A Look at Online Forex Brokers

An online forex broker is a firm that facilitates retail trading
using Internet technologies. Global Forex Trading (GFT),
one of the popular online forex brokers. It provides retail
traders with a free demo trading account, allows users to
open a live account, gives live help, provides software
called DealBook FX 2, and allows viewing of account
documents. (DealBook FX 2 can be downloaded for
the demo trading account).
Gain Capital Group's Online Forex offers 200:1 leverage.
In some cases, the total return on investment is higher
due to leverage. For example, with $1000 cash in a margin
account, the investor can control up to $200,000 in
notional value. Of course, trading on leverage magnifies
both the investor's profits and losses.
GCI Financial Ltd. offers commission-free online trading
in forex. GCI offers Internet trading software, fast and
efficient execution, and 0.5% margin requirements.
This broker offers USD or Euro denominated trading
accounts. The spreads are 3 pips in EUR/USD and
USD/JPY, and are 4 to 5 pips for other major commissions.
Clients can hedge by opening positions in the same
currency in opposite directions. Risk to the investor
is limited to the deposited funds. Market analysis and
research, real-time charts, and forex trading signals
are available at no charge.
ACM, part of the REFCO group, offers 3 pip spreads
on all major currencies, which works out to between
0.02% and 0.03% on the dollar value. They also offer
commission-free trading, and forex trading with a 1%
margin, which means that a trader can control $1,000,000
with $10,000 in his account.
There are many online forex brokers that offer free
demo accounts for potential forex traders to practice trading.
It is only a matter of registering and starting demo trading
to get a feel for forex trading. In addition, at most sites,
traders can find free forex news to assist them with their
trade strategies.

Learn Forex Trading to Expand Opportunities

Capitalize on the opportunity to learn forex trading so you can
begin the process of branching your portfolio out of domestic
stocks and into the global market. Any financial advisor worth
his weight will tell you that it is important to diversify your
investment portfolio and this is by far the largest volume
market in the world. Daily, it does nearly four times the
volume of trading than the New York Stock Exchange does.
Anyone who holds a basic understanding of how money is
converted and exchange rates work can learn forex trading.
The sale or trading of currency is at the heart of what forex
is. Using one currency to buy another means that your
counterpart is using their currency to buy yours. As exchange
rates fluctuate and the economies of nations surge and recede
, these investments in cash behave in value very much like
a traditional stock.
As with any new venture, you will need to master the
vocabulary that is an inherent part of forex. When you
begin to learn forex trading you will be introduced to terms
like pip, spread, cross, base currency and trade currency.
Foreign exchange trading does have some unique terminologies.
While they may be new to you, you will learn them quickly
because they describe certain parts of forex quotes that you
will need to understand in order to trade.
There are quite a few resources available to those who wish

to learn forex trading. The reliability of internet access has
opened the door to online forex trading, which means that
more investors have the ability to participate in trading
activity. Since the foreign exchange trade is considered a
spot market, the ready availability of internet access is
crucial. Business is done on the "spot," thus the name.
You can capitalize on many benefits when you learn forex
trading. The availability of a 24-hour a day market is one.
Since forex involves the trade of currency at banks across
the globe, the market never closes. The market is also
remarkably liquid, meaning that you will never have
trouble finding trading partners. Since most of your trading
partners are banks and the medium is cash, you will never
be at a loss for customers. Another benefit is the lack of
commissions. Since you make the trades on your own,
you don't have to spend part of your profit on brokerage
commission fees.
Taking the time to learn forex trading opens one more
investment door for you. As you continue to realize the
importance of diversifying your investment portfolio, it
may be a good idea to begin looking at what kinds of
opportunities are available to you in foreign exchange
trading. You may be surprised to see who else is capitalizing
on this market and just how easy it is.

