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| FOREX BASICS |
| ✓ FOREX HISTORY |
✓ FOREX TRADING CONCEPT |
✓ TYPE OF ORDERS |
| ✓ CONTRACT SIZE |
✓ MARGIN AND LEVERAGE |
✓ ROLLOVER |
| ✓ FOREX GLOSSARY |
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CONTRACT SIZE
A contract size is the quantity of currency being bought and sold. In the world of retail Forex, there are usually two types of contract size.
| Standard |
Mini |
| 100,000 Base Currency Units |
10,000 Base Currency Units |
How It Works
For example: EUR/USD is trading at 1.2000/1.2003. When it says "buying or selling 1 standard lot (contract) of this currency pair". You are buying or selling 100,000 units of Euro against the US dollar. If you choose buy, it will cost you 100,000 Euro x 1.2003 US dollar/Euro = USD 120,030. Wow...that's a lot! Don't worry! Forex dealers will allow you to use margin or apply leverage to reduce this money used to place this position. If you choose 100:1 leverage or 1% of the required amount, the cost of doing that trade is now USD 120,030 / 100 = USD 1,200.30. BIG DIFFERENCE. To learn more about margin and leverage, please click here.
Flexible Contracts
Flexible contracts mean a trader can defines his/her own trade amount without being limited to the specific contract sizes that are set by Forex dealers. With flexible contracts, you can trade 1 currency unit, 5 currency units or any amount of your choice.
Futures Contract Sizes
Unlike spot Forex, futures are traded on exchanges. Futures trading occurs on a CFTC designated contract market with trading facilities. The following table lists some of the most commonly traded commodity futures and their contract sizes.
|
Commodity |
Contract Size |
| Grains and Oilseeds |
Wheat |
5,000 bu |
|
Corn |
5,000 bu |
|
Soybeans |
5,000 bu |
|
Soybean meal |
100 tons |
|
Soybean oil |
60,000 lb |
| Livestock and Meat |
Cattle (feeder) |
50,000 lb |
|
Cattle (live) |
40,000 lb |
|
Hogs (lean) |
40,000 lb |
|
Pork bellies |
40,000 lb |
| Food and Fiber |
Cocoa |
100 metric tons |
|
Coffee |
37,500 lb |
|
Sugar |
112,000 lb |
|
Cotton |
50,000 lb |
|
Orange Juice |
15,000 lb |
| Metals and Petroleum |
Copper |
25,000 lb |
|
Gold |
100 troy oz |
|
Silver |
5,000 troy oz |
|
Crude oil (light sweet) |
100 bbl |
|
Heating oil |
42,000 gal |
|
Gasoline |
42,000 lb |
| Interest Rates |
Treaury bonds |
$100,000 |
|
Treasury bills |
$1,000,000 |
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| ECONOMIC CALENDARS |
| DATE |
TIME |
COUNTRY |
EVENT |
FORECAST |
PREVIOUS |
| 07/21/08 |
3:15am |
Switzerland |
PPI m/m |
0.4% |
1.2% |
| 07/21/08 |
4:45am |
United Kingdom |
BOE Governor King Speaks |
|
|
|
8:30am |
Canada |
Core Retail Sales m/m |
0.8% |
1.1% |
|
9:30pm |
Australia |
CPI q/q |
1.2 |
1.3% |
| 07/23/08 |
4:30am |
United Kingdom |
MPC Meeting Minutes |
8-1 hld |
8-1 hld |
|
7:00am |
Canada |
Core CPI m/m |
0.2% |
0.3% |
|
5:00pm |
New Zealand |
Monetary Policy Statement |
|
|
|
5:00pm |
New Zealand |
Official Cash Rate |
8.25% |
8.25% |
| 07/24/08 |
4:00am |
Eurozone |
German Ifo Business Climate Index |
100.2 |
101.3 |
|
4:30am |
United Kingdom |
Retail Sales m/m |
-2.5% |
3.5% |
|
10:00am |
United States |
Existing Home Sales |
4.93M |
4.99M |
| 07/25/08 |
4:30am |
United Kingdom |
Prelim GDP q/q |
0.2% |
0.3% |
|
8:30am |
United States |
Core Durable Goods Orders m/m |
-0.2% |
-0.9% |
|
10:00am |
United States |
New Home Sales |
508K |
512K |
| LATEST MARKET UPDATES |
CURRENCY OUTLOOK |
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