Open Demo Account

Before you open a live account with Straighthold Investment Group, we insist that you open a demo account beforehand. A demo account will enable you to test yourself in real Forex market conditions, to experience the trading platform possibilities, to try out your trading system without financial risk and to evaluate the Straighthold Investment Group operations and the LiteForex project.

A demo account does not differ from a live one except for the fact that you take no risks while trading, since you do not need a deposit on this account.

When you open a demo account you personally indicate the amount of your "virtual" deposit. But we strongly recommend that you indicate the particular amount you wish to credit your future live account.

Kindly remember that all trading and financial operations on the LiteForex project Lite group accounts are executed in cents (1/100 US dollar). So, you need to indicate the desired "virtual" deposit in cents.

To open a demo account you need to do the following:

download and install our trading terminal;

When you start the terminal up for the first time, you will be asked to fill out a registration form to open the demo account. Please, fill it out with your personal data, then choose a leverage size and indicate an amount for the desired "virtual" deposit, then press NEXT>. Next you will be asked to choose a trading server from the server list. You’ll need to select the server with the address SIG-Demo.com, then click NEXT>.

To be sure that your terminal is able to connect to a server, we recommended that you press SCAN before you choose a server.

After your successful registration, a demo account will be opened and you will see its number and two passwords: one for trader and for investor (without the possibility of trading). Please, remember this information and click on FINISH.

Your new account will appear in the NAVIGATOR window; your terminal will automatically connect to a trading server.

Within several seconds after you have opened a simulated account and connected to a server, you will receive notification of a new account and information about how to access it on your terminal, via internal e-mail.

You can change the language of the program interface. Enter VIEW->Languages and choose your language from the list. Close the program and restart it.

Trading Platform

Straighthold Investment Group, Inc. offers its clients the most popular and powerful platform - SIGTrader 4 Forex trading system - developed by MetaQuotes Software Corporation. The client terminal SIGTrader 4 is an online Forex trading broker system intended for online trading and technical analyses on the Forex, CFD and Futures markets. Some types of installed orders let you manage your trading activity flexibly.

Beside a number of technical indicators and online instruments, this Forex trading system terminal is also equipped with MetaQuotes Language 4, a customized language for trading strategy programming. This language will help you to develop Advisers and Expert Advisors - mechanical Forex trading system, Custom Indicators and Scripts. Advisers analyze the current market situation online and take decisions, place trading orders and open positions without trader participation. Custom and technical indicators can analyze market conditions and generate different signals. And Scripts are intended for one-time executed actions.

For clients who wish to remain online continuously, MetaQuotes Software Corporation has created the SIGTrader 4 Mobile terminal for Windows CE Pocket Computers. This terminal is used by Straighthold Investment Group, Inc clients free of charge and provides almost full functionality for PCs, including dozens of the most popular Forex trading system indicators, internal email, and the possibility to get news online and to complete all types of trading operations.

Getting Started

The first step to successful Forex trading lies in understanding the Forex market structure with its advantages and disadvantages, appreciating its reefs, studying analysis methods, market predicting and trading principles and creating personal Forex trading strategies. A brief excursus into the Foreign Exchange market - Forex, as well as a description of trading principles, analysis and predicting methods can be found on our site, in the pages: Introduction to Forex, Understanding Forex, Forex Techniques, Forex Trading FAQ. Unfortunately, the information you find on our site is only a small portion of the vast volume of information available nowadays. But this information will help you get started.

The second step is implementing the acquired knowledge in practice - studying and using the Forex trading platform, placing, deleting and modifying orders, opening and closing positions and so on.
At this stage you need to practice on a Forex Demo Account. A demo account lets you develop your skills without financial risk as you do not need to invest. Demo accounts are free. Instructions for opening Forex demo accounts can be found on the page "Open Demo Account".

After the first positive results, many traders enter the real Forex market and do not succeed. That's why you need to get positive results that are stable first. The knowledge you gain, through correct trading with your own system, following your rules, developing steel logic and psychological stability, in absence of greed and following a money management system will all be determinant at this stage.

