November 3, 2008
Insider’s Guide to Forex Trading
This is the first in a series of insights into trading the forex markets successfully. We have ten keys to trading success that all new forex traders and certainly many experienced forex traders need to learn and need to know. We’ll start with the top three with the rest detailed in the rest of this series.
11. Commission Free Trading
This was the initial sales pitch most brokers used and many still do. “You’ll trade for free – no commissions!” Well, any of us who trade actively know commissions add up to some ungodly amounts – many times you look at your annual statements if you trade actively and it’s not uncommon that your broker makes more, maybe much more, than you do in your trading profits. Forex trading is not commission free. Sure, there is usually not an “add-on” commission. However, they force you to pay a spread on every trade. You have to always buy at the ask and always sell at the bid. This is not the case in stocks, or futures or really any other market.
This forced spread on every trade is a commission. That’s what it is. Despite what the broker might claim. And that forced spread is not cheap. 3 pips is $30 on a just one full sized pair. Try $50 on a 5 pip spread you still see as commonplace.
Now, compare that to your average futures or stock trade. Which is more? Forex usually by far.
Now, let’s not leave it at that. Remember, you get some amazing leverage opportunities with Forex so the actual commission compared to the dollar volume you are able to trade is actually reasonable in some cases – assuming you trade at the right places and follow the right strategies. We’ll cover that below.
12. 100:1 Leverage…No, Wait! How about 200:1….or 400:1?
You’re going to be rich! With that kind of leverage you make just a few pips per days and you’ll spend as much time with your banker as you do with your significant other, right? You look at the end of month totals from your strategy, run it through your state of the art Leverage Calculator and instantly you are making 100%, 300% or 500% per month. Do that a few months, a bit of compounding and you’ll be buying that private island after all.
This is another one of those broker come-ons. It just doesn’t work this way. Yes, you can get this leverage. The brokers are going to allow it so I’m not saying it isn’t as advertised. However, you are guaranteed to wipe out using it. Guaranteed. There simply is no way you can trade at these leverage levels and make it. Not unless you are some trading genius who can take a trade and never lose. If you are – please contact me at once!
For the rest of us, you are going to lose. You are going to lose more than once. You are going to have some losing streaks. It’s the nature of trading. It’s not a big deal, especially if you can win more than you lose, and if your average win is greater than your average loss. You do that and who cares about some losses. Don’t get hung up on it.
However, you will care very much if you over-leverage. Do not over-leverage! This is the single, greatest mistake most new Forex traders make. Your state of the art trading calculator spits out numbers that are too great to pass up and you let greed get in the way of logic.
Think about it this way. 200:1 leverage.
You have a trade where you are targeting 25 pips and risking 25 pips. As you’ll learn below, that trade actually has to go 28 pips or more to hit your target of 25 pips and you’ll actually be risking 28 pips or more – but for this example we won’t get hung up on that. We’ll solve that later.
You have a $5,000 account and trade it with 200:1 leverage. That means you can trade 1,000,000 worth of currency (you can see why we said spreads above are a significant cost but with leverage can end up being a small percentage of cost) – and that means 10 full sized pairs.
Oh, and you lose on this trade. Let’s do the math. 10 pairs x 25 pips = 250 pip loss. Make that with spread 10 pairs x 28 pips = 280 pips loss x $10/pip = $2800 loss.
Oops. You’ve just lost over 50% of your account. Don’t even think about what would have happened if you were risking more – and these days on the Forex, good luck risking much less.
If you lose twice in a row – which happens all the time - you’ve just wiped out. Sure, if you win you make a great return, but you are completely counting on virtually never losing. Even if you get a few wins immediately, you’ll eventually wipe out.
It’s what happens to the new gambler in Las Vegas. They try a few hands, they win, they get sucked in, and then before they know it they are at their ATM machine looking for their mortgage money to try and get back that winning feeling.
You’ll have success trading with huge leverage. Some of the time. It will be great and you’ll brag to your friends how you made 50% that afternoon. Then, a few days later you’ll be asking them to pick up the lunch tab.
Do not use crazy leverage. Do not use crazy leverage. Do not use…ok, you get the idea.
