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Friday 2 July 2010

What Is Forex ?

Forex is an inter-bank market that took shape in 1971 when global trade shifted from fixed exchange rates to floating ones. This is a set of transactions among forex market agents involving exchange of specified sums of money in a currency unit of any given nation for currency of another nation at an agreed rate as of any specified date. During exchange, the exchange rate of one currency to another currency is determined simply: by supply and demand – exchange to which both parties agree.

Mathematics of Money Management

Now you can freely download another money management in trading related Forex book from my site — Mathematics of Money Management: Risk Analysis Techniques for Traders. It is written by Ralph Vince, the author of many books about the use of math in trading. Although this e-book is quite heavy on mathematics (calculus and statistics) it’s intended for the general readers — both for those that are fluent in numbers and those that are not. You’ll find some working methods and formulas there, that, if used in your own money management strategies, should help you to avoid many of the problems financial traders encounter. It’s quite a big e-book and isn’t very easy to understand, so be prepared for some long read.

BusinessNewsweek for Sale - What Went Wrong?

Newsweek is up for sale, prompting blog debate about the fate of newsweeklies in a world of 24/7 reporting... and some sharp criticism of the magazine itself and its editor, Jon Meacham. "Jon Meacham, Newsweek's editor, failed woefully," writes Michael Wolff at Off the Grid. "Meacham, while only 41, is a perfect example of media insularity and self-congratulation. He's a turgid, flaccid, and suicidally boring writer (that is, it's the reader who wants to do himself in) who somehow came to represent high-mindedness and got heaped with awards." Ouch! But The Awl reports that Meacham himself is putting together a bid for the mag. The Atlantic Wire has his segment on The Daily Show last night. "Newsweek is your father's magazine, and no amount of reinvention could fix that," says Media Decoder. "The brand still has recognition, but beyond helping its editor...get on television and sell some books, it hard to tell what the brand is really worth at this point." Meanwhile, FishbowlNY takes a look at the five ways reporters are covering Newsweek's demise: "the Eulogy, the Economic Eulogy, the 'Who Could Buy It?', the Jack Shafer, and the They Love Obama

Interest Rate Story Hurts Pound

The British Pound has been reeling since the Bank of England cut rates at the beginning of this month, from 5.75% to 5.50%. Last week, the minutes for the meeting were released. They revealed that that members of the Bank were growing increasingly nervous about the state of the British economy and are worrying particularly about how fallout from the credit crunch will impact growth. British interest rates are still among the highest in the industrialized world, behind only Australia and New Zealand. Thus, it seems investors are punishing the Pound indirectly for the rate cuts, because of fears concerning the near-term prognosis for the British economy. At the same time, the minutes indicated that members of the Bank were adamant about not lowering rates further, so some of the concerns may be overblown.

Interest Rate Story Hurts Pound

The British Pound has been reeling since the Bank of England cut rates at the beginning of this month, from 5.75% to 5.50%. Last week, the minutes for the meeting were released. They revealed that that members of the Bank were growing increasingly nervous about the state of the British economy and are worrying particularly about how fallout from the credit crunch will impact growth. British interest rates are still among the highest in the industrialized world, behind only Australia and New Zealand. Thus, it seems investors are punishing the Pound indirectly for the rate cuts, because of fears concerning the near-term prognosis for the British economy. At the same time, the minutes indicated that members of the Bank were adamant about not lowering rates further, so some of the concerns may be overblown.

Dollar Declines in Forex Reserves

What analysts have been warning of for years has finally come to pass: the USD officially occupies a smaller portion of global foreign exchange reserves. According to a recent IMF reports, the fraction of reserves denominated in Dollars has fallen from 66.5% to 63.8% over the last year, with much of the difference offset by a proportional rise in the preponderance of the Euro. Analysts first began sounding alarm bells as early as 2003, when the Dollar fell nearly 15% against the Euro. However, it wasn't until 2006, when China began to accumulate reserves at an ever-increasing rate as its trade surplus exploded while at the same time the USD was tanking, that commentators began paying attention. 2007 brought several anecdotal reports that foreign Central Banks were both passively and actively diversifying their reserves. Now, it looks as though these were not isolated incidents, but instead part of a broader trend. AFP reports:

In recent months, several emerging-market countries, whose foreign currency reserves have ballooned as a result of such factors as high commodity prices and strong exports, have signaled their intention to further diversify their foreign exchange reserves to offset the US currency's depreciation.

