Investors and traders around the world are looking to the Forex market as a new speculation opportunity. But, how are transactions conducted in the Forex market? Or, what are the basics of Forex Trading? Before adventuring in the Forex market we need to make sure we understand the it, otherwise we will find ourselves lost where we less expected. This is what this article is aimed to, to understand the basics of currency trading.What is traded in the Forex market? The instrument traded by Forex traders and investors are currency pairs. A currency pair is the exchange rate of one currency over another. The most traded currency pairs are:USD/CHF: Swiss francGBP/USD: PoundUSD/CAD: Canadian dollarUSD/JPY: YenEUR/USD: EuroAUD/USD: AussieThese six currency pairs generate up to 85% of the overall volume in the Forex market. So, for instance, if a trader goes long on the Euro, she or he is simultaneously buying the EUR and selling the USD. If the same trader goes short or sells the Aussie, she or he is simultaneously selling the AUD and buying the USD.The first currency of each currency pair is referred as the base currency, while second currency is referred as the counter or quote currency. Each currency pair is expressed in units of the counter currency needed to get one unit of the base currency. If the price or quote of the EUR/USD is 1.2545, it means that 1.2545 US dollars are needed to get one EUR.Bid/Ask SpreadAll currency pairs are commonly quoted with a bid and ask price. The bid (always lower than the ask) is the price your broker is willing to buy at, thus the trader should sell at this price. The ask is the price your broker is willing to sell at, thus the trader should buy at this price.EUR/USD 1.2645/48 or 1.2645/8The bid price is 1.2645The ask price is 1.2648A Pip A pip is the minimum incremental move a currency pair can make. A pip stands for price interest point. A move in the EUR/USD from 1.2545 to 1.2560 equals 15 pips. And a move in the USD/JPY from 112.35 to 113.40 equals 105 pips.Margin Trading (leverage) In contrast with other financial markets where you require the full deposit of the amount traded, in the Forex market you require only a margin deposit. The rest will be granted by your broker.The leverage provided by some brokers goes up to 400:1. This means that you require only 1/400 or .25% in balance to open a position (plus the floating gains/losses.) Most brokers offer 100:1, where every trader requires 1% in balance to open a position.The standard lot size in the Forex market is $100,000 USD.For instance, a trader wants to get long one lot in EUR/USD and he or she is using 100:1 leverage.To open such position, he or she requires 1% in balance or $1,000 USD.Of course it is not advisable to open a position with such limited funds in our trading balance. If the trade goes against our trader, the position is to be closed by the broker. This takes us to our next important term.Margin Call A margin call occurs when the balance of the trading account falls below the maintenance margin (capital required to open one position, 1% when the leverage used is 100:1, 2% when leverage used is 50:1, and so on.) At this moment, the broker sells off (or buys back in the case of short positions) all your trades, leaving the trader “theoretically” with the maintenance margin.Most of the time margin calls occur when money management is not properly applied.How are the mechanics of a Forex trade? The trader, after an extensive analysis, decides there is a higher probability of the British pound to go up. He or she decides to go long risking 30 pips and having a target (reward) of 60 pips. If the market goes against our trader he/she will lose 30 pips, on the other hand, if the market goes in the intended way, he or she will gain 60 pips. The actual quote for the pound is 1.8524/27, 4 pips spread. Our trader gets long at 1.8530 (ask). By the time the market gets to either our target (called take profit order) or our risk point (called stop loss level) we will have to sell it at the bid price (the price our broker is willing to buy our position back.) In order to make 40 pips, our take profit level should be placed at 1.8590 (bid price.) If our target gets hit, the market ran 64 pips (60 pips plus the 4 pip spread.) If our stop loss level is hit, the market ran 30 pips against us.It’s very important to understand every aspect of forex trading. Start first from the very basic concepts, then move on to more complex issues such as Forex trading systems, trading psychology, trade and risk management, and so on. And make sure you master every single aspect before adventuring in a live trading account.src:http://forexdb.blogspot.com/

