The Forex Robot Blog

When you start to look around forex websites online, you will soon see references to the forex pip. Your gains and losses will be measured in pips. Something else that is measured in pips is the spread, the difference between the bid and ask prices which is the main cost of forex trading and how the brokers make their money. So it is clearly very important to understand what is a forex pip.

The word is an acronym standing for percentage in point (or sometimes, price interest point). It is the smallest increment of changes in values. It allows us to measure a rise or fall in currency values in percentage terms instead of in dollars and cents.

Why do we need to talk in pips? The reason for this is simple. In the foreign exchange market there is no world currency in which to express values. The US dollar may be the most commonly traded currency but it is not involved in all trades. If you are trading cross rates, i.e. two other currencies such as EUR/GBP or any other combination that does not involve USD, it would not make any sense at all to express your gains and losses in terms of US dollars. Instead, we need something that is a small percentage of the value of whatever currencies we are dealing with.

This means that the monetary value of a pip varies according to the currency.

Most currencies are quoted to four decimal points. For example you might see the bid price for EUR/USD quoted at 1.3642 and ask price 1.3644. The difference (the spread) is 0.0002 or 2 pips. Here a pip is 0.01% of a lot.

So if the lot size was $100,000, one pip would be worth $10. For a lot size of $10,000, one pip would be $1.

That is the value of pips when the US dollar is the quote currency, i.e. XXX/USD. But when the quote currency is different, one pip is usually 10 units of that currency (e.g. 10 euros or 10 pounds). Or if your lot size is 10,000 units, one pip is 1 unit (1 euro or 1 pound).

The exception is the Japanese yen which has a much lower unit value than most currencies (you get a lot of yen to the dollar). Because of this, the yen is only quoted to the second decimal point. You might see a price USD/JPY 110.15. In this case one pip is 0.01 or 1% but in yen, not dollars. So the pip value is JPY 1000 which at that price would be worth US $11.015.

These differences can be confusing when you are just starting out. So it is better for beginners to trade consistently with just one currency pair.

If you are trading one pair regularly every day you will soon get used to how much a pip means in terms of your actual gains and losses in your account. You will know how much one pip is worth in dollars or in your own currency.

But when you are trading several different currency pairs, you have to deal with pips of different value. If you get confused, you could be taking greater risks than you planned or closing trades with less profit than you thought. It is much easier to deal with only one pair at first until you have a sound understanding of trading practices and forex pip values.

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Trading currencies has been attracting more and more retail investors in recent times. Foreign exchange or forex is an OTC (over the counter) market where anybody can get involved. All you need is an internet connection, a good system or the time to learn and develop your own system, and some money to invest.

You do not necessarily need very much money. Brokers now offer mini forex trading accounts and even micro forex trading accounts which you can open with just a couple hundred dollars. However, it is better to have a little more, even if you do not put it all into the account in the beginning. Forex trading is risky and if you only have a couple hundred dollars to spare, you probably should be doing something safer with it.

But assuming that you have the funds and you have decided that you want to make money with some kind of financial trading, let’s look at why this could be a better option for you than stock or commodity trading methods.

1. No commissions and no fees.

If you have experience of the stock market you know how your profits can be eaten away by brokerage, exchange and even government fees. The free world nature of the forex market means that you do not have to pay any of these. There are no middle men. Brokers make their money through the spread, which is the difference between the bid and ask prices of a currency.

2. No fixed lot size.

In commodity futures markets, the size of a lot or contract is set by the exchange and you cannot buy or sell less than one lot. But in spot forex trading you can theoretically set your own lot size. Brokers tend to use their own standard sizes but if you know that you will want to trade small amounts you can look for a broker who offers small or fractional lots.

3. It’s a 24 hour market, five days a week.

From the beginning to the end of the global business week, the forex market never sleeps. This is great for people who need to trade outside of normal business hours. You can go work for the boss from 9 to 5, come home and start trading currencies in the evenings. Or you can start whatever time you wake in the morning, even if it is 5 a.m.

4. High leverage.

Forex brokers will offer up to 200 times your margin deposit in leverage. This means that you have the chance to make a lot of money from only a small deposited fund. You only need $50 to control $10,000 dollars in a trade. Provided you have good risk management and always remember that high leverage also means high risk, this can be a very attractive option.

