Hello room, I designed my tab2 to menu page settings, added name to each page. Now I don't know how to add informations to each pages under the menu page.

EFOLK5:
ENUGU LIVE!!
GOOD NEWS!!!
this is to inform all my followers from Enugu and it's environs that I will be live in Enugu on thursday, 21st set. 2017. Take advantage of this opportunity if u can. I'll be there on a personal business trip, but I dedicate that day(21/09/2017) to attend to anybody that is interested for a free 1-on-1 training. Call my line for more details.

Hoping to host u in Kano someday

EFOLK5:
As part of preparetion 4 roll out, we av to test and ensure that all the features r working perfectly. To carry out this test perfectly, login to ur developer account using an Android smartphone(remember we've been working on an Android App, ), go to the App dashboard and click on "INSTALL ON DEVICE" sellect the option to download from playstore, and u'll be redirected to playstore to download the Appsmoment App system control, download the application(ap system control) to ur device. Locate the app in ur phone, open and login with ur developer's credentials. Once ur login is successful, the app will open, and there u'll find "OlamideApp" tap on d App(olamideapp) to launch, from there the App u've been working on will function exactly the ways users will have it wen published. Test all the added features to ensure everything is working as expected. Don't hesitate to go back to the web platform to make any corrections if need be.
NOTE: The monetization of ur App shld start showing sign of result, bcoz the Ads will start coming up once u start testing it. You may choose to try this little experiment. keep flipping through pages of the App back n 4ward, watch the Ads popping up(both banner & interstitial). You can at this point login to ur Amob acct. after some mins to see if you any number of impressions recorded, and shld also be with the total earnings also shown in balance.
The App is now set for release if u're satisfied with every feature. My nxt post will be on steps to publishing.
Stay tuned!

I'm with you all the way. Thanks a lot sir

U are a gift @OP. May God continue to reward u for this selfless gesture.

GloriaNinja:
HE CAN ATTEND JUMAT BUT NOT MEETING? THIS OLD MAN WILL NOT GREE RESIGN!!! WHAT IS HE EVEN STILL DOING AS A PRESIDENT?

attending jumat services

Why we go see truth like dis and some of us still chooses to keep deceiving ourselves. When Jonathan came in I celebrated him until the boko haram killings became unbearable and it was like there is no solution in sight. I also vouched for buhari thinking he was gonna do better. But with d situation of things, IS HE? When we see truth make we talk a beg. We want another person abeg. Nigeria no be Private Company.

ibrahimshola137@gmail.com

Able Nairalanders, who can please help with a step by step guide on how to produce paints. Including the various chemicals needed for the different types of paints e.g emulsion, textcoat, satin etc.Thanks

In this period of economic meltdown especially in our country (Nigeria). We need to step up and refuse to give in to defeat. Successful Forex traders don’t feel the impact of the economy because they earn in US dollars and pound sterling.
As we all know, our currency has no reasonable value anymore against the world’s super currencies like the US Dollars, the Pounds sterling, the Japanese Yen, e.t.c.
Almost every commodity is on a perpetual rise in the country what a pity.
But what can you do to overcome these odds? What if your income is in one of the above mentioned super currencies? What if you earn in US Dollars? Or Pound sterling or the EURO? It makes sense right? Yea it does
Obviously that is the number one way of beating our economy because everyone blames the current economic status to rise in dollars. Even the garri sellers tells you dollar don rise. Makes you wonder if garri is an imported commodity and how on earth is it affected by the rise of Dollars against Naira.
This is why FOREX TRADERS COMFORT ZONE in conjunction with TOPSHOTFX CONSULT presents a one day FREE FOREX TRAINING SEMINAR live in Kano city; on the 14th of May 2016. Venue: no. 68 airport road by sarkin yarki opp. A.A Rano petrol station, Kano. Time: 10AM prompt. For more details, call 08067616216.
Features • What is forex • Minor and major currency pairs • Fundamental & Technical analysis • How to read your MT4 chart • How to place an order, stop loss, and take profit • Simple forex strategy for success.
Come and learn how to make steady income through FOREX TRADING.
TopShotFX Consult.

What is an STP broker?

Some brokers claim that they are true ECN brokers, but in reality, they merely have a Straight Through Processing system.
Forex brokers that have an STP system route the orders of their clients directly to their liquidity providers who have access to the interbank market. NDD STP brokers usually have many liquidity providers, with each provider quoting its own bid and ask price.

Let’s say your NDD STP broker has three different liquidity providers. In their system, they will see three different pairs of bid and ask quotes.

Bid Ask
Liquidity Provider A 1.2998 1.3001
Liquidity Provider B 1.2999 1.3001
Liquidity Provider C 1.3000 1.3002

Their system then sorts these bid and ask quotes from best to worst. In this case, the best price in the bid side is 1.3000 (you want to sell high) and the best price on the ask side is 1.3001 (you want to buy low). The bid/ask is now 1.3000/1.3001.
Will this be the quote that you will see on your platform?

Of course not!

Your broker isn’t running a charity! Your broker didn’t go through all that trouble of sorting through those quotes for free!
To compensate them for their trouble, your broker adds a small, usually fixed, markup. If their policy is to add a 1-pip mark-up, the quote you will see on your platform would be 1.2999/1.3002. You will see a 3-pip spread. The 1-pip spread turns into a 3-pip spread for you.

So when you decide to buy 100,000 units of EUR/USD at 1.3002, your order is sent through your broker and then routed to either Liquidity Provider A or B.

If your order is acknowledged, Liquidity Provider A or B will have a short position of 100,000 units of EUR/USD 1.3001, and you will have a long position of 100,000 units of EUR/USD at 1.3002. Your broker will earn 1 pip in revenue.
This changing bid/ask quote is also the reason why most STP type brokers have variable spreads. If the spreads of their liquidity providers widen, they have no choice but to widen their spreads too. While some STP brokers do offer fixed spreads, most have VARIABLE spreads.

What is an ECN Broker?

True ECN brokers, on the other hand, allow the orders of their clients to interact with the orders of other participants in the ECN.
Participants could be banks, retail traders, hedge funds, and even other brokers. In essence, participants trade against each other by offering their best bid and ask prices.

ECNs also allow their clients to see the “Depth of Market.” Depth of Market displays where the buy and sell orders of other market participants are. Because of the nature ECN, it is very difficult to slap on a fixed mark-up so ECN brokers usually get compensated through a small COMMISSION

Dealing Desk vs. No Dealing Desk Forex Brokers

Which type of broker should I choose? A dealing desk broker? Or a no dealing desk broker?
That’s completely up to you! One type of broker isn’t better than the other because it will all depend on the type of trader you are. It’s up to you to decide whether you’d rather have tighter spreads but pay a commission per trade, versus wider spreads and no commissions.
Usually, day traders and scalpers prefer the tighter spreads because it is easier to take small profits as the market needs less ground to cover to get over transaction costs.
Meanwhile, wider spreads tend to be insignificant to longer term swing or position traders.

Brokers are not evil… Well most of them aren’t!
Contrary to what you may have read elsewhere, forex brokers really aren’t out to get you. They want to do business with you, and not run you out of business! Think about it, if you lose all your money in trading, they too will lose customers.
The ideal client of dealing desk brokers is the one who more or less breaks even. In other words, a client who neither wins nor losses at the end.

That way, the broker earns money on the client’s transactions, but at the same time, the client stays in the game by not blowing out his account. In essence, brokers want their clients to keep coming back for more (trading)!

Crucial Things to Consider When Choosing a Forex Broker

The retail forex market is so competitive that just thinking about having to sift through all the available brokers can give you a major headache.
Choosing which forex broker to trade with can be a very overwhelming task especially if you don’t know what you should be looking for.
In this section, we will discuss the qualities you should look for when picking a broker.

Transaction Cost
No matter what kind of currency trader you are, like it or not, you will always be subject to transaction costs.
Every single time you enter a trade, you will have to pay for either the forex spread or a commission so it is only natural to look for the most affordable and cheapest rates. Sometimes you may need to sacrifice low transaction for a more reliable broker.
Make sure you know if you need tight spreads for your type of trading, and then review your available options. It’s all about finding the correct balance between security and low transaction costs.

Deposit and Withdrawal

Good FX brokers will allow you to deposit funds and withdraw your earnings hassle-free. Brokers really have no reason to make it hard for you to withdraw your profits because the only reason they hold your funds is to facilitate trading.
Your broker only holds your money to make trading easier so there is no reason for you to have a hard time getting the profits you have earned. Your broker should make sure that the withdrawal process is speedy and smooth.

Trading Platform
In online forex trading, most trading activity happens through the brokers’ trading platform. This means that the trading platform of your broker must be user-friendly and stable.
When looking for a broker, always check what its trading platform has to offer.
Does it offer free news feed? How about easy-to-use technical and charting tools? Does it present you with all the information you will need to trade properly?

Execution
It is mandatory that your broker fill you in the best possible price for your orders.
Under normal market conditions (e.g. normal liquidity, no important news releases or surprise events), there really is no reason for your broker to not fill you at, or very close to, the market price you see when you click the “buy” or “sell” button.
For example, assuming you have a stable internet connection, if you click “buy” EUR/USD for 1.3000, you should get filled at that price or within micro-pips of it. The speed at which your orders get filled is very important, especially if you’re a scalper.
A few pips difference in price can make that much harder on you to win that trade.

Customer Service
Brokers aren’t perfect, and therefore you must pick a broker that you could easily contact when problems arise.
The competence of brokers when dealing with account or technical support issues is just as important as their performance on executing trades. Brokers may be kind and helpful during the account opening process, but have terrible “after sales” support.

Here we come to the end of today's lesson. See you in our next lesson.

Like our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/forextraderscomfortzone?ref=bookmarks

Invite your friends. Knowledge is power

History of Retail Forex Trading

Now that you know a little about forex, you’re probably itching to start your trading adventures. But before you set off on your journey, you need one more thing… An actual account with a broker!
Of course, we want you to work with a broker that will provide the right services for your individual needs, so we decided to come up with this section to walk you through the right things to consider when choosing!

But first, we’ll begin by revisiting the pages of history to find out how brokers came to life. Name the best thing that the mighty powers of the Internet have brought us. YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, facebook.com/forextraderscomfortzone/ … Yes, those are all awesome. But what we want talk about is the greatest gift to forex junkies like you and me: Retail FX trading!

In fact, forex junkies probably wouldn’t exist if not for the birth of online forex brokers. You see, back in the 90s, it was much more difficult to participate in the retail FX market because of higher transactions costs. At that time, governments were like strict parents keeping a watchful eye on exchanges, restricting their activities. After time, the CFTC decided that enough is enough. They passed a couple of bills, namely the Commodity Exchange Act and the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, and opened the doors for online forex brokers.

