What is Forex? | We have 469 free forex articles/answers for you.
Latest Articles
Explore the Business Benefits of the Foreign Exchange (Forex) Market!A. Cost of Entry and Operation: The modern day Forex market can actually be entered with as little as $200, one of the lowest requirements of any business. Certainly there are advantages to starting with more capital, but almost any motivated...
Forex Trading Education And A Successful Trading Career
Everyday more and more people decide to enter the world of Forex Trading with the high expectations of having an income source that will allow them to work from anywhere in the world they may choose to live, to maintain and even improve their...
Forex Trading Vurses Other Investments
The forex market involves the trading of currencies and is the largest financial market in the world with an estimated daily turnover of $1.5 trillon dollars. This is 30 times larger than all the US stock markets combined. The forex market is open...
Forex Versus Futures
The origins of today's futures market lies in the agriculture markets of the 19th century. At that time, farmers began selling contracts to deliver agricultural products at a later date. This was done to anticipate market needs and stabilize supply and demand during off seasons.The current futures market includes much more than agricultural products. It is a worldwide market for all sorts of commodities including manufactured goods, agricultural products, and financial instruments such as currencies and treasury bonds. A futures contract states what price will be paid for a product at a specified delivery date.
When the futures market is played by speculators, the actual goods are not important and there is no expectation of delivery. Rather, it is the futures contract itself that is traded as the value of that contract changes daily according the market value of the commodity.
In every futures contract there is a buyer and a seller. The seller takes the short position and the buyer takes the long position. The futures contract specifies a buying price, a quantity and a delivery date. For example: A farmer agrees to deliver 1000 bushels of wheat to a baker at a price of $5.00 a bushel. If the daily price of wheat futures falls to $4.00 a bushel, the farmer's account is credited with $1000 ($5.00 - $4.00 X 1000 bushels) and the baker's account is debited by the same amount. Futures accounts are settled every day.
At the end of the contract period, the contract is settled. If the price of wheat futures is still at $4.00 the farmer will have made $1000 on the futures contract and the baker will have lost the same amount. However, the baker now buys wheat on the open market at $4.00 a bushel - $1000 less than the original contract, so the amount he lost on the futures contract is made up by the cheaper cost of wheat. Similarly, the farmer must sell his wheat on the open market for $4.00 a bushel, less than what he anticipated when entering the futures contract, but the
profit generated by the futures contract makes up the difference.
The baker, however, is still in effect buying the wheat at $5.00 a bushel, and if he hadn't entered into a futures contract he would have been able to buy wheat at $4.00 a bushel. He protected himself against rising prices but he loses if the market price drops.
Speculators hope to profit by the daily fluctuations in the futures market by buying long (from the buyer) if they expect prices to rise or by buying short (from the seller) if they expect prices to fall.
FOREX
The foreign exchange market (FOREX) has several advantages over the futures market. FOREX is a more liquid market – as the largest financial market in the world it dwarfs the futures market in daily exchanges. This means that stop orders can be executed more easily and with less slippage in the FOREX.
The FOREX is open 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. Most futures exchanges are open 7 hours a day. This makes FOREX more liquid and allows FOREX traders to take advantage of trading opportunities as they arise rather than waiting for the market to open.
FOREX transactions are commission-free. Brokers earn money by setting a spread – the difference between what a currency can be bought at and what it can be sold at. In contrast, traders must pay a commission or brokerage fee for each futures transaction they enter into.
Because of the high volume of trading FOREX transactions are almost instantly executed. This minimizes slippage and increases price certainty. Brokers in the futures market often quote prices reflecting the last trade – not necessarily the price of your transaction.
The FOREX is less risky than the futures market because of built-in safeguards in the trading system. Debits in futures are always a possiblility because of market gap and slippage.
About the Author
This article provided courtesy of http://www.penny-stock-guide.com
Written By: Simon Harris
 Hürriyet | FOREX-Dollar rallies broadly, euro down as inflation weighs Reuters - ... Boris Schlossberg, director of currency research at GFT Forex in New York. "On the other hand, the Obama stimulus package has also helped the dollar. ... Dollar soars against euro Forex − Dollar rose supported by US stimulus package FOREX-Dollar gains broadly, euro falls as data weighs |
 BBC News | FOREX-Euro falls as ECB rate cut expectations grow Reuters - The euro fell to 3-week lows against both the dollar and sterling as a more dovish tone by some ECB policymakers and expectations that euro zone inflation ... Mid−Day Forex Technical Report − Dollar Firm after Mixed Data EURO ZONE INFLATION REPORT GIVES ROOM FOR ECB RATE CUT Forex News and Rumors |
 Forex Hound | Forex Market Update: Dollar Extend Gains Against Euro and Pound Daily FX, NY - Oil prices saw slight profit taking but Nymex crude futures still remained above $48. Gold prices continued to fall due to the weak dollar however, ... Market Overview by Forex Yard TheLFB 2009 Forex Update Support and Resistance|01.05.09|16:00GMT 11:00amEST| FXReturn.com |
Fed Minutes Affect on the US Dollar Learning Markets, CA - The impact that this will have on the US dollar is uncertain. Movements in the forex are likely to be dictated more by a potential shift from risk free ... |
Conmed cuts Q4 view on forex changes, sales volume drop Reuters - The company, which also cut its 2009 outlook, said the weakening of the US dollar had a positive effect on its operations in the first three quarters. ... |
 Best Syndication | Forex Trading Signals Well-Positioned for Gains in the New Year Daily FX, NY - ... in US dollar pairs will likely generated further gains in standing Momentum and Breakout trades, and elevated implied volatility levels on forex options ... A Basic Understanding of the Forex Markets Forex – Canadian Dollar Equals US Dollar A Few Things You Need To Know About Forex Trading |
FOREX:Ringgit Ends Easier Against Dollar Bernama, Malaysia - KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 6 -- The ringgit closed easier today against the US dollar as the greenback rallied on positive developments including a stimulus package ... FOREX: Ringgit Opens Lower Against Dollar FOREX: Ringgit Ends Easier Against Dollar |
Dollar holds firm near 3-week high vs. yen Reuters - ... chief manager of forex trading at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities. "Market players are still waiting to see if the dollar resumes its slide after the US jobs ... |
 Ghana Broadcasting Corporation | FOREX-Dollar slides broadly, pound suffers in thin trade Reuters - By Naomi Tajitsu LONDON, Dec 30 (Reuters) - The dollar slipped against the euro and a basket of currencies on Tuesday as traders trimmed long positions in ... FOREX-Euro steady vs dollar, but set for full-year fall Top Forex Trades for 2009 US dollar higher against euro in volatile trading |
 eYugoslavia.com | Taiwan dollar at 2-1/2-wk low, exporters support Reuters India, India - Volume on the main Taipei Forex Inc exchange was moderate at $954 million, lower than the $1.136 billion recorded on Monday. "Everyone suspects the central ... NT dollar drops on news that exports may slump further Taiwan dlr at 2-1/2-wk low on US stimulus, cbank |