Decide on a fixed percentage you are going to risk on your account on any one trade. 5%? 10%? And calculate that amount to determine what size you can trade based upon the risk per trade. It will still be great leverage – Forex provides that. What’s wrong with 5:1 leverage or 10:1 leverage? It blows away the stock market but it’s not going to wipe you out in a couple of trades.
13. Spreads
Find a broker that does not charge high spreads. Sure, you need a broker who provides a stable platform, which provides good customer service, which is regulated (important!), that has account insurance/guarantees, and so on. But realize these brokers make money many different ways. They make spread money, they make money by laying off orders on other banks, they make money on stop running. Did I say that? Guess it’s too late to take it back.
There is simply no reason to pay more than 3 pips on the EURUSD. And really, you should be paying 2 pips. On the GBPUSD and USDCHF why are you paying 5 pips? Sorry, it’s not going to a charitable cause – your broker’s bank account isn’t a non-profit. Those spreads are crazy. You should pay 3, maybe 4 at most on the other majors.
There are new trading platforms coming out in recent months, some based upon the “Currenex” platform that basically takes your orders direct to the “real” trading market and your broker only takes a small commission on the trade, closer to the model we see in stocks and futures. Or they are mimicking the Currenex platform and developing on that works similar. Look for this; it is important to have liquidity and low costs.
And forget about all the “exotics” – avoid trading anything that is not amongst the main pairs – EURUSD, USDCHF, GBPUSD, USDCAD, AUDUSD, USDJPY, EURJPY and maybe EURGBP. And stay away unless spread is 2 or 3 pips, maybe 4. That’s already more than enough to trade so why do you need to trade the GBPCHF for 15 pips spread? Unless you really like to make car payments and pay for rounds of golf for your broker. If you do see a compelling reason to trade, for example, the GBPJPY - and there are some great moves there - just be sure you are building the spread costs into your trading outcomes – you might need it to go 7 to 10 pips just to get break-even, let alone to start making a profit.
The rest of this important top 10 with critical insight into ensuring your forex trading success can be found here: http://www.netpicks.com/BetterTrading.html
By: mark
About the Author:
11. Commission Free Trading
This was the initial sales pitch most brokers used and many still do. “You’ll trade for free – no commissions!” Well, any of us who trade actively know commissions add up to some ungodly amounts – many times you look at your annual statements if you trade actively and it’s not uncommon that your broker makes more, maybe much more, than you do in your trading profits. Forex trading is not commission free. Sure, there is usually not an “add-on” commission. However, they force you to pay a spread on every trade. You have to always buy at the ask and always sell at the bid. This is not the case in stocks, or futures or really any other market.
This forced spread on every trade is a commission. That’s what it is. Despite what the broker might claim. And that forced spread is not cheap. 3 pips is $30 on a just one full sized pair. Try $50 on a 5 pip spread you still see as commonplace.
Now, compare that to your average futures or stock trade. Which is more? Forex usually by far.
Now, let’s not leave it at that. Remember, you get some amazing leverage opportunities with Forex so the actual commission compared to the dollar volume you are able to trade is actually reasonable in some cases – assuming you trade at the right places and follow the right strategies. We’ll cover that below.
12. 100:1 Leverage…No, Wait! How about 200:1….or 400:1?
You’re going to be rich! With that kind of leverage you make just a few pips per days and you’ll spend as much time with your banker as you do with your significant other, right? You look at the end of month totals from your strategy, run it through your state of the art Leverage Calculator and instantly you are making 100%, 300% or 500% per month. Do that a few months, a bit of compounding and you’ll be buying that private island after all.
This is another one of those broker come-ons. It just doesn’t work this way. Yes, you can get this leverage. The brokers are going to allow it so I’m not saying it isn’t as advertised. However, you are guaranteed to wipe out using it. Guaranteed. There simply is no way you can trade at these leverage levels and make it. Not unless you are some trading genius who can take a trade and never lose. If you are – please contact me at once!
For the rest of us, you are going to lose. You are going to lose more than once. You are going to have some losing streaks. It’s the nature of trading. It’s not a big deal, especially if you can win more than you lose, and if your average win is greater than your average loss. You do that and who cares about some losses. Don’t get hung up on it.
However, you will care very much if you over-leverage. Do not over-leverage! This is the single, greatest mistake most new Forex traders make. Your state of the art trading calculator spits out numbers that are too great to pass up and you let greed get in the way of logic.
