Trading on Forex can be a daunting task. The following currency trading tutorial will introduce some of the areas you will need to understand in order to trade successfully in this market. To become a profitable trader, you must build your knowledge constantly.
You will need to open a trading account with a broker. The initial deposit that you make will be small in comparison to the amount of money you will be trading. Your broker will lend you a large percentage of the money you will be trading with. This leverage must be carefully managed. It can greatly enhance your gains, but it can cause your losses to be multiplied if the trade moves against you.
A currency transaction involves two currencies. One is essentially traded against the other. This is called pairing. The most common pairs consist of the euro/U.S. dollar, the British pound/U.S.dollar, the U.S. dollar/Japanese yen and the U.S. dollar/Swiss franc.
The first currency in the pair is the base currency. The second one is the quote currency. The base currency is purchased with the quote currency. If the price is listed as 1.63 USD/CHF, it means that one dollar can be purchased for 1.63 francs. Another example is 1.46 EUR/USD, which means that one euro can be purchased for $1.46.
You will be able to purchase a currency at the asking price. For example to buy the EUR/USD you may pay $1.49. If you wanted to sell that same currency you may only receive $1.45 for each euro. The difference between the two prices is what the broker charges as a commission to execute the transaction.
Making a profit in the currency trading market may seem fairly simple. You just buy the currency that you believe is going to move higher and sell the currency that you think is going to decline. If you think that because of recent political instability in the U.S. the dollar will drop in comparison to other currencies, you may wish to sell the USD/JPY and hope to buy the dollar back in the next month at a lower USD/JPY exchange rate. However, if you believe the political scene in the U.S. is settling down you may wish to buy the USD/JPY and sell it next month when the dollar moves higher against the yen.
If there is one thing you take away from this currency trading tutorial it should be that you need to become an expert in two areas. The first one is to become an expert in technical analysis. Nearly all traders use this tool to help them make their trading decisions so it is very important that you use it also. There are excellent books on technical analysis, as well as high quality classes taught be experienced traders. Technical analysis will help you identify price trends and changes that are developing in those trends. This will help in making decisions to buy or sell and when. You will learn to set stop-loss-orders to limit your risk exposure. When you combine this technical analysis with fundamental analysis you are in a position to make the best decisions. Fundamental factors have a day to day affect on prices and technical analysis can help you see how these factors have moved prices in the past. Past behavior can help predict future behavior.
As mentioned earlier in this currency trading tutorial, we simply touched on the major factors that go into becoming a successful currency trader. Continuing you research and study is essential. There are many experienced traders in the market so make sure you are prepared before you start.