Since almost everyone had access to the worldwide web, opening an account with a forex broker was simple and convenient. Various forex brokers started popping up here and there, eager to take advantage of the booming forex industry. But now that there are many choices out there, it’s a little tougher to distinguish between the good brokers and the evil ones. We’re not kidding about the evil ones, which are also known as bucket shops, and we’ll delve into that a little later.

Forex Broker Types: Dealing Desk and No Dealing Desk

The first step in choosing a broker is finding out what your choices are. You don’t just walk into a restaurant, knowing what to order right away, do you? Not unless you’re a frequent customer there, of course. More often than not, you check out their menu first to see what they have to offer.

There are two main types of brokers: Dealing Desks (DD) and No Dealing Desks (NDD). Dealing Desk brokers are also called Market Makers, while No Dealing Desks can be further subdivided into Straight Through Processing (STP) and Electronic Communication Network + Straight Through Processing (ECN+STP).

What is a Dealing Desk Forex Broker?

Forex brokers that operate through Dealing Desk (DD) brokers make money through spreads and providing liquidity to their clients. Also called “market makers,” Dealing Desk brokers literally create a market for their clients, meaning they often take the other side of a clients trade. While you may think that there is a conflict of interest, there really isn’t. Market makers provide both a sell and buy quote, which means that they are filling both buy and sell orders of their clients; they are indifferent to the decisions of an individual trader.

Since market makers control the prices at which orders are filled, it also follows that there is very little risk for them to set FIXED spreads (you will understand why this is so much better later). Also, clients of dealing desk brokers do not see the real interbank market rates. Don’t be scared though, the competition among brokers is so stiff that the rates offered by Dealing Desks brokers are close, if not the same, to the interbank rates.

Let’s say you place a buy order for EUR/USD for 100,000 units with your Dealing Desk broker. To fill you, your broker will first try to find a matching sell order from its other clients or pass your trades on to its liquidity provider, i.e. a sizable entity that readily buys or sells a financial asset.

By doing this, they minimize risk, as they earn from the spread without taking the opposite side of your trade. However, in the event that there are no matching orders, they will have to take the opposite side of your trade. Take note that different brokers have different risk management policies, so check with your broker regarding this.

What is a No Dealing Desk Broker?
As the name suggests, No Dealing Desk (NDD) brokers do NOT pass their clients’ orders through a Dealing Desk. This means that they do not take the other side of their clients’ trade as they simply link two parties together.

NDDs are like bridge builders: they build a structure over an otherwise impassable or hard-to-pass terrain to connect two areas. NDDs can either charge a very small commission for trading or just put a markup by increasing the spread slightly.
No Dealing Desk brokers can either be STP or STP+ECN.


Here we come to the end of today's lesson. See you in our next lesson.

Like our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/forextraderscomfortzone?ref=bookmarks

Invite your friends. Knowledge is power

Demo Trade Your Way to Success

You can open a demo accounts for FREE with most forex brokers. These “pretend” accounts have the full capabilities of a “real” account.
But why is it free?
It’s because the broker wants you to learn the ins and outs of their trading platform, and have a good time trading without risk, so you’ll fall in love with them and deposit real money. The demo account allows you to learn about the forex market and test your trading skills with ZERO risk.

Yes, that’s right, ZERO!

YOU SHOULD DEMO TRADE UNTIL YOU DEVELOP A SOLID, PROFITABLE SYSTEM BEFORE YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT PUTTING REAL MONEY ON THE LINE.
WE REPEAT – YOU SHOULD DEMO TRADE UNTIL YOU DEVELOP A SOLID, PROFITABLE SYSTEM BEFORE YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT PUTTING REAL MONEY ON THE LINE.

“Don’t Lose Your Money” Declaration
Now, place your hand on your heart and say…
“I will demo trade until I develop a solid, profitable system before I trade with real money.”
Now touch your head with your index finger and say…
“I am a smart and patient forex trader!”

Do NOT open a live trading account until you are CONSISTENTLY trading PROFITABLY on a demo account.
If you can’t wait until you’re profitable on a demo account, then there’s no chance you’ll be profitable live when real money and emotions are factored in. At least demo trade for two months, and at least you were able to hold off losing all your money for two months right? If you can’t hold out for two months, just donate that money to your favorite charity or give it to your mum…show her you still care.

Concentrate on ONE major currency pair.
It gets far too complicated to keep tabs on more than one currency pair when you first start demo trading. Stick with one of the majors because they are the most liquid which usually means tighter spreads and less chance of slippage. Plus, in the beginning you need time to focus on improving your trading processes and creating good habits.
You can be a winner at currency trading, but as with all other aspects of life, it will take hard work, dedication, a little luck, and a whole lot of patience and good judgment.

Forex Trading is NOT a Get-Rich-Quick Scheme

Before we go any further we are going to be 100% honest with you and tell you the following before you consider trading currencies:
All forex traders, and we do mean ALL traders, LOSE money on trades.
Ninety percent of traders lose money, largely due to lack of planning, training, discipline, and having poor money management rules. If you hate to lose or are a super perfectionist, you’ll also probably have a hard time adjusting to trading because all traders lose a trade at some point or another.
The forex market is one of the most popular markets for speculation, due to its enormous size, liquidity, and tendency for currencies to move in strong trends. You would think traders all over the world would make a killing, but success has been limited to very small percentage of traders.

The problem is that many traders come with the misguided hope of making a gazillion bucks, but in reality, they lack the discipline required for really learning the art of trading. Most people usually lack the discipline to stick to a diet or to go to the gym three times a week.

If you can’t even do that, how do you think you’re going to succeed one of the most difficult, but financially rewarding, endeavors known to man?
Short term trading IS NOT for amateurs, and it is rarely the path to “get rich quick”. You can’t make gigantic profits without taking gigantic risks.

A trading strategy that involves taking a massive degree of risk means suffering inconsistent trading performance and large losses. A trader who does this probably doesn’t even have a trading strategy – unless you call gambling a trading strategy!

Forex Trading is NOT a Get-Rich-Quick Scheme
Forex trading is a SKILL that takes TIME to learn.

Skilled traders can and do make money in this field. However, like any other occupation or career, success doesn’t just happen overnight.
Forex trading isn’t a piece of cake (as some people would like you to believe).
Think about it, if it was, everyone trading would already be millionaires.
The truth is that even expert traders with years of experience still encounter periodic losses.
Drill this in your head: there are NO shortcuts to forex trading.
It takes lots and lots of PRACTICE and EXPERIENCE to master.
There is no substitute for hard work, deliberate practice, and diligence.
Practice trading on a DEMO ACCOUNT until you find a method that you know inside and out, and can comfortably execute objectively. Basically, find the way that works for you!!!

Here we come to the end of today's lesson. See you in our next lesson.

Like our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/forextraderscomfortzone?ref=bookmarks

Invite your friends. Knowledge is power

What is a Lot in Forex?
In the past, spot forex was only traded in specific amounts called lots. The standard size for a lot is 100,000 units. There are also a mini, micro, and nano lot sizes that are 10,000, 1,000, and 100 units respectively.
Lot Number of Units
Standard 100,000
Mini 10,000
Micro 1,000
Nano 100

As you may already know, the change in currency value relative to another is measured in “pips,” which is a very, very small percentage of a unit of currency’s value. To take advantage of this minute change in value, you need to trade large amounts of a particular currency in order to see any significant profit or loss.
Let’s assume we will be using a 100,000 unit (standard) lot size. We will now recalculate some examples to see how it affects the pip value.
1. USD/JPY at an exchange rate of 119.80(.01 / 119.80) x 100,000 = $8.34 per pip
2. USD/CHF at an exchange rate of 1.4555(.0001 / 1.4555) x 100,000 = $6.87 per pip

In cases where the U.S. dollar is not quoted first, the formula is slightly different.
1. EUR/USD at an exchange rate of 1.1930(.0001 / 1.1930) X 100,000 = 8.38 x 1.1930 = $9.99734 rounded up will be $10 per pip
2. GBP/USD at an exchange rate or 1.8040(.0001 / 1.8040) x 100,000 = 5.54 x 1.8040 = 9.99416 rounded up will be $10 per pip.
Your broker may have a different convention for calculating pip value relative to lot size but whichever way they do it, they’ll be able to tell you what the pip value is for the currency you are trading is at the particular time. As the market moves, so will the pip value depending on what currency you are currently trading.

What the heck is leverage?
You are probably wondering how a small investor like yourself can trade such large amounts of money. Think of your broker as a bank who basically fronts you $100,000 to buy currencies. All the bank asks from you is that you give it $1,000 as a good faith deposit, which he will hold for you but not necessarily keep. Sounds too good to be true? This is how forex trading using leverage works.
The amount of leverage you use will depend on your broker and what you feel comfortable with.
Typically the broker will require a trade deposit, also known as “account margin” or “initial margin.” Once you have deposited your money you will then be able to trade. The broker will also specify how much they require per position (lot) traded.
For example, if the allowed leverage is 100:1 (or 1% of position required), and you wanted to trade a position worth $100,000, but you only have $5,000 in your account. No problem as your broker would set aside $1,000 as down payment, or the “margin,” and let you “borrow” the rest. Of course, any losses or gains will be deducted or added to the remaining cash balance in your account.
The minimum security (margin) for each lot will vary from broker to broker. In the example above, the broker required a one percent margin. This means that for every $100,000 traded, the broker wants $1,000 as a deposit on the position.

How the heck do I calculate profit and loss?
So now that you know how to calculate pip value and leverage, let’s look at how you calculate your profit or loss.
Let’s buy U.S. dollars and Sell Swiss francs.
1. The rate you are quoted is 1.4525 / 1.4530. Because you are buying U.S. dollars you will be working on the “ask” price of 1.4530, or the rate at which traders are prepared to sell.
2. So you buy 1 standard lot (100,000 units) at 1.4530.
3. A few hours later, the price moves to 1.4550 and you decide to close your trade.
4. The new quote for USD/CHF is 1.4550 / 1.4555. Since you’re closing your trade and you initially bought to enter the trade, you now sell in order to close the trade so you must take the “bid” price of 1.4550. The price traders are prepared to buy at.
5. The difference between 1.4530 and 1.4550 is .0020 or 20 pips.
6. Using our formula from before, we now have (.0001/1.4550) x 100,000 = $6.87 per pip x 20 pips = $137.40
Remember, when you enter or exit a trade, you are subject to the spread in the bid/offer quote. When you buy a currency, you will use the offer or ask price and when you sell, you will use the bid price.