To assist new traders in accomplishing this difficult task, our company has prepared two special types of accounts - MINILIte™ and 100KLite™.

MINILite™ accounts offer Forex beginners the possibility of starting real trading on Forex with real deposits. But keep in mind that profits and losses on this account will be minimal. Even stable profits cannot cover your Internet expenses.

A small starting deposit, which any Forex trader could lose absolutely painlessly, will help you overcome the very complex transitional stage of going from a demo account to a live account.

Since all Lite group accounts are in cents, Forex traders will practice working with amounts that have more and more zeros, like in US dollars. This helps prepare traders for the future and escape psychological pressure when trading on professional accounts.

Moreover, the MINILite Forex account can be used by skilled Forex traders for testing different mechanical trading systems

100KLite™ type accounts are the next step for Forex beginners. While trading on this account, traders learn how to achieve profit plans, and reduce risks.

After completing the above three stages - from a simulated account to a 100KLite™ account - you can decide whether you are ready for successful trading on the Forex market or not, and finally choose a professional level account - MINIForex or 100KForex, depending on your financial possibilities and interests.

Forex Trading FAQ

What is currency trading?
Simply stated, each country has its own currency. Currency trading occurs when one country's currency is traded for another country's currency at the prevailing exchange rate.
How is currency traded?
All currency trading is traded in LOTS. Each lot has a different amount of currency. For example; a Swiss Franc lot has 125,000 Swiss Francs in it. A trader does not buy lots in order to buy and sell it or trade it. A trader opens a margin account, enabling him the right to trade it.
What is a margin account?
A margin account is a bond account. It is like a savings account. Before you can trade, you need to place a certain amount of money in what is called a margin account. You are guaranteeing other traders that you can pay them if you lose. That account is overseen by your broker. He monitors your account when you trade. He usually will not allow you to risk more than what is in your margin account. The margin account exists so, as you win on a daily basis, they have a place to deposit your money. Conversely, when you lose, they have an account to withdraw the money.
How is money made trading currencies?
Currencies are traded on a point or pip system. A pip is another word for a point in the currency trading arena. Traders are trying to capture points. Depending on the currency, each point is worth a different amount. For example; the British Pound is worth about $10 per point that is traded per lot. If you trade 1 lot and capture 40 points, you just made $400. If you trade 10 lots and capture 40 points, you just made $4,000.00, etc.
What is the difference between Futures and FOREX?
Currencies are the money that represent the monetary system from different countries. For example; the Japanese Yen, Canadian dollar, Brazilian Real, Swiss Franc, etc. Futures trading of currencies is done in trading pits, where you are trading those currencies today, but for future prices. FOREX trading is trading actual currencies at today's exchange rate with banks. All trades are done through brokers or market makers
Am I buying actual currencies when I trade?
No. With your margin account, you are buying the right to trade one "lot" of a currency. Each lot equals a different amount of currency, depending on the currency being traded verses the US dollar.
What is Day Trading?
Day Trading is when a trader buys and sells his lots or stocks that same day. He is in and out of the market that same day. He does not hold his position overnight or for a week, etc.
What percent of people really earn money on the FOREX?
10 % make money, and 90% lose money! Why? The 90% who enter the market are driven by emotions such as greed and fear. They lack a sound equity management plan and know very little about the techniques of trading. The fact is they are lacking adequate and proper education for the task at hand.
Why do Professional Traders earn so much money?
Most Professional Traders are part of the 10% earning money. The 10% earning money actually receive the 90% money that is lost . If the 90% are paying the 10%, you can easily figure out that the 10% are being paid quite handsomely.
Can I become a successful Professional Trader?
Absolutely! Trading is a profession that most anyone can learn. However, it doesn't happen over night or in a few weeks. You must go through the same processes of education and mentoring that all professionals go through. Generally, we are becoming conditioned by numerous national ads into believing that trading is simple. If it is that easy why do we hear the horror stories about day traders? Why do 90% of people lose on the FOREX?
Is trading a form of gambling?
