The Fed's "Failure to ease concern about the economy has led to a flight to safety back into U.S. dollars," said Kathy Lien, head of currency research at Global Forex Trading. "Traders were disappointed that the central bank did not mention an exit strategy," she added.
Read full article at CNNMoney.com [...]The Japanese yen is lower against the U.S. dollar in currency trading on the FX market today, following yesterday's Fed announcement. The announcement pointed out that deflation was not much of a concern, and that inflation remains rather flat. The news prompted the greenback to gain in forex trading against major currencies.
Today, the U.S. dollar is consolidating some of its gains in currency trading. The yen has moved lower as the dollar retains the upper hand. Dollar is also higher against the U.K. pound. However, the greenback has lost ground to the euro in forex trading. [...]Bank of England governor Mervyn King when before Parliament yesterday to testify about the state of the British economy. His remarks sent the sterling lower in currency trading, where it is languishing against both the U.S. dollar and the euro.
King said that the British economy would probably recover slowly. Indeed, he said that the had major concerns about whether the economy could recovery quickly at all. He also spoke in favor of keeping economic stimulus measures in place, warning that withdrawing them too early could have devastating effects.
With concerns about mounting national debt in Britain, coupled with the expectation of a slow economic recovery, it is little surprise that the sterling is moving lower in currency trading on the FX market.
After yesterday's Fed announcement, the U.S. dollar rallied against other major currencies. However, things are already changing around for the U.S. dollar forex trading forecast. While the greenback received some momentum from the announcement, GFT's Kathy Lien explains in FX360 why the dollar rally is unlikely to last:
So if the Fed did nothing, then we can expect nothing to alter the near term outlook in the currency market. As we indicated in our FOMC Instant Insight , the “rally in the dollar may not have significant follow through because at the crux of it, the statement remains virtually unchanged.”
Indeed, the dollar is already dropping to the euro in forex trading, even though it is gaining against the pound and the yen. In the long term, the greenback is not expected to maintain any sort of a rally against the euro in forex trading.
[...]Speculation that the Swiss National Bank interfered in the currency market to keep the franc weak continues, and now the question is how long the interference will keep EUR/CHF higher.
The move by the SNB prompted a dramatic gain for the euro in forex trading against the Swiss franc. Even though things even out and some of the gains were pared, the franc still remains in a position of weakness -- as desired by the SNB. But, how long will it last? GFT's Boris Schlossberg explores the merits of the case in FX360:
[...]Therefore, while it is never wise to stand in front of central bank at the moment of intervention it may nevertheless be interesting to consider fading the move once the initial burst has taken place. For now 1.5400 acts as the key resistance level for the pair and as long as that figure holds the bias in EUR/CHF
remains to the downside, and the pair may well retest 1.5000 support in the next several weeks if sentiment towards EZ finances turns negative once again.
Technical forex traders are always looking at support and resistance in order to help them figure out what the best possible move might be for a particular currency pair. Support and resistance can help forex traders determine when to enter and when to exit a trade.
It is important to note, though, that sometimes the process is not always so cut and dry. Due to the volatility of the FX market, it is possible that support can become resistance. If a currency pair falls below its line of support too often in a short period of time, all of sudden you have resistance instead of support. You should watch carefully for this, since it happens frequently and changes the equation.
During a recession, a weak currency is often thought desirable. However, few developed nations that trade with major currencies are willing to interfere in the FX market to make it happen. Instead, many countries adopt policies designed to indirectly weaken a currency. The Swiss National Bank, however, appears to be an exception.
The Swiss franc is moving sharply lower against the euro in forex trading, and there is speculation that the SNB might have interfered. Speculation that the SNB has interfered in the FX market in the recent past is also rampant. However, the national bank, as one might expect, refuses to comment.
While there is no solid evidence that the SNB is interfering in the FX market, there is precedent, and monetary officials have warned about using interference as an eventuality if the Swiss franc does not behave as they would like in currency trading. [...]After struggling yesterday, the U.K. pound is surging higher in currency trading today. Earlier, sterling hit a 12-day high in forex trading, nearly reaching the 1.6600 level. The U.K. pound has backed off a little, moving back into the 1.65 area, but there is potential for more gains in the near future. GFT's Boris Schlossberg points out in FX360 what may help fuel future gains by the U.K. pound in currency trading:
Sterling does well in forex trading when there is a degree of risk appetite. Although risk aversion appeared to be setting in yesterday, things may be changing today. A lot of how well the U.K. pound does in currency trading will partially depend on how equities do today. [...]The pound hit a 12 day high today in early European trade coming to within a few points of the 1.6600 figure, fueled by strong buying from the Middle East that suggested the pair might make a run at its 2009 highs of 1.6666 in the near future.
Today's currency pair to watch is EUR/USD. Yesterday, the euro recovered in forex trading to above 1.4000, but the 16-nation currency appears to be stalling out. Indeed, the euro is slightly lower against the U.S. dollar in currency trading.
