How About Currency Trading? (Part II)

by Ahmad Hassam

The most active traded crosses focus on the three non USD currencies (EUR, JPY and GBP). These crosses are known as the euro crosses, yen crosses and the sterling crosses. The most actively traded cross currency pairs are: EUR/CHF, EUR/GBP, EUR/JPY, GBP/JPY, AUD/JPY and NZD/JPY. Crosses enable currency traders to directly target trades to specific individual currencies to take advantage of news or events.

For a new traded there are some surprises in currency trading. You may notice that the currencies are combined in a seemingly strange way when you look up at the currency pairs. For example, if euro-yen (EUR/JPY) is a euro-yen cross, why it is not being also referred to as yen-euro (JPY/EUR)? The answer is these conventions have been designed to reflect traditionally strong currencies versus traditionally weak currencies with the strong currency coming first. Those quoting conventions were evolved over the years.

The most basic convention that you need to understand is that the first currency in the currency pair is known as the base currency. For example in EUR/JPY, Euro is the base currency. Suppose you buy or sell a currency pair. It is the base currency that you are buying or selling when you buy or sell a currency pair. The second currency in the pair is known as the counter or secondary currency. In the above currency pair, Japanese Yen (JPY) is the counter or secondary currency. So if you buy 100,000 EUR/USD. You have just bought 100,000 Euros and sold the equivalent amount in dollars.

So you can say currency trading involves simultaneously buying and selling. This is the most important difference between currency trading and stock trading. In currency trading, going long means having bought a currency pair! When you are long, you are looking for the prices to go higher. It will make you a good profit if you sell at a higher price from that where you bought. You will make a loss if you are long and the price goes down.

In currency trading, going short means selling a currency pair! In other words, you have sold the currency pair, meaning you have sold the base currency and bought the counter or secondary currency. You go short in anticipation of the price going further down when you anticipate the price of a currency pair going down. This will make you a profit later when you exit your position by going long. Unlike stock trading where you had to observe the up tick rule before you could go short. In currency trading there is no such rule. In currency trading going short is as common as going long.

Selling high and buying low is the standard currency trading strategy. Having no position in the market is known as being square or flat. If you have an open position and you want to close it, its called squaring up. If you are short, you need to buy to square up. If you are long, you need to sell to go flat.

A clear understanding of how P&L works is especially critical to online margin trading. Profit and Loss is how traders measure success and failure. You will need to pony up cash as collateral to support the margin requirements established by your broker when you open an online currency trading account.

Profit and Loss (P&L) calculations are pretty straight forward. P&L calculations are based on position size and the number of pips you make or lose. Most of the currency pairs are quoted up to four decimal places except those involving JPY. Currency pairs involving JPY on one side are only quoted up to 2 decimal places. A pip is the smallest increment of price fluctuation in currency pairs. Suppose CHF/USD quote is 1.2233. It has gone up by 20 pips if the price moves from 1.2233 to 1.2253. Pip is the increase or decrease in the fourth decimal digit. Pips are also referred to as points. It is an abbreviation of Percentage in Points.

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This post was written by Ahmad Hassam on August 14, 2009

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How To Find The Cheapest Car Insurance Quotes

by Shelia Parks

The following article includes pertinent information that may cause you to reconsider what you thought you understood about car insurance for women and young drivers. The most important thing is to study with an open mind and be willing to revise your understanding if necessary.

Car insurance for young drivers is among the type of car insurance coverage that carries the most amount of premium. This is because the insurance company rates car insurance for young drives as something that exposes them to greater risks. Car insurance is one thing that few people like to change. Once they get it, they often leave it alone. Car insurance is an unavoidable expense that all vehicle owners must incur. Whether your bill arrives annually, bi-annually or monthly, car insurance is not an expense we enjoy paying.

