HALAMAN SELANJUTNYA:
Advances in technology over the past decade have propelled colleges and universities into the realm of online education, creating a crowded market for students considering an online degree.
But not all programs are a safe bet.
Online colleges have been criticized for putting profits over students; some have even been the subject of lawsuits claiming misrepresentation or fraud. To avoid scams, students need to be savvy consumers and do their research before signing up for an online degree program, experts say.
How to Start Trading forex (4 steps)
The forex market is the largest in the world, offering many trading opportunities for experts and beginners. In order to boost your chances of making a profit you need to know how to trade forex before delving into the most liquid market in the world. The main principle to understand when you learn forex trading is the same as any investment; buy low, sell high. There is more to it than that though, as our guide to how forex works will explain.
Forex Trading Basics
The first thing to understand when learning the forex trading basics, is that currencies come in pairs. If a trader believes one currency will rise in value (strengthen or appreciate) they will buy that currency while selling the other at the same time.
Take the major EUR/USD pair for example. A trader thinking the USD will strengthen would buy this currency, while simultaneously selling their euros. The USD will then hopefully rise in value before the trader closes their position and sells the USD at a higher value than they first bought, making a decent profit. The trader will make a loss if the USD does not strengthen, though trading in pairs means they can profit no matter which way the exchange price moves if they back the right side.
Open a Trading Account
Now that you understand the forex trading basics, you can take the next steps to making trades. The first step is to open a trading account. This is a simple process which involves entering personal details and depositing funds into your account.
Most platforms will offer a demo account, which is a good idea to use and practise on before putting any of your own finances at risk. When choosing a trading account to open, consider the leverage, commissions and fees that are involved along with the currencies offered, to find the best option for your trading level and aims.
Ways to Trade FX
There are a few different ways to trade forex, yet for each one the main principles picked up when you learn forex trading should all be applied.
- Spot Market: Currencies are bought and sold at their current price.
- Spread Betting: Traders can speculate on currency markets and trade on the price movements whether they rise or fall.
- Contract for Difference: There is no expiry date on speculative positions with CFD trading on the forex market.
- MT4: A popular FX trading platform, MT4 offers flexible lot sizes.
If you feel comfortable in knowing how to trade forex, choose one of these methods and an appropriate platform to begin exchanging currencies for a profit here at Sharp Trader.
Step 1. What is forex?
forex, or Foreign Exchange is an unregulated market, also known as OTC (Over-the-counter) and is the biggest market with average daily turn-over that runs into billions. It is even bigger than the US stock markets. Although due to its OTC nature, no one can really give the correct numbers as to the forex turnover. But nonetheless, forex is indeed a big market and thus allows many market participants. From your neighborhood bank to specialized investment companies, to your friend; the forex markets always offers a piece of the action whoever you are and wherever you are (even from your home).
The basic concept of trading forex is very simple. You trade or speculate against other traders on the direction of a currency.
So, if you believe that the Euro is going to rise, you would BUY the Euro, or SELL the Euro if you think the Euro would fall. It’s as simple as that.
Step 2. Learn forex Basics
How to start trading forex online
Before you get ready to deposit your funds and start trading there are some important points you must understand, each of which are outlined below.
Forex Brokers: In order to start trading forex, you will need to trade with the help of a forex broker. There are many forex brokers out there today who allow you to open a forex trading account for as little as $5. The forex broker is the one who facilitates your buy and sell orders and also allows you to research into the markets (also known as technical or fundamental analysis) to help you make more informed decisions… and of course allows you deposit more funds or withdraw your profits when you want to. ( Click here to see our forex brokers rating )
Trading Platform:You need a trading platform from which you can place your trades, which are then sent to the broker for settlement. Also, a trading platform is essential for you to conduct your technical analysis and also to see the current market prices. Most retail brokers offer the MT4 (short for MetaTrader 4) trading platform, which is free of cost. You can also open a demo trading account and practice trading with virtual money to gain the experience required before trading with real money.
Forex Trading Hours:While you might have heard that the forex markets never sleeps, it actually does. Firstly, you won’t be able to trade on weekends (Saturday and Sundays). But for the rest of the week, the forex market operates 24 hours a day. This is due to the fact that forex trading is global. At any point in time, you will always find an overlap of a new market session while the previous market closes. What time of the day or which market session you trade plays a big role if you are an intra-day trader or a scalper. This is another vast topic, which we will cover at a later stage. ( Click here to learn more about forex trading hours. )
Now that you have a basic overview of the forex markets, here are some final pointers to remember before you start trading for yourself.