All forms of trading and investment can be construed as a form of gambling, although neither are the same as playing the lottery, roulette or betting. Traders seek price fluctuations and investors seek return on investment. Both require a calculated risk that is minimized by knowledge. You are always gambling when you don't know what you are uneducated, trading emotionally or with a " hot tip". Calculated risks are taken in all investments. People risk huge sums of money and not every one succeeds. Even when there is a track record of success as in many franchises there is still no guarantee. Their investment becomes a calculated risk. The FOREX market is no different. When you trade not knowing what you are doing, or off a tip, you are gambling. When you trade after you have been educated or mentored by a successful program, or by other successful traders, you are now taking a calculated risk.
Can I lose everything when trading the FOREX?
No. You can't lose everything you own. The under-educated will more than likely lose their margin account. The educated will more than likely capture the loser's margin account money.
Why don't we hear more about the FOREX?
Reliable sources indicate that about 1.5 trillion dollars of currency is traded daily on the FOREX. The majority of the volume historically is generated by major investors, banks, financial institutions and governments. Thanks to the Internet, more and more people like us are beginning to learn of the opportunities and are getting involved.
How can I get started?
You need to be very careful and exercise due diligence. There are growing numbers of international firms offering various approaches to FOREX trading. Look before you leap. Do your homework and check references. Many companies prey on the greedy promising phenomenal returns that are the exception, not the rule! Find a company that doesn't promise the moon. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Reputable firms have credentials. Beware of "Black Box" systems. It is against FTC regulations for a firm to offer any guarantee of performance of any system. What one can guarantee and offer is that their trading methodology is sound, productive and profitable. Trading decisions should not be made by computer only. A professional trader is a human being, with emotions, intuition and a brain to interpret what the computer tells him/her. A trader is not a computer. A professional trader has been educated and is disciplined to live by his or her trading methodology of good judgment trading.
What Is good judgment trading?
Good judgment trading is the exact opposite of a Black Box System. It's a complete understanding of the market and its constantly changing environment. It is a clear trading methodology utilizing high probabilities. When a trader is educated, he no longer takes a shot gun approach to the market. He takes a very focused "rifle and target" approach.
How much money can I make?
If you get involved with the right company offering the proper education and mentoring, you can expect to create a financial performance expectation plan. Your plan will depend on how much you start out with, how knowledgeable and how unemotional you are. Never enter the market without first paper trading, which is trading pretend money. Once you achieve a track record of consistently completing successful trades and prove to yourself you can trade, then and only then, should you enter the market with your own money.
What do emotions have to do with It?
Where money is involved so are emotions. Many people are quite knowledgeable about trading but can't handle the emotions. Your emotions will be your biggest obstacle to successful trading. Not the techniques. To be a successful trader you cannot trade emotionally. You must trade logically. Our egos drive us to be successful 100% of the time, but in reality no one is successful 100% of the time. Not even the professionals. Successful professional traders clearly understand the market is about logic, not emotions. They trade logically, not emotionally and they are the 10% who trade successfully all the time!
Are there books I can buy to educate myself?
Hundreds of books are available on this site and we encourage you to read. However, no one has written a "how to - step by step" book on how to become a millionaire over night or even in a month. Why? Because successful trading is a process, it does not happen over night. The market is vast and complex. Hundreds of authors have written books about most of the characteristics of the markets. There is a lot to know. Success in trading comes by focusing on one or two markets and specializing in those markets. One must decide what they want to trade, educate themselves and then focus in on that area of the market.
What can Market Traders Institute do for me?
You will begin a personal involvement with a reputable firm and successful professional traders. We will teach you all the processes for becoming successful. We will provide you with personal continuing support, research and education. We offer advanced trading courses as you progress and guarantee during any course, if it's not to your expectation, we will refund the cost of the course.

Forex Techniques

In FOREX trading there are two common types of analysis that most traders utilize, they are fundamental and technical analysis. Fundamental analysis attempts to predict currency movement based off of political and economy indicators. Technical analysis uses historical economic information to predict changes in the FOREX market.

