The Top Four Forex Brokers

This article contends that the best forex brokers are: Saxo Bank, GAIN Capital, GCI Financial Ltd., and CMS Forex. CMS Forex accepts no commission, demands a small amount of only $200 to establish a mini account, provides users with a Free Demo account, provides leverage as high as 400:1, and has a 3 to 4 pip spread on major currencies.

Saxo Bank’s ForexTrading.com offers 24 hour online trading, streaming news from three major providers, detailed analysis from in-house experts, direct online chat to dealers, and a secure

trading environment.

GAIN Capital gives its asset managers robust technology, wholesale dealing spreads, consistent liquidity, fast execution, and access to a wide range of sophisticated tools. GAIN Capital’s proprietary trading technology today supports over $60 billion in monthly trade volume. GAIN Capital’s FOREXTrader has streaming prices in 14 currency pairs, real time profit and loss account information, sophisticated risk management tools, a variety of simple and complex order types, and full reporting capabilities.

Professional dealing practices and a service-oriented approach has earned GAIN Capital a reputation as a world class provider of foreign exchange services. Client and partners from over 110 countries currently rely on their technology, execution and clearing services, and administrative tools.

For individual investors, GAIN Capital operates FOREX.com, which offers advanced, yet easy-to-use trading tools along with lower account minimums and extensive educational resources.

GCI Financial is one of the world’s largest online brokers offering commission-free trading in Forex. GCI Financial offers Internet trading software, fast and efficient execution, and the low margin requirements. GCI Financial’s free trading software gives the investor the edge in execution, market information, and account management.

The Seven Most Traded Currencies in FOREX.

Currencies are traded in dollar amounts called “lots”. One

lot is equal to $1,000, which controls $100,000 in currency.

This is what is known as the "margin". You can control $100,000

worth of currency for only 1,000 dollars. This is what is called “High Leverage”.

Currencies are always traded in pairs in the FOREX. The

pairs have a unique notation that expresses what currencies

are being traded. The symbol for a currency pair will always

be in the form ABC/DEF. ABC/DEF is not a real currency pair,

it is an example of a symbol for a currency pair. In this

example ABC is the symbol for one countries currency and DEF

is the symbol for another countries currency.

Here are some of the common symbols used in the Forex:

USD - The US Dollar

EUR - The currency of the European Union "EURO"

GBP - The British Pound

JPN - The Japanese Yen

CHF - The Swiss Franc

AUD - The Australian Dollar

CAD - The Canadian Dollar

There are symbols for other currencies as well, but these

are the most commonly traded ones.

A currency can never be traded by itself. So you can not

ever trade a EUR by itself. You always need to compare one

currency with another currency to make a trade possible.

Some of the common PAIRS are:

EUR/USD Euro / US Dollar

"Euro"

USD/JPY US Dollar / Japanese Yen

"Dollar Yen"

GBP/USD British Pound / US Dollar

"Cable"

USD/CAD US Dollar / Canadian Dollar

"Dollar Canada"

AUD/USD Australian Dollar/US Dollar

"Aussie Dollar"

USD/CHF US Dollar / Swiss Franc

"Swissy"

EUR/JPY Euro / Japanese Yen

"Euro Yen"

The listed currency pairs above look like a fraction. The

numerator (top of the fraction or "left" of the / however

you want to SEE it) is called the base currency. The

denominator (bottom of the fraction or "right" of the

/however you want to SEE it) is called the counter currency.

When you place an order to buy the EUR/USD, for instance,

you are actually buying the EUR and selling the USD. If you

were to sell the pair, you would be selling the EUR and

buying the USD. So if you buy or sell a currency PAIR, you

are buying/selling the base currency. You are always doing

the opposite of what you did with to base currency with the

counter currency.

If this seems confusing then you're in luck. You can always

get by with just thinking of the entire pair as one item.

Then you are just buying or selling that one item. Thinking

like this will still enable you to place trades. You only

need to be aware of the base/counter concept for Fundamental

Analysis issues.

So why is it important to know about the base/counter

currency? The base/counter currency concept illustrates

what is actually taking place in a Forex transaction. Some

of you reading this, know that short-selling was restricted

in the stock market *(Short-selling is where you sell a

stock/currency/option/commodity first and then try to buy it

back at a lower price later). But in the FOREX you are

always buying one currency (base) and selling another

(counter). If you sell the pair you are simply flipping

which one you buy and which one you sell. The transaction is

essentially the same. This allows you to short-sell with no

restrictions.

Forex Asset Managers for Easy and Profitable Trading

Forex Asset Managers are well-informed investors seeking solid returns on investments with measured stability. They are part of conventional or electronic brokerage organizations to yield the maximum return from their client’s investments and reducing their overall portfolio risk through increased diversification.

Because of poor performance of the stock and bond market, there has been an increased interest in forex. The demand for professional Forex asset managers has therefore increased to manifolds. These asset managers offer high degree of customer service with efficient money management which can be overlooked in this highly leveraged market conditions.

With the support of forex asset managers you can reap the benefits of proper diversification of your investment in the global market place. With the surveillance by these asset managers, you can eliminate concerns about stock market or real estate downfall, fundamental factors like terrorism, current events and at the same time diversify your investment profitably.

