Understanding Spot Forex Market (Part I)

By Ahmad Hassam

The spot forex market is a decentralized network of buyers and sellers. There is no physical central exchange that acts as a central clearing house. The spot forex market is an over the counter market.

Over the counter means that the buyers and sellers make a binding contract with each other after agreeing on the price and this is not carried through an exchange unlike the forex futures trading that is carried out through the exchange like CBOT, CME etc.

There are several advantages of a central exchange like the counterparty risk for the trades is reduced. There is trading anonymity something that big players want to hide their trails. Forex traders in the spot forex market carry out their activities by dialing directly with one another or through brokers on telephone or internet.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) along with Reuters launched the worlds first centrally cleared global forex market place in 2007; FXMarketSpace. CME will act as the clearing house and guarantee the performance of all the contracts for both buyers and sellers in this centrally cleared system.

Only sophisticated investors with net worth of more than $20 Million can trade on the FXMarketSpace. Unfortunately FXMarketSpace is an institutional trading platform and is not open to retail forex traders.

There are many players involved in the spot forex market. Recently NFA (National Futures Association) had also passed certain new rules that make it more skewed against the small investor like you and me. The spot forex market is still skewed against the retail forex trader. Why is it so?

With the advent of the internet, it became possible to introduce trading platforms for the retail investors. Previously spot forex trading was the playfield of the big banks, multinationals and the hedge funds.

Retail spot forex is seeing a lot of growth in the recent years. A mushroom growth of online forex brokers took place. Many did not have even enough capital with them to start the brokerage business. Most of these forex brokers behave like bucket shops. But this is the way; the spot forex market has developed over the years.

It is essential for you that you understand the nature of the spot forex market and who are the main players. Why they trade forex? What type of advantages they have over the retail forex traders?

Over the counter nature (OTC) of the spot forex market means that currency transactions do not take place at any single place. Instead OTC means that the spot forex market is spread all over the globe.

A players access to the spot forex market depends on the quantity of transactions of large amounts of money. Players in the spot forex market range from those who trade billions of dollars daily to those who only trade just a few thousand dollars daily. Now who are the main players in the forex market against whom you as a retail forex trader will be competing? - 23199

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam is a Harvard University Graduate. He is interested in day trading stocks and currencies. Try These 1500 Pips A Day Forex Signals From Heaven. Develop Your Own Forex Trading System!

Make Money With Forex Made Easy Guides

By Bart Icles

Maybe you've already heard of Forex trading and of the stories of success of many Forex traders becoming rich overnight from profitable deals, but whether it?s true or not, Forex trading is still a very high risk business endeavor to participate in. If you are not fully prepared in dealing with all its intricacies you could end up on the losing side. To help you make the most out of currency trading and generate profits while minimizing losses, you may need to follow some Forex Made Easy tips.

* Get yourself a Forex trading education. First rule before going ahead with any business venture involving your hard earned cash is to know beforehand what?s in store for you so you'll know how to navigate your way on it safely and properly once you are confronted with obstacles and other deterring factors. You can do this by enrolling yourself in a Forex trading program, either in a school or university or by enrolling in an online course offered on the Internet by various Forex experts. By learning how and what makes the Forex market and Forex trading work as a whole will enable you to act accordingly to the different influencing factors related to your trading and thus make you do more profitable transactions rather than losing ones.

* One secret why many traders gain knowledge and experience more quickly than others is that they regular practice the art of trading through paper trading. Through this method, they quickly assimilate the proper methods and techniques to use that lead to more profitable conclusions. Software programs of this nature, with its strategies and techniques, can be purchased or downloaded for free on the Internet. Making money from Forex trading, as well as losing it is a common everyday event. To let you be on the winning side of things, practicing paper trading will let train to become an adept trader once you start doing actual Forex trading and keep the odds in your favor.

* Another important thing to keep in mind is to always keep a disciplined approach to Forex transactions no matter how large or small the amounts of money are involved. It?s a foregone conclusion already that 95% of traders will lose their investments and only the remaining 5% will go on to make a profit. If you happen to be on the winning side, always remember not to get cocky and complacent, for tomorrow you might be on the 95%?s side. Just stick to your plan of action and you?ll continue to stay on trading as long as it is advantageous to you.

