International commerce has rapidly increased as the internet has provided a new and more transparent marketplace for individuals and entities alike to conduct international business and trading activities. Significant changes in the international economic and political landscape have led to uncertainty regarding the direction of foreign exchange rates. This uncertainty leads to volatility and the need for an effective vehicle to hedge foreign exchange rate risk and/or interest rate changes while, at the same time, effectively ensuring a future financial position.
Each entity and/or individual that has exposure to foreign exchange rate risk will have specific foreign exchange hedging needs and this website can not possibly cover every existing foreign exchange hedging situation. Therefore, we will cover the more common reasons that a foreign exchange hedge is placed and show you how to properly hedge foreign exchange rate risk.
Foreign Exchange Rate Risk Exposure - Foreign exchange rate risk exposure is common to virtually all who conduct international business and/or trading. Buying and/or selling of goods or services denominated in foreign currencies can immediately expose you to foreign exchange rate risk. If a firm price is quoted ahead of time for a contract using a foreign exchange rate that is deemed appropriate at the time the quote is given, the foreign exchange rate quote may not necessarily be appropriate at the time of the actual agreement or performance of the contract. Placing a foreign exchange hedge can help to manage this foreign exchange rate risk.
Interest Rate Risk Exposure - Interest rate exposure refers to the interest rate differential between the two countries' currencies in a foreign exchange contract. The interest rate differential is also roughly equal to the "carry" cost paid to hedge a forward or futures contract. As a side note, arbitragers are investors that take advantage when interest rate differentials between the foreign exchange spot rate and either the forward or futures contract are either to high or too low. In simplest terms, an arbitrager may sell when the carry cost he or she can collect is at a premium to the actual carry cost of the contract sold. Conversely, an arbitrager may buy when the carry cost he or she may pay is less than the actual carry cost of the contract bought. Either way, the arbitrager is looking to profit from a small price discrepancy due to interest rate differentials.
Foreign Investment / Stock Exposure - Foreign investing is considered by many investors as a way to either diversify an investment portfolio or seek a larger return on investment(s) in an economy believed to be growing at a faster pace than investment(s) in the respective domestic economy. Investing in foreign stocks automatically exposes the investor to foreign exchange rate risk and speculative risk. For example, an investor buys a particular amount of foreign currency (in exchange for domestic currency) in order to purchase shares of a foreign stock. The investor is now automatically exposed to two separate risks. First, the stock price may go either up or down and the investor is exposed to the speculative stock price risk. Second, the investor is exposed to foreign exchange rate risk because the foreign exchange rate may either appreciate or depreciate from the time the investor first purchased the foreign stock and the time the investor decides to exit the position and repatriates the currency (exchanges the foreign currency back to domestic currency). Therefore, even if a speculative profit is achieved because the foreign stock price rose, the investor could actually net lose money if devaluation of the foreign currency occurred while the investor was holding the foreign stock (and the devaluation amount was greater than the speculative profit). Placing a foreign exchange hedge can help to manage this foreign exchange rate risk.
Hedging Speculative Positions - Foreign currency traders utilize foreign exchange hedging to protect open positions against adverse moves in foreign exchange rates, and placing a foreign exchange hedge can help to manage foreign exchange rate risk. Speculative positions can be hedged via a number of foreign exchange hedging vehicles that can be used either alone or in combination to create entirely new foreign exchange hedging strategies.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
The Forex Market and Understanding Foreign Exchange Rates
Unlike the stock exchange, the Forex Market (foreign exchange market) is a relatively new player to the investment world. Today's current Forex market model started in the early 1970's, and today it represents the biggest financial market around, even surpassing the stock market. With trading surpassing $2 trillion dollars per day, the Forex market attracts more and more investors all the time. Before an investor starts trading on the Forex market, he should grasp the fundamentals of how exchange rates work.
Exchange rates
Basically, the exchange rate represents the rate of exchange between two currencies. Most currencies are traded, or paired up against the dollar. The five most common currencies traded on the market are the dollar (USD), euro (EUR), the yen (JPY), the British pound (GBP), and the Swiss franc (CHF). Some other currencies that are traded are the Australian dollar, the Canadian dollar, and the Hong Kong dollar.
In the exchange rate or ratio, the numerator represents the quote currency and the denominator the base currency, which always equals one.
Let's say that an investor wants to exchange euros for dollars. In this case, the euro currency is the quote currency, or how much currency you have to exchange. The base currency is the dollar. The investor researches the current exchange rate (euros converted into dollars) either on the Internet, through the bank, broker, etc., and then multiplies that amount by the number of euros to exchange. Let's say that the exchange rate is 1.57959. That means that 1.57959 euros must be paid to receive one dollar. If he has 1000 euros to exchange, then he can receive $1,579.59 (1000 x 1.57959).
On the flip side, the exchange rate can also tell the investor how much he'll receive if he converts dollars back into euros. If he has $1000, he can either divide that amount by the same euro to dollar exchange rate ($1000/1.57959 = 633.07 euros), or look up the conversation rate for dollars to euros on the Internet, etc. (i.e. .633072) and multiply it by the amount of dollars to exchange ($1000 x .633072 = 633.07 euros).
Once the exchange rate concept is understood, the investor can feel more confident in investing in the Forex market.
Exchange rates
Basically, the exchange rate represents the rate of exchange between two currencies. Most currencies are traded, or paired up against the dollar. The five most common currencies traded on the market are the dollar (USD), euro (EUR), the yen (JPY), the British pound (GBP), and the Swiss franc (CHF). Some other currencies that are traded are the Australian dollar, the Canadian dollar, and the Hong Kong dollar.
In the exchange rate or ratio, the numerator represents the quote currency and the denominator the base currency, which always equals one.
Let's say that an investor wants to exchange euros for dollars. In this case, the euro currency is the quote currency, or how much currency you have to exchange. The base currency is the dollar. The investor researches the current exchange rate (euros converted into dollars) either on the Internet, through the bank, broker, etc., and then multiplies that amount by the number of euros to exchange. Let's say that the exchange rate is 1.57959. That means that 1.57959 euros must be paid to receive one dollar. If he has 1000 euros to exchange, then he can receive $1,579.59 (1000 x 1.57959).
On the flip side, the exchange rate can also tell the investor how much he'll receive if he converts dollars back into euros. If he has $1000, he can either divide that amount by the same euro to dollar exchange rate ($1000/1.57959 = 633.07 euros), or look up the conversation rate for dollars to euros on the Internet, etc. (i.e. .633072) and multiply it by the amount of dollars to exchange ($1000 x .633072 = 633.07 euros).
Once the exchange rate concept is understood, the investor can feel more confident in investing in the Forex market.
Learn Forex Trading
Gone are the days, when people with small bundles of notes surely would draw your attention at the airports/ international bus terminus/ important office areas, who are ready to exchange your currency to your desired foreign exchange at a commission. The literacy, the spread, the entrants of various professionals, automated software, revolutionary online forex trading companies have been able to put a control over the entire unorganized sector to pave the way for complete professionalism and to offer a much more convenient and systematic way of Forex trading.
