In the next few posts I will go through the basics of the MetaTrader software platform. MetaTrader is a widely used platform in the retail FOREX market. The first thing you will need to do is download the latest copy of MetaTrader
Go to MetaQuotes and download the client terminal. After download is complete install the program.

The first screen you will see after you have installed MetaTrader and run it for the first time is the one below. It is completely your choice if you enter correct details in here or not I usually just fill the fields with random characters.

Do however make sure you change the initial deposit to the required amount you eventually plan on investing. Click through to finish your install and you will be presented with a somewhat busy window shown below: Read the full story

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It is very important to keep up to date with financial news releases. These news releases have a huge impact on the market. I would advise any new trader to make themselves aware of the time of these releases and stay out of the market during these times as they generally have high levels of volatility and the spread can increase dramatically.

A very useful tool that allows you to stay up to date with these key announcements is the Forex Factory Calendar. This Calendar allows you to change your time zone and has all the upcoming events listed for the current day. It lists key features involving the announcements such as:

1. Currency that is affected
2. Expected impact
3. Forecast Level
4. Previous Level
5. Further details

The best thing about this service is that you can subscribe to email alerts. You can filter by currency and event impact, you can also select when you would like to be notified about an upcoming event. As the image below shows:

Alternatively if you wish to get a quick rundown of upcoming events you can click on the news section at the top of this website. All events are listed in GMT time.

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If you’ve had any experience in the foreign currency market or the forex market, I am sure you would have heard of the term pip. If however you are new to the forex market the term pip will probably have you thinking of those little seeds found in fruit. In terms of forex a pip is the smallest increment a currency can move, it is usually the fourth decimal place in a quoted price. If for example, the Australian dollar moves from $0.8342 to $0.8343 we can say the Australian dollar has increased in value by one pip. If the Australian dollar moves from $0.8342 to $0.8242 we can say the Australian dollar has decreased in value by one hundred pips.

Now that we all know what a pip is, what is a pip worth? There is good and bad news here. The good news is the software program you use as a trading platform will usually calculate this for you. The bad news is, I think it is a requirement that you understand how to do this manually. Before we get onto this calculation, we need to know a few things first. In forex, the standard unit size of a transaction is referred to as a lot. In general, there are three lot sizes offered by forex dealers or brokers. Read the full story

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The term Forex is short for Foreign Exchange. The Forex market is most widely traded market in the world. The figure most often cited as the trading volume for the Forex market is $1.9 trillion US dollars daily. If you wish to read more about where this figure came from read Making up the numbers.

One thing that I will note here is that this figure is often quoted on broker’s website and information material however this does not draw a distinction between the retail Forex market and the institutional Forex market.

The Forex market is quite different from other markets you might be familiar with. The Forex market is known as an interbank market or an Over The Counter (OTC) market. There is no centralised exchange were trading takes place like in the securities market.

In the Forex OTC market there are hundreds of entities usually banks offering to buy and sell different currencies at given rates. These banks tend to offer the currencies at very similar prices due to the arbitrage effect. Read the full story

Popularity: 13% [?]

The figure of $1.9 trillion US dollars is often cited as the daily trading volume of the Forex market. What is often not presented is where this actual figure comes from. This figure originates from The Bank for international Settlement (BIS) Triennial Central Bank Survey of Foreign Exchange and Derivatives Market Activity. I know it is a bit of a mouthful. This just means that every three years BIS will carry out a global central bank survey of the Forex and derivatives market. The basic role of the survey is to gauge the size and depth of this Over The Counter market. Read the full story

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Speeches from Ben Bernanke generally have an impact on markets. His speech can be downloaded from the Federal Reserve website.

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