forexWhat is FOREX?FOREX (FOReign EXchange market) is an international foreign exchange market, where money is sold and bought freely. In its present condition FOREX was launched in the 1970s, when free exchange rates were introduced, and only the participants of the market determine the price of one currency against the other proceeding from supply and demand.As far as the freedom from any external control and free competition are concerned, FOREX is a perfect market. It is also the biggest liquid financial market. According to various assessments, money masses in the market constitute from 1 to 1.5 trillion US dollars a day. (It is impossible to determine an absolutely exact number because trading is not centralized on an exchange.) Transactions are conducted all over the world via telecommunications 24 hours a day from 00:00 GMT on Monday to 10:00 pm GMT on Friday. Practically in every time zone (that is, in Frankfurt-on-Main, London, New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong, etc.) there are dealers who will quote currencies.FOREX is a more objective market, because if some of its participants would like to change prices, for some manipulative purpose, they would have to operate with tens of billions dollars. That is why any influence by a single participants in the market is practically out of the question. The superior liquidity allows the traders to open and/or close positions within a few seconds. The time of keeping a position is arbitrary and has no limits: from several seconds to many years. It depends only on your trading strategies. Although the daily fluctuations of currencies are rather insignificant, you may use the credit lines, that are accessible even to currency speculators with small capitals ($ 1,000 - 5,000), where the profit may be impressive. (You can learn more about it in the section: The main principles of trading.)The idea of marginal trading stems from the fact that in FOREX speculative interests can be satisfied without a real money supply. This decreases overhead expenses for transferring money and gives an opportunity to open positions with a small account in US dollars, buying and selling a lot of other currencies. That is, on can conduct transactions very quickly, getting a big profit, when the exchange rates go up or down. Many speculative transactions in the international financial markets are made on the principles of marginal trading.Margin trading is trading with a borrowed capital. Marginal trading in an exchange market uses lots. 1 lot equals approximately $100,000, but to open it it is necessary to have only from 0.5% to 4% of the sum.For example, you have analyzed the situation in the market and come to the conclusion that the pound will go up against the dollar. You open 1 lot for buying the pound (GBP) with the margin 1% (1:1000 leverage) at the price of 1.49889 and wait for the exchange rate to go up. Some time later your expectations become true. You close the position at 1.5050 and earn 61 pips (about $ 405). For the calculation of 1 pip click here.Everyday fluctuations of currencies constitute about 100 to 150 pips, giving FX traders an opportunity to make money on these changes.In FOREX, it's not obligatory to buy some currency first in order to sell it later. It's possible to open positions for buying and selling any currency without actually having it. Usually Internet-brokers establish the minimum deposit such as $ 2000, for working in the FOREX market, and grant a leverage of 1:100. That is, opening the position at $100,000, a trader invests $1,000 and receives $99.000 as a credit. The major currencies traded in FOREX, are Euro (EUR), Japanese yen (JPY), British Pound (GBP), and Swiss Franc (CHF). All of them are traded against the US dollar (USD).In order to assess the situation in the market a trader has to be able to use fundamental and/or technical analysis, as well as to make decisions in the constantly changing current of information about political and economic character. Most small and medium players in financial markets use technical analysis. Technical analysis presupposes that all the information about the market and its further fluctuations is contained in the price chain. Any factor, that has some influence on the price, be it economic, political or psychological, has already been considered by the market and included in the price. The initial data for a technical analysis are prices: the highest and the lowest prices, the price of opening and closing within a certain period of time, and the volume of transactions.A technical analysis is founded on three suppositions:Movement of the market considers everything;Movement of prices is purposeful;History repeats itself. That is, technical analysis is a statistical and mathematical analysis of previous quotes and a prognosis of coming prices.A number of technical indicators have been installed into the PRO-CHARTS trading system. Analyzing the indicators one can come to the conclusion about further movements of the quoted currencies. For a more detailed description of the indicators, analyzing price charts and volumes of trading, click here.Fundamental analysis is an analysis of current situations in the country of the currency, such as its economy, political events, and rumors. The country's economy depends on the rate of inflation and unemployment, on the interest rate of its Central Bank, and on tax policy. Political stability also influences the exchange rate. Policy of the Central Bank has a special role, as concentrated interventions or refusal from them greatly influence the exchange rate.At the same time one should not consider fundamental analysis just as an analysis of the economic situation in the country itself. A far bigger role in the FOREX market belongs to the expectations of the market participants and their assessment of these expectations. Various prognoses and bulletins, issued by the participants, have a strong influence on the expectations. Very often an effect of the so-called self-filfilling prophecy occurs when market players raise or lower the exchange rates according to the prognosis. But a deep and thorough fundamental analysis is available only for big banks with a staff of professional analysts and constant access to a wide field of information.In spite of these different approaches, both forms of analyses complement one another. Traders who act on the basis of a fundamental analysis, have to consider some technical characteristics of the market (the main rates of support, such as resistance and resale), and supporters of the technical approach to the market must track the main news (interest rates, important political events).The main merits of the FOREX market are:The biggest number of participants and the largest volumes of transactions;Superior liquidity and speed of the market: transactions are conducted within a few seconds according to online quotes;The market works 24 hours a day, every working days;A trader can open a position for any period of time he wants;No fees, except for the difference between buying and selling prices;An opportunity to get a bigger profit that the invested sum;Qualified work in the FOREX market can become your main professional activity;You can make deals any time you like.In contrast to exchange transactions with real supply or real currency the participants of FOREX use trading with a margin deposit; i.e. marginal or leverage trading. In marginal trading, each transaction has two obligatory stages (they can be divided by period of time, which can be as long as you like): buying (selling) of currency at one price, and then selling (buying) it at another (or at the same) price. The first transaction is called opening the position, the second one, closing the position.Opening a position, a trader furnishes a deposit sum from 0.5 to 4 per cent of the credit line, granted for the transaction. So, in order to buy or sell 100,000 US dollars for Japanese yens, you will not need the whole sum, but only from 500 to 2000 US dollars depending on your policy of controlling risks. When the position is closed, the deposit sum returns, and calculation of profits or losses is done. All the profit or losses caused by the change of currency rates is credited on your account.Let's take a concrete example of getting a profit from the changing the rate of the Euro, from 0,9162 to 0,9292. If you have anticipated this change by using technical or fundamental analysis, you can buy the Euro cheaper for dollars, and then sell it back at a higher price. For example, if you choose leverage 1:100, then 99,000 dollars of the credit line, granted by the Internet broker, is added to 1000 dollars, and you buy the Euro at the price of 0.9162. As a result of this transaction we get: $ 100,000 / 0.9162 = Euro 109.146, 47.When the rate changes (an average daily change of Euro is about 70 to 100 pips), you close the position and sell the Euro for dollars, but at the rate of 0.9292. You get 109,146. 47*0.9292 =101,418.89 dollars. Your profit is $ 1,418.89. The same transaction with leverage 1:200 would give you $2, 837.78 of profit, with leverage 1:50 the profit would be 709.45, with leverage 1:25 - 354.72.We'd like to remind you that the higher the credit leverage, the higher is your profit if the fluctuation of the currency rate was anticipated correctly. However, if your anticipation was wrong, your losses will be bigger.One cannot feel confident in the FOREX market without a thorough knowledge of the terms used there.Foreign exchange quotes are a relation between currencies.USDCHF - the cost of $1 in Swiss Francs.USDJPY - the cost of $1 in Japanese yens.EURUSD - the cost of Euro 1 in US dollars.GBPUSD - the cost of 1 GBP in US dollars. That is, quotes are expressed in the units of the second currency for a unit of the first one. For example, quote USDJPY 108,91 shows that $1 costs 108,91 Japanese yens. Quote EURUSD 0.9561 shows that 1 Euro costs 0.9561 US dollars.The last figure in the quote is called "pip". The cost of the pip is different for every currency, and depends on the leverage and current quote.The formula for calculating 1 pip is:100,000/current quote without commas * Kwhere К=1 at leverage 1:100, К=2 at leverage 1:200, К=0,5 at leverage 1:50, K=0,25 at leverage 1:25. Examples: USDJPY = 108.91 leverage 1:100 100.000 / 10891 х 1 = 9,18 USD EURUSD = 0.9561 leverage1:200100.000 / 9561 х 2 =20,92 USDGBPUSD and EURUSD are direct quotes, i.e. when the chart goes up, GBP and EUR become more expensive, and when it goes down, the currencies become cheaper. USDCHF and USDJPY are backward quotes, and when the chart grows, prices on CHF and JPY fall, and when the chart goes down, the prices grow.On direct quotes you buy according to ASK and sell according to BID. With backward quotes, you buy according to BID and sell according to ASK . Trading in the FOREX market is realized in lots. When you open a position, you can choose the number of lots you want from 1 to 10. One lot equals $ 100,000. The deposit sum for one lot will vary from $500 to $2000, depending on the credit leverage you choose. Leverage is a financial mechanism that allows crediting speculative transactions with a small deposit. We give you an opportunity to choose a credit leverage in the range of 1:200 to 1:25.In the course of trading you can fix your profit or cut off your losses according to the commands LIMIT and STOP that have been set up.LIMIT is set up higher than the current meaning of the price.STOP is set up lower than the current meaning of the price.With these commands the positions is closed without additional orders when the price reaches the agreed level.In the process of trading you can create pending positions, that will be activated when the price reaches the agreed level (open price). When creating and closing orders, a temporary delay occurs, and lasts for about 30 to 40 seconds. When you make an inquiry, you are given a real market price, which is the current price at the moment of proposal, not at the moment of inquiry.The process of trading is described in detail in section Description of the Trade Terminal.The main terms that characterize the account:Deal, realization of 2 trade transactions, when currency is bought (sold), and then the reverse conversion is realized.Balance, the sum on the account of a client after the last transaction is conducted.Floating Profit, the current profit on open positions.Floating storage, fee for postponement of an opened position over midnight GMT.Equity = Balance + Floating + Floating storage.Margin requirement, a necessary deposit sum calculated according to the formula100,000 / K + 100,000 / K,where K = leverage, and the number of items equals the number of open