Going forward, the euro forex trading forecast has two main considerations. GFT's Kathy Lien addresses the two barriers to a strong euro in FX360:
It will be important to watch the short to medium term moves of the euro. While euro is expected to strengthen in the long run, it may find its gains in fits and starts for the time being. [...]Such a strong breakout can usually have follow through but there are 2 main hurdles that the EUR/USD
Risk aversion may be ready to make a comeback on the forex market. Yesterday, signs of decreased appetite were in evidence as the U.S. stock market had trouble overcoming Monday's sell-off. Additionally, high beta currencies, sterling and euro, were falling in forex trading to the U.S. dollar.
Forex traders and other investors appear a little wary of the economic recovery and how things are going. This is a reason for caution. However, today might bring new optimism and a bit of risk appetite to the markets. One of the main influencers of today's financial markets will be the announcement expected from the Fed about the economy later today. [...]Kathy Lien is quoted in todays Channel News Asia article, US Dollar Wobbles as Fed Meeting Opens.
GFT's Lien had this to say:
"The reason why currency traders are watching these auctions is because of its scale and also because it will shed some light on investors' willingness to fund the US large and growing budget deficit," she said.
"The auctions will be a big hurdle for the US dollar this week because if demand comes up short, the dollar could get hit but it is not that simple because at the same time, weak demand could drive up yields, which is dollar positive."
Read full article on Channel News Asia.
[...]EUR/USD trend: sell.
GBP/USD trend: sell.
USD/JPY trend: sell.
EUR/JPY trend: hold.
| Floor Pivot Points | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pair | 3rd Sup | 2nd Sup | 1st Sup | Pivot | 1st Res | 2nd Res | 3rd Res |
| EUR/USD | 1.3524 | 1.3635 | 1.3788 | 1.3899 | 1.4052 | 1.4163 | 1.4316 |
| GBP/USD | 1.5891 | 1.6038 | 1.6265 | 1.6412 | 1.6639 | 1.6786 | 1.7013 |
| USD/JPY | 91.93 | 93.72 | 94.99 | 96.78 | 98.05 | 99.84 | 101.11 |
| EUR/JPY | 126.54 | 129.44 | 131.82 | 134.72 | 137.10 | 140.00 | 142.38 |
| Woodie’s Pivot Points | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pair | 2nd Sup | 1st Sup | Pivot | 1st Res | 2nd Res |
| EUR/USD | 1.3646 | 1.3808 | 1.3910 | 1.4072 | 1.4174 |
| GBP/USD | 1.6058 | 1.6306 | 1.6432 | 1.6680 | 1.6806 |
| USD/JPY | 93.59 | 94.74 | 96.65 | 97.80 | 99.71 |
| EUR/JPY | 129.31 | 131.57 | 134.59 | 136.85 | 139.87 |
| Camarilla Pivot Points | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pair | 4th Sup | 3rd Sup | 2nd Sup | 1st Sup | 1st Res | 2nd Res | 3rd Res | 4th Res |
| EUR/USD | 1.3795 | 1.3867 | 1.3892 | 1.3916 | 1.3964 | 1.3988 | 1.4013 | 1.4085 |
| GBP/USD | 1.6287 | 1.6390 | 1.6424 | 1.6459 | 1.6527 | 1.6562 | 1.6596 | 1.6699 |
| USD/JPY | 94.59 | 95.43 | 95.71 | 95.99 | 96.55 | 96.83 | 97.11 | 97.95 |
| EUR/JPY | 131.31 | 132.76 | 133.24 | 133.73 | 134.69 | 135.18 | 135.66 | 137.11 |
| Fibonacci Retracement Levels | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pairs | EUR/USD | GBP/USD | USD/JPY | EUR/JPY |
| 100.0% | 1.4011 | 1.6558 | 98.56 | 137.61 |
| 61.8% | 1.3910 | 1.6415 | 97.39 | 135.59 |
| 50.0% | 1.3879 | 1.6371 | 97.03 | 134.97 |
| 38.2% | 1.3848 | 1.6327 | 96.67 | 134.35 |
| 23.6% | 1.3809 | 1.6272 | 96.22 | 133.58 |
| 0.0% | 1.3747 | 1.6184 | 95.50 | 132.33 |
As regular readers of this blog will know, I'm a big fan of exponential moving averages. Indeed they are a major component of my main 4 hour trading strategy. However even though they provide more up to date signals than simple moving averages, they are still lagging indicators which is why a man called Patrick Mulloy created the Triple Exponential Moving Average (TEMA) indicator.
The derivation of this particular indicator is quite complicated because it consists of a single exponential moving average, a double exponential moving average and a triple exponential moving average.
However all you really need to know is that this combination of indicators removes a lot of the lagging between indicators and price action. Therefore it is a very effective smoothing indicator.
The default setting for this indicator is 21 but you can adjust it to suit your needs.
