How To Profit In Forex.

By Kris Deaney

Forex has fantastic profit potential. It's also easy to make trades no matter what direction the currencies are moving in, and this is one of the distinct advantages of the industry over the stock market.

However, as with anything that can potentially make you money, it is not easy. There are 2 things that any potential trader should have before risking any money.

The first is a good trading strategy. The strategy must be executed consistently with discipline. This is very important.

Next, the potential trader will need to get themselves a very good broker with which to place their trades. There are many about, but only a few offer the chance to trade like a professional.

It's important to consider the liquidity of a trader. by this I mean how easily a trader will be able to get into and out of the trade. Basically a trader wants instant trade execution, but sometimes brokers will not be able to offer that, and the trader will get a worse price than they were shown. This is known in the business as slippage.

The platform should, above all, be as stable as possible and easy to use and to navigate.

After discovering the execution ability of a broker, next the trader should concern himself with the tool suite that will be available to him, whilst he or she is trading, whether they are looking to trade fundamentally or technically. An example of this would be pro charting software.

Also traders should choose a broker that offers competitive tight spreads. The spread is the difference between the buy and the ask price. The spread can have a significant impact on the cost of trading, especially if people are trading frequently.

Make sure whichever broker you end up choosing that you keep careful track of how much you are trading and the cost of this trading in pips, and then integrate this into your overall strategy. - 23305

About the Author:

For more information on the Best Forex Brokers, or to read a review of Easy Forex, visit Easy Forex Reviews.

Fiat Fallacies

By James Pynn

In these trying times it's important to start branching off and learn more about the factors that affect us financially. Economics was a class that I glazed over and put the bare minimum of effort in order to pass. But now that the recession is over a year old and the number of unemployed Americans is in double digits, learning at least the economic essentials is a must. The first issue I decided to learn about was the gold standard. I use the past tense because Richard Nixon discarded the standard on August 15, 1971.

The gold standard is defined as, "A commitment by participating countries to fix the prices of their domestic currencies in terms of a specified amount of gold. National money and other forms of money (bank deposits and notes) were freely converted into gold at the fixed price." Basically, the gold standard was embraced in an effort create an even playing field across all national economies. This common standard, then, could be used to value and devalue currencies.

Historically, the United States used a variety of precious metals upon which it based its currency. The two most prominent have been gold and silver. Bimetallicism -- as it's known -- was enacted by Congress via the Standard Act. Now it's important to also know that whenever there is a recession or depression, governments hate having such a shiny standard. What they like doing in such dire times is print more money giving the immediate illusion that markets are holding fast and steady. They don't like having to worry about a standard to uphold because that only slows the printing presses. But that's not how it works.

Printing more money is a favorite tactic of central banks worldwide. When one powerful economy, like that of the United States, begins to print more money, so too, in most cases, do the banks of foreign nations. This had and still has -- a tremendous affect on the Forex (or Foreign Currency) markets. To keep parity with the dollar, they must print more or less money.

Since 1971, every major currency worldwide has become a fiat currency, that is, it has no intrinsic value. It is only as valued as it is accepted for goods and services. The hidden danger involved is in the inflation that arbitrary printing causes. It has been estimated that the buying power of a 1971 dollar is now roughly eight cents to the dollar. Without a peg to the dollar, the Fed can print as much as it wants, thereby causing a massive tide of inflation that has the potential to flood our everyday lives. - 23305

About the Author:

Understand how world currencies can be bought and sold with an accredited Forex course. As the dollar loses its value, it is essential investors look to foreign currencies to offset potential losses.

Understanding Forex Trading Sessions

By Ahmad Hassam

The financial centers active during the Asia Pacific session are Wellington, Sydney, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore. The currency pairs traded are USD/JPY, EUR/JPY and AUD/JPY. Currency trading volumes in the Asia Pacific session account for about 21% of the total daily global volume.

News and data reports from Australia, New Zealand and Japan are going to be hitting the market during the session. In terms of the move actively traded currency pairs during the Asia Pacific trading session this news and data affects their price action.

The Japanese financial centers are most active during this session so you can get a sense of what the Japanese market is doing based on price movements. Much of the action during this session is focused on the Japanese Yen currency pairs because of the size of the Japanese market and the importance of Japanese data to the market.

European financial centers begin to open up and the market gets to its full swing about midway through the Asian trading day. European financial centers and London represent over 50% of the total global trading volume.

London, Bonn, Paris, Zurich and Geneva are important financial centers that are active during the European trading session. The forex market interest and liquidity is at its peak during the European session The European session overlaps with half of the Asian trading day and half of the North American trading day.

As a result some the biggest moves and the most active trading takes place in the European currencies (EUR, GBP and CHF) and the euro cross currency pairs (EUR/CHF and EUR/GBP). London is the global forex center with the highest volume of foreign exchange transactions. GBP is still the most liquid currency in the world and favorite of currency traders.

Because of the overlap between the North American and European trading sessions, the trading volumes are much bigger. Some of the biggest and most meaningful directional price movements take place during this crossover period.

The North American Session basically comprises New York and Chicago as financial centers. The North American trading session accounts for roughly the same share of the global trading volume as the Asia Pacific market, or about 22% of the daily global trading volume.

Nonfarm Payroll Figures are very important for those currency traders who heavily trade USD. Since USD is the global reserve currency that means almost all the currency traders give utmost attention to the US economic and political news. Most US data reports are released around 8:30 AM EST with others coming out later at around 9 AM and 10:00 AM EST. The North American morning is when US key economic data are released and the forex market makes many of its significant decisions on the value of USD.

