In the first part of this article I have outlined 10 good reasons why Forex (Foreign Currency Exchange Market) is an excellent investment opportunity for anyone to make money, online, even with very little start-up money available. In this part I will explain how to get started.

If you want to make money with Forex, online, you have to think of it as a business and treat it as such. You have to get serious about it and you need to get organised. Initially, you have to 'go to work' just like you would in a conventional business. Set aside some quite, work hours for yourself, in a quite corner of your house so you can concentrate on your business without any interruptions.

Also, as with any other business or trade, you have to train yourself and hone your skills, continuously. The Forex offers an amazing opportunity to make money, with little effort in record time, however, you have to know what you are doing and you do have to put in some work. Just as you would not allow your 10 year old kid to drive your fancy, expensive car, it would not be a good idea for you to jump into trading the Forex without learning how to drive this 'vehicle'.

If you are a beginner spend some time on reading up on the Forex and perhaps find someone who is already trading successfully. Ask them to mentor you or allow you to look over their shoulder. Once you have some idea on what makes Forex tick, you should open a demo account with one of the many reputable online brokers. This is the best way to learn what happens to your money and your account in the real world without actually risking any of it. You also have to develop good record keeping habits. It's not a hard job to do it, you just have to be disciplined enough to keep up with it. Again, it's no different from a normal business except that the rewards can be much, much higher in relation to the work you have to put in and of course you can do it from anywhere as long as you have access to the Internet.

So, here is a simple list of how to get started: 1) Setup a quite corner for yourself as a work-area, 2) You must have a reliable computer and reliable connection to the Internet, if you can afford a second connection to the Internet with a different service provider than it's even better (I'll explain why in a future article). Also make sure you are comfortable and have plenty of light, a dingy, dark corner will soon dampen you enthusiasm, 3) Set aside some 'quality' time for you business the same time, every day in the beginning, you can spend less time as you get more experienced, 4) Find out more about how the Forex works, train yourself and find a mentor who is already trading successfully, 5) Open a demo account with a reputable online broker, 6) Start keeping a record of everything that you do and why you do it. The easiest way I found to do this is with a simple Excel Sheet(c) or something similar, 7) Analyse the results of your actions and see how they affect the balance of your demo account, 8) Make backups of all your records, I can't emphasis this enough, it's really, really important, 9) Revise your actions and record keeping methods then go back to step 4.

It may sound a lot, however, most of it is common sense and applicable to any and all businesses. It is critical that you keep a record of everything that you do, whether it's changing your chair or the lighting, a new trading platform. Whatever you do make sure you have a record for it and an indication of how, if at all, it has affected your trading ability. I have records of everything I do, not just for Forex, but for all of my other businesses going back 7 years! Now, that's a lot of record keeping but with computers it's real easy.

I think we have covered a lot in this second part. I'll go into more details in future articles. Meanwhile, go through this article and start putting my suggestion in to action. If you have any questions about what I've said above or need information on anything related, just refer to the resources and links at the end of this article.

Wishing you success, Ference

Ference is fanatic about currency trading and teaching others about this amazing opportunity. Contact him at ference_kish@yahoo.co.nz or visit his site at http://www.forexguys.com

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.

You want to be able to short-sell with no restrictions so you can make money when the market drops as well as when it rises. The problem with traditional stock market trading is that the market has to go up for you to make money. With FOREX trading you can make money in all directions.

Omar Vargas; FOREX Trader and Freelance writer.
http://www.1-forex.com

The latest buzz in the Forex world is neural networks, a term taken from the artificial intelligence community. In technical terms, neural networks are data analysis methods that consist of a large number of processing units that are linked together by weighted probabilities. In more simple terms, neural networks are a model loosely resembling the way that the human brain works and learns. For several decades now, those in the artificial intelligence community have used the neural network model in creating computers that 'think' and 'learn' based on the outcomes of their actions.

Unlike the traditional data structure, neural networks take in multiple streams of data and output one result. If there's a way to quantify the data, there's a way to add it to the factors being considered in making a prediction. They're often used in Forex market prediction software because the network can be trained to interpret data and draw a conclusion from it.

Before they can be of any use in making Forex predictions, neural networks have to be 'trained' to recognize and adjust for patterns that arise between input and output. The training and testing can be time consuming, but is what gives neural networks their ability to predict future outcomes based on past data. The basic idea is that when presented with examples of pairs of input and output data, the network can 'learn' the dependencies, and apply those dependencies when presented with new data. From there, the network can compare its own output to see how close to correct the prediction was, and go back and adjust the weight of the various dependencies until it reaches the correct answer.

