Start With a Practice Account (Part I)

Posted by Ahmad Hassam | Currencies | Thursday 20 August 2009 4:15 am
by Ahmad Hassam

Almost every forex broker offers a free practice account to new clients. This is used as a marketing gimmick by most of the brokers in order to entice new people to forex trading. All you need to do is to sign up with any good forex broker. The best way for new traders to get a handle on what currency trading is all about is to open a practice account.

Practice accounts give you the great chance to experience the forex market. You can see how the price changes at different times of the day. Practice accounts are funded with virtual money. So you are able to make trades with no real money at stake and gain experience in how margin trading works.

You can trade your practice account with real market conditions without any fear of losing money. How various currency pairs may differ from each other? How the forex market reacts to new information when major news and economic data is released.

You will also learn using different market orders on your practice account. Imagine using your real money trying to figure out how different market orders work. You will learn on your practice account how to manage an open position? This will improve your understanding of how margin trading and leverage works. You can also start analyzing charts and following technical indicators on your practice account. Without any fear of losing your money, you can experiment with different trading strategies and see how they work out in the real market conditions.

You can test drive almost all the features and functionality of a brokers platform on your practice account. However, one thing you will never be able to simulate on your practice account is the emotions involved in trading. Controlling emotions is important in order to become a successful trader. Emotions will only come into play once you put your real money on the line. Practice accounts are a great way to experience real forex markets first hand.

You can use market orders like the limit orders or the one cancels the other orders. However, you can also trade the current price of the market using the click and deal feature of your brokers platform. There are many ways to pull the trigger in the forex market. Pulling the trigger means how to enter or exit a position.

Many traders like the idea of opening a position by trading at the market as opposed to leaving an order that may or may not get executed. Most prefer the certainty of knowing that they are in the market.

You just need to specify the amount that you want to trade. Then click on the buy or sell button to execute the trade. The forex trading platform will respond back within a second or two with a pop-up message either confirming or not confirming that the position was opened. Most forex brokers provide live streaming prices. You can deal with these live price feeds with a simple click of your computer mouse.

Attempts to trade at the market can sometimes fail in very fast moving markets when prices are adjusting quickly like after a data release or break of a key technical level or price point.

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Rollovers & Currency Trading

Posted by Ahmad Hassam | Currencies | Wednesday 19 August 2009 12:11 pm
by Ahmad Hassam

Rollovers are unique to the currency markets. Rollovers are transactions where an open position from one settlement date is rolled over to the next settlement date. Rollovers represent the intersection of interest rate markets and forex markets.

Remember that what you are trading is in fact the good old cash. Dont forget currency is money after all. Rollover rates depend on the difference between the interest rates of the two currencies in the pair that you are trading.

It is like having a deposit in a bank account when you are long on a currency. Its like take a loan from the bank if you are short. You should expect an interest gain or an interest expense on holding a currency position over time just as you would expect to earn interest on a bank deposit and pay interest on a loan.

The difference between the interest rates between the two currencies is called the interest rate differential. Think of the open currency position as one currency with the positive balance (the currency you are long) and one with negative balance (the currency you are short).

The interest rates of two different countries apply because your accounts are in two different currencies. You should look for the base or benchmark lending rates in each country. You can find the interest rates of different countries from Wall Street Journal Online, Financial Times online or that matter any good financial website.

The larger the interest rate differential, the larger the impact from rollovers! The narrower the interest rate differential, the smaller the impact of the rollovers! Rollovers are usually carried out by your forex broker if you hold an open position past the settlement date.

Rollovers are applied to your open currency position by two offsetting trades that result in the same open position. Some online forex brokers apply the rollover rates by adjusting the average rate of your open position. Other forex brokers apply the rollover rates by applying the rollover credit or debit directly to your margin balance.

Rollovers are not applied if you dont carry a position over the change in the value date. Rollovers do not apply for day traders who usually close their positions at the end of each trading day. Rollovers are applied to open position after 5.00 PM EST change in value date. Rollovers only apply to your over night open position carried over to the next day.

If you are short the currency with the higher interest rate and long the currency with the low interest rates, rollovers will cost you money. If you are long the currency with the higher interest rate and short the currency with the lower interest rate, rollover can earn you interest income.

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Cheap Rent Apartments

Posted by Jeremy Miars | Real estate | Wednesday 19 August 2009 10:18 am
by Jeremy Miars

If you have recently had your salary cut and cannot afford your apartment anymore, you can try applying for cheap rent apartments instead. You need to put in some effort when you are searching for cheap rent apartments otherwise you will end up with a headache once you move in.

Check out Craigslist first to find cheap rent apartments. You will find many apartments for rent listed here and it is not hard to find a cheap one. Just search for an apartment according to the amount of rent that you able to afford.

Ask a realtor that is in property management to help you find cheap rent apartments. Realtors are knowledgeable of the rental market in a city and can help you find the cheapest apartment.

Another place to look is at the supermarket or at news stands. These places usually have free apartment rental magazines that you look through to see what kind of rent you can expect to pay.