Types of Forex Orders

The term “order” refers to how you will enter or exit a trade. Here we discuss the different types of forex orders that can be placed into the forex market.
Be sure that you know which types of orders your broker accepts. Different brokers accept different types of forex orders.
There are some basic order types that all brokers provide and some others that sound weird.

Forex Order Types

Market order
A market order is an order to buy or sell at the best available price.
For example, the bid price for EUR/USD is currently at 1.2140 and the ask price is at 1.2142. If you wanted to buy EUR/USD at market, then it would be sold to you at the ask price of 1.2142. You would click buy and your trading platform would instantly execute a buy order at that exact price.
If you ever shop on Amazon.com, it’s kinda like using their 1-Click ordering. You like the current price, you click once and it’s yours! The only difference is you are buying or selling one currency against another currency instead of buying a Justin Bieber CD lol.

Limit Entry Order
A limit entry is an order placed to either buy below the market or sell above the market at a certain price.
For example, EUR/USD is currently trading at 1.2050. You want to go short if the price reaches 1.2070. You can either sit in front of your monitor and wait for it to hit 1.2070 (at which point you would click a sell market order), or you can set a sell limit order at 1.2070 (then you could walk away from your computer to attend to other pressing issues).
If the price goes up to 1.2070, your trading platform will automatically execute a sell order at the best available price.
You use this type of entry order when you believe price will reverse upon hitting the price you specified!

Stop-Entry Order
A stop-entry order is an order placed to buy above the market or sell below the market at a certain price.
For example, GBP/USD is currently trading at 1.5050 and is heading upward. You believe that price will continue in this direction if it hits 1.5060. You can do one of the following to play this belief: sit in front of your computer and buy at market when it hits 1.5060 OR set a stop-entry order at 1.5060. You use stop-entry orders when you feel that price will move in one direction!

Stop-Loss Order
A stop-loss order is a type of order linked to a trade for the purpose of preventing additional losses if price goes against you. REMEMBER THIS TYPE OF ORDER. A stop-loss order remains in effect until the position is liquidated or you cancel the stop-loss order.
For example, you went long (buy) EUR/USD at 1.2230. To limit your maximum loss, you set a stop-loss order at 1.2200. This means if you were dead wrong and EUR/USD drops to 1.2200 instead of moving up, your trading platform would automatically execute a sell order at 1.2200 the best available price and close out your position for a 30-pip loss (eww!).
Stop-losses are extremely useful if you don’t want to sit in front of your monitor all day worried that you will lose all your money. You can simply set a stop-loss order on any open positions so you won’t miss your other appointments.

Trailing Stop
A trailing stop is a type of stop-loss order attached to a trade that moves as price fluctuates.
Let’s say that you’ve decided to short USD/JPY at 90.80, with a trailing stop of 20 pips. This means that originally, your stop loss is at 91.00. If the price goes down and hits 90.60, your trailing stop would move down to 90.80 (or breakeven).
Just remember though, that your stop will STAY at this new price level. It will not widen if market goes higher against you. Going back to the example, with a trailing stop of 20 pips, if USD/JPY hits 90.40, then your stop would move to 90.60 (or lock in 20 pips profit).
Your trade will remain open as long as price does not move against you by 20 pips. Once the market price hits your trailing stop price, a market order to close your position at the best available price will be sent and your position will be closed.


Weird Forex Orders

Good ‘Till Cancelled (GTC)
A GTC order remains active in the market until you decide to cancel it. Your broker will not cancel the order at any time. Therefore, it is your responsibility to remember that you have the order scheduled.

Good for the Day (GFD)
A GFD order remains active in the market until the end of the trading day. Because foreign exchange is a 24-hour market, this usually means 5:00 pm EST since that’s the time U.S. markets close, but we’d recommend you double check with your broker.

One-Cancels-the-Other (OCO)
An OCO order is a mixture of two entry and/or stop-loss orders. Two orders with price and duration variables are placed above and below the current price. When one of the orders is executed the other order is canceled.
Let’s say the price of EUR/USD is 1.2040. You want to either buy at 1.2095 over the resistance level in anticipation of a breakout or initiate a selling position if the price falls below 1.1985. The understanding is that if 1.2095 is reached, your buy order will be triggered and the 1.1985 sell order will be automatically canceled.

One-Triggers-the-Other
An OTO is the opposite of the OCO, as it only puts on orders when the parent order is triggered. You set an OTO order when you want to set profit taking and stop loss levels ahead of time, even before you get in a trade.
For example, USD/CHF is currently trading at 1.2000. You believe that once it hits 1.2100, it will reverse and head downwards but only up to 1.1900. The problem is that you will be gone for an entire week because you have other appointments to catch up with where there is no internet.
In order to catch the move while you are away, you set a sell limit at 1.2000 and at the same time, place a related buy limit at 1.1900, and just in case, place a stop-loss at 1.2100. As an OTO, both the buy limit and the stop-loss orders will only be placed if your initial sell order at 1.2000 gets triggered.

In conclusion…
The basic forex order types (market, limit entry, stop-entry, stop loss, and trailing stop) are usually all that most traders ever need.
Unless you are a veteran trader (don’t worry, with practice and time you will be), don’t get fancy and design a system of trading requiring a large number of forex orders sandwiched in the market at all times.
Stick with the basic stuff first.
Make sure you fully understand and are comfortable with your broker’s order entry system before executing a trade.
Also, always check with your broker for specific order information and to see if any rollover fees will be applied if a position is held longer than one day. Keeping your ordering rules simple is the best strategy.
DO NOT trade with real money until you have an extremely high comfort level with the trading platform you are using and its order entry system. Erroneous trades are more common than you think!


Here we come to the end of today's lesson. See you in our next lesson.

Like our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/forextraderscomfortzone?ref=bookmarks

Invite your friends. Knowledge is power

As each currency has its own relative value, it’s necessary to calculate the value of a pip for that particular currency pair. In the following example, we will use a quote with 4 decimal places. For the purpose of better explaining the calculations, exchange rates will be expressed as a ratio (i.e., EUR/USD at 1.2500 will be written as “1 EUR/ 1.2500 USD”)
Example exchange rate ratio: USD/CAD = 1.0200. To be read as 1 USD to 1.0200 CAD (or 1 USD/1.0200 CAD)
(The value change in counter currency) times the exchange rate ratio = pip value (in terms of the base currency)
[.0001 CAD] x [1 USD/1.0200 CAD]
Or Simply
[(.0001 CAD) / (1.0200 CAD)] x 1 USD = 0.00009804 USD per unit traded
Using this example, if we traded 10,000 units of USD/CAD, then a one pip change to the exchange rate would be approximately a 0.98 USD change in the position value (10,000 units x 0.0000984 USD/unit). (We use “approximately” because as the exchange rate changes, so does the value of each pip move)
Here’s another example using a currency pair with the Japanese Yen as the counter currency.
GBP/JPY at 123.00
Notice that this currency pair only goes to two decimal places to measure a 1 pip change in value (most of the other currencies have four decimal places). In this case, a one pip move would be .01 JPY.
(The value change in counter currency) times the exchange rate ratio = pip value (in terms of the base currency)[.01 JPY] x [1 GBP/123.00 JPY]
Or Simply
[(.01 JPY) / (123.00 JPY)] x 1 GBP = 0.0000813 GBP
So, when trading 10,000 units of GBP/JPY, each pip change in value is worth approximately 0.813 GBP.
Finding the Pip Value in your Account Denomination
Now, the final question to ask when figuring out the pip value of your position is, “what is the pip value in terms of my account currency?” After all, it is a global market and not everyone has their account denominated in the same currency. This means that the pip value will have to be translated to whatever currency our account may be traded in.
This calculation is probably the easiest of all; simply multiply/divide the “found pip value” by the exchange rate of your account currency and the currency in question.
If the “found pip value” currency is the same currency as the base currency in the exchange rate quote:
Using the GBP/JPY example above, let’s convert the found pip value of .813 GBP to the pip value in USD by using GBP/USD at 1.5590 as our exchange rate ratio. If the currency you are converting to is the counter currency of the exchange rate, all you have to do is divide the “found pip value” by the corresponding exchange rate ratio:
.813 GBP per pip / (1 GBP/1.5590 USD)Or
[(.813 GBP) / (1 GBP)] x (1.5590 USD) = 1.2674 USD per pip move
So, for every .01 pip move in GBP/JPY, the value of a 10,000 unit position changes by approximately 1.27 USD.
If the currency you are converting to is the base currency of the conversion exchange rate ratio, then multiply the “found pip value” by the conversion exchange rate ratio.
Using our USD/CAD example above, we want to find the pip value of .98 USD in New Zealand Dollars. We’ll use .7900 as our conversion exchange rate ratio:
0.98 USD per pip X (1 NZD/.7900 USD)Or
[(0.98 USD) / (.7900 USD)] x (1 NZD) = 1.2405 NZD per pip move
For every .0001 pip move in USD/CAD from the example above, your 10,000 unit position changes in value by approximately 1.24 NZD.
Even though you’re now a math genius–at least with pip values–you’re probably rolling your eyes back and thinking, “Do I really need to work all this out?” Well, the answer is a big fat NO. Nearly all forex brokers will work all this out for you automatically, but it’s always good for you to know how they work it out.
In the next section, we will discuss how these seemingly insignificant amounts can add up.

Here we come to the end of today's lesson. See you in our next lesson.

