Forex Trading

Dollar Declines in Forex Reserves

2008-01-03T21:40:00.001-08:00

What analysts have been warning of for years has finally come to pass: the USD officially occupies a smaller portion of global foreign exchange reserves. According to a recent IMF reports, the fraction of reserves denominated in Dollars has fallen from 66.5% to 63.8% over the last year, with much of the difference offset by a proportional rise in the preponderance of the Euro. Analysts first began sounding alarm bells as early as 2003, when the Dollar fell nearly 15% against the Euro. However, it wasn't until 2006, when China began to accumulate reserves at an ever-increasing rate as its trade surplus exploded while at the same time the USD was tanking, that commentators began paying attention. 2007 brought several anecdotal reports that foreign Central Banks were both passively and actively diversifying their reserves. Now, it looks as though these were not isolated incidents, but instead part of a broader trend. AFP reports:

In recent months, several emerging-market countries, whose foreign currency reserves have ballooned as a result of such factors as high commodity prices and strong exports, have signaled their intention to further diversify their foreign exchange reserves to offset the US currency's depreciation.

Fed to Cut Rates Next Month?

2008-01-02T17:14:00.000-08:00

In recent speeches, two high-ranking officials from America’s Federal Reserve Bank gave conflicting indications regarding the likelihood of rate cuts next month. Both officials were deliberately ambiguous in their speeches, though one went so far as to rule out a rate cut while the other hinted at its inevitability. Nonetheless, analysts used the speeches to buttress their conclusion that a rate cut is probable. In fact, the futures market has priced in a 94% chance that rates will be cut by 25 basis points at the next meeting, on December 11. Likewise, it seems a rate cut has already been priced into the USD, which was virtually unaffected by this story. MSNBC reports:

On the currency markets, the heightened expectations of a US rate cut cut did little to hurt the dollar, as investors took the view that the currency's recent weakness had gone far enough.

Read More: Fed stance sends equities soaring

Malaysia experiences economic slowdown

2008-01-02T17:13:00.000-08:00

Malaysia announced that it expects its economy to grow at only 5-6% this year, down from 7%. Economists attribute the slowdown to a decline in exports. As an emerging economy, Malaysia is heavily depend on exports (especially technology related exports) to fuel economic growth. However, a global decline in IT and technology spending has hit Malaysian exporters especially hard. Even with the artificially favorable exchange rate, maintained at value which experts estimate to be 20% below fair value, exports are declining.

Malaysia will be forced to rely on the other factors of GDP if its economy is to grow. The first factor is government spending, which on outlays such as education, agriculture, and health care, looks to remain constant this year. Consumption, on the other hand should drive Malaysia's economy. Consumption and growth effect each other in a circular manner. As the economy grows, consumers are left with more disposable income which they typically use to purchase more goods and services. This increases aggregate demand which increases GDP growth, which then increases consumption, until the process diffuses. Finally, investment in Malaysia continues to strengthen. as speculators pour money into Malaysian capital markets. Such speculators anticipate a revaluation in the exchange rate, which Malaysia insists will not happen. Reuters reports:

Bank Negara indicated speculation and short-term capital flows would not spark a change in currency policy. "The basis for any change would therefore be made on long-term structural considerations and not short-term movements in capital flows or transient shifts in exchange rate expectations," it said, adding that it could continue to absorb foreign inflows through money market operations.

New currency ETF debuts on AMEX

2008-01-02T17:12:00.000-08:00

An exchange-traded-fund (ETF) is similar to an index fund in that both types of securities are designed to track the performance of the index to which they are assigned. The crucial difference, however, lies in the fact that there is no centralized market for mutual funds, whereas ETFs trade on exchanges, and hence, charge lower fees to investors. At first, investment companies were reluctant to create currency ETFs, because they weren’t sure if demand was large enough to justify such products. Since currency trading surged in popularity, a spate of new currency ETFs have been introduced, the newest of which is designed to track the performance of a composite of ten of the world’s most important currencies. Previously, this type of product was only available to wealthy investors. Now, anyone with a brokerage account can index in such a way, and would be smart to do just that, in order to hedge against the decline in any single currency. The Daily News reports:

The fund is managed by DB Commodity Services LLC. “DBV will offer investors easy access to the returns of the currency markets by following a highly developed index previously available only to very sophisticated investors.”

ECB nervous over Euro appreciation

2008-01-02T17:11:00.000-08:00

Jean Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, is know for his terse, deliberately vague commentary. This week, he veered slightly away from that modus operandi by speaking out against Euro “volatility” in forex markets. In other words, he has not been delighted by the Euro’s rapid appreciation against the USD. While Trichet indicated that such an appreciation is bad for EU growth, he did not encourage EU governments to attempt to stabilize the currency. Thus, it is not clear how the markets will react to such comments, although if it appears likely that the ECB will alter its monetary policy as a result of the Euro volatility, the markets will certainly take notice. The International Herald Tribune reports:

ECB President Jean Claude Trichet said that while globalization had led to lower import costs for manufactured goods, it had boosted demand and increased oil prices.

Interest Rate Story Hurts Pound

2008-01-02T16:58:00.000-08:00

The British Pound has been reeling since the Bank of England cut rates at the beginning of this month, from 5.75% to 5.50%. Last week, the minutes for the meeting were released. They revealed that that members of the Bank were growing increasingly nervous about the state of the British economy and are worrying particularly about how fallout from the credit crunch will impact growth. British interest rates are still among the highest in the industrialized world, behind only Australia and New Zealand. Thus, it seems investors are punishing the Pound indirectly for the rate cuts, because of fears concerning the near-term prognosis for the British economy. At the same time, the minutes indicated that members of the Bank were adamant about not lowering rates further, so some of the concerns may be overblown.

Swiss Franc Benefits from Volatility

2007-12-31T19:52:00.000-08:00

As the Japanese Yen continues to enjoy the carry trade limelight, another currency fulfilling a similar role has been largely overlooked: the Swiss Franc. While not quite as low as rates in Japan, Swiss interest rates are still extremely modest by international standards. As a result, many carry traders have used the Swiss Franc in much the same way as the Japanese Yen, selling it short in favor of higher-yielding currencies. And, just as the Japanese Yen has begun climbing over the last few months, so has the Swiss Franc. The volatility in capital markets caused by the credit crunch is just as prevalent in forex markets, and is leading currency traders to eschew yield (high interest rates) in favor of stability, which benefits currencies like the Franc. The Economic Times reports:

Another trader with a multinational bank said with carry trades now coming under heavy pressure and banks being reluctant to fund investors entering into such trades, risk aversion seems to be taking over the global currency markets.

Central Banks Inject Liquidity

2007-12-30T12:35:00.000-08:00

After months of delay and perhaps overly wishful thinking regarding the global credit crunch, the world's Central Banks are finally ready to take action. America's Federal Reserve Bank will join forces with the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank as part of a concerted effort to introduce greater liquidity into global capital markets. Under the plan, the Banks will auction off tens of billions of Dollars worth of bonds denominated in their respective currencies, and lend the proceeds to commercial banks. The goal of the plan is to to limit growing risk aversion, which has caused banks to significantly rein in lending. Further, while the move is designed primarily to boost confidence in equity markets, certain sectors of forex may also receive a bump. High-yielding currencies such as the New Zealand Kiwi and Australian Dollar, which have been shunned in recent months, seem to be the most likely beneficiaries. Forbes reports:

"If the market is convinced that central banks are finally doing enough to ease the liquidity situation we are likely to see the funding currencies (the yen and the Swiss franc) fall back, and higher-risk currencies like the Aussie and Kiwi currencies, rally."

The Record Rise of the Chinese Yuan

2007-12-29T05:51:00.001-08:00

Earlier this week, the Chinese Yuan recorded its highest one-day increase in value in the two years since it was famously revalued against the Dollar. The currency rose nearly .4% and prompted renewed speculation that China's Central Bank will either widen the trading band to .8% or will generally allow the currency to appreciate faster. In fact, the political and economic consensus continues to maintain that the Yuan is not appreciating rapidly enough. While it rose over 6% against the Dollar, for example, it actually lost value to several of the world's major currencies. Furthermore, its decline against the Dollar is less impressive when China's skyrocketing inflation rate and burgeoning trade surplus are taken into account.

There are still a few analysts who are bucking the trend and arguing that the Yuan is fairly valued. This notion is supported by a recent World Bank analysis, which updated its calculation of China's purchasing power and reduced its PPP-equivalent GDP in the process. However, this opinion is echoed by only a small group of analysts, and an overwhelming majority continues to call for and anticipate a further appreciation of the Yuan. Bloomberg News reports:

Forward contracts show traders are betting on an 8.7 percent advance in the yuan to 6.7344 per dollar in the next 12 months. The median estimate of 28 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News is for a rate of 6.88 by the end of 2008.

Investment Banks Expand into Retail Forex

2007-12-28T19:16:00.000-08:00

Forex is becoming hot! Average daily volume has surged past $3 Trillion, as the credit crunch has increased volatility and the Dollar has collapsed. In fact, Saxo Bank, one of the most prominent acts in retail forex trading, may record $500 million in revenue this year. As a result, several of the world's largest investment banks have announced plans to enter the burgeoning retail forex market. Citigroup is teaming up with a Danish bank to offer online currency trading. Deutsche Bank is stepping up marketing of its proprietary retail trading platform. Even Goldman Sachs is entering the fray, via a 10% investment stake in a British retail forex company. However, not everyone is optimistic, reports GulfNews:

Some think the reputational risks of enabling individual investors who may not be able to afford to lose substantial sums in what are notoriously volatile markets outweigh the possible revenue stream.

Yen Buoyed by Exporters

2007-12-27T18:32:00.001-08:00

The Yen has received a nice boost from Japanese exporters, which moved en masse to exchange Dollars for Yen to meet certain year-end financial obligations. The logic is that exporters had owed money in arrears to domestic Japanese producers of the goods and services being exported and needed to be paid in Yen. Such logic could theoretically be applied to exporters in ever country, which would provide the same boost to their respective currencies. However, in addition to being the world's fourth-largest exporter, Japan's economy is unusually dependent on exports. Thus, it is understandable that Japanese exporters could exert such influence on forex markets when entering the market at the same time.

Interest Rate Story Hurts Pound

2007-12-26T12:23:00.000-08:00

How to Scalp Effectively in Forex Market

2007-12-25T20:04:00.000-08:00

Scalping for small profits is one of the most popular strategies in Forex trading. Scalpers rely on trading regularly and taking consistent small profits. They usually liquidate their trades on the same day. However, the problem with this strategy is that it has the tendency to turn you into a compulsive gambler (especially for beginners). Why did I say that? There are various reasons for leading a new scalper into a compulsive gambler. When a trader turns into a compulsive gambler, he/she will be doom for failure. In this article we will take a quick look at the 2 common reasons for that and discuss on tips to scalp efficiently;

1. Addiction to Random Profits

Most newbie thought that they can make some quick profits by taking small profits in the Forex arena everyday. They enjoy the random rewards from the market, which may turn into an addiction. It is just like teaching your dog to perform a task and randomly rewarding it every time a task is done. In this way, there is no way your dog can know when it will be rewarded. As a result, there is no reason for your dog to quit doing the task, even without being rewarded for doing it.

2. Trading for Revenge

There is a common saying among scalpers; "Trade for today, not yesterday". Many newbie try to recoup their money back after their losses a few hours ago. They cannot swallow a loss or losses and became mesmerized with their fond memories of their past winnings. They keep thinking on how to win back their money, which tends to cloud their judgment on the market. They begin to fantasize opportunities in the market to enter a trade. This will eventually lead to their emotional attempt at revenge that is doomed to failure.

Tips to Scalp Efficiently

1. Determine the direction of the day by first looking at the daily chart.

2. Using candlestick studies, trendline or pivot points to enter a trade in the hourly chart.

3. For the above it must be use together with support and resistance.

4. Trading on continuous trend has a higher probability of success.

5. For contrarian trading, always enter at a better filled price or average your lot size to enter the trade

6. Scrape your trade if you do not feel comfortable after the point of entry or it takes too long for the trade to go in your direction.

7. Stop trading for the day if you have 3 losses in a row

Sebastian Sim

I'm a 31 year old Singaporean. Who started my trading journey since 2004. Now, I focus mainly in Stock Options, Forex and Unit Trusts(Mutual Funds) Investments. I've started a site The Trading Zone - a site about trading pyschology, Forex trading, investments and other topics that interests me from time to time.

http://sebastian-sim.blogspot.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sebastian_Sim

Discover Forex Futures Trading

2007-12-24T12:29:00.000-08:00

The FOREX, FX or foreign exchange market is the place where currencies from one country are traded for the currency of another country. Forex futures trading accounts for a very small percentage of the trillions of dollars that are traded in the forex market on a daily basis.

Forex trading strategy involves buying currency whose exchange rate will increase, while simultaneously trading out or selling a less valuable currency. Forex futures trading strategy is basically the same. The difference is that an investor may choose to contract to buy or sell a specific currency at a specific price on a future date.

If you are interested in forex trading, you are probably not actually interested in forex futures trading. Not many people do it and there is no fundamental difference between forex futures and the traditional futures market, but forex trading has quite a few advantages over the traditional futures market.

First and most important for many people is that forex trading platforms are available through websites 24 hours a day; there is no central exchange as there is in the futures market. Forex trading is commission free trading. There are no National Futures Association Fees.

Forex trading offers higher liquidity and price certainty since getting in and out of positions tends to happen with lightning speed. The price quoted for a futures contract, on the other hand, is not necessarily the price for which the contract will be filled.

By using forex trading online platforms, the investor can see real time prices and exchange rates. There also tends to be a controllable amount of risk with forex trading; the required margin amount can never exceed the dollar value of an account. Forex trading strategy is also quite different from futures market investing and desired results -- other than making money of course -- are different.

Before beginning to trade, education is important, devising a forex strategy and what you need from that strategy is important, and choosing a broker or website trading platform and deciding what you need from them is also important. As previously alluded to, there are no commissions charged by forex brokers. Forex brokers make their money on the “spread”. To the investor, this means that a lower spread saves money.

As a final note, education on forex trading and the futures market, as well as assistance in developing a strategy are available from many websites with a trading platform. We cover some of the best with our top recommendations. Our recommended newsletter is written by forex pros and includes mentoring and analysis of current factors influencing currencies.

Get advice, facts, and opinions about forex trading strategy at http://www.forex-trading-reference.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dan_Ho

Forex Training

2007-12-23T01:37:00.001-08:00

Forex Training - Pretending to Do It, Or Doing It For Real?

Most people who have embarked on foreign exchange trading get hooked! Almost all agree that it's one of the most exciting, if not THE most exciting, forms of trading you can be involved in. Indeed it can give you a real buzz! So can motor-racing or ski-ing. But you wouldn't get in a racing car and start on a Formula One circuit without a few driving lessons first. And it's certainly an idea to get a few ski-ing lessons before embarking on the ski-slopes.

Like ski-ing or driving, foreign exchange trading can be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. But in this case, the danger is to your finances.

So how do you obtain Forex training? The best idea is look for those Forex trading systems that provide one-to-one Forex training.

Some provide Forex training in the form of a demo account. The idea of a demo account is that you carry out all the trading moves, without using real money. So once you have your real account, you know how to do all these things - drawing trendlines, marking support and resistance levels, monitoring moving averages etc. Plus you can make your mistakes in placing orders to trade without losing money.

However, there is some doubt as to whether using a demo account is really the best way of learning foreign exchange trading. You really don't have the same attitude to your trades if you are just using play money. One of the most important lessons - if not THE most important - in foreign exchange trading is to be ruled by reason and discipline, not feelings, excitement or greed. When reason and discipline go out of the window, that is when you find yourself losing. This is a hard lesson you really have to learn, and without consequences you don't learn it.

A better way to obtain Forex training is to find one of the Forex trading systems that enable you to start trading with a small amount of money, and at the same time provide one-on-one training as you do it. This way you learn the basics of the foreign exchange market, the terminology of trading, and how to develop successful trading strategies. If you make a wrong decision - which everybody does - you will lose money and this will teach you not to make that particular move again! But the money you lose will just be a small amount.

Basically, you only learn to do something by actually doing it, not by reading about it or pretending to do it. The most effective type of Forex training is hands-on experience. And don't forget - you never stop learning. However experienced you are at foreign exchange trading, you can always learn something new - and make a profit at the same time!

To find one of the best Forex trading systems for hands-on training, come and visit http://www.bizwrite.co.uk/Forex/forexindex.html

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Elaine_Berry

Forex Scalping Systems

2007-12-22T12:24:00.002-08:00

Forex Scalping Systems - Why You Will Lose All Your Money Quickly

Wherever you look on the net you will say adverts for forex scalping and day trading systems which promise regular profits that can make you rich but there is a problem, none of them work. This is because forex scalping is based on logic that simply is not correct...

The problem of course is prices are determined by humans and I such short time spans as a day you have no way of knowing which way prices are going to go.

Millions of traders all using different methods and governed by the emotions of greed and fear cannot be predicted in such short time spans. This means that daily volatility is random, prices can and do go anywhere in a day and support and resistance is meaningless. You will always see track records that make huge profits presented but they are all done knowing the closing prices! Let's face it if a track record looks to good to be true it normally is and this applies to forex scalping and day trading systems.

You can simply look for a disclaimer and you will normally find this one or similar on any track record.

"cftc rule 4.41 - hypothetical or simulated performance results have certain limitations. unlike an actual performance record, simulated results do not represent actual trading. Also, since the trades have not been executed, the results may have under-or-over compensated for the impact, if any, of certain market factors, such as lack of liquidity. Simulated trading programs in general are also subject to the fact that they are designed with the benefit of hindsight. No representation is being made that any account will or is likely to achieve profit or losses similar to those shown".

Of course if we all knew today's prices in advance, we would all be rich but we don't.

Forex trading is harder - you have to trade going forward not backwards.

Vendors who sell these systems simply use hyped copy and a simulated track record to appeal to naïve or greedy traders - they know the system doesn't work, so they don't bother trading it - they simply make up a track record.

Despite the hype, forex scalping doesn't work and you need to trade the odds to win and that simply is not possible in short time frames.

There are two ways to make money in forex trading, you can either swing trade which takes advantage of trends that last for a few days to a few weeks, or long term trend follow which takes advantage of moves that last for weeks or months. If you want to enjoy currency trading success, you need to trade the odds - to do this you must have valid data and data within a day or less is not valid.

Forex trading is not easy and you wouldn't expect it to be with the rewards on offer but if you learn forex trading the right way and spend some time on your forex education, you can make big profits and for the effort you put in no other business offers you more in terms of rewards. So forget forex scalping systems and look to trade the odds, using valid data and this will lead you to currency trading success.