What is a pip?:Pip is a measure of change in a currency pair’s value and is the 5th decimal. For example, if EURUSD changes from 1.31428 to 1.31429, the change is denoted as 1Pip (1.31428 – 1.31429 = 0.00001). When you trade, the more pips you make, the more profit you have. Ex: Buying EURUSD at 1.31428 and selling (or closing your trade) at 1.31528 would give you 100Pips in profit. ( Read more about forex PIP )
Reading quotes: forex quotes are presented in a Bid and Ask price (both of which vary by a few pips and from one broker to another). The Bid price is the price at which you can buy and the Ask price is the price as which you can sell. So, a EURUSD quote would look like this 1.31428(Bid)/1.31420(Ask).
What is a Spread?: Spread is nothing but the difference between the Bid and Ask price. So in the above example, for 1.31428/1.31420, the spread would be 8 Pips. ( Read more about forex Spread)
What is a Leverage?: Leverage is the amount by which you can request your broker to magnify (or increase) your trade value. Leverage is often quoted in ratios such as 1:50, which means that when trading on a 1:50 leverage, your $100 is magnified to $50000. Leverage is a big topic in itself and it is recommended to read this article to learn more. Leverage is important both in terms of making profits as well as managing risks and therefore, your trades.
What is a Lot?: A lot is a unit by which you place your trade. In financial terms, a lot is also referred to as a contract. There are preset lots (or contract sizes) that you can trade. For example a standard lot is nothing but 100,000 units (known as 1 lot). ( Read more about Lot)
Reading charts: The ability to understand and read the charts is very essential to trading. Depending on your approach, you can choose between a line, bar or candlestick charts and trade accordingly (for example trading based on candlestick patterns). ( Read more How to read forex charts)
Placing Orders (How to buy and sell): In forex trading, it is possible to either buy or sell any currency pair. Most trading platforms, give you this option. You Buy when you think that price will go up and you sell when you think that price will fall. There is a common terminology used in forex trading, which is Buy Low, Sell High; which is an important point to remember. ( Read more How to place orders with MT4 )
Order Types: Besides buy and sell, another point to remember the types of orders. There are two basic order types: Market orders and pending orders. When you click on ‘Buy’ or ‘Sell’ you are basically buying (or selling) at the current market price. A limit order on the other hand tells the broker that you want to buy or sell only at a particular price. ( Read more about Types of forex orders)
Finally, now that you have selected a forex broker to trade with it is recommended to first open a demo trading or a practice account. Most forex brokers offer unlimited demo trading account (but will be deactivated if not used for 30 days). This is a good way to get acquainted with the forex markets and also help you to understand your trading style (scalper or intra day trading, swing trading, etc) and approach (fundamental or technical analysis). You can search for various trading methods and systems or you can develop one yourself when you have a good understanding of technical or fundamental indicators.
Here you’ll find forex explained in simple terms. If you’re new to forex trading, we’ll take you through the basics of forex pricing and placing your first forex trades.‘forex’ is short for foreign exchange, also known as FX or the currency market. It is the world’s largest form of exchange, trading around $4 trillion every day, and it is open to major institutions and individual investors alike.
Forex Explained
The aim of forex trading is simple. Just like any other form of speculation, you want to buy a currency at one price and sell it at higher price (or sell a currency at one price and buy it at a lower price) in order to make a profit.Some confusion can arise as the price of one currency is always, of course, determined in another currency. For instance, the price of one British pound could be measured as, say, two US dollars, if the exchange rate between GBP and USD is 2 exactly.In forex trading terms this value for the British pound would be represented as a price of 2.0000 for the forex pair GBP/USD. Currencies are grouped into pairs to show the exchange rate between the two currencies; in other words, the price of the first currency in the second currency.Some commonly traded forex pairs (known as ‘major’ pairs) are EUR/USD, USD/JPY and EUR/GBP, but it is also possible to trade many minor currencies (also known as ‘exotics’) such as the Mexican peso (MXN), the Polish zloty (PLN) or the Norwegian krone (NOK). As these currencies are not so frequently traded the market is less liquid and so the trading spread may be wider.
Forex trading spread
Specifically, changes in interest rates from eight of the world's major central banks is what drives the forex market. The great thing about understanding these is the fact you don't have to be an economist or good at math - just a desire to understand how the forex market works and to find high probability trading opportunities is all it takes. So, let's start at the beginning with some interest rate basics...
Understanding forex Interest Rates
Before we get deeper into interest rates, it's important to understand why exactly they are important to forex traders. That reason is because forex trades are made in pairs. You are essentially buying once currency whilst selling another. As an example, if you buy the USDJPY currency pair you would effectively be borrowing Japanese Yen (or selling) to buy US Dollars. Therefore you would be paying interest on what you borrowed (the Japanese Yen interest rate) whilst earning interest on what you are buying (the US Dollar). The rest of this education series details more about this and how to use the carry trade to profit from such a situation so remember to check it out.
EmoticonEmoticon