How to earn in Forex?

| Tuesday, November 16, 2010 |

Forex, where the commodity to be traded is currency, and not stocks and shares, is a trading market which gives its investors, returns in the form of the relative value of one currency exchanged against another. Forex trading is therefore, always dealt in currency pairs with the major currency pairs being Euro/US Dollar (EUR/USD) and US Dollar/Japanese Yen (USD/JPY), to name a few. 


And it is with concurrent buying and selling of currencies that the trader hopes to make a profit on favorable exchange rate fluctuations. Exchange rates are always fluctuating, going down as well as up, within seconds and the whole art of trading lies in perfectly foreseeing the trend of the variation between two currencies.

But, how do you make money in such a competitive and incessant Trade market?

Here is an example to illustrate how…

Supposing the current bid/ask price for EUR/USD is going by the rate of 1.5027/30, giving you the option to buy 1 euro with 1.5030 US dollars or sell 1 euro for 1.5027 US dollars. Now, if you feel that the Euro is underrated against the US dollar, you would opt on buying Euros, selling your dollars at the same time. So you buy 100,000 euros by paying 150,300 dollars. You can then start analyzing the market, waiting for the exchange rates to rise. One can also opt in for Spot Forex Trading due to its benefits

As predicted, the rates begin to rise and then you decide a favorable rate at which you plan to sell your Euros to get a hefty profit. Supposing the Euro rises to 1.5090/93. Now, to realize your profits, you sell 100,000 euros at the current rate of 1.5090, and receive $150,900. You bought 100k Euros at 1.5030, paying $150,300. You sold 100k Euros at 1.5090, receiving $150900. That's a difference of $600 or in other words, you successfully earned a profit of $600.

Change and fluctuation, in any trading market is quiet frequent and rapid, especially in the Forex market, where these recurrent changes are also influenced by various other world events and factors like oil prices, interest rates and economic conditions. But with all these rapid fluctuations going on, the main aim of any Forex investor still remains on making profit. Every trader is predicting and waiting for the value of the currencies to change in his favor. You can also learn more about the Positions in forex.


How to choose the right broker.

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When new in the Currency trading market, one of the hardest decisions to make is that of choosing the right broker. It is difficult to decide on a Forex broker, whom we can safely open our trading accounts with, especially when there are so many of them in the market.


Offering features, limitations, pros and potential differing from there fellow brokers, there are a number of individually suitable brokers in the market.

Although every individual trader has its own personal parameters on which they judge the broker before choosing one, some parameters should be kept in mind always, before opting for any broker, whomsoever. 

Is your broker established and regulated?

It is extremely important to know whether the broker you want to choose, is established and regulated or not. Choosing an established broker can confirm you about his reputation and the amount of expertise he has about the market.

A regulated broker will ensure credibility in your trade. This is because of the fact that every regulated broker has to present his fiscal reports to the regulatory bodies, such as local regulatory bodies like NFA (National Futures Association) or FDF (Swiss Federal Department of Finance) for US traders and brokers.

These reports, if failed to be presented, can give these bodies the right to penalize them to the extent of even expiring their market membership as a broker.

Such stringent rules and orders compel all these Forex brokers to maintain see-through fiscal reports. Also, such regulations on brokers facilitate the traders and depositors to trade safely, hence increasing their overall investor security.
What is the current state of affairs while trading?

The current state of affairs at your trading platform along with the features and conditions offered by your chosen broker are amongst the most important factors that should be kept in mind while trading. These factors include within them, certain aspects such as: 
Brokerage or commission

Some brokers demand a fee or a commission from the traders. But it is acceptable if some of them are charging a fee, as they might be offering a smaller spread than the other brokers in market.
Smaller spread

Clearly, the lesser the spread on a currency pair, the better is the trading environment for the traders.

Trading implementation

Different brokers guarantee different targets. Most of them go in for assuring quick and visible implementations through normal market situations. Trading implementation deals with keeping a track of how rapid yet steady are the execution of trades really going on.
Investor protection

Make sure that all your trading details and finances are kept in a separate account and are secured with an insurance cover.

Lowest investment

Every trader or investor should have proper knowledge about the lowest sum of funds which are a pre requisite for opening an account for trading purposes.

If kept in mind before going in for a full fledged trading, this is a very useful and helpful feature which will help them to experiment a little and see for themselves, how well or bad do they perform.
Vigilance

Going by the above mentioned parameters, must have eliminated a number of brokers from your pick list. With a few left in hand now, you still have to cut short to just one or two of them to choose from.

Here is when you need to check the remaining. Once you have stepped in to the market, you should now get aware of your surroundings and get vigilant in your actions.

Some of the major aspects for which you should gain knowledge and get informed are: 
Slippage

Slippage can be known as the unfavorable difference in the currency’s price movements between the price when the order is placed and the actual market value of it. What you need to know is whether your broker respects stop loss and win profit levels?

Customer support

This is the most significant factor to be considered before finally selecting a broker for yourself.  Is your broker courteous to talk to? Do you think you can openly discuss your doubts and apprehensions with him? Is he enthusiastic to help his investors and clients?
If your broker is registered with the local regulatory bodies, it is very easy for you to visit the supervisory authority’s website or office and get hold of as much information as you require about your Forex broker.

Go ahead and ask other traders about their understandings, incidents and experiences with their own brokers.

Get as much of broker information as you can. You can take help from certain forums related to broker information such as ForexFactory, ForexNews.
With the above given parameters, it should be much easier for any trader or investor to now choose a broker, more wisely and diligently.