Forex Market Strategies

Forex Trading Bar Charts

2008-04-28T16:54:00.000-07:00

Forex Trading Bar Charts

A Forex bar chart is one way you can display the Forex trading market prices, which you can use for technical analysis.

A bar chart is made up of:

The high - The highest price of the session, appears as the upper point of the bar.
The low - The lowest price of the session, appears as the lowest point of the bar.
The close - The closing price for the session, appears as a horizontal line to the right of the bar.
The open - The open price for the session, appears as a horizontal line to the right of the bar.

Forex trading Bar charts are the most popular type of Forex charts, and the popularity is because they are easily built and read. A Forex bar chart can detail currency activity of an intra day, daily, weekly or monthly time frame, and this is the reason why with the use of bar charts, forex trading is made easy.

With Forex bar charts the task of spotting patterns and trends become quite easy. Data on bar charts is represented individually, where each price field is a single bar.

Analyzing Bar Charts

When you view a Forex bar chart you can derive the following detail:

The tallest bar
The shortest bar
Bars growing or shrinking over time
The ratio between one bar and the adjacent one

There are several useful Forex trading Bar chart indicators that can be used in a bar chart:

Mean - The average height of all bars
Maximum - The tallest bar of the session
Minimum - The shortest bar of the session
Sample size - The number of Bars in a session
Standard deviation - The width of the bar spread

Online bar charts can curve the path for your understanding of what is the Forex trading market, so take you're time and read all that we offer in this website.

Forex Employment Indicators

2008-04-28T16:42:00.001-07:00

Forex Employment Indicators

In this page we cover the most important employment indicators for the online Forex market, including the ECI, the household survey and the establishment survey. Employment indicators are important economic indicators, and are used often for fundamental analysis of the online Forex trading market.

The Employment Cost Index (ECI)

The ECI is an important Forex employment indicator, and is published in a quarterly report from the U.S. Department of Labor. It measures the growth of employees' compensation, and this includes the wages and benefits that employees get.

The information in the survey is based on a report that is held at the end of the month every quarter. The information that is tracked by the ECI is the wages movements, the fringe benefits and the bonuses that are given to employees at various levels of the organizations.

The report is used to foresee the online Forex trading currencies price movements. As employees increase the pressure for wage raises, this raises inflation levels, as consumer prices move up in their prices. The inflation is assumed to go up if the ECI increases. This in turn lowers the online Forex currency price.

The ECI is a Forex employment indicator that measures the number of jobs in more than 500 industries that cover 50 states and 255 metropolitan areas.

The Employment Report

This report contains two employment reports inside: the household survey and the establishment survey.

The household survey is an employment indicator concerned with households, and is smaller, covering only 50,000 households.

the establishment is about businesses, is more comprehensive and thus it is preferred by analysts of the online Forex market. It covers 400,000 businesses with 47 million people.

The Establishment Survey

Nonfarm Payrolls - This is a very important employment indicator for the establishment report, and has crucial importance for online Forex trading. it measures how many people are there on payrolls for non-agricultural businesses.

Average Workweek - This measures the average hours worked nonfarm payroll employees, and is a fine judge of the overall strength of the employment report.

Aggregate Hours Worked - This index combines the two previous indexes together.

Average Hourly Earnings - This employment indicator gives us a good idea of the personal income growth during the month, and is especially critical in times of strong economic growth, as an evidence of increasing wage pressures, which can influence the online Forex trading market considerably.

The Household Survey

The Unemployment Rate - This index is calculated through the division of the number of people unemployed by the number of people in the labor force.

There are other employment indicators in the employment report but these are the relevant ones for the online Forex trading market.

Forex Trading Inflation indicators and Interest Rates

2008-04-28T16:34:00.000-07:00

Forex Trading Inflation indicators and Interest Rates

Forex inflation indicators are used very commonly when traders analyze the Forex market. The inflation effects the interest rates, which in turn can effect the currency markets.

In order to fight inflation, interest rates are raised, and thus the country's currency is strengthened in relation to other currencies. In this way, in the short term, If inflation rises, the currency also rises in value.

On the other hand, if interest rates go higher, then investors withdraw from their investment in the country, and the currency weakens. Thus, in the long run. If inflation rises, the currency will eventually drop in value.

