Starting with Forex Trading

There are a lot of things you need to know before starting to trade in the Foreign Exchange market. It is recommended to learn all the necessary skills and then practice with a free demo account, before trading with real money. A demo account can help you gain experience without any risk of losing your funds. When you are ready to trade for real money, it is better to start by opening a micro-lot account and depositing only a small amount. The Forex market offers opportunities that you can exploit by risking only a limited amount of money.

CurrenciesFx includes a lot of useful educational resources and techniques on how to successfully trade the world's currencies: » There is also CurrenciesFx Lessons section

Learning about the Forex Majors

The Forex Majors refer to the most active and liquid currency pairs and account for about 85% of the total Foreign Exchange market activity. 

» Learn about the Forex Majors

News-Trading in the Foreign Exchange Market and Economic Indicators

Economic indicators are periodic economic statistics that provide insight into the performance of an economy during a certain period. Any change in the macroeconomic conditions can trigger strong movements in the financial markets, and that means profit opportunities for currency traders. News trading is the process of linking macroeconomic events to strong price movements.

Categorizing Economic Indicators by their Release-Time

There are three types based on their timing:

1. Leading Indicator (Before the Economy)

Leading indicators change before the economy changes. A leading indicator can be used as a signal of new upcoming macro conditions. For example, the Consumer Confidence Index and the Home Sales Report.

2. Coincident Indicator (At the same time)

A Coincident Indicator changes at the same time as the economy (i.e. Gross Domestic Product).

The Algorithmic/Mechanical Trading Tutorial

Algorithmic or automated trading is the process of trading the global markets without any human intervention. Algorithms analyze market data over multiple timeframes, and open positions when certain conditions are met. Later, these positions can be automatically altered or closed by the machine. An automated trading system can manage multiple accounts by eliminating fatigue and emotional/psychological influences.

Defining Algorithmic Trading

Algorithmic, Algo, Mechanical, Systematic, or Rule-Based trading, refers to a trading method where order execution is based exclusively on a pre-defined set of rules and instructions.

• Mechanical trading usually involves automatic execution (automated-trading), but it can also involve manual execution

• Rules and instructions include variables such as price, time, and volume

Who Applies Algorithmic Strategies?

Several different market participants apply algorithmic strategies, such as investment firms, hedge funds, high-frequency trading firms, large individual traders, and small retail traders.

Forex signals refer to alerts that advise traders to open certain positions in the market. These alerts contain data-based information such as an entry, a take profit, and a stop loss price. Usually, these signals are generated based on TA algorithms that analyze the current market conditions by comparing them to historical price action.

□ Trading signals can be either generated by professional traders or a semi-automated trading system

□ Forex signal services automatically deliver their alerts, however, they do not involve automatic order execution

□ Traders are responsible for executing their orders and applying money management

Highlights

• A signaling service is usually a subscription-based service, but some systems can be purchased once without requiring any subscription later
• The trading signals can be delivered via email, SMS, Audio, or MT4 push notifications
• Any signaling service should provide precise order specifications, not only trade direction
• Initially, it is better to test any system's suggestions on a demo account, before trading for real money

Introduced in 1913, the Federal Reserve System (the Fed) is the central monetary authority of the United States. Today there are 12 Federal Reserve Banks {New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Richmond, Cleveland, Atlanta, Chicago, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Kansas City, San Francisco, and Dallas}.

FED Press Releases

EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK (ECB) RSS FEEDS

Established by the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1998, the European Central Bank (ECB) is the central monetary authority of the Eurozone. ECB administers and controls the monetary policy of the European Union (EU) and it is one of the 7 main institutions of the EU.

• The capital stock of the European Central Bank is owned by the central banks of the EU member states

• Headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany

ECB RSS FEEDS

The important ECB news feeds include exchange rates, press releases, publications, etc.