FUNDAMENTAL ANALYSIS

Most FOREX traders rely on analysis to make plan their trading strategy. This article will discuss fundamental analysis. After reading this article you should have a better understanding of fundamental analysis and how to use it as part of your FOREX strategy.

Political and economic changes are the basis of fundamental analysis. These can frequently affect currency prices. Traders that take advantage of fundamental analysis will gather their information from a variety of news sources. They are looking for information about unemployment forecasts, political ideologies, economic policies, inflation and growth rates.

Fundamental analysis will provide you with an overview of currency movements and a broad picture of the economic conditions. Most traders then will combine their fundamental analysis with technical analysis to plot actual entrance and exit points as well as confirming the information provided by their fundamental analysis.

Just like most markets the FOREX market is controlled by supply and demand. Many economic factors can affect the supply and demand but the two most critical ones are interest rates and the strength of the economy. The over all strength of the economy is affected by changes in the GDP, trade balances and the amount of foreign investment.

There are many economic indicators released by government and academic sources. These indicators are usually released on a monthly basis but will sometimes be released weekly. These are pretty reliable measures of economic health and are closely followed by all traders.

There are many indicators that are released but some of the most important and commonly followed are : interest rates, international trade, CPI, durable goods orders, PPI, PMI and retail orders.

Interest Rates – can cause a currency to either strengthen or weaken depending on the direction of movement. In some cases high interest rates will attract foreign money, however high interest rates will frequently cause stock market investors to sell of their portfolios. They do this believing that the higher cost of borrowing money will adversely affect many companies. If enough investors sell of their holdings in can cause a downturn in the market and negatively affect the economy.

Which of these two affects will take place depends on many complex factors, but there is usually an agreement among economic observers as to how the current change in interest rates will affect the general economy and the price of the currency.

International Trade – If there is a trade deficit (more items imported than exported) it is usually considered a negative indicator. When there is a trade deficit it means that more money is leaving the country to buy foreign goods than is entering the country and this can have a devaluing effect on the currency. Usually though trade imbalances are already factored into the market consideration. If a country normally operates with a trade deficit then there should not be an affect on the currency price. The currency price will normally only be effected by trade differences when the deficit is greater than the market expected.

The measurement of the cost of living (CPI) and the cost of producing goods (PPI) are a couple of other important indicators. You should also watch the GDP which measures the value of all the goods produced in a country and the M2 Money Supply which measures the total amount of currency for a country.

In the US alone there are 28 major indicators, these can have a strong effect on the financial market and should be closely watched. This information can be found many places on the internet and is provided by many brokers.

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

The other common form of analysis is technical analysis. Technical Analysis is based on the following assumptions:

1. Price movements are a result of combined market forces. Political events, economic conditions, seasonal fluctuations, supply and demand are all things that can effect currency prices. Technical analysts do not concern themselves with why the market moves, they are only interested in the movements themselves.

2. Currency prices on the FOREX market follow trends. Predictable consequences have been linked with many recognized market patterns.

3. Historical trends can be used to predict current price movements. Data on the FOREX market has been collected for the last 100 years, over that time certain patterns have become emergent. Human psychology and the way people react to certain circumstances are the basis of these patterns.

Most traders consider technical analysis to be of critical importance even though they may also use fundamental analysis to support and confirm the strategy suggested by technical analysis. Unlike fundamental analysis technical analysis can be applied to many different currencies and markets at the same time. Since fundamental analysis requires detailed knowledge of the economic and political conditions of a certain country it is nearly impossible for any single trader to perform proper fundamental analysis on more than a few countries.

For the beginning trader the complexities of technical analysis may seem overwhelming and they may even wonder if it is actually necessary. If you wish to be successful at FOREX trading you must have a strategy. Any strategy can work but technical analysis has been proven as a reliable and effective method of predicting market changes. Many forces can effect currency prices though so technical analysis is no guarantee, most successful traders utilize a combination of technical and fundamental analysis.