At the inception phase, people, mainly the large corporations used to perform their Forex trading through various banks or major financial institutes, who used to operate at the international level. The overwhelming popularity of Forex of today's modern world due to the liberalization and global economic polices is empowered by the telecom boom, the immense reach of Internet and the unimaginable advantage of advanced technology. The instantaneous effect and up-to-date news provided by the Online Forex Software exchange trading platform in the regime of online Forex, have given you the classical opportunity of taking decisions and immediate implementation. Online Forex trading has been standardized over the years after the initial teething problems, and today's Forex participants get an almost secured access through various online Forex trading companies, which is free from all encumbrances. The technology, its application in case of online Forex has been drastically improved with the increasing awareness of people at large. The success lies in bringing a wider gamut of people into Forex trading platform and in turn the entire Forex Software exchange trading platform has become commercially viable.
If we want to look into the current Foreign Exchange market, we can find a reasonable number of stakeholders beyond the predominated traditional Multi National Companies or MNCs, banks, brokers and the final impetus has given by the wide acceptance of a large number of commoners, who get engaged in Forex trading due to various reasons including even as a mere hobby. The latest encryption methodologies and plenty of guide and trend analysis will make you secured and comfortable even if you are a first timer dabbling into online Forex trading.
The concept of margin trading, implying the traded on margin, saves you for a huge amount of deposit in the Forex. The margin deposit varies between banks and it is always in percentile terms of the original amount, which the bank allows you to play. A simple example will show you the actual potential. Suppose a bank has kept the margin deposit as 2%, which implies that you need to deposit only $20000 USD to trade two million dollars and also you may gear up your profit by 200%. As the coin has got two sides, the 2% margin deposit in Forex may also take you to the road of losses by 200%. The rule remains same, when the offline Forex trading changes it face to online Forex trading.
As every investment carries the potential risk of both profit and loss, the luck of an aggressive online Forex trader may sway anywhere between 2 to 25% on a daily basis on an average. Just for the knowledge base, the beginner in Forex trading must be aware of that the interest rates on your deposit varies greatly depending upon the currencies and the prevailing practice is to play in multiple currencies, popularly known as Base currency and variable currency in the world of Forex both in traditional platform and in online Forex platform. Your awareness level, your analytic power, your intuition are the key driven forces to transform you to an informed Forex trader and to optimize your Return on Investment (ROI) in the most prospective financial market of today's economic world.
At the inception phase, people, mainly the large corporations used to perform their Forex trading through various banks or major financial institutes, who used to operate at the international level. The overwhelming popularity of Forex of today's modern world due to the liberalization and global economic polices is empowered by the telecom boom, the immense reach of Internet and the unimaginable advantage of advanced technology. The instantaneous effect and up-to-date news provided by the Online Forex Software exchange trading platform in the regime of online Forex, have given you the classical opportunity of taking decisions and immediate implementation. Online Forex trading has been standardized over the years after the initial teething problems, and today's Forex participants get an almost secured access through various online Forex trading companies, which is free from all encumbrances. The technology, its application in case of online Forex has been drastically improved with the increasing awareness of people at large. The success lies in bringing a wider gamut of people into Forex trading platform and in turn the entire Forex Software exchange trading platform has become commercially viable.
If we want to look into the current Foreign Exchange market, we can find a reasonable number of stakeholders beyond the predominated traditional Multi National Companies or MNCs, banks, brokers and the final impetus has given by the wide acceptance of a large number of commoners, who get engaged in Forex trading due to various reasons including even as a mere hobby. The latest encryption methodologies and plenty of guide and trend analysis will make you secured and comfortable even if you are a first timer dabbling into online Forex trading.
The concept of margin trading, implying the traded on margin, saves you for a huge amount of deposit in the Forex. The margin deposit varies between banks and it is always in percentile terms of the original amount, which the bank allows you to play. A simple example will show you the actual potential. Suppose a bank has kept the margin deposit as 2%, which implies that you need to deposit only $20000 USD to trade two million dollars and also you may gear up your profit by 200%. As the coin has got two sides, the 2% margin deposit in Forex may also take you to the road of losses by 200%. The rule remains same, when the offline Forex trading changes it face to online Forex trading.
As every investment carries the potential risk of both profit and loss, the luck of an aggressive online Forex trader may sway anywhere between 2 to 25% on a daily basis on an average. Just for the knowledge base, the beginner in Forex trading must be aware of that the interest rates on your deposit varies greatly depending upon the currencies and the prevailing practice is to play in multiple currencies, popularly known as Base currency and variable currency in the world of Forex both in traditional platform and in online Forex platform. Your awareness level, your analytic power, your intuition are the key driven forces to transform you to an informed Forex trader and to optimize your Return on Investment (ROI) in the most prospective financial market of today's economic world.
Risks of Trading in Forex Market
Although every investment involves some risk, the risk of loss in trading off-exchange forex contracts can be substantial. Therefore, if you are considering participating in this market, you should understand some of the risks associated with this product so you can make an informed decision before investing.
As stated in the introduction to this booklet, off-exchange foreign currency trading carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for all customers. The only funds that should ever be used to speculate in foreign currency trading, or any type of highly speculative investment, are funds that represent risk capital i.e., funds you can afford to lose without affecting your financial situation. There are other reasons why forex trading may or may not be an appropriate investment for you, and they are highlighted below.
The market could move against you
No one can predict with certainty which way exchange rates will go, and the forex market is volatile. Fluctuations in the foreign exchange rate between the time you place the trade and the time you close it out will affect the price of your forex contract and the potential profit and losses relating to it.
You could lose your entire investment
You will be required to deposit an amount of money (often referred to as a security deposit or margin) with your forex dealer in order to buy or sell an off-exchange forex contract. As discussed earlier, a relatively small amount of money can enable you to hold a forex position worth many times the account value. This is referred to as leverage or gearing. The smaller the deposits in relation to the underlying value of the contract, the greater the leverage. If the price moves in an unfavorable direction, high leverage can produce large losses in relation to your initial deposit. In fact, even a small move against your position may result in a large loss, including the loss of your entire deposit. Depending on your agreement with your dealer, you may also be required to pay additional losses.
Overtrading is another ordinary money management mistake in the forex market. This trading does not have clearly defined trading objectives; the sole reason is to make more money. To avoid this mistake, make sure that every trade is broken into ultimate goals, and that these goals are achieved before other positions are added. Very few traders can successfully manage multiple positions in a variety of currency trading markets.
Overconfidence is a big mistake when it comes to money management and the forex market. This is caused when a trader has or thinks they have particular or inside information. These hot tips are sometimes wrong, and when this happens large amounts of money may be lost because of this. The way to avoid this is to avoid being confident in any rumors or special information you may have. Managing your money means taking measures to preserve it as well.
Preferential bias can exist among forex market traders. This happens when they only see or hear what they want in relative to the favored trade. This can cause a trader to ignore the real activity of the forex market in favorite of what they want to happen. It is important to look at each trade impartially and do not become set in cement with your opinion. Do not ask friends or family for their opinions; just go with what you know.
As stated in the introduction to this booklet, off-exchange foreign currency trading carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for all customers. The only funds that should ever be used to speculate in foreign currency trading, or any type of highly speculative investment, are funds that represent risk capital i.e., funds you can afford to lose without affecting your financial situation. There are other reasons why forex trading may or may not be an appropriate investment for you, and they are highlighted below.