As you can see from the chart below (which is the 1 hour chart of the EUR/USD pair) this indicator tracks the price action extremely well and you can make some decent profits by trading close to this TEMA indicator when it is trending strongly upwards or downwards.
However for greater success you may want to combine it with one or two other indicators. For instance a strong buy signal would be when the CCI has crossed through 0, the TEMA indicator is trending upwards and the price has retraced back to this TEMA, and vice versa for a sell signal.
[...]Today I want to share with you a short trading video from the team at Marketclub that shows you how you can use their trade triangle technology to quickly analyze the various currency pairs, and tells you whether you should be in or out of the markets.
To go into a little more detail, this video looks at 13 different forex pairs as well as the Dollar Index and will show you just one of the ways you can take advantage of Marketclub's signals using both short and long-term trade triangles in conjunction with short-term trends and moving average indicators.
If you would like to watch this video, you can do so by clicking here.
[...]Since peaking in the beginning of June, the MSCI emerging markets index has fallen nearly 10%. While this is small potatoes compared to the 60% rise that the index cranked out in the previous three months, it could signal the beginning of a “correction.”
Around the peak a couple weeks ago, the Forex Blog reported that emerging market stocks had become quite expensive, relative to historical P/E ratios. It’s hard to say whether investors were/are operating under similar assumptions when the market pulled back, or rather if they have been driven by other factors. This is because emerging market currencies, like many other asset classes, have experienced a disconnect from fundamentals of late, such that the ebb and flow of risk aversion - rather than any substantive developments - now dictates the movement of asset prices.
Analysts looking for clues into why specific currencies were rising against the Dollar ignored the fact that virtually all currencies were rising, albeit some more than others. In other words, it was a Dollar-negative story as much as it was an emerging markets story. Likewise, risky investments are losing value across the board now that risk aversion is back in fashion, not because of a perceived change in emerging markets growth potential.
Still, there is much to be nervous about. Latvia still hasn’t dealt with its currency, which some experts think needs to be devalued by as much as 50%. Turkey has yet to sign a loan agreement with the IMF. Russia’s benchmark stock index fell 20% in one day. One of the best proxies for risk levels are credit default swaps, which function like insurance on bonds. If a company/country were to default on its bonds, a holder of a credit default swap contract would be compensated by the writer of the contract. Suffice it to say that credit default swap premiums, especially on emerging market debt instruments, are once again rising, as investors become more worried about the possibility of default.
Generally, the Yen is viewed as one of the most viable currencies during periods of heightened risk aversion. So is the Dollar for that matter, but the Yen has less baggage, vis-a-vis quantitative easing, etc. Sure enough, the Yen has pulled back tightly of late, rising almost 3% in one day against the Euro alone. [In the current market environment, I think it makes more sense to compare the yen with the Euro, since the two currencies are viewed as fulfilling different purposes for currency traders. The US Dollar, in contrast, is currently being driven by some of the same themes as the Yen, which can make it difficult to use this pair to distill changes in risk appetite.]
In short, as the global economy reaches a critical phase in the recession, investors will be looking for confirmation, either that a recovery is nearby or still far away. Right now, the consensus seems to have swayed towards the “recovery is faraway” side. However, a sudden uptick in a widely-watched economic indicator could send the pendulum swinging right back in the opposite direction.
[...]
| Company: | ActivTrades Ltd |
| On-line since: | 2004 |
| Country of origin: | United Kingdom |
| Regulation: | Regulated and authorized by the Financial Services Authority. |
| Payment options: | Bank wire and credit cards |
| Minimum account size: | €250 |
| Minimum lot size: | 0.01 lot |
| Leverage: | up to 1:400 |
| Spreads: | 2 pips on EUR/USD |
| Rating: | 6.9/10 with 86 votes Rate ActivTrades Broker: |
| Categories: | Forex brokers with web platform, Metatrader Forex brokers, Oil trading brokers, Gold trading brokers, Forex brokers with advanced platform, Forex brokers with CFD trading |
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Click here to open an account with ActivTrades
Reviews:
User reviews of ActivTrades are presented here. All reviews represent only their author's opinion which is not necessarily based on the real facts.
