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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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| LATEST MARKET UPDATES |
CURRENCY OUTLOOK |
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| ECONOMIC CALENDARS |
| DATE |
TIME |
COUNTRY |
EVENT |
FORECAST |
PREVIOUS |
| 10-17-10 |
5:45pm |
NZD |
CPI q/q |
1.0% |
0.2% |
| 10-18-10 |
9:00am |
USD |
TIC Long-Term Purchases |
47.5B |
61.2B |
|
8:30pm |
AUD |
Monetary Policy Meeting Minutes |
|
|
| 10-19-10 |
5:00am |
EUR |
German ZEW Economic Sentiment |
-7.0 |
-4.3 |
|
8:30am |
USD |
Building Permits |
0.58M |
0.57M |
|
9:00am |
CAD |
BOC Rate Statement |
|
|
|
9:00am |
CAD |
Overnight Rate |
1.00% |
1.00% |
|
2:50pm |
GBP |
BOE Gov King Speaks |
|
|
|
7:00pm |
NZD |
RBNZ Gov Bollard Speaks |
|
|
| 10-20-10 |
4:30am |
GBP |
MPC Meeting Minutes |
1-0-8 |
1-0-8 |
|
4:30am |
GBP |
Public Sector Net Borrowing |
14.2B |
15.3B |
|
10:30am |
CAD |
BOC Monetary Policy Report |
|
|
|
11:15am |
CAD |
BOC Press Conference |
|
|
|
10:00pm |
CNY |
CPI y/y |
3.6% |
3.5% |
|
10:00pm |
CNY |
GDP q/y |
9.5% |
10.3% |
| 10-21-10 |
4:30am |
GBP |
Retail Sales m/m |
0.4% |
-0.5% |
|
5:15am |
GBP |
MPC Member Posen Speaks |
|
|
|
8:30am |
USD |
Unemployment Claims |
455K |
462K |
|
10:00am |
USD |
Philly Fed Manufacturing Index |
0.5 |
-0.7 |
| 10-22-10 |
4:00am |
EUR |
German Ifo Business Climate |
106.5 |
106.8 |
|
7:00am |
CAD |
Core CPI m/m |
0.3% |
0.1% |
|
8:30am |
CAD |
Core Retail Sales m/m |
0.5% |
-0.4% |
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