Charting The Forex

First what is Forex: The FOREX or Foreign Exchange market is the largest financial market in the world, with an volume of more than $1.5 trillion daily, dealing in currencies. Unlike other financial markets, the Forex market has no physical location, no central exchange. It operates through an electronic network of banks, corporations and individuals trading one currency for another.

The Forex, or foreign currency exchange, is all about money. Money from all over the world is bought, sold and traded. On the Forex, anyone can buy and sell currency and with possibly come out ahead in the end. When dealing with the foreign currency exchange, it is possible to buy the currency of one country, sell it and make a profit. For example, a broker might buy a Japanese yen when the yen to dollar ratio increases, then sell the yens and buy back American dollars for a profit.

When learning to read forex charts, remember that there are two basic approaches for online forex trading. They are fundamental analysis and technical analysis. Fundamental analysis doesn't rely on forex charts. It uses both political and economic factors to help determine trades. Charts here are only used as a reference. Technical analysis on the other hand will try to predict where the prices are going by analysis of historical price activity. Those who use technical analysis study the relationship between price and time.

The most traded pair of currencies is the Euro and the US dollar, so we will use them in our example. The dollar is on the right hand side of the chart and the Euro is on the left hand side. The currencies are expressed in relationship to each other in pairing. Forex charges will always display how much of the currency on the right hand side is necessary to buy a unit of the currency on the left hand side. Looking at the chart you will notice the last price displayed on a given date. This number is always highlighted. The time is recorded horizontally across the bottom of a chart and the price scale is displayed vertically along the right hand edge of the chart. The time and the price are often in all caps to help the trader remember that technical analysis is about the relationship between time and price. That is a fundamental rule of this type of relationship.

There are many ways to observe the price and time movement on a chart. These include bars, lines, point and figure, and Japanese candle sticks, the most popular method. With the candlestick method there is a fat, red section that is the body of the candlestick. Lines protrude from the top and bottom and they are the upper and lower wicks. When you look at al the candles on a chart it is clear that bodies can be difference sizes and sometimes there is no body at all. The same is true with wicks. Candle wicks can be of many difference sizes, or there may be no wick at all. The length of the body and the length of the wick are determined by the price range for the candle. Longer candles will have had more price movement during the time that they were open. The top of a candle wick is the highest price for that currency while the wick's bottom is the lowest price. A candle or currency is bullish when the close of the candle is higher than the open. In English this means that there were more buyers than there were sales during the opening time period. Sometimes the candles will not have wicks. The price opened and it dropped off until it closed.

Often the charts are online rather than on paper. By joining a service that provides the charts via the internet a trader is able to stay very current indeed on currency activity. Charts can be checked on a minute to minute basis. For those who primarily do their trading based on historical accuracy this can be a true help. Most forex traders however use a combination of the two approaches. They may chart historical trends, but they will also pay close attention to political, cultural and economic events within a nation. They may also use charts or other methods to check and see if a particular political event as a recent historical parallel that can be checked to determine how the currency behaved in past times. Simply following a system usually is not enough. A trader should also be, somewhat at least, a student of history and of economics. Using all the tools at your disposal will make you a better and stronger forex trader.

Forex charts are not a sure fire method, but they are a tool that can help a trader. Many forex traders use charts on a regular basis. Historical trends do have their place in forex trading as most traders will admit, and using the charts to track historical trends can assist a trader in making a decision today.

Always remember to keep the forecasting/charting/predicting to the experts unless you are doing this as a hobby and don't have much money invested....or as God is my witness you will learn the hard way...


source:http://www.articlecircle.com/finance/currency-trading/charting-the-forex.html

Forex broker involvement optional

To trade on the forex market, the largest financial market on the planet, one must use a forex broker. Not unlike a stock broker, a forex broker can also makes suggestions about which moves to make when exchanging foreign currency. Some forex brokers even supply technical analysis to some of their clients and offer tips on research to improve their success as forex traders.

Typically in the forex market a forex broker is a banking institution who may buy up large amounts of a certain currency. For years, banks were the only ones who had access to the forex markets. But today with the Internet, any forex trader, who subscribes with a forex broker, can access the market 24 hours a day.

Today, as with stock brokers, the brick and mortar institutions, such as banks, are less of an option for the individual forex trader who works from home, monitoring the news and gaining insight into certain technical information to help with his or her trading decisions.