Think about it this way. 200:1 leverage.
You have a trade where you are targeting 25 pips and risking 25 pips. As you’ll learn below, that trade actually has to go 28 pips or more to hit your target of 25 pips and you’ll actually be risking 28 pips or more – but for this example we won’t get hung up on that. We’ll solve that later.
You have a $5,000 account and trade it with 200:1 leverage. That means you can trade 1,000,000 worth of currency (you can see why we said spreads above are a significant cost but with leverage can end up being a small percentage of cost) – and that means 10 full sized pairs.
Oh, and you lose on this trade. Let’s do the math. 10 pairs x 25 pips = 250 pip loss. Make that with spread 10 pairs x 28 pips = 280 pips loss x $10/pip = $2800 loss.
Oops. You’ve just lost over 50% of your account. Don’t even think about what would have happened if you were risking more – and these days on the Forex, good luck risking much less.
If you lose twice in a row – which happens all the time - you’ve just wiped out. Sure, if you win you make a great return, but you are completely counting on virtually never losing. Even if you get a few wins immediately, you’ll eventually wipe out.
It’s what happens to the new gambler in Las Vegas. They try a few hands, they win, they get sucked in, and then before they know it they are at their ATM machine looking for their mortgage money to try and get back that winning feeling.
You’ll have success trading with huge leverage. Some of the time. It will be great and you’ll brag to your friends how you made 50% that afternoon. Then, a few days later you’ll be asking them to pick up the lunch tab.
Do not use crazy leverage. Do not use crazy leverage. Do not use…ok, you get the idea.
Decide on a fixed percentage you are going to risk on your account on any one trade. 5%? 10%? And calculate that amount to determine what size you can trade based upon the risk per trade. It will still be great leverage – Forex provides that. What’s wrong with 5:1 leverage or 10:1 leverage? It blows away the stock market but it’s not going to wipe you out in a couple of trades.
13. Spreads
Find a broker that does not charge high spreads. Sure, you need a broker who provides a stable platform, which provides good customer service, which is regulated (important!), that has account insurance/guarantees, and so on. But realize these brokers make money many different ways. They make spread money, they make money by laying off orders on other banks, they make money on stop running. Did I say that? Guess it’s too late to take it back.
There is simply no reason to pay more than 3 pips on the EURUSD. And really, you should be paying 2 pips. On the GBPUSD and USDCHF why are you paying 5 pips? Sorry, it’s not going to a charitable cause – your broker’s bank account isn’t a non-profit. Those spreads are crazy. You should pay 3, maybe 4 at most on the other majors.
There are new trading platforms coming out in recent months, some based upon the “Currenex” platform that basically takes your orders direct to the “real” trading market and your broker only takes a small commission on the trade, closer to the model we see in stocks and futures. Or they are mimicking the Currenex platform and developing on that works similar. Look for this; it is important to have liquidity and low costs.
And forget about all the “exotics” – avoid trading anything that is not amongst the main pairs – EURUSD, USDCHF, GBPUSD, USDCAD, AUDUSD, USDJPY, EURJPY and maybe EURGBP. And stay away unless spread is 2 or 3 pips, maybe 4. That’s already more than enough to trade so why do you need to trade the GBPCHF for 15 pips spread? Unless you really like to make car payments and pay for rounds of golf for your broker. If you do see a compelling reason to trade, for example, the GBPJPY - and there are some great moves there - just be sure you are building the spread costs into your trading outcomes – you might need it to go 7 to 10 pips just to get break-even, let alone to start making a profit.
The rest of this important top 10 with critical insight into ensuring your forex trading success can be found here: http://www.netpicks.com/BetterTrading.html
By: mark
About the Author:
Mark Soberman of NetPicks provides additional free trading information, forex and futures signals along with the free “30 Minute Guide to an Optimized Trading Life” e-book at http://www.netpicks.com/BetterTrading.html
Filed under Currency Trading by Administrator
October 18, 2008
Spreads In Forex
What is a spread?
In margin forex trading, there are two prices for each currency pair, a “bid” (or sell) price and an “ask” (or buy) price. The bid price is the rate at which traders can sell to the executing firm, while the ask price is the rate at which traders can buy from the executing firm.
