Forex Trading-How Can Individual Investors Benefit?

As a result of this new phenominon, start-up firms now compete directly with financial institutions to serve investors in the new technologically driven economy, and the clear winner is the customer. The competition between the brick and mortar institutions and the Internet-based companies has dramatically lowered the costs of investing, and empowered the individual investor to take control of their own investment strategy in Forex trading.We know Forex trading is direct access trading of currencies. In the past, foreign exchange trading was limited to large banks and institutional traders but recent advancements in technology have allowed small traders to take advantage of the many benefits of Forex trading using online trading platforms to trade. Virtually Forex trading is done 24 hours day and almost 5 days of a week. In the recent times, online trading has revolutionized the currency markets by making it accessible to the small and medium sized investor.

The Forex trading is perhaps the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average turnover of approximately $1.5 trillion. Foreign Exchange is the simultaneous buying of one currency and selling of another. The world's currencies are on a floating exchange rate and are always traded in pairs, for example EUR/USD or USD/JPY or USD/INR etc.

In the new millennium, the Forex trading has become accessible for an individual investor or small group of investors. In the current scenario, investors reap many benefits from Forex trading than stock market, e-mini futures and such other trading. Today mostly traders are choosing Forex trading than stock trading because there are approximately 4,500 stocks listed on the New York Stock exchange. Another 3,500 are listed on the NASDAQ. In spot Forex trading, you have 4 major markets, 24 hours a day 5.5 days a week. If you are so inclined, you have approximately 34 second-tier currencies to look at in your spare time. You can concentrate on the major forex and can find your trade. When you are investing in forex you can spend your afternoon on the golf course or with your spouse watching movie or celebrating holidays-in short it is easy and hassle free than stock/future market.

Not only is it an accessible, easy and less capital-intensive business opportunity, but it is much more cost efficient too to invest in the Forex market, in terms of both commissions and transaction fees. Generally, commissions for stock trades range from a low of $7.95-$29.95 per trade with on-line brokers to over $100 per trade with traditional brokers. Opposite to that, typically stock commissions are directly related to the level of service offered by the broker. At the high end, traditional brokers offer full access to research, analyst stock recommendations, etc. In contrast, on-line Forex brokers charge significantly lower commission and transaction fees.

The Nature of Currency and the Stock Market

Currency and currency investments change just as the trends in the stock market do. There are currencies which perform better in the stock market then others. There are several issues to take into consideration when choosing which currency you should trade with.

The most important points are the volume of that currency and the liquidity. These are both important because it will increase how quickly you can sell to ensure high profits or low losses. The most commonly traded currencies besides the American Dollar include: Japanese Yen, Swiss Franc, British Pound, and The Euro.

If you are a long term investor, a day trader, or a causal personal investor all these currencies have good liquidity, good trend performance (short and long term) as well as daily peaking for day traders.

While the focus by financial experts are usually on the big three: Euro, Dollar, Yen. There are other considerations which can increase your profits for the short term and offer solid long term trends.

The activity of a particular currency can not be a guaranteed an indicator of future performance is past performance. Below are a list of currencies and they associated "personality" in the stock market:

British Pound - The British Pound has a much smaller volume than the Euro or the Yen. This means short term trading with the British Pound needs to be kept to a minimum. Low opening interest rates combined with small volumes can cause unstable price spikes. However, the British Pound does very well in long term investing.

The Euro - If you are interested in and new to trading currencies, the Euro is the place to start. It has good volume, a high open interest, and is volatile enough that it can offer profits to the day trader.

The increasing popularity of the Euro makes it extremely safe to trade with it. The Euro is good for experienced traders as well as new investors.

Japanese Yen - The Japanese Yen is good for any long term investing. It can offer volatility for the day trader but it is much more erratic in it's daily behavior then the Euro and therefore much more unpredictable. The volume and interest is also high.

Swiss Franc- The Swiss Franc is similar to the British Pound - thin volume and low open interest. It's future viability is unknown because the Swiss economy is slowly becoming integrated into the European economy. It does have good long term growth which is ideal for any currency investor looking for long term trends.

Day trading with the Swiss Franc is out of the question, the volume is too low and there are no substantial daily spikes to make it worth while

Australian and Canadian Dollar - Both currencies are great for long term trading because each has low volume, low opening interest, and large price spikes. These currencies are good consideration if you are a currency trader and are seeking diversification away from the larger more commonly traded currencies.

A Brief Look at Forex Trading

Forex is the currency trading market which is the biggest and most quickly evolving markets in the world. Currently it has a daily turn over of of 2.5 trillion dollars which is actually one hundred times larger then the NASDAQ. Different markets are great ways to diversify your investments and trade different goods and services. The same is true with the Forex market in which the "goods" are actually currencies from around the world. Here you can buy Euros with American Dollars and sell Japanese yen for Swiss Francs. The profit is make in the difference between currencies values.

To make a profit on the Forex market investors only need one rule - buy cheap and sell high. The profit comes from the fluctuations within the exchange market for currency. The great thing about the Forex market is that it has regular daily changes and a fluctuations of 1% is actually multiplied by 100. For example if the exchange rate of your pair of currencies increases by 0.7% in 5 hours, the profit you make will be 70% of your initial investment. This can happen within a single day or a single hour. Trading the Forex market is extremely secure because you can never lose more than your initial investment. This is low risk when compared to the unlimited profit you could potentially gain.