5. A huge market with high liquidity.

The forex market is huge, so there is no chance of any single institution getting control of it. Even the banks, big as they are, have limited influence. Insider trading is not the issue that it can be in stock trading. And high liquidity means that you can always make the trade at the moment or the price that you want. You are never stuck unable to close a trade, and you can even set an automated trading system to close your position for you at a certain level of loss or profit.

6. Free tools and information.

Brokers are going all out to attract more retail traders and the competition between them is great for you as an investor. It is easy to find a good broker who will offer you a demo account where you can practice your trading, hone your skills and learn the basics before you start using real money. They will also give you the charts that you need to identify trends, and access to breaking forex news, all for free.

7. Low start up costs.

A computer with a high-speed Internet connection is all that is needed to begin trading currencies. If you want to use a robot for your trading you can find one for $100 to $200. A lot of information on trading currencies including advice on systems is available for free online.

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If you are thinking of investing in the money markets, you need to know currency trading basics. This way of making money is also known as forex or foreign exchange trading. You may even see it abbreviated to simply FX.

Forex trading involves buying and selling currencies according to your assessment of which country’s currencies are likely to rise in value and which will fall. You can judge this from financial news or from monitoring price movement charts for trends and patterns, or you can use both methods of analysis.

The foreign exchange markets are huge, with a turnover of around $4 trillion dollars every day. Most of this money is in the hands of the international banks and financial institutions but there is plenty of room for the small private investor. With this amount of money involved, plus the constantly fluctuations in prices (volatility), the forex markets are potentially the most lucrative market that you could get into.

You only need a small amount of capital to get started. The costs are low because brokers do not charge fees or commission, but earn their money from the difference between the buy and sell prices of a currency. This means that you can make many small trades without having to pay a fixed commission fee. Stock exchange trading is not so easy. These are just some of the reasons why more and more people are becoming involved in forex trading.

Another advantage of the forex markets is that you can trade 24 hours a day, five days a week. This makes it convenient for people who have other commitments during normal business hours. You can trade from any time zone at any moment, when it suits you. You do not have to be online in the day time.

As with any investment strategy that has the potential of large gains, there is also risk. Currency prices can change very fast and you can make a lot of money in a short time but you can lose it too, unless you are very careful. You should accept before you start that you may lose the money that you are trading with. At the same time, take your trading seriously. Do not treat it as a game. Keep clear records of what you did. However your trades turn out, look carefully at the results to see what you did right or wrong and learn from that.

You need a profitable system, clear strategies and the ability to stick to your decisions. You should not be constantly changing your tactics or acting from out of fear or greed. Consistent application of your system is vital.

When you are trading forex, you are in full control of your investment. You are not dependent upon the results of companies, as you would be with an investment in stocks. Of course prices will be affected by national and international events but you can often see these coming and exit the market before a major news announcement is due.

With good advice and a sound grasp of currency trading basics, you can begin to trade. Your financial future is in your own hands.

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Forex or FX trading is a way of making money from currency price movements. Forex traders buy and sell world currencies according to whether a currency seems likely to rise or fall.

Who Can Do FX Trading?

When you first hear about currency trading you might think that you need to know a lot about economics, politics or finance. You might think that all forex traders would be employed on Wall Street or other financial centers of the world. But this is not true at all.

In the past, it was certainly the case that the foreign exchange markets used to be almost entirely dominated by banks and investment companies. These days, however, all of that has changed. There are two main reasons for this.

The first is the internet, which allows anybody with a high speed connection to have access to up to the minute prices, charts and other data. People can trade from home, connecting to their broker and controlling their account online in real time. Brokers have seen the opportunity and reduced the amount of money you need to get started, encouraging people to start trading with only a few hundred dollars.

The second big development in fx trading has been the appearance of forex robots. These are automated trading programs that you can set to run on your own computer. They will connect up with your broker’s website and make trades for you. This means that you do not even need to know a lot about finance to get involved.

Why Would You Become A Forex Trader?