Keep these Forex Made Easy guidelines in mind at all times and you?ll soon begin to see some remarkable changes in yourself, as a person and as a trader, and doing business in Forex trading will be most rewarding sooner than expected. - 23199

About the Author:

Managed forex accounts start with a desire to learn and a drive to become a great trader. Learning mini forex trading takes dedication and a good teacher. But once you learn how to trade and do so successfully your life will change and you have options and financial resources you never had before.

Learn about Sugar Commodity Trading, Follow Sugar Commodity Markets

By Marianna Gomes

At a time of rising global agricultural prices, what are the opportunities in sugar commodity trading for the trader or investor looking for exposure to commodities as an asset class? In 1974 this soft commodity witnessed a price spike of over 60 cents a pound and another over of 40 cents a pound in 1981, at the end of the 1970's commodity bull market. It seems the sugar market and commodities in general are no different in 2009. Following the serious global economic slowdown in 2008, markets are recovering and sugar commodity prices are at their highest for 28 years.

There are numerous cases of serious sugar shortages as desperate consumers across Asia queue for small quantities of this key commodity. To think that while in 2007 India was a major exporter of sugar, with a surplus of five million tons, but from 2009 the country is a net importer. So what has caused this serious imbalance between world sugar demand and supply? After the shock of the global economic crisis, the US dollar is falling against other currencies and hopes of a strong rebound are causing real asset prices to be driven higher. Add in the weak monsoon season in India and very unhelpful weather for sugar plantations in Brazil, impacting adversely on sugar yields, and the result is raw sugar prices heading for a high of 25 cents a pound.

Preparing for your sugar commodity trading analysis, find out where sugar comes from, in what forms and consider the recent phenomenon that threatens to change the dynamics of global sugar commodity markets in future. Between 75-80% of sugar comes from sugarcane, produced in over 100 countries globally, largely from the tropical and sub-tropical areas of the southern hemisphere. Rainfall is important for successful crop yields, with ideally around 600 mm needed annually. In addition to bad weather, crop infestation due to pests is another variable causing a rise in sugar prices on world commodity exchanges.

Key producing nations are led by Brazil, also the largest global exporter, then India, China, the EU, USA and Australia. Subsidy regimes in Europe and the US are a major distorting factor in world sugar markets, as they artificially support producers giving them prices higher than the world sugar price. As well as established uses in fruit and vegetable products and in bread fermentation, sugar is now increasingly used as a source of ethanol fuel.

In 2007 there was a very tight balance between supply and demand, a situation almost certain to worsen as demand is expected to surge in developing Asia, particularly in BRIC nations like China and India. The largest consumer in the world is India, which is allocating far more sugar for ethanol as an alternative fuel. The world's third largest consumer and producer is China, and it is starting from a very low base of only 7kg per annum per capita consumption compared to USA per capita consumption of 45kg per annum.

You will help your sugar commodity trading strategy by getting to know about the Brazilian market, the largest world producer. This country's strategy is to avoid a sugar glut by taking any surplus sugarcane crop to produce ethanol for biodiesel for export and domestic consumption. More sugar is being channelled for ethanol as crude oil prices rise, along with sugar demand surges in China. There are major challenges for sugar producers going forward, given the likely high crude oil prices in future coupled with growing demand, seeing sugar prices remaining high.

With your chosen commodity trading system and advice from your professional financial adviser, you can trade from almost anywhere in the world with good internet access. #11 Raw sugar futures is the most heavily traded sugar futures contract in the world, available on the ICE US Futures platform as is the #16 Sugar futures contract. Alternatively, you can trade raw sugar futures on LIFFE CONNECT, the trading platform of LIFFE, part of the NYSE Euronext Group. Also look at soft commodity indexes using an ETF which may not involve taking a leveraged position. With the growth in bio ethanol demand and sugar consumption in the BRIC economies, prospects for sugar prices and sugar commodity trading look very exciting in the years ahead. - 23199

About the Author:

Focusing on soft commodities, the author, Marianna Gomes, contributes articles to the Commodity Trading Today website, a helpful educational resource. Learn more about how you could gain from sugar commodity trading tips here.

Currency Trading Courses - What Is The Big Deal?

By Sebastian De Fontana

Good currency trading courses are critical for turning beginning traders into professionals. Choosing the right course is very important. Below are some guidelines.

Trading currencies can be the best job on earth if you are a success. However, it can be a nightmare if you are not. To be successful you must be prepared. It only requires a small amount of capital to start, due to the use of leverage, you will be trading with a much larger dollar amount. The broker in essence lends you the larger part of your trading capital. This is why you must educate yourself as extensively as possible before you begin trading. The more knowledge you have the more success you will have.

