Understanding Spreads | ForexGen
Sep 3, 2008 at 13:12 o\clock
Sep 3, 2008 at 12:03 o\clock
Using Moving Averages | ForexGen
But it is important to look at some key measurements. One of these measures is the moving average. Short-term moving averages help gauge the short-term direction of the market, while longer moving averages take a big picture view.
For example: if a stock breaks the 200-day moving average on its way down, that's generally thought to be bearish, and the longer-term trend could be reversing. The 200-day moving average can also act as support. If a stock comes down, but stops at the major moving average and then starts moving higher from there, it can act as a firm underpinning of support for the stock.
Looking at the 50-day moving average can be quite useful as well. It's more of an intermediate snapshot of the price trend and is more sensitive than the longer-term 200 day. A rising moving average with the price trading above it is bullish, while a descending moving average with the price trading below it is bearish. More short-term signals can be seen with the 10- and 20-day moving averages. Moving average crossovers can also be valuable. When the quicker moving average (50 day for example) is above the slower moving average (200 day), this is thought to be bullish. Likewise, when the shorter term is trading below the longer-term moving average, this is thought to be bearish.
Using a screener can be helpful in finding stocks that meet this criteria. Of course, moving averages alone don't tell the whole story. But a company with solid fundamentals while also trading above these momentum indicators can help you find stocks bucking a downtrend or confirming an uptrend.
The screen that I'm running today looks for stocks trading above their short term (10 and 20 day), intermediate term (50 day) and long-term (200 day) moving averages. I'm also demanding that their current quarter earnings estimates have been raised within the last 4 weeks (or at the very least, not lowered); their average broker rating has been upgraded (or at the very least, not downgraded): and they have a Zacks #2 Rank or Zacks #1 Rank (Buy or Strong Buy).
Sep 2, 2008 at 13:09 o\clock
What types of accounts are available for forex trading?
There are many different types of forex accounts available to the retail forex trader. Demo accounts are offered by forex brokers as a way to introduce traders to their software and execution methods.live account is an account opened by traders with real money deposited in order to start trading for real profitMini accounts, and full accounts are the most common types of funded accounts. Mini accounts are similar to regular trading accounts; however currency is traded in lots of 10,000 rather than 100,000. This allows for lower mandatory initial deposits, and greater customization of risk management.
It is important that the currency trader consider what they want to get out of their account, before deciding on the type to open. Demo accounts, and mini accounts, are great for the retail forex trader to learn a profitable system, and get used to the execution methods of the broker. For the currency speculator that doesn't want to trade by themselves, a managed account would be better.
Sep 1, 2008 at 19:55 o\clock
ECNs vs. Deal Desks | ForexGen
What Every Forex Trader Should Know About ECNs vs. Deal Desks
Many Forex traders are concerned about going to an ECN broker and not trading through a deal desk. In this article I hope to shed some light about how this works and what to look for when selecting a broker to make sure that you don't become a victim of un-just dealing practices.An ECN dealing model allows the many market participants to execute trades with each other through an electronic network. That's what an ECN stands for; electronic communications network.
As you know, Forex is a zero sum game so for every winner there is a loser; for everyone going long there is someone going short. So what an ECN does is match up your order with the order of another market participant. You are probably asking yourself the same question as I asked myself when I first found out about an ECN, will there be a seller every time I am buying and vice versa? The answer is that there are market makers and banks in the ECN that are consistently taking on trades and hedging their risk. They may have their own buy and sell programs that they are trading on. These banks allow clients to get better liquidity and tighter pricing in the ECN. One of the most profound benefits of using an ECN is that you get anonymity, as the other participants do not see who is trading on the other end and cannot flag your account and trade directly against you. Another benefit to consider is that you can make your own market in an ECN; meaning you can place orders in between the bid and the ask price. If you are not willing to trade at a particular price point, you are able to place a bid or offer in between the spread in hopes of the ECN finding a fit counterparty this is not a possibility with a deal desk.
Some Forex dealing firms use a dealing desk approach. With this approach their desk acts as a sole market maker and takes all long and short positions on. The desk has certain risk parameters that have been set up and based on these calculations the aggregate net position of the dealing desk is hedged. So, if the desk itself is net long or short a certain amount of EUR/USD for example, they will take a trade of that amount in the opposite direction with a liquidity provider. If all the clients are net long 1 billion EUR/USD, the desk will go long 1 billion EUR/USD and thus have a hedged position. So for every pip they lose in aggregate to their clients they will win on their hedge. It's obviously not as simple as I just explained it but that's the basic nature of the dealing model. Some of the advantages of going through a deal desk are that you always know your transaction costs as the spreads stay fixed, you know who the counterparty will be every time in case you need to get issues resolved. There are however some disadvantages as well, the dealer will always know who you are, and you cannot go in between the bid and the ask. Although many people are strong proponents of the ECN model which does seem a lot more transparent, the dealing desk approach can work just as well, as long as you are trading at a well capitalized firm with numerous deep liquidity relationships.
Sep 1, 2008 at 07:55 o\clock
What Is Forex?
The foreign exchange market is the "place" where currencies are traded. Currencies are important to most people around the world, whether they realize it or not, because currencies need to be exchanged in order to conduct foreign trade and business. If you are living in the U.S. and want to buy cheese from France, either you or the company that you buy the cheese from has to pay the French for the cheese in euros (EUR). This means that the U.S. importer would have to exchange the equivalent value of U.S. dollars (USD) into euros. The same goes for traveling. A French tourist in Egypt can't pay in euros to see the pyramids because it's not the locally accepted currency. As such, the tourist has to exchange the euros for the local currency, in this case the Egyptian pound, at the current exchange rate.
One unique aspect of this international market is that there is no central marketplace for foreign exchange. Rather, currency trading is conducted electronically over-the-counter (OTC), which means that all transactions occur via computer networks between traders around the world, rather than on one centralized exchange. The market is open 24 hours a day, five and a half days a week, and currencies are traded worldwide in the major financial centers of London, New York, Tokyo, Zurich, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Singapore, Paris and Sydney - across almost every time zone. This means that when the trading day in the U.S. ends, the forex market begins anew in Tokyo and Hong Kong. As such, the forex market can be extremely active any time of the day, with price quotes changing constantly.