| Andre from Germany | 06/24/2009 |
| The best broker...If you trade CFDs Forex etc:good conditions,low margins,perfekt telephon help desk....what do you want more..and when you withdraw money,you become the money. | |
| Curt from USA California | 05/30/2009 |
| This broker does not accept US Citizens. Why? Who knows? Otherwise it looks great. | |
| Edmond from Germany | 04/06/2009 |
| Very reliable and professional. Very good if you want to do scalping as well as swing trading. Just the swaps are a little higher than the average. Very competent and friendly staff! | |
| kotavmurali krishna from vishakapatnam | 09/20/2008 |
| this is forex | |
| Company: | GCI Financial Ltd. |
| On-line since: | 2002 |
| Country of origin: | Belize |
| Regulation: | Registered by International Financial Services Commission of Belize. |
| Payment options: | Wire transfer, credit cards, PayPal, Moneybookers, WebMoney and check |
| Minimum account size: | $2,000 |
| Minimum lot size: | 0.1 lot |
| Leverage: | up to 1:200 |
| Spreads: | 3 pips on EUR/USD |
| Rating: | 2.8/10 with 39 votes Rate GCI Financial Broker: |
| Categories: | PayPal Forex brokers, Forex brokers with web platform, Metatrader Forex brokers, Oil trading brokers, Gold trading brokers, Forex brokers with CFD trading, Muslim Forex brokers, WebMoney Forex brokers, Moneybookers Forex brokers |
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Click here to open an account with GCI Financial
Reviews:
User reviews of GCI Financial are presented here. All reviews represent only their author's opinion which is not necessarily based on the real facts.
| happy from JAPAN | 06/24/2009 |
| I have storen $2000- by GCI. My account was islamic account. However They stored swap $2000- from my account at last. They are scamer. Warrnig !! | |
| jordan from china | 06/04/2009 |
| This broker is SCAM. I were storen $2000- last yeare. Warning !!!! | |
| Kasimir from Austria | 11/23/2008 |
| I don't think that the info provided here is uptodate. Besides, GCI supports the Metatrader 4 platform and from their FAQ on 23rd Nov 2008 we have in German: Was sind die Mindesteinlagen für eine Kontoeröffnung? Bei Standard-Forex-Konten sind es 5.000$ oder ? und bei Mini-Forex- und CFD/Aktien-Konten liegt der Betrag bei 2.000$ oder ? oder dem entsprechenden Betrag in einer anderen Währung. Which means that the minimum account size for standard accounts is 5.000 $ or ?, while for mini accounts it is 2.000 $ or ?. I am in no way connected to GCI nor am i a customer at this time. Greetz | |
The Japanese currency, often associated with risk aversion by traders due to its relative safety, declined against all major currencies after the Federal Reserve confirmed signs of economic recovery in the American economy.
All currencies gained against the yen this Thursday as the Japanese government stated that national investors bought more assets than sold for the seventh week in a row, adding to the negative outlook for the Japanese currency today. A Federal Reserve statement signaled that the recession might be easing in the United States, creating a bullish pattern for virtually all high-yielding assets and equities markets as a whole, damping demand for the Japanese currency, often purchased when risk aversion is high among traders. Mixed signs regarding the depth of the global slump caused the yen to become extremely volatile having sequential days of losses and gains, creating ideal opportunities for day-traders to profit lately.
Analysts refer to the Fed’s statement as the main driver for the yen’s bearish scenario, being such declaration the reason traders needed to regain confidence and purchase high-yielding currencies fueled by a spree of risk appetite this Thursday in world financial markets. The yen is likely to swing considerably for the next weeks, as the actual global slump scenario remains undefined.
USD/JPY climbed to 96.53 as of 11:24 GMT from 95.45 yesterday. EUR/JPY also rose from 133.80 to 134.45.
[...]| Company: | InvestTechFx Technologies Inc. |
| On-line since: | 2006 |
| Country of origin: | Canada |
| Regulation: | Registered in Canada under Canada Business Corporation Act. |
| Payment options: | Bank transfer, PayPal, Moneybookers and credit cards |
| Minimum account size: | $100 |
| Minimum lot size: | 0.01 lot |
| Leverage: | from 1:1 to 1:500 |
| Spreads: | 1 pip on EUR/USD |
| Rating: | 7.0/10 with 95 votes Rate InvestTechFX Broker: |
| Categories: | PayPal Forex brokers, Metatrader Forex brokers, Oil trading brokers, Gold trading brokers, Forex brokers with CFD trading, Muslim Forex brokers, Moneybookers Forex brokers |
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User reviews of InvestTechFX are presented here. All reviews represent only their author's opinion which is not necessarily based on the real facts.
