major reserve currencies.
It was also following the Second World War that a number of events took place which have been instrumental in shaping today's Forex market.
The first of these was the conclusion of the Bretton Woods Accord in 1944 in which the United States, Britain and France agreed that they would stabilize world currency markets by pegging the major world trading currencies to the US dollar (which was itself pegged to the price of gold). This accord held that when the price of a currency fluctuated by more than one percent against the US dollar then the central bank of the country in question had to step in and buy or sell the currency to bring it back into its one percent bracket.
The Accord also spawned the establishment of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which was designed to produce a stable system for the sale and purchase of currencies and to ensure that international currency transactions were conducted smoothly and in a timely fashion.
The IMF also created a consultative forum aimed at both promoting international co-operation and facilitating the growth of world trade. At the same time it also broke down many of the exchange restrictions which were hindering international trade.
The IMF was also tasked with making financial resources available to member states on a temporary basis where this was felt to be necessary in furtherance of the aims of the IMF. Loans were normally only made only on condition that the government of the country to which a loan was made undertook to make substantial changes to rectify the situation which had given rise to the need for the loan.
Without any doubt however the most significant events as far as the Forex market is concerned was seen when the IMF proposed that currencies should become 'free-floating' in 1978. This allowed currencies to be traded at a price which was determined solely by the law of supply and demand and that there was no longer any requirement for currencies to be pegged to the dollar or for central banks to intervene in currency trading. Central banks could of course continue to intervene if they wished to do so, but any intervention would be entirely a matter of choice and would no longer be a requirement as it had been under the Bretton Woods Accord.
The next significant event in the history of Forex trading was the birth of the European Monetary System which effectively came into being in 1979. The European Monetary System got off to something of a shaky start when Britain did not join the system, although she did later participate to a degree by joining the European Monetary System's exchange mechanism in 1990.
The final major event to affect the Forex market was the establishment of the Euro as the European Union's single currency in 1998 with eleven member states replacing their national currency with the Euro.
Above all else however it was the free-floating of currencies in 1978 which accelerated the growth of the foreign currency market. Back in 1978 Forex trading displayed a daily turnover of around 5 billion US dollars but, by the turn of this century, that figure had risen to 1.5 trillion US dollars.
In the 1930s the British pound was considered to be the world's principle trading currency and was the currency held by many countries as their main 'reserve' currency. London was also seen as the world's leading foreign exchange center.
Following the Second World War however the British economy was all but destroyed and so the United States dollar took over as the world's major trading and reserve currency - a position which it still holds today. This said however there are now a number of other currencies, including the Japanese Yen and the Euro, which are also beginning to be seen as major reserve currencies.
It was also following the Second World War that a number of events took place which have been instrumental in shaping today's Forex market.
The first of these was the conclusion of the Bretton Woods Accord in 1944 in which the United States, Britain and France agreed that they would stabilize world currency markets by pegging the major world trading currencies to the US dollar (which was itself pegged to the price of gold). This accord held that when the price of a currency fluctuated by more than one percent against the US dollar then the central bank of the country in question had to step in and buy or sell the currency to bring it back into its one percent bracket.
The Accord also spawned the establishment of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which was designed to produce a stable system for the sale and purchase of currencies and to ensure that international currency transactions were conducted smoothly and in a timely fashion.
The IMF also created a consultative forum aimed at both promoting international co-operation and facilitating the growth of world trade. At the same time it also broke down many of the exchange restrictions which were hindering international trade.
The IMF was also tasked with making financial resources available to member states on a temporary basis where this was felt to be necessary in furtherance of the aims of the IMF. Loans were normally only made only on condition that the government of the country to which a loan was made undertook to make substantial changes to rectify the situation which had given rise to the need for the loan.
Without any doubt however the most significant events as far as the Forex market is concerned was seen when the IMF proposed that currencies should become 'free-floating' in 1978. This allowed currencies to be traded at a price which was determined solely by the law of supply and demand and that there was no longer any requirement for currencies to be pegged to the dollar or for central banks to intervene in currency trading. Central banks could of course continue to intervene if they wished to do so, but any intervention would be entirely a matter of choice and would no longer be a requirement as it had been under the Bretton Woods Accord.
The next significant event in the history of Forex trading was the birth of the European Monetary System which effectively came into being in 1979. The European Monetary System got off to something of a shaky start when Britain did not join the system, although she did later participate to a degree by joining the European Monetary System's exchange mechanism in 1990.
The final major event to affect the Forex market was the establishment of the Euro as the European Union's single currency in 1998 with eleven member states replacing their national currency with the Euro.
Above all else however it was the free-floating of currencies in 1978 which accelerated the growth of the foreign currency market. Back in 1978 Forex trading displayed a daily turnover of around 5 billion US dollars but, by the turn of this century, that figure had risen to 1.5 trillion US dollars.
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