Monday, January 26, 2009

Forex Basics: How Foreign Exchange Currency can make Big Profits

By Randall Tavinosh Berke Tavinosh Randall Amateau

There are what is known as the bid price and ask price in the Forex market. As you can imagine, the ask price will always be higher than the bid price. The broker makes his money off the difference in pricing and because of that they will always be in his favor. Trades in Forex are different from stock trades because more profitable trades are made when buying high and selling low with fast moving currency pairs.

If you want to purchase currency pair, you have to pay the ask price. If, using the example of the GBP/USD you believe the pound is going to strengthen against the dollar, you would then be purchasing the pound at a lower rate and selling the dollar, which is going to weaken. The pound will be the base currency and will control the trade. This is called a long position.

The bid price is the price of the currency pair when you wish to sell or go short. Using the GBP/USD example, if you think the dollar will rebound and go higher against the pound, you would essentially be buying the dollar and selling the pound. The pound is the base currency and determines the direction of the trade.

At the time of buying the cross currency or USD in the GBP/USD pair, the signals are reversed. This will result in reduction of the currency pair price. Because you are a seller, your interest is in a decrease in the price of the currency pair you sold, so that you are able to make a profit when you buy them back.

Calculations of the number of pips you earn over a short trade are the same as in a long trade to determine your actual profit. It is best to ignore the purchase or sale price and just figure out the difference between the higher number and the lower number, which will give you your gain or loss.

The spread is the difference between the bid price and ask price. This is the amount the broker will take as his commission. The broker makes money on the large volume of trades and not by charging large commissions.

Spreads are very competitive. The smaller the spread, the more money you get to keep. Brokers try to keep their spreads small to attract customers. Spreads among the more commonly traded currency pairs are usually smaller than others. Trading among the commonly traded pairs is what is known as Sticking with the majors.

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