Making money with Forex - Answers

Trading in the Forex market may seem to be a daunting challenge. The Forex currency trading market is the largest in the world. How do I begin? Where do I start? What is forex anyway? Let us attempt to get some understanding and fucus on the basics of the Forex Currency Market.

The market
The currency trading (FOREX) market is the biggest and fastest growing market on earth. Its daily turnover is more than 2.5 trillion dollars. The participants in this market are banks, organizations, investors and private individuals, just like you. ( click here to read full market background by Easy-Forex ).

The goods (merchandise)
Markets are places to trade goods, and the same goes with FOREX. The Forex goods are the currencies of various countries. You buy Euro, paying with US dollars, or you sell Japanese Yens for Canadian dollars. That's all.

How does one profit in Forex?
Obviously, buy cheap and sell for more! The profit potential comes from the fluctuations (changes) in the currency exchange market.
The nice thing about the FOREX market, is that regular daily fluctuations, say - around 1%, are multiplied by 100! (in general, Easy-Forex offers trading ratios from 1:50 to 1:200).

How risky is Forex trading?
You cannot lose more than your "margin" (your initial investment)! You may profit unlimited amounts, but you never lose more than what you initially risked. However, risk only what you can afford and is not vital for your well-being.

How do I start trading?
Register (Easy-Forex™ offers the simplest and quickest registration process, no obligation); deposit your first trading "margin" amount (credit cards are welcome, only by Easy-Forex™); start trading .

How do I monitor my Forex trading?
Online, from anywhere, anytime. You have full control to monitor status, check scenarios, change some terms in the deal, or close it.

Want to know more? Want to get on-line training? Register here (quick, no obligation), we'll be glad to guide you, every step of the way.

How about a little information about the market itself? The Wikipedia has some excellent information for us:

The foreign exchange ( currency or forex or FX ) market exists wherever one currency is traded for another. It is by far the largest financial market in the world, and includes trading between large banks, central banks , currency speculators , multinational corporations , governments , and other financial markets and institutions. The average daily trade in the global forex markets currently exceeds US$ 1.9 trillion. Retail traders (individuals) are a small fraction of this market and may only participate indirectly through brokers or banks.

Here are some details provided by Learn Forex Trading and Investing : 

The Forex market is a nonstop cash market where currencies of nations are traded, typically via brokers. Foreign currencies are constantly and simultaneously bought and sold across local and global markets and traders' investments increase or decrease in value based upon currency movements. Foreign exchange market conditions can change at any time in response to real-time events.

The main enticements of currency dealing to private investors and attractions for short-term Forex trading are:

• 24-hour trading, 5 days a week with nonstop access to global Forex dealers.
• An enormous liquid market making it easy to trade most currencies.
• Volatile markets offering profit opportunities.
• Standard instruments for controlling risk exposure.
• The ability to profit in rising or falling markets.
• Leveraged trading with low margin requirements.
• Many options for zero commission trading.

Forex trading:

The investor's goal in Forex trading is to profit from foreign currency movements. Forex trading or currency trading is always done in currency pairs. For example, the exchange rate of EUR/USD on Aug 26th, 2003 was 1.0857. This number is also referred to as a "Forex rate" or just "rate" for short. If the investor had bought 1000 euros on that date, he would have paid 1085.70 U.S. dollars. One year later, the Forex rate was 1.2083, which means that the value of the euro (the numerator of the EUR/USD ratio) increased in relation to the U.S. dollar. The investor could now sell the 1000 euros in order to receive 1208.30 dollars. Therefore, the investor would have USD 122.60 more than what he had started one year earlier. However, to know if the investor made a good investment, one needs to compare this investment option to alternative investments. At the very minimum, the return on investment (ROI) should be compared to the return on a "risk-free" investment. One example of a risk-free investment is long-term U.S. government bonds since there is practically no chance for a default, i.e. the U.S. government going bankrupt or being unable or unwilling to pay its debt obligation.

When trading currencies, trade only when you expect the currency you are buying to increase in value relative to the currency you are selling. If the currency you are buying does increase in value, you must sell back the other currency in order to lock in a profit. An open trade (also called an open position) is a trade in which a trader has bought or sold a particular currency pair and has not yet sold or bought back the equivalent amount to close the position.

However, it is estimated that anywhere from 70%-90% of the FX market is speculative. In other words, the person or institution that bought or sold the currency has no plan to actually take delivery of the currency in the end; rather, they were solely speculating on the movement of that particular currency.

