Economic Importance
This global market, which is essentially interchange is the second market of the world in terms of overall volume, behind the interest rates. It is nevertheless the most concentrated and the first for the liquidity of the most treaties, such as the euro / dollar.

To give an idea of liquidity in circulation, the daily volume of trade in 2004, 1 900 billion U.S. dollar, namely:
600 billion in spot transactions and 1 300 billion in futures almost solely in transactions over the counter, according to the three-year study of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).

Transaction volume, were 53% between banks;
33% between a bank and a fund manager or a non-bank financial institutions;
and finally to 14% between a bank and a non-financial.
In every major bank, the operators (the traders) are the 3 × 8, though generally in different locations. A team based in Asia or Australia succeeds another located in Europe and a third located in North America, and so on.

However, despite the global nature and the release schedule between continents, a large (31% of total volume, according to the BIS) of market activity is still physically located in London.

In its latest triennial review, the BIS (Bank of International Settlements) has shown that an increasing number of individuals choose to invest in the Forex. Although they still represent a very small minority of transactions and volumes, a dedicated private investors has grown in parallel. Simply record the number of trading platform available to them on the internet as well as tools for real-time information once reserved for professional traders in the rooms. Now, the active trader of foreign exchange market can invest minimum amounts and due to the existence of leverage-trader in almost (!) Similar to those of the professional trader. Information tools in real-time broadcast news and information forex fundamental (economic indicators) and offer individuals the possibility of trading conditions in real time.

The foreign exchange market has existed in its present form, called floating exchange rate regime since March 1973 and the abandonment of fixed exchange rates of various currencies
against the dollar standard Bretton Woods in 1944.

Treated products

Spot
Cash (called spot), the main parities were processed in 2004, according to BIS:

the euro / dollar – 28%
the dollar / yen – 17%
the sterling / dollar (cable said in English) – 14%
Despite the strong development of the euro, the dollar remains the dominant center, present in 89% of transactions (37% against the euro, 20% for the yen and 17% for the pound sterling, all on a total of 200% since each transaction involves two currencies). For a non-European currency XXX, a transaction between the euro and the currency is usually split into a EUR / USD and USD / XXX.

Change Term
The exchange term is divided into two products, both interbank term dry (it is said outright in English), rather little treaty, and foreign exchange swaps. Unlike other financial markets, futures held were never imposed on the foreign exchange market and remain marginal.

Options Exchange
Finally, the options market exchange is the most diverse and most inventive of the options markets. He is responsible for virtually all forms of so-called exotic options or second generation (barrier options, Asian options, options on options, etc..).

Trading and Foreign Exchange

Coverage (hedging)
The principle is to take opposite positions in order to cancel the risks.

Forecasting
This is to anticipate the movements of the market through a more or less advanced financial environment, economic and political. The advantage of anticipating the movements of foreign exchange speculation. For this, many information sources available to the forex trader (Reuters, Telerate, Bloomberg LP) to access to all quotes and financial information for trading. It also has access to economic indicators of major countries and global financial information. It is capable of forming an opinion on prices or rates and to anticipate future movements.

Arbitration
It is to try to take advantage of price discrepancies or occasional courses on the same medium, the same currency on 2 different markets. The diverter can perform these operations on a single market such as spot-on or several markets such as foreign exchange swaps. Powerful tools (called pricers) allowing it to calculate different prices or interest in a transaction arbitration. This strategy requires a response and stress management in real time from the trader.

Exchange Rates
Electronic exchange rate between monnaies.Le exchange rate of a currency (a currency) is the price (ie price) of that currency relative to another. Also referred to as the “parity of a currency.”

Exchange rates, listed on the exchange markets, vary continuously, they also vary depending on the place of listing.

Examples
For example, the exchange rate of the euro dollar will be noted: EUR / USD = 1.3120 and the dollar rate will be noted in yen USD / JPY = 89.4454.

(EUR = Euro, USD = U.S. dollar, yen JPY =, GBP = pound sterling by International Monetary coding, ISO 4217 distinguishing each currency by a three-letter abbreviation, cf. Complete list)

Exchange rate fixed or floating
This exchange rate of a currency is:
Either fixed, ie constant relative to a reference currency (usually the U.S. dollar or the euro), by decision of the State that issues that currency. The rate can not be amended by a decision of devaluation (or revaluation) of that State. A State may decide not to adopt any exchange rate of its currency. If the fixed exchange rate at a level too high or too low, the exchange rate could be “attacked” on the foreign exchange market. If monetary authorities are unable to cope (through their foreign exchange reserves), they should change their parity.