| Toni from Italy | 06/23/2009 |
| Stop bad mouthing another person's country (gibor flabor from canada and horatio from USofA). Are you guys in a war here? I can now see that you don't even have respect for your own country. You must be ashamed of yourselves. How could you write a thing like this? Since it's not your money neither it's mine, i think you should respect their feelings as humans. At lease, we've never heard a case like this from other brokers out there. All i have to say is that, if it's true, InvestTech Fx should do things wright. Lets all respect other people's opinion because how are we even sure that most of the scams out there not even coming from your own country. | |
| horatio from USofA | 06/20/2009 |
| @Kunle Franklin from Nigeria Your reputation as a Nigerian precedes you... Scams of "Good Faith" may work on hopeless senior citizens- but none of them work at Investech, and Investech certainly isn't going to be so stupid as to fall for this! These Nigerians have some nerve, they figure "hey it's worth a try"... | |
| gibor flabor from canada | 06/19/2009 |
| i don't care about none of this emails but to all Canadians and USA- the people from Nigeria are all fake, we receive from them on a daily basis that they will give money if we give them just our: name: address: phone: fax: email: work number: home number: etc.... why in the world if you just got rewarded with money they don't have your full detail info this country and those type of people are the worst I've seen in my life, i don't know who from you guys knows what i'm talking about but the type of emails coming from there are unheard off, no wonder this investtechfx couldn't realise their funds, who knows who is real and who is not, no bank will ever accept $$ from this country not in Canada and not in USA MINIMUM hold of funds is 14 days when today any bank will release this fund in 48 hrs stay away from Nigeria, Mali, or should i say Africa | |
| Kunle Franklin from Nigeria | 06/17/2009 |
| Good day everyone, i was the one who recommeded InvestTechFX to GIFT FRANKLIN. I got to know about them from this site. I really appreciate what the owner of this website is doing by allowing customers to make comments. Infact, GIFT FRANKLIN has really been fraustrated, she wired $700 to this broker and after 3 weeks the money was not credited on the platform. She spent alot of money calling them but they promised to credit the account and at the same time promised to call her back but they never did. Until i came here to post a comment about them which you can see below before the money was credited. After the money was credited, they blocked her from login in into her account and started complaining about the comment and they asked her to protect thier company's interest by writing a comment that the money was recieved in which they promised to add $100 for the delay. Although, i know that they would have traded and made alot with the money for over that three weeks whereby promising her peanuts ($100 bonus). I had to comeback to protect thier interest by posting this comment on the 06/09/2009 and i quote: "The account has been credited.They also added added an additional $100 for the bdelay. Although, the delay was caused by the bank. There was a mistake in the the form at the bank. Thanks InvestTechFX. tHANKS FOR THE BONUS" After this comment was posted, they re-opened the account for her and she traded for about 3 days where she made alot of pips and they will reduce the number of pips. After those three days, she wrote them about the problem but they didn't do anything. The next day, they blocked her account again asking her this time around to come here on earnforex and clean all that was posted which is not possible but they can allow her to trade. She asked them to return her money that she does not want to trade with them again because of all these problems but they refused. Since they want to handle the issue this way, we have decided to let the world knows the truth and we have enough evidences ranging from the emails sent to us, bank wire slip and other evidences. All we want is for them to return the money before we expose them in the law court and they must pay for damages. For over 10 years of my trading career, this is the worst in heavens and the earth. I am not going to say people shouldn't trade with them, if you want to fine. | |
| Bob from Toronto, ON Canada | 06/16/2009 |
| It's really an excellent broker! I've been trading forex with them since March. I upgraded my account to silver account last week. After sending them payment receipt and request for upgrading to silver they deposited the fund and 5% bonus to my real trading account. Therefore, I've made 2 deposit in total, all with paypal. It took only less than half an hour for the first deposit to be credited to my account, and 1 day for the 2nd deposit because I made the deposit on Saturday and paypal needed to verify the payment with my credit card company (paypal also sent me a notice about the possible delay). By Sunday night the fund was in my account. I've never experienced pip change because I recorded dollar vs pip at the very beginning. I've been trading USD/CAD pair and I've never seen any other broker offers only 1 pip on it and other major pairs. In short, my experience with them has been really excellent. Happy trading! | |
| GIFT FRANKLIN from Nigeria | 06/15/2009 |
| I wired $700 to investtech and for three weeks my money was hooked up, and when i posted a review concerning my fund, then they credited my account and make my account invalid, and ask me to take down the review and also write back to earn forex that they have credited my account, for doing that they will add $100 for the delay and make my account valid for trading, which i did wrote to earn forex that they have credited my account, but they alone made my account invalid and did not a dian to my account, What this broker did was to be cutting my pips,the first and second trade i entered, they added the exact pips i made, and after that,i made upto 60pips, and they added only 2pips, i made 20pips, they added 1pips, i change lot size from 0.01 to 0.03, the still do the same, some time when i make 30pips, they will added credit 5pips, this broker are some thing else, i have written for the reture of my fund,i have ask them to close my account and return my fund, and they and not reply me any thing, this fruadsters, if you want your life to be forstrated, just open a live account with this broker and you don't have any problem. | |
| Kunle Franklin from Nigeria | 06/09/2009 |