Why? Well, to make money, of course. At least that is most people’s reason for getting involved in the forex markets. It could be that there are some people out there who just enjoy the challenge and treat it as a game, but unless you are just using a demo account it is better to take it seriously.

Forex is a risky business with the possibility of making losses as well as gains. Money can come and go very fast. When you make a deposit into your brokerage account it is best to think of that as money spent. Any income that comes back from it is a bonus. Do not trade with the rent money!

How Do You Get Involved?

To begin forex trading you will need an account with a broker. If you want to use a forex robot you should get that right away and start using its demo settings so that you understand how it works and can see it making profits before you let it control your real money fx trading account.

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The foreign exchange market has many factors that make it unique. It has been described as the closest to pure competition that can exist, even though the international banks attempt to control and manipulate it. But what makes it so special, and why might you consider that you are more likely to be able to make money on the forex market than other forms of investment trading such as stock trading?

Trading Volume

The amount of money traded on the forex market daily is immense. The average daily turnover across the world is almost $4 trillion, according to a survey by the Bank For International Settlements in December 2007. The biggest trading center is London, followed by New York and Tokyo. However, the US dollar is the most traded currency.

Liquidity

The liquidity of a commodity is its ease of conversion to cash without impacting the value. Money is already money, so it is more liquid than any other asset. This means it is very easy to trade.

A Global Market

Forex is not traded in one place but all over the world. This means that, while of course it is affected by national events in the biggest financial powers, the effects are balanced out. Currencies do not have absolute value: a currency’s value can only be measured in comparison with another currency. So if one currency falls in value, another will rise.

Compare this with the stock exchange where it is possible for the value of every company’s stock to drop at the same time. All you can do in a major stock market crash is to withdraw your investment. But in forex, you can switch from the falling currency to the rising currency and still make money.

A 24 Hour Market

Currencies can be traded in different parts of the world 24 hours a day, five days a week. The foreign exchange market opens at 22.00 hours UTC Sunday in Sydney, Australia, where it is Monday morning, and closes at 22.00 hours UTC Friday in New York, where it is Friday afternoon. So whatever time of day or night you like to trade, you will have the opportunity, unless your only free time is on weekends.

Leverage

Leverage is where a small amount of something can be used to control a larger amount. In forex trading, leverage is related to the practice of trading on margin. You invest a small amount in your brokerage account and your broker lends you the rest, so that you do not have to put up the whole value of your position.

Forex trading offers more leverage than stock or futures trading. You may be able to control up to 200 times your account balance, depending on the broker. Higher leverage gives you the chance of bigger profits, but of course, there is also the risk of bigger losses. You will not necessarily want to take the maximum leverage on the foreign exchange market, especially in the beginning.

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Forex pairs are always involved in currency trading. The pair is the two currencies involved in your trade. For example if you are exchanging US dollars for Swiss francs, the currency pair is USD/CHF.

Theoretically you could trade any two currencies of the world, but in practice most foreign exchange trading is limited to the currencies of the larger financial powers. This does not necessarily mean the biggest or most politically powerful countries.

Switzerland for example is only a small country but is a major player in the financial markets because of the global importance of the Swiss banks.

There are 6 major forex pairs which between them account for 90% of the funds traded on the forex markets. These are:

- EUR/USD: the euro and US dollar.

- GBP/USD: the British pound and US dollar, nicknamed Cable because it used to be synchronized on both sides of the Atlantic by a cable running under the ocean.

- USD/JPY: the US dollar and Japanese yen.

- USD/CHF: the US dollar and Swiss franc.

- AUD/USD: the Australian dollar and US dollar.

- USD/CAD: the US dollar and Canadian dollar.

Some traders do get involved in other combinations of these major currencies or pairs that include other currencies such as the New Zealand dollar. But in the beginning it is best to stick with the majors.

The US dollar is the most significant single currency and is involved in 85% of trades according to a 2007 study. The euro is second at 37%. Next come the yen, pound, Swiss franc, AUD and CAD in that order. If you are wondering why these add up to more than 100%, it is because there are always two currencies in every trade.

What Is The Best Currency Pair For A Beginner?

If you are just starting out in forex, most experts advise beginning with the EUR/USD pair. This is because there is a lot of information about these currencies and the high liquidity results in a smaller spread, so your costs will be lower.