Like our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/forextraderscomfortzone?ref=bookmarks

Invite your friends. Knowledge is power
[/left]

Best Days of the Week to Trade Forex

So now we know that the London session is the busiest out of all the other sessions, but there are also certain days in the week where all the markets tend to show more movement. Know the best days of the week to trade forex.
Below is a chart of average pip range for the major pairs for each day of the week:

Pair Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
EUR/USD 109 142 136 145 144
GBP/USD 149 172 152 169 179
USD/JPY 65 82 91 124 98
AUD/USD 84 114 99 115 111
NZD/USD 81 98 87 100 96
USD/CAD 93 112 106 120 125
USD/CHF 84 119 107 104 116
EUR/JPY 133 178 159 223 192
GBP/JPY 169 213 179 270 232
EUR/GBP 74 81 79 75 91
EUR/CHF 55 55 64 87 76

As you can see from the chart above, it would probably be best to trade during the middle of the week, since this is when the most action happens.
Fridays are usually busy until 12:00 pm EST and then the market pretty much drops dead until it closes at 5:00 pm EST. This means we only work half-days on Fridays.
The weekend always starts early!
So based on all these, we’ve learned when the busiest and best days of the week to trade forex are. The busiest times are the best times to trade because they give you a higher chance of success.
Managing Your Time Wisely
There is no way you can trade all sessions. Even if you could, why would you? While the forex market is open 24 hours daily, it doesn’t mean that action happens all the time!
Besides, sleep is an integral part of a healthy lifestyle!
You need sleep to recharge and have energy so that you can do even the most mundane tasks like mowing the lawn, talking to your spouse, taking the dog for a walk, or organizing your stamp collection. You’ll definitely need your rest if you plan on becoming a hotshot trader.
Each trader should learn when to trade.
Actually, scratch that.
Each trader should know when to trade and when NOT to trade.
Here’s a quick cheat sheet of the best and worst times to trade:

Best Times to Trade:
• When two sessions are overlapping of course! These are also the times where major news events come out to potentially spark some volatility and directional movements.
• The European session tends to be the busiest out of the three.
• The middle of the week typically shows the most movement, as the pip range widens for most of the major currency pairs.
Worst Times to Trade:
• Fridays – liquidity dies down during the latter part of the U.S. session.
• Holidays – everybody is taking a break.
• Major news events – you don’t want to get whipsawed!

Can’t seem to trade during the optimal sessions? Don’t fret. You can always be a swing or position trader. We’ll get back to that later. Meanwhile, let’s move on to how you actually make money in Forex. Excited? You should be!

How to Make Money Trading Forex
In the forex market, you buy or sell currencies.
Placing a trade in the foreign exchange market is simple: the mechanics of a trade are very similar to those found in other markets (like the stock market), so if you have any experience in trading, you should be able to pick it up pretty quickly.
The object of forex trading is to exchange one currency for another in the expectation that the price will change, so that the currency you bought will increase in value compared to the one you sold.
Example:
Trader’s Action EUR USD
You purchase 10,000 euros at the EUR/USD exchange rate of 1.1800 +10,000 -11,800*
Two weeks later, you exchange your 10,000 euros back into U.S. dollar at the exchange rate of 1.2500 -10,000 +12,500**
You earn a profit of $700 +700USD
*EUR 10,000 x 1.18 = US $11,800
** EUR 10,000 x 1.25 = US $12,500

An exchange rate is simply the ratio of one currency valued against another currency. For example, the USD/CHF exchange rate indicates how many U.S. dollars can purchase one Swiss franc, or how many Swiss francs you need to buy one U.S. dollar.

How to Read a Forex Quote
Currencies are always quoted in pairs, such as GBP/USD or USD/JPY. The reason they are quoted in pairs is because in every foreign exchange transaction, you are simultaneously buying one currency and selling another. Here is an example of a foreign exchange rate for the British pound versus the U.S. dollar:

GBP/USD 1.51258. The first listed currency to the left of the slash (“/”) is known as the base currency (in this example, the British pound), while the second one on the right is called the counter or quote currency (in this example, the U.S. dollar).
When buying, the exchange rate tells you how much you have to pay in units of the quote currency to buy one unit of the base currency. In the example above, you have to pay 1.51258 U.S. dollars to buy 1 British pound.
When selling, the exchange rate tells you how many units of the quote currency you get for selling one unit of the base currency. In the example above, you will receive 1.51258 U.S. dollars when you sell 1 British pound.
The base currency is the “basis” for the buy or the sell. If you buy EUR/USD this simply means that you are buying the base currency and simultaneously selling the quote currency. In caveman talk, “buy EUR, sell USD.”
You would buy the pair if you believe the base currency will appreciate (gain value) relative to the quote currency. You would sell the pair if you think the base currency will depreciate (lose value) relative to the quote currency.

Long/Short
First, you should determine whether you want to buy or sell.
If you want to buy (which actually means buy the base currency and sell the quote currency), you want the base currency to rise in value and then you would sell it back at a higher price. In trader’s talk, this is called “going long” or taking a “long position.” Just remember: long = buy.
If you want to sell (which actually means sell the base currency and buy the quote currency), you want the base currency to fall in value and then you would buy it back at a lower price. This is called “going short” or taking a “short position”. Just remember: short = sell.

Bid/Ask
“How come I keep getting quoted with two prices?”
All forex quotes are quoted with two prices: the bid and ask. For the most part, the bid is lower than the ask price.
The bid is the price at which your broker is willing to buy the base currency in exchange for the quote currency. This means the bid is the best available price at which you (the trader) will sell to the market.
The ask is the price at which your broker will sell the base currency in exchange for the quote currency. This means the ask price is the best available price at which you will buy from the market. Another word for ask is the offer price.

The difference between the bid and the ask price is popularly known as the spread.
On the EUR/USD quote above, the bid price is 1.34568 and the ask price is 1.34588. Look at how this broker makes it so easy for you to trade away your money.
If you want to sell EUR, you click “Sell” and you will sell euros at 1.34568. If you want to buy EUR, you click “Buy” and you will buy euros at 1.34588.
Now let’s take a look at some samples.
Know When to Buy or Sell a Currency Pair
In the following examples, we are going to use fundamental analysis to help us decide whether to buy or sell a specific currency pair.
Don’t worry! We will cover fundamental analysis in a later lesson.
EUR/USD
In this example, the euro is the base currency and thus the “basis” for the buy/sell.
If you believe that the U.S. economy will continue to weaken, which is bad for the U.S. dollar, you would execute a BUY EUR/USD order. By doing so, you have bought euros in the expectation that they will rise versus the U.S. dollar.
If you believe that the U.S. economy is strong and the euro will weaken against the U.S. dollar you would execute a SELL EUR/USD order. By doing so you have sold euros in the expectation that they will fall versus the US dollar.
USD/JPY
In this example, the U.S. 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 rise versus the Japanese yen.
If you believe that Japanese investors are pulling money out of U.S. financial markets and converting all their U.S. dollars back to yen, and this will hurt the U.S. 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.
GBP/USD
In this example, the pound is the base currency and thus the “basis” for the buy/sell.
If you think the British economy will continue to do better than the U.S. in terms of economic growth, you would execute a BUY GBP/USD order. By doing so you have bought pounds in the expectation that they will rise versus the U.S. dollar.
If you believe the British’s economy is slowing while the United States’ economy remains strong like Jack Bauer, you would execute a SELL GBP/USD order. By doing so you have sold pounds in the expectation that they will depreciate against the U.S. dollar.
USD/CHF
In this example, the U.S. dollar 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 U.S. dollars in the expectation that they will appreciate versus the Swiss Franc.
If you believe that the U.S. housing market weakness will hurt future economic growth, which will weaken the dollar, you would execute a SELL USD/CHF order. By doing so you have sold U.S. dollars in the expectation that they will depreciate against the Swiss franc.

Here we come to the end of today's lesson. See you in our next lesson.

Like our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/forextraderscomfortzone?ref=bookmarks

Invite your friends. Knowledge is power

Forex Trading Sessions
Now that you know what forex is, why you should trade it, and who makes up the forex market, it’s about time you learned when you can trade.
It’s time to learn about the different forex trading sessions.
Yes, it is true that the forex market is open 24 hours a day, but that doesn’t mean it’s always active the whole day.
You can make money trading when the market moves up, and you can even make money when the market moves down.
BUT you will have a very difficult time trying to make money when the market doesn’t move at all.
And believe us, there will be times when the market is as still as the victims of Medusa. This lesson will help determine when the best times of the day are to trade.

Forex Market Hours
Before looking at the best times to trade, we must look at what a 24-hour day in the forex world looks like.
The forex market can be broken up into four major trading sessions: the Sydney session, the Tokyo session, the London session, and the New York session. Below are tables of the open and close times for each session:

Summer (approx. April – October)
Time Zone EDT GMT
Sydney Open 6:00 PM 10:00 PM
Sydney Close 3:00 AM 7:00 AM
Tokyo Open 7:00 PM 11:00 PM
Tokyo Close 4:00 AM 8:00 AM
London Open 3:00 AM 7:00 AM
London Close 12:00 PM 4:00 PM
New York Open 8:00 AM 12:00 PM
New York Close 5:00 PM 9:00 PM

Winter (approx. October – April)
Time Zone EST GMT
Sydney Open 4:00 PM 9:00 PM
Sydney Close 1:00 AM 6:00 AM
Tokyo Open 6:00 PM 11:00 PM
Tokyo Close 3:00 AM 8:00 AM
London Open 3:00 AM 8:00 AM
London Close 12:00 PM 5:00 PM
New York Open 8:00 AM 1:00 PM
New York Close 5:00 PM 10:00 PM

Actual open and close times are based on local business hours. This varies during the months of October and April as some countries shift to/from daylight savings time (DST). The day within each month that a country may shift to/from DST also varies.
You can see that in between each forex trading session, there is a period of time where two sessions are open at the same time. During the summer, from 3:00-4:00 am EDT, the Tokyo session and London session overlap, and during both summer and winter from 8:00 am-12:00 pm ET, the London session and the New York session overlap.
Naturally, these are the busiest times during the trading day because there is more volume when two markets are open at the same time. This makes sense because during those times, all the market participants are wheeling’ and dealing’, which means that more money is transferring hands.
Now, you’re probably looking at the Sydney open and thinking why it shifts two hours. You’d think that Sydney’s open would only move one hour when the U.S. adjusts for standard time, but remember that when the U.S. shifts one hour back, Sydney actually moves forward by one hour (seasons are opposite in Australia). You should always remember this if you ever plan to trade during that time period.
Let’s take a look at the average pip movement of the major currency pairs during each forex trading session.

Pair Tokyo London New York
EUR/USD 76 114 92
GBP/USD 92 127 99
USD/JPY 51 66 59
AUD/USD 77 83 81
NZD/USD 62 72 70
USD/CAD 57 96 96
USD/CHF 67 102 83
EUR/JPY 102 129 107
GBP/JPY 118 151 132
AUD/JPY 98 107 103
EUR/GBP 78 61 47
EUR/CHF 79 109 84

From the table, you will see that the European session normally provides the most movement.
Let’s take a more in-depth look at each of the session, as well as those periods when the sessions overlap.

Tokyo Session
The opening of the Tokyo session at 12:00 AM GMT marks the start of the Asian session. You should take note that the Tokyo session is sometimes referred to as the Asian session because Tokyo is the financial capital of Asia.
One thing worth noting is that Japan is the third largest forex trading center in the world.
This shouldn’t be too surprising since the yen is the third most traded currency, partaking in 16.50% of all forex transactions. Overall, about 21% of all forex transactions take place during this session.
Below is a table of the Asian session pip ranges of the major currency pairs.