| The account has been credited.They also added added an additional $100 for the bdelay. Although, the delay was caused by the bank. There was a mistake in the the form at the bank. Thanks InvestTechFX. tHANKS FOR THE BONUS | |
| Kunle Franklin from Nigeria | 06/06/2009 |
| Thanks to the owner of this website. I helped a friend opened an account with InvestTechFX some weeks back and she sent $700 to them over 3 weeks ago, up til now the money has not been credited on the platform. She wrote them complaining several times but they keep saying they will credit the account. I also called them on phone but they promised to call us back which they never did. I have called more than 5 times. Her bank also contacted thier bank in which they comfirmed that the money was recieved. I dont know what to do. I am highly dissapointed. I just wonder if they really exist. Is this a scam. | |
| Bob from Toronto, ON Canada | 05/02/2009 |
| When you lose money it's either because you've used too much of your margin or you don't know trading. Don't blame the brokers. They have no control over when, how(short or long) and how much you are going to trade. You need to really study very hard and smart how to trade before you start. | |
| Bob from Canada | 04/06/2009 |
| I've been trading with them for a month now. they are really good. Very fast funding of account with Paypal. There spreads are really low. The do charge for EA/Scalping as stated on their web site. You need to inform them if you don't use EA/scalping, or you'll be automatically charged for that. I was charged but I didn't use EA/scalping. They refunded the charges and removed me off their EA/scalping list very fast after I made contact with their Toronto office. | |
| Tim from Baltimore, MD | 03/30/2009 |
| I have been trading with Investtechfx for over 2 months now. Having been with 4 different brokers, including market makers, and now NDD, I can say honestly that Investtech is definitely the best experience I’ve had in trading Forex. I only have time to trade a few hours every day, so I’m using an EA. Their 1 pip spread really helps my trading. The MT4 platform makes it very easy to scalp, and now I am up over $550, from an initial deposit of $1000. I traded on the demo for 3 months, and matched my initial deposit, so this was my goal. However, the execution is longer on the live platform as opposed to the demo, so I am not making profits as fast as I did with the demo. I will stay with them as long as I continue to reap what I sow. | |
| kevin from Georgia | 03/23/2009 |
| ITFX out of canada(Invest Tech), ARE CROOKS. You might as well say that the 5 pip spread on the demo, Went to a 19 pip spread once I went to trade live( EA fees). On a penny a pip account.Just because I used an EA !!! What difference does that make anyway !!! Kevin | |
| Mohd Nazri from Malaysia | 03/14/2009 |
| hi, I have already opened a trading account with investechfx last two days and deposited USD 400 to them. But till today I have not received any email concerning my deposited money and registration confirmation. Is it the customer support very bad? or maybe they are also off when worldwide forex market closed.
| |
| Joe from San Jose, CA | 01/16/2009 |
| This seems to be a good broker with good options. Does anyone have anything to say about them? I'd like to hear something! | |
The Brazilian currency rebounded its previous week losses posting two days of significant gains versus main currencies before a massive IPO in the nation’s stock exchange, which is likely to attract a great influx of foreign capital to the country’s financial system.
The real had a poor performance in the beginning in the week as world equities markets slid due to a sudden rise in risk aversion after a World Bank report indicating that the global slump may be deeper than previously expected, but as stocks succeeded to rebound, the Brazilian currency returned to rally. VisaNET, which is the Brazilian subsidiary of Visa Inc., will start its operations in the Brazilian Stock Market this week, and its IPO is likely to raise $5 billion from investors which will tend to be, in their majority, of foreign origin, creating confidence in Brazilian markets and providing support to the national currency to raise sharply, to the point the national central bank purchased dollars in order to stop Brazil’s real daily gains yesterday.
The situation is rather confusing for the Brazilian real at the moment, as analysts affirm that massive IPOs like these of VisaNET are very favorable for the national currency, but being the real a high-yielding currency extremely linked with the price of commodities, real’s fate will rely mostly on the world economic recovery for the next months.
USD/BRL traded at 1.9683 as of 9:54 GMT from a previous price of 1.9830.
[...]The Japanese yen, often associated as the best performing currency in times of crisis due to its refuge investment profile, lost today as the OECD predicted an unexpected growth to its member countries, spurring demand for high-yielding assets.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development stated today that its 30 member nations are expected to grow 0.7 percent next year, after a decline forecast of 4.1 for 2009, an affirmation which despite the negative numbers for the current year rose investors confidence to purchase higher-yielding assets this Wednesday in equities and currencies markets. Currencies like the Norwegian Krone, highly associated with the crude oil rates, and the Australian dollar led the gains versus the yen, which after days of tension in stock markets, had a considerable rally in the beginning of the week. The greenback was one of the few currencies that lost against the yen, as today it is very likely that a report will indicate another drop in durable goods orders in North America.
The yen is in the hands of the risk appetite levels, according to currency strategists. Currently without any expected data from that Asian nation indicating any economic movement other than the already expected, the Japanese currency is being moved by investors confidence and the waves of risk aversion and appetite. It is hard to determine what direction the yen will follow, until the equities and commodities markets define a pattern.
AUD/JPY traded at 76.18 as of 12:19 GMT rising from 75.05. GBP/JPY rose to 157.62 from 155.55.
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The U.S. dollar had a day of weak performance losing ground to currencies like the euro and the Australian dollar as speculations that a report to be released this Wednesday will indicate a decrease in durable goods orders, affecting the greenback outlook negatively.