The market could move against you
No one can predict with certainty which way exchange rates will go, and the forex market is volatile. Fluctuations in the foreign exchange rate between the time you place the trade and the time you close it out will affect the price of your forex contract and the potential profit and losses relating to it.
You could lose your entire investment
You will be required to deposit an amount of money (often referred to as a security deposit or margin) with your forex dealer in order to buy or sell an off-exchange forex contract. As discussed earlier, a relatively small amount of money can enable you to hold a forex position worth many times the account value. This is referred to as leverage or gearing. The smaller the deposits in relation to the underlying value of the contract, the greater the leverage. If the price moves in an unfavorable direction, high leverage can produce large losses in relation to your initial deposit. In fact, even a small move against your position may result in a large loss, including the loss of your entire deposit. Depending on your agreement with your dealer, you may also be required to pay additional losses.
Overtrading is another ordinary money management mistake in the forex market. This trading does not have clearly defined trading objectives; the sole reason is to make more money. To avoid this mistake, make sure that every trade is broken into ultimate goals, and that these goals are achieved before other positions are added. Very few traders can successfully manage multiple positions in a variety of currency trading markets.
Overconfidence is a big mistake when it comes to money management and the forex market. This is caused when a trader has or thinks they have particular or inside information. These hot tips are sometimes wrong, and when this happens large amounts of money may be lost because of this. The way to avoid this is to avoid being confident in any rumors or special information you may have. Managing your money means taking measures to preserve it as well.
Preferential bias can exist among forex market traders. This happens when they only see or hear what they want in relative to the favored trade. This can cause a trader to ignore the real activity of the forex market in favorite of what they want to happen. It is important to look at each trade impartially and do not become set in cement with your opinion. Do not ask friends or family for their opinions; just go with what you know.
Forex Trading
So what is is Forex trading you may ask? Forex is the exchange you can buy and sell currencies. For example, you might buy British pounds (by exchanging them to the dollars you had), then, after pounds / dollar ratio goes up, you sell pounds and buy dollars again. At the end of this operation you are going to have more dollars, then you had at the beginning.
The Forex market has much higher liquidity, then the stock market, as much more money is being exchanged. Forex is spread between banks all over the planet and as a result it means 24 hour trading.
Unlike stocks, Forex trades are performed with high leverage, usually it is 100. It means that by investing $1000 you can control $100,000, and increase potential profits accordingly. Some brokers provide also so called mini-Forex, where the size of minimum deposit equals $100. It makes possible for individuals to enter this market easily.
The name convention. In Forex, the name of a "symbol" is composed of two parts — one for first currency, and another for the second currency. For example, the symbol usdjpy stands for US dollars (usd) to Japanese yen (jpy).
As with stocks, you can apply tools of the technical analysis to Forex charts. Trader's indexes can be optimized for Forex "symbols", allowing you to find winning strategy.
Example Forex transaction
Assume you have a trading account of $25,000 and you are trading with a 1% margin requirement. The current quote for EUR/USD is 1.3225/28 and you place a market order to buy 1 lot of 100,000 Euros at 1.3228, expecting the euro to rise against the dollar. At the same time you place a stop-loss order at 1.3178 representing a maximum loss of 2% of your account equity if the trade goes against you, 50 pips below your order price, and a limit order at 1.3378, 150 pips above your order price. For this trade, you are risking 50 pips to gain 150 pips, giving you a risk/reward ratio of 1 part risk to 3 parts reward. This means that you only need to be right one third of the time to remain profitable.
The notional value of this trade is $132,280 (100,000 * 1.3228). Your required margin deposit is 1% of the total, which is equal to $1322.80 ($132,280 * 0.01).
As you expected, the Euro strengthens against the dollar and your limit order is reached at 1.3378. The position is closed. Your total profit for this trade is $1500, each pip being worth $10.
Forex The Future Investment
There are many many advantages over the various other ways of investing. First of all it is a 24 hr market, except for weekends of course. You have the US market then the european and then the Asian. One of the great times to trade is during the over lapping periods. The USA and european overlap between 5am & 9am eastern and the Euro & Asian between 11pm & 1am eastern. Usually the busiest time and best to trade.
The is also the risk factor for the accounts. With futures and options you can get margin calls that can wipe you out. If you get caught in a bad trade not only do you lose the money in the account but you may have to come up with alot more from your pocket. It can be very risking. But not in Forex. Worst case senerio you could lose whats in you account. But you would have to do something really stupid. Like making a big trade on a Fundamental day and leave it alone. If market takes a bad move and you weren't there. OOOPS. But That wouldn't happen with a smarth trader.
Then there are the demo accounts which is an account where you can trade using all the right things, platform,charts,and information. But you are using play money, or what we call paper trading too.
Plus with Forex you have a mini account. Instead of needing thousands of dollars to get into it. You can open an account with as little as $300.00. Now of course you will be trading at 1 tenth of a trade. IN other words you controling 10,000 instead of 100,000.00 These are call lots. Which also means you will only risk 1 tenth too!
So if you would love to learn to do investing and not have near the risk you really need to take a closer look at Forex trading.
Forex Market Trading And The Mind Games
First, what is Forex: The FOREX or Foreign Exchange market is the largest financial market in the world, with an volume of more than $1.5 trillion daily, dealing in currencies. Unlike other financial markets, the Forex market has no physical location, no central exchange. It operates through an electronic network of banks, corporations and individuals trading one currency for another.
Mind Games defined: Mind Games are a kind of social interaction where participants try to screw with one anothers' heads. The concept is most often used colloquially to refer to deceitful, confusing or Machiavellian situations. However some mind games are described by the psychology of transactional analysis.
When it comes to trading on the Forex market, winning is a matter of the mind rather than mind over matter. Any trader who's been in the game for any length of time will tell you that psychology has a lot to do with both your own performance on the trading floor and with the way that the market is moving. Playing a winning hand depends on knowing your own mind — and understanding the way that psychology moves the market.
Studying the psychology of the market is nothing new. It doesn't take a genius to understand that any arena that rides and falls on decisions made by people is going to be heavily influenced by the minds of people. Few people take into account all the various levels of mind games that motivate the market, though. If you keep your eye on the way that psychology influences others — including the mass psychology of the people that use the currency on a daily basis — but neglect to know what moves you, you're going to end up hurting your own position. The best Forex coaches will tell you that before you can really become a successful trader, you have to know yourself and the triggers that influence you. Knowing those will help you overcome them or use them. Are you saying 'Huh?" about now? Believe me, I understand. I felt the same way the first time that someone tried to explain how the mind games we play with ourselves influence the trades and decisions that we make. Let me break it down into more manageable pieces for you.
Anything involving winning or losing large sums of money becomes emotionally charged. All right. You've heard that playing the market is a mathematical game. Plug in the right numbers, make the right calculations and you'll come out ahead. So why is it that so many traders end up on the losing end of the market? After all, everyone has access to the same numbers, the same data, the same info — if it's math, there's only one right answer, right?
The answer lies in interpretation. The numbers don't lie, but your mind does. Your hopes and fears can make you see things that just aren't there. When you invest in a currency, you're investing more than just money — you make an emotional investment. Being 'right' becomes important. Being 'wrong' doesn't just cost you money when you let yourself be ruled by your emotions — it costs you pride. Why else would you let a loser ride in the hope that it will bounce back? It's that little thing inside your head that says, "I KNOW I'm right on this, dammit!"
