Forex Trading

Buying and Selling Currencies

Trading opportunities in the forex market deserve serious consideration as a diversification strategy for your portfolio.

While online equities and futures trading have enjoyed exponential growth and widespread notoriety over the past few years, online foreign exchange trading
is only now gaining popularity among seasoned active traders, commodity trading advisors (CTAs), and other professional money managers.

Until recently, large international banks dominated the foreign exchange market, only allowing access via telephone trading to a select few such as Fortune 1000 companies, large funds, high-net worth individuals, and so on. But now, the tide has turned and finally there are established online trading firms that provide individual investors with direct access to the largest, most liquid financial market in the world.

In this market you may buy or sell currencies. The objective is to earn a profit from your position. Placing a trade in the foreign exchange market is simple: the mechanics of a trade are virtually identical to those found in other markets, so the transition for many traders is often seamless.

Here are an example of how forex trading works. Say, a trader purchases 10,000 euros in the beginning of 2004 at the EUR/USD rate was .9600. In May of 2006 the trader exchanges his 10,000 euro back into US dollar at the market rate of 1.1800. In this example, the trader earned a gross profit of $2,200.

Currencies are quoted in pairs, such as EUR/USD or USD/JPY. The first listed currency is known as the base currency, while the second is called the counter or quote currency. The base currency is the ‘basis’ for the buy or the sell. For example, if you BUY EUR/USD you have bought euros (simultaneously sold dollars). You would do so in expectation that the euro will appreciate (go up) relative to the US dollar.

EUR/USD

In this example euro is the base currency and thus the ‘basis’ for the buy/sell. If you believe that the US economy will continue to weaken and this will hurt the US dollar, you would execute a BUY EUR/USD order. By doing so you have bought euros in the expectation that they will appreciate versus 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 versus the US dollar.

GBP/USD

In this example the GBP is the base currency and thus the ‘basis’ for the buy/sell. By doing so you have bought pounds in the expectation that they will appreciate versus the US dollar. If you believe the British are going to adopt the euro and this will weaken pounds as they devalue their currency in anticipation of the merge, you would execute a SELL GBP/USD order. By doing so you have sold pounds in the expectation that they will depreciate against the US dollar.

USD/JPY

In this example the US dollar is the base currency and thus the ‘basis’ for the buy/sell. If you think that the Japanese government is going to weaken the yen in order to help its export industry, you would execute a BUY USD/JPY order. By doing so you have bought U.S dollars in the expectation that they will appreciate versus the Japanese yen. If you believe that Japanese investors are pulling money out of U.S. financial markets and repatriating funds back to Japan, and this will hurt the US dollar, you would execute a SELL USD/JPY order. By doing so you have sold U.S dollars in the expectation that they will depreciate against the Japanese yen.

USD/CHF

In this example the CHF is the base currency and thus the ‘basis’ for the buy/sell. If you think the Swiss franc is overvalued, you would execute a BUY USD/CHF order. By doing so you have bought US dollars in the expectation that they will appreciate versus the Swiss Franc. If you believe that due to instability in the Middle East and in U.S. financial markets the dollar will continue to weaken, you would execute a SELL USD/CHF order. By doing so you have sold US dollars in the expectation that they will depreciate against the Swiss franc.

Buying and Selling Currencies / Martin Chandra

Martin Chandra is a full-time investor. Learn more at here.

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Financial Planning – Send Your Kids To College

The idea of financing kids’ college education through long term financial planning
is not new. For the past decades, parents have made the efforts to save and invest for the security of their kids’ future. The government participates and creates several laws to support easier financial planning for parent. And up to now, the government has been improving the system of education and polishing the laws to better give the kids the right and secured education they deserve.

The result of years of improving the financial planning system is the creation of several options to effectively build up the necessary funds to send kids to college.

Here are some options for the financial plan to send your kids to college and keep up with the increasingly growing tuition fees in these educational institutes.

Prepaid-tuition plans.

Perhaps, one of the more popular long term financial planning options is the prepaid-tuition plans. It works like college-savings plans. It works by allowing you to save for college education in a tax-deferred investment. Prepaid-tuition plans are based on the present cost of college education and not the projected cost of college tuition in the time when your kids are due to college. So whether the tuition fee cost is doubled or tripled by the time your kids reach college, you will still pay the present cost of college education. Prepaid-tuition plan is for parents who want to take the game of stocks and bonds. Therefore, prepaid-college plans can be a less risky investment to make.

Another good thing about prepaid-tuition plans is that they are considered at parent’s assets rather than the kids’ money.

But in every financial investment there are expected drawbacks. Most prepaid-tuition plans do not cover other educational expenses such as dorm, lodging, and everyday expenditures. Prepaid-tuition plans also have the possibility of shutting down even before your kids get into college. This will result in loosing the money you have invested for a very long time.

Prepaid-tuition plans are currently available in 18 states (Illinois, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Virginia, Nevada, Colorado, Maryland, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Massachusetts, South Carolina, West Virginia, and Washington). Meanwhile, the state of Alaska offers the prepaid-tuition plans as college savings plan option.

3.Individual Corporate Bonds or Stocks

A bond is a guarantee that you will be repaid with any amount you have invested on a company in face value, plus the fixed interest rate at a particular set date. Stock is a representation of a part ownership of a company. Making money on stocks is a long term process and quite risky. The market value of the stock may increase or decrease over time. Even from big and stable companies, stock fluctuations can be very unpredictable but if you end with on the winning side, investing on stocks is very rewarding. If you are a type of parent who does not take risks, this is not the type of investment you should be thinking of.

Financial Planning – Send Your Kids To College / Simon Oldmann

Financial plans and decisions are the things that will determine your future situation. Learn about making solid financial decisions and Financial Planning Basics for a stronger financial future at http://financialiq.zupatips.com

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Forex Basic: Two Period Reversal Pattern

The two period reversal is originally taken from the 2-day reversal pattern and as the name implies this particular pattern consists of two periods. I use two periods and I apply this pattern to all securities and time frames. A period could be 1 minute or 1 month depending on the time frame you are looking at. I like to see this pattern after a strong move up or down. It does not work in periods of consolidation.

For the two period reversal down, the first period should be at the end of a strong move up. The close should be near the high and it is preferable that this high should be a new recent high. The second period should open near where the first period closed and should lose most if not all of the first periods gains and close near the low of the first period.

This is the set up and you are now ready for the trade. Once the second period has closed you can enter short the market with a stop loss order just above the first or second periods high depending on which is higher. If the trade is to work is should not retrace back above the high of the two periods.

For the two period reversals up, the first period should be at the end of a strong down move. The close should be near the low of that period and it is preferable that this low is a new recent low. The second period should open near the close of the first period and should regain most if not all of the first periods losses and close near the high of the first period.

Once set up you can now enter the market long with a stop loss order below the low of the lowest low of the two periods. With both the up and down reversal there may be some retracement before the trade takes off but it should not pass below the low of the two periods or the high of the two periods depending on which direction you are trading.

I have found this trade to have a high probability of success, it does not however happen that frequently in the markets I have observed. It does however happen with sufficient frequency to have it on your list of set ups to look out for.

Forex Basic: Two Period Reversal Pattern / Martin Chandra

Martin Chandra is a full-time investor. Get limited offers at here.

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