Sunday, December 7, 2008

Forex Mini Account - Am I Eligible?

If you were just learning about Forex Markets a good idea for you would be what is called the Forex mini account. The mini account is also great for those who want to start off with a fairly low investment. A mini account can be opened with only $250 while a regular one has to involve a minimum of $2,500. The option of the Forex mini account is definitely a more realistic option for smaller businesses that would like to get involved in the world market with very little available capital.Many people wonder if those who are owners of these Forex mini accounts suffer any disadvantages because of the need for less capital. In most cases they do not, and than can definitely be a huge draw to those looking at the world market and not wanting to get taken advantage have by larger companies. Free trading platform and small spreads are just as easily available to Forex mini account holders as they are to anyone else involved in the Forex markets.

There are also some additional benefits to being a holder of a foreign exchange mini account. Those who own these mini accounts only needs fifty dollars as a margin deposit for a ten thousand dollar trade. This benefit of having leverage is one of two hundred to one, when you own a mini account. This means the trader can trade more in a commodity than the amount of money they available to them.

There is also another advantage with an FX mini account, in regards to losses and minimizing its losses. This type of accounts contract size is 1/10th the size of standard contracts and this is how they can save themselves from too much of a loss. These mini lots in a mini account are excellent way to save money in potential losses, depending on you set up your stop loss.

Also with a Forex mini account you are allowed more flexibility in regards to customizing your trades and minimizing your risks. This means that those with less money in their bank account can do better in this type of account. They can feel more comfortable in using the mini accounts because of the advantages and the fact that they have less risk because of them. This can help those with smaller bank accounts have a chance to invest in more areas without as much of the risk. In the end, Forex mini accounts are the best way to go for those with not as much cash available to them and yet want to minimize risk, and still be able to trade on the world market.
Article source http://www.articlesbase.com/authors/michael-williams/7527.htm

Friday, December 5, 2008

Forex - Understanding The Difference Between Mini-account & Standard Account Forex Trading

In forex, for the retail investor, things are totally different than the banks and institutions who trade with each other 24 hours per day on a daily basis and in the millions with actual transactions occuring (usually 2-3 days later also known as the Spot Value).

Investment banks will take out a credit check on each other, a bit like when a person applies for a mortgage. Whilst currency trades are placed and completed real-time either by computerised system or telephone, the actual transfer of funds happens a couple of days later.However, with the retail forex trader, usually, the trade is only placed in the brokers books and no real transfer of funds occurs, although the retail investor is in effect trading with the banks at almost the same quotes and with a very similar spread these days.

So who is the forex broker and what is their relevence in the answer to this forex topic? The retail investor places their trades through the environment of the margin broker. Trades are placed in real time and via a trader who receives the order from the investor, either buy (long), sell (short) or close position.

The broker not only allows retail investors to trade forex live with the banks, but also provides a system of leverage. This means that the broker only requires a deposit to represent the amount of currency a person wants to control, so long as the deposit is enough to cover any losses that might be incurred by the trade.

Take for example a margin leverage of 100:1 given to you by the broker. This means to control $100,000 of real currency (1 lot), you need to provide security to the broker of only $1000. Each 'pip' movement in price will cause your equity to increase or decrease by $10. For example if the currency pair you are trading is GBP/USD (also known as cable) and the price you are quoted is 1.8484, this means 1 UK pound sterling is equal to 1.8484 US dollars.

So, if you are controlling 100,000 units of currency (or you have placed a buy/sell forex trade of '1 lot')in the above case, each time the price changed by 1 pip - ie. 1.8484 changes to 1.8485 - you gain or lose $10 US. This is because 0.0001 x 100,000 = 10 and you have opted to control 100,000 units of currency.

The amazing thing though is that you as a retail trader have only used a security measure of $1000 deposited with the broker in your brokering account and the only cost for placing the trade is a small spread (no comission in many cases) of say 2-3 pips in which the broker makes his profit regardless of whether your trade is successful or not. And the chances of you losing that entire $1000 in the trade are extremely slim, especially if you use risk management and safeguard your capital from losses by setting a "stop loss" - a topic out of the scope of this article.

So what about mini-forex trading. It's a subject which many people seem to want to know about. What is a mini-forex trading account? What is mini forex trading? Mini Forex trading is quite simple to explain given the above information. In light of the information that is told to you above about retail forex trading in general, the use of a mini-account is exactly that!

Rather than trading 1 whole lot each time (ie controlling 100,000 units of currency using only 1000 units of security or deposit to trade for a profit of about $10 per pip depending on the forex currency pair you and trading) you can use a mini-account (sometimes this is entirely indistinguishable from a standard account) to trade a fraction of a lot. This could technically be as little as 0.1 lot (ie $1 profit per pip) or half a lot - $5 profit per pip etc. This is the authors understanding of mini-forex-trading.