Philippine Peso Dollar Exchange Rate

Forecasting what the Philippine Peso Dollar Exchange Rate would be is not as simple it may look. There are a lot of variables to look out for, the economy, government, news and environmental factors contribute to what the Philippine Peso Dollar Exchange Rate would be for the day. It is govern by supply and demand. When one is in this field of buying or selling dollars, be an importer, exporter, traveller or a currency changer, they will do have a hunch on what the Philippine Peso Dollar Exchange Rate be.

The trend most of the time for the Philippine Peso Dollar Exchange Rate to go down is during June and December. Most Oversea Workers send a lot of remittances to the Philippines during June for enrollment and specially on December, Christmas holidays. A slight increase in the Philippine Peso Dollar Exchange Rate on the months of January and September where importers pays out goods purchased.

Decades ago, the Banko Central ng Pilipinas controlled the Philippine Peso Dollar Exchange Rate to a fix twenty six pesos P26 to a dollar. Today, the Philippine Peso Dollar Exchange Rate is governed by the supply and Demand of it. Since 2004, Peso has been gaining and appreciating from the dollar. From a high of Fifty six pesos P56 on the year 2004, it has come around to Forty four P44 now, October 2007. The Philippine Peso Dollar Exchange Rate has not really been going down each day, there are also times when bad government news affected a slight increase on the Philippine Peso. But because of good economic performance Peso has been gaining stronger.

The Philippine Peso Dollar Exchange Rate has also been strengthening because of the poor economic update on the United States. United States has been in economic crisis which has also have a strong effect on the Philippine Peso Dollar Exchange Rate.

Economist has predicted for Peso to strengthen up to Forty Pesos P40 this coming Christmas holiday where Remittances would be fast coming in the Philippines. Oversea Workers mostly send remittance during this season. But the Oversea Workers and Exporters has been complaining of the sudden downfall of the Philippine Peso Dollar Exchange Rate. Oversea workers should be remitting more to cope up with the exchange rate, thus working more hours or having lesser savings. Exporters have also been complaining on the low exchange rate, their dollar earned when converted is much lesser now a days. There are a lot of exporters who have closed down due to their crisis right now. On the contrary, there are a lot of happy importers, and dollar spenders. They can buy goods much cheaper with the Philippine Peso Exchange Rate going down.

New currency ETF debuts on AMEX

An exchange-traded-fund (ETF) is similar to an index fund in that both types of securities are designed to track the performance of the index to which they are assigned. The crucial difference, however, lies in the fact that there is no centralized market for mutual funds, whereas ETFs trade on exchanges, and hence, charge lower fees to investors. At first, investment companies were reluctant to create currency ETFs, because they weren’t sure if demand was large enough to justify such products. Since currency trading surged in popularity, a spate of new currency ETFs have been introduced, the newest of which is designed to track the performance of a composite of ten of the world’s most important currencies. Previously, this type of product was only available to wealthy investors. Now, anyone with a brokerage account can index in such a way, and would be smart to do just that, in order to hedge against the decline in any single currency. The Daily News reports:

The fund is managed by DB Commodity Services LLC. “DBV will offer investors easy access to the returns of the currency markets by following a highly developed index previously available only to very sophisticated investors.”

