Risk Warning

High Risk InvestmentTrading foreign exchange on margin carries a high level of risk, and may not be suitable for all investors. Before deciding to trade foreign exchange you should carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite. The possibility exists that you could sustain a loss of some or all of your initial investment and therefore you should not invest money that you cannot afford to lose. You should be aware of all the risks associated with foreign exchange trading, and seek advice from an independent financial advisor if you have any doubts.GFM Market OpinionsAny opinions, news, research, analyses, prices, or other information contained on this website is provided as general market commentary, and does not constitute investment advice. Global Forex Market LLC. will not accept liability for any loss or damage, including without limitation to, any loss of profit, which may arise directly or indirectly from use of or reliance on such information.Internet Trading RisksThere are risks associated with utilizing an Internet-based deal execution trading system including, but not limited to, the failure of hardware, software, and Internet connection. Since GFM does not control signal power, its reception or routing via Internet, configuration of your equipment or reliability of its connection, we cannot be responsible for communication failures, distortions or delays when trading via the Internet. GFM employs back up systems and contingency plans to minimize the possibility of system failure, and trading via telephone is always available.Accuracy of InformationThe content on this website is subject to change at any time without notice, and is provided for the sole purpose of assisting traders to make independent investment decisions. GFM has taken reasonable measures to ensure the accuracy of the information on the website, however, does not guarantee its accuracy, and will not accept liability for any loss or damage which may arise directly or indirectly from the content or your inability to access the website, for any delay in or failure of the transmission or the receipt of any instruction or notifications sent through this website.

The Optimal Engine for Currency Trading

As traditional inter-bank, over-the-counter phone trading gives way to a transparent, efficient global Forex market, Fortex is paving the way to electronic foreign exchange trading with Fortex FX. Fortex FX unifies execution venues across the globe and aggregates segmented liquidity pools to provide Forex traders with real-time quotes and execution capabilities. The platform’s unique artificial intelligence (AI) engine delivers Straight-Through Processing (STP) without human intervention—speeding execution, enabling 24x7x365 trading, and reducing execution costs. A highly intuitive interface supports the most sophisticated currency trading strategies and analysis to keep you in front of moving markets.
Now you can bypass traditional published pricing and preferential quotes-on-request. With the world’s largest financial market trading over US$1 trillion per day, Fortex FX levels the playing field for currency trading, providing you with direct, transparent access and real-time execution.

FACTBOX-Changes in Iraq oil contracts

Feb 14 (Reuters) - Iraq has proposed to sweeten the terms of the service contract it is offering to international oil firms to boost output at its biggest producing oilfields.
The following lists some of the changes in the 20-year contracts proposed during a three-day workshop Iraqi officials hosted for oil firms in Istanbul that ended on Saturday.
BIDDING
There will be three items for oil firms to bid:
- A short-term improved production target at the oilfield to be reached 18 months after the contract takes effect.

How to Become a Good Forex Trader

Setting a Forex trading business should come with a wise and strategic planning. It is important that you know what kind of business you are going into. Studying the business thoroughly is a very important strategy in order to gain success in his field. It needs good management because there are risks involved in this type of business.
Keeping your mind engaged in Forex trading means acquiring money in a progressive and truthful way. In such that you will be able to have the goal you are targeting.

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The History of Forex Trading

Forex trading started during the time of the Babylonians. This system was designed for the currencies and exchange. In the early times, the goods are being traded for another tangible item. When the metal age began, gold and silver became the tool of transaction. This idea became popular during that age.
The creation of coins started then as well as the political regimes. When gold became an important trading tool, its use became restricted; therefore; the result which has been brought about by this is that the value of money has diminished.

Trade Mechanics

Given that there is in excess of $2 trillion a day being traded on the forex market, it’s easy to believe that there will always be enough liquidity in the market to do what needs doing. Sadly, belief doesn’t negate the truth that for each and every buyer in the market, there MUST also be a seller, otherwise no transaction can occur. If an order is too big to handle at the current price, then the price has to move to a point where there is enough open interest to cover the transaction. Each time you see a price move even a single pip, it’s an indication that an order was transacted or executed which “consumed” the open interest at its existing price. Prices can move in no other way.
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Introduction to the Foreign Exchange Market

The rationale behind this post is to break down the inner workings of the foreign exchange market and perhaps provide some enlightenment on the current situation, the forex market in general, the reason why we have and need forex brokers, and how forex brokers make their profit. More importantly, it aims to provide some understanding as to why we, as forex speculators, can and should, despite a very volatile market, continue to trade.
Rationale
Let’s start with a basic explanation of why the forex market came to be, and how it is used by its principal participants. We’ll continue the explanation into the structure of the market, and how it operates. In conclusion, we’ll look at the implications and how this affects speculators.
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Forex Glossary Terms

American-style option An option contract that may be exercised at any time before it expires.
Ask The quoted price at which a customer can buy a currency pair. Also referred to as the 'offer', 'ask price', or 'ask rate'.
Base Currency For foreign exchange trading, currencies are quoted in terms of a currency pair. The first currency in the pair is the base currency. For example, in a USD/JPY currency pair, the US dollar is the base currency. Also may be referred to as the primary currency.
Bid The quoted price where a customer can sell a currency pair. Also known as the 'bid price' or 'bid rate'.
Bid/Ask Spread The point difference between the bid and ask (offer) price.
Call A call option gives the option buyer the right to purchase a particular currency pair at a stated exchange rate.
Counterparty The counterparty is the person who is on the other side of an OTC trade. For retail customers, the dealer will always be the counterparty.
Cross-rate The exchange rate between two currencies where neither of the currencies are the US dollar.
Currency pair The two currencies that make up a foreign exchange rate. For example, USD/YEN is a currency pair.
Dealer A firm in the business of acting as a counterparty to foreign currency transactions.
Euro The common currency adopted by eleven European nations (i.e., Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain) on January 1, 1999.
European-style option An option contract that can be exercised only on or near its expiration date.