To most people, being right is more important than making money. Here's the deal. The way to make real money in the forex market is to cut your losses short and let your winners ride. In order to do that, you have GOT to accept that some of your trades are going to lose, cut them loose and move on to another trade. You've got to accept that picking a loser is NOT an indication of your self-worth, it's not a reflection on who you are. It's simply a loss, and the best way to deal with it is to stop losing money by moving on — and really move on. Moving on means you don't keep a running total of how many losses you've had — that's the way to paralyze yourself. This brings us to the next point:
Losing traders see loss as failure. Winning traders see loss as learning. Not too long ago, my twelve year old son told me that before Thomas Edison invented a working light bulb, he invented 100 light bulbs that didn't work. But he didn't give up — because he knew that creating a source of light from electricity was possible. He believed in his overall theory — so when one design didn't work, he simply knew that he'd eliminated one possibility. Keep eliminating possibilities long enough, and you'll eventually find the possibility that works.
Winning traders see loss in the same way. They haven't failed — they've learned something new about the way that they and the market work. Winning traders can look at the big picture while playing in the small arena.
Suppose I told you that last year, I made 75 trades that lost money, and 25 that made money. In the eyes of most people, that would make me a pretty poor trader. I'm wrong 75% of the time. But what if I told you that my average loss was $1000, but my average profit on a winning trade was $10,000? That means that I lost $75,000 on trades — but I made $250,000, making my overall profit $175,000. It's a pretty clear numbers game — but how do you keep on trading when you're losing in trade after trade? Simple — just remember that one trade does not make or break a trader. Focus on the trade at hand, follow the triggers that you've set up — but define yourself by what really matters — the overall record.
Bottom line: You can't keep emotions out of the picture, but you can learn not to let them control your decisions. Keep it all in perspective and realise that there are a lot of big boys playing this game and playing it to win...
Forex Trade: Main Drawbacks of a Forex Trader
Why is it that very few traders succeed in the Forex trading environment while the grand majority of traders fail to achieve success? Although there is no hard answer to this question, there are a few things that will put you one step ahead and will definitely put the odds in your favor.
The main purpose of this article is to guide you through some important aspects of Forex trading. But in a different way, instead of telling you what to do or the best way to do it, it will tell you what to avoid. Sometimes it is better to identify the main drawbacks on a discipline and then isolate them so we have the best results at a certain level of development.
The search for the Holy Grail
Many traders spend years and years trying to find the Holy Grail of trading. That magic indicator or set of indicators, only known by a few traders, that will make them rich in a short period of time.
Fact: Well, there is no magic indicator, nor a set of indicators that will make anyone rich in a short period of time. The main reason of this is because market changes, every single moment is unique. Every Forex trading system will fail from time to time. Our work here is to find a Forex trading system that fits our personality as traders, otherwise the trader will find it hard to follow it.
Looking for Easy Money
Unfortunately most traders are attracted to the Forex market for this reason. Mainly because of the publicity showing or rather trying to show how easy is to trade and make money in the Forex market.
Fact: Yes, it is very easy to trade, anyone can do it. It is as hard as one click. But the second part of it isn't that easy. Making money or achieving consistent profitable results is hard. It requires lots of education, patience, discipline, commitment, and this list could go to infinite. In a few words, it is possible to have consistent profitable results, but definitely it is not easy.
Looking for Excitement
Some other traders are attracted to the Forex market or any other financial market because they think it is exciting to be a trader.
Fact: Yes, it is very exciting to trade the Forex market. But if this is the main reason you are still trading the Forex market, sooner or later you will discover the most expensive adventure you have ever known. Do some thinking on it.
Not Using Money Management.
Most traders forget about this important aspect of trading. They think they shouldn't be using money management until they achieve consistent profitable results. They totally forget about the risk side of trading.
Fact: Money management allows your profits to increase geometrically, but also limits your risk on every single trade. Money management tells you how much to risk on each trade. Using money management is a must if you want to achieve your trading goals. By using money management you make sure you are going to be able to trade tomorrow, the next week, month and the following years.
Not Being Psychology Tuned
This is one of the most underestimated subjects when it comes to trading. One of the main principles of financial markets is that the price of each instrument is based on the perception of each individual participant "the crowd." In other words the price of each instrument is determined by the fear, greed, ego and hope of all traders.
Fact: Being aware of all psychological issues that affect the decisions made by traders will definitely put the odds in your favor.
Lack of Education
Education is the base of knowledge on every discipline. As lawyers and doctors require several years of college until they get their degree, Forex traders also require long years of study. It is better to have someone experienced to guide you through your trading, since some information could take you in the wrong path.
Fact: The market teaches us invaluable lessons on every single trade made. The process of education for a Forex trader could take for ever. That's right, we never stop learning. We should be humble about the markets and our knowledge; otherwise the market will prove us wrong.
These are some of the most important barriers every trader faces when trying to trade successfully.
Trading successfully the Forex markets is no easy task, it requires a lot of hard work to do it right, but with the right education, you will put yourself closer to your trading goals.
Forex: Why Psychiatrists Make Better Traders Than Expert Economists?
It should be noted that millionaire traders, Elder, Williams and some others are in fact professional psychiatrists. And it is not accidental that not the economists are the leaders and most successful traders, but professional psychiatrists and psychotherapists. Think about it. You will become a successful trader when you understand why it happens with Forex. You will understand what your Forex mistakes are, and why you are making them. And when you correct these mistakes you will become a trader who has no psychological barriers and obstacles on his way to better earnings in the Forex market.
So, why do the psychiatrists make better traders than economists who, as one would think, have the Forex market at their finger tips?
The economists are confused by:
— the fact that exchange rates are not always related directly to the economic circumstances in the countries. Well, do you know any economist who would be bidding for low fx rates when the economic situation is getting better and better? Or the one who admits that technical analysis of currency pairs is more important for Forex trading than the fundamental one? Any economist is confident that this can never happen because he knows all the economic dogmas. But it happens in the Forex. After all, how can a trader lose with the currencies moving up and down by the economic rules? The currency will surely react to the economic changes in the country, but who knows when and how? Here is a tip: there is the Elliott fifth way to teach a lesson to the ones who believe that fundamental knowledge is enough (before the trend turns, the currency spurts absurdly by the old trend), to confuse and draw the newbies into the game, while the experts wait for the trend to turn back.
— the lack of psychological knowledge that helps to understand the behavior of the crowd. And that is self-evident.
Are there any methods to overcome this fear?
It seems that every Forex book, every article offers efficient solutions for psychological difficulties experienced by the traders.
IN FACT NEITHER OF THESE BOOKS CONTAINS METHODS TO OVERCOME THE FEAR EXPERIENCED BY A FOREX TRADER!
But what do these books offer instead?
Almost every book of this kind consists of two unequal parts:
— the bigger part of the book narrates about traders' problem that interfere with their Forex work and make it unsuccessful (nervousness, doubts, worries, fear, sleep deprivation, etc.). As if the traders do not know their own problems.
— the considerably lesser part contains conclusions and recommendations to the traders who are to solve their problems and overcome their fears to become successful.
The conclusions are disappointing:
Many psychiatrists realize that the new field opens before their eyes — now they may treat traders whose number amounts to millions all over the world and is growing with every day. And since most traders have a dream to become as successful as George Soros and other famous traders, this new field promises to be rather lucrative.
