The green buck has been working people around its little finger. In the Phillipines for example, millions of Filipinos become OFW’s or overseas Filipino workers in the hope of earning dollars to bring home to the family.
The United States is a superpower with a superpower currency to boot! Its currency, the US Dollar, is clamored in every place around the world. Even in a hole-in-the-wall money exchange stop, the US Dollar seeks a place in the pedestal of cross rates bulletins.
But for smart FOREX traders, they know that the US Dollar is not the only currency where money is power. They have learned how to delve into the Japanese Yen and the European Euro among others. Basically, if one is going to be engage in FOREX trading, better try out the other currency samples and widen one’s currency portfolio. The US Dollar will not always be the darling of the world’s central banks. [As can be seen right now, where the US presidential elections is especially affecting the value of the green buck.]
However, for first-time FOREX traders, trading US Dollars with the local currency is probably a safe way to start. After all, the local currency is needed for one’s everyday transactions; and the US Dollar is still strong relatively (most probably) to the local currency. [Unless the trading rate is already 1:1.]
The most important piece of information for all FOREX traders is the local currency cross rate. A simple usage of the cross rate is one can compare the value of a currency from let’s say, last month’s to this month’s rate. One can see how much local currency one has earned for every 1 USD as to, for example, the Canadian Dollar.
In this way, one can know which currency is worth putting one’s money into. Remember, the US Dollar is not always the darling of the central banks. There are other currencies that offer better value for the local currency.
According to Citibank, this is the simplest way to leverage against the impending depreciation of the US Dollar. Be aware of how other currencies are performing!
But, before diving into FOREX trading, here is, in my own opinion, the number one tip one should first adhere to—
Have a system.
Whatever happens, a personal trading system will greatly help in making fast decisions. Although the market is relatively steady, a personal system will prevent the trader from making rash decisions. In this very fast market, there should be no space left for blaming. Like “I should have done this or that”.
To have a specific system, a suggestion merely—better invest in a FOREX training ground first. That’s step one for the first-time trader. Or at least read everything about FOREX trading. Education is the key and then the strategies and systems and ultimately, the big bucks, will follow.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Why FOREX?
24-hour trading
Compared to stocks, FOREX trading is twenty-fours. A FOREX trader can trade right away once they spot an opportunity to buy low and sell high. Remember, money has time value. And a lot of factors in the economics and politics of a government affect how low a currency will drop or how high a currency will gain. It is fairly easy to say buy low and sell high. But the trick is to know when to do it. With twenty-four trading, the FOREX trader has the ultimate advantage already. Since, after all, time is money.
High liquidity
A market or business is considered very liquid if the assets involved can enable the person to directly meet his payment obligations. In other words, if cash is at hand—immediately. What is a more liquid market than the FOREX market?
FOREX has high liquidity, because it can be traded swiftly, without considerable loss of value, and anytime within the trading hours or in FOREX trading’s case—24/7.
No commission
FOREX trading need not have brokers in between to facilitate. With other forms of money market ventures and stock trading, brokers come in handy; because they are able to handle varied forms of portfolios and company stocks for the investor. Even if FOREX trading is involved with multiple currencies, it is a very direct business where the trader himself can act on his own; thus no commissions are leaked out and all profits are kept!
Steady market availability
In all businesses, businessmen strive for a steady market, if not an increasing one. Why spend time in a trading scene when it is short-term?
Because FOREX trading is all about the buying and selling of currencies, it is a continuously moving market. Money make the world go round, as the cliché goes.
The market will always be there. The trader only has to be aware of the rising and falling of the currencies. When is the currency starting to be weak? When is it going strong? Is there a trend?
Taking action
This benefits and advantages all the more make FOREX trading a very attractive business venture. For first time FOREX traders, why not inquire now at your home bank on how to start making your money work for you? FOREX trading is the way to go.
Compared to stocks, FOREX trading is twenty-fours. A FOREX trader can trade right away once they spot an opportunity to buy low and sell high. Remember, money has time value. And a lot of factors in the economics and politics of a government affect how low a currency will drop or how high a currency will gain. It is fairly easy to say buy low and sell high. But the trick is to know when to do it. With twenty-four trading, the FOREX trader has the ultimate advantage already. Since, after all, time is money.