If using the internet is not your thing for finding cheap rent apartments, you may also wish to drive around the neighborhood find them that way. You get to see the cheap rent apartments and what the neighborhood looks like.

When you have found some cheap rent apartments that you are interested in, go and take a look at them. It is a good idea to get a good idea of a place before signing the contract. Find out if the cheap rent apartment complex is somewhere you want to live.

Have a look in the apartment you will rent and not just the model apartment. Model apartments tend to look nicer which could be completely different than the actual apartment you will live. If there are any problems in the cheap rent apartments, you should tell the landlord to fix them.

One final note you should take into consideration is whether or not to buy renters insurance. If you do not have much valuables you can forgo this insurance but if you do own a few valuables, you should look into buying this as it protects your things if someone were to steal them.

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Explore Ways to Learn Forex Online

Posted by Jane MacRae | Currencies | Monday 17 August 2009 3:16 am
by Jane MacRae

To learn Forex (or foreign exchange) online is a simple way to get yourself warm up with this hot market. Like any other type of investment, it is crucial to get some education before you dive deep. The good news is that, with modern technology, you do not have to leave your home to do your study.

* Learn the Jargon

To play in any financial market, you will first need to speak the language in that particular field. To do so, you can simply go to your favorite search engine and type in “forex terms” or “forex jargon”. You will then be taken to a list of relevant pages. Select a good jargon list, and commit some of your time to get yourself with these terms. This will definitely give you some advantage, especially if you are beginner investor.

* Take Free Online Courses

It may not be wise to invest in an expensive course to start your investment venture. You can simply take the advantage of free online courses, and there are no shortage of them. Again, you can do so by searching for “free online forex course” on the like with your favorite search engine. Alternatively, you can go to a message board frequented by investors and ask if anyone there knows of any good, free courses you should try.

* Learn From the Experts

If you are already an advanced player in the field but like to learn more, you can also consider the paid options. Many experts, with years of experience in forex trading, are now offering their teaching services online. Although you will have to pay for such courses, the upside is that taking such a course is almost like having a personal tutor, or a mentor who will be there to answer any of your questions, and help clear up anything you find confusing.

Check with people in the market and listen to their recommendations for a good paid online course. Often, those who were once in the same boat as you are in now will be more than happy to help you out.

* Sign Up For a Free Account

When you feel you have had enough knowledge, you will want to have some real experience. A smart way to go about, without putting your pocket at risk, is to sign up for a demo or test account with transaction sites that offer such, and most of them do. For about thirty days, in most cases, you can actually try your hands at forex trading for free. These demo accounts will not only let you know whether you are ready to risk your money on the real thing, they will also help you gain hands-on experience.

Just like many other business opportunities, there is no way you can achieve something without putting in your efforts. Forex trading opens up a world of possibilities to many of us, but you really need to furnish yourself with sufficient knowledge. To learn forex online could be an efficient way leading to your success both in terms of time and cost.

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What Are Market Orders? (Part I)

Posted by Ahmad Hassam | Currencies | Saturday 15 August 2009 5:37 am
by Ahmad Hassam

Currency traders use market orders to catch market movements when they are not in front of their screens. Just to remind you that forex markets are open 24 hours a day, five days a week. A market move is just likely to happen while you are asleep or in the shower as while you are sitting in front of your computer screen.

Market orders are very critical to your trading success. Think of the different types of market orders as trades waiting to happen. If you enter an order and the subsequent price action triggers its execution, you are in the market so be as careful as possible while playing with the market orders. Trading can be very difficult without these market orders.

Professional currency traders routinely use market orders to capture sharp short term price fluctuations, limit risk in volatile or uncertain markets, implement a trade strategy from entry to exit and preserve trading capital from unwanted loss. Market orders are essential for maintaining trading discipline.

Forex markets can be notoriously volatile and difficult to predict. While limiting the impact of any adverse price movements, using market orders can help you capitalize on short term price movements.

You probably dont have a well thought out trading plan if you dont use market orders. A disciplined use of market orders will help you quantify the risk that you are taking while there is no guarantee that the use of market orders will limit your losses and protect your profits in all market conditions. It will also give you the peace of mind in trading.

Multiple types of market orders are available in forex markets to forex traders. However, you should know that not all market orders are available at all online forex brokers. So when you open an account with a forex broker, you should add the market orders to the list of questions you need to ask the broker.

Take Profit Orders: When you have an open position in the market, use the take profit order to lock in profits. There is an old market saying, You cant go broke taking profits. Suppose you are short GBP/USD at 1.2354. Your take profit order will be to buy back the position and be place somewhere below 1.2334. Making you a profit of 20 pips! If you are long EUR/USD at 1.2845, your take profit order will be to sell the position somewhere higher close to 1.2875.

Limit Orders: Dont forget the saying, Buy low and sell high. A limit order is any market order that triggers a trade at more favorable levels than the current market price. If the limit order is to sell then it must be placed somewhere above the current market price. If the limit order is to buy, it must be entered somewhere below the current market price.

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