Is floating and determined for each transaction by the balance between supply and demand in the foreign exchange market. This is a global interbank currency, less centralized places specific quotation and trade, as based on links between banks.

The exchange rate:
is an “spot”, ie “spot” for immediate purchases and sales of currencies. Generally the deadline for delivery of foreign currency is less than 2 days.
is a course forward, “ie” forward “for foreign exchange transactions due to future, more than 2 days. The mission is to manage the risk. It is an agreement today to set the price at which we buy / sell the currency.

Factors affecting the exchange rate:
The exchange rate is determined by supply and demand of both currencies: if demand exceeds supply, the price increases.

Since the currency of a country is essentially a claim held on the central bank of this country, detention of a foreign currency can be seen as holding a claim to “view” on the country that has issued.

In the short term
The exchange rates vary widely during a single day, these variations can not be explained by the theory of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) previously described. Within this framework of short-term analysis, it is necessary to refer to other explanations.

These daily changes based on the concept of early return of deposits in foreign currencies. Economic agents will determine their demand for different currencies depending on the return they expect deposits in these currencies.

In the long term
Recovery rate of euro-dollar exchange rate from January 1972 to January 1999 from the exchange rate of the franc french or Deutschemark. In the long term, currencies should theoretically be closer to equilibrium parities obtained from structural parameters. Imbalances and, more rarely, the balances in the valuation of currencies, are measured on the basis of purchasing power parities (PPP). It is a complex statistical exercise, which is to compare over time the purchasing power of a consumer model in a country and a range of consumer products up with another consumer-type in a different country and for a range of consumer goods desired close, but correspond to other local practices in terms of lifestyle and cost structure. In practice, generally the U.S. dollar as currency of the joint index and true each time compare the purchasing power of a consumer-type of country X and that of a typical American consumer.

The purchasing power parity, if it is useful for international comparisons of living standards, where margins of error of a few percent are not significant, its use in analysis of the foreign exchange market should be done with the utmost caution.

Currency crisis
A country will suffer a currency crisis when the capacity to repay external debt (public and private) denominated in foreign currency of the country is highly in doubt (crisis of confidence). The outflow of capital in the short term then drop the exchange rate of the currency, making repayment even more difficult.

Economic role of exchange rates
Exchange rates (and interest rates, which are closely related) are of course on import prices and export. They have an influence on the direction of capital flows between economic areas.

As a result, countries and economic areas may be tempted to influence exchange rates, often under the pretext of preventing speculation (in fact these manipulations tend to encourage), and in order to improve (lower rate).

Operation of foreign exchange markets

Case of the euro / dollar
The exchange rate says euro / dollar is the euro figures in U.S. dollars, hence the slash (not to be confused with Eurodollars).

Financial instrument is the most active and most addressed the world: 27% of total spot transactions. Its value is an indicator monitored not only by economic and financial circles, but also by the media, both specialized and general, throughout the world.

This definition is in fact, the external value of the euro against the U.S. dollar.

Profession (FX)
Those who conduct foreign exchange transactions are called professional traders.

Banks in particular have teams of traders, both to do the clean of these institutions on the market to meet the changing needs of their clients, for example on business, for their international trade. They act as market makers, ie that they “are prices” for a quantity is specified as standard, and provide both when they buy (bid, in English) and to whom they sell (ask in English), for example: 1 EUR = 1.2343 / 1.2346 USD.

Round lots
The traders expressed the unity of listing an exchange rate on a currency pair in dots called pips. Pip stands for “price interest point” or a “swap” in french. At the outset, as its name suggests, it meant the unit “off” or “report” of the exchange term, but eventually be applied to the unity of the market. It refers to the last decimal used: in the case of the euro, the fourth decimal place. A listing on three “pips,” which is standard on the interbank market of the euro / dollar, will in the first example (EUR / USD = 1.3120) of paragraph 1 above: EUR / USD = 1.3120 (bid ) / 1.3123 (ask). Is a spread of 3 pips in the case of the yen, it will be the second decimal, and a listing four “pips” will be, again to the above example, USD / JPY = 89.4454 (bid) / 89.4654 (ask ).

The pip represents a different percentage and not fixed for each parity. This difference depends on the currency in which we choose by convention to express the exchange rate (the “uncertain” of the comparison), the other being taken for unit of goods (the “certain”), the number of decimal listing.
These differences between the current “buyer” and “seller” of a currency against another are much less of an individual can see when they wish to conduct a foreign exchange transaction in a pharmacy exchange (or his bank) for a modest amount.