The greenback lost significantly against most of the major currencies, as today, a durable goods orders reports is very likely to indicate the second fall in three months, decreasing confidence among traders to maintain their positions in the U.S. currency. The main reason behind an eventual drop in durable goods orders is the fact that investment in new equipment is for the moment uninteresting for industries, as uncertainties regarding the global slump still very vivid among different sectors of the economy, and after the restructuring plans for companies like Chrysler LLC and General Motors Corp., the durable goods order can be even more impacted. Despite the negative news, today the Federal Reserve may indicate that the recession might be easing in the United States as the housing sectors shows signs of recovery.
Specialists affirm that durable goods orders will only rebound when solid signs of an increased demand start to emerge among costumers, otherwise, this data is still likely to weigh negatively on the greenback outlook for the upcoming months.
EUR/USD climbed to 1.4085 as of 11:04 GMT, from 1.4015 in the intraday comparison. AUD/USD followed the same trend rising from 0.7895 to 0.7989.
If you want to comment on the U.S. dollar’s recent action or have any questions regarding this currency, please, feel free to reply below.
[...]FOREX - the foreign exchange market or currency market or Forex is the market where one currency is traded for another. It is one of the largest markets in the world.
Some of the participants in this market are simply seeking to exchange a foreign currency for their own, like multinational corporations which must pay wages and other expenses in different nations than they sell products in. However, a large part of the market is made up of currency traders, who speculate on movements in exchange rates, much like others would speculate on movements of stock prices. Currency traders try to take advantage of even small fluctuations in exchange rates.
In the foreign exchange market there is little or no 'inside information'. Exchange rate fluctuations are usually caused by actual monetary flows as well as anticipations on global macroeconomic conditions. Significant news is released publicly so, at least in theory, everyone in the world receives the same news at the same time.
Currencies are traded against one another. Each pair of currencies thus constitutes an individual product and is traditionally noted XXX/YYY, where YYY is the ISO 4217 international three-letter code of the currency into which the price of one unit of XXX currency is expressed. For instance, EUR/USD is the price of the euro expressed in US dollars, as in 1 euro = 1.2045 dollar.
Unlike stocks and futures exchange, foreign exchange is indeed an interbank, over-the-counter (OTC) market which means there is no single universal exchange for specific currency pair. The foreign exchange market operates 24 hours per day throughout the week between individuals with forex brokers, brokers with banks, and banks with banks. If the European session is ended the Asian session or US session will start, so all world currencies can be continually in trade. Traders can react to news when it breaks, rather than waiting for the market to open, as is the case with most other markets.
Average daily international foreign exchange trading volume was $1.9 trillion in April 2004 according to the BIS study.
Like any market there is a bid/offer spread (difference between buying price and selling price). On major currency crosses, the difference between the price at which a market maker will sell ("ask", or "offer") to a wholesale customer and the price at which the same market-maker will buy ("bid") from the same wholesale customer is minimal, usually only 1 or 2 pips. In the EUR/USD price of 1.4238 a pip would be the '8' at the end. So the bid/ask quote of EUR/USD might be 1.4238/1.4239.
This, of course, does not apply to retail customers. Most individual currency speculators will trade using a broker which will typically have a spread marked up to say 3-20 pips (so in our example 1.4237/1.4239 or 1.423/1.425). The broker will give their clients often huge amounts of margin, thereby facilitating clients spending more money on the bid/ask spread. The brokers are not regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (since they do not sell securities), so they are not bound by the same margin limits as stock brokerages. They do not typically charge margin interest, however since currency trades must be settled in 2 days, they will "resettle" open positions (again collecting the bid/ask spread).
Individual currency speculators can work during the day and trade in the evenings, taking advantage of the market's 24 hours long trading day.
[...]Greenback consolidates gains in forex trading
The Japanese yen is lower against the U.S. dollar in currency trading on the FX market today, following yesterday’s Fed announcement. The announcement pointed out that deflation was not much of a concern, and that inflation remains rather flat. The news prompted the greenback to gain in forex trading against major currencies.
Today, the U.S. dollar is consolidating some of its gains in currency trading. The yen has moved lower as the dollar retains the upper hand. Dollar is also higher against the U.K. pound. However, the greenback has lost ground to the euro in forex trading.
[...]U.K. pound falls on King comments about the British economy
Bank of England governor Mervyn King when before Parliament yesterday to testify about the state of the British economy. His remarks sent the sterling lower in currency trading, where it is languishing against both the U.S. dollar and the euro.
King said that the British economy would probably recover slowly. Indeed, he said that the had major concerns about whether the economy could recovery quickly at all. He also spoke in favor of keeping economic stimulus measures in place, warning that withdrawing them too early could have devastating effects.
With concerns about mounting national debt in Britain, coupled with the expectation of a slow economic recovery, it is little surprise that the sterling is moving lower in currency trading on the FX market.