Any quality online FOREX broker should be able to supply you with a large variety of online charts for technical analysis. You can purchase in-depth professional charts, there is usually a monthly fee involved in gaining access to this information. There is also free software available to help you with charting. Charts provide different snapshots of timeframes and usually can also have analytical overlays. These charts will provide a broad over view and can also be zoomed into the tick level. Good charts are updated in real time. These may be available on your brokers site or could be part of their software.

You should learn the market and study trends before for a period of time before you begin actively trading. Most brokers will provide you with a practice account where you can place “paper trades”. Paper trades are just practice trades where no real money is made or lost. They act just like a real trade though so you can see exactly how your trade would have turned out if you had placed it for real. This allows you to become familiar with your brokers system and software as well as learning about the market and how it moves without risking any money while you learn.

The second part of this article will explore the various charts and technical indicators.

READING FOREX CHARTS

Price charts can be simple line graphs, bar graphs or even candlestick graphs. These are graphs that show prices during specified time frames. These time frames can be anywhere from minutes to years or any time interval in between.

Line charts are the easiest to read, they will show you the broad overview of price movement. They only show the closing price for the specified interval, they make it very easy to pick out patterns and trends but do not provide the fine detail of a bar or candlestick chart.

With a bar chart the length of a line displays the price spread during that time interval. The larger the bar is the greater the price difference between the high and low price during the interval. It is easy to tell at a glance if the price rose or fell because the left tab shows the opening price and the right tab the closing price. Then the bar will give you the price variation. When printed bar charts can be difficult to read but most software charts have a zoom function so you can easily read even closely spaced bars.

Originally developed in Japan for analyzing candlestick contracts candlestick charts are very useful for analyzing FOREX prices. Candlestick charts are very similar to bar charts they both show the high, the low, open and close price for the indicated time. However the color coding makes it much easier to read a candlestick chart, normally a green candlestick indicates a rising price and a red one indicates a falling price.

The actual candlestick shape in reference to the candlesticks around it will tell you a lot about the price movement and will greatly aid your analysis. Depending on the price spread various patterns will be formed by the candlesticks. Many of the shapes have some rather exotic names, but once you learn the patterns they are easy to pick out and analyze.

Price charts are not usually used by themselves to get the full affect you need to supplement them with some technical indicators. Technical indicators are normally grouped into some pretty broad categories. Some of the more common ones used to monitor and track the market movement are: trend indicators, strength indicators, volatility indicators, and cycle indicators.

Here is a list of some of the more commonly used indicators as well as a brief description.

Average Directional Movement Index (ADX) – This index will help indicate if the market is moving in a trend in either direction and how strong the trend is. If a trend has readings in excess of 25 then this is considered a stronger trend.

Moving Average Convergence/Divergence (MACD) – This shows the relationship between the moving averages which allows you to determine the momentum of the market. Any time that the signal line is crossed by the MACD it is considered to be a strong market.

Stochastic Oscillator – This compares the closing price to the price range over a specific time frame to determine the strength or weakness of the market. If a currency has a stochastic of greater than 80 it is considered overbought. However if the stochastic is under 20 then the currency is considered undersold.

Relative Strength Indicator (RSI) – This is a scale from 1 to 100 to compare the high and low prices over time. If the RSI rises above 70 it is considered overbought where as anything below 30 is considered oversold.

Moving Average – This is created by comparing the average price for a time period to the average price of other time periods.

Understanding Forex

In order to better understand Forex, please read the following article explaining basic and fundamental information about specifics of the Forex market.

CURRENCY PAIR

Reading a foreign exchange quote may seem a bit confusing at first. However, it's really quite simple if you remember two things: 1) The first currency listed first is the base currency and 2) the value of the base currency is always 1.

The US dollar is the centerpiece of the Forex market and is normally considered the 'base' currency for quotes. In the "Majors", this includes USD/JPY, USD/CHF and USD/CAD. For these currencies and many others, quotes are expressed as a unit of $1 USD per the second currency quoted in the pair. For example, a quote of USD/JPY 120.01 means that one U.S. dollar is equal to 120.01 Japanese yen.