In the first instance, the percentage (minimum) to a foreign exchange on Forex of 100 000 euros (the standard transaction is not in the tens of millions), it should be noted that for such a pip amount exchanged is 10 dollars. In the second example, the percentage of a foreign exchange of 100 000 dollars a pip for that quantity is 1 000 yen (about $ 9).

Exchange rate mechanism European
The exchange rate mechanism in Europe, or ERM, is an exchange rate mechanism introduced by the European Community in 1979 to statibiliser prices of European currencies, to prevent risks and increase confidence in the currency in the medium and long term inflation and promote trade and activity in the intra-EU trade.

Originally named “European Monetary System,” it was considerably revised in its operation by the Maastricht Treaty was ratified in 1992 establishing the European Union, in preparation for its economic and monetary union and single currency.

Since the introduction of the euro on 1 January 1999, was revised and replaced by the ERM II and is an agreement between the ECOFIN Council, bringing together all member countries of the European Union, the European Central Bank and banks central banks of the Member States of the European Union outside the euro area.

ERM II
For Member States not participating in the European single currency, a second exchange rate mechanism in Europe, said ERM II, was put in place. During the negotiation of the Maastricht Treaty by the 12 EU members, and 3 new buyers (Finland, Sweden and Austria), it was expected that all members of the previous ERM and all new members join the Union must be in EMU (if eligible) or in ERM II. ERM has ended, but Sweden (despite his signing of the Treaty) and the United Kingdom (which has chosen to retire but was not allowed to do so) have not joined the ERM II. Such exemptions are no longer permitted for new candidate countries, who must first accept the convergence of their economies and participation in ERM II (and the EMU as soon as conditions are met) with a timetable set out in the Accession Treaty.

ERM II is based on the euro only, ie on the common unit of the only countries which joined the euro (and not on the ECU which was calculated on all currencies the European Union) and tolerates a difference of 15% around an initial exchange rate between the currency and the euro. This reduction of basis for determining rates of exchange from outside also should help stabilize and distribute the budget on a more equitable. However, this reduction of the base included a risk to the fixing of this budget, if insufficiently European countries joining the euro. This was not the case, and almost all countries of the European Union have all joined since the launch of the euro, which helped to end at the same time to the ECU and therefore also in ERM (at least formally, some financial institutions have continued to calculate until approximately 2001, as a index, but considering the weight of the euro in the old basket of currencies, although the composition of the euro has changed since then, and the methods of calculating contributions to the EU budget).

Since the introduction of the euro on 1 January 1999, the parity between the euro and the former national currencies of member countries joining the euro became fixed and irrevocable. Other countries have ratified the Treaty of Maastricht (or its successor) are committed to converge their economies in order to avoid economic distortions related to their exchange rate, not to resort to devaluation, let the market set the price of their currency in terms of their economic performance. To achieve to keep exchange rates stable around a pivot defined by membership in ERM II, the maximum fluctuation of ± 15%, they pursue a common policy of economic convergence criteria, and a healthy managing their public finances in the short and long term.

These criteria are assessed by the Council of Finance Ministers of the Union, ECOFIN, in collaboration with the European Central Bank and national central banks of EMU members. If the economic convergence criteria are met for a minimum period of 2 years, the participants receive the approval of the ECOFIN Council to enter the euro, and their national central banks (NCBs) can adhere to the ECB, and finally, when this integration is achieved (by the filing of the signatures of instruments of ratification and financial conditions, the approval of representatives of the NCBs and the money to convert, and the revenue guarantee funds deposited at the ECB), ECB fixed in accordance with the ECOFIN Council, the irrevocable conversion rate between their currency and the euro, taking into account the recent fixations official foreign exchange markets and adjustments based on the assets and international financial commitments of the NCB adhering to the day of closing.

All the countries aspiring to join the euro must first subscribe to the ERM II. This was the case for Greece in 2000 and 2001 before joining the euro. This is already the case of Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta and Cyprus, as well as in Slovakia since November 2005. By integrating the euro zone, Slovenia left the ERM II on 1 January 2007.

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Have a minimum of knowledge. (Forex Training), (Books on Trading):
Getting Started on Forex without knowledge, without training comes to play at the Casino and risk losing its entire capital. Trading rules are not complex, but one should know.