High liquidity
A market or business is considered very liquid if the assets involved can enable the person to directly meet his payment obligations. In other words, if cash is at hand—immediately. What is a more liquid market than the FOREX market?
FOREX has high liquidity, because it can be traded swiftly, without considerable loss of value, and anytime within the trading hours or in FOREX trading’s case—24/7.
No commission
FOREX trading need not have brokers in between to facilitate. With other forms of money market ventures and stock trading, brokers come in handy; because they are able to handle varied forms of portfolios and company stocks for the investor. Even if FOREX trading is involved with multiple currencies, it is a very direct business where the trader himself can act on his own; thus no commissions are leaked out and all profits are kept!
Steady market availability
In all businesses, businessmen strive for a steady market, if not an increasing one. Why spend time in a trading scene when it is short-term?
Because FOREX trading is all about the buying and selling of currencies, it is a continuously moving market. Money make the world go round, as the cliché goes.
The market will always be there. The trader only has to be aware of the rising and falling of the currencies. When is the currency starting to be weak? When is it going strong? Is there a trend?
Taking action
This benefits and advantages all the more make FOREX trading a very attractive business venture. For first time FOREX traders, why not inquire now at your home bank on how to start making your money work for you? FOREX trading is the way to go.
Forex History - The Evolution OF FX Markets
The Gold Exchange and the Bretton Woods Agreement
In 1967, a Chicago bank refused a college professor by the name of Milton Friedman a loan in pound sterling because he had intended to use the funds to short the British currency. Friedman, who had perceived sterling to be priced too high against the dollar, wanted to sell the currency, then later buy it back to repay the bank after the currency declined, thus pocketing a quick profit. The bank’s refusal to grant the loan was due to the Bretton Woods Agreement, established twenty years earlier, which fixed national currencies against the dollar, and set the dollar at a rate of $35 per ounce of gold.
The Bretton Woods Agreement, set up in 1944, aimed at installing international monetary stability by preventing money from fleeing across nations, and restricting speculation in the world currencies. Prior to the Agreement, the gold exchange standard--prevailing between 1876 and World War I--dominated the international economic system. Under the gold exchange, currencies gained a new phase of stability as they were backed by the price of gold. It abolished the age-old practice used by kings and rulers of arbitrarily debasing money and triggering inflation.
But the gold exchange standard didn’t lack faults. As an economy strengthened, it would import heavily from abroad until it ran down its gold reserves required to back its money; consequently, the money supply would shrink, interest rates rose and economic activity slowed to the extent of recession. Ultimately, prices of goods had hit bottom, appearing attractive to other nations, who would rush into buying sprees that injected the economy with gold until it increased its money supply, and drive down interest rates and recreate wealth into the economy. Such boom-bust patterns prevailed throughout the gold standard until the outbreak of World War I interrupted trade flows and the free movement of gold.
After the Wars, the Bretton Woods Agreement was founded, where participating countries agreed to try and maintain the value of their currency with a narrow margin against the dollar and a corresponding rate of gold as needed. Countries were prohibited from devaluing their currencies to their trade advantage and were only allowed to do so for devaluations of less than 10%. Into the 1950s, the ever-expanding volume of international trade led to massive movements of capital generated by post-war construction. That destabilized foreign exchange rates as setup in Bretton Woods.
The Agreement was finally abandoned in 1971, and the US dollar would no longer be convertible into gold. By 1973, currencies of major industrialized nations floated more freely, as they were controlled mainly by the forces of supply and demand. Prices were floated daily, with volumes, speed and price volatility all increasing throughout the 1970s, giving rise to new financial instruments, market deregulation and trade liberalization.
In the 1980s, cross-border capital movements accelerated with the advent of computers and technology, extending market continuum through Asian, European and American time zones. Transactions in foreign exchange rocketed from about $70 billion a day in the 1980s, to more than $1.5 trillion a day two decades later.
In 1967, a Chicago bank refused a college professor by the name of Milton Friedman a loan in pound sterling because he had intended to use the funds to short the British currency. Friedman, who had perceived sterling to be priced too high against the dollar, wanted to sell the currency, then later buy it back to repay the bank after the currency declined, thus pocketing a quick profit. The bank’s refusal to grant the loan was due to the Bretton Woods Agreement, established twenty years earlier, which fixed national currencies against the dollar, and set the dollar at a rate of $35 per ounce of gold.
