I have been reading alot of reports about Forex Trading courses in the papers these past few days.  So i decided to make some comparison between Forex trading and Stocks trading.

In Forex trading you will find that it offers several advantages over stocks and shares. Lets take a look and make a comparison between these 2 financial instruments;

A substantial attraction for participants in the Forex market is that it is open 24 hours a day. It allows the participants to exit or open a new trade regardless of the hour. Traders can respond to breaking news immediately and P&L is not affected by after-hours earnings reports or analyst conference calls.

Next, we will explore the superior liquidity in Forex trading. Forex traders do not have to worry about being wedged in a position due to a lack of market interest. As the average trading volume is 50 times larger than most Stock Exchanges, there are always brokers or dealers willing to buy or sell currencies in the Forex markets.

The liquidity of the Forex market, especially the major currencies, helps ensure price stability. Traders can almost always open or close a position at a fair market price. On the contrary, traders in the stock markets & other exchange-traded markets are more vulnerable to liquidity risk due to a lower transaction volume.

Comparing with Equities, Forex trading offers a greater Buying Power. Forex traders are offered 100:1 leverage by major online Forex dealers, which is substantially beyond the common 2:1 margin offered by equity brokers.

Unlike most of the stocks which require you to fork out a few thousand dollars to trade just a few lots, in Forex trading, you are able to open an account for just USD400. For those with a low start up capital, it is much more cost-efficient to trade Forex, in terms of both commissions and transaction fees. Some brokerage house charges a fixed commission for the each currency traded, and at the same time offering zero to 1pip (the minimum increment of any currency) spread (the difference between the buy and sell price).

Another advantage of Forex trading is that there is no ‘bear’ market; per say. Currencies are traded in pairs, for instance, US dollar versus YEN or US dollar versus Swiss Franc. Trading always involves buying one currency & selling another. The potential for profit exists as long as there is movement in exchange rate regardless of which way the market is moving. This means a trader has an equal potential to profit in a rising, or falling market, provided you pick the right side; potentials profit ALWAYS exists.

Ever notice in the stock market that a certain stock is suddenly down 5% or more but you have absolutely no idea what caused such a quick spike? Usually it’s not until the next morning when you read it in the newspaper that you find out that earnings forecasts have been revised downward, or that an insider at a particular company has resigned, or that some other influential piece of information was released that you were not aware of. Imagine how much money you could have saved had you known this vital information at the same time as all other market ‘insiders’. How much you could even have earned in profit by acting in a timely manner. Imagine a market where there is little or no ‘insider information’ & all pertinent, market-moving news is released publicly to everybody in the world at the same time…

I hope my sharing of the above article about advantages in Forex trading is helpful in your diversifying of your portfolio.

In my next article, i will be making some comparison between Forex trading and Futures trading.

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Every FX traders (Newbie or Experienced) need to open an account with a Forex broker in order to start Forex trading. So what exactly is a broker or brokerage house? To put it simply, a broker is a company that place your buys or sells orders according to your decisions. Brokers earn money by charging a commission or a fee for their services.

When you started to pick up Forex trading or get in touch with trading FX. You may feel overwhelmed and jump the gun at the first brokerage house that was introduced to you. My advise is, don’t be lazy and DO YOUR HOMEWORK!!

Deciding on which broker to choose, requires a little bit of research & effort on your part, but I can guarantee you that your time spent will give you the insights of the types of services offer by various brokers.

Is the Forex broker regulated?

When selecting a prospective Forex broker, find out with which regulatory agencies it is registered with. The Forex market is labeled as an “unregulated” market, and it basically is. Regulation is typically reactive, meaning only after you’ve been bamboozled out of your entire savings will something be done.

In the US, a brokerage house should be registered as a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and a NFA member. The CFTC and NFA were made to protect the public against fraud, manipulation, and abusive trade practices.

You can do a check with CFTC registration and NFA membership status of a particular broker and check their disciplinary history by checking the NFA’s Web site at http://www.nfa.futures.org/basicnet/

Look for those with clean regulatory records and Stay away from non-regulated firms!

In Singapore a brokerage house should be registered with Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) holding a Capital Markets Services License. You can also do a check at MAS’s Web site http://www.mas.gov.sg/fi_directory/index.html

So guys, do your homework before taking the leap!!