Some of the other currencies have particular characteristics which make most newbies avoid them unless they have special knowledge. For example the value of the Canadian dollar is strongly influenced by the price of oil because Canada is an oil exporter.

The Japanese yen can also be affected by the price of oil in the opposite direction because Japan is a large consumer and importer of oil.

You will not want to get involved in a lot of different currencies when you are starting out. The best thing to do is probably to take the EUR/USD market and stay with that for the first few months at least. GBP/USD would be the second choice of the major forex pairs for most new traders.

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You will see advertisements for forex investment just about everywhere. In newspapers and magazines, on the TV, on the internet … it seems that everywhere you turn, you will meet with somebody telling you that this is a great way to make money. But what is forex? Is it really profitable, and is it safe?

Forex or foreign exchange trading is a way of making money by exchanging foreign currencies. The rates of exchange are constantly changing, so a sharp investor can make a lot of money by buying a currency that is about to rise, then selling it after the price has gone up. In this respect it is a little like trading on the stock exchange.

It would be possible to invest in currency for the medium to long term if you believed that a particular country’s currency was going to rise or fall in a more or less steady way over a period of time. However, this is not what most people do and this is not what the ads that you see are for. Most people use trading techniques to try to make smaller profits over a short time.

Often a trader will enter the market to open a trade and close it again within minutes. He may be buying a currency that he thinks will rise or selling one that he thinks will fall. He will watch the markets until he sees a situation developing that leads him to believe that a pattern or trend is forming, then he jumps in.

The technique of making money with currency trading has opened up for the private investor in the past few years. Now that so many people have a high speed internet connection at home, brokers have seen the opportunity to draw in people whose funds may not be very large. You can begin forex trading with just a few hundred dollars.

There are many systems that you can follow which will help you learn to become a successful forex trader. There are also automated forex trading systems known as robots which will even open and close the trades for you.

Some people who start out in currency trading are hoping to make a lot of money. Often they will be disappointed. You need certain skills to survive in the foreign exchange markets and you also need a lot of self discipline. These can be learned or developed if you do not have them already but it can take time to become successful.

Other people begin foreign exchange trading simply because they enjoy the challenge of trying to increase their starting fund. If they make profits, they may later become serious traders, but in the beginning it is almost a game. This is fine if you like taking risks and can afford to lose a few hundred dollars if things go wrong.

World events can have a big effect on the currency markets and sometimes they are completely unpredictable. Something like the events of 9/11/2001 would be an example.

You can put stops in place to make sure that your trade is automatically closed if the market suddenly goes against you, but any trader must accept that losses sometimes happen and must be balanced against the potential gains.

Forex investment can be lucrative but if you are trading on the currency exchange markets it cannot really be described as a safe way to invest. Think carefully before you get involved and be prepared to spend some time learning how to manage your currency trades.

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More and more people want to make money online from home these days. Having no commute is so convenient. Having no boss is even better. You are not tied to regular hours and you can be at home with the family. Plus of course in the  current economic climate it is harder and harder to find a good job. All of this makes the idea of making money on the internet very attractive.

Learning forex currency trading is one way of earning money online that a person can do from the comfort of his or her own home. Some of us start in our spare time while holding down a full time job, others may be retired, unemployed or disabled. We soon get hooked and want to make this our full time career.

We all start out with big dreams and while these may come true for a few people, we must face the facts. The truth is that the majority of traders starting out will lose money with online currency trading. Why is this, and how can we avoid falling into this unlucky crowd?

One problem with forex trading is that many people approach it as if it were a game. They have a gambling mindset. They may open and close trades almost as if they were playing roulette, hoping to be lucky this time.

This type of trader has become more and more prevalent in the last few years since online casinos were outlawed in the USA. People who got a kick from risking (and probably losing) their money had to find a new way to do it, and many of them came into the forex market.

But forex trading is not a game of chance. There may be some similarities in the way that you view gains and losses but exchanging currency is still a form of investing, even if you are trading on the probability of a rise or fall in the interest rates.