When the U.S. dollar is the base unit and a currency quote goes up, it means the dollar has appreciated in value and the other currency has weakened. If the USD/JPY quote we previously mentioned increases to 123.01, the dollar is stronger because it will now buy more yen than before.

The three exceptions to this rule are the British pound (GBP), the Australian dollar (AUD) and the Euro (EUR). In these cases, you might see a quote such as GBP/USD 1.4366, meaning that one British pound equals 1.4366 U.S. dollars.

In these three currency pairs, where the U.S. dollar is not the base rate, a rising quote means a weakening dollar, as it now takes more U.S. dollars to equal one pound, euro or Australian dollar.

In other words, if a currency quote goes higher, that increases the value of the base currency. A lower quote means the base currency is weakening.

Currency pairs that do not involve the U.S. dollar are called cross currencies, but the premise is the same. For example, a quote of EUR/JPY 127.95 signifies that one Euro is equal to 127.95 Japanese yen.

When trading forex you will often see a two-sided quote, consisting of a 'bid' and 'offer'. The 'bid' is the price at which you can sell the base currency (at the same time buying the counter currency). The 'ask' is the price at which you can buy the base currency (at the same time selling the counter currency).

PIP

Learn to love this word, because this is what you will be seeking for the rest of your forex career. A pip is the smallest denominator of a particular currency pair, so for the above example, if the EUR/USD moves from 1.2150 to 1.2155 then it has moved up 5 pips.

LEVERAGE

Leverage is a simple concept. If you have $10,000 to trade with, your forex broker will let you borrow money from him so that you can trade in larger quantities. They will let you borrow as much as 400 times (400:1) what you put up in a trade. Most brokers allow between 50:1 and 100:1 margin. So, if you put up $1,000, and your broker allows 100:1 margin, then you’ll be trading $100,000 worth of currency (instead of $1,000).

That’s important, because every pip equals a certain dollar amount. When you trade $10,000, each pip movement equals $1. The chart below shows how it goes from there. If you trade 10,000 worth of currency, each movement would be equal to $1. So if you bought at 1.1445 and sold at 1.1545, you would make 100 x $1, or $100. If you trade $100,000, each pip movement would equal $10 and so on.

LONG AND SHORT

Now there is two different ways you can trade on the forex market, and many beginner traders are surprised to learn that you can actually make just as much money when a currencies price moves down as you can when it moves up. Let’s start with the most logical movement, when the price moves up.

Most people are very familiar with the concept of buying something at a low price and selling it when the price increases. So the concept of buying the EUR/USD at 1.2150 and selling it at 1.2160 for a 10 pip gain should seem logical. This process is called going long.

However, you can also do this in reverse! If you think you know that a currencies price is going to go down rather than up, the you can go short. This is just the opposite of the above transaction, selling it first and buying it back later in the hope that the price will go down for you to make a profit.

This can be somewhat strange for those hearing this for the first time, but the concept remains the same either way, that being, that you always want to buy something at a low price, and sell it at a higher price than you bought it at. Which order you do it in doesn’t matter, just that for a transaction to complete you must both buy and sell, as long as you sell at a higher price than you buy then you make profit.

SPREAD

The difference between the stock markets and the forex market brokers, is that in the forex market, broker commissions are either very low or zero. So how do the make money?, they make it from the "spread" or the difference between the actual price and the offered price through a broker.

To the right here you can see a typical board of currency pairs and their spreads. This one is taken from our feed this morning, and you can see for example the difference between the Offer (the price you can place a sell order) and the Bid (the price you can place a buy order) is 3 pips (the spread).

What does this mean to you though?, well, let’s look at the board, if you bought the EUR/USD at 1.2158 as it is offered under the Offer column, and immediately sold it again before the price moved, you would only get 1.2155 as is shown in the Bid column. So the net result is -3 pips, or a loss to you, and a profit to the broker. Remember to always take the spread into account when placing a trade, setting targets and stop losses.