This requires that the network be trained with two separate data sets - the training and the testing set. One of the strengths of neural networks is that it can continue to learn by comparing its own predictions with the data that is continually fed to it. Neural networks are also very good at combining both technical and fundamental data, thus making a best of both worlds scenario. Their very power allows them to find patterns that may not have been considered, and apply those patterns to prediction to come up with uncannily accurate results.

Unfortunately, this strength can also be a weakness in the use of neural networks for trading predictions. Ultimately, the output is only as good as the input. They are very good at correlating data even when you feed them enormous amounts of it. They are very good at extracting patterns from widely disparate types of information - even when no pattern or relationship exists. Its other major strength - the ability to apply intelligence without emotion - after all, a computer doesn't have an ego - can also become a weakness when dealing with a volatile market. When an unknown factor is introduced, the artificial neural network has no way of assigning an emotional weight to that factor.

There are currently dozens of Forex trading platforms on the market that incorporate neural network theory and technology to 'teach' the network your system and let it make predictions and generate buy/sell orders based on it. The important thing to keep in mind is that the most basic rule of Forex trading applies when you set out to build your neural network - educate yourself and know what you're doing. Whether you're dealing with technical analysis, fundamentals, neural networks or your own emotions, the single most important thing you can do to ensure your success in Forex trading is to learn all you can.

Duncan McQueen runs the blog at forextech.blogspot.com and owns a company developing software (www.infinite-idea.com) to aid in all forms of trading.

Just like hedging your bet at the horse track you can hedge your trading in the Forex Market.

What is the Forex Market: The Forex and the stock market have some similarities, in that it involves buying and selling to make a profit, but there are some differences. Unlike the stock market, the Forex has a higher liquidity. This means, a lot more money is changing hands everyday. Another key difference when comparing the Forex to the stock market is that the Forex has no place where it is exchanged and it never closes. The Forex involved trading between banks and brokers all over the world and provides twenty-four hour access during the business week.

For those who are not familiar with the Forex market, the word "hedging" could mean absolutely nothing. However, those who are regular traders know that there are many ways to use this term in trading. Most of the time when you hear this phrase it means that you are trying to reduce your risk in trading. It is something that everyone who plans to invest should know about. It is a technique that can protect your investments to some degree.

While hedging is a popular trading term, it is also one that seems a little mysterious. It is much like an insurance plan. When you hedge, you insure yourself in case a negative event may occur. This does not mean that when a negative event occurs you will come out of it completely unaffected. It only means that if you properly hedge yourself, you won't experience a huge impact. Think of it like your auto insurance. You purchase it in case something bad happens. It does not prevent bad things from happening, but if they do, you are able to recover a lot better than if you were uninsured.

Anyone who is involved in trading can learn to hedge. From huge corporations to small individual investors, hedging is something that is widely practiced. The manner in which they do this involves using market instruments to offset the risk of any negative movement in price. The easiest way to do this is to hedge an investment with another investment. For example, the way most people would deal with this is to invest in two different things with negative correlations. This is still costly to some people; however, the protection you get from doing this is well worth the cost most of the time. When you begin learning more about hedging, you start to understand why not many people completely know what it is all about. The techniques used to hedge are done by using derivatives. These are complicated instruments of finance and most often only used by seasoned investors.

When you decide to hedge, you must remember that it comes with a cost. You should always be sure that the benefits you get from a hedge should be more than enough to make it worth your while. You should make sure the expense is justified. If it is not, then you should not hedge. The goal of hedging is not to make money. You will not make large gains by hedging yourself. You have to take some risks in order to gain. Hedging is intended to be used to protect your losses. The loss cannot be avoided, but the hedge can offer a little comfort. However, even if nothing negative happens, you will still have to pay for the hedge. Unlike insurance, you are never compensated for your hedge. Things can go wrong with hedging and it may not always protect you as you think it will.

Keep in mind that most investors never hedge in their entire trading careers. Short-term fluctuation is something that the majority of investors do not worry with. Therefore, hedging can be pointless. Even if you choose not to hedge however, learning about the technique is a great way to understand the market a bit more. You will see large corporations and other large traders use this and may be confused at why they are acting this way. When you know more about hedging you can fully understand their strategies.

Whether you decide to use hedging to your advantage or not, you will benefit from learning more about it. You can use it like an insurance policy when trading. You should remember however that hedging can be costly. Always check to make sure the costs of hedging will not run against any profits you may or may not make. Be sure those costs are realistic and that your need for hedging is realistic as well. You will be able to use hedging to help cut your potential losses, however hedging will never guard against the negatives altogether. Learning about it will give you a better understanding at how large traders work the system however, which can in turn make you a better player in the trading game.