positions.Percentage, index of an account.Percentage = Equity / Margin Requirement. At Percentage lower than 50 % it's impossible to open new positions.Margin call, condition of an account when all opened positions are closed by the Internet broker according to current quotes. It occurs at a Percentage lower than 10%. Please note that contrary to the majority of other companies, in PRO-FOREX.com price levels of client's orders may differ from the current price only by 5 pips. However, very rarely are orders executed worse than requests, because of the high market volatility.Foreign Exchange MarketsParticipants of a foreign exchange market The main participants of a foreign exchange market are:Commercial banksExchange marketsCentral banksFirms that conduct foreign trade transactionsInvestment fundsBroker companiesPrivate persons Commercial banks conduct the main volume of exchange transactions. Other participants of the market have their accounts at the banks, conducting necessary conversion transactions. Banks accumulate (through transactions with the clients) the combined needs of the market in exchange conversions as well as in calling and distributing money, breaking with it into new banks. Besides satisfying clients' requests, banks can operate independently, using their own assets. In the end, a foreign exchange market is a market of interbank dealings, and when speaking about the exchange rates movement, one should bear in mind the existence of an interbank foreign exchange market. In international foreign exchange markets, international banks with the daily volume of transactions of billions dollars have the biggest influence. These are Barclays Bank, Citibank, Chase Manhatten Bank, Deutsche Bank, Swiss Bank Corporation, Union Bank of Switzerland, etc.Exchange markets Contrary to stock markets and markets for terminal exchange dealings, exchange markets do not work in a definite building and they do not have definite business hours. Thanks to the development of telecommunications most of the leading financial institutions of the world use services of exchange markets directly and via mediators 24 hours a day. The biggest international exchange markets are the London, New York and Tokyo exchange markets. In some countries with transitional economies there are exchange markets for currency exchange by juristic persons and for forming a market exchange rate. The state usually regulates the exchange rate in an active manner, using the compactness of the exchange market.Central banks control currency reserves, realize interventions that influence the exchange rate, and regulate the interest investment rate in the national currency. The central bank of the United States, the US Federal Reserve Bank, or "FED", has the greatest influence in the international exchange markets. It is followed by the central banks of Germany, (the Deutsche Bundesbank or BUBA) and of Great Britain (the Bank of England, nicknamed the "Old Lady").Firms that conduct foreign trade transactions. Companies participating in international trade have a stable demand for foreign currency (importers) and supply (exporters). As a rule, these organizations do not have direct access to exchange markets, and they conduct their conversion and deposit transactions via commercial banks.Investment funds. These companies, represented by various international investment, pension,and mutual funds, insurance companies, and trusts, realize the policy of diversified management of portfolio of assets by placing there money in securities of the governments and corporations of different countries. The world-know fund, Quantum, is owned by George Soros, and it executes successful exchange speculations. Big international corporations as Xerox, Nestle, General Motors a.o. that make foreign industrial investments (creating branches, joint ventures etc.), also are firms of this kind.Broker companies bring together a buyer and a seller of foreign currency and conduct a conversion dealing between them. Broker companies take a broker's fee. As a rule, in the FOREX market there is no fee as a per cent from the sum of a transaction, or as a sum agreed in advance. Usually the dealers of broker companies quote currency with a spread, that includes their fee. A broker company, having the information about the asked rates, is a place where the real exchange rate is formed according to closed deals. Commersial banks get their information about the current exchange rate from broker companies. The biggest international broker companies are Lasser Marshall, Harlow Butler, Tullett and Tokio, Coutts, and Tradition.Private persons. Natural persons realize a wide range of non-commercial transactions in the sphere of foreign tourism, transfers of salaries, pensions, royalties, buying and selling foreign currency. This is also the biggest group that realizes speculative exchange transactions.The working hours of the markets Exchange markets work all the time. Their work in the calendar twenty-four-hour period is started in the Far East, in New Zealand (Wellington), passing the time zones in Sydney, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Moscow, Frankfurt-on-Main, London, then finishing the day in New York and Los Angeles. The count of time zones begins from the zero meridian in Greenwich near London, and the time itself is called Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). Depending on the season (summer or winter), the time in different financial centers of the globe will differ from the GMT.The working day of exchange brokers of Western commercial banks starts, as a rule, at 7:30 am by local time. At 8:00 am the dealers are already closing deals. The morning hours are usually devoted to short analyses of events on the international exchange markets at the moment. The dealers use economic and technical analyses of the situation in the market, read analytical articles in newspapers, then exchange points of view and the latest rumors with each other and with dealers from other commercial banks. On the basis of various data, a picture of possible behavior of the exchange rate on the coming day is put together, with variants of all sorts of possible events.By 8:00 am the market, consisting of individual dealers, will have worked out the tactics of its behavior, and it enters the operations of the international exchange market, giving a new and powerful impulse to the movement of the exchange rate. Various territorial markets can be given the following characteristics of an average typical activity during a 24 hour day.Far East. Here the most active deals in the market are conversion transactions with the dollar to the Japanese yen, the dollar to Euro, Euro to yen, and the dollar to the Australian dollar. Very often fluctuations of exchange rates at that time are insignificant, but there are days when currencies, especially the dollar against the yen, make breath-taking flights. Especially so when the central bank of Japan makes an intervention. In Moscow its night and morning at that time, so till noon one can work with Tokyo, till mid-day with Singapore.Western Europe. At 10:00 am Moscow time the market in the European financial centers of Zurich, Frankfurt-on-Main, Paris, Luxembourg are open. However, the really powerful movement of the exchange rate against the main currencies starts after 11:00 am Moscow time, when the London market is opened. This continues, as a rule, for 2 to 3 hours, after that the dealers of the European banks go to have lunch, and the activity of the market falls down a bit.North America. The situation livens up with the opening of the New York market at 4:00 pm Moscow time, when dealers of American banks start working, and when European dealers come back from their lunch. Powers of European and American banks are about equal, that is why fluctuations of the rate do not go out of the limits of usual European fluctuations. Nevertheless, exchange dealers look forward to the opening of the New York market in order to receive fresh data about a possible movement of the rate (the more so if the European market has been sluggish). But when the European market is closed about 7p m or 8pm Moscow time, aggressive American banks, left alone on the "thin" market, are able to cause a sharp change of the exchange rate of the dollar against other currencies.What is a FX speculator? In modern conditions practically all financial transactions in the market are speculative by their nature, and there's nothing abnormal or criminal in it. One of the most vivid indices of markets' globalization is their daily volume of exchange transactions. Only in 10 major financial centers it increased from 206 billion dollars in 1986 to 967 billion dollars in 1992. According to the IMF, on the whole the volume is over 1 trillion dollars a day, and on some days it reaches 3 trillions. It is enough to say that the volume of gold and foreign exchange reserves of all developed countries was only 555.2 billion dollars in 1992, which is two times less than a daily volume of market transactions. According to some calculations, the volume of exchange transactions is 40 times bigger that the daily volume of foreign trade transactions. Therefore, most of the deals are caused not by a commercial necessity, but by financial reasons. And a financial transaction is always caused by the fact that money is looking for some profitable usage.The international exchange system functioning in the world at the moment develops among people dealing with exchange and financial transactions: the so-called speculative psychology. In the world where exchange rates fluctuate for some per cent every week, where currencies, that are considered to be stable can lose 20 to 30 per cent of their cost during a few months, it's absolutely clear that the manager of a fund, trying to compensate for inevitable losses, has to use speculative operations. For example, a reasonable owner of dollars has to get rid of them very quickly and exchange them for Euro every time the expected fall of the dollar against Euro surpasses the difference between the profit from American notes and the profit from the respective German notes. For instance, if in the coming months the dollar is expected to fall against the Euro by 6%, and the profit from American notes is 6 per cent bigger than the profit from German notes, a speculator will probably decide to keep dollars. If the gap in the interest rates is less than the expected fall of the rate, the "running away from the dollar" begins.Who are these speculators? An analysis shows that the main speculators acting in the market are institutional investors. Among them one can single out, first of all, official state institutions, and, secondly, private financial and other institutions. Thus according to the report of the "Group of Ten", state investors in Europe and Japan keep about 20 per cent of their assets in the form of foreign securities (in the USA only 7.5 per cent). However, the main feature of the 1980s was the growing international activity of private financial institutions: pension funds, insurance companies, and mutual funds. The Globalization of international financial markets is an objective process, reflecting the growing degree of economic relations in the world. It promotes a more effective distribution of financial resources.Major world exchange markets:AMEX - American Stock ExchangeBOVESPA - Sao Paulo Stock Exchange CBOT - Chicago Board of TradeCHX - Chicago Stock Exchange CME - Chicago Mercantile Exchange Commodities on the Web - List of the commoditiesLIFFE - London International Financial Futures and Options ExchangeLondon Stock Exchange -London Stock Exchange NasdaqNYMEX - New York Mercantile ExchangeNYSE - New York Stock Exchange SBF - la Bourse de Paris SES - Singapore ExchangeSET - Stock Exchange of ThailandTSE - Tokyo Stock Exchange TSE - Toronto Stock ExchangeLSEX - London Stock Exchange CBOE - Chicago Board Options Exchange CBOEPHLX - Philadelphia Stock ExchangeMetaTrader 4 Client Terminal has been created to provide trade operations and technical analysis in real time mode, when working at Forex, CFD, Futures financial markets. A wide range of orders allows flexible management of trading activities.As well as many technical indicators and line studies, there is built-in language for trade strategies programming MetaQuotes Language 4. Using this language, you can create Expert Advisors, Custom Indicators and Scripts. Expert Advisors can analyze the situation on the market, make decisions, put pending orders, and open positions in on-line mode without trader's participation. Custom Indicators, just like technical ones, can analyze the situation on the market and generate various signals. As for Scripts, they