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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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FOREX TRADING CONCEPT
Foreign exchange trading is the simultaneous buying of one currency and selling of another. The foreign exchange market (Forex or FX) is the largest financial market in the world with a daily turnover of over $2.4 trillion. Examples of currency trading pairs are Euro/US Dollar (EUR/USD) and US Dollar/Japanese Yen (USD/JPY). Most currency transactions involve the "Majors" - US Dollar, Euro, Japanese Yen, British Pound, Swiss Franc, Canadian Dollar and Australian Dollar.
Unlike other financial markets, the foreign exchange market has no physical location and no central exchange. The Forex market operates 24 hours a day through an electronic network of banks, corporations and individual traders. Forex trading begins every day in Sydney, then moves to Tokyo, followed by London and then New York. The major market makers, or dealers, consist of the commercial and investment banks, the exchange traded futures, and registered futures commission merchants.
Foreign Exchange Prices
Foreign exchange markets and prices are mainly influenced by international trade flows and investment flows. The FX markets are also influenced, but to a lesser extent, by the same factors that influence the equity and bond markets: economic and political conditions especially interest rates, inflation, and political instability. Those factors usually have only a short-term impact, which makes Forex attractive as it offers some of the diversification necessary to protect against adverse movements in the equity and bond markets.
Foreign Exchange prices, or quotes, include a "Bid" and "Ask" similar to other financial products:
Bid: Price at which Dealer is willing to Buy and Traders can Sell Currency.
Ask: Price at which Dealer will Sell and Traders can Buy Currency.
The difference between the Bid and Ask is called the "Spread", which is the Trader's cost of the transaction.
Currencies are usually quoted to four decimal places, such as the Euro/US Dollar trading at 1.2400/1.2403, with the last decimal place referred to as a point or "pip". A pip for most currencies is 0.0001 of an exchange rate; the one exception is the USD/JPY quote in which each pip is equal to 0.01. |
| 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 |
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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 |
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|
|
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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