One thing is bad though: the overwhelming majority of these new-sprung trader brain specialists do not even know what the Forex is all about.
What Is Forex Trading?
Forex trading is nothing more than direct access trading of different types of foreign currencies. In the past, foreign exchange trading was mostly limited to large banks and institutional traders. However recent technological advancements have made it so that small traders can also take advantage of the many benefits of forex trading just by using the various online trading platforms to trade.
The currencies of the world are on a floating exchange rate, and they are always traded in pairs. About 85 percent of all daily transactions involve trading of the major currencies. Four major currency pairs are usually used for investment purposes. They are: Euro against US dollar (EUR/USD), US dollar against Japanese yen (USD/JPY), British pound against US dollar (GBP/USD) and US dollar against Swiss franc (USD/CHF).
If you think one currency will appreciate against another, you may exchange that second currency for the first one and be able to "stay" in it. If everything goes as you plan it, eventually you may be able to make the opposite deal in that you may exchange this first currency back for that other and then collect profits from it. As a note bear in mind that no dividends are paid on currencies.
Transactions on the FOREX market are performed by dealers at major banks or FOREX brokerage companies. FOREX is a necessary part of the worldwide market, so when you are sleeping in the comfort of your bed, the dealers in Europe are trading currencies with their Japanese counterparts. Therefore, the FOREX market is active 24 hours a day and dealers at major institutions are working 24/7 in three different shifts. Clients may place take-profit and stop-loss orders with brokers for overnight execution. Price movements on the FOREX market are very smooth and without the gaps that you face almost every morning on the stock market. The daily turnover on the FOREX market is somewhere around $1.2 trillion, so a new investor can enter and exit positions without any problems.
The fact is that the FOREX market never stops; even on September 11, 2001 you could still get your hands on two-side quotes on currencies. The currency market is the largest and oldest financial market in the world. It is also called the foreign exchange market or FX market for short. It is the biggest and most liquid market in the world, and it is traded mostly through the 24 hour-a-day inter-bank currency market.
When you compare them, you will see that the currency futures market is only one per cent as big. Unlike the futures and stock markets, trading currencies is not centered on an exchange. Trading moves from major banking centers of the U.S. to Australia and New Zealand, to the Far East, to Europe and finally back to the U.S. it is truly a full circle trading game. In the past, the forex inter-bank market was not available to small speculators because of the large minimum transaction sizes and strict financial requirements. Banks, major currency dealers and sometimes even very large speculator were the principal dealers. Only they were able to take advantage of the currency market's fantastic liquidity and strong trending nature of many of the world's primary currency exchange rates.
Today, foreign exchange market brokers are able to break down the larger sized inter-bank units, and offer small traders like you and me the opportunity to buy or sell any number of these smaller units. These brokers give any size trader, including individual speculators or smaller companies, the option to trade at the same rates and price movements as the big players who once dominated the market.
How To Find A Forex Broker That Won`t Rob You Blind
It`s not always easy to know what to look for in a forex broker, especially in any market, much less a market as complex as currency. But, if you want to trade in the market you need a good firm to work with. While it might be tempting to simply ask the brokers what they can do for you, you can`t always depend on them to give you a straight answer. So instead, I`ve put together a few things to consider when choosing your forex broker. You will want a forex broker that has low spreads. The spread, which is calculated in pips, is the difference between the price at which a currency can be bought and the price at which it can be sold at any specific point in time. Since forex brokers don`t charge a commission, this difference is how they make money. Low spreads will save you money.
Along with this, you should be looking for a forex broker attached to a reputable institution. Unlike equity brokers, they are usually attached to large banks or lending institutions. The firm should also be registered with the Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) as well as regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Once you`ve narrowed your choices down to brokers that won`t cost you too much, and that are reputable, consider the trading tools that they are offering you. Forex brokers have many different trading platforms for their clients, just like brokers in other markets. These often show real time charts, technical analysis tools, real time news and data, and may even offer support for the various trading systems.
Before you commit to any one company, request free trials of their tools. Brokers generally provide technical as well as fundamental commentaries, economic calendars, and other research to help you make good trades. Shop around until you find a forex broker who will give you everything that you need to succeed.
The next item that you will need to evaluate carefully is the number of leverage options your potential partner has. Leverage is a necessity in forex trading because the price deviations in the currencies are set at fractions of a cent. Leverage is expressed as a ratio between the total capital that is available to be traded and your actual capital. For example, when you have a ratio of 100:1, your forex broker will lend you $100 for every $1 of actual capital you have. Many brokerage firms will offer you as much as 250:1. If you have low levels of capital you will need a brokerage with high levels of leverage to make reasonable profits.
If capital is not a problem, any forex broker that has a wide variety of leverage options would be a good choice for you. A variety of options will let you vary the amount of risk you choose to take. For example, less leverage (and therefore less risk) may be preferable if you are dealing with highly volatile (exotic) currency pairs.
Along with different levels of leverage, look for brokers that offer different types of accounts. Many brokers will offer you two or more types. The smallest account is known as a mini account and it requires you to trade with a minimum of around $300. The mini account also generally offers a high amount of leverage.
The standard account allows you to trade at a variety of different leverages, but it requires minimum initial capital of $2,000. And finally, there are premium accounts, which often require significant amounts of capital. They also generally have different levels of leverage available to the traders who use them, and often offer additional tools and services. You will need to make sure that the partner you choose has the right leverage, tools, and services for the amount of capital that you are able to work with.
A brokerage firm that meets all of these needs should be a good forex broker for you, but you still need to be certain that they are honest. Dishonest brokers can be prone to prematurely buying or selling near preset points (commonly referred to as sniping and hunting) or may indulge in other habits that will cost you money.
Obviously, no brokerage firm admits to doing things like these, but there are ways to know if they have. The best ways to find out more about your potential forex broker is to talk to fellow traders. There is no list or organization that reports dishonest activity, but a visit to online discussion forums, or a simple conversation will often reveal who is an honest forex broker.
You should also watch to see if a brokerage firm has strict margin rules. Since you are trading with borrowed money, your forex broker has a say in how much risk you are able to take. You agree to this when you sign a margin agreement for your account. This means your firm can buy or sell at his discretion, to cover the brokerage firm's interests, which could have repercussions for you.
Say you have a margin account, and your position takes a headlong nosedive before it begins to rebound to all time highs. Even if you have enough cash to cover it, some brokers will liquidate your position on a margin call at that low point. This action on their part can cost you dearly. You can only find out whether the firm is prone to this kind of activity by talking to other traders. Being informed on all aspects of a forex broker before you make the decision to trade with them will allow you to start trading the forex market with confidence.
6 Critical Factors For Successful Forex Trading
Online, Day trading has exploded across America. Some investors have been very successful and boast of huge gains made in incredibly short periods of time. However, there are many others who experience devastating losses because they have not tapped into the 6 critical factors necessary for successful Futures and FOREX Trading. Http://Free-Cash-Site.com
Success in any profession can be broken down into a number of critical factors. Trading is no different. A successful trading strategy incorporates the following 6 factors.
1. Determination of An Edge: Trading Futures is a zero sum game. There must be an identifiable edge over the other market participants.
