Understanding The Basics - Currency Trading For Beginners

By Frank Miller


There is a lot to learn when you decide to start currency trading. The currency trading market is called the Foreign Exchange Market, the Currency Market, or most commonly, the Forex. This is one of the largest markets in the world. It is traded on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The market is, for the most part high risk, and the more a person knows about Forex, the more successful they will be in trades. This short article cannot begin to give you all of the information you need to begin trading. Even currency trading for newbies will require time and study to accomplish.

So what does this have to do with trading? There are literally hundreds of different e-currencies. Each is backed by an underlying Currency or a precious metal. The need arises to exchange between these e-currencies or converts an e-currency to hard cash. Much like the Euro is to the European Union. We can profit from the exchanging process and profit from the fluctuation of the underlying currency value. The same basic strategies apply to e-currency trading as with futures trading. Supply and demand dictates price primarily. You could buy e-currency that has historically performed well (buying the trend) or go the opposite way and buy those that are under-performing, looking for a turn-around. You can even chart them if you like.

Traders try to predict fluctuations in the exchange rate and bet on the pairs that will give them the largest gains on their bet. When one country's currency is being traded against another country's currency, it is call a "pair". All of the major pairs that are traded involve the US dollar. When a currency pair is being traded that does not involve the US, it is called a "cross currency pair." An example of a cross currency pair would be EUR/JPY (Euro/Japanese Yen). The most actively traded cross currency pairs are the EUR, JPY, and the GBP (sterling pound or British currency).

There are a couple of important things to know about how the pairs are shown. First, the stronger currency is traditionally listed on the left. So, when you see EUR/USD, you know that the Euro is stronger than the US dollar. This stronger currency, the one on the left, is called the "base currency." The base currency is what you buy or sell. So, if you buy 10000 EUR you are automatically selling 10000 USD.

Forex is fast and highly volatile. In a short period, with only a small investment, you can get bigger returns in a short time. One more great advantage of currency trading is that it is not based upon the commission. So you get to keep the whole benefit for your investments.

E-Currency Trading is different in that the experts recommend starting with a few hundred dollars and let the system build your account. Whatever route you choose, only trade with risk capital. E-Currency Trading certainly has advantages over traditional futures trading and may well be worth your serious consideration.




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