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Begining Forex Trading
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.
See Also:
Online Forex Trading | Currency Trading | ACM
The Basics of Forex Trading
The Most Popular Indicators
When trading in the forex market, one of the most crucial things you will need is a good set of indicators. Forex indicators do as the name says, they indicate when to enter and exit trades based on how you've decided to use them.
There is no exact, agreed upon way of entry and exit based on indicators. Rather there are general guidelines on how to use the indicators when trading. In forex, the most popular indicators are MACD, Stochastics, Bollinger Bands, and RSI.
MACD, which stands for Moving Average Convergence/Divergence, is and indicator consisting of two moving averages and an activating period. What you see is one, faster moving, MA that will cross over a slower moving MA at various points.
This, along with a change in direction from up to down on the activating period, indicates a change in trend for the price action of the pair. However, sometimes consolidation will appear as a trend change on the MACD, and not as sideways action as it truly is.
Stochastics operate in much the same way as MACDs and are often used in conjunction with the MACD to help confirm trend changes. The two, viewed together, can offer confirmation of a true change versus a consolidation period.
Bollinger Bands are unique. They consist of three lines. The middle line is a moving average. The upper and lower lines are barriers, so to speak. When price action increased, the outer lines expand, and the contract when price action is decreased. There are many ways to use Bollinger Bands. One common way to use them is to view them as a trend indicator. When price is concentrated above the MA, it is an uptrend, and vice versa.
RSI stands for Relative Strength Indicator. This indicator give you information on whether the pair is overbought or oversold, and whether it is more likely in an uptrend or a downtrend. Generally, the price is trending up if the RSI is above 50.
Below 50, it is generally trending down. Readings above 70 usually mean overbought, whereas readings below 30 mean oversold. These overbought and oversold readings can often indicate a trend reversal in the making.
There are many different techniques traders use to read these indicators. While they are the most popular, many other indicators also exist that can help you with trading decisions. It is up to you how you will use them. Just remember, there is no perfect indicator.
Each one has its inadequacies, so don't count on any one indicator as an exclusive trade signal. Commonly, traders use three indicators to help them make trades. |
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Getting Started In Forex Options
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Forex Pivot Points: What They Are
The Fundamentals of Forex
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: History of Forex Trading,
Getting Started in Forex Options, Introduction To Forex Trading
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