Remember that hedging should be left to the Pros of the industry unless you are playing the forex market as a hobby and don't have a lot invested in it.

For more articles from this auctor on this subject visit his article syndication site at http://www.forex-article-directory.com/

First what is Forex: The FOREX or Foreign Exchange market is the largest financial market in the world, with an volume of more than $1.5 trillion daily, dealing in currencies. Unlike other financial markets, the Forex market has no physical location, no central exchange. It operates through an electronic network of banks, corporations and individuals trading one currency for another.

When you choose to start trading in the Forex market, which is often called the foreign exchange market, you will need to know a little trading vocabulary. Learning specific terms and what they mean are essential before you even think about using real money to trade. You would never get into a pilot's seat and try to fly a plane without ever having taken flying lessons. The same goes for foreign exchange market trading. You need to be fully aware of what you are doing. This is a market that is not quickly learned, so you should never assume that once you jump into it, you will learn as you go. While some people opt to do that, they typically end up losing an adequate sum of money because they were not as prepared as they should have been. Knowing the importance of trading trends and ranges in Forex trading is very important. If you are thinking of trading in the Forex market, be sure you know what these terms mean and their implications.

Trading Trend

When price moves consistently in one direction in the Forex, a trend occurs. When the direction is higher, the trend is often called bullish. When the direction of the price is moving lower, the trend is often called bearish. These terms are relative of course. When you define a trend, you should always remember that price peaks and troughs are in the same direction. When you are dealing with a bearish trend, remember that price highs and lows are moving lower. Likewise when you are dealing with a bullish trend, they are moving higher.

Often when trends occur, it is possible to draw support lines under one that is moving higher (an uptrend). You can also often draw resistant lines above one that is moving lower (a downtrend). Once you see these lines break, it can be assumed that the trend is complete. At this point there is a possibility that the trend will begin to reverse. When it does reverse, you will need to know the pattern of what that entails.

Trend Reversal

When you hear of a trend reversal, it simply means that the direction of market prices is changing. Often you will see trend reversals following a four step pattern. Usually, this includes the market making a new high, the trend line being broken, the market making an intermediate low, and a new rally that does not match the first high. Many times you will see prices break the previous low however. You may come across terms such as Double, Triple Tops, and Bottoms, which are all trend reversal patterns. Head and shoulders patterns are also popular reversal patterns.

Trading Range

The trading range is actually a sideways chart pattern. It is often used to represent a resting period before the original trend is resumed. You may see these when you are charting trends and should know what they imply.

Often trends are very important to investors. Those who engage in trend-following are people who look at major trends and make decisions in the direction of the trend. This can be a good strategy, but you must know a great deal about trends and the market in general in order to use this technique successfully. Beginners are not usually very good at tracking trends and using trend-following techniques. One thing that you should also note is that some price movements are trendless. This means that they have no clear direction, which makes trend-following nearly impossible.

Remember, that in order to fully understand trends, you must be educated in the ways of the market and foreign exchange in general. Beginners should not rely heavily on foreign exchange market trend tracking. Once you get more experience you can begin looking into tracking more and more. However, be aware that different things affect and influence the Forex. These influences can change what people expect trends to be. Therefore, you should be a seasoned trader in order to rely on the trends and ranges alone. Educate yourself on these terms and learn to recognize them in the actual market. After all, learning the terms is one thing and being able to see them in reality is different.

For more articles from this auctor on this subject visit his article syndication site at http://www.forex-article-directory.com/

When you reach a certain level of understanding about how the FOREX market works, you become conscious of the huge significance support and resistance levels have.

Although the internet is populated with a large collection of strategies and rules on this subject, I always found it difficult to understand what lies beneath and how to reliably pinpoint the exact inflexion level on a chart.

This article addresses the subject in my unique and well-known style. I will share with you my findings as well as the optimum approach to them, trying to extract the essential and propose a simple, yet effective way to show a constant profit.

The S/R levels are the product of the battle between the sellers and buyers, on their perpetual attempt to turn a profit from their market expectations.

This is always dictated by the big players and smaller hands only come to add momentum to any change in direction.

This observation becomes more significant for larger time frames on the chart, given the colossal size of this market (more than 1.5 trillion USD a day).

That is why all technical analysts advise you to wait for the change in direction to occur, and avoid initiating positions in the anticipation of a support or resistance level. This is precisely because no one knows if the big guys are still willing to defend that level.

