Understanding Forex Day Trading

FX is an open market for trading foreign exchange where money itself is bought and sold. 'Forex day trader' is in general referred to as simply the normal FX trading. Very less difference can be seen. In general cases forex day trader is a person who makes several trades in a day, buying and selling a number of currencies.

They are people who try to increase there profits by taking advantage of the small increase in the currency values. A forex day trader is similar to the stock market trades except that in the forex day traders trade currencies and not stocks. The major advantage of a forex market over stock market is that instead of forex day traders investing and waiting for many years for there stock values to increase, here they just see there currency values increasing and decreasing over time. This allows them to make several trades within a day.

Forex day trading allows forex day trader to open an account for themselves for as less as 250$. The amount that is needed to open an account varies from one company to company. There are several agencies that have brokers mediating a firm or an individual to the market. Brokers are people who educate individuals and firms to work there way through the market. The work of a broker is to help forex day traders to get through the market without suffering much loss.

Only after the internet FX trading becoming so popular, was there an opportunity for even commoners to trade. Until then only co-operate firms and large financial institutions was able to trade in the forex market. Forex now has become so simple that certain traders have taken it as a hobby. With the help of the vast number of software's available they are able to predict the changes in the market and make alterations in there trade accordingly.

Identifying Trending & Range-Bound Currencies

The overall forex market generally trends more than the overall stock market. Why? The equity market, which is really a market of many individual stocks, is governed by the micro dynamics of particular companies. The forex market, on the other hand, is driven by macroeconomic trends that can sometimes take years to play out. These trends best manifest themselves through the major pairs and the commodity block currencies. Here we take a look at these trends, examining where and why they occur. Then we also look at what types of pairs offer the best opportunities for range-bound trading.

The Majors
There are only four major currency pairs in forex, which makes it a quite easy to follow the market. They are:
• EUR/USD - euro / U.S. dollar
• USD/JPY - U.S. dollar / Japanese yen
• GBP/USD - British pound / U.S. dollar
• USD/CHF - U.S. dollar / Swiss franc

It is understandable why the United States, the European Union and Japan would have the most active and liquid currencies in the world, but why the United Kingdom? After all, as of 2005, India has a larger GDP ($3.3 trillion vs. $1.7 trillion for the U.K.), while Russia's GDP ($1.4 trillion) and Brazil's GDP ($1.5 trillion) almost match U.K.'s total economic production. The explanation, which applies to much of the forex market, is tradition. The U.K. was the first economy in the world to develop sophisticated capital markets and at one time it was the British pound, not the U.S. dollar, that served as the world's reserve currency. Because of this legacy and because of London's primacy as the center of global forex dealing, the pound is still considered one of the major currencies of the world.

The Swiss franc, on the other hand, takes its place amongst the four majors because of Switzerland's famed neutrality and fiscal prudence. At one time the Swiss franc was 40% backed by gold, but to many traders in the forex market it is still known as "liquid gold". In times of turmoil or economic stagflation, traders turn to the Swiss franc as a safe-haven currency.

The largest major pair - in fact the single most liquid financial instrument in the world - is the EUR/USD. This pair trades almost $1 trillion per day of notional value from Tokyo to London to New York 24 hours a day, five days a week. The two currencies represent the two largest economic entities in the world: the U.S. with an annual GDP of $11 trillion and the Eurozone with a GDP of about $10.5 trillion.

[Why ForexGen]

1. Lowest spreads in the market with 0-1 pip spread in 10 pairs, no commissions, no swaps and instant account Activation.
2. Scandinavian quality with Swiss precision, funds secured and local agents in 18+ countries.
3. ForexGen offers Forex trading in the major currency pairs and crosses.
4. Low capital start, with $250 as a minimum account size.
5. Liquidity and 24/5 availability are the characteristic factors of the Forex market compared with other financial markets.
6. [ForexGen] offers a free trial Forex [demo account] that allows you to test your skills and practice without risking real money.

ForexGen | EUR/USD Trade

This is an example of the method at work.

The first chart is of the 4 hour EUR/USD.

The main trend as determined by the 89’s and 144’s has been in buy mode for the last 40 days.In fact it has been in buy mode for much longer but the charts I use only show 40 days at a time.

The TI does not need to move from down to up or vice versa before you can trade.It does however need to be in the same direction at the time you enter the trade.

ForexGen | What Does It Cost to Trade Currencies?

An online currency trading account (a “micro-account”) may be opened for as little as $100. Mini-accounts start at $300. Do not laugh—micro- and mini-accounts are a good way to get your feet wet without taking a bath. Unlike futures, where the size of a contract is set by the exchanges, in FOREX you select how much of any particular currency you wish to buy or sell. Thus, a $3,000,000 grubstake is not unreasonable as long as the trader engages in appropriately sized trades. FOREX mini-accounts also do not suffer the illiquidity of many futures mini-contracts, as everyone feeds from the same currency “pool.”

ForexGen | Hedging Technique

A hedge is a position or combination of positions in one security that reduces the risk of your primary position in the same security.

An example of hedging in commodity futures is the Midwest farmer who grows #1 Soft Red Wheat and intends to take his harvest physically to market for September delivery. After rilling the soil and planting the seeds in late spring, die farmer initiates a short (sell) commodity futures contract for September Wheat at the Chicago Board of Trade at what he feels is a fair price. If the price of wheat declines dramatically in September, the farmer will suffer losses on his physical delivery but will make profits on his futures contract. If the price of wheat rises substantially in the fall, the farmer will make profits on his physical delivery but will suffer losses on his futures contract. Thus, hedging not only reduces risk but can also be used to lock in predetermined profits in some situations.

Normally when you have an open position to buy or sell at your FOREX dealer, and you open a new position in the opposite direction, the two positions will close each other out. If you had a position for USD/CHF to buy and you opened a new position USD/CHF to sell, both positions would close, since you cannot be buying and selling currencies at the same time. The feature of hedging however, allows you to do exactly that if your FOREX dealer offers this trading feature.