The basic advantages of hiring professional asset managers for your forex trading are –

1. Your trading will be supervised by professionally traders.

2. Trades will be covered by proper risk and money management.

3. Trades will take place with the most liquid currencies in the spot market and diversification of portfolio.

4. Offers will be with the highest degree of liquidity and excellent risk-to-reward ratio.

5. Independent trades which is regardless of direction of the dollar versus other currencies.

Once your forex trades are managed by professional asset managers, you shouldn't have to worry about calculating your profits and losses. Your Forex asset manager will make this information available to you online 24 hours a day. But as an informed investor you should understand the basics of the trades and calculations.

The experienced forex asset manager help you get the most from your managed forex accounts. They will take care of all account opening formalities and required documentation. If your account size exceeds a certain amount, all these services become free. The rate of return can vary depending on a chosen investment strategy. You can limit your possible loss to a certain percentage, above which it will not exceed. Other wise it will be compensated by the forex asset managing firm.

Forex asset managers are downright prescient. Their services, advices, signals, and predictions are based on structured fundamental and technical analysis. They take care of your accounts with personalized strategies that work best for you. They offer supplementary well-researched information to keep you abreast with the current happenings and trends.

Global Forex Trading: A Trading Dream

The global forex trading market never rests.

No matter where you are in the world, in brightest noon of darkest night, you can go online and make engage in some global Forex trading. In this, the global Forex trading market is unique. Business hours are always in effect somewhere in the world; government and bank employees are always active somewhere in the world, and the currency markets need to be in operation to facilitate global commerce.

While the currency markets are keeping global commerce from collapsing, global Forex traders take a chance that they can capitalize on the fluctuating exchange rates between the currencies of two countries. Global Forex trading is a process in which a dealer buys and sells currencies with the expectation of profiting if the exchange rates fluctuate favorably.

Dealers may base their buying and selling decisions on a variety of factors, including international business dealings. They usually trade the fluctuations between more common currency pairings, like the US Dollar against the Japanese Yen, or the Euro against the US dollar.

The Global Forex Trading Day

The global Forex trading day begins down under, in Sydney, Australia, and moves across the time zones as the great commercial cities of the world open for business. Because the world’s political and economic climate changes on a minute-to-minute basis, Forex traders can buy or sell different currency pairs based on how they read those changes.

The underlying reason for the existence of global Forex trading is to promote international investment and commerce. Global Forex trading, in fact, has supplanted stock trading as the strongest area of financial transactions; it is the most active financial market on the globe. [http://www.e-forextradingsystem.com/Articles/Online_Forex.php]Global Forex trading in exceeds 1.9 trillion US dollars on a daily basis, three-hundred-and-sixty-five days a year. The total amount of all the stock and bond transactions in the world on a single day is less that one-third of that. The thirty billion dollars which flows through the New York Stock Exchange is a mere drop in the Global Forex trading bucket. And the enormous liquidity of the global Forex trading market, when combined with the low margin requirements offered by most Forex brokers, mean that most trades are filled almost instantaneously, with very small transaction fees.

Global Forex Trading Patterns

Traders who are accustomed to trading stocks based on technical analysis are amazed at the easily recognizable patterns of the global currency market; almost every form of technical analysis is applicable to global Forex trading. Some currency trading patterns will continue for months or even years, depending on the amounts of pressure being applied by political and economic powers around the world.

Forex Signals

How many indicators do you need to generate forex signals? There are hundreds and thousands of them available with the internet based softwares. But wait there is a little problem in trading with computer generated forex trading singals- they follow exact same parameters all the time and follow the linear analysis. The markets never move linearly. They move in a zig zag fashion. They are like driving a motor car and finding a route from point A to point B. To get to point B, there can be a lot of ways, however some of the routes can be shorter than the others and some can be followed easily. You have to decide if you want to save time, gas, money or all three.

There can be three different routes serving three different purposes. Forex Signals work the same way. The most important decision you have to make is what time frame do you want to trade. In shorter time frames, a longer term moving average will not work. It will require other type of signals for trading the shorter time frames. In intermediate term time frames, you can have different type of market indicators.

In my five years of extensive research on market timing, I have come to know that the best way to analyze the market is to use own understanding of the markets. This includes volume studies, market acceleration studies and market profile. To judge where the market players stand in the particular time frame. These market players can be big banks or smaller single accounts. The market has a direction all the time and that direction is determined by the longer time frame traders.

To judge where these players are going is like sitting in a game of chess and seeing what you opponents next move is. A correct analysis of the markets come from observation and judging whether the move is going to continue or abort. If it is going to abort, is it going to reverse? Keep your analysis and Forex Signals simple and trade able. Do not over complicate them with using a lot of indicators and custom fitting them. Good luck with your trading and happy journey from point A to point B.

Adnan Kaleemi is a Registered Commodity Trading Advisor and has been advising Forex traders all over the world in more than 60 countries for the last five years. He is currently registered with the commodity and futures trading commission in the US. He reaches global forex traders where provides daily forex signals and forecasts in the major currency pairs EURUSD,GBPUSD,USDJPY and USDCHF along with money management strategies. At http://www.forexforecasting.com you will find informative articles, newsletters and other tools which will help transform your Forex Trading.