For example, when you see the price quote of EUR/USD is 1.2881/1.2884 as in the above picture, the bid is 1.2881 whereas the ask is 1.2884. That means traders looking to sell must do so at 1.2881, those looking to buy must do so at 1.2884.
The difference between the bid and ask price is the spread, which constitutes the cost of the trade. In fact, all traded instruments - stocks, futures, currencies, bonds, etc. - have spread. If a trader buys at 1.2884 and then sells immediately, there is a 3-point loss incurred. The trader will need to wait for the market to move 3 points in favour of his/her position in order to break even. If the market moves 4 points in your favour, he/she starts to profit.
Many online trading firms like to promote margin forex trading as an almost cost-free instrument - commission free, no service charge, no hidden cost, etc. Traders should know that spread is the cost of trading, and in fact, it also represents the main source of revenue for the market maker, i.e. the forex trading company. The spread may appear to be a minuscule expense, but once you add up the cost of all of the trades, you will find it can eat away quite a portion of your account or your profit. If you check the price tag of a T-shirt before you buy it, do the same thing when you trade forex, look into the spread before you decide to trade. Your trade needs to surmount the spread (the cost) before it profits.
Know your expense: the spread
Spread is the cost to a trader. On the other hand, it is a revenue source of the firm who executes the trade. In the foreign exchange market, the spread can vary a lot depending on the executing firm and the parties involve. Inter-bank foreign exchange can have spread as tight as 1-2 pips, while the bank can widen the spread to 30-40 pips when dealing with individual customers. If you check out the spread of those small exchange shops nearby the tourists’ sights, you may find the spread can go up to 400 to 600 pips.
Thanks to keen market competition, the spread of online forex trading is getting tighter in the past few years. For major online forex companies, their spreads are essentially the same. The table shows the typical spread of four major currencies of online forex trading at the time being:
Pair Spread
EUR/USD 2-3 pips
USD/JPY 3-4 pips
USD/CHF 5 pips
GBP/USD 5 pips
It is important for a trader to find the tightest spread as possible, but anything that is far lower than the typical spread is skeptical. The spread is the main source of revenue of a forex trading firm, if the firm cannot earn enough from the spread, there maybe some other hidden cost in the transaction.
Another point to note is that many market makers often widen the spread when market conditions become more volatile, thus increasing the cost of trading. For instance, if an economic number comes out that is off expectations, thereby creating a flood of buyers or sellers, the market maker may often widen the spread to restore the balance between buyers and sellers. As a result, traders should inquire about the execution practices of their clearing firm; firms with poor execution of orders and a tendency to widen spreads will ultimately result in higher trading costs for the end user.
By: Actionforex.com
About the Author:
In margin forex trading, there are two prices for each currency pair, a “bid” (or sell) price and an “ask” (or buy) price. The bid price is the rate at which traders can sell to the executing firm, while the ask price is the rate at which traders can buy from the executing firm.
For example, when you see the price quote of EUR/USD is 1.2881/1.2884 as in the above picture, the bid is 1.2881 whereas the ask is 1.2884. That means traders looking to sell must do so at 1.2881, those looking to buy must do so at 1.2884.
The difference between the bid and ask price is the spread, which constitutes the cost of the trade. In fact, all traded instruments - stocks, futures, currencies, bonds, etc. - have spread. If a trader buys at 1.2884 and then sells immediately, there is a 3-point loss incurred. The trader will need to wait for the market to move 3 points in favour of his/her position in order to break even. If the market moves 4 points in your favour, he/she starts to profit.
Many online trading firms like to promote margin forex trading as an almost cost-free instrument - commission free, no service charge, no hidden cost, etc. Traders should know that spread is the cost of trading, and in fact, it also represents the main source of revenue for the market maker, i.e. the forex trading company. The spread may appear to be a minuscule expense, but once you add up the cost of all of the trades, you will find it can eat away quite a portion of your account or your profit. If you check the price tag of a T-shirt before you buy it, do the same thing when you trade forex, look into the spread before you decide to trade. Your trade needs to surmount the spread (the cost) before it profits.