New! 2 X Free Trader Pdfs & Prfessional Forex Course

For a wealth of free forex education, currency trading course, free PDF's and more on Currency Trading Basics visit our website at: http://www.learncurrencytradingonline.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kelly_Price

Forex Trading - 3 Basics

2007-12-22T12:24:00.001-08:00

Outlined are three important elements into the Forex Trading System:

First
You must have a good forex trading system. The forex system should be profitable in the long run and must be easy to implement. It is better if it is of a mechanical nature, allowing little or no discretion or judgment from the traders part. Especially if you are a starting trader, it is important that you follow mechanical hard-and-fast rules: if A=B than do C and D. The reason for this is simple. There are a lot of emotions that come into play when trading forex. If you have a set of rules to follow than you know exactly what to do and no matter what your feelings are telling you, you can ignore them and simply follow the precise rules dictated by your system. Remember, your emotions are your biggest enemy when trading. Accept it and approach it accordingly.

First
You must have a good set of money management rules. Throughout my trading career I have come to learn that success in trading is not only about having a good trading system (of course that is VERY important) but also about having a good set of money management rules and principles. Trading without following these precise money management rules is a sure way to fail.

For those of you that are new to the business of trading let me explain what I mean by money management. The term refers to the principles and discipline you use in order to control your risk exposure when entering a trade or set of trades. How much of your total capital you will risk on any individual trade, where will you place you stop loss, where will you place your profit objective, the ratio between your profit objective and your stop loss etc.

Another parameter in the money management area that is very important (but not used by most) is diversification. No, I don’t mean the common and simple diversification theory of trading two completely uncorrelated markets. That is good, yes. However, my approach goes one step further.

I will trade the same currency pair and will still be properly diversified. How? Simply by using different trading systems. By this I mean systems that exploit completely different aspects and opportunities in the market. For example, I might use a forex day trading system on GBP/USD and at the same time I will use a swing trading system on the same pair. As you can see, one has nothing to do with the other. They approach the market in very You must be able to control your emotions. This is a very important rule a trader must learn to master. While trading, you are constantly presented with feelings such as fear, greed, and excessive excitement (for example, as a result of a winning streak). The reason many traders experience these type of feelings is simple, they don’t have a good trading plan. They don’t have a good and clear set of rules to follow. They will trade based on emotions rather than on signals issued by a robust and profitable forex trading system. They will not respect stop losses, profit objectives or any other important parameter essential for profitable forex trading.

Different circumstances, their rules are different, their time frame is different, parameters are different etc.

First
I strongly believe in emotion-free trading. It is essential for success and that is how you will be the best of the best, by following a precise set of rules that are easy to implement and require absolutely no discretion.

So there you have it. I stress this again, the above is by no means all that you need to be a successful forex trader. However, it is the basis that you build success on. Trading is like a building. You build strong foundations as the basis of your structure.

Dan Katz the owner of Forex Trading Tutor, a Forex Trading Education website, developed to guide new forex traders get into the forex market and update professionals with new concepts.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dan_Katz

Foreign Exchange Trading

2007-12-21T12:21:00.000-08:00

Foreign Exchange Trading - Techniques and Indicators for Predicting Trends

So you have become involved in the exciting world of foreign exchange trading, or Forex trading. But perhaps at the moment it doesn't seem so exciting! Maybe you are finding it hard to cope with all the technical jargon and all the complicated stuff that it seems you have to learn.

Yes, it does all appear a bit daunting at first. But even if you aren't technical, it's well worth getting your head round it all, as foreign exchange trading can be so incredibly rewarding.

One of the things you need to learn in foreign exchange trading is how to predict market trends. That is, predicting the major components - the direction, the level and the timing -- of each trend. There are a number of techniques and indicators that can be used in doing this.

Moving averages Moving averages are used to emphasize the direction of a trend. A moving average indicates the average price at two given points in time, over a defined period of time intervals. So when the price falls below its moving average, it's a signal to sell, and when it rises above its moving average, it's a signal to buy. There are several kinds of moving average, including simple, weighted and exponential. The exponential moving average is the most often chosen as it takes into account both the most recent data, and the entire time period.
Moving average convergence/divergence (MACD) - a more detailed way of using exponential moving averages to detect price swings. This technique plots the difference between a 26-day and a 12-day exponential moving average. It takes a 9-day moving average as a trigger line, so that below this would be a "sell" signal and above this would be a "buy" signal. The MACD is often used in conjunction with other indicators such as the RSI.
Relative Strength Index (RSI). This compares recent gains with recent losses to detect whether the market is overbought or oversold. The higher the number - i.e. 70 or more on a scale of 1-100 - the more overbought the market is, and the lower the number - 30 or less on a scale of 1-100 - the more oversold it is. The RSI is what is called a "leading" indicator - that is, it enables you to see what the market is about to do, and act accordingly.
Bollinger Bands These are plots on a graph, plotted two standard deviations above and below a simple moving average. The principle is that the spacing between them varies according to the volatility of the market. So when the markets become more volatile, the distance between the bands widens, and when they become less volatile, the spacing narrows. The closer prices move to the upper band, the more overbought the market is - indicating "sell" - and the closer they move to the lower band, the more oversold the market is, indicating a "buy" signal.

These are by no means all the indicators used in foreign exchange trading, but they are the main ones. You will find that people with a consistent record of success in foreign exchange trading use three or four indicators. If all of these point in one direction, it is a clear signal to get in on a trade. If the signals aren't clear, or if you're in any doubt - don't take the risk!

To find out more about how you can become involved in the exciting world of Forex trading, come and visit http://www.bizwrite.co.uk/Forex/forexindex.html

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Elaine_Berry

Traders Are Flocking To The Forex

2007-12-21T12:20:00.000-08:00

The forex, or Foreign Currency Exchange is vast and growing everyday. The forex market is larger than all other markets combined. Literally trillions of dollars are traded daily on the exchange.

The forex does not have an actual trading floor. It is made up of a network of banks, they use telecommunication systems, including the internet to conduct all transactions. Because of the accessibility of this market on the internet, it has exploded in recent years.

In the past the forex was only for banks to use to monitor the values of various currencies around the world. Back then only the richest people in the world were allowed on this playground, and they made fortunes. With the advent of the Internet, many of the financial markets were opening up more to the public.

Soon the banks that operate the forex saw that this could be a major benefit to them also. Thus the forex as we know it was born.

The forex is also a 24 hour per day market which makes it perfect for those who want ot trade part time. The sheer size of the forex is the attraction for many traders.

The forex is large enough to accommodate any size trade position with ease. Execution of trades are instantaneous and there is no slippage. Another big difference is there is no commissions on the trades.

All profit by the banking systems are generated by the spread. The spread is the difference in price between the seller and buyer.

These factors make the forex irresistible to traders. Because of the attraction of this market it is expected to continue to grow rapidly in the future.

There are several trading strategies that fit in well with the forex market. As I mentioned earlier this market is made for those who want to trade part time

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tim_Grimsley

How To Learn Forex Trading Online

2007-12-20T13:19:00.000-08:00

How To Learn Forex Trading Online - How To Learn The Basics Of Forex Trading & Make Faster Profits

You may be surprised to learn how easy it is to learn the basics of Forex trading online and how quickly you can make money with Forex, depending on your Forex trading style. This article will explain how incredibly easy it is to learn the basics of Forex trading and how to make fast Forex profits. Keep reading to get instant access to free Forex video tutorials to help you get started.

You may have heard of the Forex market and you may have heard about a lot of people who make money with the Forex trading system. Forex trading is also commonly called currency trading. Many people are looking for ways to make extra income in their spare time and how they can learn Forex trading online. In order to learn Forex trading online you need to first learn the basics and how to successfully trade the Forex market.

If you are looking to invest your hard earned money into the Forex currency market then it is vital that you learn Forex trading online from experts in the field. Thankfully the internet makes it easy for people to find Forex tips at their fingertips with some very powerful Forex trading courses.

When you are looking at ways to learn Forex trading online there are some excellent Forex tutorials online that will explain many things to a beginner Forex trader like how the Forex foreign exchange market works, what Forex technical indicators are, what economic indicators you need to be aware of as a Forex trader, and the huge variety of Forex trading systems and options that are available to every Forex trader.

If you are just beginning your Forex education then it is vital that you DON'T dabble in any Forex trading until you have learn Forex trading online. Many online Forex trading courses understand the big step you are taking into the Forex market and have made this incredibly easy for you by offering free training, demonstrations, Forex tutorials and simulated Forex trading accounts.

The most significant feature when it comes to forex trading is to learn forex trading online so that you comprehend how to trade quickly and successfully. The more you are able to learn in your forex trading training the more understanding of the basics you will have and the more success will follow as a result of your comprehensive understanding of Forex fundamentals.

Locating a Forex tutorial or finding the best Forex trading course online in order to learn Forex at home is incredibly simple. Check out the website below to fast track your Forex education and learn the best Forex business system online with free Forex video tutorials.

Copyright 2007. Are you ready to learn Forex business online with guaranteed winning results? “Fast Education For Fast Forex Profits” is what this online Forex business tutorial is all about. Learn how to start making money trading the Forex market in your first 30 days. Study, practice, trade. Get a FREE trial to practice Forex trading before you risk your own money. Start your beginner Forex education tutorials today in Forex trading at http://www.Best-Forex-Trading-System-Course.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Karin_I_Manning

Philippine Peso Dollar Exchange Rate

2007-12-19T03:52:00.000-08:00

Forecasting what the Philippine Peso Dollar Exchange Rate would be is not as simple it may look. There are a lot of variables to look out for, the economy, government, news and environmental factors contribute to what the Philippine Peso Dollar Exchange Rate would be for the day. It is govern by supply and demand. When one is in this field of buying or selling dollars, be an importer, exporter, traveller or a currency changer, they will do have a hunch on what the Philippine Peso Dollar Exchange Rate be.

The trend most of the time for the Philippine Peso Dollar Exchange Rate to go down is during June and December. Most Oversea Workers send a lot of remittances to the Philippines during June for enrollment and specially on December, Christmas holidays. A slight increase in the Philippine Peso Dollar Exchange Rate on the months of January and September where importers pays out goods purchased.

Decades ago, the Banko Central ng Pilipinas controlled the Philippine Peso Dollar Exchange Rate to a fix twenty six pesos P26 to a dollar. Today, the Philippine Peso Dollar Exchange Rate is governed by the supply and Demand of it. Since 2004, Peso has been gaining and appreciating from the dollar. From a high of Fifty six pesos P56 on the year 2004, it has come around to Forty four P44 now, October 2007. The Philippine Peso Dollar Exchange Rate has not really been going down each day, there are also times when bad government news affected a slight increase on the Philippine Peso. But because of good economic performance Peso has been gaining stronger.

The Philippine Peso Dollar Exchange Rate has also been strengthening because of the poor economic update on the United States. United States has been in economic crisis which has also have a strong effect on the Philippine Peso Dollar Exchange Rate.

Economist has predicted for Peso to strengthen up to Forty Pesos P40 this coming Christmas holiday where Remittances would be fast coming in the Philippines. Oversea Workers mostly send remittance during this season. But the Oversea Workers and Exporters has been complaining of the sudden downfall of the Philippine Peso Dollar Exchange Rate. Oversea workers should be remitting more to cope up with the exchange rate, thus working more hours or having lesser savings. Exporters have also been complaining on the low exchange rate, their dollar earned when converted is much lesser now a days. There are a lot of exporters who have closed down due to their crisis right now. On the contrary, there are a lot of happy importers, and dollar spenders. They can buy goods much cheaper with the Philippine Peso Exchange Rate going down.

It may not be easy on how to predict what Philippine Peso Exchange Rate would be, but hope it has given you a few insights and tips on it.

http://www.remittance-philippines.blogspot.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paseojen_Chan

Who Cares If The Dollar Is Strong Or Weak?

2007-12-18T20:20:00.002-08:00

My wife and I recently spent 10 days in Rome and Venice on our honeymoon and I came to a realization about a mistake I had made when planning our trip. I had forgotten to keep a watch on the foreign exchange rates between the US dollar and the Euro.

By the time I realized my mistake it was already too late. My wife and I were positively going to go over our spending budget of $1000 dollars for the trip.

The few days before the trip, I started watching the Dollar/Euro conversions trying to figure out how much our spending budget would actually be. I figured that our overall budget would be about €670. At the time of this article, it cost $1.48 to buy 1 Euro.

Well, now we have less money than we thought and on top of it all, Italy isn't the cheapest place to take a vacation. For example, a hamburger at Hard Rock in Rome is €15,00, which is about $22.50. Ouch!

This is just one example of how a weak dollar impacts discretionary spending when traveling outside of the country. While going from sight to sight in Rome, I realized how little I actually understood about how a weak dollar affects us on a daily basis.

» Discretionary spending when exchanging currencies

A weak dollar reduces spending power in currencies outside of the US. This means that it is more expensive to buy outside products.

» Importing goods from overseas

Importing goods from overseas that have little domestic competition here will cost more. This is typically items such as electronics, clothing and oil.

The weak dollar also curtails foreign investments coming into the US. This causes yields on government bonds to go up to attract investors. This makes money more expensive for companies to borrower which impacts lending for items such as small business loans and mortgages.

» How it helps

A weak dollar is not all doom and gloom. Onshore manufacturers such as automotive and health and beauty products become more competitive in overseas markets. For example, stores overseas can now buy US made goods for less money and sell products at a more competitive rate.

A weak dollar also tends to benefit commodity producers such as steel rather than producers of finished goods such as automobiles.

A weak dollar also tends to benefit the tourism industry. Foreign vacationers are more likely to vacation in the U.S. since their currency can buy more here. Also, U.S. vacationers who are more likely to stay in the U.S. since a weak dollar may cause overseas travel to become too costly.

MoneyAndDebt.org

Read more at http://www.MoneyAndDebt.org

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jon_King

Trading With a Low 2 Pip Spread Forex Broker

2007-12-18T20:20:00.001-08:00

Spread is one of the most important concepts in forex trading. It is the difference between the bid and asking price. While trading forex, you will note that there will be a difference between the current value of the currency and what you pay for it.

That is where the forex brokers make their profit. Let us assume that the current EUR/USD price is 1.27237 and your forex broker offering you a 2 pip (percentage in point) spread, then you will pay 1.2739 when you buy. The higher the spread, the higher you pay while buying and the lower you get on selling.

Generally, the spread is lower in popular currencies like EUR/USD, USD/JPY, EUR/JPY etc. You will find many brokers who would offer a 2 pip spread for these currencies. But there are few equally important factors like speed of execution of orders and the value the order which can really help you in enjoying the advantages of low pips.

Going from a 3-pip spread to a 2-pip spread may sound small, and going from a 2-pip spread to a 1.8-pip spread may seem even less significant. But for both the cases the impact on profitability can be huge. Therefore a forex 2 pip spread sounds perfect in a fast moving financial market like forex.

An online spread calculator may prove to be useful in quantifying and comparing the impact of different spreads. You will have to key in few parameters like trading activity (deals per day, per week, per month, per year), average deal leverage, account equity, current spread in pips, and the calculator will find out the actual spread you are receiving.

If a broker is offering a spread as low as 1 pip, be cautious. As most of the brokers do not charge a commission, it the spread they use to make their money. In a 1 pip spread, there is very little scope for him to make profit.

It may so happen that they are quoting you a price, which is inaccurate. For example, the price is at 1.2000/1.2003. But the broker is quoting you 1.2002/1.2003. So, you go long at 1.2003. On the other hand, if the price goes up to 1.2007/1.2010 and you are quoted 1.2009/1.2010, you may decide to exit. But you get filled at 1.2007, the real price, instead of 1.2009.

So what is more important to you is not a forex 2 pip spread but an honest small spread broker who will pay you the spread he quotes. Make sure there is no slippage or requites. The broker must be regulated and must have proof of past success rates.

For the lowest possible spread Forex trading visit Forex 2 Pip Spreads

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_Bryan

Forex Trading Plan

2007-12-18T20:19:00.001-08:00

The Ideal Forex Trading Plan

When entering the foreign currency exchange market known as Forex, an investor should have a plan. Forex is the oldest, safest and most lucrative investment market in the world.

The Forex Investor is in control of his portfolio at all times. There are few fees in Forex Trading and there is no threat of insider trading.

In order to be successful in Forex Trading, an investor will begin by educating himself on the many variables that are inherent to Forex. He should enroll in a reputable course in Forex online and familiarize himself with the currency market by setting up a demo account on one of the many online sites. A demo account does not require any capital, but it does train an investor in how to approach Forex trading.

A Forex investor must learn to maximize his profits and minimize his losses. He can do that by learning to analyze corporate and governmental press releases and economic forecasts. An investor must seek out and incorporate sound investment strategies and learn how to read charts and graphs pertaining to the currency trade.

Forex trading has the highest volatility in the investment market, and it is tempting to just jump into the trading and make decisions based on the spikes and dips in currency values, but a successful Forex trader knows that he must never buy or sell using his emotions as leverage. He never trades out of fear or greed.

To be successful in Forex, a trader should stick to a strategic plan that adheres to what was successful in past trading and what makes sense according to reputable strategists.

Milos Pesic is an expert in the field of Forex Trading and runs a highly popular and comprehensive Forex Trading web site. For more articles and resources on Forex related topics, online forex trading, trading tips, forex software and much more visit his site at:

=>http://forex.need-to-know.net/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Milos_Pesic

Currency Trading Seminars

2007-12-18T14:08:00.000-08:00

A seminar is a workshop conducted with an intention of teaching the audience about a subject. Currency trading seminars are basically helps advise the traders or potential traders about the subject. Seminars could address any issue that affects the market.

The forex market is an attractive short-term trading option and, because of its low transaction costs and unmatched liquidity, more and more professional traders are turning to it. However, to understand the nitty-gritty of currency trading, one must attend currency trading seminars conducted by renowned companies like Refco Canada.

Currency trading USA conducts seminars and online courses for people who are either currency traders or keen on starting. The training sessions are tailored to meet the requirements of the customers, which would help them in understanding the nuances of the trade. For newcomers, they have courses designed that can take them step-by-step through the basics of currency trading, while people with experience are given training on trading strategies with live examples. Most of these courses focus on issues like what influences currency exchange rates, which currencies to trade for profit, essential trading rules, order executions, stop placements and much more.

Swiss Net Broker offers one-on-one technical analysis courses for people interested in methods of doing on currency trading. The courses are provided in the seminars organized in Geneva, Switzerland.

Currency trading is one of the quickest practices for earning money by investing small amounts, and these seminars aid in understanding the fluctuation of money in a better manner as well as providing the knowledge to reduce the risk associated with the trade.

Online Currency Trading provides detailed information on Online Currency Trading, Foreign Currency Trading, Currency Day Trading, Currency Trading Seminars and more. Online Currency Trading is affiliated with Online Currency Trading.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ken_Marlborough

Currency Trading Course

2007-12-17T10:44:00.001-08:00

Finding The Right Currency Trading Course

To many courses now days spend to much time on the history of Forex foreign exchanges and less time on the practical side to investing. A good currency trading course should dwell on the practical theories and analyses that can help you actually perfect a strategy to make it in the field of foreign currency exchange.