BEARS AND THE BULLS

You will constantly see the term "Bears" and "Bulls" in forex books and chat rooms. So why are we talking about animals when we are supposed to be trading? These are terms that describe the general mood of the market. A "bear" market, is when the general mood of the market is down, i.e. when there are more sellers than buyers in the marketplace. A "bull market" is the opposite, when there are more buyers than sellers and the general mood of the market is up.

Forex and any other marketplace, is just a struggle between the bulls and the bears, it if you can identify who is gaining the upper hand, then you can identify the direction of the price. Easier said than done of course.

Well that about covers the basics, there are so many more areas to cover of course but I hope it helps those starting out in this exciting marketplace. If I have missed something you wanted to read about please leave a comment below and I will be sure to add it to the article if I can.

CALCULATING PROFIT AND LOSS

The foreign exchange market, or Forex market, is an around-the-clock cash market where the currencies of nations are bought and sold. Forex trading is always done in currency pairs. For example, you buy Euros, paying with U.S. Dollars, or you sell Canadian Dollars for Japanese Yen. The value of your Forex investment increases or decreases because of changes in the currency exchange rate or Forex rate. These changes can occur at any time, and often result from economic and political events. Using a hypothetical Forex investment, this article shows you how to calculate profit and loss in Forex trading.

To understand how the exchange rate can affect the value of your Forex investment, you need to learn how to read a Forex quote. Forex quotes are always expressed in pairs. In the following example, your pair of currencies are the U.S. Dollar (USD) and the Canadian Dollar (CAD). The Forex quote, USD/CAD = 170.50, means that one U.S. Dollar is equal to 170.50 Canadian Dollars. The currency to the left of the "/" (USD in this example) is referred to as base currency and its value is always 1. The currency to the right of the "/" (CAD in this example) is referred to as the counter currency. In this example, one USD can buy 170.50 CAD, because it is the stronger of the two currencies. The U.S. Dollar is regarded as the central currency of the Forex market, and it is always treated as the base currency in any Forex quote where it is one of the pairs.

Let's go now to our hypothetical Forex investment to show how you can profit or come up short in Forex trading. In this example, your pair of currencies are the U.S. Dollar and the Euro. The Forex rate of EUR/USD on August 26, 2003 was 1.0857, which means that one U.S. Dollar was equal to 1.0857 Euros, and was the weaker of the two currencies. If you had bought 1,000 Euros on that date, you would have paid $1,085.70.

One year later, the Forex rate of EUR/USD was 1.2083, which means that the value of the Euro increased in relation to the USD. If you had sold the 1,000 Euros one year later, you would have received $1,208.30, which is $122.60 more than what you had started with one year earlier.

Conversely, if the Forex rate one year later had been EUR/USD = 1.0576, the value of the Euro would have weakened in relation to the U.S. Dollar. If you had sold the 1,000 Euros at this Forex rate, you would have received $1,057.60, which is $28.10 less than what you had started out with one year earlier.

Introduction To Forex

Foreign Currency Exchange (Forex) Trading allows an investor to participate in profitable fluctuations of world currencies. Forex trading works by selecting pairs of currencies and then measuring profit or loss by the fluctuations of one one currency's market activity compared to the other. For example, fluctuations in the value of the $ U.S. Dollar are measured against another world currency such as the £ British Pound, € Eurodollar, ¥ Japanese Yen etc. Being able to discern price trends in market activity is the essence of all profitable trading and this is what makes foreign currencies so exciting, currencies are the world's 'best trending' market. This gives Forex investors a profit making edge that is unavailable in most other markets.

Forex Trading is being called 'today's exciting new investment opportunity for the savvy investor'. The reason is that the Forex Trading Market only began to emerge in 1978, when worldwide currencies were allowed to 'float' according to supply and demand, 7 years after the Gold Standard was abandoned. Up until 1995 Forex Trading was only available to banks and large multinational corporations but today, thanks to the proliferation of the computer and a new era of internet-based communication technologies, this highly profitable market is open to everyone. The Forex Trading Market's growth has been unprecedented, explosive, and continues to be unequaled by any other trading market.