Pair Tokyo
EUR/USD 56
GBP/USD 54
USD/JPY 30
AUD/USD 65
NZD/USD 58
USD/CAD 39
USD/CHF 40
EUR/JPY 57
GBP/JPY 72
AUD/JPY 65
EUR/GBP 23
EUR/CHF –

These pip values were calculated using averages of past data from the month of May 2012. Take note that these are NOT ABSOLUTE VALUES and can vary depending on liquidity and other market conditions. Also, the session range for EUR/CHF has not been included since the Swiss franc has been pegged to the euro at 1.2000 during the period.

Here some key characteristics that you should know about the Tokyo session:
• Action isn’t only limited to Japanese shores. Tons of forex transactions are made in other financial hot spots like Hong Kong, Singapore, and Sydney.
• The main market participants during the Tokyo session are commercial companies (exporters) and central banks. Remember, Japan’s economy is heavily export dependent and, with China also being a major trade player, there are a lot of transactions taking place on a daily basis.
• Liquidity can sometimes be very thin. There will be times when trading during this period will be like fishing – you might have to wait a long, long time before getting a nibble.
• It is more likely that you will see stronger moves in Asia Pacific currency pairs like AUD/USD and NZD/USD as opposed to non-Asia Pacific pairs like GBP/USD.
• During those times of thin liquidity, most pairs may stick within a range. This provides opportunities for short day trades or potential breakout trades later in the day.
• Most of the action takes place early in the session, when more economic data is released.
• Moves in the Tokyo session could set the tone for the rest of the day. Traders in latter sessions will look at what happened during the Tokyo session to help organize and evaluate what strategies to take in other sessions.
• Typically, after big moves in the preceding New York session, you may see consolidation during the Tokyo session.

Which Pairs Should You Trade?
Since the Tokyo session is when news from Australia, New Zealand, and Japan comes out, this presents a good opportunity to trade news events. Also, there could be more movement in yen pairs as a lot of yen is changing hands as Japanese companies are conducting business.
Take note that China is also an economic superpower, so whenever news comes out from China, it tends to create volatile moves. With Australia and Japan relying heavily on Chinese demand, we could see greater movement in AUD and JPY pairs when Chinese data comes in.
Now let’s check out how you can trade the London session.

London Session
Just when Asian market participants are starting to close shop, their European counterparts are just beginning their day.
While there are several financial centers all around Europe, it is London that market participants keep their eyes on.
Historically, London has always been at a center of trade, thanks to its strategic location. It’s no wonder that it is considered the forex capital of the world with thousands of businessmen making transactions every single minute. About 30% of all forex transactions happen during the London session.
Below is a table of the London session pip ranges of the major currency pairs.

Pair London
EUR/USD 83
GBP/USD 82
USD/JPY 36
AUD/USD 60
NZD/USD 64
USD/CAD 66
USD/CHF 58
EUR/JPY 80
GBP/JPY 102
AUD/JPY 86
EUR/GBP 40
EUR/CHF –

These pip values were calculated using averages of past data from the month of May 2012. Take note that these are NOT ABSOLUTE VALUES and can vary depending on liquidity and other market conditions. Also, the session range for EUR/CHF has not been included since the Swiss franc has been pegged to the euro at 1.2000 during the period.
Here are some neat facts about European session:
• Because the London session crosses with the two other major trading sessions–and with London being such a key financial center–a large chunk of forex transactions take place during this time. This leads to high liquidity and potentially lower transaction costs, i.e., lower pip spreads.
• Due to the large amount of transactions that take place, the London trading session is normally the most volatile session.
• Most trends begin during the London session, and they typically will continue until the beginning of the New York session.
• Volatility tends to die down in the middle of the session, as traders often go off to eat lunch before waiting for the New York trading period to begin.
• Trends can sometimes reverse at the end of the London session, as European traders may decide to lock in profits.

Which Pairs Should You Trade?
Because of the volume of transactions that take place, there is so much liquidity during the European session that almost any pair can be traded.
Of course, it may be best to stick with the majors (EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY, and USD/CHF), as these normally have the tightest spreads.
Also, it is these pairs that are normally directly influenced by any news reports that come out during the European session.
You can also try the yen crosses (more specifically, EUR/JPY and GBP/JPY), as these tend to be pretty volatile at this time. Because these are cross pairs, the spreads might be a little wider though.
Next up, we have the New York session, a jungle where dreams are made of. Hey, isn’t that an Alicia Keys song?

New York Session
Right as European traders are getting back from their lunch breaks, the U.S. session begins at 8:00 am EST as traders start rolling into the office. Just like Asia and Europe, the U.S. session has one major financial center that the markets keep their eyes on. We’re talking of course, about the “City That Never Sleeps” – New York City baby! The concrete jungle where dreams are made of!
Below is a table of the New York session pip ranges of the major currency pairs.

Pair New York
EUR/USD 77
GBP/USD 68
USD/JPY 34
AUD/USD 68
NZD/USD 62
USD/CAD 67
USD/CHF 56
EUR/JPY 72
GBP/JPY 77
AUD/JPY 71
EUR/GBP 36
EUR/CHF –

These pip values were calculated using averages of past data from the month of May 2012. Take note that these are NOT ABSOLUTE VALUES and can vary depending on liquidity and other market conditions. Also, the session range for EUR/CHF has not been included since the Swiss franc has been pegged to the euro at 1.2000 during the period.
Here are some tips you should know about trading during the New York session:
• There is high liquidity during the morning, as it overlaps with the European session.
• Most economic reports are released near the start of the New York session. Remember, about 85% of all trades involve the dollar, so whenever big time U.S. economic data is released, it has the potential to move the markets.
• Once European markets close shop, liquidity and volatility tends to die down during the afternoon U.S. session.
• There is very little movement Friday afternoon, as Asian traders are out singing in karaoke bars while European traders head off to the pub to watch the soccer match.
• Also on Fridays, there is the chance of reversals in the second half of the session, as U.S. traders close their positions ahead of the weekend, in order to limit exposure to any weekend news.

Which Pairs Should You Trade?
Take note that there will be a ton of liquidity as both the U.S. and European markets will be open at the same time. You can bet that banks and multinational companies are burning up the telephone wires. This allows you to trade virtually any pair, although it would be best if you stuck to the major and minor pairs and avoid those weird ones.
Also, because the U.S. dollar is on the other side of the majority of transactions, everybody will be paying attention to U.S. data that is released. Should these reports come in better or worse than expected, it could dramatically shake up the markets, as the dollar will be jumping up and down.
Confused on which sessions start when?

Best Times of Day to Trade Forex
Quick pop quiz! What time of the day are TV ratings highest? If you said during prime time, then you would be correct!
What does this have to do with trading sessions? Well, just like TV, “ratings” (a.k.a. liquidity) are at their highest when there are more people participating in the markets.
Logically, you would think that this happens during the overlap between two sessions. If you thought that way, you’d only be half right. Let’s discuss some of the characteristics of the two overlap sessions to see why.

Tokyo – London Overlap
Liquidity during this session is pretty thin for a few reasons. Typically, there isn’t as much movement during the Asian session so, once the afternoon hits, it’s pretty much a snooze fest. With European traders just starting to get into their offices, trading can be boring as liquidity dries up.
This would be an ideal time to take a chill pill, play some putt-putt or look for potential trades to take for the London and New York sessions.

London – New York Overlap
This is when the real shebang begins! You can literally hear traders crack their knuckles during this time, because they know they have their work cut out for them. This is the busiest time of day, as traders from the two largest financial centers (London and New York) begin fighting it out.
It is during this period where we can see some big moves, especially when news reports from the U.S. and Canada are released. The markets can also be hit by “late” news coming out of Europe.
If any trends were established during the European session, we could see the trend continue, as U.S. traders decide to jump in and establish their positions after reading up what happened earlier in the day. You should watch out though, at the end of this session, as some European traders may be closing their positions, which could lead to some choppy moves right before lunch time in the U.S.

Here we come to the end of today's lesson. See you in our next lesson.

You can also visit https://www.nairaland.com/2…/forex-traders-comfort-zone-forex

Please invite your friends. Have a great day

[quote author=fxTC post=38437971]


Forex vs. Stocks

There are approximately 2,800 stocks listed on the New York Stock exchange. Another 3,100 are listed on the NASDAQ. Which one will you trade? Got the time to stay on top of so many companies?
In spot currency trading, there are dozens of currencies traded, but the majority of market players trade the four major pairs. Aren’t four pairs much easier to keep an eye on than thousands of stocks?
That’s just one of the many advantages of the forex market over the stock markets. Here are a few more:

24-Hour Market
The forex market is a seamless 24-hour market. Most brokers are open from Sunday at 4:00 pm EST until Friday at 4:00 pm EST, with customer service usually available 24/7. With the ability to trade during the U.S., Asian, and European market hours, you can customize your own trading schedule.

Minimal or No Commissions
Most forex brokers charge no commission or additional transactions fees to trade currencies online or over the phone. Combined with the tight, consistent, and fully transparent spread, forex trading costs are lower than those of any other market. Most brokers are compensated for their services through the bid/ask spread.

Instant Execution of Market Orders
Your trades are instantly executed under normal market conditions. Under these conditions, usually the price shown when you execute your market order is the price you get. You’re able to execute directly off real-time streaming prices!.
Keep in mind that many brokers only guarantee stop, limit, and entry orders under normal market conditions. Trading during a massive alien invasion from outer space would not fall under “normal market” conditions. Fills are instantaneous most of the time, but under extraordinarily volatile market conditions, like during Martian attacks, order execution may experience delays.

Short-Selling without an Uptick
Unlike the equity market, there is no restriction on short selling in the currency market. Trading opportunities exist in the currency market regardless of whether a trader is long or short, or whichever way the market is moving. Since currency trading always involves buying one currency and selling another, there is no structural bias to the market. So you always have equal access to trade in a rising or falling market.

No Middlemen
Centralized exchanges provide many advantages to the trader. However, one of the problems with any centralized exchange is the involvement of middlemen. Any party located in between the trader and the buyer or seller of the security or instrument traded will cost them money. The cost can be either in time or in fees.
Spot currency trading, on the other hand, is decentralized, which means quotes can vary from different currency dealers. Competition between them is so fierce that you are almost always assured that you get the best deals. Forex traders get quicker access and cheaper costs.

Buy/Sell programs do not control the market.
How many times have you heard that “Fund A” was selling “X” or buying “Z”? The stock market is very susceptible to large fund buying and selling.
In spot trading, the massive size of the forex market makes the likelihood of any one fund or bank controlling a particular currency very small. Banks, hedge funds, governments, retail currency conversion houses, and large net worth individuals are just some of the participants in the spot currency markets where the liquidity is unprecedented.

