Internet Marketing Training
Home Page Site Map Today's News Contact Us

Forex Trading - Advantages and Disadvantages


What is Forex Trading?

Forex, or Foreign Exchange, is the simultaneous exchange of one country's currency for that of another. This market of exchange has more daily volume, both buyers and sellers, than any other in the world. Taking place in the major financial institutions across the globe, the forex market is open 24-hours a day.

Currencies are quoted in pairs. The first listed currency is known as the base currency, while the second is called the counter or quote currency. In the wholesale market, currencies are quoted using five significant numbers, with the last placeholder called a point or a pip.

The forex market is one of the most popular markets for speculation due to its enormous size, liquidity, and tendency for currencies to move in strong trends. An enticing aspect of trading currencies is the high degree of leverage available.

Advantages of forex trading

Leverage. Huge leverage is available in Forex trading, often up to 100:1 meaning that large profits can be generated from small margin deposits.

Liquidity. The enormous size and global trading of the forex markets means that the markets in the major currency pairs are very liquid making trade executions almost instant with little slippage.

Ability to go short. Since currency trading always involves buying one currency and selling another, there is no structural bias to the market. This means a trader has equal potential to profit in a rising or falling market.

Trends. Fundamentally, the value of a country's currency is determined by interest rates and the strength of the economy in relation to other countries. Currencies, therefore, have a greater tendency to trend until the fundamentals change.

Disadvantages of forex trading

Leverage. With huge leverage available to forex traders the danger is that positions which carry too much risk for the account size can be taken on, leading to margin calls. Effective money management rules must be adhered to.

Brokers. Retail traders must use a broker rather than dealing directly in the interbank market. The broker will be the counterparty in all transactions and is, effectively, making the market. They can, therefore, widen spreads or even refuse to trade during volatile trading conditions. To avoid dealing with brokers an alternative to forex is to use futures. See online futures trading for more details.

Spreads. As the retail trader must use a broker to trade, they cannot deal at the interbank rates. A broker will generally quote a fixed spread of 3-20 pips depending on the currency pair. The underlying interbank rate might be as little as 1 pip.

Forex is a very large market but for most retail traders dealing with brokers the odds are shifted against them. Online futures trading provides a much more level playing field for most traders who want to take part in forex trading.

Tim Wreford operates Online Futures Trading, a website that provides information and resources for traders. Tim also provides an article detailing the development of a day trading system, the results of which are updated daily on the site.


MORE RESOURCES:
PFGBEST.com Delivers MetaTrader4 Retail Forex Platform - MarketWatch

PFGBEST.com Delivers MetaTrader4 Retail Forex Platform
MarketWatch - 19 hours ago
MT4 features real-time forex portfolio management, profit and loss and risk analysis data, automated strategy trading systems, and the System Tracker to ...
FOREX-Euro hits 1-week low vs yen, dlr, stocks struggle - Reuters

AFP

FOREX-Euro hits 1-week low vs yen, dlr, stocks struggle
Reuters - 6 hours ago
By Naomi Tajitsu LONDON, Nov 20 (Reuters) - The euro hit a one-week low against the yen and the dollar on Thursday after a dim economic outlook from the ...
Forex Markets: A Look Into The Dollar Part I istockAnalyst.com (press release)
Australia Intervenes in Forex Market, Spends Record 3 Billion to ... Daily FX
FOREX-US dollar slips against yen, up versus euro Reuters UK
Forex Hound - ACM
all 276 news articles
FOREX-Dollar falls vs yen as jobless claims rise - Reuters

FOREX-Dollar falls vs yen as jobless claims rise
Reuters - 1 hour ago
By Steven C. Johnson NEW YORK, Nov 20 (Reuters) - The dollar fell against the yen on Thursday but gained against high-yield currencies as stock markets ...
FOREX-Yen advances vs dollar, euro, stocks eyed for direction - Reuters

FOREX-Yen advances vs dollar, euro, stocks eyed for direction
Reuters - Nov 19, 2008
... and momentum traders jumped in and followed the moves to push them higher," said Brian Dolan, head of research at Forex.com in Bedminster, New Jersey. ...
FOREX-Dollar briefly pares losses vs yen after data Reuters
all 10 news articles
FOREX-Recession fear sweeps yen up; high-yielders fall - Reuters

Boston Globe (registration)

FOREX-Recession fear sweeps yen up; high-yielders fall
Reuters - 3 hours ago
By Veronica Brown LONDON, Nov 20 (Reuters) - The low-yielding yen extended a broad rally against major currencies on Thursday after downbeat economic ...
HK shares steady but telco services firms outperform Forbes
FOREX-Auto-driven economic, stock worries lift yen, dlr Reuters
Dollar at session highs vs yen as stock futures up Reuters
Forbes
all 2,254 news articles
Turkish C.Bank-lengthens forex depo period to 1 mth - Forbes

Turkish C.Bank-lengthens forex depo period to 1 mth
Forbes, NY - 6 hours ago
It added it had cut forex depo lending rates to 7 percent from 10 percent for the dollar, and to 9 percent from 10 percent for the euro.
FOREX-Dollar rises vs yen, US stocks dictate direction - Reuters

FOREX-Dollar rises vs yen, US stocks dictate direction
Reuters - Nov 18, 2008
By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss NEW YORK, Nov 18 (Reuters) - The dollar climbed versus the yen on Tuesday, boosted by a steady performance in the US stock ...
FOREX-Rebounding US stocks lift dollar vs yen Reuters
all 13 news articles


Home Page Site Map Today's News Contact Us
© 2006 Forex Traders Network * PO Box 110422 * Denver CO 80231