A currency trading course should be Open to ideas and recognize, and teach, the fact that there is no one solution to every problem. It must teach you to think on your own and develop your own theories and ideas regarding how to achieve success in the foreign currency market.

Practicality drives most people to invest in the foreign market exchange, so practicality should definitely be included as a necessary quality of a currency trading course.

A good currency trading course would expose you to a hands on approach to the reality of the environment, or at least something similar to it. It may be fun discussing ideas, but you cannot truly learn until you get right in it's face.

Another thing to look for in a currency trading course is the confidence it implants the people in it with. One thing you need in currency trading is confidence, and it is imperative that a good currency trading course give you a confident attitude to follow through with decisions you make. You need that confidence in order to risk your money if you want to make it in FX Currency Exchange.

A currency trading course can help prepare you for the exciting world of currency trading. Every decision is unique and depends on you to follow your instinct, coupled with your knowledge in order to truly succeed in Forex currency trading.

Chet Holcomb is a sucessfull currency exchange trader at FX Currency Exchange providing expert advice and information about entering this lucrative business for financial success.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chet_Holcomb

The Benefits of Trading The Forex Market

2007-12-16T18:37:00.000-08:00

Historically, the FX market was available most to major banks, multinational corporations and other participants who traded in large transaction sizes and volumes. Small-scale traders including individuals like you and I, had little access to this market for such a long time. Now with the advent of the Internet and technology, FX trading is becoming an increasingly popular investment alternative for the general public.

The benefits of trading the currency market:

It is open 24-hours and it closes only on the weekends;

It is very liquid and efficient;

It is very volatile;

It has very low transaction costs;

You can use a high level of leverage (borrowed money) with ease; and

You can profit from a bull or a bear market.

Continuous, 24-Hour Trading

The currency exchange is a 24-hour market. You may decide to trade after you come home from work. Regardless of what time-frame you want to trade at whatever time of the day, there would be enough buyers and sellers to take the other side of your trade. This feature of the market gives you enough flexibility to manage your trading around your daily routine.

Liquidity And Efficiency

When there are a lot of buyers and a lot of sellers, you can expect to buy or sell at a price that is very close to the last market price. The currency market is the most liquid market in the world. Trading volume in the currency markets can be between 50 and 100 times larger than the New York Stock Exchange (Source: Oanda.)

When you are trading stocks, you may have experienced events where one piece of news accelerates or decelerates the price of the underlying stock you may have bought into. Perhaps a director has been kicked out by the shareholders of a company or the company has just released a new product and big investors are buying the shares of a particular company. Share prices can be drastically affected by the actions or inactions of one or a few individuals. So if you are relying on television reports and newspapers to get your news, most of the opportunities or warnings will have come too late for you to take advantage by the time you get them.

The value of currencies on the other hand is affected by so many factors and so many participants that the likelihood of any one individual or group of individuals drastically affecting the value of a currency is minute. Because of its sheer size, the currency market is hard to manipulate. The ability for people to engage in 'insider trading' is virtually eliminated. As an average trader, you are less disadvantaged. You are likely to be playing on relatively equal ground along with all the other traders and investors whom you are competing against.

Note about price gaps:

For those people who have already traded other markets, you probably know about price 'gaps'. 'Gaps' occur when prices 'jump' from one price level to another without having taken any incremental steps to get there. For example, you may be trading a share that closes at $10 at the end of today but due to some event that happens overnight; it opens tomorrow at $5 and continues to go downwards for the rest of the day.

Gaps bring about another degree of uncertainty that may meddle with a trader's strategy. Probably one of the most worrying aspects of this is when a trader uses stop-losses. In this case, if a trader puts a stop-loss at $7 because he no longer wants to be in a trade if the share price hits $7, his trade will remain open overnight and the trader wakes up tomorrow with a loss bigger than he may have been prepared for.

After looking at a couple of forex charts, you will realize that there are little price 'gaps' or none at all, especially on the longer-term charts like the 3-hour, 4-hour or the daily charts.

Volatility

Trading opportunities exist when prices fluctuate. If you buy a share for $2 and it stays there, there is no opportunity to make a profit. The magnitude of level of this fluctuation and its frequency is referred to as volatility. As a trader, it is volatility that you profit from. Large volume transactions and high liquidity combined with fewer trading instruments generate greater intra-day volatility in the currency market that can be exploited by day-traders. The high volatility of the currency market indicates that a trader can potentially earn 5 times more money from currency trading than trading the most liquid shares.

Volatility is a measure of maximum return that a trader can generate with perfect foresight. Volatility for the most liquid stocks are between 60 to 100. Volatility for currency trading is 500. (Source: Oanda.)

In this respect, currencies make a better trading vehicle for day-traders than the equity markets.

Low Transaction Costs

A currency transaction typically incurs no commission or transaction fees. For a forex trader, the spread is the only cost he or she needs to cover in taking on a position. In addition, because of the currency market's efficiency, there is little or no 'slippage' costs.

'Slippage' is the cost involved when traders enter the market at a price worse than the level they wanted to get into. For example, a trader wants to buy a share at $2.00 but by the time, the order gets executed, his gets to buy the shares at $2.50. That fifty cents difference is his slippage cost. Slippage cost affects large-volume traders a lot. When they buy large quantities of a commodity, it oversupplies the market with buy orders. This applies a pressure for the price to go up. By the time they get to buy all the quantities they wanted, the average price they got their commodities would be higher than the price they intended to get them for. Conversely, when they sell large quantities of a commodity, they oversupply the market with sell orders. This applies a pressure for the price to go down. By the time they finish selling all their commodities, their average selling price is less than what they initially intended to sell them for.

Due to lower transaction costs, minimum slippage and strong intra-day volatility, individuals can trade frequently at small costs. As an approximate, you may only expect to have a spread of 0.03% of your position size. To give you an example, you can buy and sell 10,000 US Dollars and this will only incur a 3-point spread, equivalent to $3.

Leverage

There are not a lot of banks or people who would lend you money so that you can use it to trade shares. And if there are, it would be very hard for you to convince them to invest in you and in your idea that a certain share is going to go up or down. Therefore, most of the time, if you have a $10,000 account, you can only really afford to buy $10,000 worth of stocks.

In currency trading however, because you use 'borrowed money', you can trade $10,000 of a currency and you only need anywhere between fifty (For a margin lending ratio of 200:1) to two hundred dollars ( For a margin lending ratio of 50:1) in your trading account. This makes it possible for an average trader with a small trading account, under $10,000 to be able to profit sufficiently from the movements of the currency exchange rates. This concept is explained further in The Part-Time Currency Trader.

Profit From A Bull And Bear Market

When you are trading shares, you can only profit when the price of a stock goes up. When you suspect that it is about to go down or that it is just going to be moving sideways, then the only thing you can do is sell your shares and stand aside. One of the frustrations of trading shares is that an individual cannot profit when prices are going down. In the currency market, it is easy for you to trade a currency downward so that you can profit when you think it is going to lose value. This is easy to do because currency trading simply involves buying one currency and selling another, there is no structural bias that makes it difficult to trade 'downwards'. This is why the currency market has been occasionally referred to as the eternal bull market.

This is an excerpt, modified from the book: The Part-Time Currency Trader.

by Marquez Comelab

http://www.marquezcomelab.com

Investing in Forex

2007-12-15T06:30:00.000-08:00

Investing in foreign currencies is a relatively new avenue of investing. There are considerably fewer people are aware of this market than there are people aware of several other avenues of investing. Trading foreign currency, also known as forex, is the most lucrative investment market that exists. There are several factors that make this true among which, successful forex traders earn realistic profits of one hundred plus percent each month. Compared to some of the better known investment markets such as corporate stocks, this is an unheard of return on investment. It's very necessary to mention here that a person who invests in forex must, without exception, make it a point to learn the detailed, but simple strategies and information surrounding the market. This very fact is what makes the difference between successful forex traders and other traders.

A few additional points, which create such powerful leverage for investors within the forex market are: The amount of capital required to begin investing in the market is only three hundred dollars. For the most part, any other investment market is going to demand thousands of dollars of the investor in the beginning. Also, the market offers opportunities to profit regardless what the direction of the market may be; In most commonly known markets investors sit and wait for the market to begin an up trend before entering a trade. Even then, investors, as a rule must sit and wait some more to be able to exit the trade with a nice profit. Given that the forex market produces several up, down, and sideways trends in a single day, it can easily be seen that forex stands head and shoulders above other markets. Additionally there are trading strategies, which are taught that provide for compounded profits; these are profits on top of profits. In addition, free demo accounts are available within the industry of forex trading, which facilitate the sharpening of skills without the risk losing any capital. And the advantage regarding the time factor in trading foreign currency is a very attractive point for any investor. Compared to one of the most sought after avenues of investing, which often requires forty or more hours each week, namely in the real-estate market, the forex market requires a much smaller demand on the investor's time. Forex trading requires approximately ten to fifteen hours each week to earn a full time income. It's easy to see that the advantages and great leverage that exist in the forex market, make it among the most lucrative, time liberating, and easy to enter by far.

I hope this information gives you a clear understanding of how you can turn your investing into a true method of making your money work harder for you.

by Joe Clinton

www.joeforex.com

Best Forex Trading Course

2007-12-14T11:34:00.000-08:00

What is the Best Forex Trading Course Out There?

Every successful broker will tell you that knowledge is his or her key to profitable trading. A trader with Forex education has better experience in determining market movements and choosing profitable transactions. Without proper knowledge, you are risking everything you have in the dark. Although you may succeed in a few trades, the odds are that you are going to lose in the end. How do you avoid such losses?

The key is finding the best Forex trading course that will enable you to trade knowledgably and avoid disastrous losses. Although tons of information is available online, on books and with plenty of schools, this is not something you should thank for because separating the best Forex trading course from the rest can be an overwhelming task. Imagine searching through hundreds of web sites and buying several books just to find out you lack the knowledge to step into the market.

Obviously, the best Forex trading course should teach you everything you need to know about the market with easy-to-understand terms and advices. If you're the type of person who learns easily even with self-learning, you can choose from e-books, guides and books to lead you through all the aspects. However, for people who are not used to self-learning, on-location courses and comprehensive online guides are the best Forex trading course for you.

For people who have extra time, they could surf the web and find plenty of Forex facts. However, the problem with online sources is that the information is usually unstructured. In choosing the best trading course online, ensure that the web site presents a step-by-step guide, so you can actually walk through beginners, immediate and expert phases, learn from your mistakes and master trading techniques.

When you choose to go for study courses, expect a structured and logical syllabus. With this type of courses, you can save time and effort that you would have wasted when researching information on your own. Remember that the best Forex trading course should be available for your knowledge level, so a beginner should never be introduced to advanced trading lessons.

Although you can grab a copy of an online Forex course without charge, it will only give you basic information to get you started in the market, but lacks in-depth training that you need to analyze charts and create solid trading strategies. The cost of lessons vary greatly from free to thousands of dollars.

You can choose to attend seminars, study at your own pace, attend classes with a group of fellow beginners or sign up for a comprehensive online course, but you can never beat the benefits of having your own mentor. The best Forex trading course involves a trainer that has a reputable experience in Forex trading, who is willing to offer strategies and insights he has learned throughout all his years of conducting trades. Unfortunately, experts usually charge a lot of money.

Regardless of your learning style, choosing the best Forex trading course depends largely on how much money you are willing to invest for your education, how much time and effort you are willing to give into the industry.

The Forex World waited with anticipation as the author slowly released and revealed The World's Most Powerful Forex Trading Course ever to be seen by a trader. This ground breaking and highly profitable course (Forex Commander) is now available at the Forex Commander website. Thousands of traders waited for this development. There are limited copies of this course remaining at http://www.ForexCommander.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Troy_Winters

Five Forex Trading Tips You MUST Know

2007-12-13T12:45:00.000-08:00

Jumping into Forex trading with both feet? Here are five must-know tips on forex trading and mini forex to help you stay afloat in the Foreign Exchange currency market.

Know your forex trading market.
Educate yourself about the currencies that you trade. The more you know about the country whose currency you’re trading in the forex market, the more accurately you’ll be able to predict which way the money will move.

Pick a forex trading system – and stick with it.
Savvy forex traders will tell you that system is everything. Forex trading by system lets you automate your trades based on history, following the traditional peaks and valleys. Set up a system and live with it to make the most of your forex trading.

Practice makes perfect – but it’s not the real world.
Practice forex trading accounts are great for learning how a particular trading account works – but they’re not the real world. Many experienced traders recommend starting off with a mini forex account to minimize your losses while you get acclimated.

Keep your eye on the margin.
Margin trading is a great way to lose a lot of money quickly. Stay away from forex margin trading until you’re sure you know what you’re doing.

The only win that counts in forex trading is the bottom line. In forex trading, the bottom line is how much money you made at the end of the day. Don’t count won or lost trades – only dollars and cents.

Tony owns the http://www.live-forex-easy.com website. Please visit the site for more information about Swiss Forex Broker Marketiva.
Swiss Forex Broker Marketiva

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tony_Chan

FOREX-Dollar falls vs euro after Fed cut disappoints

2007-12-12T10:14:00.000-08:00

LONDON, Dec 12 (Reuters) - The dollar fell versus the euro on Wednesday after the previous day's quarter-point rate cut from the Federal Reserve disappointed investors hoping for more aggressive action to help the economy and credit markets.

The Fed trimmed both the benchmark fed funds rate and the discount rate for lending to banks by a quarter point, to 4.25 and 4.75 percent respectively. Some had expected a bigger discount rate slash to help strained money markets at year-end.

"The Fed delivered the bare minimum of what was possible and they didn't reduce the penalty on the discount rate," said Teis Knuthsen, head of FX research at Danske Markets in Copenhagen.

"The Fed's actions are consistent with a central bank that was late to the easing cycle and is behind the curve and we see pressure on the dollar in coming weeks."

However, the U.S. currency rallied versus the yen, while high yielders surged after a Fed source said the central bank was actively considering all of the tools it has available to address liquidity measures.

Some media reports said action from the Fed on liquidity could come within days, even as soon as Wednesday.

The year-end period traditionally sees thinner liquidity, but the situation is exacerbated this year by troubles in the U.S. subprime mortgage market and the subsequent credit crunch, which have left banks unwilling to lend to each other. Continued...

Dollar Holds Steady as World Awaits US Data Reports

2007-12-11T12:02:00.000-08:00

Credit problems in the US have been the source of much turmoil throughout the global markets in the past few months. Tuesday was good for the US dollar, which held strong against both the yen and the euro. However, forthcoming economic reports from the US may or may not tip the scales. According to Reuters:

"The panic is almost over, but the market has lost its direction and is waiting for more news, especially any good news," said Kikuko Takeda, a currency strategist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.

Online Forex Trading

2007-12-11T12:00:00.000-08:00

Online Forex Trading is Quickly Becoming a Booming Business

Online Forex trading is more popular now that most everyone has access to a computer and internet. Unlike the stock exchange, the Forex does not have a particular place for trading to take place. While trading takes place all over the world, online Forex trading makes this process more convenient than ever.

Transactions in the Forex are traded very rapidly. The Forex is open around the clock on every business day of the year. Trading begins every morning in Sydney, Australia and as the business day in each country begins, the Forex online trading opens around the world. Online Forex trading allows banks, financial institutions, brokers and speculators to trade their currency rapidly and with ease. Online Forex trading is also a popular way to change foreign currency because it happens in real time with no delay.

Because online Forex trading makes exchanging foreign currency so easy and accessible to millions of people, many are trying to learn the ins and outs of the Forex. Brokers and financial institutions can offer advice on investing in the Forex. Brokers will also do the actual trading for the consumer. However, many are willing to learn to trade on the Forex on their own. When learning about online Forex trading it is imperative to understand everything there is to know about the Forex. Many online websites can offer potential traders tutorials and demos on how to get started in online Forex trading. Practicing on the demos helps speculators learn the basics of online Forex trading.

Also, another tip to learning online Forex trading is to study the news, including international news and news relating to politics, economics and finances. Inflation, changes in government and taxes just to name a few all affect the Forex on a daily basis. It is crucial to understand how these changes affect trading and the value of currency.

Forex-Resource-Pro.com - The Internet's Ulitmate Forex Resource!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Matthew_Bass

Where to Get Forex Training

2007-12-10T19:36:00.000-08:00

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.

Jay Moncliff is the founder of http://www.forex-center.info-center.info a blog focusing on the forex training,resources and articles. This site provides detailed information on forex training. For more info visit his site at:forex training
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jay_Moncliff

Forex Currency Trading

2007-12-10T14:31:00.000-08:00

It is possible to buy and sell money from different countries on the foreign exchange market called Forex. Forex currency traders can profit by taking advantage of the dips and swells in the foreign currency market. Capturing these differentials is easier in Forex currency trading than in other trading because the Forex market is open twenty-four hours a day, except for weekends, and it is global, so there are always buyers and sellers available. The traders can be diverse. They can be traders looking for short-term gains, such as day traders or slightly longer investment periods, or they can be foreign investors who are looking to hedge their investments with long term Forex trades.

Forex currency trading is done in amounts of currency called lots, that are usually $100,000 each, and can be purchased on margin. Forex currency trading strategies can be based on technical analysis of the history of the currency price or it can be based on analysis of a particular country’s political climate, tax policy, jobless rate, inflation rate, and other factors of the country. There are many different systems of Forex currency trading.

Forex currency trading is a huge market. Daily trading is estimated at between $1 trillion and $1.9 trillion dollars. Because the amount of money is so huge, it’s hard to imagine that the market can be manipulated the way a smaller market can be. Forex currency trading is also not overseen by one central agency like the Security Exchange Commission, and each country oversees the Forex currency trading activity within it’s own country.

Kevin Anderson is the owner and opperator of http://www.forextradingcenter.info a site developed to give users the most updated information, articles, and news related to the Forex Market.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kevin_Anderson

Forex Broker

2007-12-09T14:42:00.000-08:00

A broker is any person or firm that charges a fee in exchange for executing trades for a trader. A Forex broker does not charge a commission for placing a buy or a sell order the way a real estate broker would charge a percentage fee of the total price of a sale. A Forex broker is paid according to the spread – or the difference between the trader’s bid for a currency, and the seller’s asking price for that currency. Usually this spread is less than 0.1% or ten pips. (Pips are the smallest movement a currency can make on the Forex. Pips are commonly called referred to as points.) The lower the spread, the less a trader pays a Forex broker for a trade.