Analysts and brokerage firms are less likely to influence the market
Have you watched TV lately? Heard about a certain Internet stock and an analyst of a prestigious brokerage firm accused of keeping its recommendations, such as “buy,” when the stock was rapidly declining? It is the nature of these relationships. No matter what the government does to step in and discourage this type of activity, we have not heard the last of it.
IPOs are big business for both the companies going public and the brokerage houses. Relationships are mutually beneficial and analysts work for the brokerage houses that need the companies as clients. That catch-22 will never disappear.
Foreign exchange, as the prime market, generates billions in revenue for the world’s banks and is a necessity of the global markets. Analysts in foreign exchange have very little effect on exchange rates; they just analyze the forex market.

Advantages Forex Stocks
24-Hour Trading YES No
Minimal or no Commission YES No
Instant Execution of Market Orders YES No
Short-selling without an Uptick YES No
No Middlemen YES No
No Market Manipulation YES No
In the battle between forex vs. stocks, it looks like the scorecard between Mr. Forex and Mr. Stocks shows a strong victory by Mr. Forex! Bravo to forex.

Forex Market Players
Now that you know the overall structure of the forex market, let’s delve in a little deeper to find out who exactly these people in the ladder are. It is essential for you that you understand the nature of the spot forex market and who are the main forex market players.
Until the late 1990s, only the “big guys” could play this game. The initial requirement was that you could trade only if you had about ten to fifty million bucks to start with! Forex was originally intended to be used by bankers and large institutions, and not by us “little guys.” However, because of the rise of the internet, online forex brokers are now able to offer trading accounts to “retail” traders like us.
Without further ado, here are the major forex market players:

1. The Super Banks
Since the forex spot market is decentralized, it is the largest banks in the world that determine the exchange rates. Based on the supply and demand for currencies, they are generally the ones that make the bid/ask spread that we all love (or hate, for that matter).
These large banks, collectively known as the interbank market, take on a ridiculous amount of forex transactions each day for both their customers and themselves. A couple of these super banks include UBS, Barclays Capital, Deutsche Bank, and Citigroup. You could say that the interbank market is THE foreign exchange market.

2. Large Commercial Companies
Companies take part in the foreign exchange market for the purpose of doing business. For instance, Apple must first exchange its U.S. dollars for the Japanese yen when purchasing electronic parts from Japan for their products. Since the volume they trade is much smaller than those in the interbank market, this type of market player typically deals with commercial banks for their transactions.
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) between large companies can also create currency exchange rate fluctuations. In international cross-border M&As, a lot of currency conversations happens that could move prices around.

3. Governments and Central Banks
Governments and central banks, such as the European Central Bank, the Bank of England, and the Federal Reserve, are regularly involved in the forex market too. Just like companies, national governments participate in the forex market for their operations, international trade payments, and handling their foreign exchange reserves.
Meanwhile, central banks affect the forex market when they adjust interest rates to control inflation. By doing this, they can affect currency valuation. There are also instances when central banks intervene, either directly or verbally, in the forex market when they want to realign exchange rates. Sometimes, central banks think that their currency is priced too high or too low, so they start massive sell/buy operations to alter exchange rates.

4. The Speculators

“In it to win it!”

This is probably the mantra of the speculators. Comprising close to 90% of all trading volume, speculators as forex market players come in all shapes and sizes. Some have fat pockets, some roll thin, but all of them engage in the forex simply to make bucket loads of cash.

Know Your Forex History!
At the end of the World War II, the whole world was experiencing so much chaos that the major Western governments felt the need to create a system to stabilize the global economy.
Known as the “Bretton Woods System,” the agreement set the exchange rate of all currencies against gold. This stabilized exchange rates for a while, but as the major economies of the world started to change and grow at different speeds, the rules of the system soon became obsolete and limiting.
Soon enough, come 1971, the Bretton Woods Agreement was abolished and replaced by a different currency valuation system. With the United States in the pilot’s seat, the currency market evolved to a free-floating one, where exchange rates were determined by supply and demand.
At first, it was difficult to determine fair exchange rates, but advances in technology and communication eventually made things easier.
Once the 1990s came along, thanks to computer nerds and the booming growth of the internet (cheers to you Mr. Al Gore), banks began creating their own trading platforms. These platforms were designed to stream live quotes to their clients so that they could instantly execute trades themselves.
Meanwhile, some smart business-minded marketing machines introduced internet-based trading platforms for individual traders.
Known as “retail forex brokers”, these entities made it easy for individuals to trade by allowing smaller trade sizes. Unlike in the interbank market where the standard trade size is one million units, retail brokers allowed individuals to trade as little as 1000 units!

Retail Forex Brokers
In the past, only the big speculators and highly capitalized investment funds could trade currencies, but thanks to retail forex brokers and the Internet, this isn’t the case anymore.
With hardly any barriers to entry, anybody could just contact a broker, open up an account, deposit some money, and trade forex from the comfort of their own home. Brokers basically come in two forms:
1. Market makers, as their name suggests, “make” or set their own bid and ask prices themselves and
2. Electronic Communications Networks (ECN), who use the best bid and ask prices available to them from different institutions on the interbank market.

Market Makers
Let’s say you wanted to go to France to eat some snails. In order for you to transact in the country, you need to get your hands on some euros first by going to a bank or the local foreign currency exchange office. For them to take the opposite side of your transaction, you have to agree to exchange your home currency for euros at the price they set.
Like in all business transactions, there is a catch. In this case, it comes in the form of the bid/ask spread.
For instance, if the bank’s buying price (bid) for EUR/USD is 1.2000, and their selling price (ask) is 1.2002, then the bid/ask spread is 0.0002. Although seemingly small, when you’re talking about millions of these forex transactions every day, it does add up to create a hefty profit for the market makers!
You could say that market makers are the fundamental building blocks of the foreign exchange market. Retail market makers basically provide liquidity by “repackaging” large contract sizes from wholesalers into bite size pieces. Without them, it will be very hard for the average Joe to trade forex.

Electronic Communications Network
Electronic Communication Network is the name given for trading platforms that automatically match customer’s buy and sell orders at stated prices. These stated prices are gathered from different market makers, banks, and even other traders who use the ECN. Whenever a certain sell or buy order is made, it is matched up to the best bid/ask price out there.
Due to the ability of traders to set their own prices, ECN brokers typically charge a VERY small commission for the trades you take. The combination of tight spreads and small commission usually make transaction costs cheaper on ECN brokers.
Of course, it’s not enough to know the big guys in the biz. As Big Pippin once said, “Trading requires timing.” Do you know WHEN you should trade?

fxTC:
Hi Everyone

My name is Shola, i am a practicing Forex trader, and i am starting this topic with the purpose of teaching everything about Forex trading free of charge. Constructive observations, comments and questions are welcome.

Please Note:

- Some of the lessons i will be posting were written by me, some are part of the researches i made online just to serve you better.

Without wasting much time, Lets get underway. We will be talking on the following:
(1) What is Forex?
(2) What is traded in Forex
(3) Buying and selling in currency pairs



What Is Forex?

If you’ve ever traveled to another country, you usually had to find a currency exchange booth at the airport, and then exchange the money you have in your wallet (if you’re a man) or purse (if you’re a lady) or man purse (if you’re a metro sexual lol) into the currency of the country you are visiting.

You go up to the counter and notice a screen displaying different exchange rates for different currencies. You find “Japanese yen” and think to yourself, “WOW! My one dollar is worth 100 yen?! And I have ten dollars! I’m going to be rich!!!” (This excitement is quickly killed when you stop by a shop in the airport afterwards to buy a can of soda and, all of a sudden, half your money is gone.)

When you do this, you’ve essentially participated in the forex market! You’ve exchanged one currency for another. Or in forex trading terms, assuming you’re an American visiting Nigeria, you’ve sold dollar and bought naira.
Before you fly back home, you stop by the currency exchange booth to exchange the naira that you miraculously have left over and notice the exchange rates have changed. It’s these changes in the exchanges rates that allow you to make money in the foreign exchange market.

The foreign exchange market, which is usually known as “forex” or “FX,” is the largest financial market in the world. Compared to the measly $22.4 billion per day volume of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the foreign exchange market looks absolutely awesome with its $5.3 TRILLION a day trade volume. Forex rocks our socks!
Check out the graph attached to this post for the average daily trading volume for the forex market, New York Stock Exchange, Tokyo Stock Exchange, and London Stock Exchange:



The currency market is over 200 times BIGGER! It is HUGE! But hold your breath, there’s a catch!
That huge $5 trillion number covers the entire global foreign exchange market, BUT retail traders (that’s us) trade the spot market and that’s about $1.49 trillion. So you see, the forex market is definitely huge, but not as huge as the media would like you to believe.
Do you feel like you already know what the forex market is all about? We’re just getting started!

What Is Traded In Forex?

The simple answer is MONEY.
Because you’re not buying anything physical, forex trading can be confusing.
Think of buying a currency as buying a share in a particular country, kinda like buying stocks of a company. The price of the currency is usually a direct reflection of the market’s opinion on the current and future health of its respective economy.
In forex trading, when you buy, say, the Japanese yen, you are basically buying a “share” in the Japanese economy. You are betting that the Japanese economy is doing well, and will even get better as time goes. Once you sell those “shares” back to the market, hopefully, you will end up with a profit.

In general, the exchange rate of a currency versus other currencies is a reflection of the condition of that country’s economy, compared to other countries’ economies.

Major Currencies

Symbol Country Currency
USD United States Dollar
EUR Euro zone members Euro
JPY Japan Yen
GBP Great Britain Pound
CHF Switzerland Franc
CAD Canada Dollar
AUD Australia Dollar
NZD New Zealand Dollar

Currency symbols always have three letters, where the first two letters identify the name of the country and the third letter identifies the name of that country’s currency. Take NZD for instance. NZ stands for New Zealand, while D stands for dollar. Easy enough, right?
The currencies included in the chart above are called the “majors” because they are the most widely traded ones.

Buying And Selling In Currency Pairs

Forex trading is the simultaneous buying of one currency and selling another. Currencies are traded through a broker or dealer, and are traded in pairs; for example the euro and the U.S. dollar (EUR/USD) or the British pound and the Japanese yen (GBP/JPY).
When you trade in the forex market, you buy or sell in currency pairs.
Imagine each currency pair constantly in a “tug of war” with each currency on its own side of the rope. Exchange rates fluctuate based on which currency is stronger at the moment.