2. Disciplined Execution:There is no point in identifying an edge if there is no discipline to follow thru. Create a plan, stick with it, then determine if the plan is successful. If it is not, change the plan. The important thing is disciplined execution.
3. Money Management: If the risk per trade is too aggressive, then there is the risk of blowing an account. If trades are too conservative, then the opportunity to optimize returns is missed. It is critical to establish the maximum expected draw down of any system and set money management rules accordingly.
4. Create a Trading Plan: A trading plan will determine what will be done in any given situation during the trade day. A plan helps keep one focused on execution and not distractions.
5. Responsibility: Responsibility lies with the trader. Gains, losses, success, or failure is determined by the skill, determination and discipline of the trader.
6. Commitment: There must be commitment to placing every trade according to plan, even through the losing periods where every trade seems to end up a loser. Trading seems to throw up extremes of good times and bad times. One must not be over confident during the good times, and one must not give up in the bad times. There also must be adequate time every day to compare actual performances against the trading plan.
8 Basic Tips on choosing Best FOREX Broker
There are some basic notices that you should consider when you want choosing online forex broker.
#1- Spread Amount
The spread, which is calculated in pips, is the difference between how much you can buy or sell a currency at a specific point in time.
Forex currencies are not traded through a central exchange market, so the spread can be different depending on the forex broker you use. Some online forex brokers have variable spread; some of them have two spread amounts that depend to day and night.
Some of them their spread depends to the position of market. When market is quiet the spread is small and when market is busy the spread is high. I prefer forex brokers that have fixed spread, because over the long term fixed can be safer.
#2- Execution
— How fast is the broker's order execution?
— Do they offer automatic execution?
— How much can you trade before having to request a quote?
— Do they trade against their clients?
The best way to find out is to open a demo account and give them a test drive.
#3- Leverage Options
Leverage is expressed as a ratio between the total capital that is available to be traded and your actual capital. For example, when you have a ratio of 100:1, your forex broker will lend you $100 for every $1 of actual capital you have. Leverage is a necessity in forex trading because the price deviations in the currencies are set at fractions of a cent.
Before choosing an online forex broker notice that what is their leverage. Many brokerages offer a flexible margin that allows you to choose the leverage that's right for you.
#4- Account Types
Notice the forex broker you choose has mini account or not. Mini account is designed for those new to online currency trading and those with limited investment capital. There is a smaller deposit required to start trade of just $300 or less.
#5- Trading Platform
Good trading software will show live prices that you can actually trade at, not just indicative quotes. It will offer Limit and Stop orders, and ideally will let you attach these to your entry order. One-Cancels-Other orders are another useful feature — they mean you can set up your trade and then leave the software to get on with it.
#6- Dealing tools and value-added services
Find out online forex broker that offers the best resources and information to help you make the smartest trading decisions. A good company should offer real-time charts, technical analysis tools, real-time news and data, and software or website support. Be weary of any company that refuses to share information or trial versions before opening up an account. You will want to try out their system before you choose to invest money in it.
#7- Support
Forex is a 24 hour market, so your online forex broker should offer 24 hour support. You should also check if you can close positions over the phone — essential in case your PC or internet connection crash at a critical moment. You could contact to their Internet help desks to see how quickly they respond to enquiries.
#8- Get Referrals
Ask around and read forex forums to find out which forex brokers other people use and why they selected a specific broker.
How to Save Yourself from Forex Scam
Forex trading is one of the best home based online business opportunity you can find today. The Big Sharks know that and use the demand for information about Forex market to get every possible dollar in their hands.
Who are they? The answer is always easy — Follow the Money. There is one player on currency market (and in every other market) who never loses his share in every single trade. Brokerage service on Forex trading is claimed to be commission free, right? But you always pay your minimum 3 to 10 pips fee on each trade. Where those 3 to 10 pips go? Make your best guess!
There is almost no chance for a person who has no idea for the forces driving the Info market to save himself from being robbed and abused by those well advertised money machines. You can see their banners on your e-mail provider. You can watch their infomercials on every TV channel.
Be aware about the presence of those Big Sharks and be sure that the information they will try to sell to you is always available for free online. Most of the time the quality and the real value of that free information is much better than the one you will be asked to pay for.
Here is the story of a good friend of mine. He was very excited about Forex when he first time heard about it. That happened to be on one of those popular free seminars, organized by one of the Big Sharks on that field. So he got the bite without paying attention for the hook in it. He went to the next level — two days training for $1,995, only.
He came back more excited. He opened Forex trading account on that seminar, using a special form provided by the Big Shark Company. They honestly declared that by doing that the broker agrees to pay them one pip from each trade made by the customer recruited by them.
My friend started real trading, constantly increasing the amount of his investment until he put all of his savings into that Forex trading account. Everything was fine until one beautiful day of October. On that day he got the news: his broker filed under chapter 11.
He was broke. I asked him how successful was his trading? His answer was that he actually lost 30% of his investment, from trading, only. He was able to realize know that the training was completely inefficient and not even close enough to start trading with real money.
Something big was missing here. He was missing the big picture in the entire game. His trading experience was very frustrating. After each trade he felt like just hit the wall with a car flying with 100 miles per hour.
A few days ago my friend called me on the phone. He was very enthusiastic about a new Forex training package, just delivered to him. I decided to check it by myself, too.
The package is very detailed. All the missing information about the big picture is there. More than 20 hours of free videos are revealing all you need to know about that business. Zooming towards Forex trading is very smooth and on the level every beginner and advanced trader will tremendously benefit of.
The one unbeatable and shocking advantage of this package is that it delivers information, priced from between $3,000 and $10,000, for free.
Finally we got something valuable about Forex trading, very professionally developed, for free.
Probably, that will put the Big Sharks business on hold for awhile, for the good sake to all of us.
So, be careful and keep an eye on the Internet unlimited free resources if you want to self yourself from the Forex scam.
Happy Forex trading!
Sending Signals For Trading In FOREX
Forex signals are sent by a forex firm to their subscribers in order to buy and sell currencies. These signals are called entry and exit signals for the forex dealers. The firms, which send this forex signal, do so after tedious and meticulous research and analysis into the currencies that their dealers are trading in. For example a firm may send the entry and exit signals at designated time frames in real time. These will remain valid for a short period only after which they are going to be different.
Let's say that there is a forex trading company say Acme Forex traders who send entry and exit signals to their clients in the following way
The first signal is provided to the trader at 08:30, and this signal is going to remain actual till 12.30
The trader will receive the second signal at 12.30, which would remain actual till 16.30.
The last signal would be sent to the trader at 16.30.
The transactions are given according to GMT. Please adjust for local time changes. The transaction shall be calculated till the signal is actual. The charges would be $300 per month per trader.
Forex dealers and experts provide forex-trading information and data to both institutional clients and individual investors and provide these kind of signals. Investors like to subscribe to credit worthy forex dealers / companies since their information and data would be genuine and more accurate. In fact many forex dealers would kill to get information before the rest of the market gets the same information. As forex dealing is a very competitive business.
These signals or forex indications are given to the forex dealers through the forex trading platform or hub. The signals or forex indicators are the specific entry and exit strategies. Therefore when you enter a currency trade buying currencies at lower price and then selling at higher price, you book a profit. currency pair. For example the forex dealer is trading in GBP/USD. The rate is for GBP/USD is .9800 . If you expect that Euro is likely to go up in the future you would buy the Euros today to sell them off at a later date thereby booking a profit. If you expect the dollars to appreciate, then you would buy the dollars selling them off at a later date to book profits.