However, there are some US economic reports that come out at noon or at 2:00 PM EST livening up the New York afternoon market. Canadian economic data reports are also released between 7 and 9 AM EST. Most of this news affects the CAD/USD pair. There are news traders who try to trade around these specific times and take benefit from the volatility caused in the markets by the release of this news.

When the European trading session closes, most of the European traders try to close their open positions. The London or European close can bring volatile flurries of activity. London and European financial centers begin to wind down their daily trading operations around noon eastern time each day. The 12 to 15 hours before an important news announcement (i.e. the U.S. FOMC announcement or the U.S. Non-farm payroll) is a low volume time in the market as well because most banks and institutional traders are sitting on the sidelines waiting to see what the news will be. And as we just discussed, lower trading volumes lead to choppy, ranging markets. And again, choppy, ranging markets are one of the best times to scalp and pull pips out of the market.

On most trading days, market liquidity and interest falls off significantly in the New York afternoon this can make for challenging trading conditions. On quiet days, the generally lower market interest typically leads to stagnating price action. - 23305

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. He is interested in day trading stocks and currencies. Try These 1500 Pips A Day Forex Signals From Heaven. Know Forex Rebellion!

Currency Profile Of GBP (Part I)

By Ahmad Hassam

Another name for the British Pound (GBP) is Pound Sterling. GBP is also known as the Cable. This name most probably struck in the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century when most of the global trading used to be done through the cable. GBP used to be the international currency of choice in those days. United Kingdom (UK) is the fourth largest economy in the world. UK has a service oriented economy with manufacturing representing a small part of GDP. Manufacturing is only equivalent to one fifth of GDP.

The British capital market systems are one of the most developed in the world and as a result finance and banking has become a strong contributor to the GDP. London is still the forex center of the world. London Stock Exchange is still the second most important stock exchange in the world after the New York Stock Exchange.

UK has large reserves of oil and gas in its North Sea. Offshore drilling has made the energy production industry account for 10% of GDP which is one of the highest shares of any industrialized nation. UK is the largest producer and exporter of natural gas to EU although majority of UK GDP is from services.

Increases in energy prices such as oil will significantly benefit the large number of UK oil exporters. This is important for forex traders as energy prices are positively correlated with GBP. Overall, UK is a net importer of goods with a consistent trade deficit.

The United States on an individual basis still remains UKs largest trading partner. However, the largest trading partner of UK is the EU with the trade between the two accounting for almost 50% of UK imports and exports activities.

The leading exports markets for UK exporters are the United States, France, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands. The leading import sources for UK are Germany, France, United States, Belgium and the Netherlands.

The possibility of Euro adoption will still be in the backs of minds of pound traders for many years to come. UK had rejected adopting Euro as its currency in June 2003. Now, if UK decides to join EMU, it will have significant ramifications for its economy.

In case UK decides to join EMU, the most important of these ramifications is the adjustment of UK interest rate with the Eurozone interest rate. One of the primary arguments used against adopting the Euro is that UK has sound macroeconomic policies that have worked very well for the country.

UK is a highly political country with government officials highly concerned about the voter approval ratings. There are many arguments in favor of Euro entry and many against. However, if the voters do not support Euro entry, the likelihood of EMU entry will decline. Right now Brits are not in favor of a Euro entry. The voter opinion can change overtime.

Bank of England: The monetary policy of UK is under the control of The Bank of England (BOE). BOE is the UKs central bank. BOE is one of the oldest central banks in the world. The Monetary Policy Committee is the nine member committee that sets the monetary policy for UK. The committee was granted operational independence in 1997. It consists of a governor, two deputy governor, two executive directors of the central bank and four outside experts. - 23305

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam is a Harvard University Graduate. He is interested in day trading stocks and currencies. Try These 1500 Pips A Day Forex Signals From Heaven. Know Forex Rebellion!

How And Why A Person Should Buy Gold Stocks?

By Michael Swanson

Gold is loved universally so it is hardly surprising that millions of people want to buy gold stocks as a means to leverage their gold exposure. However, buying gold stock has its ups and downs and it is important to understand that there will be both good times for buying and bad times even when using technical analysis.

To begin with, there are several forms in which a person can own gold, and while some forms are risky, others are safer. The liquidity of this yellow metal is also known to vary and this variance in prices will affect the price of gold as well as gold stocks.

All you need to do in order to invest wisely in stocks is learn about the real reasons for the fall in gold prices. Most people that wish to invest in these stocks do so to leverage the prices of gold.

They know that should the price of gold go up by ten percent it would cause a twenty percent rise in gold stocks which is what the wise investor will be hoping for. It also seems that the present credit crunch is squeezing the markets for cash and this means that there are fewer investors with sufficient funds to invest in gold mines.

The more volatile the gold market is the more difficult it becomes to purchase this commodity in any form at attractive prices. You also have to bear in mind that brokerage companies also charge a percentage, so this too has to be factored into the cost.

Before buying your commodity stocks you can try to shop around in gold mining companies when prices are low. You can then wait till the prices increase and in this way, grow your money.

At present, the price that buyers of gold are paying per ounce is much lower; and this indicates that things can only pick up in the future. Essentially this means it will pay to invest in gold stocks now. And you can then sit back and capitalize when prices start to rise in the not too distant future. - 23305

About the Author:

If you are new to gold investing get my free gold stocks report.