Develop strategies (Trading Rules by William Delbert Gann) (Dow Theory):
Using a demo account to develop a strategy and find your own style of trading, depending on your ability to manage stress, you choose to make the trading day by engaging a larger portion of your capital over a short or swing trading for the medium and long term. Traders winners that they will provide if the market behaves in a particular way while the losers are trying to predict what the market.

Always be informed (Economic Calendar):
The economic statistics may have a strong influence on the currency markets, stay alert to figures such as the unemployment rate, decisions on interest rates, gross domestic product, industrial production price index consumption, retail sales etc. ..

Set the Amount of loss prior to Intervene (Money Management):
Before opening a position to determine your target gains and losses up. Develop a method which allows to open positions that winning is impossible. It is therefore very important to keep these losses as small as possible

Secure your winnings:
Using a stop order or Trailing Stop following the evolution of the course.

Trader daily the same hours (Hours suitable for Trading):
The behavior of different pairs, the liquidity and volatility are changing depending on the time period and days of the week. Avoid trader at the opening or closing of the market.

Let run your winning positions and cut your losses:
The difference between a professional trader and a beginner will be more in the acceptance of loss. The sooner you learn to lose the faster you earn money.

Follow the trend:
Act against the market trend is suicidal, do not determine the future trend but follow the trend and identify the phase inversion. We must recognize the trend in the time interval where it operates.

Control your emotions (The psychology of traders):
Trading is a case of cold-blooded, big traders are successful because they control their emotions and act wisely.

The market is always right, not your ego:
After a series of losses or gains, stop your day trading not to take positions and not impulsive thought, take back and analyze your strategy.

Have enough capital:
The capital is the tool of the Trader. More capital you have, the more you can cope with the inevitable loss on forex.

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We know already know that ” Practise makes man perfect” ,so if you want to be perfect Foreign exchange(forex) trader ,then you want to practise first. Not only on forex you cannot earn any money easily in this world ,you should work hard ,foreign exchange is not get rich quick scheme ,just you need to be aware of that by reading books,ebooks,watching videos all other else ,If you learn all this things then you can earn in forex by sitting in your home with your own laptop

Losses are common in this market ,so it is impossible to get all the positive results ,it is common getting negative results.NObody are there in this world who are getting only profits without losses,in foreign exchange you will see getting bith profits and losses.If you really wants to earn money in forex then there is no way for you except educating yourself.

I trade a very simple proprietary system that is based on 1 indicator and price action.

And no I won’t share it. Nothing personal but it took me 3 years of in the trenches trading to develop and most newbies wouldn’t understand it anyway.

For me (and most “real” traders would agree) trading is a state of mind. It is when you break through the technical crap and become an intuitive trader (you “feel” the market) that is when you become successful

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Maybe this will help… it is 12:10 EST on 09/17/08 I jumped in this morning at 9:00 am and have already pulled $3,380.00 Profit USD out of the currency markets. That puts me up to $11,190.00 USD profit for the week (mon, tues and today). I love chaos (bankruptcies, fed takeovers, etc.) because it creates volatility and volatility is what makes forex traders money.

I trade a very simple proprietary system that is based on 1 indicator and price action.And no I won’t share it. Nothing personal but it took me 3 years of in the trenches trading to develop and most newbies wouldn’t understand it anyway. For me (and most “real” traders would agree) trading is a state of mind. It is when you break through the technical crap and become an intuitive trader (you “feel” the market) that is when you become successful

Now, how a trader profit? Well, after a major reversal in prices, currencies or for the correction of the levels of resistance to the Fibonacci retracement points. So if you know your legal issues, there is a big chance that you will have to win through it.

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The information it gives you frequently refreshes and keeps you current exchange rates. We are very thankful for this feature, you can make better financial decisions and increase your profits. Forex software is very useful and very popular, as it monitors market trends, and graphics and analysis are carried out before the traders’ eyes. The exchange rates change all the time at intervals of seconds.

For this reason, one of the greatest advantages of automation software is that forex transactions are made non-stop, 24 / 7 without having to constantly look at the computer. It is a great advantage because it allows the operator to do other things, such as spending time with family, then he / she makes money on autopilot.

Many companies offer software currencies on their sites, which allows you to choose one that best suits your needs. If you are a beginner, it is strongly recommended that you begin to practice on a demo account. Once you are comfortable with the results you get, it’s time for you to make real money online. Forex trading is risky. But if you know what you do, you can make a lot of money in the comfort of your home.