The Forex market is global and does not have one central regulatory agency like the Security Exchange Commission. Each country is responsible for the actions of trades in it’s own country. A Forex broker in America must register with the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). While traders are not regulated, Forex brokers are. A Forex broker must be registered as a Futures Commercial Merchant (FCM) before that Forex broker is allowed to accept a deposit for an account from a trader. Once registered, a Forex broker is given an identification number so that a trader can check the status of a Forex broker before hiring that Forex broker. There are such people known as introducing brokers who may solicit traders for a registered Forex broker, but the introducing broker cannot accept a deposit for a trader’s account. It is a good idea for any trader hiring a Forex broker to check the status of the Forex broker with the authorities.

Kevin Anderson is the owner and opperator of http://www.forextradingcenter.info a site developed to give users the most updated information, articles, and news related to the Forex Market.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kevin_Anderson

Canada Dismisses Currency

2007-12-08T20:17:00.000-08:00

Unnerved by the tremendous appreciation in its nation’s currency, Canada’s Parliament is officially mulling the possibility of pegging the Loonie to the USD. It’s unclear at what value the two currencies would be linked, perhaps at parity. However, in testifying before Parliament, the future leader of the Bank of Canada argued staunchly against such an exchange rate regime. Such a relationship, he warned, would cripple Canada’s ability to conduct monetary policy, independent of the US. So long as the Loonie remained fixed to the Dollar, Canada would be forced into mirroring US interest rate movements. Because of several fundamental differences in their respective economies, it seems unlikely that this policy will be implemented

Forex reserves

2007-12-08T06:35:00.000-08:00

Forex reserves rise to $273
MUMBAI: The frenetic build-up of forex reserves has lost pace with reserves growing by only $1.2 billion during the week ended November 30 to $273.5 billion. Of the $1.2-billion increase in reserves, $546 million came from an increase in the value of gold. The increase in foreign currency assets was just only $694 million.

The rush of foreign capital into the country has resulted in forex reserves swelling by an average of $2.3 billion a week since April. According to the figures released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its weekly statistical supplement (WSS), foreign exchange reserves, including gold and SDR, grew $1.2 billion during the week.

It is after three months that foreign currency assets have slowed to less than a $1 billion in a single week. For one, after the Sebi tightened the norms for foreign investments through participatory notes (P-notes) in October-end, FIIs have gone slow in their investments. Also, inflows through the external commercial borrowings route has slowed down after the government imposed end-use restrictions on such borrowings.

FIIs were net sellers to the extent of over Rs 5,000 crore in November 2007. During 2007, FIIs were net sellers for only two months — August and November. Many reasons have been attributed for their net sales; the tightening of markets following the subprime crisis and also profit-booking by funds before they close their books for the year.
The slowdown is a relief for the RBI which was grappling with strong forex inflow, which has had an impact on domestic liquidity conditions as the inflow needs to be mopped up and an equal amount of rupee funds need to be released.

The RBI has the challenge of maintaining the desired level of liquidity in the market, which it has been through sale of bonds. But this too entails a cost as these bonds need to be serviced at fairly high rates.

As per the updated money supply figures, total stock of money in the system amounted to Rs 20,801 crore as on November 23. This represents a rise of Rs 4,595 crore over the previous fortnight’s levels. Both demand and term deposits rose Rs 4,427 crore and Rs 4,128 crore, respectively, during the fortnight, while the currency with the public dipped Rs 3,525 crore.

Even though absolute pile-up in the stock of money reflects a slowdown in the growth of money supply, an annual year-on-year growth in money supply works out to 22.8%, way above central bank’s comfort level of 17.5% for the year.

In other developments, the central government has refrained from resorting to ways and means advances (WMA) — a temporary loan from the central bank to meet its revenue mismatches — for yet another week. On the other hand, WMA to state governments rose Rs 41 crore to Rs 147 crore. The central government revenue surplus with RBI dipped Rs 815 crore during the week to Rs 16,768 crore.

CMS Forex News

2007-12-06T19:42:00.000-08:00

Recap: Pound Loses After Negative Housing Prices in Nov. Investors Upbeat as US Posts Positive Data.

A fall in housing prices, along with weaker consumer confidence and slower services growth prompted heavy selling of the Pound. US labor and productivity data boosted the Dollar, and prompted a return to carry trade.

Forex Up to Date News

2007-12-06T19:34:00.000-08:00

FOREX-Euro up on hawkish Trichet; yen trips as stocks rise

By Lucia Mutikani

NEW YORK, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The euro rose against the dollar and yen on Thursday as European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet's hawkish comments on inflation raised the specter of an interest rate hike in the euro zone.

The single currency also got a boost from an improvement in risk appetite, with U.S. stocks ending higher after U.S. President George W. Bush announced plans aimed at slowing the tide of homeowner foreclosures and shield the economy from the subprime mortgage crisis.

An estimated 1.2 million homeowners could benefit from the assistance plan to avoid foreclosure over the next couple of years, according to Bush.

"We had more hawkish comments than expected from the ECB president. That really kicked it off. He (Trichet) down played the risks to growth and focused on inflation. That's what caught a lot of people off guard," said Brian Dolan, chief currency strategist at Forex.com in Bedminster, New Jersey.

The ECB left its benchmark interest rate steady at 4 percent, but Trichet warned of "strong upward pressure" on inflation, adding that some central bank governors had favored a rate increase.

In late afternoon New York trade, the euro was trading up 0.2 percent at $1.4630 , after touching a session high of $1.4652. The euro also rose against the yen, climbing 0.5 percent to 162.75 EURJPY.

Against the yen, the dollar rose 0.3 percent to 111.22 , lifted by firmer U.S. stocks, but lost ground against the high-yielding Australian and New Zealand currencies.
News Source

LETTER OF THE DAY - New forex trading regulation needed

2007-12-06T01:13:00.000-08:00

In relation to the present debate on foreign exchange schemes I want to make a few points.

In the United States, the regulators developed a new, and separate, regulatory framework to deal with these new forex financial products. They do not fall under the traditional banking products set (regulated by the Federal Reserve) nor the securities, stocks and investment product set (regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission). The forex industry is regulated under the National Futures Association (NFA), a separate and distinct agency from the SEC.

The NFA covers regulation for commodities, futures, forex in the United States.

My understanding is that the local FSC (which is the Jamaican version of the SEC) is fighting tooth and nail to define the local forex trading industry and activities as securities activities and as falling under their umbrella, when clearly they do not. In fact, the definition of securities, as drawn from the FSC website, describes securities as "stocks, promissory notes, bonds, certificate of participation, investment contracts and other documents commonly called securities". Therein lies the dilemma. The legal mandate of the FSC does not extend to, nor cover, these new forex players and these new forex instruments.

What is needed, and quickly, is for the Government of Jamaica to create a new regulatory framework, analogous to the NFA in the U.S., to be designed for the Jamaican marketplace and provided with oversight of this new industry and for these forex instruments. That's where the focus should be. Until that is done the FSC is merely spinning wheels.

In the U.S.A., the SEC does not regulate the forex market, in the U.S. Forex is not securities.

Non-emotional answers

I would encourage your paper, as a public service, to invite the FSC to provide structured, non-emotional answers to these issues, perhaps through your medium. You could collate and synthesise the issues raised, and then invite the FSC to respond in a one page Q&A.

I recommend three questions:

a. Is the international US$ 2 trillion per day forex market a Ponzi or pyramid marketplace ?

b. Does the definition of securities in Jamaican law, envelop these newer financial instruments such as futures, commodities and forex trading or would new or modified legislation be needed?

c. Have any formal complaints been lodged with the FSC by members of the public on any aspect of their business relationship with the forex trading entities deemed 'alternative investment schemes', and has the FSC consequently been forced to initiate any formal investigations into these schemes, based on complaints by the general public ?

News Source

I am, etc;
HAROLD CLARKE
policyteam@moveupjamaica.orgKingston

CMS Forex News

2007-12-05T13:40:00.000-08:00

Yen Continues Gaining, Euro Up Versus Dollar; Loonie Falls After Bank Of Canada Lowers Rates.

Continuing worries of credit concerns sent the Yen up as carry trade unwound. The Euro was up on PPI data, and the Loonie fell after the central bank moved to cut rates.

FOREX-Dollar rises after strong private jobs report

2007-12-05T13:38:00.000-08:00

By Vivianne Rodrigues

NEW YORK, Dec 5 (Reuters) - The dollar rose to a one-month high against a basket of currencies on Wednesday after reports showing robust job growth and productivity gains suggested a milder slowdown in the U.S. economy than many had thought.

The ADP employer services report showing the U.S. economy added 189,000 private-sector jobs last month also indicated that key government data on Friday may show similar signs of strength in the labor market.

That eased some market fears about trouble in global credit markets that had weighed on the greenback in recent sessions.

"This number not only beat market expectations but exceeded even the most wildly bullish projections," said Michael Woolfolk, senior currency strategist at the Bank of New York Mellon in New York. "It suggests things may not be as bad as thought, though what the market and Fed do will depend on the non-farm payrolls number (on Friday)."

The data was a pleasant surprise for markets, as economists polled by Reuters had expected Wednesday's report to show a payrolls increase of just 50,000. For details, see [ID:nN05598168].

The government's jobs report, which also includes public-sector employment, will be released on Friday. Economists expect that report to show a 75,000 increase in jobs last month, according to the median forecast in a Reuters poll.

In late morning trading in New York, the euro traded 0.7 percent lower at $1.4655 . The New York Board of Trade's U.S. dollar index .DXY, which measures the greenback's value against a basket of six currencies, traded 0.8 percent higher at 76.268, below the day's peak but still a one-month high.

News Source

Dollar rises as euro retreats

2007-12-05T00:30:00.000-08:00

The greenback rebounds after reaching record lows last week, as currency traders take profits.

BERLIN (AP) -- The dollar rose against the euro on Monday as the European currency backed off all-time set highs last week.

The euro bought $1.4568 in afternoon European trading, down from $1.4673 in New York late Friday and well below its all-time record of $1.4752, reached earlier in Friday's session.

The British pound, which has been trading at its highest levels against the dollar since the early 1980s, sank to $2.0679 from $2.0909.

Paul Jackson, a senior forex dealer at CMC Markets, said currency dealers took some profits on the euro after its latest highs.

He added that the dollar "is regaining some significant ground against the pound as sliding business confidence seems set to pave the way for a rate cut at the Bank of England."

No U.S. economic data were expected on Monday, the Veterans Day holiday, to help the markets gauge the direction of the economy and interest rates. The dollar has been suffering from speculation that the Fed, which recently cut rates twice, may keep doing so even as its major European counterparts hold their rates steady.

U.S. government bond markets and related financial commodities markets are closed for the holiday. Other U.S. markets, including the stock markets, are open

Although lower interest rates can jump-start an economy, they can also weaken a currency as investors transfer funds to countries where they can earn higher returns.

The dollar weakened late last week after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said economic growth would slow noticeably in the U.S. in the coming months while rising oil costs would increase inflation pressures. source

Bird Watching in Lion Country - Retail Forex Trading Explained

2007-12-04T11:48:00.000-08:00

If you haven't heard of Bird Watching in Lion Country - Retail Forex Trading Explained, or you know about the book but are still considering whether to buy it, I can tell you that it is still my top seller, and with good reason. If you want to learn how to trade forex then this is the book.

Bird Watching was written by a trader who actually trades for a living. He has been there, done that. This is not second-hand experience. And it shows in the book. You can pay three times this amount for one third of the content.

Dirk du Toit has written a comprehensive e-book on all aspects of forex trading that can be used by novice and experienced traders alike.

It’s also practical. It shows you, step by step opportunities to trade, and what to avoid. Do you understand the difference between ‘market wizards’ and ‘marketing wizards’ – the people that make the money and the people that take the money? If not, you are probably in trouble. This book will tell you why you need to know the difference, and how to benefit from this knowledge.

"Bird Watching in Lion Country" has been sold in almost sixty countries - it is a book with global appeal.

To make money in the forex markets you need to know and understand many things, but most of all you need to understand perspective. You need to understand how the big boys, the people who move this market, think and operate, and then do what they do. This book teaches you how.

To Order your own copy of Bird Watching in Lion Country, click here.

Yen, Franc Gain on Credit Losses, Rising Money-Market Rates

2007-12-04T11:42:00.000-08:00

Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) -- The yen and Swiss franc rose against currencies from Brazil, Australia and South Africa as global credit-market losses prompted investors to sell higher-yielding assets funded by borrowing in Japan and Switzerland.

The costs of short-term loans in the dollar, euro and pound increased as banks hoard cash on concern that losses stemming from U.S. subprime mortgages will spread. The euro gained the most in two weeks versus the dollar and advanced against the pound after a report showed prices producers paid in Europe rose at the fastest pace this year.

``There is still a lot of uncertainty in the credit markets and liquidity in money markets is drying up,'' said Mike Moran, a senior currency strategist at Standard Chartered Plc in New York. ``The tone leading into the end of the year remains cautious. Investors are likely to continue to cut their exposure to risky assets if the credit conditions don't get any better.''

The yen advanced to 109.93 per dollar at 2:22 p.m. in New York from 110.46 yesterday. The dollar declined to $1.4757 per euro from $1.4667. The U.S. currency dropped to a record low of $1.4967 per euro on Nov. 23. The euro strengthened to 162.22 yen from 162.01. The Swiss franc increased to 1.1175 per dollar from 1.1273. The pound weakened to $2.0562 from $2.0659.

The dollar may fall to $1.50 against the euro by the end of the month, according to Moran.

Canada's dollar declined against 16 most-actively traded currencies after the Bank of Canada cut its benchmark interest rate a quarter-percentage point to 4.25 percent. It was the second central bank among the Group of Seven nations to cut borrowing costs following two reductions from the Federal Reserve since September.

Canadian Dollar Declines

The Canadian dollar fell to 98.77 U.S. cents, touching 98.49 cents, the weakest since Sept. 20. The Canadian currency has dropped from $1.1040 on Nov. 7, the highest level since it was floated by the BOC in 1950.

The euro rose the most in almost three weeks against the pound to 71.77 pence after factory-gate prices in the euro zone increased 3.3 percent from a year earlier in October, the most since December 2006. It reduced speculation the European Central Bank needs to cut interest rates from 4 percent.

Forex lures Japan investors

2007-12-04T11:16:00.000-08:00

Published: November 14 2007 16:50 | Last updated: November 14 2007 16:50

Japanese retail investors are pouring into the yen carry trade despite being battered by the recent sharp rise in the country’s currency against the US dollar.

For many individual traders, the yen’s surge against the dollar has been a rude awakening to the dangers of forex trading. Stories abound of housewives losing their lifetime savings within days as the yen value of highly leveraged dollar holdings plummeted.

But contrary to expectations, the currency market turmoil has not significantly dented the appetite of Mr and Mrs Watanabe to play the foreign exchange markets.

According to research by Yano Research Institute, the number of foreign exchange margin trading accounts almost doubled last year to 644,802 and is poised to grow another 62 per cent in the year to March, to 1.05m accounts.

Although the survey was published in June, long before the latest yen up-swing, Kazuhiro Shirakura, senior researcher at Yano, said: “The number of accounts has not been affected at all [by the yen’s recent rise] and has continued to increase.” This was because new forex traders usually began by buying foreign currencies and the strong yen made it a good environment to start trading, he said.

Even traders who had been hurt by the yen’s rise had generally taken a long-term view and stayed in the market, said Junichi Katsuno in the financial markets division at Himawari Shoken, which specialises in foreign exchange trading.

“There are many people who take a long-term view and are waiting to buy [dollars],” he said. “There aren’t that many people who expect the yen to strengthen that much more.”

Retail investors were generally willing to participate in the yen carry trade as long as the yen did not rise above Y105 to the US dollar, Mr Katsuno said.

Individual traders are also becoming more sophisticated in their trading strategy.

Since the summer, instead of taking large positions in one currency, which can lead to huge losses, investors are taking smaller positions and trading frequently and flexibly to minimize any potential losses.

What is more, not all retail traders have lost out in the latest currency turmoil.

One 34-year old housewife who uses the online handle “Forex-loving Mama” to blog about her trading, said she had actually made profits by taking both short and long positions in the more than 20 currency pairs she tracked daily.

The woman, who declined to be identified, said she closed her positions each day before going to bed and was not phased by the latest currency moves that had left many retail investors nursing huge losses.

She also expects other retail traders to stay in the market. “Surprisingly, there aren’t many people who say they will quit. I think it’s because people remember how good it can be. It’s like a gambling addiction,” she said.

Online Forex Trading Strategies

2007-12-04T10:52:00.000-08:00

Forex trading strategies is the formula to a successful forex trading or as some call it online currency trading. Have more knowledge of different forex trading strategies may the difference between a huge profit or a big loss and it is all most imperative that you have a very good understanding how online forex trading strategies are used.
Forex trading isn't like trading stocks,futures, or options using forex trading strategies will give you alot more advantages and can help you to realize a even more greater profits in short term trading.
With the wide range of forex trading strategies now available to forex investors an one of the most used of these forex trading strategies is strategy of leverage.

investors to make use of short term fluctuations of the Forex trading strategy was designed to allow a online forex currency trader to have access to more funds than are deposited when using this foerx trading strategy which allows you to maximizes the foerx tradind benefits. Online forex trading strategies you can actually make use as much as 100 times the amount that's in your deposit account against any forex trade allow you to make more money using other peoples money and you'll have much better results in your forex trading. Using leverage in forex trading strategy on a regular basis allows forexforex market.

trader will stop trading. Making use of this online trader to minimize losses. However, this online Also another commonly used forex trading strategy is the stop loss order. Forex trading strategy is a way to protect forex investors and it creates predetermined point at which forexforex trading strategy allows you the forexforex trading strategy can also work against you too. The forex trader can run the risk of stopping their forex trading which could have earn more money so thats the risk that runs with using stop loss. Its really up to that forex trader if they want to use this forex trading strategy.

An automatic entry order is also a foerx trading strategies that is widely used and this strategy is used to allow the forex trader to get into forex trading when the price is right. Though all these forex trading strategies are to help you as a forex trader to get the most form your forex trading and help to you to minimize your loses. As I said before knowledge of online forex trading strategies is very vital if you wish to be successful in forex trading.

Forex Trading Systems

2007-12-04T10:45:00.000-08:00

Forex day traders they normaly favor Forex trading systems. Forex trading systems they are methods of trading currency based on someones ideas that also have rules associated to them. Forex trading systems is theory and practice that have been tried and tried over and over, and the results of the tests have been documented.

Forex trading systems are based on the idea of going against trends. Some other Forex trading systems are based on the idea of going with trends. Forex trading systems are based on someones idea of tracking the breakouts of a particular forex trading currency and these Forex trading systems rely mostly on the averages of a preforms of currency’s highs and lows, and utilize Bollinger bands that track the average highs, the average lows and the moving average of the two.

Forex day traders utilize Forex trading systems in order to work against some human characteristics that can hamper trading, like greed, addiction, impulsively, compulsively and fear.

