Forex Online Trading Help

Do you want to know Forex market trading hours? You might be surprised by this…

The Forex market operates 24 hours a day and is the most liquid market in the world, enabling you to enter and exit your positions nearly at will. It’s always open.

However, the Forex market is also very risky to trade. There are times during the day and night that offer you some very good movement and consequently some higher risk.

Studying the various currency pairings and how they trade during various times of the day will help determine which pairing (or pairings) you should concentrate on and at which times offer you more opportunities based on your trading style.

It is advisable at first to concentrate on just one pairing. Trying to watch two, three or more pairings can lead you into making bad decisions. So, to begin, focus on one of the big six (major) pairings, which are: the Euro Dollar vs. the US Dollar (EUR/USD), the British Pound vs. the US Dollar (GBP/USD), the Australian Dollar vs. the US Dollar (AUD/USD), the US Dollar vs. the Japanese Yen (USD/JPY), the US Dollar vs. the Swiss Franc (USD/CHF), and the US Dollar vs. the Canadian Dollar (USD/CAD).

Yes, there are opportunities at all times of the day and night to make trades with these pairings. However, the best opportunities you will find are when you have two major markets open at the same time.

Here are the major market times you should be aware of:

- New York: 8am to 4pm EST
- London: 2am to 12nn EST
- Great Britain: 3am to 11am EST
- Tokyo: 8pm to 4am EST
- Australia: 7pm to 3am EST

You will notice that there are plenty of times to trade (24 hours a day!) But if you look at that list, you will see that from 8am EST to 12pm EST you have two of the largest financial markets open at the same time: New York and London! These are your golden hours to trade.

You will also notice that, if you are a night owl, you also have some prime hours from about 2am EST to 4am EST, with London and Tokyo both open.

The best way to see which times will work for you is to first open a demo account with a Forex broker. All reputable Forex brokers will have a free demo account available for you to use. Once you have the account set up, log into the demo account during various times of the day. Watch how the market reacts among the various currency pairings during all Forex market trading hours.

Given enough screen time, you will start to learn the various nuances of each currency pair and what times of the day will fit with your schedule and your trading strategy.

And when you are ready to trade a live account with real money on the line, you will be much better prepared to make that first trade in this great market.

Don’t miss: Forex Online Trading Help (100% free)

Forex Demo Account Trading Your Way to Success

Forex demo trading, or sim-trading (simulated trading) should be one of the very first things you need to do in your Forex trading career.  It is vital to your success. Why? Because you need practice with the foreign exchange if you want to make money.

All good Forex brokers offer a free demo account, which allows you to test all aspects of your trading plan.  It allows you to test:  your brokerís trading platform, your own trading plan and system, your trading psyche, and the markets in general.

These demo accounts will give you 30 days to do your testing.  However, if you need extra time, all you need to do is ask the broker to extend your demo time.

Demo trading allows you to test your broker’s trading platform.

Every broker will have a few different trading platforms available for you to use in your trading career.  You should test these platforms with the demo account so that you can become familiar with the functionality of the platform itself (such as how to enter trades, charting features, and reading the quote screen).

This is vital to help you when you decide to switch to live trading with real money at stake.  The last thing you want to do is not know how to get out of a trade when the pressure is on!

Demo trading allows you to test your trading plan and trading system. (You DO have a Forex trading plan, right?)

The goal of a trading plan is to help keep you on track with your trading goals.  The demo account allows you to trade your plan without the risk of losing any real money.  This gives you the opportunity to test your plan and various trading strategies.  It allows you to test and hone those strategies so that you have a better chance at making successful live trades.

Forex demo trading allows you to test your trading “psyche”.

It is a very common statistic that states trading is 90% psychological.  Trading is a battle of the mind.  Every trader suffers from this battle.  But it is the trader that can control these psychological issues that is successful.

Some of the psychological challenges are a fear of losing, a fear of pulling the trigger, trading what you think versus what you see, etc.  These can keep many traders from achieving success.  By demo trading, you can start to control these fears.  The more you practice controlling these fears with the demo account, the more likely you are to control them when you trade a live account.

Demo trading helps you learn the markets in general.

There is no better way to learn the markets, to learn the various currency pairs than to educate yourself with actual screen time.  By simply watching the way the markets move day after day, you will begin to see patterns in those movements.  You will also begin to understand how your particular trading style fits with the markets.

Use the time your broker gives you.  By doing so, you will be much better prepared when you decide it is time to make the move to live trading with real money.

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The foreign exchange market (or Forex market, spot market, or FX) is a currency exchange market.

