As  you know, The Forex Currency Market is based on the buying and selling of currencies of certain countries. It is based on the exchange rate; this means the purchase of one currency in exchange for the sale of another currency, simultaneously. For that reason the currency market is always traded in pairs. Before operating in the foreign exchange market, it is important that you start to understand the basic terminology of the market and know how to interpret correctly the currency market quotations.

What are pairs?

The Forex market trades by buying and selling currencies  from different countries. A pair is the combination of two different currencies that are used to take positions on the Forex market. Usually the first currency is known as the base currency, as this is not moving and the second currency is called counter currency since it will comply with the pair. The base currency is also known as primary and base coin currency as currency trading. The base currency will always be = 1 and the value will vary depending on the pair base coin you choose and the value this has in the international market.

It is important that you know what are the main currencies traded in Forex and its acronym in English, since at the time of operation usually only use the acronym. Later we will tell you what the most used pairs are:

• AUD = Australian Dollar
• CAD = Canadian Dollar
• JPY = Japanese Yen
• EUR = Euro
• GBP = Great British Pond
• USD = U.S. Dollar
• CHF = Swiss Franc
• NZD = New Zealand Dollar

The following is an overview to know about the most traded currencies in the market:

• The U.S. Dollar: USD

Currently, there are other major currencies to the dollar, as the Euro, Japanese Yen, the Pound Sterling and Swiss Franc moving against the U.S. currency. But the dollar is known as the World’s currency. Most currencies are quoted in dollar terms and some of the currencies of other countries are closely linked to it. This currency became the leading one at the end of WWII, but today by the global economic crisis and recession in the U.S. has ceased to be.

• The Euro: EUR

The euro is the official currency of 16 of 27 member states of the European Union as of 2009.  The states, known collectively as the Euro zone, are Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Finland, France, Greece, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta and Portugal. The currency is also used in five other European countries, both official and non-agreed form and thus is in daily use by about 327 million Europeans. After its appearance in December 1999, the Euro replaced the German mark and quickly became the second currency in the world and every day it gain more acceptance around the world. The Euro has a strong international presence, regardless of exposure to various political economic factors that may affect them.

• Japanese Yen: JPY

The yen was fixed to U.S. dollar exchange rate of 362 yen per dollar since April 25, 1949 to 1971. Then it has appreciated significantly. Currently the exchange rate is about 90 yen per dollar, or about 118 yen per euro. This is the third most used currency in the world for this kind of transaction, making the market very liquid 24 hours a day. Much of the eastern economy moves according to Japan, the yen is quite sensitive to factors such as agricultural production in eastern and technological factors.

• The British Pound: GBP

The pound was originally the weight value of a pound of sterling silver (hence it’s called “sterling”). This was the reference currency to the beginning of World War II, most transactions take place in London today is the largest international market in the world despite its low volume during operation in the  American sessions.

• The Swiss Franc: CHF

The Swiss franc is legal currency  in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Although its weight in the global economy cannot be compared to the euro or the dollar, the stability of the country they belong to makes be taken into account as a “safe haven”, particularly after the assessment as to the European currency from April to September 2000. Its value is around 2/3 of a euro. This is the other major European currency that is not part of the Euro but neither is part of the G-7, but in turn is favored in terms of political uncertainty that may involve the economic community. Practically it can be said that the Swiss Franc, behaves quite similar to the Euro against the dollar.

How to know what pairs you should trade?

The best opportunities for a successful trade are those where you trade with currency pairs are usually more used on the market and that, therefore, are those that are highly liquid.

For example, you can buy Euros with Dollars, anticipating that the Euro will increase its value against the dollar. If the euro rises against the dollar, you sell the position and then you earn money.

Another more specific example, when trading with the following pair: USD / EUR = 1.5 and you purchase a pair; this means that for every 1.5 Euros that you sell, you get $ 1. So, if you sold the currency pair, you receive 1.5 Euros for every $ 1 you sell.