Leverage of up to 200:1 is available

Currency Trading, the biggest and most exciting market on earth, offers you countless opportunities!The Euro-US Dollar rate, for example, is constantly changing, usually in small, quick movements. Daily fluctuations around 1% are quite common. In Forex trading, when you invest with a 1:100 “leverage”, changes of, say, 1.2% turn to 120%, during a single day, even hours or minutes! You may profit unlimited amounts, but if the exchange rate moves against your favor, you lose not more than your initial investment.

Forex: USD/JPY: Dollar hits resistance at 98.50/60 level and turns down

FXstreet.com (Barcelona) – Dollar attempt to return to yesterday’s levels has been aborted and after bouncing from 97.90 intra-week low, the Dollar has been unable to break through 98.50/60 resistance area and the pair returns to levels close to 98.00.Despite the failure to break 98.60, Carol Harmer, technical analyst at Charmer Charts.com advances the possibility of another assault to the mentioned level: “Sellers will be ready at 98.60 and buyers always hopeful of dodging through the wave of sellers to break the 98.60 region thus giving upward momentum to 99.15/20 once more. Profit taking around these levels should initially cap, but buyers will be aggrieved at their failure to break 99.60 and will once more aim for this resistance.”In case of failure, Harmer advances lower levels: “If the sellers hold this again then hope will fade for a higher market, as the buyers take the beating and retreat looking to re-enter at 97.95.”

Why Trade at FXCM

Why Trade at FXCM
FXCM's trading volume, $500 billion worth of transactions monthly, may be among the largest sources of retail currency trades in the world. As a result, we have obtained close banking relationships with eight of the world's largest and most aggressive price providers. Having multiple price providers is especially important in volatile markets, when one or two banks may post wide spreads, or simply avoid quoting any price at all. With so many major banks quoting prices to FXCM, there are competitive spreads, even during market-moving news events. FXCM does not take a market position—eliminating a major conflict of interest. A dealing desk broker, which acts as a market maker, may be trading against your position. With our No Dealing Desk execution, however, we fill your orders from the best prices available to us from the banks. While an individual bank may try to skew its prices off the market, the unattractive price on the bid or ask side will lose the price competition and as a result, not factor into the prices streamed to you. At FXCM, prices are not subject to manipulation by a broker or a banks dealing desk. While our competitors are beginning to follow our example of offering No Dealing Desk execution, we have successfully implemented it. Excellent bid and ask prices are not meaningful unless you have a reliable trading platform to execute trades. Our trading platform is tested in all market conditions, routinely handling about 200,000 trades per day.While FXCM aims to provide clients with the best pricing available, having all orders filled at a requested rate means execution risks will remain.

U.S. Forex Market Commentary

EURO
The euro moved higher vis-à-vis the U.S. dollar today as the single currency tested offers around the US$ 1.3425 level and was supported around the US$ 1.3210 level. The common currency has been bid higher over the past several sessions as U.S. equity markets have staged a recovery. The S&P has erased its year-to-date losses. Data released in the U.S. today saw March 2009 total construction activity up +0.3% m/m and off 11.1% y/y. Additionally, March pending home sales were up +3.2%. Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke testifies tomorrow and traders will be closely scrutinizing his comments to learn his current assessment of the economy. More importantly, dealers want any information they can glean about the results of the banks’ stress tests. In addition to indications that Citigroup and Bank of America will be forced to obtain additional capital, there is talk that Wells Fargo may be forced to seek more capital. In eurozone news, German finance minister Steinbrueck said he is concerned with the rise in unemployment in several European Union countries. German economics minister Guttenberg said Germany must reach a solution “rather quickly” to establish bad banks to acquire banks’ toxic assets. Data released in the U.S. today saw EMU-16 April manufacturing contract to 36.8, marginally better than expected. Also, the EU Sentix investor confidence indicator improved to -34.3 from -35.3 in April. It was also reported that German March retail sales were off 1% from February. Euro bids are cited around the US$ 1.2765 level.
JPY / CNY
The yen appreciated vis-à-vis the U.S. dollar today as the greenback tested bids around the ¥98.70 level and was capped around the ¥99.55 level. Japanese Golden Week holidays continue and liquidity is reduced in the Tokyo market. Finance minister Yosano said major economies must support demand by taking appropriate “fiscal and monetary measures” to counter the global economic recession. Last month, the government announced an economic stimulus package valued at about ¥57 trillion that included about ¥15.4 trillion in fresh spending and tax cuts. Bank of Japan is expected to continue its quantitative easing policies for several months. The Nikkei 225 yesterday stock index will next reopen at ¥8,977.37. U.S. dollar offers are cited around the ¥104.15 level. The euro moved higher vis-à-vis the yen as the single currency tested offers around the ¥132.85 level and was supported around the ¥131.30 level. The British pound moved higher vis-à-vis the yen as sterling tested offers around the ¥149.15 level while the Swiss franc moved higher vis-à-vis the yen and tested offers around the ¥88.10 level. In Chinese news, the U.S. dollar ended at CNY 6.8225 in the over-the-counter market.
STERLING
The British pound appreciated vis-à-vis the U.S. dollar today as cable tested offers around the US$ 1.5020 level and was supported around the $1.4835 level. Cable approached its highest level since 12 January. Cable bids are cited around the US$ 1.4735 level. The euro moved higher vis-à-vis the British pound as the single currency tested offers around the ₤0.8945 level and was supported around the ₤0.8885 level.