Recently, I have been addicted to trading Forex or Foreign Exchange currency as it is a means of making relatively quick profit (or losses) in a shorter term span compared to the stock exchange. Unlike stocks, it is rather technical based with larger players in the mix (Central Banks) with deeper pockets than those whom participate on the exchanges making for fast, easy gains or losses. Here’s an introduction to get you folks up informed on this type of market and its key benefits over trading on the stock exchange:

Forex Brings Profit in Bear and Bull Markets, No Short Selling Restrictions
Forex trading always involves buying one currency and selling another, so traders can easily trade in a rising or falling market. There is no Zero Uptick rule or any other restriction against shorting a currency. Depending on short and long positions, a trader always has an opportunity to profit in a fluctuating market.

At $3.2 Trillion Per Day, Forex is the Most Traded Market in the World
The sheer volume of Forex helps to facilitates price stability in most market conditions. What’s more, almost 85% of all currency transactions involve the 7 major currency pairs.

Trade on Your Schedule
Forex is a true 24-hour market, open continuously from 5:00pm ET on Sunday to 5:00 pm on Friday. With three distinct trading sessions in the US, Europe and Asia, you can trade on your own schedule and respond to breaking news.

Forex Provides up to 50 Times the Leverage of Stocks
With more buying power, you can increase your total return on investment with less cash outlay. Of course, increasing leverage increases risk. With $1,000 cash in a margin account that allows 200:1 leverage (.5%), you can trade up to $200,000 in notional value.

Commission Free Trading
Most Forex brokers charge no commission or additional transactions fees to trade currencies online or over the phone. Combined with the tight, consistent, and fully transparent spread, Forex trading costs are lower than those of any other market. The brokers are compensated for theirs services through the bid/ask prices.




Instantaneous Execution of Market Orders
Your trades are instantly executed under normal market conditions. You also have price certainty on every market order under normal market conditions. What you click is the price you get. You’re able to execute directly off real-time streaming prices. There’s no discrepancy between the displayed price shown on the platform and the execution price to enter your trade. Keep in mind that most brokers only guarantee stop, limit, and entry orders are only guaranteed under normal market conditions. Fills are instantaneous most of the time, but under extraordinarily volatile market conditions order execution may experience delays.

Analyze a Nation like a Corporation
Currencies are always traded in pairs one currency is purchased with holdings in another. As with stocks, better FX returns are provided by the currency of a country that demonstrates faster growth and is in a better economic condition that others. Currency pricing reflects the amount of available supply and demand. Interest rates and the relative strength of the economy are the two primary factors that determine the availability of a currency. Leading economic indicators reflect the economic health of a nation, and are in large part responsible for shifts. An overwhelming amount of data is available at regular intervals, the challenge is to determine what factors are more influential than others. Interest rates and international trade ratios are typically the most important.

No Middlemen
Centralized exchanges provide many advantages to the trader. However, one of the problems with any centralized exchange is the involvement of middlemen. Any party located in between the trader and the buyer or seller of the security or instrument traded will cost them money. The cost can be either in time or in fees. Spot currency trading does away with the middlemen and allows clients to interact directly with the market-maker responsible for the pricing on a particular currency pair. Forex traders get quicker access and cheaper costs.

Buy/Sell Programs Do Not Control the Market
How many times have you heard that “fund A” was selling “X” or buying “Z”? Rumor had it that the funds were taking profits because of the end of the financial year or because today is “triple witching day”, all as an explanation of why this stock is up or the market in general is down or positive on the session. The stock market is very susceptible to large fund buying and selling.

In spot trading, the liquidity of the Forex market makes the likelihood of any one fund or bank to control a particular currency very slim. Banks, hedge funds, governments, retail currency conversion houses and large net-worth individuals are just some of the participants in the spot currency markets where the liquidity is unprecedented.

Analysts and Brokerage Firms are Less Likely to Influence the Market
Have you watched TV lately? Heard about a certain Internet stock and an analyst of a prestigious brokerage firm accused of keeping its recommendations, such as “buy” when the stock was rapidly declining? It is the nature of these relationships. No matter what the government does to step in and discourage this type of activity, we have not heard the last of it. IPO’s are big business for both the companies going public and the brokerage houses. Relationships are mutually beneficial and analysts work for the brokerage houses that need the companies as clients. That catch-22 will never disappear. Foreign exchange, as the prime market, generates billions in revenue for the world’s banks and is a necessity of the global markets. Analysts in foreign exchange don’t drive the deal flow, they just analyze the forex market.

Makes Money on Interest & Macroeconomic News
Any significant news regarding interest rates directly impacts the international financial markets. In the past, when a country has raised its interest rate, its currency strengthens relative to other currencies as investors shift assets to gain better returns. The influence of stock markets has changed this equation since increasing interest rates are typically bad news for the stock markets. Investors transfer money out of the stock market when interest rates rise, which can cause the currency of the country to weaken on the broader markets.

Determining which effect will dominate can be difficult, but there is typically a consensus in the marketplace as to what a rate change will do. Rate changes are typically anticipated since they usually take place after regularly scheduled meetings of central banks. Indicators that typically have the biggest impact on interest rates are PPI, CPI, and GDP.

You Can Easily and Quickly Diversify Out of U.S. Dollars
The trade balance shows the net difference over a period of time between a nation’s exports and imports. When a country imports more than it exports, the trade balance will show a deficit, which is generally considered unfavorable to that nation’s currency. Many investors know that they should diversify some of their assets into foreign currencies, but to do so is difficult. Most U.S. banks, for example, do not offer foreign currency accounts. But by trading forex, you instantly control hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of foreign currencies. For every $1,000 margin deposit, you can control up to $100,000 worth of Euros or British Pounds or whatever currency you believe will rise in the future.

Perfect for Technical Traders
Currencies rarely spend time in tight trading ranges, and there is a tendency for strong trends to develop. Over 80% of trading volume is speculative in nature, so the market frequently overshoots before correcting itself. A technically trained trader can identify these breakouts, providing a range of opportunities for entering and exiting positions.

8,000 Stocks vs. 4 Major Currency Pairs
There are approximately 4,500 stocks listed on the New York Stock exchange. Another 3,500 are listed on the NASDAQ. Which one will you trade? Got the time to stay on top of so many companies? In spot currency trading, there are dozens of currencies traded, but the majority of the market trades the 4 major pairs. Aren’t four pairs much easier to keep an eye on than thousands of stocks?

For those interested in learning more on how to trade, etc… make sure to visit BabyPips.com for all the information you could ever need.




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