Long and Short positions

Long Position

A Long position is simply one in which a trader buys a market instrument at one price and aims to sell it later at a higher price.

In this scenario, the trader benefits from a rising market.

For example, if a trader thinks that EUR/USD, that currently trades at 1.3082$, will go up, he will open a Long position. If the price does go up, the trader will be able to close his position at a higher price, pocketing the difference between the opening and the closing price of the trade.

Traders that believes that the prices of a specific market instrument are about to rise are called "bullish investors".

A market characterized by a rising trend is often called a "bull market".

Short Position

A short position is one in which the trader sells a market instrument in anticipation that it will depreciate.

In this scenario, the trader benefits from a declining market.

For example, if a trader thinks that EUR/USD, that currently trades at 1.3082$, will go down, he will open a Short position. If the price does go down, the trader will be able to close his position at a lower price, pocketing the difference between the opening and the closing price of the trade.

Traders that believes that the prices of a specific market instrument are about to fall are called "bearish investors". 

A market characterized by sharp declines is often called a "bear market".

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Currency Pairs

Currencies are traded in pairs. 

A currency pair is the quotation of the relative value of a currency unit against the unit of another currency. 

The first currency of a currency pair is called the base currency, and the second currency is called the quote, or counter, currency

.

Currency pairs are written by concatenating the ISO currency codes (ISO 4217) of the base currency and the quote currency, separating them with a slash character.

Example: GBP/USD

• GBP -> base currency
• USD -> quote/counter currency

According to the average daily trading volume and to the liquidity we distinguish between:

Majors, Minors and Exotic Pairs.

Major pairs

The most traded currency pairs in the world are called the Majors.

They involve Euro, US dollar, Japanese yen, Pound sterling, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar and the Swiss franc.

The Majors are:

• EUR/USD - Euro/US dollar
• USD/JPY - US dollar/Japanese Yen
• GBP/USD - British Pound/US dollar
• AUD/USD - Australian dollar/US dollar
• USD/CHF - US dollar/Swiss franc
• USD/CAD - US dollar/Canadian dollar

These currency pairs have high liquidity and represent more than 80% of the total Forex volume.

Minor Pairs

The Minor Currency Pairs ("Minors”) consist of those currencies traded less actively than the Majors, although their economies are still significant and they also tend to be active in international trade.

Exotic Pairs

The Exotic Pairs ("Exotics") are those pairs that are from emerging economies rather than from developed/industrialized nations. 

This includes:

• USD/TRY - US dollar/Turkish lira
• EUR/TRY - Euro/Turkish lira
• USD/ZAR - US dollar/South African rand
• EUR/ZAR - Euro/South African rand
• USD/CNY - US dollar/Chinese Yuan
• USD/INR - US dollar/Indian Rupee
• USD/MXN - US dollar/Mexican peso
• USD/SGD - US dollar/Singapore dollar
• etc.

Currency pairs that are not paired versus the dollar are called "Currency crosses" or simply "Crosses". Pairs that involve the euro are often called "Euro Crosses".

Currency Crosses

• GBP/CAD - British pound/Canadian dollar
• GBP/CHF - British pound/Swiss franc
• GBP/JPY - British pound/Japanese yen
• GBP/NZD - British pound/New Zealand dollar
• GBP/AUD - British pound/Australian dollar
• CAD/JPY - Canadian dollar/Japanese yen
• AUD/JPY - Australian dollar/Japanese yen
• AUD/CAD - Australian dollar/Canadian dollar
• AUD/NZD - Aussie dollar/New Zealand dollar
• AUD/CHF - Australian dollar/Swiss franc
• NZD/JPY - New Zealand dollar/Japanese yen
• CHF/JPY - Swiss franc/Japanese yen
• etc.

Euro Crosses

• EUR/CHF - Euro/Swiss franc
• EUR/JPY - Euro/Japanese yen
• EUR/GBP - Euro/British pound
• EUR/CAD - Euro/Canadian dollar
• EUR/AUD - Euro/Australian dollar
• EUR/NZD - Euro/New Zealand dollar

Currency Pairs/Currencies nicknames

Currency pairs and currencies are often referred to by nicknames by traders rather than their symbolic nomenclature. 