You can choose your pair of currencies and your volume whether the market is moving up or moving down - and still make a profit. You can decide to buy Euro and sell dollar or buy dollar and sell Euro. Additionally you do not have to physically have the currency you choose to buy and sell. The easiest way to get started in the Fored market is to find a Forex market site, open an account, deposit your money, and begin trading. Most companies provide you with training, support, and advice.

Once you have all the necessary research in hand you are ready to make your first trade. You need to first select the pair of currencies that you wish to trade. Then you select the volume or the amount of money you want trade. Then you must deposition the collateral needed for the whole deal, usually about 1%. Most companies allow for a brief freeze period in which the consumer can adjust or cancel their deal. While the deal is running you can monitor the status and check for additional trading tips online. You still have the ability to change the terms, or cash out the profit to minimize loss. Forex trading companies allow an automatic take profit option which allows the investor to preset the rate at which you want to see and it will do it for you. That way you do not have to stay constantly online to monitors your trade.

Forex is a great trading market for new investors. The specifics of the currency trade are fairly straight forward and easily accessible to the general public. There is a low initial investment that way new investors can begin small and as they feel comfortable and work their way up to larger trades.

Trading Double Tops And Double Bottoms

Traders need to look out for indicators that make patterns that trigger long or short positions by following the trend reversal signals they give. Patterns like double tops and double bottoms are significantly important for a forex trader as it is for an equity trader.

What Are Double Tops and Double Bottoms
Double tops signal out a long drawn bearish trend. Double tops form usually close to the 52 week high with an intervening trough. Both the tops are roughly equal in price with the first having formed after long advance trending of currency pairs. Patient observation is critical here to pick the accurate tops without getting misled by fake tops. The declining trend after the second top finds a support near the intervening trough level which if broken is the signal for entering short positions or closing long. The target is equal to the difference to the difference between the tops and the intervening bottom. When perfectly formed, the double tops appear like the letter 'M'.

There are two things of importance when judging the double tops.
1. The first top should have formed after sufficiently long advance trending and the gap in between the tops must take at least a few weeks to a couple of months.
2. The second top must be within 3% of the first and breaking the support line is marked with high volumes under selling pressure.

Double bottoms are different from double tops in only one way that the pattern is exactly reverse of double tops. When accurately formed, the double bottoms formation appears like the letter 'W'. The trend following the second bottom is associated with increased buying pressure as reflected by the volumes chart. Volume further picks up once the resistance is broken effectively.

Entering in till the support or resistance is broken could be mistakes as has proved. Patience is the key in trading double tops and double bottoms. The exact entry levels are when the support/resistance is broken. Any anticipatory entry prior to this is a strategy that runs a high risk and the trader finds himself in an excruciating task of deciding where to get out.

For speculative traders, it is wise to put a 'stop-loss' just at the bottom or top respectively for double tops or bottoms, whichever the case may be. The amount of stop depends on the trader's personality and isn't a statistical function.

There are criticisms on trading double tops and double bottoms that they appear perfect only retrospectively and implementing them in real time is impractical. Even exiting the market early is unwise for the markets are not that simplistic.

The Fundamentals Of Forex Trading

If you are already a trader or is hoping to become one, sure you have heard about forex trading methodologies used by the pros and the like. You will either go by the fundamental trading or by the technical trading which most of them follow. Fundamental analysis places emphasis on critically examining the intrinsic values of currencies and the reasons to their movements regardless of their directions.

The Basis of Fundamental Analysis
For doing fundamental analysis of a particular currency, one needs to get deeper insights beginning from that country's political history, economic policies and performances, inflation for evaluating that currency's potential. These points are some building blocks of an economy. You can obtain such reports over internet. Scrutinizing the reports must indicate whether a country is progressing or not as it implicates large reversals in forex values in case of economic deviations from the norm.

Key Elements in Fundamental Analysis
1. GDP: Gross Domestic Product or the overall earnings of countries. The single most decisive parameter to judge whether countries are progressing. Uncertainties in GDP and GDP growth figures cause fluctuations in currency valuations.
2. Industrial Production: Higher the industrial production the better; better still if a greater chuck of the produce is exported which adds to which adds to the country's forex buying power adds to the forex reserve. As the reserve grows the local currency trends upwards.
3. Consumer Price Index: Tells whether the country is gaining or loosing on the export front when this moves up and down respectively.
4. Inflation Rate: Higher the prevailing inflation rate lower is the currency's valuation in the forex market because of its weakened buying power. You can correlate the trends in both of these.

There are several other indicators of equal importance such as the forex reserve, human development index, infrastructural growth, foreign trade in general and balance of payment (BoP) etc which needs to be given due importance.

How to Use These Indicators?
Economic indicators are mirrors of a currency's trending directions as much as they are a country's prospects in general. Governmental policies, annual budgets and credit & other financial policies are formally announced at definite times by various agencies. An analyst must have a country's economic calendar by his side in order not to miss out.

One must contrast the opposite country's fundamental parameters too. But the golden line in fundamental analysis is never to rush but realize that the released figures are often revised later. Trend setting changes through policy changes are likely to last longer than those indicated by technical analysis.