Exchange rate

Because currencies are traded in pairs and exchanged one against the other when traded, the rate at which they are exchanged is called the exchange rate. The majority of the currencies are traded against the US dollar (USD). The four next-most traded currencies are the euro (EUR), the Japanese yen (JPY), the British pound sterling (GBP) and the Swiss franc (CHF). These five currencies make up the majority of the market and are called the major currencies or "the Majors". Some sources also include the Australian dollar (AUD) within the group of major currencies.

The first currency in the exchange pair is referred to as the base currency and the second currency as the counter or quote currency. The counter or quote currency is thus the numerator in the ratio, and the base currency is the denominator. The value of the base currency (denominator) is always 1. Therefore, the exchange rate tells a buyer how much of the counter or quote currency must be paid to obtain one unit of the base currency. The exchange rate also tells a seller how much is received in the counter or quote currency when selling one unit of the base currency. For example, an exchange rate for EUR/USD of 1.2083 specifies to the buyer of euros that 1.2083 USD must be paid to obtain 1 euro.

At any given point, time and place, if an investor buys any currency and immediately sells it - and no change in the exchange rate has occurred - the investor will lose money. The reason for this is that the bid price, which represents how much will be received in the counter or quote currency when selling one unit of the base currency, is always lower than the ask price, which represents how much must be paid in the counter or quote currency when buying one unit of the base currency. For instance, the EUR/USD bid/ask currency rates at your bank may be 1.2015/1.3015, representing a spread of 1000 pips (also called points, one pip = 0.0001), which is very high in comparison to the bid/ask currency rates that online Forex investors commonly encounter, such as 1.2015/1.2020, with a spread of 5 pips. In general, smaller spreads are better for Forex investors since even they require a smaller movement in exchange rates in order to profit from a trade.

Margin

Banks and/or online trading providers need collateral to ensure that the investor can pay in case of a loss. The collateral is called the margin and is also known as minimum security in Forex markets. In practice, it is a deposit to the trader's account that is intended to cover any currency trading losses in the future.

Margin enables private investors to trade in markets that have high minimum units of trading by allowing traders to hold a much larger position than their account value. Margin trading also enhances the rate of profit, but has the tendency to inflate rates of loss, on top of systemic risk.

Leveraged financing

Leveraged financing, i.e., the use of credit, such as a trade purchased on a margin, is very common in Forex. The loan/leveraged in the margined account is collateralized by your initial deposit. This may result in being able to control USD 100,000 for as little as USD 1,000.

Five ways private investors can trade in Forex directly or indirectly:

• The spot market
• Forwards and futures
• Options
• Contracts for difference
• Spread betting

A spot transaction

A spot transaction is a straightforward exchange of one currency for another. The spot rate is the current market price, also called the benchmark price. Spot transactions do not require immediate settlement, or payment "on the spot." The settlement date, or "value date," is the second business day after the "deal date" (or "trade date") on which the transaction is agreed to by the two traders. The two-day period provides time to confirm the agreement and arrange the clearing and necessary debiting and crediting of bank accounts in various international locations.

Risks

Although Forex trading can lead to very profitable results, there are risks involved: exchange rate risks, interest rate risks, credit risks, and country risks. Approximately 80% of all currency transactions last a period of seven days or less, while more than 40% last fewer than two days. Given the extremely short lifespan of the typical trade, technical indicators heavily influence entry, exit and order placement decisions.

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Here is an article that trys to answer the question; What is it anyway?

Forex? What is it, anyway?

The market

The currency trading (FOREX) market is the biggest and the fastest growing market on earth. Its daily turnover is more than 2.5 trillion dollars, which is 100 times greater than the NASDAQ daily turnover. ( click here to read full market background by Easy-Forex ).

Markets are places to trade goods. The same goes with FOREX. The Forex goods (or merchandise) are the currencies of various countries. You buy Euro, paying with US dollars, or you sell Japanese Yens for Canadian dollars. That's all.

How does one profit in Forex?

Very simple and obvious: buy cheap and sell for more! The profit is generated from the fluctuations (changes) in the currency exchange market.

The nice thing about the FOREX market, is that regular daily fluctuations, say - around 1%, are multiplied by 100! (in general, Easy-Forex™ offers trading ratios from 1:50 to 1:200). If, for example, the exchange rate of "your" pair of currencies increased by 0.6% in the last 4 hours, your profit will be 60% on your investment! Such can happen in one business day, or in a few hours, even minutes.