These are some common examples:

Currencies Currency Nickname Australian dollar (AUD) Aussie British pound (GBP) Cable / Sterling Canadian dollar (CAD) Loonie New Zealand dollar (NZD) Kiwi Swiss franc (CHF) Swissy U.S. dollar (USD) Buck / Greenback

Currency Pairs Currency Nickname GBP/USD (British Pound/US Dollar) Cable EUR/USD (Euro/US Dollar) Euro or Fiber USD/CHF (Swiss Franc/US Dollar) Swissy USD/CAD (US Dollar/ Canadian Dollar) Loonie AUD/USD (Australian Dollar/US Dollar) Ozzie EUR/GBP (Euro/British Pound) Chunnel USD/JPY (US Dollar/Japanese Yen) Yen

*Table taken from Wikipedia (latest data can be obtained from the Triennial Central Bank Survey of Foreign Exchange and Derivatives Market Activity, http://www.bis.org/publ/rpfxf10t.pdf) Most traded currencies by value Currency distribution of global foreign exchange market turnover[1] Rank Currency ISO 4217 code Symbol daily share (%) 1 United States dollar USD $ 84.9% 2 Euro EUR € 39.1% 3 Japanese yen JPY ¥ 19.0% 4 Pound sterling GBP £ 12.9% 5 Australian dollar AUD $ 7.6% 6 Swiss franc CHF Fr 6.4% 7 Canadian dollar CAD $ 5.3% 8 Hong Kong dollar HKD $ 2.4% 9 Swedish krona SEK kr 2.2% 10 New Zealand dollar NZD $ 1.6% 11 South Korean won KRW ₩ 1.5% 12 Singapore dollar SGD $ 1.4% 13 Norwegian krone NOK kr 1.3% 14 Mexican peso MXN $ 1.3% 15 Indian rupee INR $ 0.9% 16 Other 12.2% Total 200% The ISO Code of the most known currencies: AUD - Australian dollar BRL - Brazilian real CAD - Canadian dollar CHF - Swiss Franc CNY - Chinese Yuan DKK - Danish krone EUR - Euro GBP - British Pound HKD - Hong Kong dollar HUF - Hungarian forint IDR - Indonesian rupiah ILS - Israeli new sheqel INR - Indian rupee JPY - Japanese yen MXN - Mexican peso MYR - Malaysian ringgit NOK - Norvegian krone NZD - New Zealand dollar PKR - Pakistani rupee PLN - Polish zloty RON - Romanian new leu RUB - Russian rouble SEK - Swedish krona SGD - Singapore dollar TRY - Turkish lira USD - United States dollar ZAR - South African rand