Customer Service

As Forex trading is a 24-hour market, therefore a brokerage house with 24-hour support is a must! Do a check if they can be contacted by phone, email, chat..etc. Be sure to check the quality of their service before opening an account. You can contact their help desks, by phone, email or chat and see how quickly they respond to your needs. If they don’t give you a prompt reply and a satisfactory answer to your questions, you might be wary of opening an account with them. Just be aware that sometimes pre-sales service might be better than post-sales service.

Online Forex Trading Platform

With today’s advance technology, most brokers allow you to trade and place your orders over the Internet easily. Get a feel of executing your trades on the Forex trading platform and try out a demo account from a few brokers. Most trading platform should include:

1) Real-time currency exchange rate quotes,

2) Account summary showing your current account balance with realized and unrealized profit and loss, margin available, and any margin locked in open positions.

3) Either Web based (in Java), or a client-based program to be installed on your computer.

A Web based platform is hosted on your broker’s web site. And you’ll be able to log in from any computer that has an Internet connection.

A client-based platform which you need to install on your computer, will only allow you to trade on your own computer (unless you install the program on every computer you use).

Usually, a client-based platform runs faster, but most programs are operating system specific. Most brokers offer their Forex trading platform application to run on Microsoft Windows. If you are a Mac user, you won’t be able to install the application and will have to use your broker’s Web based trading platform.

You must also check if the broker’s client-based platform is compatible to your version of Microsoft Windows.

Always open a demo account and test out the broker’s platform before opening a real account! If you are not comfortable with the broker’s platform, go to the next one!

Bells and Whistles

A Forex broker should offer you real-time quotes and allow you to quickly enter and exit the market. These are minimal requirements of any trading platform. Most brokers now offer integrated charting and technical analysis packages with their trading platforms.

Mini & Micro Accounts

Most US brokers offer “mini-accounts” and even smaller “micro-account” for as little as a couple hundred dollars. In Singapore there are only a couple of brokers offering “mini-accounts”; IG markets, Saxo Banks & CMC Markets.

Broker Policies

1) A prospective broker should at least offers, the seven major currencies (AUD, CAD, CHF, EUR, GBP, JPY, and USD).

2) Rollover charges or Interest charges are determined by the difference between the interest rate of the country of the base currency and the interest rates of the other country. The greater the interest rate differential between the two currencies in the currency pair, the greater the rollover charge will be. Example; when trading EUR/USD, if the EURO dollar has the greater interest differential with the U.S. dollar, then the rollover charge for holding EURO positions would be the most expensive. On the other hand, if the Japanese Yen were to have the smallest interest differential to the U.S. dollar, then overnight charges for USD/JPY would be the least expensive of the currency pairs.

3) Most brokers pay interest on a trader’s margin account. The interest rates normally fluctuate with the prevailing national rates. If you decide to take an extended break from trading, the money in your margin account will be accruing interest. Keep in mind that most brokers DO NOT allow you to accrue interest unless your margin requirement is at least 2% (50:1).

4) Nearly all brokers align their hours of operation to coincide with the hours of operation of the global Forex market: 5:00 pm EST Sunday through 4:00 pm EST Friday. Choosing the right broker is an important part of your Forex trading journey. It requires some real effort on your part. Don’t just jump in the first one that looks good to you or being introduced to you. Keep looking and trying different demo accounts.

This article on Great Tips for Choosing Brokers in Forex Trading is brought to you by www.onlinetradingfx.com

Have you wander how money is created? And how it works? This educational cartoon video clip on how money is created by the banks, will show you the mechanism of money and how it works.

I can guarantee that after viewing this video clip on how money is created your mind will be blown away!

NEWS HEADLINE;

Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy…

                                                               Automakers seeking bailout

Financial Market Meltdown.

                                        AIG Disgrace……

             Federal take over Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac..

Almost everyday, we have been bombarded with news headlines on banks collapsing, disgraceful financial acts, economy bailout plans & etc. Since the economic recession, the volume for financial trading market has been thin (more volatile).

The reason i am writing this article is to share with those who are currently being retrenched or jobless on some reality in Forex trading.

You don’t become George Soros in one day

I need to share with you the truth on trading Forex as a living.