There are skills to be learned, techniques and tactics, systems that are profitable and some that are not. In fact the most important thing to remember when you are starting out as a forex trader is that you must completely get rid of the idea of relying on luck and intuition. Stop using words like ‘playing’ when you are talking or thinking about making a trade.

Instead, concentrate on finding a reliable system and understanding the market thoroughly before you jump in. I know you probably do not want to hear this but you do have to spend some time on your forex exchange training if you want to make money online from home with forex trading.

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Forex technical analysis is one of two ways to analyze the foreign exchange markets. It works by studying the movement of prices, while the other method, fundamental analysis, looks at external economic factors such as the strength of the national economy, political events and so forth.

Studying price movement with forex technical analysis involves charts. The theory of it is that if you look at the historical records of how prices have moved in the past, you can identify tendencies and trends which will mean that you can predict how the prices will move in the future. Then as soon as you spot an emerging pattern that fits your system, you have a trading opportunity.

There are three types of forex charts:

1. Line charts

Line charts simply plot each closing price and join them with a line. The rise and fall of the line shows the general movement of a currency pair. However, it does not show movements within the trading period, only the close.

2. Bar charts

A bar chart will show a series of vertical lines or bars. The top of the line represents the highest price during that time period. The bottom of the line represents the low. A short horizontal bar on the left side indicates the opening price and a short horizontal bar on the right side indicates the closing price. Since they show the open, high, low and close, bar charts are also sometimes called OHLC charts.

3. Candlestick charts

Forex candlestick charts show all of the same information as a bar chart, but presented in a different way which most people find easier to read at a glance. You have the same vertical line with the high at the top and the low at the bottom, but there is also a wide block in the middle showing the gap between the opening and closing price. The blocks will be filled white (for a rising price) and black (for a
falling price) or more often these days they are colored. Colors can vary but a common combination is green or blue for rising and red for falling.

Most people prefer candlestick charts over bar charts because they are easier to interpret. It is much easier to see turning points in the market using candlestick charts. You can immediately see where the market reversed from an upward to a downward trend and vice versa.

When you see a trend forming, you can make money by trading in the same direction as the emerging trend. ‘The trend is your friend’, as currency traders say. For this reason, identifying the trend is the most important thing to learn in forex technical analysis and using candlestick charts is probably the easiest way to do this.

Click here to learn more about making life changing cash by Forex Trading including a free report on Forex Robots.

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There are basically two types of currency exchange trading: forex fundamental analysis and technical analysis. There is a lot of debate about which is better. In fact, both are important. The simplest way of looking at these two methods of analyzing the market is to say that fundamental analysis considers the world economy while technical analysis looks at charts. In this article we will consider the different fundamental or economic factors and how they can affect your trades.

It will be clear to anybody who has even the most rudimentary understanding of the currency markets that a nation’s economic status will have an effect on the value of that nation’s currency.  A healthy economy means a strong currency, just as a company’s stocks will rise in value when that company is doing well.

Any time that a major financial or economic report is due from one of the main players in the world economy, you can expect to see an effect on the foreign exchange markets. This includes reports of the country’s Gross Domestic Product, statements of the national debt, inflation, employment levels and trade deficits. Many of these reports are given out regularly at predetermined times and dates, and you will see a lot of volatility in the forex markets around those times.

It is very important to keep track of when these reports are due, not only in your own country but in all of the countries whose currencies you regularly trade. You cannot rely on national newspapers and television for this. They do not carry international economic news at a sufficiently detailed level. You need specialist publications. Many people use the internet for this purpose.

However, it is not only the economy that counts. Social and political forces also have a strong influence on a nation’s currency values. Events such as an election, civil unrest, or a natural disaster can cause fluctuations in values.

Some of these events are difficult or even impossible to predict, but you can still base trades around what is likely to happen after the event. You can use historical analysis to see what happened in the currency markets the last time there was a similar event.

If you want to base your trading around fundamental analysis of the forex markets you will need to be the type of person who enjoys following the financial, political and economic news.

The alternative is to use information about upcoming events to avoid trading at those times. People who prefer to rely mainly on technical analysis will do this. But you still need to know what is happening, in order to keep out of the market. So even for somebody who prefers basing their trades on charts, forex fundamental analysis is important.

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