The Bretton Woods Agreement, set up in 1944, aimed at installing international monetary stability by preventing money from fleeing across nations, and restricting speculation in the world currencies. Prior to the Agreement, the gold exchange standard--prevailing between 1876 and World War I--dominated the international economic system. Under the gold exchange, currencies gained a new phase of stability as they were backed by the price of gold. It abolished the age-old practice used by kings and rulers of arbitrarily debasing money and triggering inflation.
But the gold exchange standard didn’t lack faults. As an economy strengthened, it would import heavily from abroad until it ran down its gold reserves required to back its money; consequently, the money supply would shrink, interest rates rose and economic activity slowed to the extent of recession. Ultimately, prices of goods had hit bottom, appearing attractive to other nations, who would rush into buying sprees that injected the economy with gold until it increased its money supply, and drive down interest rates and recreate wealth into the economy. Such boom-bust patterns prevailed throughout the gold standard until the outbreak of World War I interrupted trade flows and the free movement of gold.
After the Wars, the Bretton Woods Agreement was founded, where participating countries agreed to try and maintain the value of their currency with a narrow margin against the dollar and a corresponding rate of gold as needed. Countries were prohibited from devaluing their currencies to their trade advantage and were only allowed to do so for devaluations of less than 10%. Into the 1950s, the ever-expanding volume of international trade led to massive movements of capital generated by post-war construction. That destabilized foreign exchange rates as setup in Bretton Woods.
The Agreement was finally abandoned in 1971, and the US dollar would no longer be convertible into gold. By 1973, currencies of major industrialized nations floated more freely, as they were controlled mainly by the forces of supply and demand. Prices were floated daily, with volumes, speed and price volatility all increasing throughout the 1970s, giving rise to new financial instruments, market deregulation and trade liberalization.
In the 1980s, cross-border capital movements accelerated with the advent of computers and technology, extending market continuum through Asian, European and American time zones. Transactions in foreign exchange rocketed from about $70 billion a day in the 1980s, to more than $1.5 trillion a day two decades later.
Foreign Exchange (FOREX) is the arena where a nation's currency is exchanged for that of another. The foreign exchange market is the largest financial market in the world, with the equivalent of over $1.9 trillion changing hands daily; more than three times the aggregate amount of the US Equity and Treasury markets combined. Unlike other financial markets, the Forex market has no physical location and no central exchange (off-exchange). It operates through a global network of banks, corporations and individuals trading one currency for another. The lack of a physical exchange enables the Forex market to operate on a 24-hour basis, spanning from one zone to another in all the major financial centers.
Traditionally, retail investors' only means of gaining access to the foreign exchange market was through banks that transacted large amounts of currencies for commercial and investment purposes. Trading volume has increased rapidly over time, especially after exchange rates were allowed to float freely in 1971. Today, importers and exporters, international portfolio managers, multinational corporations, speculators, day traders, long-term holders and hedge funds all use the FOREX market to pay for goods and services, transact in financial assets or to reduce the risk of currency movements by hedging their exposure in other markets.
MG Financial, now operating in over 100 countries, serves all manner of clients, comprising speculators and strategic traders. Whether it’s day-traders looking for short-term gains, or fund managers wanting to hedge their non-US assets, MG's DealStation™ allows them to participate in FOREX trading by providing a combination of live quotes, Real-Time charts, and news and analysis that attracts traders with an orientation towards fundamental and/or technical analysis.
Besides the more obvious hard work and diligence and always saving little by little in their piggy banks, the really rich guys know how to work up the foreign exchange.
Basically, foreign exchange trading or simply FOREX trading is just the buying and selling of the world’s currencies. Money today is not the same as money tomorrow. Money has time value. The worth of a currency can go up or down.
There is one secret that FOREX traders live by. And it is buy low, sell high. Don’t ever forget that rule.
However, the trick is to know when to buy and when to sell. In FOREX trading, everything is by speculation. Sure, there are graphs to aid decisions. Business pages also give out strategies for the day. But the next step is always a guess based from the previous actions.
FOREX traders like to call their speculations as smart guesses. Usually, patterns on the currency values can be derived from how the politics of a specific country is running.
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