are designed for single execution of some actions.Client terminal MetaTrader 4 key features:working with securities of Forex, Futures and CFD markets;various execution technologies: Instant Execution, Request Execution, Market Execution;confidentiality of all trading operations;unlimited charts quantity;support of various timeframes (from minutes up to months);large number of technical indicators and line studies;Experts, Custom Indicators and Scripts;MultiLanguage program interface;realtime data export via DDE protocol;signals of system and trading actions;getting on-line news from financial markets;internal e-mail system;printing charts and completed trading transactions statemets.Advantages:MetaTrader 4 is the best solution for broker companies, banks, financial companies, and dealing centers. The main advantages of the system are:Coverage of financial marketsThe trading platform MetaTrader 4 covers all brokerage and trading activities at Forex, Futures and CFD markets.Multicurrency basisThe system is designed on a multicurrency basis. It means that any currency can serve as a general currency used in the operation of the whole complex in any country and with any national currency.Economy and productivityImplemented data transfer and processing protocols are notable for their economy. It makes it possible to support several thousands of traders through a single server with the following configuration: Pentium 4 2 GHz, 512 DDR RAM, 80 GB HDD. New protocols reduce both the demands on datalink and their operational cost.ReliabilityIn the case of damage to the historical data, the complex has backup and restoration systems. Also, the implemented synchronization allows to restore damaged historical databases within several minutes with the help of another MetaTrader 4 server.SafetyTo provide safety, all the information exchanged between parts of the complex is cripted by 128-bit keys. Such solution guarantees safekeeping of information transferred and leaves no chance for a third person to use it. A built-in DDoS-attacks guard system raises the stability of operation of the server and the system as a whole.A new scheme of system working operation was created especially for DDoS-attacks resistance. With its help, you can hide the real IP-address of the server behind a number of access points (Data Centers). Data Centers also have a built-in DoS-attacks protection system; they can recognize and block such attacks. During distributed attacks at the system, only Data Centers are attacked; MetaTrader 4 Server continues its operation in regular mode. Thus, Data Centers increase the system's stability to DoS and DDoS attacks.The implemented mechanisms of rights sharing make it possible to organize the security system with more effectiveness and to reduce the probability of ill-intentioned actions of company staff.Multilingual supportMetaTrader 4 supports different languages, and a MultiLanguage Pack program is included into distributive packages. It provides translation of all program interfaces into any language. With the help of MultiLanguage Pack you can easily create any language and integrate it into the program. This feature of the system will bring MetaTrader 4 nearer to end-users in any country of the world.Application Program InterfacesMetaTrader 4 Server API makes it possible to customize the work of platform to meet your requirements. API can solve a wide range of problems:creating additional analyzers for finding a trend of monthly increase of traders;creating applications of integration into other systems;extending the functionality of the server;implementing its own system work control mechanisms;and do much more.Integration with web-servicesTo provide traders with services of higher quality, the system supports the integration with web services (www, wap). This feature allows realtime publishing of quotations and charts on your site, dynamic tables containing contest results and much more.Flexibility of the systemThe platform possesses a wide range of customizable functions. You can set all parameters, from trade session time to detailed properties of financial instruments of each user groups.SubadministrationSubadministration mechanisms allow leading many Introducing Brokers on one server quite easily. For processing all accounts and orders of the clients of your IBs, you will need one serOther useful resoursesIt's only natural that, for professional work as an FX trader, a mere wish alone and technical opportunity are not enough. A person may be very gifted, but first he should learn a craft with all its subtleties and peculiarities. It's also clear that our web-site can neither replace a pile of manuals nor present a huge amount of articles, online textbooks and other material, supplied by the Web.Of course, we do have some auxiliary materials: advice, FAQ, but still it is not enough if you are a newcomer in the FOREX market. That is why we present here a rather extensive list of references supplied other recourses available for reading and copying by the user of the Internet. If you can offer an interesting reference or an article, we'd be pleased to place it in this section.ANALYSIS:Accurate Forex Trading Signals - Forex Trading Signals/Alerts for Swing Traders.Foreign Currency Exchange - Make your international payments with North America’s leading foreign exchange services provider including funds transfer, forward contracts, and currency risk management.AceTrader - trade signals on the majors, updated six times/day. Trade signals with stops and profit objectives, plus in depth technical analysis and wave analysis.K.B. Advisory Ltd - Daily FX forecasts and trade signals for professional FX traders.Elliott Wave Analysis by A. Bezrodny - technical analysis using Elliott wave analysis for yen, swiss, and euro.BBSP - technical analysis, commentary and trade signals for currencies and other sectors.Dukascopy Analysis - advanced proprietary TA for all markets, emphasis on fx using quantum mechanics.Forex Market Outlook - elliott wave analysis.Penny Stocks Guide - Get important information about penny stocks that will help with your investment choices.Currency Trading USA - Trade currencies online and get free training when you open a forex account. Sign up for a 30-day free trial of our online trading system today. Great for swing trading and day trading.Forex Day Trading Online - Get free training on our award-winning, online currency trading system. Use our platform to learn how to day trade free for 30 days. Trading currencies requires a lot less money than trading stocks. See how well you do trading the forex market in 30 days.Stock Market Charts - Get stock market quotes, live charts, news and other financial information at The Financials.Go Forex - A one-stop forex trading shop. Includes a wide range of information and resources about foreign exchange trading.The Official Forex Training Site - Free information about the forexmarket, forex news, etc.FINANCIAL MAGAZINES:Technical Analysis of Stocks &Commodities - a TA publication for the futures and stock mkts.Treasury and Risk Management Magazine - a publication for the international risk manager.Treasury Management International - ideal for corporate treasurers involved in fx, risk, trade, derivatives, etc.Forex Grand Capitals - provides best market opportunities in forex signals and Forex trading, Forex training and Forex chat toward real strategic investment solutions. Forex for professionals exclusively.Profit Loss - magazine for currency and derivatives.Derivatives - a monthly magazine devoted to the u.s. derivative scene.Derivatives Strategy - monthly magazine covering derivative issues in all major markets including fx.Derivatives Week - over the counter (otc) derivatives and fx commentary.ErivativesReview - online derivatives magazine covering all markets, otc and listed.Euromoney Magazine - covering the European financial scene, including Fx.Forex Trading Books - Traders Forum - the educational resources about currency trading for all levels of traders from novice to professional. FINANCIAL SOFTWARE:TradeStation by Omega Research - Imagine historically testing any idea you have for buying and selling, and revealing the results in seconds. Imagine if you could pinpoint the ones that could have worked (and those that wouldn't have) before you risk one penny on a trade. Now imagine being able to automate the real-time monitoring and execution of any strategy you ultimately select. In effect, to harness the power of your PC to identify and react to market opportunities (however your strategy defines them) more quickly and easily than you ever thought possible.MetaStock by Equis International - The unparalleled market technical analysis software! Analyze market data in real time. Plan your own strategy to make money, regardless of upward or downward trending markets. Technical analysis has never been easier! MetaStock's incredibly intuitive drag-and-drop charting tools allow you to spend your time charting, without any confusing coding or programming. Powerful back-testing functions, over 100 preset indicators and easy formula customization give you unmatched control of your market trading strategy.ver only.Description of the PRO-CHARTS programPRO-CHARTS is a system of technical analysis, based on the Java technology. PRO-CHARTS is designed for acquiring market quotes and their analysis in real time. For getting access to PRO-CHARTS, you have to register a demo account or a real account.Demands to the computerStarting PRO-CHARTSSaving user settingsQuotes in the window Current QuotesAdding windowsInterpretation of chartsStyle of presenting chartsWork with indicatorsDemands to the computer You can use PRO-CHARTS when working on any computer supporting Versions 1.1 of the Java language. PRO-CHARTS has been tested by implementators with some of the most popular browsers on the platforms Windows 95-98, Windows NT 4.0, and Windows 2000. It is recommended to use Internet Explorer Version 5 as the browser. If you use earlier versions, as well as Netscape Navigator and Opera, you may have some difficulties, because these browsers do not always work correctly with Windows.In order to work with PRO-CHARTS you will need a quick-working computer and browser, because the programs are based on the modern Java technology. It will give you certain advantages. First of all, the Java programs do not depend on the platform. Secondly, you don't have to install any programs. Loading of Java applets in the Internet takes less than a minute, but your browser has to support Java and JavaScript.To feel comfortable yourself, it's advisable to have a computer with the processor Intel Pentium from 450 MHz or an equally quick processor. If the speed of your computer is less, all the functions of PRO-CHART will be available, but some of them can be executed with a delay.PRO-CHARTS does not demand a very quick connection to the Internet. When the charts are loaded, watching the market and exchange with the server slowed down considerably, and even the slowest channel will be enough. However, if your processor is slow, initial loading of charts will be relatively slow as well. On the Channel 33Kbps PRO-CHARTS loads in less than 30 seconds, and the charts in about 5 seconds.Starting PRO-CHARTSYou can start PRO-CHARTS in two ways. If you are going to work with the terminal and PRO-CHARTS at the same time, you have to tick checkbox "PRO-CHARTS" when you insert your login and password into the form of the terminal's entrance for registered users (in the left part of the page, below the menu). The program will start automatically together with the terminal. There's no need to insert login and password again.If you need only PRO-CHARTS, click the reference in the upper part of page "Start PRO-CHARTS". In any case, in some time (as a rule, in 30 to 40 seconds) the main window of the program will be started in a separate browser window.FOREX (Foreks) bozori - banklararo bozor bo'lib, u xalqaro savdo aniq qayd etilgan valuta kurslaridan o'zgaruvchan kurslarga o'tganida, 1971 yilda shakllangan. Bunda bir valutaning boshqa valutaga nisbatan kursi oddiygina belgilanadi, ya'ni har ikki tomon rozi bo'lgan kurslar nisbati bo'yicha valuta almashiniladi. O'z hajmiga ko'ra mazkur bozor boshqa barcha bozorlardan katta hisoblanadi. Masalan, qimmatli qog'ozlar bozorining jahondagi kundalik hajmi qariyb 300 milliardni tashkil etadi. Holbuki, Forex bozorining kunlik hajmi 1-3 trillion dollar deb baholanadi.Qolaversa, Forex aslida biz ko'nikkan ma'nodagi "bozor" ham emas. Uning aksiyalar yoki valuta fyucherslari kabi aniq savdo qilinadigan joyi yo'q. Forex bozorida savdo bir yo'la butun jahondagi yuzlab banklarda telefon va komputer terminallari