Major Currency Pairs

The currency pairs listed below are considered the “majors”. These pairs all contain the U.S. dollar (USD) on one side and are the most frequently traded. The majors are the most liquid and widely traded currency pairs in the world.

Currency Pair Countries
EUR/USD Euro zone / United States
USD/JPY United States / Japan
GBP/USD United Kingdom / United States
USD/CHF United States/ Switzerland
USD/CAD United States / Canada
AUD/USD Australia / United States
NZD/USD New Zealand / United States

Major Cross-Currency Pairs or Minor Currency Pairs

Currency pairs that don’t contain the U.S. dollar (USD) are known as cross-currency pairs or simply as the “crosses.” Major crosses are also known as “minors.” The most actively traded crosses are derived from the three major non-USD currencies: EUR, JPY, and GBP.

Euro Crosses

Currency Pair Countries
EUR/CHF Euro zone / Switzerland
EUR/GBP Euro zone / United Kingdom
EUR/CAD Euro zone / Canada
EUR/AUD Euro zone / Australia
EUR/NZD Euro zone / New Zealand

Yen Crosses

Currency Pair Countries

EUR/JPY Euro zone / Japan
GBP/JPY United Kingdom / Japan
CHF/JPY Switzerland / Japan
CAD/JPY Canada / Japan
AUD/JPY Australia / Japan
NZD/JPY New Zealand / Japan

Pound Crosses

[b]Pair Countries
GBP/CHF United Kingdom / Switzerland
GBP/AUD United Kingdom / Australia
GBP/CAD United Kingdom / Canada
GBP/NZD United Kingdom / New Zealand

Other Crosses

Pair Countries
AUD/CHF Australia / Switzerland
AUD/CAD Australia / Canada
AUD/NZD Australia / New Zealand
CAD/CHF Canada / Switzerland
NZD/CHF New Zealand / Switzerland
NZD/CAD New Zealand / Canada

Exotic Currency Pairs

Exotic currency pairs are made up of one major currency paired with the currency of an emerging economy, such as Brazil, Mexico, or Hungary. The chart below contains a few examples of exotic currency pairs.
Depending on your forex broker, you may see the following exotic currency pairs so it’s good to know what they are. Keep in mind that these pairs aren’t as heavily traded as the “majors” or “crosses,” so the transaction costs associated with trading these pairs are usually bigger.

Currency Pair Countries
USD/HKD United States / Hong Kong
USD/SGD United States / Singapore
USD/ZAR United States / South Africa
USD/THB United States / Thailand
USD/MXN United States / Mexico
USD/DKK United States / Denmark
USD/SEK United States / Sweden
USD/NOK United States / Norway

It isn’t unusual to see spreads that are two or three times bigger than that of EUR/USD or USD/JPY. So if you want to trade exotics currency pairs, remember to factor this in your decision. Someone is asking WHAT THE HELL DOES SPREAD MEAN? Don’t worry, you will get to know as the lesson goes on.

Here we come to the end of today's lesson. See you soon.

Please invite your friends. I don't wanna teach myself, i need an audience. Have a great day

Market Size And Liquidity

Unlike other financial markets like the New York Stock Exchange, the forex market has neither a physical location nor a central exchange.
The forex market is considered an Over-the-Counter (OTC), or “Interbank” market due to the fact that the entire market is run electronically, within a network of banks, continuously over a 24-hour period.
This means that the spot forex market is spread all over the globe with no central location. They can take place anywhere.
The forex OTC market is by far the biggest and most popular financial market in the world, traded globally by a large number of individuals and organizations.
In the OTC market, participants determine who they want to trade with depending on trading conditions, attractiveness of prices, and reputation of the trading counterpart.

The chart below shows the ten most actively traded currencies.(pls take note: Because two currencies are involved in each transaction, the sum of the percentage shares of individual currencies totals 200% instead of 100%). The chart above shows just how often the U.S. dollar is traded in the forex market. It is on one side of a ridiculous 84.9% of all reported transactions!

The Dollar is King in the Forex Market
You’ve probably noticed how often we keep mentioning the U.S. dollar (USD). If the USD is one half of every major currency pair, and the majors comprise 75% of all trades, then it’s a must to pay attention to the U.S. dollar. The USD is king!
Also attached below is the currency composition of world fx reserves

In fact, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the U.S. dollar comprises roughly 62% of the world’s official foreign exchange reserves! Because almost every investor, business, and central bank own it, they pay attention to the U.S. dollar.
There are also other significant reasons why the U.S. dollar plays a central role in the forex market:
• The United States economy is the LARGEST economy in the world.
• The U.S. dollar is the reserve currency of the world.
• The United States has the largest and most liquid financial markets in the world.
• The United States has a super stable political system.
• The United States is the world’s sole military superpower.
• The U.S. dollar is the medium of exchange for many cross-border transactions. For example, oil is priced in U.S. dollars. So if Mexico wants to buy oil from Saudi Arabia, it can only be bought with U.S. dollar. If Mexico doesn’t have any dollars, it has to sell its pesos first and buy U.S. dollars.

Speculation in the Forex Market
One important thing to note about the forex market is that while commercial and financial transactions are part of trading volume, most currency trading is based on speculation.
In other words, most trading volume comes from traders that buy and sell based on intraday price movements.
The trading volume brought about by speculators is estimated to be more than 90%!
The scale of the forex market means that liquidity – the amount of buying and selling volume happening at any given time – is extremely high.
This makes it very easy for anyone to buy and sell currencies.
From the perspective of an investor, liquidity is very important because it determines how easily price can change over a given time period. A liquid market environment like forex enables huge trading volumes to happen with very little effect on price, or price action.
While the forex market is relatively very liquid, the market depth could change depending on the currency pair and time of day.
As the lesson progresses, we’ll tell you how the time of your trades can affect the pair you’re trading.
In the meantime, here are a few tricks on how you can trade currencies in gazillion ways. We even narrowed it down to four!

Different Ways To Trade Forex
Because forex is so awesome, traders came up with a number of different ways to invest or speculate in currencies. Among these, the most popular ones are forex spot, futures, options, and exchange-traded funds (or ETFs).

Spot Market
In the spot market, currencies are traded immediately or “on the spot,” using the current market price. What’s awesome about this market is its simplicity, liquidity, tight spreads, and round-the-clock operations. It’s very easy to participate in this market since accounts can be opened with as little as a $25! (Not that we suggest you do) – you’ll learn why in our Capitalization lesson! Aside from that, most brokers usually provide charts, news, and research for free.

Futures
Futures are contracts to buy or sell a certain asset at a specified price on a future date (That’s why they’re called futures!). Forex futures were created by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) way back in 1972, when bell bottoms and platform boots were still in style. Since futures contracts are standardized and traded through a centralized exchange, the market is very transparent and well-regulated. This means that price and transaction information are readily available.

Options
An “option” is a financial instrument that gives the buyer the right or the option, but not the obligation, to buy or sell an asset at a specified price on the option’s expiration date. If a trader “sold” an option, then he or she would be obliged to buy or sell an asset at a specific price at the expiration date. Just like futures, options are also traded on an exchange, such as the Chicago Board Options Exchange, the International Securities Exchange, or the Philadelphia Stock Exchange. However, the disadvantage in trading forex options is that market hours are limited for certain options and the liquidity is not nearly as great as the futures or spot market.

Exchange-traded Funds
Exchange-traded funds or ETFs are the youngest members of the forex world. An ETF could contain a set of stocks combined with some currencies, allowing the trader to diversify with different assets. These are created by financial institutions and can be traded like stocks through an exchange. Like forex options, the limitation in trading ETFs is that the market isn’t open 24 hours. Also, since ETFs contain stocks, these are subject to trading commissions and other transaction costs.

Advantages Of Forex Trading

There are many benefits and advantages of trading forex. Here are just a few reasons why so many people are choosing this market:

No commissions
No clearing fees, no exchange fees, no government fees, no brokerage fees. Most retail brokers are compensated for their services through something called the “bid-ask spread“.

No middlemen
Spot currency trading eliminates the middlemen and allows you to trade directly with the market responsible for the pricing on a particular currency pair.

No fixed lot size
In the futures markets, lot or contract sizes are determined by the exchanges. A standard-size contract for silver futures is 5,000 ounces. In spot forex, you determine your own lot, or position size. This allows traders to participate with accounts as small as $25 (although we’ll explain later why a $25 account is a bad idea).

Low transaction costs
The retail transaction cost (the bid/ask spread) is typically less than 0.1% under normal market conditions. At larger dealers, the spread could be as low as 0.07%. Of course this depends on your leverage and all will be explained later.

A 24-hour market
There is no waiting for the opening bell. From the Monday morning opening in Australia to the afternoon close in New York, the forex market never sleeps. This is awesome for those who want to trade on a part-time basis, because you can choose when you want to trade: morning, noon, night, during breakfast, or in your sleep.

No one can corner the market
The foreign exchange market is so huge and has so many participants that no single entity (not even a central bank or the mighty Chuck Norris himself) can control the market price for an extended period of time.

Leverage
In forex trading, a small deposit can control a much larger total contract value. Leverage gives the trader the ability to make nice profits, and at the same time keep risk capital to a minimum.
For example, a forex broker may offer 50-to-1 leverage, which means that a $50 dollar margin deposit would enable a trader to buy or sell $2,500 worth of currencies. Similarly, with $500 dollars, one could trade with $25,000 dollars and so on. While this is all gravy, let’s remember that leverage is a double-edged sword. Without proper risk management, this high degree of leverage can lead to large losses as well as gains.

High Liquidity.
Because the forex market is so enormous, it is also extremely liquid. This is an advantage because it means that under normal market conditions, with a click of a mouse you can instantaneously buy and sell at will as there will usually be someone in the market willing to take the other side of your trade. You are never “stuck” in a trade. You can even set your online trading platform to automatically close your position once your desired profit level (a limit order) has been reached, and/or close a trade if a trade is going against you (a stop loss order).

Low Barriers to Entry
You would think that getting started as a currency trader would cost a ton of money. The fact is, when compared to trading stocks, options or futures, it doesn’t. Online forex brokers offer “mini” and “micro” trading accounts, some with a minimum account deposit of $25.
We’re not saying you should open an account with the bare minimum, but it does make forex trading much more accessible to the average individual who doesn’t have a lot of start-up trading capital.

Free Stuff Everywhere!
Most online forex brokers offer “demo” accounts to practice trading and build your skills, along with real-time forex news and charting services.
And guess what?! They’re all free!
Demo accounts are very valuable resources for those who are “financially hampered” and would like to hone their trading skills with “play money” before opening a live trading account and risking real money.

Here we come to the end of today's lesson. See you soon.