New currency ETF debuts on AMEX

An exchange-traded-fund (ETF) is similar to an index fund in that both types of securities are designed to track the performance of the index to which they are assigned. The crucial difference, however, lies in the fact that there is no centralized market for mutual funds, whereas ETFs trade on exchanges, and hence, charge lower fees to investors. At first, investment companies were reluctant to create currency ETFs, because they weren’t sure if demand was large enough to justify such products. Since currency trading surged in popularity, a spate of new currency ETFs have been introduced, the newest of which is designed to track the performance of a composite of ten of the world’s most important currencies. Previously, this type of product was only available to wealthy investors. Now, anyone with a brokerage account can index in such a way, and would be smart to do just that, in order to hedge against the decline in any single currency. The Daily News reports:

The fund is managed by DB Commodity Services LLC. “DBV will offer investors easy access to the returns of the currency markets by following a highly developed index previously available only to very sophisticated investors.”

Forex Trading Plan

The Ideal Forex Trading Plan


When entering the foreign currency exchange market known as Forex, an investor should have a plan. Forex is the oldest, safest and most lucrative investment market in the world.

The Forex Investor is in control of his portfolio at all times. There are few fees in Forex Trading and there is no threat of insider trading.

In order to be successful in Forex Trading, an investor will begin by educating himself on the many variables that are inherent to Forex. He should enroll in a reputable course in Forex online and familiarize himself with the currency market by setting up a demo account on one of the many online sites. A demo account does not require any capital, but it does train an investor in how to approach Forex trading.

A Forex investor must learn to maximize his profits and minimize his losses. He can do that by learning to analyze corporate and governmental press releases and economic forecasts. An investor must seek out and incorporate sound investment strategies and learn how to read charts and graphs pertaining to the currency trade.

Forex trading has the highest volatility in the investment market, and it is tempting to just jump into the trading and make decisions based on the spikes and dips in currency values, but a successful Forex trader knows that he must never buy or sell using his emotions as leverage. He never trades out of fear or greed.

To be successful in Forex, a trader should stick to a strategic plan that adheres to what was successful in past trading and what makes sense according to reputable strategists.

Milos Pesic is an expert in the field of Forex Trading and runs a highly popular and comprehensive Forex Trading web site. For more articles and resources on Forex related topics, online forex trading, trading tips, forex software and much more visit his site at:

Interest Rate Story Hurts Pound

Rates at the beginning of this month, from 5.75% to 5.50%. Last week, the minutes for the meeting were released. They revealed that that members of the Bank were growing increasingly nervous about the state of the British economy and are worrying particularly about how fallout from the credit crunch will impact growth. British interest rates are still among the highest in the industrialized world, behind only Australia and New Zealand. Thus, it seems investors are punishing the Pound indirectly for the rate cuts, because of fears concerning the near-term prognosis for the British economy. At the same time, the minutes indicated that members of the Bank were adamant about not lowering rates further, so some of the concerns may be overblown.

FOREX-Dollar falls vs euro after Fed cut disappoints

LONDON, Dec 12 (Reuters) - The dollar fell versus the euro on Wednesday after the previous day's quarter-point rate cut from the Federal Reserve disappointed investors hoping for more aggressive action to help the economy and credit markets.

The Fed trimmed both the benchmark fed funds rate and the discount rate for lending to banks by a quarter point, to 4.25 and 4.75 percent respectively. Some had expected a bigger discount rate slash to help strained money markets at year-end.

"The Fed delivered the bare minimum of what was possible and they didn't reduce the penalty on the discount rate," said Teis Knuthsen, head of FX research at Danske Markets in Copenhagen.

"The Fed's actions are consistent with a central bank that was late to the easing cycle and is behind the curve and we see pressure on the dollar in coming weeks."

However, the U.S. currency rallied versus the yen, while high yielders surged after a Fed source said the central bank was actively considering all of the tools it has available to address liquidity measures.

Some media reports said action from the Fed on liquidity could come within days, even as soon as Wednesday.

The year-end period traditionally sees thinner liquidity, but the situation is exacerbated this year by troubles in the U.S. subprime mortgage market and the subsequent credit crunch, which have left banks unwilling to lend to each other. Continued...