How to Find a Broker for the FOREX Trading Market

It's not always easy to know what to look for in a broker in
any market, much less a market as complex as the FOREX.
But, if you want to trade in FOREX you need a broker. While
it might be tempting to simply ask the brokers what they can
do for you, you can't always depend on them to give you a
straight answer. Here are a few things to consider when
choosing your broker.
You will want a broker that has low spreads. Since FOREX
brokers don't charge a commission, this difference is how
they make money. Low spreads will save you money.
Along with this, you should be looking for a broker attached
to a reputable institution.
Unlike equity brokers, FOREX brokers are usually attached
to large banks or lending institutions. The broker should also
be registered with the Futures Commission Merchant
(FCM) as well as regulated by the Commodity Futures
Trading Commission (CFTC).
Once you've narrowed your choices down to brokers that
won't cost you too much, and that are reputable, consider
the trading tools that they are offering you. FOREX brokers
have many different trading platforms for their clients,
just like brokers in other markets. These often show
real-time charts, technical analysis tools, real-time news
and data, and may even offer support for the various
trading systems.
Before you commit to any one broker, request free trials
of their tools. Brokers generally provide technical as well
as fundamental commentaries, economic calendars, and
other research to help you make good trades. Shop
around until you find a broker who will give you what
you need to succeed.
The next item that you will need to evaluate carefully
is the number of leverage options your potential broker has
. Leverage is a necessity in FOREX trading because the price
deviations in the currencies are set at fractions of a cent.
Leverage is expressed as a ratio between the total capital
that is available to be traded and your actual capital. For
example, when you have a ratio of 100:1, your broker
will lend you $100 for every $1 of actual capital you have.
Many brokerage firms will offer you as much as 250:1. If
you have low levels of capital you will need a brokerage
with high levels of leverage to make reasonable profits.
If capital is not a problem, any broker that has a wide
variety of leverage options would be a good choice for you.
A variety of options will let you vary the amount of risk
you choose to take. For example, less leverage (and t
herefore less risk) may be preferable if you are dealing
with highly volatile (exotic) currency pairs.
Along with different levels of leverage, look for brokers
that offer different types of accounts. Many brokers will
offer you two or more types. The smallest account is
known as a mini account and it requires you to trade with
a minimum of around $300. The mini account also
generally offers a high amount of leverage.
The standard account allows you to trade at a variety
of different leverages, but it requires minimum initial
capital of $2,000. And finally, there are premium
accounts, which often require significant amounts of
capital. They also generally have different levels of
leverage available to the traders who use them, and
often offer additional tools and services. You will
need to make sure that the broker you choose has
the right leverage, tools, and services for the amount
of capital that you are able to work with.

A Look at Online Forex Brokers

An online forex broker is a firm that facilitates retail trading using
Internet technologies. Global Forex Trading (GFT), one of the
popular online forex brokers. It provides retail traders with a free
demo trading account, allows users to open a live account, gives
live help, provides software called DealBook FX 2, and allows
viewing of account documents. (DealBook FX 2 can be
downloaded for the demo trading account).
Gain Capital Group's Online Forex offers 200:1 leverage. In some
cases, the total return on investment is higher due to leverage.
For example, with $1000 cash in a margin account, the investor
can control up to $200,000 in notional value. Of course, trading
on leverage magnifies both the investor's profits and losses.
GCI Financial Ltd. offers commission-free online trading in
forex. GCI offers Internet trading software, fast and efficient
execution, and 0.5% margin requirements. This broker
offers USD or Euro denominated trading accounts. The
spreads are 3 pips in EUR/USD and USD/JPY, and are
4 to 5 pips for other major commissions. Clients can hedge
by opening positions in the same currency in opposite
directions. Risk to the investor is limited to the deposited
funds. Market analysis and research, real-time charts,
and forex trading signals are available at no charge.
ACM, part of the REFCO group, offers 3 pip spreads on
all major currencies, which works out to between 0.02%
and 0.03% on the dollar value. They also offer commission
-free trading, and forex trading with a 1% margin, which
means that a trader can control $1,000,000 with
$10,000 in his account.
There are many online forex brokers that offer free demo
accounts for potential forex traders to practice trading.
It is only a matter of registering and starting demo
trading to get a feel for forex trading. In addition, at most
sites, traders can find free forex news to assist them with
their trade strategies.