Bollinger Bands

2007-12-03T21:24:00.000-08:00

So what are Bollinger bans? They are curves drawn in and around the price structure that provide relative definitions of high and low.
And what are Bollinger bands used for? Knowing whether prices are high or low, the investor or forex trader can make rational forex investments decisions by comparing price action with the actions of indicators.
What can Bollinger bands be applied to? All most anything currency pairs,indices,futures and mutual funds.

John Bollinger is a giant in today's forex trading community. His Bollinger Bands sharpen the sensitivity of fixed indicators, allowing them to more precisely reflect a market's volatility. By more accurately indication the existing forex market environment, they are seen by many as today's standard and most reliable tool for plotting expected price action.
Mr. John Bollinger notes the following characteristics of Bollinger bands.

Sharp price changes tend to occur after the bands tighten and as volatility lessens.
When prices move outside the bands, a continuation of the current trend is implied.
Bottoms and tops made outside the bands followed by bottoms and tops made inside the bands call for reversals in the trend.
A move that originates at one band tends to go all the way to the other band

Bollinger bands are plotted at standard deviation levels above and below a moving average. Since standard deviation is a measure of volatility, the bands are self adjusting during volatile forex markets and contracting during calmer periods. The bands bracket approximately 90 percent of the market activity.

The 10 percent outside the bands is most likely going to approximate areas where prices will return to within the bands. When Bollinger bands are flat and narrow, this indicates that price volatility is lower than in previous time periods.
When the bands begin to flare, this indicates increased volatility and the possible inception of a new, strong directional or trend move. Wide bands are a indication of a very strong move.

CMS Forex News

2007-12-03T19:36:00.000-08:00

Recap: Yen Gains as Risk Aversion Returns to Markets with Credit Concerns Present.

A return of risk aversion boosted the Yen against its rivals. Australia Trade Deficit Widens; Germany and UK post upbeat manufacturing PMI reports. The Dollar was down to the Pound; Up vs. the Loonie.

Introduction To Fibonacci Forex Trading

2007-12-02T13:33:00.000-08:00

How to make money in Foreign Currencies using Fibonacci Retracements and Fibonacci Profit Targets

Fibonacci forex trading is the basis of many successful forex traders systems that are used by a great amount of forex traders around the globe. Forex trading systems based on this “numbers sequence” are so successful that billions of dollars are earned every year by forex traders following its rules.

Fibonacci was and Italian mathematician an he is best known by his world famous Fibonacci sequence, definition of this sequence is that it’s was formed by a series of numbers which each number is the sum of the two preceding numbers; 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 ...Though these cases of currency trading what is more important for the forex trader is the Fibonacci ratios derived from this sequence of numbers, i.e. .236, .50, .382, .618, etc.

Forex day traders can really benefit from his mathematical proportions due to the fact that the oscillations observed in forex charts, Some prices are visibly changing its pattern, Follow Fibonacci ratios very closely as indicators of resistance and support levels.

One very important thing to remember is Fibonacci analysis is a leading indicator. What this means to you is that by learning the correct Fibonacci trading tactics and techniques you will know how to determine the most probable turning points in the market before the price gets there. Yes, you can know what the forex market will do in advance!

Key steps to forex Success

2007-12-01T22:05:00.000-08:00

Some keys steps to forex trading Success
When trading on the Forex Markets there are a few things that if you could really help you profit in forex trading. Here are a few tips:

One would be how to protect your forex profits. Protecting your forex profits is another factor that helps to ensure you leave your forex trading platform in profit. If you are a longer-term forex trader such as a swing forex trader or a forex position trader, it is important to protect your forex profits by using a trailing stop loss. Forex example, lets say that your are taking a long position in the USD/JPY and you are looking for a larger return than$400. Now Lets say that your goal is $800 rather than $400, and you are currently sitting at $500 profit. Most forex traders would take this opportunity to trail their stop lose to at least an even position or, better yet, to lock in a portion of these profits so that they have no chance of taking a loss. Remember, however, that your goal is $800 or a loss of , lets say $400 a 2:1 risk to reward ratio.

Two Make realistic goals that can be achieved within reason. Emotions and money do not go together. Simply treat each trade as business transaction and dont get emotionally attached to any foerx trade. When you have a loss just take the loss and move on to the next forex trading opportunity. Don't beat yourself over that one trade. Learning how to lose is probably more important than winning, because a new forex trader typically will take the first loss, wonder what happen and then sit on the sidelines wondering, an at the same time missing out on other good forex trades. Don't ponder on anyone forex trading loss.

Three when in doubt, stay out. If you come to a point in your market analysis in any trading session where you have no confidence as to an accurate forecast of the market direction, simply choose not to trade. Because A lost opportunity is better than lost money. In such cases just wait for the forex market conditions to become clearer and increase the probability of success by trading when trade setups are strong.
This is far more important to understand in the Forex than in the wall street stock market. The forex moves a lot more, and the leverage allows you to have the opportunity to make a lot more money much faster. Therefore, if you do not see the forex opportunity to get in, you an afford to sit out. Just learning to be patient forex trader can help a lot, so just let the forex market come to you.

Elliot Waves

2007-12-01T21:48:00.000-08:00

R.N. Elliott discerned various types of wave patterns and labeled them. He discovered that there were tow basic types of wave patterns: (1) waves that move in the direction of the main trend of the of market, that is, impulse waves consisting of five smaller waves. And (2) waves that move counter to the market's main direction, that is, corrective waves consisting of three smaller waves.
He further discovered that each wave, whether impulsive or corrective, subdivides into smaller waves and is part of a larger wave. Elliot waves therefore can be analyzed in time periods ranging from a matter of minutes to months and years.
The most difficult part of Elliott Waves analysis is correctly labeling and counting on waves. A correct wave count can lead the analyst to amazing accuracy in forecasting the forex market. An incorrect wave count, of course, will have the opposite result.
Wave counting is quite subjective and usually will result in as many forecasts as there are Elliott Wave forecasters. Because of this it is often said by its harshest critics that Elliott Wave analysis is useful only in hindsight, which is to say that it is not very useful in predicting the future course of the forex market.
Many people may disagree. Many have found that simplicity,proportionality, and flexibility in a wave counting lead to the best results. Your ability is constantly challenged by the market and is always evolving, hopefully to a higher level.
Even if you are not interested in Elliot waves analysis as a forex trader technique for short-term profits, and understanding of Elliott waves still has value because it brings to the forex investor a sense of historical perspective.
Forex Markets never go in one direction forever. Forex markets that go up must come down sooner of later.

Forex trading Guide Strategy

2007-12-01T02:33:00.000-08:00

DUBLIN, Ireland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Research and Markets

An accessible guide to Forex trading that allows readers to select a strategy that matches their trading style

Getting Started in Forex Trading opens with a detailed look at a select set of proven strategies and explains how they function. Readers are then shown how-and why-a particular trading style may (or may not) work with each strategy. After discussing the various trading strategies, Getting Started in Forex Trading reveals how to best implement them in real-world situations. With this book as their guide, readers will not only learn excellent Forex trading techniques, but also discover which techniques are right for them.

There are many trading techniques available to the currency trader. One of the greatest challenges facing a novice trader is not when to buy and sell their currency pairs, but, what system to use, how to know if it is working, and if it matches their particular trading personality. As most everyone knows, successful trading in any market is dependent upon selection and adherence to a system. Not choosing a system and one that performs in a manner consistent with the traders personality will ultimately lead to failure. Archer provides readers with solutions to this issue. Within this book, he shows readers a select set of trading systems that have proven successful over the long run. Next, he explains how these systems tend to operate and how that will impact upon a traders particular style.

About the author:

Michael Duane Archer has been an active commodity futures and FOREX trader for over thirty years. He has worked in various advisory capacities, notably as a commodity trading advisor and an SEC-registered investment advisor. He is also the coauthor of Getting Started in Currency Trading, The Forex Chartist Companion, and Charting the Major Forex Pairs.

(http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c75595) has announced the addition of “Getting Started in Forex Trading Strategies” to their offering.

CMS Forex News Update

2007-12-01T02:27:00.000-08:00

Recap of the Week: Week Ends with Dollar Gain vs Yen, Euro and Pound.

The Dollar ended the week with strong gains against the Euro and Pound, and a big week vs the Yen. Investor confidence was back lowering the Yen overall, though credit problems persist.

Simple forex trading system to protect your investment

2007-12-01T02:19:00.000-08:00

A Simple Forex Trading System that Can Protect Your forex trading Investment! There are forex trading systems that are very popular as a method of investing money to make you more money in forex trading. They kind of work like a momentum in the forex market. Its a forex trading software that can implement a method of forex trading that uses objective entry and some exit criteria thats based on parameters that have been validated. Some simple forex systems are actually similar to that of a wall street stock market trading system in any country. Though these forex trading systems are done on a huge scale that involves forex currency trading all over the entire world.

If you search on Google there are hundreds of simple foerx trading systems out there. You can find many e-books on forex strategy or forex trading systems that say you it can make you 1000pips per month in profit. Forex trading systems that are based on scientifically sound and that are will tested concepts can be extremely well done and will continue to so so many years from now.

There also forex trading software is also available to help you to manage every aspect of forex day trading. It allows you to purchase forex currency and set any price at which you may want to sell at also can give your price at wha you want to sell or buy. Simple forex trading system software is so easy to understand and apply it just give you so much confidence in which it leads you to follow your forex currency trading system to long term forex trading success.

What I have talk about is the best way for anyone just starting out in forex trading market. There are many trading systems that are done for many different types of forex traders. And most are easy to use, informative and very beneficial are many factors to look out for. Simple forex trading systems is really big business. If you invest in the right forex trading system you can make huge currency profits and get what you paid for many times over.

Forex reserves rise $1.13 b

2007-11-30T15:02:00.001-08:00

Forex reserves rise $1.13 bOur BureauMumbai, Nov. 30 The forex reserves went up by $1.133 billion to $272.281 billion for the week ended November 23 following constant intervention by the Reserve Bank of India in the market, said a dealer with a private bank.The reserves had increased by $967 million to touch $271.148 billion for the week ended November 16, according to RBI’s Weekly Statistical Supplement.

The rupee has appreciated by almost 11 per cent since January this year backed by the strong FDI and portfolio flows into the domestic market. This has prompted the RBI to buy dollars through nationalised banks to curb the appreciation of rupee and has contributed to the huge accretion to reserves.“There has also been some revaluation of currency assets which has added to the reserves,” said the dealer.

The foreign currency assets increased by $1.130 billion at $264.031 billion. The reserves in gold and SDRs remained unchanged at $7.811 billion and $3 billion respectively. The reserve position in IMF went up by $3 million at $436 million.

The Hindu Business Line : Forex reserves rise $1.13 b

Forex E-Book Review: Forex Fast Track

2007-11-30T14:29:00.000-08:00

Disclaimer: I'm just posting reviews on ebooks there isn't any guarantee you will make any money with this ebook.

Traders using The Forex Fast Track are creating multiple streams of income, not only trading Currencies, but also by doing other ForEx related activities that sometimes produce more wealth than their own trading. What’s even more appealing is that they do this from anywhere in the world—there is no “OFFICE.” You can set-up your office on a resort beach in the Caribbean as long as you have an Internet connection and a computer.

Professional trader shares his techniques and experience LIVE in Weekly Webinars, putting his reputation on the line so that you can learn Forex.Get the interaction and experience you need with a Professional Trader and Mentor to show you the ropes and help you establish yourself as a very successful and profitable trader on the

Foreign Exchange (ForEx) in his LIVE Webinars and Trading Room. Make as much money as you would like any time of the day, 6 days per week trading currencies. There are always opportunities to make money, day and night!

Forget about all those other courses and e-books you see online that simply recycle the old and add a twist to make it NEW. If you are going to make money trading Forex, you need someone who will take the time to explain it to you; someone who will provide you with his/her years of experience and mistakes. Don’t attempt to take this market on alone! Avoid the same mistakes that I have made and keep your hard-earned cash. There’s no reason to throw your money at the markets to learn. I have already done it for you!

Why You Should Trade with Me!

Initially we mentioned that we could show you have to make six figures in 12 short months. What I want to teach you to do is take 10 Points (PIPs) from the market each and every trading day of the month. You can fund your account with $1,000 and start trading with 2 Mini Lots. The objective is to be positive 10 PIPs at the end of each trading day, not necessarily setting a Take Profit order or Limit order for 10 PIPs and calling the trade good. Some trades will net you 15-20 or more PIPs per trade.

If you consider that fact that currencies trade on average 90-120 PIPs per day, then you should be able to capitalize on 10 points. What’s even more appealing about what I will teach you is how you can set the trades up to manage themselves. I have some COOL TOOLS that will allow you to “Set ‘Em and Forget ‘Em.” There’s no reason to sit there and watch a trade, only to talk yourself out of a good thing.

I have found that I do much better with a trade if I just walk away after I have set it up properly. If you continue to watch the trade, your emotions will affect your decision-making process and you could cut the trade short or even end up with a loss. Let me show you how to get rid of the emotions behind trading.

The nice thing about trading with technology is that we now have the ability to monitor, or ever manage our trades, using cellular phones or laptops. Just a moment ago I talked about setting up the trade and forgetting about it. Well, you don’t necessarily want to forget about it, but go do a round of golf while you monitor the trade on your cellular phone. You see, the good folks that created our charts have also created charts for handheld devices. I have a PALM Treo and I can manage the trade from anywhere…Cool concept, isn’t it!

Grab 10 Points Per Day Using Our System:

By now you’re probably asking yourself where’s the proof that this can be done. Well, I am working on this philosophy myself as a demonstration to my other students that it can be done. I started the account with $500 and have traded casually for the last 3 months and I’m up to $2,200. Due to my responsibilities to my other investors, I have to give their account precedence as I try to manage money and educate individuals on Forex at the same time.

If looking for a forex fast track to making money this ebook could do the job. Though you not fore sure to make any money with ebooks.

Trading Forex Currency through online foerx brokers

2007-11-30T14:22:00.000-08:00

Getting Access to foreign exchange or forex is one of the most extensive markets out there. In other to get connect you have to go through a forex online broker. Almost like a stock broker on wall street.

However, this online forex brokers also can provide forex trading strategies. The advice they give you mostly extends to technical analysis and intense research to improve client forex trading performance. Moreover; financial institutions are the most that mostly influential the forex markets prices through high volume and very large forex currency transactions. Back in the day on banks enjoyed trading forex, but now anyone if computer access can market forex via a forex online broker.

With secure web connections today it allows forex traders to from anywhere there is a Internet plug in. Which will allow you to get update forex news information and other technical advice so forex day traders can make sound decisions on what forex positions to make.
With your needs in the forex market it will influence your choice of a forex online broker. A online forex broker firm is a pit stop to provide all the latest news and detailed research, advice and simulators to learn more how to use the forex tools. When picking a online forex broker take your time.

Online Forex Trading Education

2007-11-30T03:28:00.000-08:00

Now that forex trading is available to everyone there are so many people who are interested in doing forex trading. Before starting in forex trading you need to get as much online forex trading education as possible that's most important. With so many forex trading terms in this huge forex market its very important also taht you learn the fundamentals with online forex trading education. Now why online forex trading education? While most people really want to learn forex trading.

Often they are to busy with many other aspects of daily life. That makes it hard to attend a course in forex trading to learn forex. That's when an online forex trading education is comes in.
With Internet and being able to get online very easy now you can learn at your own pace. Being online you can pretty much learn all the basic terms about forex trading. There huge amounts of information on the web regarding forex trading from tutorials to online trading education. On the web you can find free forex trading seminars online and also advanced forex trading courses online. For instance; you can find forex mentors programs, though it may not be free but its there for you to learn forex trading.

A another important piece of an online forex trading education is pratice. No matter how well you understand forex trading online its noting like getting your real money involved. So you must learn your basic and some advanced forex trading. So once you have sufficient experience you may want to open a mini account to get started the move up to a regular account. But before starting a mini account I would advise you to open a demo account with one of the online forex brokers. Its really important not to just rush into forex trading or your online forex trading education.

Taking your time could save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars in forex trading.
good luck

CMS forex news

2007-11-30T03:08:00.000-08:00

Recap: Dollar Gains on Euro and Pound; Housing Prices Fall in UK.

The Dollar gained back its losses vs the Pound as housing data in the UK came in below expectations. The Euro fell further off its record high. The Dollar tests parity versus the Loonie for third day.

Searching for Forex Trading Chart Systems

2007-11-29T16:49:00.001-08:00

Is there a easy way to find forex trading charts and Forex Signals nope! If your just starting in out in forex trading your going to need to find forex charts. When starting out in forex trading you are going to have to develop some forex trading systems. What I find easy is using demo accounts that some forex online brokers provide as a add bonus. Most would provide free forex charts as part of the foerx demo trading system.

If you search Google for forex or forex charts. You will be so overwhelmed by the results Google draw up. Once search results are in you will have to some research to get what your looking for. If you looking forex charts or forex systems you will have to probably mix and match you get what your looking for.

As you refine your skills, and use online forex charts you notice there are so many forex features for charts. Forex trading signals are pretty standard on many forex sites. Moreover, they integrate forex trading signals with most forex charts. If you search you will find forex trading signals that will fit right in with your requirements. As you go on with your forex training you will find that your more refined with practice on a demo account.

Learning forex charts and forex system trading of different online forex brokers can be a bit frustrating at first. Just work through it and it can be really worth the extra effort. I normally pick a forex trading system and forex trading charts is by only recommendations or a suggestions from a really good forex trading source. Good luck in finding your perfect forex trading system.

CMS Forex News

2007-11-29T13:14:00.000-08:00

Recap: Investor Confidence and Carry Trade Gets A Boost as Fed Vice Chairman Kohn Comments Increase Chane of Hike.

The Dollar, Pound, and high yielders such as the Australian, Canadian and New Zealand Dollars gained on the Yen as carry trade got a boost from rallies in global stock markets.

Review: Easy Forex trading Platform

2007-11-29T12:53:00.001-08:00

Easy Forex trading platform has many benefits when using them as your forex broker. I'm not trying to sell you on there service just doing a shore review on some of the benefits. Here are some of the benefits:

Forex personal account management with easy-forex they have a expert of team members that are ready to help you at anytime. Also you will have a your own forex account service manager that will work closely with you. Also you have many options of getting in thru with you your forex service manager be via phone,email, and forex chat service.
Live training, one-on-one help on first steps in online trading.With easy-forex platform they have some of the most professional assisting forex tools out there. Easy-Forex offer some background forex information for the forex market. Guided tour, seminars, one on one training, chat, telephone support, as well as other assistance tools, including technical support.

