Today I am going to share with you two magazines that offer a wealth of articles and are delivered to you via email free every month. I have been a subscriber to these magazines since late 2005 and they have proved to be interesting reading.

The first of the magazines is Currency Trader. The Currency Trader magazine is delivered monthly after you subscribe (By providing your email address). The areas currency trader covers include:

• Analysis and news
• Trading strategies
• Systems and more

Articles in November 2007 currency trader include:

• Japan: Politics, carry trades and the yen
• Japanese Inflation and the yen
• Trading FX pattern breakouts
• Triennial BIS Forex survey

One of the extremely helpful features of the Currency Trader magazine is the global economic calendar and the trading events and conference section usually located at the rear of the magazine. Read the full story

Popularity: 16% [?]

Leverage, Equity and Margin are three concepts which the understanding of is crucial. Leverage is one of the factors that makes Forex trading so attractive and also makes trading of Forex fraught with danger. In most other financial markets you cannot lose more then your initial deposit, however in Forex dependent on your broker you can lose much more then your initial deposit. The Forex market is often referred to as the “Wild West” of the finance industry as there are little regulations and so many rouge operators.

Leverage
Leverage can be defined in many different ways however we are only interested in the financial definition of leverage. In simple terms leverage in the Forex market allows you to buy a standard lot without requiring you to have $100, 000 of the base currency. You are only required to have a predefined percentage of the full amount in your trading account. The most eloquent definition I have come across is that by the National Futures Association: Read the full story

Popularity: 8% [?]

In the Forex market as with other markets there are things that you can control and things that you cannnot. The Forex market provides the opportunity to choose what currency you wish to trade in. It enables you to choose

• to buy or sell a given currency
• the amount or volume of a given currency you wish to trade
• to make a decision when to trade.

These are all key variables that you have control of and need to be considered before trading.

Today we will look at when you can actually trade in the Forex market as it is very different to futures and equity markets. The Forex market is an open 24 hours a day 5.5 days of the week. However as I live in Australia there is no real volume on Saturdays and there are no open markets on Sundays. The reason the Forex market is a 24 hour market is that as soon as trading ceases in one geographical location it has generally already begun in another. Therefore if markets in your region are closed usually you can trade somewhere else.

The Forex market opens in New Zealand followed shortly after by Australia then Asia, Europe and America. It is very important to be aware of the times major trading countries are open. Thankfully there is an excellent tool I use and highly recommend, It is called ZoneTick. This program allows you to have multiple clocks in the taskbar or any other area on the screen for that matter. Read the full story

Popularity: 19% [?]

In the Forex market as with any market there are many terms you have to be familiar with, some of these are unique to the Forex market. As already discussed in The Forex market, Exchange Rate & Bid Ask Spreads. An exchange rate is quoted:

Once again we should think back to what a Foreign Currency or Forex transaction actually is, it is the simultaneous buying of one currency and selling of another currency. In the above example when we place a BUY order we are buying Australian dollars and selling US dollars. Conversely if we place a SELL order we are selling Australian dollars and buying US dollars.

The next term you will hear is Spot Market. This term is not unique to the Forex market. In general any financial market that deals with an instrument based on current price is usually termed a spot market. Nearly all retail Forex brokers deal in the spot market.

The Long and Short of it Read the full story

Popularity: 11% [?]

This is Part Three and final part of MetaTrader basics if you have not already done so I recommend you read Part One first and then Part Two.

Placing an order in MetaTrader is very simple. You simply need to double click (in the market watch window) on the symbol of the security you wish to buy and the order window will be displayed. Or if you have a chart open for the security you wish to buy you can simply press F9 or go to menu Tools -> “New Order”. The order window will pop-up as shown below.

Read the full story

Popularity: 8% [?]

This is Part Two of MetaTrader basics if you have not already done so I recommend you read Part One first.

The first thing that we will look at in MetaTrader is charting. I have found that MetaTrader is one of the best free program for this purpose and it has a fairly large user base amongst the FOREX community.

Opening a Chart
In MetaTrader there are two ways to open a chart. The first is by left clicking on the new chart icon in the toolbar and selecting the chart you wish. Secondly you can right click a symbol in the market watch window and then select “Chart Window”. This is outlined below:

Read the full story

Popularity: 14% [?]