Please invite your friends. I don't wanna teach myself, i need an audience. Have a great day

jbgold007:
Am following up bro thanks for the information love to see more of u. Pls can u share more light BTW forex and binary trading thanks once more

The difference between Binary Options and Forex

Binary options trading has long existed over-the-counter, only experiencing a massive growth spurt in the last few years. Now, approximately 90 companies (including those who white label their products) offer some sort of binary options trading service.
So okay, it’s a growing industry… But why should you involve yourself in it? Why should you learn a whole new type of trading when you’re already learning spot Forex? Isn’t it better to something you already know?
There are many advantages and disadvantages to both binary options and spot forex. I’ll touch upon a few and hopefully, you can determine which trading instrument may be right for your trading style.

Max Risk

One of the great things about binary options trading is that you always know the exact maximum gain or loss in advance. The trader controls the premium at risk to enter the binary option trade, and that is the only amount that can absolutely be lost. Most binary option brokers even allow you to cut your max loss by “folding” your trades ahead of expiration after certain types of trade conditions have been met.
In contrast, with spot forex, even with a stop loss order set, you cannot be 100% certain that you will lose only the pre-calculated amount that you risked. While improbable, there’s always the chance that certain issues may affect your final max risk like slippage, lack of liquidity to execute a stop order at the desired price, a broker’s trading platform goes down, etc.

Trade Management Flexibility and Maximizing Reward

Aside from High/Low options, many of the binary option plays are only available at certain times of the day or week, and most times the strike prices are set by the broker.
Even if you have an idea of how a market might behave within a certain time frame, you may not have the best option available to you to play your idea. With spot forex, you are able to enter limit orders for any price or execute a market order at any time during open market hours.
In terms of exiting open trades, some binary options brokers allow you to close options trades early, but usually only after a predetermined amount of time has pass after the option trade has opened and before it closes.
And as mentioned before, the value that is returned to the trader is based on whether the market is in-the-money or out-of-the-money and of course, with a piece going to the broker.
In spot forex, you can close your trade at any time (except on weekends with most brokers). Even if it’s one second into the trade, you can get out and book profits or reduce losses.
Finally, if you think there’s going to be a long trend and you want to maximize your profit on it by holding it as long as possible, you can do so in the spot market using scaling in and trailing stop techniques. With a binary option, the expiration date and cap on profits limits you; you’re out of the trade as soon as you close or the option expires.
Depending on your risk and trade management preferences, either trading instrument can be good or bad depending on how much time you want to spend in front of your trading platform, how active you want to be, or what you expect the market may do.

Transaction Costs

In binary options trading, there are no additional transaction costs other than what is normally factored into the final payout.
In spot forex, the transaction cost comes in the form of a spread, a commission, or both.

Trade Choices
Another great thing about binary options trading is that you aren’t limited to just currency pairs like with most retail forex brokers. While currency pairs are the most common assets you can trade, with some binary options brokers, you may also have the opportunity to trade your ideas on a limited number of individual stocks, stock indices, and even commodities.

Volatility Risk
Surprise volatility is not usually an issue in binary options trading. Any trade you take can weather the volatility caused by certain events. Provided that your view turns out to be correct, you don’t need to worry about the market’s knee-jerk reactions. The max risk is still set, but so is the max reward.
In spot forex, however, sharp swings can affect the value of a position greatly and very quickly, which makes the additional task of setting up proper risk management processes very important.

Trader Error
The margin for error when entering a trade is very small in binary options trading. This is due to the fact there are only two actions to take with binary options: open and close.
There are no limit orders to keep track of, or to close or adjust. In spot forex, an inattentive trader may forget to place exit and/or adjustment orders, potentially creating a loss greater than he/she intends.
Hope this helps. Kindly share my posts. Thanks

Hi Everyone

My name is Shola, i am a practicing Forex trader, and i am starting this topic with the purpose of teaching everything about Forex trading free of charge. Constructive observations, comments and questions are welcome.

Please Note:

- Some of the lessons i will be posting were written by me, some are part of the researches i made online just to serve you better.

Without wasting much time, Lets get underway. We will be talking on the following:
(1) What is Forex?
(2) What is traded in Forex
(3) Buying and selling in currency pairs



What Is Forex?

If you’ve ever traveled to another country, you usually had to find a currency exchange booth at the airport, and then exchange the money you have in your wallet (if you’re a man) or purse (if you’re a lady) or man purse (if you’re a metro sexual lol) into the currency of the country you are visiting.

You go up to the counter and notice a screen displaying different exchange rates for different currencies. You find “Japanese yen” and think to yourself, “WOW! My one dollar is worth 100 yen?! And I have ten dollars! I’m going to be rich!!!” (This excitement is quickly killed when you stop by a shop in the airport afterwards to buy a can of soda and, all of a sudden, half your money is gone.)

When you do this, you’ve essentially participated in the forex market! You’ve exchanged one currency for another. Or in forex trading terms, assuming you’re an American visiting Nigeria, you’ve sold dollar and bought naira.
Before you fly back home, you stop by the currency exchange booth to exchange the naira that you miraculously have left over and notice the exchange rates have changed. It’s these changes in the exchanges rates that allow you to make money in the foreign exchange market.

The foreign exchange market, which is usually known as “forex” or “FX,” is the largest financial market in the world. Compared to the measly $22.4 billion per day volume of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the foreign exchange market looks absolutely awesome with its $5.3 TRILLION a day trade volume. Forex rocks our socks!
Check out the graph attached to this post for the average daily trading volume for the forex market, New York Stock Exchange, Tokyo Stock Exchange, and London Stock Exchange:



The currency market is over 200 times BIGGER! It is HUGE! But hold your breath, there’s a catch!
That huge $5 trillion number covers the entire global foreign exchange market, BUT retail traders (that’s us) trade the spot market and that’s about $1.49 trillion. So you see, the forex market is definitely huge, but not as huge as the media would like you to believe.
Do you feel like you already know what the forex market is all about? We’re just getting started!

What Is Traded In Forex?

The simple answer is MONEY.
Because you’re not buying anything physical, forex trading can be confusing.
Think of buying a currency as buying a share in a particular country, kinda like buying stocks of a company. The price of the currency is usually a direct reflection of the market’s opinion on the current and future health of its respective economy.
In forex trading, when you buy, say, the Japanese yen, you are basically buying a “share” in the Japanese economy. You are betting that the Japanese economy is doing well, and will even get better as time goes. Once you sell those “shares” back to the market, hopefully, you will end up with a profit.

In general, the exchange rate of a currency versus other currencies is a reflection of the condition of that country’s economy, compared to other countries’ economies.

Major Currencies

Symbol Country Currency
USD United States Dollar
EUR Euro zone members Euro
JPY Japan Yen
GBP Great Britain Pound
CHF Switzerland Franc
CAD Canada Dollar
AUD Australia Dollar
NZD New Zealand Dollar

Currency symbols always have three letters, where the first two letters identify the name of the country and the third letter identifies the name of that country’s currency. Take NZD for instance. NZ stands for New Zealand, while D stands for dollar. Easy enough, right?
The currencies included in the chart above are called the “majors” because they are the most widely traded ones.

Buying And Selling In Currency Pairs

Forex trading is the simultaneous buying of one currency and selling another. Currencies are traded through a broker or dealer, and are traded in pairs; for example the euro and the U.S. dollar (EUR/USD) or the British pound and the Japanese yen (GBP/JPY).
When you trade in the forex market, you buy or sell in currency pairs.
Imagine each currency pair constantly in a “tug of war” with each currency on its own side of the rope. Exchange rates fluctuate based on which currency is stronger at the moment.

Major Currency Pairs

The currency pairs listed below are considered the “majors”. These pairs all contain the U.S. dollar (USD) on one side and are the most frequently traded. The majors are the most liquid and widely traded currency pairs in the world.

Currency Pair Countries
EUR/USD Euro zone / United States
USD/JPY United States / Japan
GBP/USD United Kingdom / United States
USD/CHF United States/ Switzerland
USD/CAD United States / Canada
AUD/USD Australia / United States
NZD/USD New Zealand / United States

Major Cross-Currency Pairs or Minor Currency Pairs

Currency pairs that don’t contain the U.S. dollar (USD) are known as cross-currency pairs or simply as the “crosses.” Major crosses are also known as “minors.” The most actively traded crosses are derived from the three major non-USD currencies: EUR, JPY, and GBP.

Euro Crosses

Currency Pair Countries
EUR/CHF Euro zone / Switzerland
EUR/GBP Euro zone / United Kingdom
EUR/CAD Euro zone / Canada
EUR/AUD Euro zone / Australia
EUR/NZD Euro zone / New Zealand

Yen Crosses

Currency Pair Countries

EUR/JPY Euro zone / Japan
GBP/JPY United Kingdom / Japan
CHF/JPY Switzerland / Japan
CAD/JPY Canada / Japan
AUD/JPY Australia / Japan
NZD/JPY New Zealand / Japan

Pound Crosses

[b]Pair Countries
GBP/CHF United Kingdom / Switzerland
GBP/AUD United Kingdom / Australia
GBP/CAD United Kingdom / Canada
GBP/NZD United Kingdom / New Zealand

Other Crosses

Pair Countries
AUD/CHF Australia / Switzerland
AUD/CAD Australia / Canada
AUD/NZD Australia / New Zealand
CAD/CHF Canada / Switzerland
NZD/CHF New Zealand / Switzerland
NZD/CAD New Zealand / Canada

Exotic Currency Pairs

Exotic currency pairs are made up of one major currency paired with the currency of an emerging economy, such as Brazil, Mexico, or Hungary. The chart below contains a few examples of exotic currency pairs.
Depending on your forex broker, you may see the following exotic currency pairs so it’s good to know what they are. Keep in mind that these pairs aren’t as heavily traded as the “majors” or “crosses,” so the transaction costs associated with trading these pairs are usually bigger.

Currency Pair Countries
USD/HKD United States / Hong Kong
USD/SGD United States / Singapore
USD/ZAR United States / South Africa
USD/THB United States / Thailand
USD/MXN United States / Mexico
USD/DKK United States / Denmark
USD/SEK United States / Sweden
USD/NOK United States / Norway

It isn’t unusual to see spreads that are two or three times bigger than that of EUR/USD or USD/JPY. So if you want to trade exotics currency pairs, remember to factor this in your decision. Someone is asking WHAT THE HELL DOES SPREAD MEAN? Don’t worry, you will get to know as the lesson goes on.

Here we come to the end of today's lesson. See you soon.

Please invite your friends. I don't wanna teach myself, i need an audience. Have a great day

hello