Rates,Limits and stop-Loss Easy-Forex executes your set rates, including Stop-Loss and Take-Profit rates, by using the latest technologies. We are committed to the principle that you should not lose more than your Stop-Loss amount at risk, as defined by you.As well, per your pre-set TAKE-PROFIT rate (if you choose to set such rate) your deal will be automatically closed, exactly on your pre-defined Take-Profit rate.Needless to say that you can change those pre-defined rates, Stop-Loss as well as Take-Profit, at any time while your deal is open.
Instant Deposit with Credit Card Easy-Forex™ is the only Forex platform which allows you to fund your account with your credit card, so you can start trading immediately, regardless of banking work days or hours! Easy-Forex™ cares about protecting your credit card security as well as protecting your privacy to the highest standards. To achieve that, we use the latest technologies and comply with all relevant regulations.
Margin trading with as little as US$50 The Easy-Forex™ system enables you to trade with small amounts as well. You can start using Easy-Forex™ even with an amount as little as $50! No bank would ever offer you such an opportunity! When trading, you may deposit the sum that suits you, or fits the amount that you are willing to risk. Starting to trade with such small amounts is the best way to get acquainted with the Forex marketplace. Much better than operating "DEMO" accounts, where you are not really risking your own money. After getting familiar with the system, you may increase your level and scope of activity, as you find fit.
Competitive Spreads The spreads in our site assume deals of small and up to medium volumes. If you are a frequent trader dealing in larger volumes, we offer you a tailor-made account to suit your exact needs (spreads and leverage).

So please have a look at easy forex trading platform

Forex Singal providers

2007-11-29T12:32:00.001-08:00

There are many of Forex Signals out on the market nowadays. Some new foerx traders may think of looking for a reliable Forex Signals. Though you maybe wondering are there may many even available?
Me personally, I wouldn't pay for foerx signals services. If you think about it if forex signal services can sell forex signals you can probably doubt their forex skills. Also if they are really that good making tons cash doing forex trading why would they even need to sell there forex signals? So then what would be the value of there forex signal service must likely nothing.

There are many forex day traders that only rely on these forex signals. They would say how these signals have help me to to make so much profit in forex trading. And they will show there forex charts, and worst they will even show there forex trading logs as there evidence. So word of wisdom if your going to use some of the forex signals providers out there just make a good judgement.

Forex Management

2007-11-28T16:56:00.000-08:00

Be Patient and Persistent many forex traders have become sorely disappointed when they have not attained immediate success. Be consistent in allowing yourself sufficient time to achieve success. Persistence is one of the most important qualities a trader can possess.

Short-term trading requires the ability to continue on even when your trading results are not good. Some of forex traders greatest successes occur right after a string of losses. Those who quit too soon or apply their system haphazardly will not be trading in the market enough to allow their system to produce the wins they are looking for.

To develop persistence, you must force yourself initially to do everything according to the rules of your forex trading method or forex system. Forex management is to follow through on this commitment, and you will find that after you have taken every forex trade according to your tested system, your consistency will have paid off, and you will have forex profits to show for your efforts.

Forex News

2007-11-28T02:10:00.000-08:00

Yen Pares Losses After HSBC Reveals Subprime Losses. No Important Releases.

There were no major fundamental releases to start this week. However in financial news, HSBC faces $12 billion in additional "writedowns" for subprime defaults boosting the Yen.

Forex - Dollar rises boosted by stronger US equities

2007-11-27T13:30:00.001-08:00

LONDON, Nov. 27, 2007 (Thomson Financial delivered by Newstex) -- The dollar strengthened slightly as a strong opening on Wall Street supported demand for the US currency.

Wall Street opened higher following news overnight that Abu Dhabi Investment Authority will invest 7.5 bln usd in Citigroup (NYSE:C) -- a vote of confidence for the nation's largest bank -- which has suffered losses amid the ongoing crisis in the mortgage market.

The burgeoning risk appetite on US equity markets left weak consumer confidence data sidelined by markets, making no impact at all.

The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index fell to 87.3 in November from a revised 95.2 in October, the lowest level in two years, and below Thomson's IFR Markets' consensus estimate for a fall to 90.5.

'Consumer confidence was softer, but we don't really get sense that this is a market that is trading off economic numbers, it's trading more off the equity market,' said Daragh Maher, currency strategist at Calyon.

However, he added that though dollar has risen against the euro in the last couple of hours, 'it's pretty much back to where we started the day.'
The US currency is also still trading at a very historically weak level against the single currency, due to the deteriorating outlook for the US economy, which has led to diverging interest rate prospects for the areas.

'The divergence in policy outlook has been supporting the euro,' said Stephen Pearson, chief currency strategist at Bank of Scotland Treasury.

He added that while some doubts have emerged over the euro zone's economic prospects, 'US interest rates look as though they will be cut a lot'.

Later today, Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank president Charles Plosser, and Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago president Charles Evans will be speaking later on the economic outlook.

Plosser 'will provide some anecdotal evidence in terms of pass through from the credit shock,' said analysts at BNP Paribas. (OOTC:BPRBF)

'But of more interest is whether Fed policymakers change their hawkish tone,' they added.

Attention will turn to the Federal Reserve's Beige Book tomorrow for hints on the outlook for interest rates.

'Focus remains centred on the Fed's Beige Book report for the Dec 11 FOMC meeting and what potential spin is put on the balance of growth and inflation fundamentals - as possible clues to Fed rate policy intentions ahead,' said David Brown, chief European economist at Bear Stearns. (NYSE:BSC)

'This could have an important bearing on European Central Bank and Bank of England policy ahead,' Brown added.

Also due tomorrow in the world's largest economy are durable goods orders, which are expected to rise slightly be 0.3 pct in October, and by 0.4 pct excluding transportation.

Forex Trading Systems

2007-11-23T12:24:00.000-08:00

The foreign exchange currency market is the largest market in the world because it trades up to $1.9 trillion daily. There is an enormous scope of trade in Forex because it is global, and is open twenty-four hours a day, making the presence of buyers and sellers constant, and the fluidity of the market, grand. The market is ever present because it does not have a central venue like Wall Street or Tokyo. It is a series of internet and telephone communications between buyers and sellers and it is not overseen by any one main authority like the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Forex is made available to traders through platforms.

Traders of Forex commonly favor Forex trading systems. Forex trading systems are methods of trading currency based on ideas that have rules associated with them. Forex trading systems are a merging of theory and practice that have been tried and tested over and over, and the results of the tests have been documented.

Some Forex trading systems are based on the idea of going against trends. Other Forex trading systems are based on the idea of going with trends. Some Forex trading systems are based on the idea of tracking breakouts of a particular currency and these Forex trading systems rely heavily on the averages of a currency’s highs and lows, and utilize “Bollinger bands” that track the average highs, the average lows and the moving average of the two.

Traders utilize Forex trading systems in order to work against human characteristics that can hamper trading, like greed, addiction, impulsivity, compulsivity and fear.

Kevin Anderson is the owner and operator of http://www.forextradingcenter.info a site developed to give users the most updated information, articles, and news related to the Forex Market.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kevin_Anderson

Forex Economic News

2007-11-21T20:35:00.000-08:00

USD Dollar:
Yesterday the greenback weakened sharply all across the board on the back of the release of the FOMC Meeting Minutes. The greenback slipped to new all time low against the EUR touching the 1.4852 mark, as the minutes gave another strong indication to the market that the Fed will once again cut rates in order to prevent the U.S economy from slipping into recession. The Fed indicated that it expects U.S growth to slow to between 1.8 and 2.5%, which is much lower than previous forecasts. Therefore the Fed is now expected to cut rates by at least 0.25%, in order to stimulate growth by attempting to alleviate the housing and credit crisis.

However, the dollar selling began well before the FOMC Minutes with the release of weaker than expected Building Permits figure. This figure was forecasted to come in at 1.20M but it released at 1.18M, showing a sharp drop from last month's figure of 1.26M. This downside surprise increased the pressure on the greenback as it indicated that the earlier rate cut by the fund is struggling to provide the housing slump with some reprieve and it raised concerns of curbing future economic growth. There was some positive news for the greenback as the Housing Starts figure released better than expected, but this was greatly overshadowed by the negative Building Permits figure and by the FOMC Minutes. The weakness of the dollar yesterday also caused commodities to become more appealing to investors and this shoved Crude Oil passed the key $99 mark. The rising price of oil coupled with the continued subprime crisis will put immense pressure on the U.S economy. However the weak dollar may cause exports to boom as U.S exporters become more competitive on the global market.

Looking ahead to today, the most important news to be released from the U.S will be Unemployment Claims, which is expected to release slightly weaker than last month and Consumer Sentiment, which is forecasted to remain unchanged. If these figures do not cause any major surprises then the greenback should consolidate today after dropping to record lows yesterday. However the dollar sentiment is still very bearish and this is not likely to change in the near future, particularly since many analysts believe that it is in the Fed's interest to maintain a weak dollar.

EU:
The EUR continued its bullish rampage against the greenback hitting another record high. Although the EUR has been a very resilient currency since its inception, yesterday's new high was driven mainly by the negative sentiment surrounding the greenback as opposed to actual EUR robustness. The only news released from the Eurozone yesterday was the German PPI, which came in at a beating expectations figure of 0.4%. This was another positive sign for the EUR as Germany is one of the key players in the European economy. However the strong EUR may concern the ECB as Germany is heavily reliant on exports, but so far there have been no noticeable indications that the strong EUR is dampening growth. Today is also relatively light on Eurozone news as we are only expecting the Italian Retail Sales figure and it should not have any impact on the EUR. After yesterday's sharp spike against the greenback, the EUR may retreat slightly today but with the negative dollar sentiment being so strong, it will target new highs against the fledgling U.S currency in the near term.

JPY:
Carry trades continued to unwind yesterday as the volatility of the currency markets is steadily raising the cost of hedging. Therefore since the carry trade strategy mainly involves borrowing from Japan where interest rates are low, the unwind has caused the JPY to gain significantly in recent weeks. The JPY continued to rise yesterday against the greenback after disappointing news put more pressure on the U.S currency. Also the JPY managed to maintain its bullish trend against the high yielding currencies as U.S subprime mortgages widened.

Earlier today, during the Asian trading session, the Japanese trade balance released slightly lower than the expected figure of 1.08T, at 1.07T. Also the All Industries Activity Index, which measures the change in spending for goods and services, released in negative territory at -1.6%. However this could not stop the JPY's positive momentum which should continue in the near term on the back of increased risk aversion.

Why I Started a Forex Blog

2007-11-21T19:33:00.000-08:00

I know there are so many forex websites and forex blog on the Internet. When you type in forex or forex blogs you get thousands of forex sites. The reason I'm starting this forex blog is that I'm very interested in learning how forex market works,how to make money in forex. Though I know its everyone goal in forex to make some type of income from forex.
to its fullest by any means. There With forex hope to achieve some type of success with forex. That's why I'm starting this blog So I track down everything I learn that could make me a successful forex trader. I know many of you may have seen A Pursuit To Happiness? That's kinda where I stand; I really want to pursue tremendous opportunity in forex trading and I don't want to miss out.

So starting this blog I'll bring you along on my forex journey which is going to be a long an wild ride. So your probably wondering why forex? I remember some time back I was traveling around south east Asia and using the currency exchange was a most. And me being from USA I would be money from the USA to exchange to other foreign Currencies. I always wonder why I was getting less and less value for my US dollars. I started to realize that with oil prices going up,war in IRAQ, and US economy in bad shape. The US dollar started to lose its value as the EURO became the next Currency of the world.

Now It's like going to school all over again learning something that's like a foreign language to me. I'm borrow more and more forex books so I can get it down to a science. Today I'll be going to my first forex workshop to get a better understanding of forex trading. This 3 hour workshop going to cover:

Learn how to attack the FOREX Market form various angles, exploiting different profit opportunities
Learn how to identify the best trading signal with high success results(80% winning trades)
Discover how you can trade without intensive monitoring of the forex market and still earn consistent profits
Learn how you can start trading in 2 days
Master the psychology of successful forex trading
Also learn how to net massive profits from forex trading *this strategy will even work as the market crashes!

I really look foreward to learning as much as I can about forex trading. So stay tune to my next forex blog posting were I'll update of the 3 hour forex workshop I attended.

Forex - US dollar weaker after more bad news about housing, lending markets

2007-11-21T00:10:00.000-08:00

SYDNEY, Nov. 20, 2007 (Thomson Financial delivered by Newstex) -- The US dollar was weaker against major currencies in midmorning trade in Sydney on Wednesday, extending overnight losses as investors digest more bad news about the banking and housing markets in the US and interpret comments from the Federal Reserve as suggesting further interest rate cuts are on the way.

The greenback was friendless after mortgage lender Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) reported a record quarterly loss of 2 billion US dollars due to rising defaults and an analyst downgraded Countrywide Financial Corp (NYSE:CFC) , fuelling credit market concerns.

The Federal Reserve also lowered its forecast for economic growth next year to 1.8-2.5 percent from 2.5-2.7 percent and nudged up its unemployment forecast to 4.8-4.9 percent from about 4.75 percent.

The greenback is also under pressure from increasing speculation the Arab states of the Persian Gulf will revalue their currencies against the US dollar and replace the peg with a basket of currencies.
News Source
'The FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) statement is probably the biggest driver,' said Cherelle Murphy, a senior market economist at ANZ Banking Group.

Suggestions that Arab states will unpeg their currencies from the US dollar has also 'certainly had an impact as well in the last 48 hours', Murphy said.

At 10.30 am (2330 GMT), one US dollar was buying 109.93 yen compared with 109.99 in late New York trade.

The euro was up at 1.4829 US dollars from 1.4822 US dollars overnight and the sterling was buying 2.0663 US dollars compared with 2.0661 US dollars in New York.

Elsewhere, the Australian dollar was at 89.25 US cents from 89.09 US cents overnight.

While the Aussie will continue to be buffeted by poor investor risk-appetite linked to credit market concerns and worries about the US economy, a significant decline is unlikely, said John Kyriakopoulos, head of currency strategy at National Australia Bank. (OOTC:NABZY)

'So long as the Reserve Bank of Australia is still expected to raise interest rates over the next year and Chinese economic growth remains brisk, we don't see a significant pullback in the Australian dollar,' Kyriakopoulos said.

Volatility is expected to remain a key theme in currency markets for the rest of the week, with US consumer confidence data out later today and US markets closed for the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday.

Forex Latest News Video

2007-11-21T00:01:00.000-08:00

Recap: Euro Sets New All Time Record Vs Dollar; Canadian CPI Turns Negative.

The dollar fell to a record low against the euro and Swiss franc on concern credit-market losses will slow economic growth, prompting the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates again this year.

Forex Candle Stick charting

2007-11-20T23:59:00.000-08:00

Doji
A name for candlesticks that provide information on their own and feature in a number of important patterns. Dojis form when the body of the candle is minimal as market's open and close are virtually equal.

Hammer
A price pattern in candlestick charting that occurs when the market trades significantly lower than its opening, but rallies later in the day to close either above or close to its opening price. This pattern forms a hammer-shaped candlestick.

Inverted hammer
A price pattern in candlestick charting that occurs when a security trades significantly higher after its opening, but gives up most of all of its intraday gain to close well off of its high. Gravestone - The market gaps open above the previous day's close in an uptrend. It rallies to a new high, then loses strength and closes near its low: a bearish change of momentum. Confirmation of the trend reversal would be an opening below the body of the Shooting Star on the next trading day. If the open and the close are identical, the indicator is considered a Gravestone Doji. The Gravestone Doji has a higher reliability associated with it than a Shooting Star.

Shooting star
A candlestick indicating a reversal. The previous day's candle has a very large body. On the day the shooting star occurs, the price (generally) opens higher than the previous day's close, then jumps well above the opening price during the day, but closes lower than the opening price.

Three white soldiers
Three white soldiers is a bullish reversal pattern that forms with three consecutive long white candlesticks. After a decline, the three white soldiers pattern signals a change in sentiment and reversal of trend from bearish to bullish. Further bullish confirmation is not required, but there is sometimes a test of support established by the reversal.

Three black crows
A bearish reversal pattern consisting of three consecutive black bodies where each day opens higher than the previous day's low, and closes near, but below, the previous low.

Forex Current News

2007-11-20T01:34:00.000-08:00

Recap: Global Stocks Fall, as Credit Problems Hit Financial Institutions, such as Citigroup in the US.

The Yen started the week up against the Dollar, Euro and Pound as concerns over credit-market losses pushed investors to cut higher-yielding assets funded by loans in Japan.

Tracking Forex Trends

2007-11-20T01:15:00.000-08:00

Now I'm going to introduce to you trading theories. In forex trading the trends is your best friend. If you can figure out the trend in forex online trading you can go along way in this trading game. The foreign exchange or better known as Forex Market is know as one of the most consisting trending markets of all the markets out there.

Basically if your trading USD/EUR what you want to look for is how well the US economy is doing. Say the headlines in the New York Times reads unemployment is at a all time high and Gas prices are surging upwards. What you want to do is start selling off your U.S. dollars and start buying euros, though this is just example. If you spot trends in the forex markets it can lead to wonderful opportunities.

Its just like in the real world theirs fashions trends which if you start selling a popular shoe as it starts soar then you can ride that to the fullest. There are trend following opportunities for every trading time horizon. Look at a weekly or daily chart of any major cross rate, and you will see trends that last several days, weeks or even months.

Here is a few trends to look for:

Price trends- are market conditions in which movement is consistently rising or falling. The market condition opposite to trends is a sideways market in which highs and lows are pretty much the same.
Trend-line- is a straight line joining a series of price tops or bottoms that represents an area of support or resistance. Generally speaking, a reversal in a trend or slowing down of a pace of a trend is indicated when the trend-line is viewed as major occurrence.

Forex Scalping

2007-11-19T12:26:00.000-08:00

Learning to scalped the forex market involves opening and closing a position in seconds or minutes at most. Even though scalping involves the use of leverage and higher leverage means higher risk, the short period of time a forex scalper is in a trade decreases the exposure risk that's inherent in trading or investing due to the holding of a position. If done correctly, scalping provides this additional degree of "risk control" that is not even present in day trading.

Why don't most foerx brokerage firms like forex scalpers?

Many brokers are making money trading against their clients through their dealing desks. Yes; this is still legal in the forex market. While this might not affect as much regular traders (even day traders) that stay in a trade for hours or days, scalpers are another breed of trader. The profitability of scalping currencies can be drastically reduced if the correct trading firm is not used. The small percentage of successful scalpers are usually "kicked out" by one forex broker after another.

While it seems profitable method when scalping the price movements, however the spread you pay when you open a trade makes the risk-reward more risky than the long term trading (trend trading).

For example if your broker charges you 5 pips spread for opening EURUSD position and your target is 10 pips and 10 pips stop loss; the price have to move 15 pips (5 pips of spread + 10 pips your target) to take the profit while it have to move only 5 pips ( 10 pips your stop loss - 5 pips of spread) and stop loss level will be reached.