Moreover, you cannot lose more than your "margin"! You may profit unlimited amounts, but you never lose more than what you initially risked and invested.

You can implement your choice (the pair of currencies, the volume amount) under any direction to which the market is moving, and yet make profit. It does not matter whether the exchange rate is going up or down: you can always decide to buy Euro and sell dollar, or vice versa - buy dollar and sell Euro. You don't have to physically possess certain currencies in order to perform "buy" or "sell" with them.

How do I start?

Register (Easy-Forex™ offers the simplest and quickest registration process, no obligation); deposit your first trading "margin" amount (credit cards are welcome, only by Easy-Forex™); start trading .

It can't be simpler or easier than that. Need help? We'll provide you with 1-on-1 training and service, as much as necessary ( Easy-Forex offers real people service, live, in your own language).

How do I trade Forex?

You select the pair of currencies with which you wish to make a Forex deal. You determine the volume (the amount of the deal). You deposit the "margin" (collateral needed to facilitate the deal. Usually - only a very small portion of the whole deal, say: 1% or 1:100).

Before you finally activate the deal, you can still "freeze" it for a few seconds. That enables you to either change the terms, or accept it as is, or altogether regret the whole idea. The "freeze" feature is a unique service by Easy-Forex .

When your Forex deal is running (you hold an "open position"), you can monitor its status and check scenarios online, whenever you wish. You may change some terms in the deal, or close it (and cash the profit, if any, or minimize the loss, if any). Moreover, Easy-Forex™ lets you determine a "take-profit" rate, with which the deal will close automatically for you, when and if such rate occurs in the market. Meaning: you do not have to stay near your computer when you hold open positions.

Want to know more? Want to get on-line training? Register here (simple, quick, no obligation), we'll be glad to guide you, every step of the way.

Good luck!

Forex trading involves substantial risk of loss, and may not be suitable for everyone.

FOREX Fundamentals this is from the Financial Web which is another excellent resource

The use of Technical Analysis in the FOREX market is much the same as in other trading markets: price is believed to already reflect all news which would have had an effect on the currency's value. But since countries don't normally have balance sheets, how can Fundamental Analysis be conducted on a nation's currency? Since this type of analysis involves looking at the intrinsic value of an investment, its application in the FOREX market will entail the study of the economic conditions that influence the valuation of the country's money. Here are some of the major fundamental factors that play a role in the price movement of a currency.

Economic indicators are reports that are released by the government or a private organization which detail the country's economic performance. These reports are the means by which a nation's economic health is measured. (It must be kept in mind, however, that a great many factors will influence a country's economic performance.) These reports are released at scheduled times, thereby providing a readable marker of whether a nation's economy has improved or declined. Some of the reports, such as unemployment numbers, are well-publicized. Others, like housing statistics, receive very little media coverage. However, each indicator serves a particular purpose, and can be very useful. Four major indicators are listed below:

• The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is considered to be the broadest measure of a country's economy, and it represents the total market value of all goods and services produced by that country in a given year. Since the GDP figure itself is a lagging indicator, most investors focus on the two reports that are issued in the months before the final GDP is released: the advance report and the preliminary report . Significant revisions from one report to the next can often cause considerable market volatility.
• The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the change in the prices of consumer goods across 200 different categories. This report, when compared to a nation's exports, can be used to determine whether a country is making or losing money on its products and services. The exports must be carefully monitored as well, however, because their prices often change relative to a currency's strength or weakness.
• A country's Retail Sales report measures the total receipts of all retail stores. This report is particularly useful because it's an indicator of broad consumer spending patterns, and is adjusted for seasonal variations. It can be used to predict the performance of more important lagging indicators. It's also valuable in assessing the immediate direction of a country's economy. Revisions to advance reports of retail sales can cause significant volatility.
• The Industrial Production report shows the change in the production of factories, mines and utilities within a nation. It also reports their 'capacity utilizations', which are the degrees to which the capacities of the factories are being utilized. Traders using this indicator are usually concerned with a nation's utility production.

There are many other important economic indicators, and still more private reports that can be extremely useful in evaluating FOREX fundamentals. It's important to not only look at the numbers, but to also take the time to know and understand what they mean and how they affect a nation's economy. When properly used, these indicators can be a valuable resource for the FOREX investor.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has published some of the best PDF docoments I have found to educate oneself in the ways of the foreign exchange market. Here are some links you can take to get an education in FOREX TRADING.

All About...The Foreign Exchange Market in the United States found on the left menue