Unlike traditional trading which brings buyers and sellers together in a central location (trading floors) in Forex Trading there is no need for a centralized location. Forex is a market where worldwide traders conduct business by high-speed Internet connections with the Interbank Foreign Currency Exchange via Forex Clearinghouses (also called Forex Brokerage Firms). Forex has not only become the fastest growing trading market, but also the most profitable trading marketplace in the world.

Simply stated, Forex is the most profitable because it is the world's largest marketplace. The Foreign Currency market as a whole accounts for over 1.2 trillion dollars of trading per day (as determined by the fourth Central Bank Survey of Foreign Exchange and Derivatives Market Activity, 1998. This figure is understood to be significantly higher today). To put this into perspective, on any given day the Foreign Currency Exchange Market activity is vastly greater than the Stock Market. It is 75 times greater than the New York Stock Exchange where the average total daily value (using 1998 figures) of both foreign and domestic stocks is $16 billion, and much greater than the daily activity on the London Stock Exchange, with $11 billion.

Furthermore, in addition to being the world's largest and most profitable market, The Foreign Currency Exchange Market is the world's most powerful and persistent trading market regardless of negative economic indicators. This is because currencies 'trend' better than every other market due to their macro-economic nature. Unlike many commodities whose supply and demand fundamentals can literally change overnight (as we found in the sudden dot com 'market adjustment' and even more abruptly on September 11, 2001), currency fundamentals are much less random, and far more predictable. This is well illustrated in the way interest rates are changed gradually and only in small increments.

Other examples of fundamental predictability are illustrated by the following statistics. Of the $1.2 trillion day trading in Foreign Currency Exchange, 83% of spot foreign exchange activity and 95% of swap activity involves US Dollars. The Euro is the second most active currency at 37%. The Japanese Yen (24%) and the British Pound Sterling (10%) are ranked third and fourth. The Swiss Franc is 7%, and the Canadian and Australian Dollars account for 3%.

Spot Forex is the type of forex trade in which self-traders concentrate most of their investment activity for reasons that are self-explanatory. By definition, a Spot Forex transaction is a currency trade transaction that has a settlement (liquidation) within a maximum of 2 working days following the closing of the trade. Therefore Spot Forex allows the self-trader high liquidity. Another popular feature for well-advised Spot Forex self-traders is the strong profit potential from continual market fluctuations by buying a specific currency when it is weaker and selling it when it is stronger, and the continual pairing of strong currencies against weak ones. This potential for profit or loss is amplified by the effect of leverage. Leverage is a term that describes what can be achieved when a smaller amount of money controls a much larger amount of money. With regards to Forex Trading for example, a leverage-factor of 100 can allow the trader to hold a 100,000 US Dollar position with a modest 1,000 US Dollar margin deposit. Online Forex day trading focuses its investment activity largely on Spot Forex because of the 'risk manageability' of in-and-out trading plus the potential to generate excellent and highly liquid profits.

"Few financial industries generate as much excitement and profit as currency exchange. Traders around the world enter trades for weeks, days or split seconds, generating explosive moves or steady flows, and money changes hands quickly at a staggering daily average of a trillion US dollars. Forex profitability is legendary. George Soros of Quantum Fund realized a profit in excess of 1 billion dollars for a couple of days work in September 1992. Hans Hufschmid of Soloman Brothers, Inc. netted $28 million for 1993. Even by Wall Street standards, these numbers are heartstoppers".*

Despite its high trading volume and its fundamental role in the world, the Forex Market is rarely in the media limelight because its method of trading transaction is less visible than the Floor of a Stock Exchange. However, trading on the Foreign Currency Exchange Market is today surging into the public awareness, as flocks of internet traders are attracted by the market's inherent profitability and risk manageability. Add to this the absence of geographic or temporal boundaries and vibrantly active Forex market is open to all players.