[...]Greenback unlikely to maintain recent momentum
After yesterday’s Fed announcement, the U.S. dollar rallied against other major currencies. However, things are already changing around for the U.S. dollar forex trading forecast. While the greenback received some momentum from the announcement, GFT’s Kathy Lien explains in FX360 why the dollar rally is unlikely to last:
So if the Fed did nothing, then we can expect nothing to alter the near term outlook in the currency market. As we indicated in our FOMC Instant Insight , the “rally in the dollar may not have significant follow through because at the crux of it, the statement remains virtually unchanged.”
Indeed, the dollar is already dropping to the euro in forex trading, even though it is gaining against the pound and the yen. In the long term, the greenback is not expected to maintain any sort of a rally against the euro in forex trading.
[...]How long can the franc remain lower than the euro in forex trading?
Speculation that the Swiss National Bank interfered in the currency market to keep the franc weak continues, and now the question is how long the interference will keep EUR/CHF higher.
The move by the SNB prompted a dramatic gain for the euro in forex trading against the Swiss franc. Even though things even out and some of the gains were pared, the franc still remains in a position of weakness — as desired by the SNB. But, how long will it last? GFT’s Boris Schlossberg explores the merits of the case in FX360:
[...]Therefore, while it is never wise to stand in front of central bank at the moment of intervention it may nevertheless be interesting to consider fading the move once the initial burst has taken place. For now 1.5400 acts as the key resistance level for the pair and as long as that figure holds the bias in EUR/CHF
remains to the downside, and the pair may well retest 1.5000 support in the next several weeks if sentiment towards EZ finances turns negative once again.
Watch out for volatility on the FX market
Technical forex traders are always looking at support and resistance in order to help them figure out what the best possible move might be for a particular currency pair. Support and resistance can help forex traders determine when to enter and when to exit a trade.
It is important to note, though, that sometimes the process is not always so cut and dry. Due to the volatility of the FX market, it is possible that support can become resistance. If a currency pair falls below its line of support too often in a short period of time, all of sudden you have resistance instead of support. You should watch carefully for this, since it happens frequently and changes the equation.
[...]After a strong run overnight in NY, the Dollar lost its grip in Asia, giving back ground to all but the Yen which faced perils of its own as stocks posted a second day of gains and traders looked to get back into riskier assets. With the FOMC offering nothing new but the usual statement that, “the economy is weak but we are seeing signs of improvement…” , traders took hints from the Swiss National Bank intervening in its currency by buying Dollars and Euros and came along for the almost 3% gains in USD/CHF. Today, the Greenback extended gains against the Yen, ending the ride that began in the NY morning at about 95.10 close to the current 96.30 levels. The Yen crosses all pushed higher as well, most notably the EUR/JPY moving over a big figure to just under 134.50. Those gains may not end there as Asian equities looked to have a second up day in a row. Add to this the fact that traders were denied any clear cut direction from the Fed, thus jumping back into the risk trades with the Nikkei up almost 3% and US stock futures looking strong by days end. Full text »
[...]The NY session saw plenty of action and the USD was the main beneficiary. Early on the story was the SNB as the bank intervened and took EUR/CHF from around 1.5015 to 1.5285 in a heartbeat. They would return shortly after the London close, taking the cross from about 1.5200 towards the 1.5380 highs. The moves in USD/CHF were even more impressive as the pair shot up from 1.0635 to 1.0908 in the first intervention tranche and jumped from 1.0850 to 1.1020 in the second go-around. The intervention saw more USD buying and this helped keep EUR/USD under pressure for the better part of the session. Full text »
[...]Swiss National Bank attempts to keep the franc weak in currency trading
During a recession, a weak currency is often thought desirable. However, few developed nations that trade with major currencies are willing to interfere in the FX market to make it happen. Instead, many countries adopt policies designed to indirectly weaken a currency. The Swiss National Bank, however, appears to be an exception.
The Swiss franc is moving sharply lower against the euro in forex trading, and there is speculation that the SNB might have interfered. Speculation that the SNB has interfered in the FX market in the recent past is also rampant. However, the national bank, as one might expect, refuses to comment.
While there is no solid evidence that the SNB is interfering in the FX market, there is precedent, and monetary officials have warned about using interference as an eventuality if the Swiss franc does not behave as they would like in currency trading.
[...]Sterling hits a 12-day high in forex trading
After struggling yesterday, the U.K. pound is surging higher in currency trading today. Earlier, sterling hit a 12-day high in forex trading, nearly reaching the 1.6600 level. The U.K. pound has backed off a little, moving back into the 1.65 area, but there is potential for more gains in the near future. GFT’s Boris Schlossberg points out in FX360 what may help fuel future gains by the U.K. pound in currency trading:
The pound hit a 12 day high today in early European trade coming to within a few points of the 1.6600 figure, fueled by strong buying from the Middle East that suggested the pair might make a run at its 2009 highs of 1.6666 in the near future.
Sterling does well in forex trading when there is a degree of risk appetite. Although risk aversion appeared to be setting in yesterday, things may be changing today. A lot of how well the U.K. pound does in currency trading will partially depend on how equities do today.
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