In conclusion then, mini forex trading is explained away by understanding what a 'lot' is in forex. Once you understand that forex is traded in 'lots' and what '1 lot' means to the investment banker/forex trader in the bank and to the retail investor using margin leverage provided by a broker, you can understand that mini-forex trading is forex trading on a mini-scale. Instead of trading in lots or multiples of lots (more than one) the retail investor uses a smaller deposit with the broker and trades for less profit, but less risk as well and not needing so much profit to start out with, eg 0.1 lots or 0.5 lots. Some forex brokers these days will allow currency trading with a deposit of as little as $500 into a customers account.
Article source http://www.articlesbase.com/authors/sam-beatson/5818.htm

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Why You Should Get Started With Mini Forex Trading

If you are new to the world to currency trading and aren't ready for a full time Forex trading account find out why you should get started with a Mini Forex Trading account. With just a couple of hundred dollars you can set up a Mini Forex Trading account and enjoy many of the same privileges that a full account enjoys.

A normal Forex account requires you to put a minimum of $2500 into the account and for many that's far more than they have to play with or want to play with. That's why you should get started with a Mini Forex Trading account.A Mini Forex Trading account let's a person play, find out if they like what they see, and decide whether it's an investment portfolio
that appeals to them and it's why you should get started with a Mini Forex Trading account.

Although there are some restrictions on the mini account there are very nominal. A Mini Forex Trading account handles 10% of what a standard account is and the PIP is also 10% and it is why you should get started with a Mini Forex Trading account.

When you get involved in mini trading you are actually marginal trading which means that you are borrowing money so that you can complete a trade without having to put the full amount up yourself. This is called leveraging and it's why you should get started with a Mini Forex Trading account.

When you open your mini account and you put the minimum $250 in your account and that gives you 5 mini lots to trade. So see why you should get started with a Mini Forex Trading account? On a normal account the leverage would be 4:1 and the heavy leverage of 200:1 might be a bit hard to take but in Mini Forex trading this is not considered over leveraging.

The investor's risk on a Mini account offsets the lower risk of losses which are 10% the amount that would be lost on a regular Forex trade. This actually makes it easier to run a trading strategy that is more disciplined. So you see why you should get started with a Mini Forex Trading account?

If you want to invest less than $10,000 using a Forex mini account is the way to go. Now that you know why you should get started with a Mini Forex Trading account what are you waiting for?

Copyright © 2007 Joel Teo. All rights reserved. (You may publish this article in its entirety with the following author's information with live links only.)
Article source http://www.articlesbase.com/authors/joel-teo/13426.htm

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

New Discovery Gives You A Mini Forex Trading Advantage

Why trade forex? Why spend the time and effort to understand a large and complex market like the Foreign Exchange? Well, mainly for the chance to make large profits, while incurring low costs. The mini forex trading market is a very lucrative market, for a variety of reasons. I`ll go over a few of them in this article.

First, think margin. In the mini forex trading market, a trader`s money can play with 5-times as much value of product as a futures trader`s, or 50 times more than a stock trader`s.Just like futures and stock speculation, a mini forex trading market trader has the ability to control a large amount of currency by putting up a small amount of margin. However, the margin requirements that are needed for trading futures are usually around 5% of the full value of the holding, or 50% of the total value if you are trading stocks. The margin requirements for the mini forex trading market are about 1%. For example, the margin required to trade foreign exchange is $1000 for every $100,000.

This can be a very profitable way to trade, but it`s important that you fully understand the risks that are involved. Always make sure that you know how your margin account is going to work. Read the margin agreement between you and your clearing firm carefully. Talk to your account representative if you have any questions.

The positions that you have in your account could be partially or completely liquidated if the available margin in your account falls below a predetermined amount, and you may not get a margin call before your positions are liquidated. Because of this, you should monitor your margin balance on a regular basis and utilize stop-loss orders on every open position to limit risk.

That covers the profits end, but what about the costs? When you trade in futures, you have to pay exchange and brokerage fees. The mini forex trading market is commission free, a much better scenario. Currency trading occurs on a worldwide inter-bank market that lets buyers be matched with sellers in an instant. But even though you do not have to pay a commission charge to a broker to be matched up with a buyer or seller, the spread is usually larger than it is when you are trading futures. And the spread is where the brokerage makes their money.

For example, if you are trading a Japanese Yen/US Dollar pair, a mini forex trading market trade would have about a 3 point spread (worth $30). Trading a JY futures trade would likely have a spread of only 1 point (worth $10), but you would also be charged the broker`s commission on top of that. This price could be as low as $10 for self-directed online trading, or as high as $50 for full-service trading. However, this is generally all inclusive pricing. It`s a good idea to compare both online mini forex trading and your specific futures commission charges to see which commission is the greater one. Still not convinced? Consider the fact the mini forex trading market is highly liquid, ensuring that a trader will never be trapped in a position, as you can be in an equity or futures market. Or that it trades 24 hours a day, allowing a trader to act on major market events when they happen, rather than waiting for the opening bell. And last, but certainly not least, it is simply to largest market in the world. It is not regulated. No central bank can do more than influence the market. You will never need to worry about government interference.

mini forex trading trading is a great alternative to futures and commodities trading. Unless you are a broker, you will likely want to get some help in mini forex trading. As with any type of trading, there are always some risks involved, but if you take the time to understand the market, and design a trading system that is right for you, you will be successful.
Article source http://www.articlesbase.com/authors/jimmy-cox/3189.htm