As with any type of financial investment, forex trading entails certain risks; there are no guarantees that traders will make profits; but with an understanding of how the market works and an ability to manage your exposure appropriately, forex can be an excellent way to enhance income streams.
What Is Forex Trading? Forex, or foreign exchange (Forex), is the global market where currencies are exchanged. When traveling overseas, exchanging your local currency for one from your destination country typically involves going to an airport foreign exchange booth where local and destination currencies were swapped out – effectively betting that one will increase in value relative to another and therefore making a profit in doing so.
Forex trading differs from stocks or physical assets in that you do not need to buy and sell assets to make a profit, instead using a contract for difference (CFD) allows traders to take both long and short positions using CFDs as they allow traders to speculate on price movements without actually owning an asset underlying it. So, if you think the currency pair you’re trading is headed higher you could “go long”, and vice versa; should it decline, “short”.
Spot forex trades involve buying one currency while selling another simultaneously. Currencies are always traded in pairs and each has a three-letter code to represent it – two letters usually indicate its region of origin while the third letters represents itself as currency itself. One of the most popular pairs is between US dollar and euro represented by USD/EUR symbolism.
Economic strength and interest rate differentials between countries that make up an forex pair is the single greatest influencer on currency prices, as is intraday trading with positions held for only minutes or seconds at any one time. Furthermore, market participants tend to react quickly to technical factors like support/resistance levels as well as momentum associated with specific currency pairs that determine market prices.
As traders, traders must also be mindful of the bid-ask spread – an amount brokers charge to buy and sell currencies – when trading. A wider spread can make trading less profitable; luckily, many reputable brokers provide tight spreads for their clients. In addition, most brokerages permit you to trade micro lots (1,000 units) and mini lots (10 000 units), although larger lot sizes expose you to greater risk – so use caution in over-leveraging your account! Additionally, tracking profits and losses regularly is another great way of controlling risk exposure; additionally opening an account with reputable broker that offers demo trading accounts will allow you to practice your trading skills on real markets!