Know your expense: the spread
Spread is the cost to a trader. On the other hand, it is a revenue source of the firm who executes the trade. In the foreign exchange market, the spread can vary a lot depending on the executing firm and the parties involve. Inter-bank foreign exchange can have spread as tight as 1-2 pips, while the bank can widen the spread to 30-40 pips when dealing with individual customers. If you check out the spread of those small exchange shops nearby the tourists’ sights, you may find the spread can go up to 400 to 600 pips.
Thanks to keen market competition, the spread of online forex trading is getting tighter in the past few years. For major online forex companies, their spreads are essentially the same. The table shows the typical spread of four major currencies of online forex trading at the time being:
Pair Spread
EUR/USD 2-3 pips
USD/JPY 3-4 pips
USD/CHF 5 pips
GBP/USD 5 pips
It is important for a trader to find the tightest spread as possible, but anything that is far lower than the typical spread is skeptical. The spread is the main source of revenue of a forex trading firm, if the firm cannot earn enough from the spread, there maybe some other hidden cost in the transaction.
Another point to note is that many market makers often widen the spread when market conditions become more volatile, thus increasing the cost of trading. For instance, if an economic number comes out that is off expectations, thereby creating a flood of buyers or sellers, the market maker may often widen the spread to restore the balance between buyers and sellers. As a result, traders should inquire about the execution practices of their clearing firm; firms with poor execution of orders and a tendency to widen spreads will ultimately result in higher trading costs for the end user.
By: Actionforex.com
About the Author:
Action Forex provides forex analysis reports, live pivot points on majors and crosses, etc are provided with collection of carefully selected educational articles and free trading ebooks downloads.
Filed under Currency Trading by Administrator
October 6, 2008
Spread Betting and the Upside of Day Trading
In part 1, Spread Betting and the Downside to Day Trading, we discussed some of the negatives and pitfalls of day trading and spread betting. But what about the positives? What are the benefits for the day traders who like the ease and convenience of spread betting?
Many companies offer “daily rolling products” eg the FinancialSpreads.com FTSE Rolling Daily. Traditional daily spread bets would be closed out at the end of the day. However spread betting companies are always coming up with new products and variations. Daily Rolling Bets are now one of the most popular markets and are replacing the previously popular quarterly futures trades. In short, with daily rolling bets you benefit from the tight spreads and you can automatically roll your bet over to the next day without having to close and re-open the trade.
If you are a buyer there will be a small overnight charge
If you are a seller the spread betting company will even pay you a small overnight fee
If you do decide to trade over short periods of time then you may be better off spread betting than share trading. With equities you have to pay Stamp Duty which is not applicable to spread bets*. With Stamp Duty currently at 0.5% in the UK and 1% in Ireland that soon adds up over a large number of trades
Unlike 5 years ago there is now a lot of competition amongst the spread betting companies and that has led to narrower spreads, particularly on the daily spot markets and daily rolling markets. Many companies offer a 1 or 2 point spread on their daily FTSE 100 markets
Spread betting on daily markets is tax free. Whether you day trade and/or trade quarterly futures spread betting is still tax free*
Day trading can be a negative for those who cannot sit in front of the markets all day but it can benefit those who are free one or more days a week. So you work part-time or perhaps you are retired or work weekends and therefore are free during the week when the markets are open? Of course that may mean you have less funds to trade so you do need to be extra careful. And of course trading still needs effort and discipline not just the time. But if you are motivated and have the time then it can be a useful extra form of tax free income
There is already a large and established market for day trading shares but it is not as easy to gain exposure to markets like Gold and Crude Oil or indices like the Dow Jones, FTSE 100 or Nikkei 255. With companies like World Spreads you can easily and quickly gain exposure to these markets and trade many other Indices, Forex and Commodities markets. Naturally the US and Asian markets have different opening hours and note that the American markets do not all open at the same time, they have a staggered start
There are a number of pros and cons to this form of trading. Quick, tax free profits are always very tempting however make sure you understand the downside of each spread bet before you trade.
Spread betting carries a high level of risk to your funds. You can lose more than you initially invest. It may not suit all investors. Only speculate with funds that you can afford to lose. Ensure you understand the risks and seek independent financial advice if and when necessary.
* Tax law can change and/or may be different if you pay tax in a jurisdiction outside the UK.
By: Daniel Jones
About the Author:
Situated in the centre of London’s financial district the author is a well known commentator for some of the leading financial spread betting companies
Filed under Investing by Administrator