source : http://extra.agea.com/en/education/introduction-to-forex/currency-pairs

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Controlling Your Forex Risk

If you know about Forex you know that there can be a lot of risks involved, especially for new traders. Forex can mean high rewards, but as with everything in life, high rewards come with a high risk. So when you start trading you should reduce your risk until you understand trading more and can control your risks. AGEA is perfect for new traders because it gives you loads of options which can reduce your level of risk. Controlling these factors can considerably control your risk level: Leverage Leverage is a loan provided by the broker to the trader, so that the trade can trade more capital than they have. It is given in a ratio to the amount of money you have to trade. For example a common leverage is 1:100, this means if you put $10 on to trade with, we will make this $1,000. Initially this sounds great, as the higher amount you trade the higher profits you can make, but consequences the leverage can mean higher losses. “Higher Leverage Can Mean Higher Losses.” “AGEA leverage can be from 1:1 to 1:500” A lower leverage is the best way to control your risk. AGEA gives a wide range of leverage to allow you to choose the level of risk which suits you. MetaTrader4 - 1:1 to 1:500 (initially 1:100) Streamster – 1:100 Capital Capital is the amount of money that you invest. The ultimate risk of forex is losing capital. But you have to start with some money to make money in forex – right? Actually no! AGEA will give you $5 to start trading live – so you don’t need any capital to get started. If you search the internet for “Forex Bonus” you will find offers up to many thousands of dollars – but beware, these all come with multiple terms & conditions. Most will only give you bonus’ equal to the amount you deposit – so if you don’t have anything to deposit, you’ll get no bonus. “AGEA will give you $5 to start trading live”  “No deposit is needed, no expiry limit, withdraw whenever. Simple!“ So you search for “No Deposit Forex Bonuses” – again you will get options, but most have strict conditions on withdrawing profit from these bonus , for example you may have to triple that bonus before you can withdraw any money. Here are a couple of real Terms & Conditions on “No Deposit Bonuses” “1. To withdraw your free bonus you need 60 TPoints (trader points) 2. One bonus per household/IP address. 3. The bonus expires in 3 months.” “You can use the bonus for live trading, but you cannot withdraw it.” AGEA is different! We have no such conditions. Everyone gets $5 when they open an account, it can be used on MT4 or Streamster, no deposit is needed, no expiry limit, withdraw whenever. Simple! Spreads Spreads are, basically, the “fee” a broker charges for you making trades. So the higher the spread the harder it will be for you to make a profit. The brokers are themselves charged a spread by their liquidity provider (a Company who sets the forex rates).		So there will never be no spread on a trade, but the excess added to the liquidity providers will depend on the forex broker. AGEA charges NOTHING extra on top of the spreads charged by their liquidity provider on MetaTrader 4. And has great spreads on their platform, Streamster. Check out AGEA’s great spreads at: “AGEA charges No Commissions or Exchange Fees” Streamster Spreads:   http://www.agea.com/index.ncre?page=streamster-services MetaTrader4 Spreads:   http://www.agea.com/index.ncre?page=mt4-services Virtual trading The best way to become a forex trading expert is to practice. Test out your strategies, and see if you profit. But you don’t want to be practicing with real money, so start with a demo account.A demo (or virtual) forex account is a simulator of a real forex platform, but you trade with virtual (fake) money. With AGEA you can open demo accounts with MetaTrader 4 and Streamster. You can download these at   http://www.agea.com/index.ncre?page=downloads “AGEA awards  $100 to the  trader who makes the  highest virtual profit” Now you can make REAL money from trading with VIRTUAL money, through AGEA’s Master of the Month forex contest. Every month AGEA awards $100 to the trader who makes the highest virtual profit (via Streamster). You will automatically be entered when you start trading virtually on Streamster. For more information about this contest (one of many!) go to http://extra.agea.com/en/promotions/be-the-next-agea-contest-master Education “Knowledge is Power” – Sir Francis Bacon Many successful traders use fundamental or technical analysis to predict when currencies are going to rise or fall, and hence when they should buy or sell. “AGEA has an extensive education website - Why Not Read a Page A Day?” You can’t just guess which way a trade will go; you need to understand the currency and what affects it. AGEA has an extensive education website so you can learn how to get the most from your trades, and plan your strategy. Why not try reading one page a day at:   Extra.agea.com/en/education “24 hour, Multilingual Live Support, known for friendly and helpful assistants” Support You definitely don’t want to be losing money because you don’t know how to use the platform right. AGEA has a 24 hour, Multilingual Live Support, known for friendly and helpful assistants. So any time you have any problems you can contact them at:   https://www.agea.com/_nsssupport.ncre So now it’s time to get trading! Below a summary to help you decide which account suits you. Open Your Account at Open Account

How do I open an MT4 account with AGEA?

There are two main parts to opening an MT4 account:

You need to ensure you have the software

And you need to have an appropriate Live account – Cent, Standard, or STP

1. Login to your account

2. Go to “Services” at the top right hand corner of any page on the AGEA site.

3. Click “Downloads” in the left hand column of the Services page

4. Go down the page to the MetaTrader4 section and within the highlight box click “MetaTrader 4 Platform Services”

5. A box will pop up – Click “Save File”. It will be Saved into your downloads as ‘Agea-mt4-platform.exe”

6. Find the saved file and double click it.

8. The AGEA Agreement will come up, click “Next”.

9. You will then see where the program will be saved, and can select whether you want a shortcut made and the program to open after installation. Click “Next”.

10. The program will be downloaded, click “Finish” and you are done!

1. Go to your “Account Center” (this can be accessed by clicking the button in the top right side of any AGEA page).

2. Click “Platforms” > “MetaTrader” > MT4 Cabinet

3. On the page “MetaTrader 4 Cabinet”, click “Add a new account on the MetaTrader 4 Platform” which is at the bottom of the page

4. Choose which account type you want: Cent, Standard or STP, and your primary currency, and then click “Add Account”.

Cent - $10

Standard - $100

STP - $1000

5. A message will come up requesting you to enter a new password for your MT4 account.

Note: The “Master Password” is the password you use for Streamster.

If you do not add your password at this point, or want to change it at a later point, you can find this option at: “Account Center” > “Platforms” > “MetaTrader” > “MT4 Cabinet” . Then in the “Services” dropdown menu select “Change Password”.