Why Trade the Forex Market

Trading the Forex market has become very popular in the last
years. Technology advances like the internet have spawned
this new trading craze, where anyone with a secure internet
connection prepared to undertake a small amount of training
can engage in trading foreign exchange on the forex market.
Before the Internet, only corporations and wealthy individuals
could trade currencies in the Forex market through the use of
proprietary trading systems of banks, often through private
banking.
The foreign exchange market is one of the largest in the world
if not the largest. It is more than 3 times larger than the stock
/equities market and more than 5 times bigger than futures,
give Forex traders nearly unlimited liquidity and flexibility.
It has been estimated that approximately $2 trillion USD of
currency exchanges hands each and every day.
The foreign currency markets are very liquid because
worldwide, the most powerful international banks provide
a market around the clock. The Global foreign exchange
market daily averages of the Bank for International
Settlements in 1998 were $660 billion and now have increased
to $2.3 trillion (2006).
There is really no insider information in the forex markets.
Since exchange rates are calculated by actual money flow as
well as by the outlook of financial flowage, which takes into
consideration such things as inflation, GDP changes, trade
and budget deficits and surpluses, as well as interest rates,
it would be difficult to come across so-called 'insider
information'. All of these factors are self-evident, though
different projected outlooks may prove more accurate
than others. There is less room for market manipulation
is there may be for thinly traded stocks.
A equally important property of forex market is the fact that
trends in forex market last longer and are more clearly
defined than in any other trading instrument. Analysis of
forex market charts also often displays identifiable chart
patterns of price movement and once a pattern is established,
the trend or pattern becomes the most probable course of
future price action until the market changes. Because the
FOREX market is so huge, there is no possibility of
someone controlling the market price for a long time. 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 market maker in the forex market is usually a
bank or brokerage company that provides during the trading
day a bid and ask price. Example of forex market makers
include CMS Forex, GFS, Forex, Forex Capital Markets
(FXCM), and Global Forex Trading, all of which are
regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission
(CFTC) of the USA.
Brokers offer clients access to online FX trading system,
platform or software that can make it easy and fun to
trade the market and usually there are usually no
commission charges. With these trading systems and
platforms you can trade the forex markets for free
using the same state-of-the-art software packages that
professional Forex traders use to help them make
real-time, live currency trades. So individuals with
a few hundreds of their own currency hope to buy
and sell something for a smiling profit. Speculators
trade to make a profit by purchasing one currency
and simultaneously selling another.
In conclusion I think the FOREX market is one of the
best investment opportunities around today. There
are great opportunities in the FOREX market because
of the constant movements of the exchange rates. There
is no surprise that more and more traders are turning
to the foreign currency market to take advantage of
the fluctuation in exchange currency rates as a way to
speculate and trade to increase their capital and wealth.

Unique Commodity Trading Strategies

Surviving the rough times to be present for the big moves is the
name of the game in commodity trading. With some luck we can
even break even while the other participants are getting chopped
to pieces. It requires giving up something to get something else.
Learn how a few of the big hits can be avoided for a small price.
Read about ways to participate in the long haul moves while still
sleeping well at night.Let's say our forecast makes us bullish on
the market. We want to check out the possibility of buying a
future contract and hedging it by buying a put option. There
will always be a choice here - either buying an option spread
(as in the previous example) or buying a future with an option
hedge. One method will always be better than the other. We
need to determine this to get our strategy edge on the market.
Much depends on the option premiums. Again, this is where
it's handy to have an automated option evaluation program.
Now we can get creative and more flexible. Let's say you have
faith in your forecast that the market is going to rally within 2
- 3 weeks. If it doesn't happen by then, then the trade is suspect.
Let's buy a futures contract and also buy a put option as close