orqali o'tadi.Bundan tashqari, fyuchers va fond bozorlarining yana bir jiddiy farqi va ayni paytda cheklovi bor - bunda savdo kun oxirida to'xtatilib, faqat keyingi kuni ertalab davom ettiriladi. Shu bois, agar siz Rossiya bozorida savdo qilayotgan, bozor uchun muhim ayrim voqealar esa AQShda yuz bergan bo'lsa, u holda ertalab bozor ochilishidagi holat siz kutganingizga mutlaqo to'g'ri kelmasligi mumkin. Forex bozori kecha-yu kunduz 24 soat mobaynida ishlaydi va valuta ayirboshlash butun ish haftasi davomida to'xtamaydi. Amalda soat mintaqalarining har birida (ya'ni, London, Nyu York, Tokio, Gonkong, Sidney va boshqa joylarda) valutani kotirovkalash istagida bo'lgan dilerlar bor.Forex is my user name for a reason! I like what has been said here on Wiki about FX, but I don't like the changes that keep being pushed towards "big business" by so called gurus just because they have been around for years. If the major market players want to Spam Wikipedia with their agendas then I will take the bias start for content and edit it the way I see it- as someone in Forex everyday and working with Forex Traders and Brokers everyday. Good retail trading in Forex can bring good insight, and with Programs out there empowering traders many are getting in most cases better then "them" anyway and trading to win is the goal right? Worst case is that retail forex trading has made Forex a "topic" and has driven what was once thought of as the "step child" market into the next big market. So if retail forex has driven the popularity in the first place, retail traders should be heard. So my goal is not let the "Monday morning QB's" fom big banks and brokrage firms and hedge funds come back around and act as if, and push their power agendas. I'm user name FOREX and this part of the Wiki Pedia Forex section should reflect real helpful information! ForexForex where one currency is traded for another. It is by far the largest market in the world, in terms of cash value traded, and includes trading between large banks, central banks, currency speculators, multinational corporations, governments, and other financial markets and institutions. Retail traders (speculators) are a smaller part of this market. They may participate directly through brokers or banks if they research the market correctly and or establish relationship with them Many that are not in the know about how the market works have become targets of forex scams.Contents[hide]1 Market size and liquidity2 Trading characteristics3 Market participants3.1 Banks3.2 Commercial Companies3.3 Central Banks3.4 Investment Management Firms3.5 Hedge Funds3.6 Retail Forex Brokers4 Speculation5 Reference6 See also7 External links//[edit] Market size and liquidityThe foreign exchange market is unique because of:its trading volume,the extreme liquidity of the market,the large number of, and variety of, traders in the market,its geographical dispersion,its long trading hours - 24 hours a day (except on weekends).the variety of factors that affect exchange rates,Average daily international foreign exchange trading volume was $1.9 trillion in April 2004 according to the BIS study Triennial Central Bank Survey 2004$600 billion spot$1,300 billion in derivatives, ie$200 billion in outright forwards$1,000 billion in forex swaps$100 billion in FX options.Exchange-traded forex futures contracts were introduced in 1972 at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and are actively traded relative to most other futures contracts. Forex futures volume has grown rapidly in recent years, but only accounts for about 7% of the total foreign exchange market volume, according to The Wall Street Journal Europe (5/5/06, p. 20).Top 10 Currency Traders% of overall volume, May 2005RankName% of volume1Deutsche Bank17.02UBS12.53Citigroup7.54HSBC6.45Barclays5.96Merrill Lynch5.77J.P. Morgan Chase5.38Goldman Sachs4.49ABN Amro4.210Morgan Stanley3.9The ten most active traders account for almost 73% of trading volume, according to The Wall Street Journal Europe, (2/9/06 p. 20). These large international banks continually provide the market with both bid (buy) and ask (sell) prices. The bid/ask spread is the difference between the price at which a bank or market maker will sell ("ask", or "offer") and the price at which a market-maker will buy ("bid") from a wholesale customer. This spread is minimal for actively traded pairs of currencies, usually only 1-3 pips. For example, the bid/ask quote of EUR/USD might be 1.2200/1.2203. Minimum trading size for most deals is usually $1,000,000.These spreads do not apply to retail customers. To individuals, banks will routinely mark up the difference to say 1.2100 / 1.2300 for transfers, or say 1.2000 / 1.2400 for banknotes or travellers' cheques.[edit] Trading characteristicsThere is no single unified foreign exchange market. Due to the over-the-counter (OTC) nature of currency markets, there are rather a number of interconnected marketplaces, where different currency instruments are traded. This implies that there is no such thing as a single dollar rate - but rather a number of different rates (prices), depending on what bank or market maker is trading. In practice the rates are often very close, otherwise they could be exploited by arbitrageurs.Top 6 Most Traded CurrenciesRankCurrencyISO 4217 CodeSymbol1United States dollarUSD$2Eurozone euroEUR€3Japanese yenJPY¥4British pound sterlingGBP£5-6Swiss francCHF-5-6Australian dollarAUD$The main trading centers are in London, New York, and Tokyo, but banks throughout the world participate. As the Asian trading session ends, the European session begins, then the US session, and then the Asian begin in their turns. Traders can react to news when it breaks, rather than waiting for the market to open.There is little or no 'inside information' in the foreign exchange markets. Exchange rate fluctuations are usually caused by actual monetary flows as well as by expectations of changes in monetary flows caused by changes in GDP growth, inflation, interest rates, budget and trade deficits or surpluses, and other macroeconomic conditions. Major news is released publicly, often on scheduled dates, so many people have access to the same news at the same time.Currencies are traded against one another. Each pair of currencies thus constitutes an individual product and is traditionally noted XXX/YYY, where YYY is the ISO 4217 international three-letter code of the currency into which the price of one unit of XXX currency is expressed. For instance, EUR/USD is the price of the euro expressed in US dollars, as in 1 euro = 1.2045 dollar.On the spot market, according to the BIS study, the most heavily traded products were:EUR/USD - 28 %USD/JPY - 17 %GBP/USD (also called cable) - 14 %and the US currency was involved in 89% of transactions, followed by the euro (37%), the yen (20%) and sterling (17%). (Note that volume percentages should add up to 200% - 100% for all the sellers, and 100% for all the buyers). Although trading in the euro has grown considerably since the currency's creation in January 1999, the foreign exchange market is thus still largely dollar-centered. For instance, trading the euro versus a non-European currency ZZZ will usually involve two trades: EUR/USD and USD/ZZZ. The only exception to this is EUR/JPY, which is an established traded currency pair in the interbank spot market.[edit] Market participantsAccording to the BIS study Triennial Central Bank Survey 200453% of transactions were strictly interdealer (ie interbank);33% involved a dealer (ie a bank) and a fund manager or some other non-bank financial institution;and only 14% were between a dealer and a non-financial company.[edit] BanksThe interbank market caters for both the majority of commercial turnover and large amounts of speculative trading every day. A large bank may trade billions of dollars daily. Some of this trading is undertaken on behalf of customers, but much is conducted by proprietary desks, trading for the bank's own account.Until recently, foreign exchange brokers did large amounts of business, facilitating interbank trading and matching anonymous counterparts for small fees. Today, however, much of this business is moving on to more efficient electronic systems, such as Bloomberg EBS and TradeBook(R), Reuters 3000 Matching (D2), and EBS. The broker squawk box lets traders listen in on ongoing interbank trading is heard in most trading rooms, but turnover is noticeably smaller than just a few years ago.[edit] Commercial CompaniesAn important part of this market comes from the financial activities of companies seeking foreign exchange to pay for goods or services. Commercial companies often trade fairly small amounts compared to those of banks or speculators, and their trades often have little short term impact on market rates. Nevertheless, trade flows are an important factor in the long-term direction of a currency's exchange rate. Some multinational companies can have an unpredictable impact when very large positions are covered due to exposures that are not widely known by other market participants.[edit] Central BanksNational central banks play an important role in the foreign exchange markets. They try to control the money supply, inflation, and/or interest rates and often have official or unofficial target rates for their currencies. They can use their often substantial foreign exchange reserves, to stabilize the market. Milton Friedman argued that the best stabilization strategy would be for central banks to buy when the exchange rate is too low, and to sell when the rate is too high - that is, to trade for a profit. Nevertheless, central banks do not go bankrupt if they make large losses, like other traders would, and there is no convincing evidence that they do make a profit trading.The mere expectation or rumor of central bank intervention might be enough to stabilize a currency, but aggressive intervention might be used several times each year in countries with a dirty float currency regime. Central banks do not always achieve their objectives, however. The combined resources of the market can easily overwhelm any central bank. Several scenarios of this nature were seen in the 1992-93 ERM collapse, and in more recent times in South East Asia.[edit] Investment Management FirmsInvestment Management firms (who typically manage large accounts on behalf of customers such as pension funds, endowments etc.) utilise the Foreign exchange market to facilitate transactions in foreign securities. For example, an investment manager with an international equity portfolio will need to buy and sell foreign currencies in the 'spot' market in order to pay for, and redeem, purchases and sales of foreign equities. Since these transactions are secondary to the actual investment decision, they are not seen as speculative or aimed at profit-maximisation.Some investment management firms also possess specialist Currency Overlay units, which have the specific objective of managing clients' currency exposures with the aim of generating profits whilst limiting risk. Whilst the number of dedicated currency managers is quite small, the size of their assets under management (AUM) can be quite significant, which can lead to large trades.[edit] Hedge FundsHedge funds, such as George Soros's Quantum fund have gained a reputation for aggressive currency speculation since 1990. They control billions of dollars of equity and may borrow billions more, and thus may overwhelm intervention by central banks to support almost any currency, if the economic fundamentals are in the hedge funds' favor.