The four most widely used currency pairs in Forex trading are:

• U $ Dollar / Japanese Yen (USD / JPY)
• Euro / the U.S. Dollar (EUR / USD)
• Pound Sterling / U.S. $ Dollar (GBP / USD)
• U $ Dollar / Swiss franc (USD / CHF).
• The U $ Dollar / Canadian Dollar (USD / CAD)
• The Australian dollar / U.S. $ Dollar (AUD / USD)

28% of global transactions relate to the Euros / dollars pair, 18% against the dollar / yen and 14% with the pair Pound / dollar.

These are pairs that are advised to use due to high liquidity of use within the market. It is recommended that use be limited to only one or two different pairs at the same time for best results, for novice traders. When being a skilled trader you can take risks and experiment with different positions opening up several pairs in the market.

Trade the currencies of each session for best results into trending markets.  Better yet if it is during first 2-3 hours of the opening and/or closing of each session.

Finally do not forget, you can become a successful trader if you receive specialized education and constant knowledge.

If you would like to have more information please click here: Forex Trading

Why Forex trading?

This is probably one of the questions that you need a reasonable answer. There are hundreds of investments that you can prefer, but why choosing trading foreign currencies instead?

Forex investment is unique in several aspects.

Its trading volume is relatively big compared to other market. It has extreme liquidity or the capability of either buying or selling the currency without causing significant fluctuation in the market price. It has the largest number and diversity of traders. Forex is one of the markets that have long trading hours (24 hours each day, except during weekends. Trading locations are almost everywhere, not only in the United States or major cities of Europe. There are different factors that impact on foreign exchange rate.

Another yelling fact that will make you excited to go on Forex trading: it has an average turnover in traditional foreign exchange market of around .88 trillion daily, according to the Triennial Central Bank Survey of the BIS (Bank for International Settlements). Here are the daily averages of turnover on the market corresponding to the last 17 years:

$500 billion (April 1989)
$750 billion (April 1992)
$1.18 trillion (April 1995)
$1.48 trillion (April 1998)
$1.16 trillion (April 2001)
$1.88 trillion (April 2004)
$2.80 trillion (April 2008)

From the figures alone, you can notice that the average trend of Forex turnover is growing. It is estimated to reach as high as 2 to 3 trillion dollars within the next 8 to 10 years, if the number of traders around the world will continue to increase. Everyone have the chance of getting a substantial portion of the Forex market wealth pie, especially that the Forex trading marketing is now on its automation process.

The concept of automation becomes the new trend to the foreign exchange trading market. The Interbank spot market has also taken into consideration switching to the automated method as well.

There are several benefits that a Forex trader can obtain from automated Forex trading. Here are some of such benefits and figure out why Forex trading besides other investments like better the automated process.

Through automated process, transactions can now be done in real time. Although manual systems have existed for quite some time now, it is difficult to achieve the same benefits that the automated Forex system can offer to its traders. All of the trades can happen within a few milliseconds and can be a big plus for automated transactions against the manual system. Actually, there are problems that are addressed using automated trading especially if the trader is losing a few times in a row that prevents him from making new trades. Such problem could be addressed using the automatic trading system.

With automated Forex trading, you will have a greater diversification. It means that you can trade in several markets in different time zones at a time. Execute trades with traders from Singapore or London even it is already 12 midnight in the United States. This benefit allows you a multiple exchange model alternative. You can use varying trading models to evaluate short-term data. This means that you can anticipate the trend for a shorter period of time, let us say from fifteen minutes to half an hour.

As previously mentioned, the Forex market is unique because of its extreme liquidity. This liquidity is increased in the market when it becomes automated.

Risk management problems are solved through automated Forex trading. International checks, which are commonly used in making purchases on the market, are synchronized through automated technology. Since the transaction in an automated process is now on real time, there is a small chance for delayed payments, reducing the risk of non-payment by either parties. Although there are problems noted with the use of the automated system, it can be fixed through consistently-updated technologies.

With automated Forex trading market, the prevision of $2-3 trillion average daily turnover within the next 8 to 10 years can be changed within the next 4 to 5 years. Given the quick yet efficient trades on varying time zones, automated Forex trading will now be one of the existing lucrative business around the world.

If you would like to have more information please click here: Forex Trading