So, the risk-reward ratio in this case is 2-1 which means a very dangerous and risky method to scalp!

Another risk in the Scalp is that one large loss could eliminate the many small gains that the trader has worked to obtain. So it needs a very good exit strategy to decrease this risk!s

The technique uses simple tools and does not require any special software (ie..Tradestation, Ensign, Esignal, etc...)It will work on other markets including listed stocks,and commodities.

This is a simple and easy to follow scalping system using basicindicators and is based on a sound foundation. Following this system you will be on the right side of the trend and will quickly be able to
determine when to trade and when to sit tight. Most scalp trades last under five minutes -
many less than one, so you will be in and out with your profit. Just as important, you will be
out of losing trades real quick and ready for the next trade.

South Africa forex exchange market

2007-11-19T12:08:00.000-08:00

South Africa: Buy USD/ZAR
by Stanislava Pravdova, Lars Christensen, Lars Rasmussen

Danske Bank A/S

We recommend buying USD/ZAR as a short-term speculative trade. We feel that the likelihood of a correction of the rand within the next days and weeks is significant due to the following:

• Since the Fed delivered its aggressive rate cut of 50bp on September 18, the South African rand (ZAR) has rebounded very sharply against USD, driven by renewed risk appetite. We believe that it has now become too strong.
• South Africa runs a substantial current account deficit and fairly large foreign debt and therefore has large funding needs. This makes the currency more vulnerable to changes in risk appetite.
• Our technical analysts also see a heightened risk of an upside correction in USD/ZAR within the coming days with a target at 7.15 (some resistance at USD/ZAR 7.00).

Daily Forex Analysis

2007-11-19T11:52:00.000-08:00

19.11.2007 13:59 Monday

Economic News
USD

We open the week of November 18th, with what has become a familiar trend; the dollar continues to fall. The greenback finished off trading on Friday down against most major currencies as credit and housing worries continue to haunt the US economy. Figures from the Department of Treasury regarding International Capital, Balance of Payments, and Industrial numbers hindered any hopes of the greenback gaining on its progress from early last week. Instead, investors start the week offering the greenback in bulk. Another hit to the dollar came this weekend as the Gulf Cooperation Council, made up of the lion's share of the Gulf States, discussed the possibility of revaluating their currencies away from the greenback. This has become a developing trend as China leaked several hints that they were doing the same, not too long ago.

The greenback this week will have to rely more heavily than usual on outside events, as the shortened Holiday week holds little relevant news in the US economic schedule. Tuesday will see the release of the FOMC meeting minutes which should highlight any suspicion about if and when the Fed will intervene once again to change the economic outlook of the dollar.

US Housing will look to be a notable subject this week with two statements set to be released. Today at 18:00GMT, we will see the release of the National Association of Home Builders Housing Market Index, ahead of Tuesday's Housing Starts numbers.

Other than that the Greenback is expected to remain under pressure, as more and more nations lose faith in the currency that once represented the symbol of economical robustness, and is now becoming less relevant on a global scale.

EUR

The Euro ended trading last week in a consistent fashion, rallying late against the greenback to stay above the 1.46 level. The Euro has become a mainstay in the global economic world, as some see it as the world's new dominant currency. It seems as if any gain from the greenback is not substantial enough to deter the overwhelming strength that the 13 Nation currency has had lately. A quick peek to the week ahead could see a slight dip in the Euro, most likely in the early parts of the week. This however will likely be a short lived trend as the Euro has consistently rallied from falling positions over the last several weeks. This trend has affected the relationship between the GBP and the EUR as well, as gaps between the two European currencies are slowly closing.

The G-20 Conference in South Africa this past weekend was surprisingly mum regarding any serious change in currency policies. Leaders mentioned that the state of the world's economic slowdown was "difficult to predict", helping not one bit in shoring up investor concerns.

The week ahead sees little relevant news from the EU economic calendar. This week will see a speech by ECB President Trichet at the Frankfurt European Banking Congress on Friday. As the President normally spurs market volatility when he speaks, this time should be a bit different as his words come late in the week on Friday. The Euro should continue to progress slowly barring any surprising news events as investors have come to see it as a strong and stable option when trading.

JPY

The JPY once again benefited from slumping housing prices as investors shied away from high-yielding assets funded by the JPY. The Japanese currency was up against 15 of the 16 major currencies to end Friday trading and looks to continue its forward progress. The presumption is that the upcoming housing numbers from the US this week, will continue to push the JPY forward. The focus on Japan at the G-20 Conference in South Africa was geared toward structural reform and fiscal consolidation. The Japanese would ultimately like to contribute more positivity to the JPY via local events as opposed to being reliant on outside factors. BoJ Governor Fukui touched upon his concern revolving the rapid appreciation in recent JPY numbers.

The Japanese economic calendar stays barren of any important news events, as the Holiday week also corresponds with celebrations in Japan. It will be intriguing to see how investor behavior develops in regards to carry trading; it is likely we will see a boost in the JPY as the week begins.

Technical News

EUR/USD

There is a very distinct triangle forming on the 4 hour chart which appears to be at a key level before a breach. If a move towards the 1.4620 will occur, it will probably validate a deeper bearish move into the 1.4570 zone.

GBP/USD

The cable has been trying to massively correct the intensive bullish move, and is now trading around 2.0530. The sharp bearish channel is in a high spot at the moment, and together with a strong bearish cross on the slow stochastic, represents a very good potential for a short position.

USD/JPY

The pair is showing a very strong bearish momentum that appears to be overlooking the normal price movement proportions, and is now trading at the impressive 110.50 level. The direction appears to be down, as both RSI and slow stochastic strengthen the bearish notion.

USD/CHF

After touching a base at 1.1155, the pair now consolidates a bit higher at 1.1170. all oscillators show that the bearish momentum will probably continue, and that a breach through the next key level of 1.1150 is quite imminent. If the key support level will hold, we might see a correction back to the 1.1220 levels.

The Wild Card

Crude Oil

After a failed attempt to breach through the 90.00 level, oil is showing a very strong bullish comeback, and is steadily heading to the 95.00 level and beyond. This is a great opportunity for forex traders, to rejoin the strong trend in its new journey up.

Forex money management

2007-11-18T21:17:00.000-08:00

Trading with Sufficient Capital
When doing Forex trading you need to trade with sufficient capital. One of the worst blunders that a forex trader can make is attempting to trade without sufficient funds. This does not mean that you have to have thouands of dollars, but you have to have enough to handle the movement in the forex market or you can increase your chance of getting blown out of the forex market.
The forex trader with limited capital not only will be worried forex trader, always looking to minimize losses beyond the point of realistic trading, but he or she also frequently will be checking the charts to more often then he has to. Having the right amount of capital is the right move. If not you can be really stress wondering what's going on with the forex market when you away from your forex workstation.
I would say the minimum amount to start up a forex trading account would be around $2000, though If its a regular account i would say about $5000 to $10,000. For a mini account can be open around 300 to 500 dollars though I would recommend a least a 1000 dollars. If your just starting off I would go with a mini account since it was developed to accommodate forex investors looking for an alternative to the forex stock market for diversification purposes. The small dollar amount requirement of the mini forex account allows many forex investors to participate in forex who previously were unable to do so.

US Dollar Back on Track

2007-11-18T14:31:00.000-08:00

FOREX-Dollar falls but on track for weekly gain
Fri Nov 16, 2007 9:23 PM GMT

NEW YORK, Nov 16 (Reuters) - The dollar slid on Friday, but was on track for its biggest weekly gain against a basket of major currencies in over a month despite uncertainty in the credit market.

The dollar fell against most major currencies on reports showing the biggest drop in U.S. industrial production since January and lower-than-expected foreign investment in U.S. assets in September, but it rose against the yen as Wall Street stock indexes posted modest gains on the day.

"The renewed bout of credit risk and associated increase in risk aversion is clearly dominating trading this week," said Jay Meisler, principal of Global-view.com, an online forum for traders and investors.

"The Forex market is currently equity dependent," he added.

The euro edged up 0.2 percent from late Thursday, to $1.4648, around a cent away from record highs of $1.4752 hit last week, according to Reuters data.

The dollar was down 0.3 percent to 1.1188 Swiss francs , after earlier touching 1.1164, the lowest level since April 1995, according to Reuters data.

The New York Board of Trade's dollar index <.DXY>, which tracks the U.S. currency's performance against a basket of six major currencies, was down on Friday at 75.785, but it was up 0.6 percent on the week -- its first weekly gain in six weeks. At current levels, the index's gains on the week were the most since early October.

Against the yen, the dollar ticked up 0.5 percent to 110.91 yen . On Monday, the greenback dropped to a 18-month low of 109.10 yen. The euro was also up 0.7 percent to 162.48 yen .

Overnight the yen had strengthened as jittery investors took cues from falling Asian and European stock markets to continue a move out of relatively risky carry trades funded by cheap borrowing in the Japanese currency.

DOLLAR DOWNTREND

The dollar has fallen about 5 percent against the euro since mid-September when the Federal Reserve slashed its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points to stave off a possible recession.

Futures markets currently reflect a slightly lower chance of a December rate cut after comments from two Federal Reserve officials on Friday downplayed high expectations for a 25 basis point easing in monetary policy. For details, see [ID:nN16181066]

Despite the dollar's stabilization this week and the muted chances of another Fed rate cut, many economists said the dollar's long-term declining trend remains intact.

U.S. October "industrial production adds to the bearish dollar overall," said David Watt, senior currency strategist at RBC Capital Markets in Toronto.

"It is reinforced by the TIC long-term numbers, though that is a little bit dated," he added.

The Treasury International Capital report for September showed a lower-than-expected flow of long-term capital into the United States of $26.4 billion, below expectations of $70 billion. [ID:nN16561548].

Though foreigners flipped from being net sellers of U.S. government and corporate bonds and stocks to net buyers, the total flow, taking into account the amount of foreign securities that U.S. investors bought, was not enough to fund the $56 billion U.S. trade deficit in September.

"Slowing economic growth and credit concerns likely will undermine flows into U.S. corporate bonds and equities, undermining the U.S. dollar," said Gabriel de Kock, currency economist at Citi Markets and Banking, in a note to clients.

Learn to make money forex

2007-11-18T02:01:00.000-08:00

Watch Forex Trading learning videos - the easiest way to understand all ins and outs of currency trading. The Forex Video Education is so simple - you will be ready to start Forex Trading right away. Make your first step to Forex Trading now!

Becoming a successful Forex trader basically comes down to four things:

attaining the correct education,
using Forex tools which
use your own personal trading strategy, and
finding the correct Forex broker to fulfill your requirements. Watch this video can really help you to learn something about trading in the forex market

Make Money Forex

2007-11-18T01:52:00.000-08:00

Today's Feature Article From Rich McIver a contributing writer for The Forex Blog:
Currency Trading News FOREX 101: Make Money with Currency Trading

For those unfamiliar with the term, FOREX (FOReign EXchange market), refers to an international exchange market where currencies are bought and sold. The Foreign Exchange Market that we see today began in the 1970's, when free exchange rates and floating currencies were introduced. In such an environment only participants in the market determine the price of one currency against another, based upon supply and demand for that currency.

FOREX is a somewhat unique market for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is one of the few markets in which it can be said with very few qualifications that it is free of external controls and that it cannot be manipulated. It is also the largest liquid financial market, with trade reaching between 1 and 1.5 trillion US dollars a day. With this much money moving this fast, it is clear why a single investor would find it near impossible to significantly affect the price of a major currency. Furthermore, the liquidity of the market means that unlike some rarely traded stock, traders are able to open and close positions within a few seconds as there are always willing buyers and sellers.

Another somewhat unique characteristic of the FOREX money market is the variance of its participants. Investors find a number of reasons for entering the market, some as longer term hedge investors, while others utilize massive credit lines to seek large short term gains. Interestingly, unlike blue-chip stocks, which are usually most attractive only to the long term investor, the combination of rather constant but small daily fluctuations in currency prices, create an environment which attracts investors with a broad range of strategies.

How FOREX Works

Transactions in foreign currencies are not centralized on an exchange, unlike say the NYSE, and thus take place all over the world via telecommunications. Trade is open 24 hours a day from Sunday afternoon until Friday afternoon (00:00 GMT on Monday to 10:00 pm GMT on Friday). In almost every time zone around the world, there are dealers who will quote all major currencies. After deciding what currency the investor would like to purchase, he or she does so via one of these dealers (some of which can be found online). It is quite common practice for investors to speculate on currency prices by getting a credit line (which are available to those with capital as small as $500), and vastly increase their potential gains and losses. This is called marginal trading.

Marginal Trading

Marginal trading is simply the term used for trading with borrowed capital. It is appealing because of the fact that in FOREX investments can be made without a real money supply. This allows investors to invest much more money with fewer money transfer costs, and open bigger positions with a much smaller amount of actual capital. Thus, one can conduct relatively large transactions, very quickly and cheaply, with a small amount of initial capital. Marginal trading in an exchange market is quantified in lots. The term "lot" refers to approximately $100,000, an amount which can be obtained by putting up as little as 0.5% or $500.

EXAMPLE: You believe that signals in the market are indicating that the British Pound will go up against the US Dollar. You open 1 lot for buying the Pound with a 1% margin at the price of 1.49889 and wait for the exchange rate to climb. At some point in the future, your predictions come true and you decide to sell. You close the position at 1.5050 and earn 61 pips or about $405. Thus, on an initial capital investment of $1,000, you have made over 40% in profits. (Just as an example of how exchange rates change in the course of a day, an average daily change of the Euro (in Dollars) is about 70 to 100 pips.)

When you decide to close a position, the deposit sum that you originally made is returned to you and a calculation of your profits or losses is done. This profit or loss is then credited to your account.

Investment Strategies: Technical Analysis and Fundamental Analysis

The two fundamental strategies in investing in FOREX are Technical Analysis or Fundamental Analysis. Most small and medium sized investors in financial markets use Technical Analysis. This technique stems from the assumption that all information about the market and a particular currency's future fluctuations is found in the price chain. That is to say, that all factors which have an effect on the price have already been considered by the market and are thus reflected in the price. Essentially then, what this type of investor does is base his/her investments upon three fundamental suppositions. These are: that the movement of the market considers all factors, that the movement of prices is purposeful and directly tied to these events, and that history repeats itself. Someone utilizing technical analysis looks at the highest and lowest prices of a currency, the prices of opening and closing, and the volume of transactions. This investor does not try to outsmart the market, or even predict major long term trends, but simply looks at what has happened to that currency in the recent past, and predicts that the small fluctuations will generally continue just as they have before.

A Fundamental Analysis is one which analyzes the current situations in the country of the currency, including such things as its economy, its political situation, and other related rumors. By the numbers, a country's economy depends on a number of quantifiable measurements such as its Central Bank's interest rate, the national unemployment level, tax policy and the rate of inflation. An investor can also anticipate that less quantifiable occurrences, such as political unrest or transition will also have an effect on the market. Before basing all predictions on the factors alone, however, it is important to remember that investors must also keep in mind the expectations and anticipations of market participants. For just as in any stock market, the value of a currency is also based in large part on perceptions of and anticipations about that currency, not solely on its reality.

Make Money with Currency Trading on FOREX

FOREX investing is one of the most potentially rewarding types of investments available. While certainly the risk is great, the ability to conduct marginal trading on FOREX means that potential profits are enormous relative to initial capital investments. Another benefit of FOREX is that its size prevents almost all attempts by others to influence the market for their own gain. So that when investing in foreign currency markets one can feel quite confident that the investment he or she is making has the same opportunity for profit as other investors throughout the world. While investing in FOREX short term requires a certain degree of diligence, investors who utilize a technical analysis can feel relatively confident that their own ability to read the daily fluctuations of the currency market are sufficiently adequate to give them the knowledge necessary to make informed investments.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rich_McIver

( http://www.forexblog.org ).

Forecasting the Forex Market

2007-11-17T23:12:00.000-08:00

Fundamental Analysis the forces of supply and demand determine the value of currencies. Speculation in the forex market must based on sound analytical principles. There are two radically different methods of forecasting where the forces of supply and demand are heading. The first method as mentioned earlier is known as fundamental analysis. While i cannot list all the different variables that moves the forex market up and down. Some of them include the forces of the currency supply and demand in the worldwide markets. Those forex markets being fundamental economic data, and political developments. Unlike in the stock market, fundamental analysis in the FOREX is much more important. Although it is important to watch the forex fundamentals when trading in the stock market, it is much easier to manipulate the data.In the forex, fundamental analysis has a much bigger emphasis. The fundamental data taht i am talking about is the economic indicators. When these numbers are different then what was expected then that could me huge moves in the forex market. This can either make you ton of money or give huge loses.
However, don't worry if you don't know all these forecasts because there are numerous forex alert services out there. These forex alert services usually charge a monthly fee to keep you up to date with any breaking forex news. It's important to find a quality Forex Alert service, one that alerts you intelligently to your phone when a buy/sell decision is critical. You want reliability, but you also want to feel comfortable with the methodology that went into those picks and alerts in the first place.

So forex alert system is an excellent supplementary tool for today's highly mobile foreign exchange trader. This unique service will keep currency traders close to the rapidly changing forex market even when they are away from their screens by using the parameters of their trading strategy to set alerts on rates and technical indicators, as well as create personalized reminders for important dates or events.

Forex Currency Option

2007-11-17T19:56:00.001-08:00

Currency options introduction
Options are used within many companies as a forex risk-management tool and are important in that process. Risk managers must have a good understanding of forex currency options as they apply to their unwise position in the forex marketplace. What is a forex option? Simply stated, and option is a choice. The buyer of an option acquires the right but not the obligation to buy or sell and undrlying asset under specific conditions in forex exchange for the payment of a premium. It is entirely up to the buyer whether or not the exercise that right: only the seller of the option is obligated to perform.
In every foreign exchange transaction, one currency is purchased and another currency is sold. Consequently, every currency option is both a call and a put option gives the buyer the right to sell.
An option to buy Australian dollars against U.S. dollars is both and Australian dollar call and a U.S. dollar put. Conversely, an option to sell Australian dollars against U.S. dollar. put and U.S. dollar call. Let's take example a Australian importer who has the obligation in 3 month's time to pay US $1million for a commodity such as soy milk. The importer has a number of alternatives they can do:

Remain UN-hedged and purchase the U.S. dollars at the prevailing spot rate in 3 months time
Hedge by buying U.S. dollars forward
Hedge buy using an option strategy

One of the many strategies available to a importer is to buy an Australian dollar put/U.S. dollar call option. The effect of buying an Australian dollar put is to place a ceiling on the cost of the imports without limiting the potential benefit if the spot rate rises. The importer limits the cost to a maximum while not limiting the minimum.