As a counter measure of rising inflation indicators, interest rates rise usually after meeting of BOE (Bank of England), FED (US Federal Reserve), ECB (European Central Bank), BOJ (Bank of Japan) and other central banks.

In order to measure inflation traders use different economic indicators.

Economic Indicators that Influence Inflation Indicators

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – This measures the total market value of all goods and services that companies make within the country. This is an indicator of the growth pace of a country, and can tell the trader much about the prospect of inflation indicators.

Producer Price Index (PPI) - This measures price changes in manufacturing. It measures the changes in selling prices for the various manufacturers. The prices of manufacturing are at a close link with inflation indicators, and thus can help predict the online Forex trading direction.

Consumer Price Index (CPI) - This measures the average price that consumer pay for a fixed basket of goods and services. When the inflation indicators point to a rising inflation level, goods' prices also rise, and this can be viewed through the CPI.

These measures have been used throughout forex history to evaluate the market and make hard decisions about investments. They should also be used by you when you make fundamental analysis.

Forex Economic Indicators

2008-04-28T16:27:00.000-07:00

Forex Economic Indicators

The execution of fundamental analysis in the Forex market is done through the use of economic indicators. These are indicators that point to the state of some economical factor in the country whose currency you wish to trade.

Economic indicators are published by various sections of the government and private companies. These statistics are analyzed by market investors to predict the direction of the Forex trading market. Forex economic indicators are published at fixed time intervals, and are followed by any serious online Forex trader.

Because so many people are tuned to use them, Forex economic indicators have a large impact on prices of currencies of the Forex trading market. Most traders do not use fundamental analysis because economic indicators seem difficult. This however is false because following simple guides can help you stay updated with the important Forex economic indicators easily.

Starting to use Forex economic indicators

To get started, you should first keep a log of all the important Forex economic indicators' release dates. Keep a log or make a subscription to one of the economic journals, so you'll know the most important factors of that time. If you are trading in JPY, the Forex economic indicators need to be relevant to the currency type, of course.

Each economic indicator tells you about a different aspect of the economy, and this should be translated in turn into the predicted movement of the currency price. Make sure you understand which aspect the indicator is about. For example, know that the GDP measures the growth of the economy while the PPI measures inflation. Don't worry, with some experience this will come natural.

Different indicators have changing importance, according to the country's currency. Some currencies might have inflation indicators as key economic indicators while others will have employment rates as key indicators. This is also something you should find out and read about at various books and online guides.

There are leading economic indicators, which change before a particular Forex trend is set, and lagging indicators, that change after the economy had begun to follow a certain pattern. Both indicators should be used, depending on the currency's situation.

Major Forex Economic Indicators

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - The sum of goods and services produced by domestic or foreign companies.
Industrial Production - A measure of the production change, industrial capacity and resources of a country's factories, mines and utilities.
Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) - A monthly index of a country's manufacturing conditions, including new orders, supplier delivery times, inventories, prices, employment, export orders, and import orders.
Producer Price Index (PPI) - A measure of price changes in the manufacturing sector.
Consumer Price Index (CPI) - A measure of the average price level paid by urban consumers for a fixed basket of goods and services.
Employment Cost Index (ECI) - A measure of the number of jobs in more than 500 industries in all states and 255 metropolitan areas.

Case studies by fundamental analysis

2008-04-25T06:08:00.000-07:00

How the Oil Price impacts on the currency market

When the price of oil increases the currencies are affected negatively, especially the currencies of countries who need to import oil such as Japan and America.

The influence of geopolitical events
Geopolitical events do not generally move the currency market as much as important economic events do. However, major occurances such as September the 11th do cause extreme moves. It is therefore necessary to always trade with a stop loss to protect your capital against such unexpected, large movements.
Check currency rate now.

Forex Technical Analysis

2008-04-25T05:56:00.000-07:00

Forex Technical Analysis

We can study relative direction of price with analysis of charts and quantitative techniques to attempt to forecast rate trends regardless of their financial prospects. The main instrument for technical analysis is different kind of charts, which represents currencies prices during certain time, as well as technical indicator.
Basically, there are 4 types of charts: line chart, bar chart, point & figure chart and candlestick chart. Technical indicator is the result of mathematical processing of averaged and other characteristic of currencies movement. This involves analyzing past patterns and market trends. The use of charts allows you to know the history of currencies behavior and provides more information than simply looking at present rate. Indicator that added in the charts generate more information, as you can view the price data in alternative manner. Teaching of technical and fundamental analysis is accessible in internet. Types of trend: Up trend (bullish), down trend (bearish), sideway trends (flat), trend classification. Initially people who begin to look at the market in a technical way, but without constructing charts look for psychologically important numbers at which they think the market will look to reverse direction for a period of time.