There is no quick fix for becoming a competent currency trader. Buying computer software to do the work for you is a bad idea. If all the trading programs for sale were successful they would not be affordable for anyone. The programs on the market today just do not work. You must learn to do the work yourself by studying specific strategies and learning how to use techniques that the pros use. Once you do this you can be as successful as the top traders in the market. But it does require a lot of hard work.

Most traders who are successful over the long term start by taking a good currency trading course. This helps maintain their level of competence. If you are going to compete in this field you also must gain and maintain a very high level of competency.

Currency trading courses should be carefully chosen. The higher the quality of the class the sooner you will be trading and the more success you will have. A lot of people offer courses so be sure to select one that is appropriate for you. It should be lead by a qualified person who is actively trading now. Markets change so it is crucial that the instructor is using the most up-to-date strategies and tools. In taking a quality course you can avoid making some of the mistakes other less educated traders make. Fewer mistakes can save you money and heartache. It will also help you be prepared to trade successfully much quicker than if you try to teach yourself.

Currency trading is a money losing proposition for most traders. Only 5 traders out of 100 are successful. The other 95 are losers.

The best currency trading courses will help you gain the knowledge of how the markets work so you will be able to develop profitable trading strategies that work over and over again. Most will let you practice real-time trading so you get a feel for what it is really like to be a trader. You will be able to ask questions about the trades that didnt work and get constructive feedback. You will also be able to raise your level of confidence as you reach a higher number of successful trades. As your trading success increases you will be better prepared to start trading in the real market. Confidence in your abilities is a big part of a good trading strategy.

The critical factors in preparing to trade are that the currency trading course you use gives you not only good technique and the ability to decide which strategies are most likely to work but to give you a discipline and confidence to succeed. - 23199

About the Author:

You REALLY need to be reading as much as possible on currency trading courses if you want to succeed.

How To Negotiate The Best Price For Your First Home

By Alexandria P. Anderson

After you've spent enough time doing all of the research about your prospective home and are comfortable with working with the seller, it's time to make the offer. However, the home buying offer isn't the end of the sales process; you may be involved with negotiating a price after making the offer if the seller refuses to accept it, so you'll need a plan to get the price you want - or close to it - well before you extend your initial offer.

Understanding all of the terms of the contract and working on a contingency plan are just a few ways to make sure you really do get the best price for your dream home. Barron's 'Consumer's Guide to Home Buying' encourages all prospective homeowners to create a checklist of items they can practice well before the negotiation process takes place. Here are a few items to consider as you begin negotiating the price of your new home:

1. Who are the key decision-makers involved in the transaction? 'Knowing the players' benefits the skilled negotiator because this allows you to understand who will really influence the buying and selling process. For example, is the seller working independently or are they working with agents, lawyers and other third parties to coordinate the transaction? Knowing who you will be negotiating with can help you identify the best approach for negotiations and give you a chance to gauge the trustworthiness of the selling party.

2. Do you have a contingency plan? If the seller refuses all of your offers, do you have other options? It can be frustrating to not be able to get what you want from the negotiation, but you also need to know when to back off and pursue another direction. Outline exactly how high you are willing to bid for the home and don't go beyond your decision just to win.

3. Have you looked over all of the details of the contract? It's important to fully understand all of the terms of the contract so you're not left with any surprises at closing. Take the time to review the contract in as much detail as possible and note down any questions you have. Set up a meeting with the seller to go over anything that doesn't seem clear to you so you don't have any reservations about signing if you do get an accepted offer.

4. Develop a relationship with your realtor. Realtors have the experience to give you professional advice about your prospective home. Spend the time to develop a positive working relationship with them. Voice out your concerns to your realtor well ahead of the negotiation process to give your realtor time to help you in making an informed decision.

5.Are you ready to handle setbacks? Poor communication skills from the seller's agent, hostility from the seller and other negative communications that occur during the buying and selling process can make it difficult to negotiate fairly. You need to keep your cool and make sure that you are ready to stop the deal if you don't feel like it's going down the right path. - 23199

About the Author:

Alexandria P. Anderson is a Minnesota Investment Property specialist who helps First Time Home Buyers In Minnesota to find and purchase properties in MN. Get a free copy of "The Investors' Rental Guide" at GreatInvestmentProperty dot com.