Why China Should Not Dump the Dollar

2007-11-16T23:28:00.000-08:00

In fact, China may have to increase its exposure to the dollar, according to the comments of Brad Setser of the Council of Foreign Relations: "In my mind, so long as China resists more rapid appreciation of the renminbi versus the dollar, it's rather difficult for China to diversify in any meaningful way against the dollar. If China really started to diversify away from the dollar, I think it's a big enough player that it would put downward additional pressure on the dollar."

And additional downard pressure on the USD should be what China is trying to avoid. China, being the largest exporter to the U.S. does not want to see appreciation of its currency against the USD, as that would make its goods more expensive (and therefore less competitive) in America.

In fact, Setser goes on to say that in order to prevent the USD from sliding even further downward against the RMB, China would have to not only retain its present stock of USD, but in fact buy even more.

Daily Forex Market News

2007-11-15T21:38:00.000-08:00

Recap:Euro Gains as GDP is Strong, Bank of England Signals Rate Cut in 2008.

The Pound recovered as data showed higher than expected consumer inflation. The Yen gave back some of its large gains from the last two session to the commodity block of currencies, as well.

Forex Marginal Trading

2007-11-15T14:01:00.000-08:00

Forex Economic News

2007-11-14T13:34:00.000-08:00

As has been the case for the last several weeks, the US news cycle should have a great effect on how the greenback responds versus the most actively traded currencies. The greenback had seen some gains from late trading last week into early this week, only to see it weaken again yesterday. Investors continued their cautious behavior avoiding risk-laden trades while awaiting today's economic schedule.

Today, the dominant US news consists of Retail Sales and Core Retail Sales figures, as well as the PPI and Core PPI reports. Retail numbers are forecast to come in less than in previous months, however even if there is a rise in such numbers, it doesn't look like it will effect the already tenuous trader sentiment versus the dollar. As short term price action helps to slow down greenback losses, traders are gearing up for how the Fed will react to the deteriorating state of the dollar.

The release of the aforementioned events is to be followed by a speech at the 25th annual Monetary Conference in Washington D.C. by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. Bernanke is slated to discuss FOMC communications; however it is safe to assume that he will address questions regarding the day's consumer reports as well. As has become the norm, we should expect some volatility in and around the Fed Chairman's speech, as he is known for leaving hints of future US policies. As more important information is still to be seen before weeks end, we should see the greenback continue once again to fall in today's trading.

Yesterday saw the release of the German ZEW survey fall to its lowest point in fifteen years. Still, the EUR returned to its latest form against the greenback as it gained throughout the day. Euro-zone businesses continue to strengthen amidst much more negative views from analysts. The likelihood of the ECB hiking interest rates continues to grow as even the troubled German economy has staved off effects from the strengthened 13 nation currency and continues to bring promise to traders. The ECB will keep a close eye on Crude Oil prices as a significant rise toward $100 per barrel will only solidify the inevitability of an ECB interest rate hike. On the contrary, there are several treasury officials pressuring the ECB to wait with the rate hike since they think the EUR is overvalued, which severely hurts Euro zone exporters and has a negative impact on all of the Euro zone economy .

Today's economic calendar in Europe is highlighted by German GDP numbers, which are expected to be high, as well as words by ECB President Trichet. The president will speak in Paris at a conference held by Banque de France and Fédération Bancaire Française at 8:00 GMT. With the lion's share of news coming from the US and the UK, the euro-zone should look to see steady growth to continue with yesterday's trends.

The positive trends in carry trades continues after yesterday's interest rate decision which left the interest rate unchanged and once again pushed the JPY down today. Still being affected by remarks made by Bank of Japan Governor Fukui, the JPY slid against the 16 most-actively traded currencies, most versus the Aussie and New Zealand dollars. With equity growth being shown across the board, investors are more inclined to invest in risky positions thus driving down low yielding currencies such as the JPY.

The Japanese calendar is relatively barren for the rest of the week, with only two minor news events scheduled. Today's Tertiary Industry Activity Index along with Thursday's release of Monetary Policy meeting minutes, should do little to change the JPY. It has become more evident that the movement in the JPY is in the hands of the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the US coupled with growth in EUR dependability. Uncertainty, of which there is a lot these days, is what can hurt the Japanese currency the most. In Fukui's words, "As the global capital markets undergo a re-pricing of risks, financial markets continue to be unstable". It is imperative to keep an eye out on the coming day's news events from Europe an the US to properly gage the direction of the JPY, all signs now continue to point down.

Daily Forex Market News

2007-11-13T14:47:00.000-08:00

Recap: Carry Trade Unwind Continues. Yen Surges versus High Yielder.
The theme of risk aversion continues from Friday's session as investors are pulling their money out of high yielder such as the Pound and the commodity block of currencies, and buying the Yen. This flight from carry trade is causing increased volatility in the forex markets.

Forex Basic Charting

2007-11-13T12:38:00.002-08:00

In using charts to analyse currency movement, we tend to use either the bar chart or the candlestick chart. Both convey similar forex information but are displayed in different ways.
Forex Bar chart:
Forex bar charts are used to convey, in a graphic form, information of the open,high,low, and close. These are essential for analysing price information. Each bar represents the open,high,low and close of a forex price movement observed in a certain time period. This time period is set by the user and can range from one minute to one day,weekly, or monthly. A series of bars will provide a history of price movements, which the chartists uses to analyse and predict price movement.

Forex Candlestick charting:
Misunderstood. That can be the only explanation for Japanese Candlesticks, the most proven investment technique in history, to be so underutilized. This technique has been exposed to the U.S. investment community for approximately twenty-five years. Yet it is only recently that interest has picked up in this highly accurate investment technique. The investor who takes the minimal time and effort to master candlesticks will reap inordinate profits. This is not an empty promise. Basic analysis of Japanese Candlesticks produce a couple of irrefutable conclusions.

Forex Candlestick charting displays similar forex price information as the bar chart, such as the open, high,low, and closed. However, the graphical way in which this similar information is displayed differs. Depending on whether the closing price is higher or lower than the opening price, the color of the candle is different . When the closing price is lower than the opening price, the color of the body is dark. IF the closing price is higher than the opening price, then a light colour body is displayed. I personally like using the candlestick charting. One look at the color and I know if the forex market is up day or a down day. Using the bar chart, I will need to look at the bar's opening and closing more closely to find out that forex information.

Forex Currency Pairs

2007-11-12T19:20:00.000-08:00

The Four Major Forex Currency Pairs
Forex currencies always trade in pairs. You buy one currency and sell the other currency in the pair. There are many pairs of currencies, but these pairs are the most highly traded. These four majors pairs online account for 70% of the USD 1.7 trillion daily volume.

The Four Major Forex Currency Pairs:

Euro Currency/US Dollar
Great Britain Pound/US Dollar
US Dollar/Swiss Francs
US Dollar/Japanese Yen

Other Forex Currency pairs
Besides the four majors, there are many other currency pairs. They are sometimes referred to as the minor forex currency pairs

Asian Forex currency pairs:

Australian Dollar/US Dollar
US Dollar/Singapore Dollar
US Dollar/ Korean Won
US Dollar/ China Yuan or RMB

Other forex Currency pairs:

US Dollar/South African Rand
US Dollar/Mexico Peso
US Dollar/Swedish Krona

Forex Terms

2007-11-12T14:16:00.000-08:00

Forex terms D:

Day Order: A buy or sell order that will expire automatically at the end of the trading day on which it is entered.

Day Trade: A trade opened and closed on the same trading day.

Day Trader: A trader who buys and sells on the basis of small short-term price movements.

Day Trading: Refers to a style or type of trading where trade positions are opened and closed during the same day.

Dealer: An individual or firm that buys and sells assets from their portfolio, acting as a principal or counterpart to a transaction.

Depreciation: A fall in the value of a currency due to market forces.

Desk: Term referring to a group dealing with a specific currency or currencies.

Devaluation: The act by a government to reduce the external value of its currency.

Direct quotation: Quoting in fixed units of foreign currency against variable amounts of the domestic currency.

Discretionary Account: An account in which the customer permits a trading institution to act on the customer's behalf in buying and selling currency pairs. The institution has discretion as to the choice of currency pairs, prices, and timing-subject to any limitations specified in the agreement.

Forex Terms E:

Euro: The single currency of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) introduced in January 1999. This is the amalgamation of the following currencies, after Jan. 1, 2002 these currencies will be considered legacy currencies. Germany Deutsche Marks, Italy Lira, Austria Schillings, France Franc, Belgium Francs, Netherlands (Dutch) Guilders, Finland Markka, Portugal Escudo, Greece Drachmas, Ireland Punt, Luxembourg Francs, Spanish Pesetas.

European Central Bank (ECB): The Central Bank for the new European Monetary Union.

Execution: The Process of completing an order or deal.

Forex Terms F:

Fast Market Rapid movement in a market caused by strong interest by buyers and/or sellers. In such circumstances price levels may be omitted and bid and offer quotations may occur too rapidly to be fully reported.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC): The regulatory agency responsible for administering bank depository insurance in the United States.

Federal Reserve (Fed): The Central Bank of the United States.

Federal Reserve System The central banking system in the United States.

Fill: The process of completing a customer's order to buy or sell a currency pair.

Fill Price: The price at which a buy or sell order was executed.

Financial Risk: The risk that a firm will be unable to meet its financial obligations.

Flat: Term describing a trading book with no market exposure.

FOMC Federal Open Market Committee, the committee that sets money supply targets in the US which tend to be implemented through Fed Fund interest rates etc.

Foreign Exchange: The purchase or sale of a currency against sale or purchase of another.

Forex: Term commonly used when referring to the foreign exchange market.

Forex Club:Groups formed in the major financial centers to encourage educational and social contacts between foreign exchange dealers, under the umbrella of Association Cambiste International.

Forward: A transaction that settles at a future date.

Forward Points: The points that are added to or subtracted from the spot rate to calculate the forward rates for a forward foreign exchange transaction. These points are based on the differential between the interest rates of the two currency pairs.

Forward Price: (See forward rates).

Forward Rates: The net price resulting from calculating the forward points and subtracting them from the existing spot rate. This is the rate at which a currency can be purchased or sold for delivery in the future.

Fundamental Analysis: Analysis of economic and political information with the objective of determining future movements in a financial market.

FX: Foreign Exchange.

Forex Current News

2007-11-11T20:46:00.000-08:00

Forex - Dollar off lows vs yen in Tokyo but downside risk remains
TOKYO, Nov. 11, 2007 (Thomson Financial delivered by Newstex) -- The dollar came off its worst levels against the yen in early afternoon trade as short-term traders locked in gains, but the dollar is expected to remain weak on growing concerns about the subprime mortgage crisis.

The dollar fell to as low as 110.22 yen in early Tokyo trade, a level not seen since May 17 2006, while the euro touched 161.76 yen, nearly 4 yen lower than last week.

At 12.00 am (300 GMT), the dollar was trading at 110.43 yen compared to 110.46 yen in early Sydney trade.

The euro stood at 1.4652 dollars, compared to 1.4649 dollars in early Sydney trade.

Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) , JP Morgan Chase & Co and Wachovia Corp (NYSE:WB) on Friday said the credit crisis will cause another round of heavy losses in the fourth quarter, triggering sharp declines on Wall Street.

'As the market's anxiety about the credit crisis is getting stronger, it now seems to be a matter of time before the dollar falls to below the 110 yen level,' said Osamu Takashima, chief strategist at Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ.

The dollar has so far seen relatively firm support against the Japanese currency, in comparison to such currencies as the Australian dollar, euro and the Canadian dollar, due to the yen-funded carry trade. But the unwinding of those positions speeded up its decline against the yen since late last week, according to Takashima.

In the yen-carry trade, investors raise funds in cheap currencies like the yen, and re-invest them into high-yielding currencies such as the Australian dollar for higher returns.

'By late 2008, the dollar may extend its decline towards the 105 yen level,' Takashima said.

The market is closely watching the Bank of Japan which kicked off a two-day policy meeting at noon. Investors are keen to see whether policymakers will show strong resolve in normalizing ultra-low interest rates, which have held at 0.5 percent since February.

But economists expect the BoJ to leave the short-term money market rate unchanged.

Some analysts see limited downside risk for the dollar.

The dollar selling by US hedge funds settling accounts is likely to peak by the end of next week, said Daisuke Uno, strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.

Once that happens, and once the financial markets begin to realise there is downside risk for emerging markets and Japan in the weakness of the US economy, the pace of selling of the dollar may slow, he said.

'So I believe that the dollar's fall to below 110 yen, if it happens, will be short-lived,' he said.

Forex Top News

2007-11-11T04:45:00.000-08:00

Investors Look Forward To Producer And Consumer Price Indexes Set For Release Next Week - Economic Preview

Friday, November 09, 2007 4:45:37 PM - Despite an uneventful week in terms of economic reports, the Dow suffered heavy losses and closed within 50 points of 13,000. More economic reports scheduled for release next week, as well as another speech from Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke.

Monday, data on pending home sales for September will be released. To say that the housing market has been struggling would be a gross understatement, so the data is sure to attract attention.

Wednesday, Bernanke will speak at 9:10 am ET, at the Cato Institute annual monetary conference, in Washington.

Data on the Producer Price Index and Retail Sales for October will also be released Wednesday. The producer price index will show how much producers are paying for goods. Retail sales measure the total receipts at stores. Because consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of GDP, retail sales are a key measure of economic growth.

Thursday, the Consumer Price Index for October will be made public. The CPI the most widely followed indicator of inflation in the United States, a recent cause of concern for many Federal Reserve officials amid soaring oil prices and a slumping U.S. dollar. The Federal Reserve will follow the core CPI, due to its influence on the core PCE deflator.

Friday, industrial production for October will be released. The index measures the physical output of the nation's factories, mines and utilities. This sector accounts for less than 20 percent of the economy, but most of its cyclical variation. Investors pay close attention to the capacity utilization rate, which provides an estimate of how much factory capacity is in use.

Plunging Dollar-Blessing In Disguise?

2007-11-11T04:43:00.000-08:00

11/11/2007 1:05:55 AM
The value of the dollar is heading down the drain, but is anyone paying attention? Quite perplexing is the rumor that is swirling on the Street that the U.S. government is intentionally allowing the currency to depreciate. Rumor mills are churning out stories about how the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department are working together to implement a slow devaluation of the dollar rather than allowing a collapse. The predicament comes as a turn of events for the currency, whose reign was once termed as “dollar hegemony” in economic parlance.

The bearish sentiment on the greenback is perceptible from a recent International Monetary Market report that showed that the total value of short positions on the dollar has gone up to $30.73 billion in the week ended October 30th from $27.16 billion in the previous week. The recent down leg of the dollar is due to concerns over the credit crisis impacting the banks and markets. The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. dollar against the currencies of 6 major trading partners, has been on an extended downtrend since 2002 and is currently trading near an all time low of 75.40.

Wachovia Securities expects the downward trend in the value of the dollar that has been place for nearly six years to continue, as the recent dislocation in credit markets has significantly reduced the new issuance of structured fixed income product market, giving foreign investors fewer U.S. securities to purchase. Additionally, the interest rate environment in the U.S. and the rest of the world is supportive of a secular dollar decline. The U.S. central bank is on an easing spree, while most other global central banks have been either holding rates steady or showing an inclination towards tightening. Despite sporadic corrections, the dollar may be heading lower until the end of next year, when domestic economic growth in the U.S. is expected to pick up.

The Canadian dollar reached parity against the dollar in late September, marking the first time it has occurred in nearly three decades. Against the euro, the dollar has been moving to fresh record lows day after day. On Friday, the dollar dropped to a new record low of $1.4754 against the 13-nation currency before recovering some ground. The euro has a different tale to tell. From humble beginnings when it was launched in 1999, the euro faltered to a low of $0.82 in October 2000, but since then it has been in high gear. Against the U.K.'s pound, the greenback is near a 26-year low. Recently, Credit Suisse lowered its forecast for dollar, and said it expects the dollar to fall to $1.51 a euro and 111 yen in three months compared to its earlier estimate of $1.45 per euro and 121 yen.

Since its peak in 2002, the U.S. dollar has depreciated against most majors. The devaluation of the dollar was considered to be inevitable by many analysts, and the anticipated development could engender a global economic crisis, given the buck's status as a reserve currency.

Forex Trading For You?

2007-11-10T18:09:00.000-08:00

Unlike the stock market, forex day trading has higher risks to the new forex trader. To a new forex trader, the product itself is new. Your knowledge of forex day trading is next to nothing. Little is reported in the newspaper daily except when there is a major event. There are a few or no rumors in the market for the trader to depend on. Even if there are any rumours, the forex market would be very fast to factor in these rumors. Passed down rumours would not be fast enough for those further down the line to profit from it. Real trading skill is needed. Charting skill and knowledge would come in handy. Learning the different charting methods is a most in the forex market.

The forex rate movement is so fast and at time furious and as a result, stress level is higher than that in the stock market. So should really think it over before getting involed with forex trading. It is certainly not for the faint-hearted. As forex trading involves leverage, profits and losses are magnigied. One would have to be very disciplined to control lossses and not to let losses get in the way of your goals. So should really think it over before getting involed with forex trading

US Dollar Slips To Record Low Against Euro

2007-11-10T17:30:00.000-08:00

Greenback also hit by fears of more loss disclosures by financial sector firms.
source: London

The greenback hit record low against the euro yesterday as fears grew that more united states financial firms will be hit by credit market turmoil, reinforcing the expectations of further Federal Reserve interest rates cuts. Such worries came to the fore again after ratings agency Standard & Poor's said on the Thursday that a collateralise debt obligation(CDO) managed by state street global advisers may have started selling assets. CDOs are products packaged from risky mortgages in the US.
A downbeat economic forecast from Fed chairman Ben Bernanke on Thursday cemented market views that the Fed will cut rates more, further eroding the greenback appeal. The euro rose as high as US$1.4738, before trimming gains to reach US$1.4686 by 0807GMT. It is now up more than 11 percent against the euro since the start of the year.

What's Forex market

2007-11-10T17:04:00.000-08:00

At the core of the forex market, there is a network of banks, which forex trade against one another. This known as the interbank market. This interbank market accounts for the bulk of daily Forex Volume,which amounts to more than USD 1.7 trillion daily.

The banks trade directly among themselves through network o f dealing stations. Though the banks have there own unique code, other banks can contact them directly when ready to carry out a forex trade. They can carry out there forex trades through a Forex Electronic Broking System better known as (EBS). They the bank will conduct their buying and selling by placing orders and sell orders from the Forex Broker. If the prices don't match, they will be put in the queue. Prices will remain in the queue till they the are match or withdrawn.

In the interbank market, this buying and selling is of forex currency is continues 24 hours a day. Though around the world the hours are different though this goes on for 363 days a year. There are only two holidays a year for the Forex Market. The holidays are New Year's and Christmas Day. For those holidays,the majority of the forex trading is closed so there is no forex trading going on.