This is only one of the many approaches used in charting.
Support can be defined as the level from which prices have fallen to, made a dip in the market and then retraced.

The reverse is true of resistance levels where price have risen to, made a peak before retracing back to the downside. The more often retracements happen at or around key levels the stronger the support or resistance level becomes. In psychological terms these levels work because buyers or sellers remember that there was a sharp reaction from the same level last time it was seen. Therefore, at a support level sellers are tempted to take profits, new sellers are reluctant to take positions and buyers are keen to enter the market. It is always noticeable however; that once a major level has been broken buying (breaking a resistance) or selling (breaking a support) will accelerate. If a support level is broken, this will then become a resistance level for any rally, while a broken resistance will become a support level for any pullback.
Support and resistance levels take on an added significance when used in conjunction with momentum or relative strength, the latter two factors giving a good indication whether a particular level will hold or be broken. These will be covered in Universal Mathematical Models.

These are the examples of charts, don’t waste your time to study ALL charts. Since apply few of the charts is more than enough. • Bollinger Bands • Commodity Channel Index • Directional Movement Index • Displaced Moving Average • Envelope • Exp. Moving Average • High/Low Moving Average • Highest High/Lowest Low • Historic Volatility • Least Sq. Linear Regression
For More Indicators Visit Us "ForexGen"

Forex Fundamental Strategies

2008-04-25T05:49:00.000-07:00

Forex Fundamental Strategies
There are two main analyses that you need to consider before trade. Technical and fundamental analysis does much to provide a more educated guess than a simple coin toss but it is important to realize that each of these techniques will have a large failure rate. Thus, learn both of the technique and strike the balance for your investment.

Investors may base their investment decisions on fundamental strategies. Fundamental analysis investigate the intrinsic value of currency not by chart, but events, or news of pair currency. Some of the economic fundamentals that routinely affect foreign currency exchange rates are interest rates, inflation, trade balances, and government spending. There are also such non-economic factors, such as political events, world news, and market rumors that can determine the value of one currency against another. This study is generally more appropriate to the longer time frame.

Examples: (observing economy in US)
Housing Starts Rise – It shows growth in economy and increased credit demand, interest rate drop. Market Impact: Market price of foreign currency/USD : fall.

Gross National Product (GNP) fall - This figure reflects the growth and the economic situation of a country. If GNP falls, this reflects a slowing economy. Interest rate will decline. Market Impact: Market price of foreign currency /USD : rise.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fall- This refers to the sum of goods and services produced in a country, either by domestic or foreign companies. Market Impact: Market price of foreign currency/USD : rise

Consumption spending Rise – Consumption is made possible by personal income and discretionary income. The power of purchasing is used as an important economic indicator. Market Impact: Market price of foreign currency/USD : fall

Government spending Rise – Government expenditures is influencial and holds impact to economy. For instance, expenditure on military play significant role for employment for the whole country. A cut off number of military increase unemployment and it causing rates to drop. Market Impact: Market price of foreign currency/US: rise.

Consumer Price Index (CPI) Rises - Reflects the trend of the average price of consumer goods. This figure is positively related to inflation and if the CPI rises this indicates rising inflation. Market Impact: a. Increase in gold prices. b. Market price of foreign currency/USD : fall.

Unemployment Rises – It is a lagging economic indicator. When economic contraction causes jobs to be cut.This indicates slow economic growth. Fed may ease credit, causing rates to drop. Market Impact: Market price of foreign currency/US: rise.

Fundamental Analysis Versus Technical Analysis

2008-04-25T05:36:00.000-07:00

Fundamental Analysis Versus Technical Analysis in the Forex Trading Market

The main difference between fundamental versus technical analysis of the Forex trading market is that, while fundamental analysis uses economic, political, social and other factors that affect supply and demand of the trading Forex market to foresee price movements, technical analysis uses mathematical and graphical charts of previous market action, in order to analyze the Forex trading market.

The basic difference between Forex fundamental and technical analysis is therefore that:

Forex Fundamental analysis uses various factors that influence supply and demand to predict the currency change.
Technical analysis uses charts of previous currency change to predict the currency change.

