Forex Trading: Basic Things to Know About Trading Forex

Forex trading has become popular because of availability of leverage, high liquidity, 24-hour trading time and low cost for dealing.

Basically, the players in Trading Forex are the financial institutions and companies that perform exchange of good and services in foreign countries. Trading Forex is so far the major concern of big professionals with global activities such as those from banks, commercial organizations with global participation, and Forex brokers. However, there are ways in which individuals can participate in Forex trading. This will be possible with proper knowledge on how Forex trading works.

Basically, trading Forex is based on margin. Even small deposits can take part in considerable market positions. To trade main currencies, it usually requires a margin deposit of 1 percent of the trading amount for security. So to be able to trade 1 million U.S. dollars, you need to deposit a margin of 10,000. By doing so, you will be able to obtain 10 times of what you have deposited. This means that Forex trading has the potential to give you profit or loss of about 100 times of the margin. You then need to know how to play well in trading Forex to avoid the big risk and get the full potential profit.

Currency

The basic currencies in Forex Trading are U.S. dollar, Euro dollar, Japanese Yen, British pound, and Swiss Franc. In trading Forex, there is always to currencies involved. You have to buy U.S. dollar and sell British pound, or buy Japanese yen and sell U.S. Dollar. You can do so with any combination and a dozen more currencies available in the foreign currency market. In trading two currencies, you will have to speculate the long and short sides of currencies or which of the currency is strong in relation to other. Normally, the currency on trade has the highest value, although this is not always the case. For example, if you wish to trade USD from Singapore dollar, the highest value will be the USD. Your profit and loss with the trade in SGD against USD will be determined by the change of the amount in SGD.

Dealing Spread

When you start trading Forex you will need a buy and sell level in a form of dealing spread quoted to you. If you accept the quoted dealing spread and receive the dealers’ confirmation, the trade is considered done. Normally, the dealing spread is 3-5 points when the market is normal. For example, you sell USD at 1.7780 and buy it at 1.7785. There are no additional costs, fee, and commissions.

Common Trading

Forex trading can be done through spot trading or forward trading. In spot trading, the trade will be complete in two days after agreeing on the quoted price. Spot trading are normally done by commercial customers. In forward trading, you can decide to swap trade at a future date. The date may take a week or more depending on the investment’s time frame. This is normally done by investors.

Different Interest Rates

Forex trading is most of the time driven by different interest rates of various currencies. Usually, it is attractive to buy currencies with high interest rate while having short currency low interest rate. In a position with high leverage, the difference in interest rates has significant impact in Forex trading, no matter how small the interest differences are.