When you trade the Forex market, you are simultaneously buying one currency and selling another. Currencies are traded through a broker or dealer and are traded as a pairing.  An example of these pairings are:  the Euro Dollar and the US Dollar [EUR/USD], the US Dollar and the Japanese Yen [USD/JPY], and the British pound and US Dollar [GBP/USD].

Some of the most popular currencies are the US Dollar, the Euro Dollar, the Japanese Yen, the British Pound, the Swiss Franc, the Canadian Dollar, the Australian Dollar and the New Zealand Dollar.

These currencies can be traded 24 hours a day.  But there are optimum times to trade depending on where you live.

For example, in the U.S., the time from 8:00am EST to 12:00pm EST, there are two major markets open:  New York and London.  If you are a night owl in the U.S., then the two markets you want to look at are Tokyo and London, from 2:00am EST to 4:00am EST.

The goal when trading the Forex market is to exchange one currency for another in the expectation that the price will change. Whether the price goes up or down, you can take advantage of the change (by either going long (buying) or going short (selling).)

There are many advantages or benefits to trading the Forex market versus others.

First, there are no commissions.  These include no exchange fees, no clearing fees and no broker fees.  Unlike other markets, brokers are paid via the bid-ask spread (the difference between what a currency pair is being bought and sold for — also known as pips.)

Ease of entry and exit.  The Forex market is an extremely liquid market, meaning that you can enter and exit a trade at the click of a button.  Compare that to other markets where your order may not be filled because of the lack of participants.

Leverage. Even a small trader, with limited funds, can control a large amount of currency. For example, a trader with $100 and a 100:1 leverage ratio, can control $10,000 worth of currencies.  Leverage can be a great thing with proper money management and discipline, but can also be deadly if not treated with respect.  While leverage can be as high as 400:1, it is not prudent to use such a high leverage unless you are seasoned and have developed a good trading strategy with consistent positive results.

More About Pips

The type of account you choose to open will help determine the pip value.  For example, a standard account or standard lot is based on $1,000 per lot traded or $10 per pip, if your leverage was 100:1.  In other words, you will need a minimum of $1000 of unused margin in your account per lot traded.  On the other hand, if you were to open a mini account, you would need $100 per lot traded at $1.00 per pip, if you had a leverage of 100:1

So if you want a liquid market with the ability to trade literally 24 hours a day, and you have discipline, the Forex market can provide you with the opportunity to make money trading online.

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The foreign exchange market, called the Forex or FX market, is the largest financial market in the world. Its trading volume is now over $3.0 trillion a day and compared to others such as the NYSE with a daily volume of $30 billion, it has no rival.

Also, unlike the NYSE, NASDAQ or other markets, the Forex market literally trades 24 hours a day and is one of the most liquid markets tradable, meaning you can get in out of the market at any time.

Banks, other financial institutions, hedge funds, all use the Forex market. But they are not the only ones that have access to it. You too can access this market.

Now you may be thinking you will need a large amount of money to get into this market. Not true. You can start an account with as little as $200, depending on the broker you choose to open an account with.

Trading in the Forex market can give you the opportunity to earn a lot of money. However, you also need the proper knowledge, tools, and discipline as this market does have risk, just as you have risk trading stocks, bonds, or futures. The fact is that many people who trade this market do lose money and sometimes quite a lot of money.

This is why it is very important for you, as a beginner trader in the Forex market, to have the proper knowledge and education on how to trade in the Forex market. There are literally hundreds of websites and blogs that contain quite a bit of information (much of it free) on trading the Forex market. Hint: download the Forex Trading Online Help Guide.

In addition, most (if not all) Forex brokers offer free practice accounts to help you learn how the Forex trades and to practice your trading skills and strategies with live data, but not risking real money. Most will offer you a demo account with a simulated $50,000 to $100,000.

Once you feel comfortable with using the trading platform offered by your broker, and you are ready to try live trading, you will need to fund an account. Again, most brokers allow you to open an account with as little as $200, which allow you to trade what is known as a “mini”account. Mini accounts are set up for traders with limited capital. This also allows a trader risk much less capital, because you will be trading a mini lot, which is valued at 1 ìpipî or about $1.00 per lot.

Use these mini lots to start trading with live data and real money. These are great because it allows you to get into the real-world trading environment and test not only your trading strategies, but your personality and your fortitude.

Trading in an environment where you can’t lose money (demo accounts) versus the real-world environment where you can lose money does have its differences and they are mainly in your own mind.

The psychology of trading is one of the main reasons many traders fail. Greed and fear are the two main killers in trading. These two traits can be overcome, but it does take time. That is why spending time trading the demo account and only trading the smaller mini lots when you go live is vital to your success. Using these two ideas can help you become a much better trader!

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