Cause and Effect of Market Price - Forex Fundamental analysis looks at causes of currency change. Forex Technical analysis looks at effects. Fundamental analysis causes, such as government policy, can later be seen in the technical analysis charts that constitutes the effects of the certain policy.

Types of Analysts - Fundamental investors would research a currency from top to bottom, looking at interest rates, balance of trade, the gross domestic product, unemployment and other economic factors, in order to see if a certain currency is about to rise or drop in value. Technical investors, on the other hand, would look at the price action of the Forex trading market, and view chart details such as open, high, low, close, volume and open interest for the currency price of a certain time to notice changes in the currency. This is why fundamental analysis is more suited for long term Forex forecasting, while technical analysis foresees short term changes in the Forex trading market.

Combination analysis - The most recommended method of Forex trading is to use both fundamental and technical analysis together. This way, you study fundamental analysis of a currency, and find out what are it's economic factors and what is it's future direction. After this you turn into technical analysis, and study that currencies charts, trying to see the right timing to step in, and buy/sell the certain currency.

After you use both types of analysis you can be sure you are covered both ways, and you can now turn to invest in Forex trading, with the confidence that you know what currency to trade with, and when to trade as well.

Forex Major Currencies

2008-04-20T05:02:00.000-07:00

Major Currencies and Major Participants of the Forex Trading Market

In the Forex trading market, you have several currencies to choose from. Most Forex trading deals are done using the major currencies. These are the seven most frequently traded currencies.

The major currencies include:

USD – United States Dollar
EUR – The European union Euro
JPY – The Japanese Yen
GBP – The UK Pound
CHF – The Swiss Franc
CAD – The Canadian Dollar
AUD – The Australian Dollar
All other currencies other than the major currencies are called minors

Trading these major currencies are banks, companies, investment firms, hedge funds and Forex trading brokers.

Banks do a lot of the trading themselves. These include trades that are done for the bank's clients and ones that are done for the bank itself. Banks can trade huge amounts of major currencies, depending on the size and funding of the bank.

Central bank can influence and change the Forex trading market by increasing interest rates, for example, or manipulating with other economic factors.

Companies are also important contenders in the Forex trading market, trading goods and services between countries and nations. With the some deals made of large companies, the Forex trading market is liable for rapid change and fluctuation. This is why it is important to stay updated with economic factors.

The behavior of companies in the Forex trading market is analyzed through fundamental analysis, so changes can be predicted.

The private investors, trading major currencies from all around the world, consist of only a small portion of Forex traders. Nonetheless, these traders can take an active part in the Forex trading market whenever they want to, and in doing so join other banks and large companies. Using margin Forex trading also allows you to participate in Forex trading of major currencies for larger sums of cash.

2008-04-19T13:42:00.000-07:00

Why Forex Trading

If you want to know why the Forex trading market is superiors to other investor options such as Equities or the futures market, then you can rest assure that you'll find the answer in this page.

The best way to clarify the advantages of the Forex market is through a real example. In 1929, the stock market collapsed, causing many people and businesses from around the world to go broke. This also happened when the high tech bubble burst. The fear of a market crash is a concern that constantly dwells in the minds of investors, both professional and beginner ones.

In the online Forex trading market, There is no way for the market to crash. If you have read about what is the Forex trading market, then you know that when you buy a certain currency, you are at the same time selling another currency. When some currencies' price false, others' price rise.

So this is the most important advantage of Forex day trading. Unlike other markets, where in some cases all traders lose money, with Forex trading there are always traders that make a profit, at any given time.

Here are some other advantages of the Forex trading market:

No commissions. Only in the Forex trading market are there no government fees, brokerage commissions, exchange fees and other unnecessary losses of cash. There are also low transaction costs between the bid and ask price.
No middlemen. In this market there are no investors that take a percentage of the investment or the profit, and you transact directly with the pricing market agent.
You can choose the size of your investment. The Forex trading lot is dynamic, and is set according to your preference. This lot can vary between large lots worth $10,000 to mini lots worth $25.
High liquidity. In the Forex trading market you can buy and sell your currency at any time and place, regardless of the currency position, when the trade itself is done almost instantaneously.
Trading in the margin. Forex trading consists of margin investments that increase your chances for higher profits by increasing your money's worth.
Opened 24 hours a day. Because it's worldwide and operates in several time zones, the Forex trading market is the only market that you can trade in 24 hours a day.
No Hidden Commissions (No Swap)

With all of these wonderful advantages, there is no wonder more and more investors choose Forex trading as there main fund for investment. Because all transactions can be done online, you don't even have to leave your house!