[edit] Retail Forex BrokersRetail forex brokers handle a minute fraction of the total volume of the foreign exchange market. According to CNN, one retail broker estimates retail volume at $25-50 billion daily, [1]which is about 2% of the whole market. CNN also quotes an official of the National Futures Association "Retail forex trading has increased dramatically over the past few years. Unfortunately, the amount of forex fraud has also increased dramatically."In the retail Forex industry brokers more often than not run two separate trading platforms - one that they use to actually trade the Forex (non-dealing desk aka non-trading desk) and one that is set up for the expressed purpose of off-exchange trading with retail customers (the dealing desk aka trading desk).The dealing desk operates much like the currency exchange counter at a bank. Interbank exchange rates, those coming in from the interbank system and displayed at the non-dealing desk, are adjusted to incorporate fixed spreads that guarantee the bank’s (in this instance the broker’s) profit before they displayed in the lobby (at the dealing desk) to the retail customer. Dealing desk pricing is, therefore, not a direct reflection of the currency exchange but an artificial market created and controlled by the originating broker.While there are only a limited number of retail Forex brokers offering consumers direct access to the Forex through a non-dealing desk, the vast majority do not and for two apparent reasons. First, the number of clearing banks willing to process the orders of private investors is extremely limited so most brokers couldn’t offer traders access to their non-dealing desks if they wanted to. Second, dealing desk brokerage is decidedly more profitable.Whereas a retail non-dealing desk broker’s income is limited to transaction fees (commissions), dealing desk brokers can generate income in a variety of ways because they not only control the trading process, they also control pricing which can be skewed at any time to maximize profits and to take advantage of internal and external trading opportunities. As evidence of this, traders point to the “reorder”, a broker counteroffer that is issued in response to a trader’s execution order. Instead of the filling an order based on displayed terms, the broker rejects the order, issuing one that detractors believe favors the broker’s interests.Dealing desk brokers are market makers. They not only create and manage artificial, off exchange trading environments (markets), they also function as market makers for the interbank system and, thereby, serve as independent and competing sources of liquidity for participating banks. This dual capacity is seen by many as posing an inherent conflict of interest because there is nothing to prevent brokers from taking out (spiking or stop phishing) [2] off-exchange trades when the they find an opportunity to fill larger, on-exchange orders.Like the rebellion that started over a quarter of a century ago that led most small investors to abandon large stock brokerage firms in favor of discount, on-line brokerage firms like Schwab, E-trade, Ameritrade, Datek, and Fidelity, there are those who think retail Forex trading will go much the same way. Investors abandoned large stock brokerage firms not only because the trading costs were lower but because their stockbrokers were more interested in making markets for themselves (churning accounts) and their corporate partners rather than serving the financial needs of the individual trader. Similarly, dealing desk brokers may inevitably be forced to abandon their artificial trading platforms, offering traders direct market access through their non-dealing desks.According to the Wall Street Journal (Currency Markets Draw Speculation, Fraud July 26, 2005) "Even people running the trading shops warn clients against trying to time the market. 'If 15% of day traders are profitable,' says Drew Niv, chief executive of FXCM, 'I'd be surprised.' " [3]In the US, "it is unlawful to offer foreign currency futures and option contracts to retail customers unless the offeror is a regulated financial entity" according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission [4]. Legitimate retail brokers serving traders in the U.S. are most often registered with the CFTC as "futures commission merchants" (FCMs) and are members of the National Futures Association (NFA). Potential clients can check the broker's FCM status at the NFA. Retail forex brokers are much less regulated than stock brokers and there is no protection similar to that from the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. The CFTC has noted an increase in forex scams [5].[edit] SpeculationControversy about currency speculators and their effect on currency devaluations and national economies recurs regularly. Nevertheless, many economists (e.g. Milton Friedman) argue that speculators perform the important function of providing a market for hedgers and transferring risk from those people who don't wish to bear it, to those who do. Other economists (e.g. Joseph Stiglitz) however, may consider this argument to be based more on politics and a free market philosophy than on economics.Large hedge funds and other well capitalized "position traders" are the main professional speculators.Currency speculation is considered a highly suspect activity in many countries. While investment in traditional financial instruments like bonds or stocks often is considered to contribute positively to economic growth by providing capital, currency speculation does not, according to this view. It is simply gambling, that often interfers with economic policy. For example, in 1992, currency speculation forced the Central Bank of Sweden to raise interest rates for a few days to 150% per annum, and later to devalue the krona. Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is one well known proponent of this view [6]. He blamed the devaluation of the Malaysian ringgit in 1997 on George Soros and other speculators.Gregory Millman reports on an opposing view, comparing speculators to "vigilantes" who simply help "enforce" international agreements and anticipate the effects of basic economic "laws" in order to profit.In this view, countries may develop unsustainable financial bubbles or otherwise mishandle their national economies, and forex speculators only made the inevitable collapse happen sooner. A relatively quick collapse might even be preferable to continued economic mishandling. Mahathir Mohamad and other critics of speculation are viewed as trying to deflect the blame from themselves for having caused the unsustainable economic conditions.[edit] ReferenceGregory J. Millman, Around the World on a Trillion Dollars a Day, Bantam Press, New York, 1995.[edit] See alsoExchange rateForex scamsBretton Woods systemBalance of tradeBalance of PaymentsBase currencyThe foreign exchange (currency or forex or FX) market exists wherever one currency is traded for another. It is by far the largest financial market in the world, and includes trading between large banks, central banks, currency speculators, multinational corporations, governments, and other financial markets and institutions. The average daily trade in the global forex markets currently exceeds US$1.9 trillion. Retail traders (individuals) are a small fraction of this market and may only participate indirectly through brokers or banks.Contents[hide]1 Market size and liquidity1.1 Banks1.2 Commercial companies1.3 Central banks1.4 Investment management firms1.5 Hedge funds1.6 Retail forex brokers2 Trading characteristics3 Factors affecting currency trading3.1 Economic factors3.2 Political conditions3.3 Market psychology4 Algorithmic trading in forex5 Financial instruments6 Speculation7 References8 See also9 External links//[edit] Market size and liquidityThe foreign exchange market is unique because of:its trading volume,the extreme liquidity of the market,the large number of, and variety of, traders in the market,its geographical dispersion,its long trading hours - 24 hours a day (except on weekends).the variety of factors that affect exchange rates,According to the BIS [1], average daily turnover in traditional foreign exchange markets was estimated at $1,880 billion. Daily averages in April for different years, in billions of US dollars, are presented on the chart below:Global foreign exchange market turnover:$621 billion$1.26 trillion in derivatives, ie$208 billion in outright forwards$944 billion in forex swaps$107 billion in FX options.Exchange-traded forex futures contracts were introduced in 1972 at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and are actively traded relative to most other futures contracts. Forex futures volume has grown rapidly in recent years, but only accounts for about 7% of the total foreign exchange market volume, according to The Wall Street Journal Europe (5/5/06, p. 20).Average daily global turnover in traditional foreign exchange market transactions totaled $2.7 trillion in April 2006 according to IFSL estimates based on semi-annual London, New York, Tokyo and Singapore Foreign Exchange Committee data. Overall turnover, including non-traditional foreign exchange derivatives and products traded on exchanges, averaged around $2.9 trillion a day. This was more than ten times the size of the combined daily turnover on all the world’s equity markets. Foreign exchange trading increased by 38% between April 2005 and April 2006 and has more than doubled since 2001. This is largely due to the growing importance of foreign exchange as an asset class and an increase in fund management assets, particularly of hedge funds and pension funds. The diverse selection of execution venues such as internet trading platforms has also made it easier for retail traders to trade in the foreign exchange market. [2]Because foreign exchange is an OTC market where brokers/dealers negotiate directly with one another, there is no central exchange or clearing house. The biggest geographic trading centre is the UK, primarily London, which according to IFSL estimates has increased its share of global turnover in traditional transactions from 31.3% in April 2004 to 32.4% in April 2006.The ten most active traders account for almost 73% of trading volume, according to The Wall Street Journal Europe, (2/9/06 p. 20). These large international banks continually provide the market with both bid (buy) and ask (sell) prices. The bid/ask spread is the difference between the price at which a bank or market maker will sell ("ask", or "offer") and the price at which a market-maker will buy ("bid") from a wholesale customer. This spread is minimal for actively traded pairs of currencies, usually only 0-3 pips. For example, the bid/ask quote of EUR/USD might be 1.2200/1.2203. Minimum trading size for most deals is usually $100,000.These spreads might not apply to retail customers at banks, which will routinely mark up the difference to say 1.2100 / 1.2300 for transfers, or say 1.2000 / 1.2400 for banknotes or travelers' checks. Spot prices at market makers vary, but on EUR/USD are usually no more than 3 pips wide (i.e. 0.0003). Competition has greatly increased with pip spreads shrinking on the major pairs to as little as 1 to 2 pips.[edit] BanksThe interbank market caters for both the majority of commercial turnover and large amounts of speculative trading every day. A large bank may trade billions of dollars daily. Some of this trading is undertaken on behalf of customers, but much is conducted by proprietary desks, trading for the bank's own account.Until recently, foreign exchange brokers did large amounts of business, facilitating interbank trading and matching anonymous counterparts for small fees. Today, however, much of this business has moved on to more efficient electronic systems, such as EBS (now owned by ICAP), Reuters Dealing 3000 Matching (D2), the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Bloomberg and TradeBook(R). The broker squawk box lets traders listen in on ongoing interbank trading and is heard in most trading rooms, but turnover is noticeably smaller than just a few years ago.[edit] Commercial companiesAn important part of this market comes from the financial activities of companies seeking foreign exchange to pay for goods or services. Commercial companies often trade fairly small amounts compared to those of banks or speculators, and their trades often have little short term impact on market rates. Nevertheless, trade flows are an important factor in the long-term direction of a currency's exchange rate. Some multinational companies can have an unpredictable impact when very large positions are covered due to exposures that are not widely known by other market participants.[edit] Central banksNational central banks play an important role in the foreign exchange markets. They try to control the money supply, inflation, and/or interest rates and often have official or unofficial target rates for their currencies. They can use their often substantial foreign exchange reserves to stabilize the market. Milton Friedman argued that the best stabilization strategy would be for central banks to buy when the exchange rate is too low, and to sell when the rate is too high — that is, to trade for a profit based on their more precise information. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of central bank "stabilizing speculation" is doubtful because central banks do not go bankrupt if they make large losses, like other traders would, and there is no convincing evidence that they do make a profit trading.The mere expectation or rumor of central bank intervention might be enough to stabilize a currency, but aggressive intervention might be used several times each year in countries with a dirty float currency regime. Central banks do not always achieve their objectives, however. The combined resources of the market can easily overwhelm any central bank. Several scenarios of this nature were seen in the 1992-93 ERM collapse, and in more recent times in Southeast Asia.