to the current market price as possible. Hopefully we pay
a reasonable price for the put option. The closer you buy it,
the less loss and risk if the futures contract declines sharply
against you. However, the option premium will be higher too.
The put option becomes a synthetic stop loss order for the
futures contract. You will lose until the market hits that option
strike price and then no matter how far the market drops,
the futures contract loss is fixed and limited. Now here's the
trick and edge...Select an option with only a small amount of time,
like 30 days or so. The option will cost less because of having a
short time remaining. If your future contract moves up within
2-3 weeks as you expect, the put option will lose its value
quickly and expire within 30 days anyway. The option is the
sacrificial lamb that has done its job for a few weeks and then
dies. It has protected you against the big potential hit. We
dodged the ball. Now it's up to the futures contract. That's
where the profit will come from, if the trade is destined to
work out.Once the futures contract gets far away from
your entry point under the initial protection of the option,
you can then move up the future's stop loss order to break
-even. A new option could always be bought later if desired
to synthetically lock in some profits. However, this is option
overuse and the premiums start to catch up with you. We
must take on risk or the market will not pay us. We become
parasites if we hedge too much, add no liquidity or load
risk onto others. In this example we economically used an
option to lay off large risk at a critical time. After that brief,
partially-hedged window, we again assumed the risk. There
are other ways to do this, but beyond the scope of this article.
More later.So far we have discussed entry techniques and
ways to lower our risk at critical times when our exposure
is the greatest. Remember that we are trying NOT to get
hit by the dodge-ball and are happy making singles and doubles.
Let the newbies swing for the fences and strike out 90% of the
time. The idea here is survival until we identify a big market
forecast and the move starts. That's the only time to swing for
the fences. You want to play it conservative 90% of the time
and swing hard 10% at most. To do otherwise is the road to
consistent losses. Trade like a guerrilla warfare fighter.
Survival first, shoot at our own time and place...sparingly.
Let the others line themselves up and face off to their
heart's desire. In another article we will discuss methods
of using futures and options for synthetic exit strategies.
This will include option granting, and futures hedging of
options. Good Trading!

Learn Forex Trading In An Innovative And Easy Way

Why Learn Forex trading?The forex market is by far the largest
market in the world. It is estimated that around $1.5 TRILLION i
s traded every single day. By far more then all the stock, bond and
futures markets of the entire world combined! Forex or currency
exchange is the term used to describe the trading of world currencies.
A trade occurs when a trader simultaneously buy of one currency
and sell of another one. E.g., to buy British pounds with US dollars.
The currency combination used in a trade is called a pair.What does
a forex trader do? Simple, buy a currency at a low value and sell it
at a higher value, and in the process profit from it! For example,
buy Great British Pounds with US Dollars, wait for the Pound rate
to go up and make money! This can be done several times a day
if the forex trader is a day trader or several times a week or month
if the trader is a forex swing trader.What are the main benefits of
trading in the forex market?Many currency pairs are very volatile.
Volatility means that they move a lot during the day, from side to
side, allowing traders to capture sometimes 5-6 price swings per
day, each one potentially allowing the trader to make impressive
profits.5-7 currency pairs to monitor (instead of over 10,000
stocks!), no commission trading, guaranteed fills for stop losses and
limit orders, impressive leverage. The forex market is a 24 hour
market. Never stops. This means that as a forex trader you can
chose exactly when to trade. Some traders have day jobs and do
not have the necessary time to trade during the day so they can
trade at night. People who make their living as forex traders can
chose to trade any time of the day or night. The point being, a 24
hour market allows the trader a lot of flexibility.What are the
Exclusive benefits offered by forex trading?
An incredible benefit of the forex industry is that today all forex
brokers allow traders to open free demo accounts. This demo
account has the full capabilities of a "real" account including live
market rates, access to real-time market analysis, and the
ability to execute trades off streaming prices. This means that
the trader can test his or her strategies without risking a single
dollar! No other business opportunity allows you to see if it
works before you spend money!Making a living as a forex trader
allows you to be truly free! No office, no workers, no inventory,
no marketing worries, no advertising, no selling. Learning the
right forex trading system allows the forex trader to trade by
just following simple rules. If A happens and B happens then do
C. This is called mechanical trading. It requires absolutely no
discretion, interpretation or thinking from the trader.In conclusion
, Learning forex trading provides all level of investors with a lot
of opportunities that many markets and industries do not provide
. The reason many people have not heard of this opportunity
until recently is that until not long ago trading currencies was
reserved to the big dogs (banks, institutions, companies etc).
Today with the help of the internet anyone can take advantage
of on-line currency trading that was once reserved to an exclusive group.