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Getting Started With Forex
Rollover in Forex
You may have heard of the rollover in forex trading, and you might not be familiar with what it is. It's actually a very simple concept. Rollover is a situation that occurs when you hold a trade beyond the ending time of a particular day's trading.
There are different times at which this may happen, and that will depend on which broker you are using for your forex trading. But at any time of day, the rollover is the time when your trade is carried to a new day and you pay, or are paid, for the position you hold on that trade.
When you take a position in the forex market, you are simultaneously buying one currency and selling another. No matter what currency it is, all currencies are paired in forex, so you must sell one to buy another. When you do this, you are, in effect, borrowing one currency from someone to sell it or buy it. The in-depth details of this borrowing are not of much concern to you as a trader, but what is of concern is the interest rate for the currencies involved.
Each currency bears an interest rate that is very similar to the rate established by that currency's central bank. The difference between the rates of the currencies in the pair you are trading is what determines whether you pay, or are paid, when the day changes in the currency market. In some instances, you will pay regardless of the direction you take on a currency pair, such as the GBP/USD pair where the rates are so close at this time that the spread between them leads to you paying whether you buy or sell.
As noted earlier, the times vary as to when you will see the rollover occur. In the case of many US forex brokers and market makers, the time used for the rollover is the end of banking hours on the east coast. Basically, when the banks close in New York, the rollover occurs, and the next day is started. At that time you will either be charged or credited, depending on your trade.
To avoid this, all you have to do is to close your positions before the rollover occurs. In the case of most brokers, you can exit the trade prior to the rollover and incur no charges or credits for that day. However, some brokers have moved to a continuous rate calculation and charge or credit based on how long you held the position, regardless of whether or not it carries through the rollover.
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The .382 Fibonacci Ratio
The Best Momentum Indicator
When it comes to technical analysis of the price action on Forex charts, one of the most important indicators you can have in your arsenal is a good momentum indicator. In fact there are several indicators for momentum that you can use.
We'll look at all of them and why the Stochastic indicator is considered by many to be the best.
MACD, or Moving Average Convergence/Divergence, is a good indicator of price momentum. This indicator uses two moving averages and an activating period.
Usually, when you see a cross of the moving averages, a change in momentum, or trend, has, or is about to, occur. Sometimes, however, there is a cross and yet price action moves sideways instead of in the opposite direction of the previous trend.
RSI, or Relative Strength Indicator, is another good indicator of momentum. With the RSI, what you are looking for initially is a break across the 50% line. When the RSI crosses above 50, you are looking at an upward trend. The opposite is true when it crosses below 50.
Also, overbought and oversold readings tell of a probable trend reversal. However, this tends to be somewhat of a lagging indicator and can leave you with only half of the trend left to follow.
Stochastics are varied in their configuration. You can set them in many ways depending on the charting package you use. These indicators are considered one of the best momentum indicators because they get you the signal first. Whereas MACD and RSI tend to follow, Stochastics seem to be almost simultaneous with the trend change.
Strong trends usually follow the highest/lowest spike of the Stochastic in the opposite direction of the current price trend. The Stochastic tends to be more susceptible to "noise" from price action, however, so be aware of this.
These three indicators are all good methods for determining momentum of price action in Forex. However, while the Stochastic indicator is favored, one of the more common practices among traders is to use Stochastics, MACDs, and RSIs together and look for total confirmation of trends on all three.
It depends on your personal style as to how you use the indicators, but regardless, you'll probably at least want the Stochastic in your arsenal. |
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What Is Forex Trading
Leverage in Forex
Leverage in Forex is much different than the type of leverage you will find in any other type of trading or investing.
When you leverage, you are borrowing on margin to increase the size of your trade beyond what funds you have available in your account.
In stocks and other equities, you can establish leveraged trading on your account which may allow you to as much as double your purchase.
However, in Forex, double is simply unheard of in most cases. When you deal with leverage in Forex, you are looking at, most often, ten times up to four hundred times the balance in your account.
With Forex, brokers can offer you this extremely high leverage because the market is so liquid that they almost never have to worry about you owing them money back if the trade goes bad.
Margin call policies at many brokers have been designed to issue a margin call on your account well before any possibility of a negative balance occurs.
However, with some brokers, if the market moves against your position too rapidly, you may incur a total loss of your funds and even a negative balance. Therefore it is advisable that you check your broker's margin policies to know whether this could happen to you.
Considering leverage, many brokers offer you varying options for leverage amount. If you go with, say, 50:1 leverage, you are allowed to make a transaction worth fifty times the balance in your account.
So if you have one thousand dollars in your account, you can make a trade worth fifty thousand dollars. If that seems extreme to you, just remember that some brokers offer as much as 400:1 leverage.
Because of this, you should never use money you need; the funds you trade with should be funds you can stand to lose.
It's important that you are careful with leverage. Greater leverage may seem wonderful, but it is a tremendous risk to your funds. Too big a position can lead to total loss before your trade has a chance to move in favor of your position.
Exercise strong money management discipline to avoid this. It is recommended that you never enter a position that uses more than ten percent of your available margin balance. This will give you some room for the fluctuations that occur in the market.
After all, you're in Forex to make money, not to lose it. If you have any concerns about margin policies and how to manage your margin trades, be sure to talk to your Forex broker and clear all questions you have before you put your money at risk.
Related Topics: Things You Should Know,
The Most Popular Indicators, Factors That Affect Forex
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