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Investors and traders around the world are looking to the Forex market as a new speculation opportunity. But, how are transactions conducted in the Forex market? Or, what are the basics of Forex Trading? Before adventuring in the Forex market we need to make sure we understand the basics, otherwise we will find ourselves lost where we less expected. This is what this article is aimed to, to understand the basics of currency trading.

What is traded in the Forex market?

The instrument traded by Forex traders and investors are currency pairs. A currency pair is the exchange rate of one currency over another. The most traded currency pairs are:

EUR/USD: Euro
GBP/USD: Pound
USD/CAD: Canadian dollar
USD/JPY: Yen
USD/CHF: Swiss franc
AUD/USD: Aussie

These currency pairs generate up to 85% of the overall volume generated in the Forex market.

So, for instance, if a trader goes long or buys the Euro, she or he is simultaneously buying the EUR and selling the USD. If the same trader goes short or sells the Aussie, she or he is simultaneously selling the AUD and buying the USD.

The first currency of each currency pair is referred as the base currency, while second currency is referred as the counter or quote currency.
Each currency pair is expressed in units of the counter currency needed to get one unit of the base currency.
If the price or quote of the EUR/USD is 1.2545, it means that 1.2545 US dollars are needed to get one EUR.

Bid/Ask Spread

All currency pairs are commonly quoted with a bid and ask price. The bid (always lower than the ask) is the price your broker is willing to buy at, thus the trader should sell at this price. The ask is the price your broker is willing to sell at, thus the trader should buy at this price.

EUR/USD 1.2545/48 or 1.2545/8
The bid price is 1.2545
The ask price is 1.2548

A Pip

A pip is the minimum incremental move a currency pair can make. A pip stands for price interest point. A move in the EUR/USD from 1.2545 to 1.2560 equals 15 pips. And a move in the USD/JPY from 112.05 to 113.10 equals 105 pips.

Margin Trading (leverage)

In contrast with other financial markets where you require the full deposit of the amount traded, in the Forex market you require only a margin deposit. The rest will be granted by your broker.

The leverage provided by some brokers goes up to 400:1. This means that you require only 1/400 or .25% in balance to open a position (plus the floating gains/losses.) Most brokers offer 100:1, where every trader requires 1% in balance to open a position.

The standard lot size in the Forex market is $100,000 USD.

For instance, a trader wants to get long one lot in EUR/USD and he or she is using 100:1 leverage.

To open such position, he or she requires 1% in balance or $1,000 USD.

Of course it is not advisable to open a position with such limited funds in our trading balance. If the trade goes against our trader, the position is to be closed by the broker. This takes us to our next important term.

Margin Call

A margin call occurs when the balance of the trading account falls below the maintenance margin (capital required to open one position, 1% when the leverage used is 100:1, 2% when leverage used is 50:1, and so on.) At this moment, the broker sells off (or buys back in the case of short positions) all your trades, leaving the trader “theoretically” with the maintenance margin.

Most of the time margin calls occur when money management is not properly applied.
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Forex Trading, meaning Currency Trading, is a world wide, little known market, which will become the most popular source of income for investors in the very near future. It is open for banks, rich investors and small ones alike and, depending on the sum of money they are willing to risk, the earnings demonstrate this is the best way to start getting rich.

Why choose currency trading over stock, real estate or futures trading? The currency trading advantages are speed, liquidity, commission-free transactions, increased safety, short-term trading and great earnings. Let’s study each of these advantages in other trading systems:
-Speed: Currency trading is instant due to a large amount of transactions while future trading implies a longer time to trade certain commodities, agricultural products, financial instruments and goods (contracts need to be written and signed)
-Stock traders must pay brokers a certain fee for each transaction made. The brokerage fee is available for all futures transactions, but not in the case of currency trading. In currency trading brokers earn money by studying and profiting from the difference of price between sold and bought currencies.
-Liquidity: The currency market is opened non-stop, anywhere in the world giving currency traders the chance to trade whenever they find the opportune moment and prices. This is a characteristic attributed only to currency trading.
-Safety: while other trading systems are based on speculation, on the fluctuation of price, on slippage and market gaps, currency trading is controlled with the help of built in safeguards that limit slip-ups.
-Short term trading, like currency trading, is more efficient for profit making than long term trading. Day trading does not increase speculation, risk and does not imply that the broker’s commission will reduce any profit made.

Anyone can start trading currencies. This means Currency Trading is easy therefore making money is easy! The potential profit that can be made by buying and selling currencies and with a minimum capital for investment is amazing. Currency trading techniques are available online for learning for those interested in doing so, but the best choice would be to let a broker do business for you.
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Currency trading is quite similar to trading stocks on the market. While you may or may not have any familiarity with those options, you should know that trading in this form is quite popular and it keeps gaining in popularity. There are many reasons for that, but in most cases it is popular because it works and is quite straightforward which makes it very well worth your time.

Currency trading is a method of trading based on the value of currency. In most cases, the world’s economy is the judge of how much you can and will make. This is different than with stocks which rely heavily on the United State’s economy. In this case, you are dealing with world markets and world currency rates.
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Have you heard about FOREX? How currencies are traded?

When you think about Forex, what do you think of first? Which aspects of Forex are important, which are essential, and which ones can you take or leave? You be the judge.

Let’s talk about FOREX and advantages of FOREX trading.

The good thing about FOREX is that the amount of money you need to place a trade (known as “margin”) is all that can be lost!

Of course, with the proper self-taught education you will win more than you will lose, but you should know that despite the high leverage of FOREX trading (200:1 is possible, which means that when you put up $1 the trading vendor will allow you to trade it as if you have $200), it’s still less risky than futures (commodities) trading. And when you trade stocks you can’t get this type of leverage.

Because of the FOREX market’s liquidity and twenty four hours continuous trading, dangerous trading gaps and limit moves are eliminated. Orders are executed very quickly, without slippage. If you do your research and find good brokers, they will automatically close some or all of your open positions if your account’s equity falls below the level required to hold the positions. You’ll never lose more than you have in your FOREX account.

Currencies are traded in dollar amounts called *lots* — One lot is equal to $1,000, which controls $100,000 in currency.
This is the “margin” I talked about above. You can control $100,000 worth of currency for only 1,000 dollars.

Currencies are always traded in pairs. The most popular currencies and their symbols are:

USD – The US Dollar
EUR – The currency of the European Union “EURO”
GBP – The British Pound
JPN – The Japanese Yen
CHF – The Swiss Franc
AUD – The Australian Dollar
CAD – The Canadian Dollar

A currency can never be traded by itself, so you can’t trade a USD by itself. You always need to compare one currency with another currency to make a trade possible.
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