Forex Beginners Friendly Introduction

2008-04-19T13:28:00.000-07:00

Online Forex Trading Introduction

The online Forex market has existed since the early 70's. Only in the past few years though, it has become accessible to millions of people through the development of the internet. Because the Forex market is available 24 hours a day, it's the only market that allows you to trade at your convenient time.

Today, because the economy is much more dynamic than it used to be, and the world has become a global village, economic conditions in various countries are also constantly changing, according to such factors as production rate, inflation and unemployment.

As a result, the rate of a specific currency changes and moves up and down in comparison to other currencies. This is the main reason of the process of rate fluctuations in the online Forex market.

In order to evaluate and predict these Forex market changes a trader can use fundamental analysis or technical analysis as a tool for investment. Where as fundamental analysis is a more broad exploration into the economic factors influencing the online Forex, technical analysis uses charts and other indicators to asses price patterns taht re-occur over time and can help predict the forex market.

Foreign Currency exchange rate

Currency exchange rate is the ratio of one currency valued against another. For example, "EUR/USD exchange rate is 1.2505" means that one euro is traded for 1.2505 dollars. If you've already invested in other markets before, you'll find the Forex trading system quite similar, and the transaction to online Forex trading smooth. An example of a Forex trade: During October 2006 you buy 10,000 BRP when the BRP/USD rate was 0.56. A month later, the exchange rate grew to 0.58. This means a profit of $350 in less than a month time.

Online Forex Trading Profits

Another example of an online Forex trade: If you buy EUR/USD, this means you are buying euros, and simultaneously are selling dollars. Your expectation therefore is that the euro will appreciate (go up) relative to the US dollar.

If you believe that the US economy will weaken and this will hurt the US dollar, you would execute a buy EUR/USD order. By doing so you will buy euros in the expectation that the currency will appreciate against the US dollar. If you believe that the US economy is strong and the euro will weaken against the US dollar you would execute a sell EUR/USD order. By doing so you have sold euros in the expectation that they will depreciate against the US dollar. More information concerning online Forex trading is available at Forex Floor.

Trading Forex Currency Pairs

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Understanding and Trading Forex Currency Pairs

Any Forex trading transaction is made of the buying of one currency and the simultaneous selling of another currency.
The two Forex trading currencies being traded are called the currency pair.
A currency quote is made of these two pairs of Forex trading currencies, situated together and divided by a line (for example, EUR/USD).

There are various Forex currency pairs to choose from. These are divided into major and minor currencies. Major currencies are the seven most frequently traded currencies, which include the USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, CHF, CAD and AUD.
All other currencies are called minor currencies, and include the NZD (the new Zealand dollar) and the ZAR (the south African rand).

Cross currencies are types of Forex trading currency pairs that both do not consist of the USD. For example, the pair CHF/JPY, worth 84.50. This means that one Swiss franc is equal to 84.50 Japanese yen. Sometimes not all of the currencies are available for you to buy and sell, so you should check this factor out when choosing an online Forex trading site.

The first currency in a pair is called the base currency. In most Forex trading options this is the USD. The main exceptions for this are the EUR, GBP and the AUD currencies, which appear before the USD in a quote. The base currency will also appear before the quote currency when you use technical analysis with charts of different sorts.

The second currency in a pair is called the quote currency. This currency shows your profits and loses for the Forex trading transaction.

Following are example of major currency pairs:

EUR/USD – Here the base currency is the EUR, and the quote is the USD.
USD/JPY
GBP/USD
USD/CHF
EUR/CHF – This is an example of a cross currency.
AUD/USD
USD/CAD
NZD/USD
EUR/GBP
EUR/JPY
BP/JPY
CHF/JPY
GBP/CHF
EUR/AUD

Which currencies are traded?

The most popular currencies are:

EUR — Euro
USD — United States Dollar
CAD — Canadian Dollar
GBP — British Pound
JPY — Japanese Yen
AUD — Australian Dollar
CHF — Swiss Franc
NZD — New Zealand Dollar