[edit] Investment management firmsInvestment management firms (who typically manage large accounts on behalf of customers such as pension funds and endowments) use the foreign exchange market to facilitate transactions in foreign securities. For example, an investment manager with an international equity portfolio will need to buy and sell foreign currencies in the spot market in order to pay for purchases of foreign equities. Since the forex transactions are secondary to the actual investment decision, they are not seen as speculative or aimed at profit-maximization.Some investment management firms also have more speculative specialist currency overlay operations, which manage clients' currency exposures with the aim of generating profits as well as limiting risk. Whilst the number of this type of specialist firms is quite small, many have a large value of assets under management (AUM), and hence can generate large trades.[edit] Hedge fundsHedge funds, such as George Soros's Quantum fund have gained a reputation for aggressive currency speculation since 1990. They control billions of dollars of equity and may borrow billions more, and thus may overwhelm intervention by central banks to support almost any currency, if the economic fundamentals are in the hedge funds' favor.[edit] Retail forex brokersRetail forex brokers or market makers handle a minute fraction of the total volume of the foreign exchange market. According to CNN, one retail broker estimates retail volume at $25-50 billion daily, which is about 2% of the whole market and it has been reported by the CFTC website that unexperienced investors may become targets of forex scams.[edit] Trading characteristicsThere is no single unified foreign exchange market. Due to the over-the-counter (OTC) nature of currency markets, there are rather a number of interconnected marketplaces, where different currency instruments are traded. This implies that there is no such thing as a single dollar rate - but rather a number of different rates (prices), depending on what bank or market maker is trading. In practice the rates are often very close, otherwise they could be exploited by arbitrageurs.Top 6 Most Traded CurrenciesRankCurrencyISO 4217 CodeSymbol1United States dollarUSD$2Eurozone euroEUR€3Japanese yenJPY¥4British pound sterlingGBP£5-6Swiss francCHF-5-6Australian dollarAUD$The main trading centers are in London, New York, Tokyo, and Singapore, but banks throughout the world participate. Currency trading happens continuously throughout the day; as the Asian trading session ends, the European session begins, followed by the US session and then back to the Asian session, excluding weekends.There is little or no 'inside information' in the foreign exchange markets. Exchange rate fluctuations are usually caused by actual monetary flows as well as by expectations of changes in monetary flows caused by changes in GDP growth, inflation, interest rates, budget and trade deficits or surpluses, large cross-border M&A deals and other macroeconomic conditions. Major news is released publicly, often on scheduled dates, so many people have access to the same news at the same time. However, the large banks have an important advantage; they can see their customers' order flow.Currencies are traded against one another. Each pair of currencies thus constitutes an individual product and is traditionally noted XXX/YYY, where YYY is the ISO 4217 international three-letter code of the currency into which the price of one unit of XXX is expressed. For instance, EUR/USD is the price of the euro expressed in US dollars, as in 1 euro = 1.3045 dollar. Out of convention, the first currency in the pair, the base currency, was the stronger currency at the creation of the pair. The second currency, counter currency, was the weaker currency at the creation of the pair.The factors affecting XXX will affect both XXX/YYY and XXX/ZZZ. This causes positive currency correlation between XXX/YYY and XXX/ZZZ.On the spot market, according to the BIS study, the most heavily traded products were:EUR/USD - 28 %USD/JPY - 18 %GBP/USD (also called sterling or cable) - 14 %and the US currency was involved in 89% of transactions, followed by the euro (37%), the yen (20%) and sterling (17%). (Note that volume percentages should add up to 200% - 100% for all the sellers, and 100% for all the buyers).Although trading in the euro has grown considerably since the currency's creation in January 1999, the foreign exchange market is thus far still largely dollar-centered. For instance, trading the euro versus a non-European currency ZZZ will usually involve two trades: EUR/USD and USD/ZZZ. The only exception to this is EUR/JPY, which is an established traded currency pair in the interbank spot market.[edit] Factors affecting currency tradingSee also: Exchange ratesAlthough exchange rates are affected by many factors, in the end, currency prices are a result of supply and demand forces. The world's currency markets can be viewed as a huge melting pot: in a large and ever-changing mix of current events, supply and demand factors are constantly shifting, and the price of one currency in relation to another shifts accordingly. No other market encompasses (and distills) as much of what is going on in the world at any given time as foreign exchange.Supply and demand for any given currency, and thus its value, are not influenced by any single element, but rather by several. These elements generally fall into three categories: economic factors, political conditions and market psychology.[edit] Economic factorsThese include economic policy, disseminated by government agencies and central banks, economic conditions, generally revealed through economic reports, and other economic indicators.Economic policy comprises government fiscal policy (budget/spending practices) and monetary policy (the means by which a government's central bank influences the supply and "cost" of money, which is reflected by the level of interest rates).Economic conditions include:Government budget deficits or surpluses: The market usually reacts negatively to widening government budget deficits, and positively to narrowing budget deficits. The impact is reflected in the value of a country's currency.Balance of trade levels and trends: The trade flow between countries illustrates the demand for goods and services, which in turn indicates demand for a country's currency to conduct trade. Surpluses and deficits in trade of goods and services reflect the competitiveness of a nation's economy. For example, trade deficits may have a negative impact on a nation's currency.Inflation levels and trends: Typically, a currency will lose value if there is a high level of inflation in the country or if inflation levels are perceived to be rising. This is because inflation erodes purchasing power, thus demand, for that particular currency.Economic growth and health: Reports such as gross domestic product (GDP), employment levels, retail sales, capacity utilization and others, detail the levels of a country's economic growth and health. Generally, the more healthy and robust a country's economy, the better its currency will perform, and the more demand for it there will be.[edit] Political conditionsInternal, regional, and international political conditions and events can have a profound effect on currency markets.For instance, political upheaval and instability can have a negative impact on a nation's economy. The rise of a political faction that is perceived to be fiscally responsible can have the opposite effect. Also, events in one country in a region may spur positive or negative interest in a neighboring country and, in the process, affect its currency.[edit] Market psychologyMarket psychology and trader perceptions influence the foreign exchange market in a variety of ways:Flights to quality: Unsettling international events can lead to a "flight to quality" -with investors seeking a "safe haven". There will be a greater demand, thus a higher price, for currencies perceived as stronger over their relatively weaker counterparts.Long-term trends: Currency markets often move in visible long-term trends. Although currencies do not have an annual growing season like physical commodities, business cycles do make themselves felt. Cycle analysis looks at longer-term price trends that may rise from economic or political trends. [3]"Buy the rumor, sell the fact:" This market truism can apply to many currency situations. It is the tendency for the price of a currency to reflect the impact of a particular action before it occurs and, when the anticipated event comes to pass, react in exactly the opposite direction. This may also be referred to as a market being "oversold" or "overbought".[4] To buy the rumor or sell the fact can also be an example of the cognitive bias known as anchoring, when investors focus too much on the relevance of outside events to currency prices.Economic numbers: While economic numbers can certainly reflect economic policy, some reports and numbers take on a talisman-like effect - the number itself becomes important to market psychology and may have an immediate impact on short-term market moves. "What to watch" can change over time. In recent years, for example, money supply, employment, trade balance figures and inflation numbers have all taken turns in the spotlight.Technical trading considerations: As in other markets, the accumulated price movements in a currency pair such as EUR/USD can form patterns that may be recognized and utilized by traders for the purpose of entering and exiting the market, leading to short-term fluctuations in price. Many traders study price charts in order to identify such patterns. [5][edit] Algorithmic trading in forexElectronic trading is growing in the FX market, and algorithmic trading is becoming much more common. There is much confusion about the technique. According to financial consultancy Celent estimates, by 2008 up to 25% of all trades by volume will be executed using algorithm, up from about 18% in 2005.[edit] Financial instrumentsThere are several types of financial instruments commonly used.Spot: A spot transaction is a two-day delivery transaction, as opposed to the futures contracts, which are usually three months. This trade represents a “direct exchange” between two currencies, has the shortest time frame, involves cash rather than a contract; and interest is not included in the agreed-upon transaction. The data for this study come from the spot market. Spot has the largest share by volume in FX transactions among all instruments.Forward transaction: One way to deal with the Forex risk is to engage in a forward transaction. In this transaction, money does not actually change hands until some agreed upon future date. A buyer and seller agree on an exchange rate for any date in the future, and the transaction occurs on that date, regardless of what the market rates are then. The duration of the trade can be a few days, months or years.Futures: Foreign currency futures are forward transactions with standard contract sizes and maturity dates — for example, 500,000 British pounds for next November at an agreed rate. Futures are standardized and are usually traded on an exchange created for this purpose. The average contract length is roughly 3 months. Futures contracts are usually inclusive of any interest amounts.Swap: The most common type of forward transaction is the currency swap. In a swap, two parties exchange currencies for a certain length of time and agree to reverse the transaction at a later date. These are not contracts and are not traded through an exchange.Options: A foreign exchange option (commonly shortened to just FX option) is a derivative where the owner has the right but not the obligation to exchange money denominated in one currency into another currency at a pre-agreed exchange rate on a specified date. The FX options market is the deepest, largest and most liquid market for options of any kind in the world.