Most forex dealers will get the information via email or straight on their computer screens. It is then up to the forex dealers to decide whether they want to sell / buy / hold the currencies till further information is given to them.
Those who contribute in giving the information on currency dealing are hedge managers, foreign exchange dealers located in the major financial markets of the world, professional stock brokers, finance managers and a host of other finance professionals. They make it their business to collect, analyze and disseminate information in such a way, that can be used by forex dealers to buy / sell / hold the forex.
Therefore the companies take extreme care to send the forex signals for the currency dealers.
How To Choose A FOREX Broker
Most investors who trade Forex stocks use a broker. A broker is an individual or a company, who buys and sells stocks according to the investor's wishes. Brokers earn money by collecting commissions or fees for their services.
You should check that a broker is registered as a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as protection against fraud or abusive trade practices. A Forex broker also needs to be associated with a financial institution, such as a bank in order to provide funds for margin trading. Picking the right Forex broker for you will take some work on your part. There are brokers who charge a flat fee and some that charge commission. It may be a good idea to talk with friends and business associates about their brokers. You may get some good leads, and you're certain to hear who to stay away from. There is nothing like word of mouth advertising.
If you are thinking of investing online, you could choose several online brokers and contact their help desks. Seeing how quickly they respond to your questions could be key in how they will respond to their customers needs. If you don't get a speedy reply and a satisfactory answer to your question you certainly wouldn't want to trust them with your business. Just be aware that as in other types of businesses, pre sales service might be better than after sales service.
Before you choose an online broker get a copy of their online demo account. What features are included? Is the software reliable? Does it offer automatic trading? Are there extra software features that cost more?
Before setting up an account with a Forex broker you will need to do further investigation. How quickly will these brokers execute your buy/sell orders? What is their policy on slippage? What are the transaction fees? What is the spread, fixed or variable? What are the margin requirements and how are they calculated? Does the margin change with currency traded? Is it the same for mini accounts and standard accounts?
Don't forget to ask about minimum account balances and interest payments on account balances. Make sure that your funds will be insured.
McCain Campaign Rejects Finding That Palin Abused Her Power
Republican John McCain's campaign is rejecting as partisan politics an investigator's finding that his running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, abused her power by letting her husband use her office to try to get a state trooper fired.
``Governor Palin knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda,'' said the state legislative investigator's report released yesterday in Anchorage.
Still, the report said Palin's dismissal of former state Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan, who refused to fire Trooper Michael Wooten, was a ``proper and lawful exercise'' of her power to fire department heads for any reason. Monegan says the governor dismissed him for refusing to fire Wooten, who was involved in a divorce and custody battle with Palin's sister.
The report ``shows that the governor acted within her proper and lawful authority in the reassignment of Walt Monegan,'' said Meg Stapleton, a spokeswoman for McCain's campaign. ``The report also illustrates what we've known all along: This was a partisan-led inquiry run by'' supporters of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, she said.
The report on Palin was released less than a month before the Nov. 4 election as she is trying to help McCain overcome Democrat Barack Obama's lead in national polls.
`Deeply Troubled'
`It's one more blow to a deeply troubled campaign,'' said Julian Zelizer, a history and public affairs professor at Princeton University in New Jersey. ``The report on Palin raises more questions about why McCain made this choice and how much he really cares about fighting corruption.''
The report said Palin had been asked to cooperate with the investigation by giving a sworn statement, and that she hadn't done so.
Palin's communications director Bill McAllister said in a statement that the report ``vindicated'' the governor on the firing of Monegan. He questioned the finding that Palin abused her power, saying, ``That finding required speculation and assumptions'' by investigator Stephen Branchflower.
The investigator wrote in the report that, ``I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating'' a statute of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act, which bars any official action to benefit a personal interest.
Violation of the ethics act could result in sanctions, including up to $5,000 in civil fines by a state ethics board, according to the law.
Criticized as Partisan
McCain's campaign has criticized the probe as partisan because the lawmaker directing it, Hollis French, is a Democrat. The state Legislative Council, which ordered the investigation, is dominated by Republicans.
Legislative Council members voted 12-0 to release the report even though there wasn't agreement on the findings, lawmakers said.
``I don't think there is a consensus on the conclusions,'' said Representative Bill Stoltze.
Palin, 44, maintains she didn't abuse her power and that she fired Monegan July 11 over budget disagreements. Yesterday, McCain's campaign released a statement that accused Monegan of ``multiple acts of insubordination'' and called his firing a ``straightforward personnel decision.''
Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki declined to comment on the report.
Branchflower's report said that while Monegan's refusal to fire Wooten wasn't the sole reason for his dismissal by Palin, ``it was likely a contributing factor.''
`Provide Cover'
While Palin has said that she and her family feared Wooten, the investigator said he concluded that ``such claims of fear were not bona fide and were offered to provide cover for the Palins' real motivation: to get Trooper Wooten fired for personal family related reasons.''
The Legislative Council is a bipartisan committee of 14 lawmakers that conducts business when the Legislature isn't in session. The council voted unanimously to start the probe on July 31.
At the heart of the dispute is a years-long feud between the Palin family and Wooten. She and her family accused Wooten of using a Taser on his 10-year-old stepson, shooting a moose without a permit, drinking on the job and other acts of misconduct, all of which allegedly occurred before she was elected governor in November 2006.
His Wife
Branchflower listed instances in which Palin's husband, Todd, contacted state officials after his wife became governor in an effort to get Wooten fired. There also was evidence of her ``active participation,'' he wrote.
``Compliance with the code of ethics is not optional,'' Branchflower wrote.
Democratic State Senator Kim Elton, chairman of the Legislative Council, said he is reserving judgment until another investigation -- this one being conducted by the State Personnel Board -- is completed.
Palin agreed to cooperate in that probe, saying she believes the body, which is comprised of three political appointees, is a less partisan venue to investigate Monegan's firing.
``It's probably not fair to draw any conclusions before seeing the other report'' by the Personnel Board, Elton said. The board, which has hired an Anchorage attorney to conduct the investigation, has not set a deadline.
Republican State Representative John Coghill said some of the efforts to fire Wooten were understandable. ``Who's going to blame Todd Palin for looking out for his family?'' he said.
Police Investigation
An investigation by the Alaska state police before Palin became governor sustained some of the claims against Wooten and dismissed the rest. He was put on unpaid leave for five days in 2006. Palin was elected governor later that year.
Todd Palin gave a sworn written statement to the investigator this week in which he denied pressuring Monegan to fire Wooten.
``I had hundreds of conversations and communications about Trooper Wooten over the last several years with my family, with friends, with colleagues and with just about everyone I could, including government officials,'' Todd Palin's statement said.
Fannie, Freddie to Buy $40 Billion a Month of Troubled Assets
Federal regulators directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to start purchasing $40 billion a month of underperforming mortgage bonds as the Bush administration expands its options to buy troubled financial assets and resuscitate the U.S. economy, according to three people briefed about the plan.