For me (and most “real” traders would agree) trading is a state of mind. It is when you break through the technical crap and become an intuitive trader (you “feel” the market) that is when you become successful

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If fact, he’s one of the few Presidents in our nation’s history that is comfortable being a stock analyst. (He recently said stocks were a good buy back on March 3rd).

But now his resume expands even further. That’s right! He’s not just President and “Stock Analyst” but he’s also a Currency Analyst too now.

(Yeah, I guess CNBC just needs to give him his own show. In fact, we don’t even need economists anymore now that we’ve got Obama. We can save lots of money there by firing all of the economists that the government hires!)

In last night’s address, Obama said that the “dollar is extraordinarily strong because investors are confident in the ability of the U.S. to lead a worldwide recovery”…and he went on to reject calls for a global currency.

This latter comment was directed at China. You’ll remember that Geithner said that “Obama thinks China is a currency manipulator” (referring to their yuan)….that was Round 1 of Obama vs. China. Now we’re in Round 2.

China’s calling for a “super reserve currency” as the Fed and Treasury stack on trillions of dollars in U.S. debt and prepare to buy $300 billion of long term U.S. treasuries, thus driving the yields down artificially low.

Well, since China sees that we’re driving down the yield on the instrument that they hold the most of, and they see us stacking on debt and wonder if we have the ability to honor our obligations…can you blame them for considering the thought of “wanting another currency” that isn’t laden with debt as the “world’s reserve currency”?

Don’t get me wrong…I’m a red blooded American and love the fact that we hold the spot in the world to where we are the world’s reserve currency. However, the latest moves from the Fed and Treasury are bent on debasing our currency and not strengthening it.

So it’s a pathetic thing when Obama says our dollar is strong and gives that lame excuse of a reason when he knows that at the same time, the Fed and Treasury are about to make an “all out assault” on the dollar in order to artificially prop up stocks.

But don’t just take my word for it. You see, he knows most Americans never look at a chart of the dollar.

Upon looking at the chart, I think you can see why China is worried and why Obama isn’t as good of a currency analyst as he thinks he is.

I see uptrend line after uptrend line broken (blue lines) and lower highs which shows less conviction in buying and more conviction in selling the dollar at this point. Amazingly, he’s probably “spouted off” just in time for a top to form!

Many Obama should stick to his “day job” since it seems like it should keep him busy enough.

China may not get its wishes, but their comments certainly put “another dent” in the dollar!

While I don’t think that China will get their wish for a new global reserve currency, I do see where they are coming from and feel their pain.

Unfortunately, our country makes such bad decisions at the government level, that there will probably come a day where we “go the way of Rome”. It is possible that we may see us lose the “world’s reserve currency” status in our lifetime.

A country can never prosper long term by debasing its currency. And if you look at a 30 year chart of the dollar, you can only come to the conclusion that our government is bent on devaluing the dollar long term. This will only drive up inflation for “Main Street” and eventually cause a lack of confidence in all of the foreigners that we are dependent upon to buy our debt (Treasuries).

Once that implodes, we’re in big trouble! I only hope that comes later rather than sooner!

The sad fact is most traders actually lose money trading the forex. Trading a 24 hour market can be difficult. The 24 hour market is often advertised as one of the advantages of the forex but I think it can be more of a disadvantage. The problem is you can’t watch the markets 24 hours a day and it can be hard to sleep at night when you are worried about what your trades might be doing. This is especially true for those of us in the western time zones where a lot of the market activity happens at night while we are asleep.

Aside form that one of the biggest challenges that traders face is overcoming their own emotions. The key to sucessful trading is to consistently trade a proven system combined with good money management. But for most traders their emotions tend to affect their trading decisions and usually not in a good way. This is what causes most traders to fail. You can be using the world’s most profitable trading system but if you can’t trade it consistently and keep your emotions out of our trading system then you are not really trading a system.

So what’s the solution? Many traders have started using automated trading programs, sometimes called robots, to trade for them. A robot will watch the markets 24 hours a day and trade a system for you. It will enter and exit your trades when the market gives it the proper signals. After the robot is set up it will trade day after day for you 24 hours a day and they trade with 100% consistency and without emotion.

Robots have had mixed results in the past but some are are producing some amazing results with their built in systems. After using a robot I wouldn’t want to go back to watching charts and trading manually. I have posted a link to the one I use below. It’s doesn’t cost much and you can try it out on a demo account and prove to yourself that it works before you ever use real money.

If you want to learn how to forex trade without the easy and stress free way and still make a nice profit I suggest you try a trading robot.

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