[edit] SpeculationControversy about currency speculators and their effect on currency devaluations and national economies recurs regularly. Nevertheless, many economists (e.g. Milton Friedman) have argued that speculators perform the important function of providing a market for hedgers and transferring risk from those people who don't wish to bear it, to those who do. Other economists (e.g. Joseph Stiglitz) however, may consider this argument to be based more on politics and a free market philosophy than on economics.Large hedge funds and other well capitalized "position traders" are the main professional speculators.Currency speculation is considered a highly suspect activity in many countries. While investment in traditional financial instruments like bonds or stocks often is considered to contribute positively to economic growth by providing capital, currency speculation does not, according to this view; it is simply gambling, that often interferes with economic policy. For example, in 1992, currency speculation forced the Central Bank of Sweden to raise interest rates for a few days to 150% per annum, and later to devalue the krona. Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is one well known proponent of this view. He blamed the devaluation of the Malaysian ringgit in 1997 on George Soros and other speculators.[6]Gregory Millman reports on an opposing view, comparing speculators to "vigilantes" who simply help "enforce" international agreements and anticipate the effects of basic economic "laws" in order to profit.In this view, countries may develop unsustainable financial bubbles or otherwise mishandle their national economies, and forex speculators only made the inevitable collapse happen sooner. A relatively quick collapse might even be preferable to continued economic mishandling. Mahathir Mohamad and other critics of speculation are viewed as trying to deflect the blame from themselves for having caused the unsustainable economic conditions.[edit] References^ Triennial Central Bank Survey (March 2005), Bank for International Settlements.^ Foreign Exchange (October 2006), International Financial Services, London.^ John J. Murphy, Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets (New York Institute of Finance, 1999), pp. 343-375.^ Investopedia^ Sam Y. Cross, All About the Foreign Exchange Market in the United States, Federal Reserve Bank of New York (1998), chapter 11, pp. 113-115.^ Gregory J. Millman, Around the World on a Trillion Dollars a Day, Bantam Press, New York, 1995.[edit] See alsoBalance of tradeBretton Woods systemCurrency pairForex scamsRetail forexForeign exchange reservesSpecial Drawing RightsWorld currencyForex swap[edit] External linksBenchmark Currency Rates from BloombergCFTC Commission Advisory Customer fraud ProtectionFederal Reserve daily updateFederal Reserve Bank of New York Foreign Exchange and related material.Financial Times - currency market dataThe average daily forex trading volume currently exceeds $1.9 trillion. With so much on the line, we've put together a list of our favorite 100 forex resources to help you become a knowledgeable forex trader. The following resources were chosen for the quality of information and training tools offered. Although some of these tools are located on commercial sites, you'll find value in materials produced by professionals. Other sites were chosen for the resources that they offered for a price (like books), but they're all geared specifically toward the forex trader. The chosen sites are written in the English language, but some individuals, businesses, and organizations are located in areas other than the United States. All sites are listed in alphabetical order within the following categories:Topics Covered in this ArticleBeginner's Paradise Blogs & News Charts Currency & Currency Converters Directories & Portals Economic Calendars & Indicators Fibonacci & Candlesticks Forecasts and Signals Forums and Communities Glossaries Market Reports Nonprofit Associations Practice Real-Time Quotes Technical Indicators X-TrasBeginner's ParadiseIf you're a forex newbie, the following sites will help you get a grip on the similarities and differences between forex trading and stock exchange trading. Take advantage of free resources before you dedicate any serious cha-ching to training.Action Forex — Learn about the forex market through free e-Books, news, insights, and much more.Currency College — Currency College delivers a variety of course offerings with classes that are held at the student’s convenience. Each class is followed by homework and tests; each course lasts about six weeks; and each class contains about ten students. Emphasis is given to risk management. This is not free education, but if you bring referrals to Currency College you could earn a scholarship toward your tuition. This site has plenty of free resources, however, like a comparative chart for various trading platforms so you can make an educated choice about trading platforms.CyberTrading University — This site offers free forex training through a two-hour video that includes a brief history, PIP spreads, majors and crosses, economic indicators, fundamental analysis, technical analysis, short-term long-term fundamentals, trading rules, leverage and margin, trading psychology, Fibonacci Retracement Levels, moving averages, oscillators, Candlestick Charts, Bollinger Bands, and more.Forex Charting 101 — A brief and basic overview of forex charts from Pip Trader. You'll discover that the charts are very similar to those that you might use for securities trading. But, some of the charts may seem more complicated if you're not a seasoned trader.Forex Realm — Possibly the most comprehensive and thorough forex education online. Learn about everything from currency codes to exotic trading strategies through articles, graphics, and concise examples.Forex-Training.com — Fairly comprehensive training with a free demo account. The highlight to this site is their explanations about various charts.FX Home Trader — Focus on the information about technical analysis, where you can learn more about Fibonacci Trading, Pivot Points, and more. Their Forex Facts also contain some valuable information.FX Power Trading Course — Offered by FXCM, this paid course is one step up from free at the current price. Learn how to time the market, recognize trends, and basics in fundamental and technical analysis through this eight-day course.Investopedia on Forex — An extensive 10-part article on forex investing, from an introduction to a recap that covers everything from benefits and risks to technical analysis. If you can't get enough of Investopedia's information, head to a list of their Forex articles, where you can learn more and download their free e-Book entitled, "High Probability Trading Setups for the Currency Market."Law of Charts — Joe Ross offers advice for traders across the board, but the information contained in his "Law of Charts" offer speaks to forex as well as any other trading strategy. He identifies chart patterns that result from human behaviors and points to entry and exit targets on those charts. You can take advantage of Ross's other tools as well, including the forum.Learn4X — This is an interesting site simply because it contains several tests that help you determine if you have the 'guts' and knowledge to be a trader. They also offer a free online seminar.Market Traders Institute (MTI) — You don't need to spend a lot of money to train in forex markets. MTI offers many free resources such as videos and lesson plans that will help you get off the ground. If you like what you hear and see, you can invest in materials for the advanced trader down the road.My Forex Trading Tools — A site that contains overviews on everything from fundamentals to options.Online Training Academy — Free basics on FX trading via video, offered by Mike McMahon. You need to register, but you can opt out of contact lists with a click of a box.School of Pipsology — A lighthearted forex education from Kindergarten to College so the beginner knows exactly where he stands in an attempt to grasp the forex market.Back to indexBlogs & NewsThe following list provides a variety of news from both professional and single-investor resources.A Forex Loser — The name of the blog ought to warn you. This blog contains a different perspective on trading, with an emphasis on trading psychology. Some great trading tips.Currency Secrets — Not updated daily, but plenty of resources in historical entries. The focus is on currency, but you can find plenty of reviews and tips here as well.DailyFX — Sponsored by Forex Capital Markets (FXCM), this site offers a free weekly trading lesson and free quarterly outlook reports.Forex News — At-a-glance links to news and analyses.Forex Project — A fascinating blog written by a forex beginner who logs his experiences in a journal, through established goals, and with a full trade history. This blogger currently is under pressure from a fulltime job, and he's considering a transition from day trading to going long on his investments. Should be an interesting read. Be sure to check out this blogger's list of references, including a nice beta risk calculator.Forex Reader — Daily currency trading news and commentary.FX Boot Camp — Wayne McDonell offers his boot camp theories for free at his blog on FXStreet (see next).FXStreet — Breaking news, commentary. Sponsored by Global Forex Trading (GFT).Peter Bain Forex Trading Commentary — Peter Bain's commentary needs to be good, as it's a tool to push his training course. You can take advantage of his free podcasts as well.Piptopia — This is Rob Booker's blog on forex. He's a currency trader and trainer and he's been at this blog for two years, so you'll find some interesting history here.Grace Cheng's Forex Blog — "Not long after my graduation, I was introduced to forex trading, and since then, have never looked back." Outside of her blog, Cheng writes for a number of trading and investment magazines.Quantitative Trading — Dr. Ernest Chan's take on automated, statistical trading strategies.Trader Mike — Michael is a trader, and this blog is a trading journal of sorts. Although he considers himself a swing/position trader, he switched to day trading in 2005. Although this blog doesn't focus on forex per se, you can learn plenty about trading strategies here.Back to indexChartsYou can't trade without charts, but the chart that you use is a matter of personal preference. The list below provides a nice pool to pick from:DailyFX Chart — You can manipulate this chart by type, time scale, view, and much more. Java based.Free Forex Charts — From simple to Premium to System Trading, simply the best choice of charts around.Forex-Market — This site offers two free, real-time charting applications, one Web-based and the other a stand-alone Java applet.Live Currency Chart — This chart, offered by FXStreet (see Blogs & News above), is also Java based. A nice feature is the Drag&Drop that allows traders to pull indicators out of the Studies window and up into the Chart window.Back to indexCurrency & ConvertersCurrencies can be confusing, especially when you learn that many lots are purchased in pairs. You can learn about specific currencies when you type the names of that currency into a search engine. For instance, you can learn more about the Euro at that currency's official site. But, if you don't know what to look for, the information found in the following sites will help you out:ADVFN Forex Symbol Table — Comprehensive list of currencies. When you click on the currency symbol you'll reach a page where that currency is represented through currency exchange rate tables and historical exchange rate charts.ExchangeRate.com — Try out the "hot" and "currency info" links that provide information about everything you'd want to know about worldwide currencies for 170 countries. Includes calculators, fun facts, serious facts, and more.Go Currency — Reliable currency converter and money conversion service.List of Currencies — This is an extensive list provided by Wikipedia that covers everything from ancient coinage to the current Yen. As with most Wikipedia lists, you might run across a link or two that doesn't contain information. But, you can use that information to search elsewhere if needed.Oanda — Excellent set of currency converter tools from historical currency exchange rates for over 164 currencies to traveler's cheat sheets to customizable products. Visit their detailed currency converter FAQ page if you have questions.X-Rates — More than a currency list or a converter, this site will bring you up-to-date on every bit of information you'd need to know as a forex trader.XE.com — A basic currency converter backed up by other tools on this site, such as current and historic rate tables and a free email currency update service.Back to indexDirectories & PortalsThe following resources offer choices beyond the ones listed here. Since forex is a booming individual trader industry, expect to find new sites popping up weekly.Earn Forex — A limited list, but some great resources broken down by category. This list is just one feature to this site, as you can access calculators, a blog, and information for beginners here.Forex Bastards — Don't let