Of course, they will pack their analysis in vibrant colours and fashionable expressions, but the naked truth is the above-mentioned one.

The advent of so-called "digital options" brought major players at the table. These are the "casino-style" bets, using terms like "one touch" barrier, "double no touch" barrier and similar others. Simply put, you bet that if the rate behaves in a certain fashion, over a specified time frame, you will be paid a certain amount of money, in line with "odds" similar with horse race betting. For instance, you can bet that EUR/USD, currently trading at 1.2300, will not go above 1.2400 for the next seven trading days. If this scenario plays out well for you, the broker pays you in line with the odds of the bet.

This "digital options", together with their "classic options" relatives, are a major supplier of S/R levels in the FOREX market, as players select very specific levels for their bets.

As it is the case with all humans, we tend to simplify things, this approach resulting in "round numbers" for our bets. It is unlikely that we will go for a 1.2328 level and more likely that 1.2350 or 1.2300 will be our choice.

This mechanism initiates the structure of rather predictable S/R levels on any FOREX chart and the most important ones are the clear, full, round numbers as 1.2000, 1.2100 or 1.2200, if we are to take EUR/USD pair as an example.

While I accept that there is more to it than this presentation, a good grasp of these two concepts, the big players and round numbers, will greatly improve any trading activity.

In the process, do not forget that news and economic calendar can play important roles in the formation of S/R levels and they tend to be fiercely defended by the important trading operators.

A word about Trend Lines is appropriate here. Trend lines are a result of the formation of S/R levels and not a way to form them, even if the quasi totality of analysts is presenting them as a method of prediction. They are a great help for the big boys, as they easily show where the vast majority of traders will place their orders. I tend to give them a secondary importance, compared with the round numbers and news related inflexions.

Bogdan VASILE
Further FOREX education available at www.forex-arena.com

The key to the FOREX market for the average investor is the margin. Without margin trading currency trading would be beyond most investors. I will explain what the margin is and how it works. When you have a margin account you are able to control large amounts of currency with a relatively small cash deposit. When you have a margin account with a broker you are in effect borrowing money from the broker to control a larger lot of currency. Currency is normally sold in lots with a value of $100,000. A common term used when discussing margin accounts is leverage. Leverage is how much you can control with a certain amount of money. The leverage is usually displayed as a ration such as 1:100. That would allow you to control currency worth 100 times the amount of money you have invested. To better explain this in a FOREX exchange with a 1% margin account you could control $100,000 worth of a currency while only investing $1000. Margin accounts can allow you to greatly increase your profit; they also allow you to increase your risk. With a margin account it is possible for a trader to lose more than their initial investment. With a little prudence though losses can be minimized. Most brokers will terminate a trade before the losses exceed the original deposit.

Benefits As discussed before a margin account allows you to buy more with the money you have which can greatly increase your profit on successful trades. By controlling a $100,000 worth of currency for only $1000 the potential gain is greater. When dealing with large lots of currency even small changes can produce significant results. Currency on the FOREX market is traded in far more precise units than actual cash is. As an example the American dollar is traded down to four decimal points. So when you were to quote the dollar against another currency you will see a price like $1.7834 instead of $1.78. A PIP is the smallest unit when trading currencies, when dealing with $100,000 lots then each pip is worth about $10. If the price of the American dollar changes from $1.7834 to $1.7934, you have a net difference of 100 pips. If you have a lot of $100,000 then that 100 pips will translate to $1000 where as if you were not using the margin your original $1000 would only show a profit of $10. Hardly what most would consider a highly profitable trade? In short the primary benefit of using a margin account is that it can greatly increase the profit margin of a trade.

Risks Since there is such a significant increase in profit potential when using a margin account it only stands to reason that there is also an increase. In fact it is quite possible to have your entire margin account wiped out fairly quickly. When using a 1% margin account a shift in the currency of a single penny will cost you $1000. The FOREX exchange has many safety features to help you reduce the risk of this happening. One example is a stop loss order. A stop loss order will automatically close out your position in a currency if the price crosses the point you have set. This allows you to limit your losses while still having the opportunity to realize a profit. Another risk that many people overlook is that if the price nears the point where your losses are close to being equal to the value of your margin account your broker may close out your position. If you were trying to rid out a temporary downturn that you expect to turn around soon you could find that your broker has closed it causing you to lose your entire balance and have no option to make a profit if the price moves up again.

This is a basic introduction to margin accounts and how they work, visit the website listed below to learn more about the FOREX market.

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