The Foreign Exchange (FOREX) market is by far the largest market in the world. The $1.3 trillion average daily turnover dwarfs the daily turnover of the American stock and bond markets combined. There are many reasons for the popularity of foreign exchange trading, but among the most important is the available margin trading, the 24-hour a day 5 day a week liquidity, and low if any commissions.Of course many commercial organizations are participating purely due to the currency exposures created by their financial institutions accounts on their import and export activities. Investing in foreign exchange remains predominantly a domain of the big professional players in the market such as hedge funds, banks and brokers. Nevertheless, any investor with the necessary knowledge is and complete understanding of this market can benefit from this exciting arena.Margin TradingForeign exchange trading is normally undertaken on the basis of margin trading or gearing. A relatively small deposit is required in order to control much larger positions in the market. This is possible because when you buy one currency you sell another. Margin requirements are set by your Customer broker and vary from as little as 1% to 10% margin. This means that in order to trade 1,000,000 USD on 1 % margin, you need to place just 10,000 USD by way of security. That same security of 10,000 USD, traded on a 10% margin could control up to 100,000 USD worth of one currency against another currency.As you can see, with gearing your capital from 10 to 100 times calls for a very disciplined approach to trading as both profit opportunities and potential loss are equal and opposite.Trade Currency and Price CurrencyWhen you trade, you will always trade a combination of two currencies. For example, you will buy US dollars and sell Japanese Yen or buy Euros and sell Japanese Yen. There are many combinations of the dozens of widely traded currencies. There is always a long (bought) and a short (sold) side to each trade. This means that you are speculating in the prospect of one of the currencies strengthening and one of them weakening.The trade currency or dealt currency is normally, but not always, the currency with the highest value. When for example trading US dollars against Japanese Yen, the normal way to trade is buying or selling a fixed amount of US dollars, USD 100,000. When closing the position, the opposite trade is done, again USD 100,000. The profit or loss based on price change will be apparent in the amount of Yen credited and debited for the two transactions. In other words, your profit or loss will be denominated in Japanese Yen that are known as the price currency.24/5 and No Central LocationThe FOREX Market has no fixed location. It is a market based on the vast network of hundreds of major banks and their branch offices across the globe. The liquidity is always there because someone, somewhere can make a price. From Monday morning in New Zealand to Friday afternoon on the California Coast the FOREX Market is basically a 24 hour 5 day a week market that does not stop. Australasia starts a day then comes the Asian market, then Europe, followed by the American and Canadian markets then Australasia again and the cycle continues with the markets closed only on the weekends or in countries with bank or national Holidays.Spreads not CommissionsWhen trading foreign exchange, you are always quoted a 2-sided dealing price where you can buy or sell the trade currency. The difference between the buy and sell price is the spreadThe dealing spread is typically around 5 basis points or pips under normal market conditions, e.g. EUR/USD 1.2250-55. This means that you can sell Euros against US Dollars at 1.2250 and buy Euros at 1.2255. There are no more costs, no commissions or exchange fees because so called commissions are built into the spreads. The wider the spread the bigger the commission!Spot and forward trading (Swaps)When you trade foreign exchange you are always quoted a spot price valued 2 business days in advance. This is under normal conditions where there are no bank holidays in the traded currencies countries or is not over a weekend. If you trade on Monday it is valued Wednesday. If you trade on Friday it is valued Tuesday.Forward trading is making the opposite trade of a spot trade in a given period of time. Often investors will swap their trades forward for anywhere from a week or two up to several months depending on the time frame of the investment. Most common is one-day rollovers, keeping a spot position overnight. These overnight positions are technically one-day forwards. It is very important to know what interest you paying if short and what interest you are receiving if long when keeping an overnight position. Even though a forward trade is on a future date, the position can be closed out at any time. The closing part of the position is then swapped forward to the same future value date.Stop-Loss disciplineThere are significant opportunities and of course risks in the foreign exchange markets. Aggressive traders might experience profit/loss swings of 20-30% daily. This calls for strict self-disciplined stop-loss policies in positions that are moving against you.Luckily, there are no daily limits on foreign exchange trading and no restrictions on trading hours other than the weekends. This means that there will nearly always be a possibility to react to moves in the main currency markets and low risk of getting caught without possibility of getting out. This market can move very fast and a stop-loss order is by no means a guarantee of getting out at the desired level. The main risk is really an event over the weekend, where all markets are closed. This happens from time to time as many important political events such as G10 meetings are normally scheduled for week The main risk is really an event over the weekend, where all markets are closed. This happens from time to time as many important political events such as G-20 meetings are normally scheduled during the weekend.http://www.universityforex.com