that empty page or the name put you off. Click on other categories to find some interesting resources. This is a project in the making, brought to you by the Secret Forex Society.Forex Central — You want it? They have most of it (blogs are missing). Resources aren't rated.Forex Directory — This site is a little difficult to slug through, but worth it for the resources provided.Pip Trader — This site contains a forum, live quotes and charts, news, reports, and a "mini-game" that has nothing to do with forex, but that might help you lighten up a bit.Top 100 Forex Sites — Although these sites are rated by popularity and, therefore, subject to rating scams, you can learn much from the sites that are listed simply from the variety of information that's offered here. Many sites are brokerage firms, but as I mentioned previously you can find free information on many of these sites such as news, calculators, techniques, and more.Back to indexEconomic Calendars & IndicatorsEconomic calendars and indicators are vital tools for fundamental research. The sites below will give you simple and detailed options.Economic Indicators — A government site brought to you by the Economics and Statistics Administration at the US Department of Commerce. Their mission is to provide timely access to the daily releases of key economic indicators from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the US Census Bureau.Forex Economic Calendar — What better place to find an excellent economic calendar than a site that focuses on this tool?Global Forex Trading (GFT) — A detailed look into the next month's international monetary future based on GMT.InfoForex — Brief overviews on various sectors from Auto and Truck Sales to a Monthly Wholesale Trade report based upon the US Census.Back to indexFibonacci & CandlesticksFibonacci and Japanese Candlestick charts may seem difficult, but with the right training you can master both technical strategies.Fibonacci — This is the home page for Dr. Ron Knott's multimedia Web site on the Fibonacci numbers, the Golden section and the Golden string hosted by the Mathematics Department of the University of Surrey, UK. Simple to use, easy to understand, and filled with illustrations to help you learn why some numbers are so important to nature. These numbers are also of vast interest to many forex investors.Fibonacci Forex Indicators — Forex Planet will begin to show you how to apply Fibs to forex in this easy-to-understand lesson. But, the lesson is short, so you might try the next resource as well.Fibonacci Method in Forex charts — This lesson also applies to forex, and it offers a short tutorial on applications along with a downloadable Fib calculator.Japanese Candlesticks — FX Words offers a simple and succinct explanation for candlesticks, including bullish and bearish patterns.Japanese Candlesticks (Elliott Gann) — A comprehensive tutorial that covers all the basic terminology and explains each term with appropriate graphics, offered by the ElliottGann site.Japanese Candlestick Trading Forum — It costs to become a member, but you can access all the candlestick basics for free on this site.Back to indexForecasts and SignalsThe following resources use a mix of fundamental and technical analyses to formulate their prognoses:AceTrader — True 24 hours real-time analysis for up-to-the-minute recommendations and analysis.e-Forex — Free trading signals. Dig into their historical records to understand their precision.Forex Predictions — Currently free daily and weekly high-low signals through the Web site and by email. This site is a division of RDC Bancorp, Inc., a foreign exchange services company.Forex Signals — FinoTek provides signals and trends with charts. Check out their archived signals to determine credibility.Investica Ltd. — Online information and free e-newsletters filled with signals and forecasts.Open Forex — Daily forecasts in real trade and analytical articles on forex basic currency pairs.Back to indexForums and CommunitiesForex Factory — You'll find a Forex Beginner Q&A section as well as topics that focus on specific strategies and techniques.Forex TSD — Go ahead and lurk in this forum until you feel comfortable. Then register for free to access the forum and a calendar. The paid "elite" subscription offers detailed statements of currently more than 20 trading systems.Global View Forums — Another free forum that's been around since 1996.MoneyTec — With over 33,000 members, this traders' forum offers a format to discuss trading ideas, share, learn, and build new trading techniques and strategies.Back to indexFundamental ResearchThe following list contains comprehensive information about economic fundamentals for your research:Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) — Get the straight stuff from the US Department of Commerce like the pros. Everyone from the White House staff to US Trade Commission employees to trade policy officials who want to negotiate international trade agreements use the measurements contained on the BEA Web site.Consumer Price Index (CPI) — The US Department of Labor offers a ton of information just on this page alone through their links.Forex Daily Fundamentals — XpressTrade offers a daily focus on forex fundamentals.The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) - An international organization which fosters international monetary and financial cooperation and serves as a bank for central banks. As such, this organization offers valuable information through their publications and research as well as through many other resources offered on this site. They also maintain a list of Central Bank Web sites.The Fundamentals of Forex — Forex TV brings you the lowdown on what type of news would affect forex from a fundamental standpoint. You can use the information on this list to conduct further research.GlossariesForex Glossary — The only drawback to this glossary is that the "A-Z" tab doesn't include a total listing of all the terms under the single-letter tabs. Comprehensive.Forex.com Glossary — An at-a-glance glossary contained on one page.Glossary of Forex Terms [PDF] — This printable file, offered by FX International Group, contains all the basics.Back to indexGovernment RegulationAustralian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) — The ASIC's regulatory coverage includes the forex market. Use their search box to learn more about their reach and responsibility.Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) — The CFTC operates along the same lines as the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), except this government organization focuses on protecting market users and the public from fraud in the futures and option markets. So keep this site handy to stay on top of any forex scams through their Consumer Advisory on Forex Fraud. You can learn quickly what to avoid in your learning curve through a detailed forex advisory that offers information about other resources as well.Financial Services Authority (FSA) — An independent non-governmental body located in the UK, given statutory powers by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Use their search box to locate information about the UK forex market and regulations.National Futures Association (NFA) — The NFA is "the premier independent provider of efficient and innovative regulatory programs that safeguard the integrity of the derivatives markets," which basically means that this organization regulates any market that depends upon future cash flows. The "investor information" section contains materials about how to find a broker and basic lessons in forex trading. Plus, they publish forex warnings, news, and they offer a place for investor disputes and complaints.Back to indexMarket ReportsKBC [PDF] — A Comprehensive "Morning Report" from this Belgian foreign exchange bank (in English).Mellon — FX Daily report from Mellon Financial Corporation, with links to American and European editions and past issues.SaxoBank — Daily market update from this foreign exchange service in London.Scotia Capital [PDF] — Daily report with corresponding links for further reading from this Canadian foreign exchange bank.UBS — Daily summary for forex markets sponsored by this Swiss foreign exchange bank.Back to indexNonprofit AssociationsAustralian Technical Analysts Association (ATAA) — A non-profit association of both professional technical analysts and anyone who uses technical analysis for private investing, trading or advising.International Compliance Association (ICA) — The ICA is a professional organization dedicated to the furtherance of best compliance and anti money laundering practice in the financial services sector.The Financial Markets Association (ACI) — ACI has the largest membership of any of the international associations in the wholesale financial markets. The Head Office is based in Paris.Back to indexPracticeSome of the best demonstration tools are owned by forex brokerages. The following were chosen for their reliability and popularity. Be aware that some brokerages will request your permission to be contacted by mail, phone, or email. In some cases you might want this contact, as they will provide support for your training. In all cases you can walk away if their training and trading platforms don't turn you on.CMS Forex — Customize your practice with unlimited funds on CMS Forex's VT Trader 1.8.5.1, a program that includes an API so that you can customize your solution. This software offers a point-and-click open and close positions directly on the chart. Access over 100 indicators, Reuters Forex related news and market analytics, and an "autopilot" feature. You can reach their customer support team by phone, live chat, or e-mail.Forex Trading USA — Free 30-day demo with a Mini ($2,000 virtual cash, 200:1 leverage, 10k lot size) or Standard ($25,000 virtual cash, 100:1 leverage, 100k lot size). Their free education is a nice plus.FXSolutions — Use $10,000 in practice funds with full access to FXSol's new charting solution, FX AccuCharts. Backed by 24/7 customer service.Global Forex Trading — Download their DealBook 360 to practice forex trading with live, dealable prices, real-time data, and free real-time breaking world and financial news. The software features forex charts, more than 85 technical indicators (for standard size GFT trading accounts) and the ability to build your own indicators. You have a choice about the amount of beginning funds, from $2,500 to $50,000.Back to indexReal-Time QuotesACM — Pick pairs and watch the quotes. ACM includes a manual [PDF] that explains in detail how to manipulate the chart to your liking. Must have Java plugin.Forex Trading Charts — Real-time forex quotes. This site also contains real-time forex charting tools with editable indicators.FXQuote — Scroll down the page, as the real-time quotes are located at bottom left. Based upon ET.Live Forex Quotes — You might recognize the GFT logo behind the rates, but don't let that distract you from the constantly changing figures. If you're addicted to live feeds, you'll be mesmerized by the constantly changing currency rates on this chart.SaxoBank — Scroll down the page a bit, as the quotes are located at the bottom left on this page, based upon GMT.Back to indexTechnical IndicatorsThe following three resources offer the most succinct information about technical overlays and indicators. You can find many more resources at some of the sites previously listed under the Beginner's section, under many of the Blogs & News resources, and at various brokerages.Forex-Business Technical Indicators — Where the other two sites offer great technical indicator explanations, this site offers 10 charts that illustrate some of those terms.IQ Chart — This company offers a list of technical overlays and indicators with short and easy-to-understand explanations. Take a look at their chart patterns while at this site, as this company is a provider of stock charting software to individual investors and technical analysts.Technical Indicators — Definitions provided by MetaQuotes Software.Back to indexX-TrasIFXTAG — The International Forex Traders Affinity Group provides individual investors access to products and services that are evaluated by top professionals and their members. IFXTAG is committed to harnessing the potential to make electronic trading work for their global community of subscribers. Membership is free, but the resources are not. Members, however, do receive free trials and discounts to various services.Secret Forex Society — A 'closed' forum and educational site where members ask you to join or you can ask to be placed on a waiting list. Go ahead and trust them. Get on the waiting list so you can access some interesting