Fannie and Freddie began notifying bond traders last week that each company needs to buy $20 billion a month in mostly subprime, Alt-A and non-performing prime mortgage securities, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans are confidential. The purchases would be separate from the U.S. Treasury's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which placed the two companies in conservatorship on Sept. 7, directed them last month to start increasing their purchases of loans and mortgage-backed securities as the Treasury seeks to absorb underperforming and illiquid assets from financial companies.
``For now, they're under conservatorship and they have to be used to keep the flow of capital going to the housing market,'' former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said in an interview on Bloomberg Television's ``Conversations with Judy Woodruff.'' ``They're important to maintaining the flow of government finance'' and need to be used actively, he said.
Adding underperforming assets to Fannie and Freddie's combined $1.52 trillion mortgage portfolios would come at a time when the two mortgage-finance companies already hold as much as $210 billion of bad debt that may be eligible itself for the Treasury's relief program, their regulator said Oct. 5.
A spokesman for Washington-based Fannie, Brian Faith, and Doug Duvall at McLean, Virginia-based Freddie wouldn't comment.
Overall Goal
Neither Fannie nor Freddie has turned a profit in the past year, accumulating $14.9 billion in combined quarterly losses, largely related to bad subprime and Alt-A mortgage assets.
FHFA spokeswoman Stefanie Mullin declined to comment on the details of the program. Treasury spokeswoman Jennifer Zuccarelli wasn't immediately available to comment.
``The overall goal of the program will be to contribute greater stability and liquidity in the mortgage market, which should enhance consumers' access to mortgage financing and ultimately result in reduced mortgage interest rates,'' FHFA Director James Lockhart said in a Sept. 19 statement.
Subprime loans were given to borrowers with poor or limited credit records or high debt burdens. Alt-A loans were made to borrowers who wanted atypical terms such as proof-of-income waivers, without sufficient compensating attributes. About 35 percent of subprime loans in non-agency mortgage securities are at least 60 days late, while 15 percent of Alt-A loans are, according to a Sept. 9 report by FTN Financial Capital Markets.
Growth
Non-agency, or private-label, bonds are issued by banks and don't carry guarantees by Fannie, Freddie or government-agency Ginnie Mae. Freddie held about $207 billion in non-agency debt in its $760.9 billion portfolio as of August, according to its latest monthly volume summary. Fannie had about $104 billion of such securities in its $759.9 billion portfolio in August.
Regulators initially restricted Fannie and Freddie's growth when they seized control of the government-sponsored enterprises Sept. 7. To ``promote stability'' and lower mortgage costs to borrowers, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the two would be allowed to ``modestly increase'' their mortgage portfolios to as much as $1.7 trillion through the end of next year and said they would no longer be run ``to maximize shareholder returns.''
Less than two weeks later, Fannie and Freddie were told to ramp up their mortgage bond purchases as the financial crisis deepened and credit activity came to near standstill.
Fannie and Freddie which own or guarantee almost half of the $12 trillion U.S. home loan market, were given access to $200 billion in emergency Treasury financing as part of their rescue package. The companies may also be able to sell their bad debt to the Treasury through its $700 billion financial-rescue program signed into law Oct. 3.
FHFA has said the companies plan to release third-quarter results next month as scheduled. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg project losses for both Fannie and Freddie at least through 2009.
Australia, New Zealand Dollars Post Biggest Drops in 25 Years
Oct. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Australia's currency plunged this week by the most since it began trading freely in December 1983 as stocks slumped worldwide, prompting investors to cut holdings of higher-yielding assets funded with loans in Japan.
The Australian dollar declined 20 percent against the yen and New Zealand's dollar lost 16 percent as global equities erased more than $8 trillion in market worth this month. Australia's central bank lowered interest rates by 1 percentage point, the most since 1992, setting off a round of cuts by other central banks that failed to thaw frozen credit markets.
``Cutting interest rates doesn't necessarily change the underlying problem in the credit markets,'' said Sharada Selvanathan, a currency strategist at BNP Paribas in Hong Kong. ``Panic, significant nervousness and fear'' is spreading among investors in the equity markets.
The Australian dollar fell to 65.41 yen as of 5:02 p.m. in Sydney from 81.48 yen a week ago in New York. It traded at 66.26 U.S. cents from 77.40 on Oct. 3, a loss of 14 percent for the week. The New Zealand currency declined to 58.74 yen from 69.76 on Oct. 3 and dropped 10.3 percent this week against the U.S. dollar to 59.38 cents.
The Reserve Bank of Australia reduced borrowing costs to 6 percent on Oct. 7 to spur lending. The Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, Bank of England, Bank of Canada and Sweden's Riksbank all followed. Switzerland, Taiwan, China and South Korea also cut their benchmark rates.
Selvanathan said the Australian dollar may fall below 60 U.S. cents in the medium term and recommends selling the currency if it rallies.
Money Market Rates
The coordinated rate cuts and central bank fund injections to alleviate the global credit crisis failed to bring interbank money market rates down.
Australia pumped A$2.63 billion ($1.8 billion) into the system today after the cost of borrowing in dollars for three months in London soared to the highest this year.
The difference between the rate Australian banks charge each other for three-month loans and the overnight indexed swap rate gained to 108 basis points in Sydney, from 89 yesterday.
``Rate cuts at this stage, particularly from the ECB and the Bank of England, were too little too late,'' said Sally Auld, interest-rate strategist at JP Morgan Securities Australia Ltd. ``What markets are telling you is that it doesn't actually matter what central banks and governments do.''
The Australian and New Zealand dollars also dropped as crude oil, Australia's fourth-most valuable raw material export, fell to an 11-month low on concern fuel demand will cool.
Commodities Decline
Futures touched $82.07 a barrel, the lowest intraday price since October 2007. Raw materials account for 60 percent of Australia's exports, and 70 percent of New Zealand's.
``Slowing global growth will continue to put downside pressure on currencies that display a strong link to cyclical forces, such as the Australian dollar,'' wrote Goldman Sachs Group Inc. currency strategists led by London-based Thomas Stolper in a research note dated yesterday.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index of regional shares headed for a weekly drop of 18 percent, the biggest slump since the index was created in 1987, reducing demand for higher-yielding assets.
The VIX volatility index, a Chicago Board Options Exchange gauge reflecting expectations for stock market price changes and a barometer of risk aversion, rose above 60 to a record yesterday.
Further to Fall?
``I don't necessarily think the aussie's decline is over yet,'' said Craig Ferguson, currency hedge fund manager at Antipodean Capital Management in Melbourne, during an interview on Bloomberg TV. ``I think you'll see the RBA, between 48 and say 55 cents, put a floor in the currency, which one of the reason you don't want to be short anything under 60 cents.''
The currencies are favorites of so-called carry trades, where investors seek higher returns on investments funded in countries with lower borrowing costs. The risk in such trades is that exchange-rate fluctuations erase profits.
Benchmark interest rates are 7.5 percent in New Zealand, compared with 0.5 percent in Japan and 1.5 percent in the U.S.
Australian government bonds fell. The yield on the 10-year note rose 5 basis points, or 0.05 percentage point, to 5.139 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The price of the 5.25 percent security due March 2019 rose 0.403, or A$4.03 per A$1,000 face amount, to 100.884.
New Zealand's two-year swap rate, a fixed payment made to receive floating rates, fell to 6.416 percent today from 6.490 yesterday.
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