Forex Market Deconstruction

Now that the trading week is over I thought I'd write about a few things that came to mind over the last couple of days.Current SituationEveryone is expecting the Fed to come along and put a multi-hundred billion dollar package together with the help of congress. Obviously, this is relieving a lot of the unprecedented pressure on both stocks and various Forex markets. The only fly in the ointment I'd keep an eye on is whether or not things get delayed for any period of time

Forex Turmoil: Still On The Sidelines

During the last few weeks of topsy-turvy price movements I've been playing it safe. I like to buy carry trade pairs, but they've been heading down a lot.

Carry Trade Panic Selling?

Did anyone notice the panic selling out there?All kinds of carry trades unwound several hundred points in a very short period of time. Speculation in the Forex news rags suggests that losses due to the falling stock exchanges forced people to unwind their carry trades to cover their margins.In any case, after days of regimented downward movement, the sudden fallout represented a panic moment -- for someone. In the short term, at the very least, this should represent opportunity. I've stuck my toe in.

AUD/JPY Trading Week

Well, the last couple days weren't as good as the first portion of the week, but they were still positive. I'm not complaining!Thursday and Friday were positive by 0.4% and 1.1% respectively. So, for the week, that gave me a NAV gain of 23.2% in total.If you've been following along you know that I only have a tiny total account size. However, the current plan, now that I seem to be able to generate profits, is to grow the account to a meaningful size

Close Your Eyes

Okay, so it doesn't look like anything at all is happening as of yet. Personally, I'm scalping the EURUSD on the 1 min chart this evening.It seems that nobody is willing to assume that the house will pass the bailout bill this time around. So, once again, we find ourselves in a state of financial stasis. In fact, given the rise that occurred on the original announcement, it may just be that we are priced in already.If so, that means there is really only a downside, which we'd see on failure.Who knows?Cover your assets! ;)

Cross currencies

Currency pairs that don't involve USD at all are called cross currencies, but the premise is the same.

Bids, asks and the spread

Just like other markets, forex quotes consist of two sides, the bid and the ask: 

The BID is the price at which you can SELL base currency.
The ASK is the price at which you can BUY base currency

What's a pip?

Forex prices are often so liquid, they're quoted in tiny increments called pips, or "percentage in point". A pip refers to the fourth decimal point out, or 1/100th of 1%.

For Japanese yen, pips refer to the second decimal point. This is the only exception among the major currencies.

Leverage & Margin

Leverage trading, or trading on margin, means you aren't required to put up the full value of the position. 

Forex trading offers more leverage than stocks or futures - up to 200 times the value of your account. Of course keep in mind that increased leverage also increases your risk.