6. Open your MT4 Software. Your Demo Account will automatically be displayed

7. To change to the Live Account – Go to “File” > “Login”

8. Enter your “Account ID” in the “Login” box, and your new password in the “Password” box.
The change the Server from “AGEA-Demo” to ‘AGEA-Live”.

9. Now you can start trading live on MT4. Remember to transfer funds into your MT4 account at “Account Center” > “Funds” > “Transfer Funds”.

To download software

Alternatively you can just click “Get Software” at the top right side of all AGEA pages.

 

7. A pop-up box will appear – Click “Run”.

Now you have access to MT4 and can practice trading on your virtual desk where you have been given $10,000 virtual money to trade with.

Set up your Live Account

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Remember minimum deposits are required for these accounts as follows:

To learn more about which account to choose see our Article “Which MT4 Account”



As long as you have the required deposit, the account will now be added.

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Now you will have your Account ID (which can be found again in the MT4 Cabinet if needed) and your password.

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How to choose a forex broker?

With almost a $4 trillion average daily turnover in the global foreign exchange market and many technical and fundamental techniques to help you predict the market, forex is a great way to make money in the comfort of your own home. But with hundreds of forex brokers out there how to you know which one to choose?  Here are some key points you should consider: MT4 and Streamster Platforms Platforms Trading forex online is performed through a platform. One of the most internationally recognized and widely used platforms is MetaTrader 4 (known as MT4). MT4 allows many currency pairs, indexes, commodities and other futures to be traded, and assist traders by performing technical analysis at the click of a button. Trade on mobile, tablet and PC However if you are new to trading then a simplified platform may be more useful. AGEA provides an excellent platform, Streamster. Like MT4, Streamster beside forex offers many CFDs (indexes, commodities) but has the advantage of being more user friendly, requires no deposit (some company require thousands of dollars in deposits to use MT4) and you get a $5 reward to trade with immediately. Furthermore, you can trade using your android phone or tablet PC! No deposit and $5 free reward Deposits (Investment needed) As mentioned above, many companies require deposits when opening a live trading account. The reason for this is to protect the Company if you start losing heavily. Most MT4 accounts require a deposit of around $500. At AGEA, however, you can open an MT4 account from as little as $10! There are three different levels of accounts; even the top account – Standard – requires only a $100 deposit. And remember Streamster requires no deposit! Charges Most likely you are trading not for fun but to make money. The higher you’re trading costs are, the harder it will be for you to make profit, so charges are a key factor when choosing a broker. Forex brokers generally only charge commission on Straight-Through-Processing (STP) accounts. This is where your trade is passed onto another broker and the introducing broker just receives a commission. Open AGEA Account Click Here		AGEA has institution-level low spreads However on other accounts (such as AGEA’s Streamster, MT4 Cent and MT4 Standard) no commissions are charged. One of the key areas, therefore, that differentiates brokers is the spreads. Spreads are the different between the bid and ask price of an instrument. Let say you buy an instrument and sell at exactly the same ask price, you would still make a small loss as the broker will make the bid price slightly lower than the ask price. AGEA has institution-level low spreads on MT4 because we do not add any commission or mark-ups to the prime brokerage rates, and we choose the brokerage with the lowest spreads. Virtual Desk It is important that you practice trading before you go live, especially if you are new to trading. Most brokers will provide you with a virtual desk with virtual money for you to trade with, so you get to trade without the risk of losing money. But, of course, you also can’t make money just by trading on the virtual desk – except at AGEA! Win $100 trading on AGEA’s Virtual Desk – No investment required! AGEA runs a competition which rewards the trader who makes the highest virtual profit on the virtual Streamster desk. The reward is $100 and can be used to trade on your live desk or withdrawn. All traders receive $5 when they open an account with AGEA to trade on the live desk, so again you could make money without investing any! 24 hour, multilingual support Support Whether you are technology pro or not, you may sometimes need some help. AGEA has a dedicated, high quality, 24 hour, multilingual online support channels. You can chat directly with one of their assistants at any time and they will be sure to help you in any way they can. Conclusion If you are serious about making money then you need to reduce your costs and make sure you have the right tools to learn and to trade. AGEA offers a multitude of platform accounts, learning tools, and full time support all at institutionally low prices! New to forex? Learn more at extra.agea.com