You are one click away from securing Northern Ireland’s best online car insurance deal, including breakdown, puncture repair and many more features. We’re here to work for you! Insurance Set offers easy access to cheaper car insurance for younger drivers, city dwellers and performance car drivers. They take aim at all women to try and prise them away from anyone else they are taking out car insurance with so that they all join together with other women. It’s a simple marketing premise that has worked well enough so that many companies are joining the targeting exercise.

Is everything making sense so far? If not, I’m sure that with just a little more reading about car insurance for women and young drivers, all the facts will fall into place.

Car insurance providers use similar comparison tools to gather competitor rates. Knowing the local competitor rates increases your ability to save on the car insurance policy that best meets your needs, with a company you trust. Car insurance comparison is not only good for finding the best insurance policy but also offers one a chance to get a cheap insurance policy which meets his or her requirements to a great extent. Actually there are a number of online car insurance companies and all offer at least more than two insurance policies.

Car insurance companies plan on this and statistics prove it to be, you can go about comparing a company’s customer service. The first is by driving safe. Car insurance quotes are made as part of a contract based on trust between the insurer and the insured. It is the duty of the insured to be honest with the insurer. Car insurance is very beneficial if they have accident, it will help us to cover all the repair costs. Unlike the regular car insurance, the car insurance for teens has a high premium, it is because teens that are 17 to 25 years old are considered early drivers and have a bigger risk to damage their car.

If you have any more questions about our car insurance, why not check out our frequently asked questions? While we cater especially for ladies, men are welcome to take out a policy with us but our benefits are ones that women will appreciate. The insurance company has become a leader in the UK car insurance market gaining applauds from many in the sector. From instant motor quotes through to emailed documents, our car insurance websites help to ensure you are road legal in minutes.

Don’t limit yourself by refusing to learn the details about car insurance for women and young drivers. The more you know, the easier it will be to focus on what’s important.

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Why Not Swing Trading? (Part I)

by Ahmad Hassam

Lets take the analogy of a cricket team. There are 11 players in each team in the match. All players are talented and super fit. Everyone can throw and catch the ball. Everyone is a hard hitter. However some are more skilled at balling. Others are more skilled at batting. Not many runs will be made and the match will be lost if the baller is going to do the job of the batter. Not knowing what type of a trader you are can make or break your trading career. Determining your trading style is very important right from the beginning.

Investing in the markets is also the same. It depends on your personality makeup what type of trading is best suited to you. In general there are three types of trading: Positions trading, swing trading and day trading.

In currency trading, position trading means you are in a trade for many months trying to capitalize on a major long term move in the market. Position Trading is generally the buy and hold strategy of investing in stocks over a long haul. Usually positions traders are in a trade for a large long term move like when you carry trade AUD/JPY. Options traders can also be position traders through covered calls and other strategies.

Swing Trading means taking short term positions in anticipation of quick market movements over a series of days or weeks. Swing trading is possibly the most dynamic of the three types of trading as the swing trader is able to switch up holding times quickly as the market demands. Swing traders take advantage of technical and fundamental analysis.

Day trading is not easy. It is certainly not a hobby. In Day Trading, you attempt to capitalize on intraday movements with the markets often trading on momentum and news. Day traders are also known as Kings of Stress. Sometimes when the positions warrants holding for a longer period, day trading can become swing trading!

Day trading is the riskiest of the three trading styles. Day trading is ideal for those who are able to handle erratic market movements while actually also having time to monitor the positions throughout the day. You should note that if you dont have time to watch your trades every moment, you should not think of day trading.

Swing Trading Is a Better Alternative to Day Trading Many people are attracted to the glamour and excitement of day trading. Day trading hardly ever ends up well especially if the trader has no previous professional trading experience. Only 10% of the day traders succeed. Most day trader usually blow up their accounts and fade away.

Swing trading can be on the other hand a much more effective trading style especially if you are a newer trader. By holding positions overnight and even for a few weeks, you can expose less money for larger moves. If you are a new trader, think about it for a moment.

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This post was written by Ahmad Hassam on July 31, 2009

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