Choosing a forex broker may depend on your needs. If you are new to the field, there are houses, or online forex brokers who may cater to your needs, providing in-depth research, ample time to demo their product and so on. Other forex brokers are geared toward the experienced online forex trader. They too offer advice, but may be less likely to offer instructional help with the information, assuming that you may already know how it may or may not benefit you when you read it. It is advisable to read about and even run a demo on several different online forex brokers before going with one.


source:http://www.articlecircle.com/business/leadership/forex-broker-involvement-optional.html

Where to Get Forex Training

For those of you who are interested in forex trading, you may want to start off by getting some good forex training. Forex training is a necessity for anyone with this interest. This is because a lot of money is involved in forex trading. If you don't get some forex training, you are bound to lose a lot of money.

Some of you may not even know what forex trading is. If you don't know this, you defiantly need some forex training. Forex stands for foreign exchange. Forex trading is basically the exchange of one countries currency for another countries currency. This is done simultaneously in hopes of gaining a profit.

You can get forex training from several different places. The first place you should get forex training from is online. There are many websites that offer free forex training. The forex training these websites offer is both reliable and accurate. The forex training on these websites often offers a free demo account to teach you how to trade without actually using any real money.

A second place to get Forex training is at your local college campus. Forex training courses at college are usually inexpensive and very thorough. The forex training courses offered should also include hands on experience with trading, to help you get the edge. You can also get some books on forex training or research forex training at your local library. The best place to get forex training is from someone who is already involved in forex trading. The forex training these individuals provide will be more realistic for you and give you different aspects of the forex trading game.

The forex training you get should first start with learning how the foreign trade market works. The trade market is always changing, so you need to understand it first. The second part of your forex training should be about risk control. You never want to invest more than you can afford. The right forex training should teach you how to cut your losses and have less risks of failure. Next, your forex training should teach you how to open and manage a forex trading account. But this should be done with a demo account. All forex training should be done this way first, before you try the real thing.

With all of this in mind, you should be able to find some good forex training. Learn the ropes of forex trading and take the time to learn it well. Be sure to try a demo forex trading account before you start a real account. With the right forex training, you will soon be on your way to a profitable way to supplement your income.
Source:http://www.articlecircle.com/finance/banking/where-to-get-forex-training.html

Day Trading Forex- 4 Reasons For A Stock And Shares Trader To Migrate Over To Day Trading Forex

If I am day trading the stock and futures market, why would I want to move into day trading the forex as another additional trading avenue? Are there any special features of day trading the forex market that appear more appealing to stock traders to attract them to trade the forex as well?

In the pursuit of prosperity, we are always looking for ways to create personal wealth, and day trading forex offers much more opportunities to create wealth than say trading stocks and shares and commodities. Why is this so?

Forex Markets open 24/7

The stock markets and the commodity markets have set times that they are open for trading. In contrast, the forex markets are open 24hours a day, seven days in the week, giving much more trading opportunities to the day trader to trade. At the same time, convenience is a key factor, as anyone can trade at any convenient time with a web based trading platform provided free by his forex broker.

Higher Liquidity

The day trader is always conscious of liquidity. It is liquidity that allows a day trader to move smoothly into a day trade instantaneously at the best identified price without lag which will lead to a poor executed price. When he wants to buy, the day forex trader is able to get into that trade almost instantaneously due to the higher liquidity in the forex market and when a day trader wants to sell, he can get out of the currency at his price without delay. Where the difference in a fraction of a cent is important, this characteristic of very high liquidity makes forex trading very attractive. More so, it has been proven that there are trading systems that allow day traders to trade for only an hour or two, freeing them to do whatever they like for the rest of the day after pocketing profits. These are day traders who professionally trade for a living.

Lower Trading Costs

Forex trading seems like a dream to many day traders because there are no exchange fees, no commissions paid to brokers, and low transaction fees. In contrast, the day traders in stocks and shares and futures market all incur fees and commissions paid to licensed dealers and brokers, all of which will result in less profits.

Ability To Earn From Referrals

The active day trader can enter into arrangements with some forex brokers to earn a referral commission from the trades of people he introduces to the forex broker. Now while this is another separate activity, it cannot be denied that this is an added advantage for a day trader to earn something extra from his efforts in introducing or recommending friends to trade as well.

All these features make day trading the forex an attractive and possible replacement income source for those who work from home trading for a living