If you are thinking of going into Forex trading to make a fast profits and make some fast bucks everyday, then you are in for some dissapointment. It is because you do not have the skilled set and experience on the Forex market.

On the average, it took a person at least 2 years of Forex trading to become proficient in generating consistent income. There is a saying ” Rome wasn’t built in a day”

Doing Forex Trading Part-time

During this time of economic recession, i see alot of aggressive advertisments on courses teaching Forex trading, Options trading, Stock trading, etc, promising extraordinary returns. Some of you might got tempted, however, the truth is that you need years of practised to profit consistently.

I would like to suggest that you find a full-time job and doing Forex Trading part-time. In this way, you will be more easy on your pyschology in trading. Why i said that? Just imagine that you need to feed your hungry stomach and desperately trying to make a quick bucks at the same time.

Rock Solid Foundation

Just like tall buildings, they need good foundation to withstand the weight and structure. It’s the same theory in any skills you want to pick up, and there is no short cut in laying a good foundation in Forex Trading.

So you need to have patience and be committed in building up your foundations.

P.S  There will be Jobs DB Career Expo in Suntec Exhibition Hall 602 & 603, from 20th Mar till 22nd Mar 2009

This article on Economic Recession & How it Affects You is brought to you by www.onlinetradingfx.com

In the situation of economic recession, AIG has used part of their bailout money and given out as bonuses to their employees, and this has caused public unrest and the wrath of US President Barack Obama. From here, we can see that Money Management is really something important in managing wealth as well as in Forex Trading.

So today i would like to share on the importance of Money Management in Forex trading. Successful Forex traders have a larger edge and better money management than unsuccessful Forex traders.

After observing hundreds of amateur Forex traders, I began to discover that their failures can be explained almost exclusively by their poor money management practices.

When Forex trading, the importance of Money Management is underestimated by a lot of Forex traders. It is of much more importance than entry and exit decisions (=timing decisions) will ever be.

Very few indicators are better than a coin toss, and if they are, the edge is eaten up by slippage and commission.

Money Management in Forex trading is also called asset allocation, position sizing, portfolio heat, portfolio allocation, cash flow management, trade management, capital management and position management, size management, bet size selection, lot size selection, or even risk control, equity control, and damage control.

Money Management is managing the position size while Risk Management is about managing losses and open profits (unrealized trading returns).

Actually I don’t like the term ‘Money Management’ in Forex trading as it also has a very general meaning (it’s also used to describe the “process” of saving, those “learn valuable skills” pages talking about piggy banks and how to teach kids about pay checks).
But ‘Money Management’ tells a Forex trader that he should concentrate his research on how to optimize capital usage and to view his/her portfolio as a whole.

Actually there are (at least) 2 steps to implement proper Money Management:

1) Position sizing is the determination of what (fixed or non-fixed) fraction of a portfolio’s total (or again fixed or non-fixed fraction) equity to risk on each trade expressed in Dollar-, Euro-, Yen-, or Swiss Franc-denominated currency values.

2) Position sizing, on the other hand, is the calculation of how many contracts I should hold in my position once a trade entry is signaled, which basically is a function of the Big Point Value (the number of dollars that a 1-point price move represents) and a rounding algorithm as the number of contracts/stocks can’t be traded in fractions and must be cut down to a whole integer.

Let me show you a clearer picture of money management.

Suppose you and I bet $0.20 on a coin flip: Heads, you win, Tails, you lose. Suppose you have $10 of risk capital and I have $1. Even though I have less money, I have little to fear, because it would take a string of 5 losses to wipe me out, unless two brokers get between us and drain our capital by commissions and slippage.

The odds will dramatically change if you and I raise our bet to $0.50. If I have only $1, then I can only afford to lose 2 times. If you have $10, you can afford to lose 20 times.

Many amateur Forex traders take wild risks with a poor money management system. When they lose on their trade, they increases their lot size or position, hope that they can recover their losses made previously and make some profits. This action has caused their capital to be more exposed to risks.

This lesson won’t automatically build wealth, but will bring a wealth of experience and knowledge, which will prove invaluable to you if both understood and applied properly. It will steer the course for your success in the Forex trading arena.

If you are too lazy to dig deep and understand this lesson, I would advise to refrain from Forex trading.

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