Forex ? Trading Terminology Explained

Whenever a new discipline is undertaken, one of the most basic factors for success is familiarity with the terms utilized by those practicing in that area. Trading in the foreign exchange (FOREX) market is no exception. This article will help new traders understand some of the terminology common in the FOREX market.

While this is not intended to serve as a complete glossary for all the various terms to be encountered in the world of FOREX, the selected terms below commonly recur in the trading sector. In the process of studying them, one should commit the concepts and their meaning to memory so that efficiency will increase as trading activities increase. Although not difficult to comprehend, the terms must become thoroughly familiar so as to help developed a strong foundation for a never-ending education in trading the FOREX.

Pips
In a previous article, this author explained in depth the term ?pip?. Without reiterating here the full explanation, suffice it to say that a pip is the unit of measurement representing the smallest movement in the price of a currency. Gaining pips is the goal of every FOREX traders, as these units inherently indicate value.

Spike
Important news releases, such as the U.S. Non-farm Payroll Report (NFP), typically cause the price in the affected currency pairs to suddenly increase or decrease. Referred to as a 'spike?, this rapid price movement can take place in a split second and span a range of 50 to 100 pips in one direction. The occurrence of the spike gives traders a quick and rather unique opportunity to make substantial investment returns in a very short period of time when properly approached.

Retracement
There is a tremendous tendency for volatility in the FOREX. Retracement is the change in the direction of currency price against an established trend. It is often, but not necessarily, associated with rapid movements in the price, such as that which occurs during a news release, where the price first spikes in one direction and then retreats. This change can occur without even a moment's notice. Conversely, the reversal could be gradual, taking place over minutes or even hours.

Stopped Out
As a matter of proper risk management, a trader will utilize a stop loss to limit losses in the event the price moves unfavorably against the trader's position. The position is said to be 'stopped out? and, consequently, closed down if the stop loss trigger is hit, as previously determined by the trader.

Slippage
After submitting a limit order to be filled at a future price level, a trader may experience 'slippage?, which occurs when the broker cannot fill the order at the requested price, but instead at the first available price. Most of the time, this works to the trader's disadvantage by reducing the number of potential pips a trader might gain if the order had been filled at the price requested. Slippage is most likely to occur during a news trading event where the market tends to move rapidly. A few brokers will allow the trader to limit or avoid slippage by manipulating certain user preferences in the controls of the trading platform prior to attempting the trade.

Sandy Robinson, J.D., Copyright 2007

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Do You Understand The Unknown Facts About Trading For A Living

If you are one of those people that do not normally trade to make a living then the first question you will put to someone that does is how they succeed in trading for a living. Of course, others might argue the fact that what constitutes a living for one person may not be the same for another person. For example, for many of us making a living would mean earning fifty thousand dollars a year while for others it could mean earning ten times that amount.

So, before you get an answer to the question as to how you can succeed in trading for a living it is necessary to identify the amount of money you have available and also how much you wish to earn. What's more, there are some traders that are ready to risk all of their money to earn the same amount while other people would risk less money and expect to earn less.

When it comes to understanding how to trade to make a living you need to also understand that sometimes you might lose money and other times you will make money. Even the most experienced traders lose money; so, it would be wrong to expect that you will always succeed in making profits year in and year out.

The real crux of the matter is that you need to identify what making a living means to you and also whether you have a system that you can put to use in order to achieve your goals. Provided you act with discipline and remain committed and you persevere there is no reason why you cannot learn to make a decent amount of money out of trading.

The trouble is that most people do not have the required discipline to remain focused on their objective for a time span of five or ten or even twenty years and so will give up if things do not work out right for them. To succeed you need to behave like a person trying to win an Olympic gold medal or become a world renowned surgeon or even a Kirov ballerina.

Even if you do behave like a would-be Olympic champion there is still no guarantee that you will succeed because even a single mistake at any time can put paid to all your efforts and causes a huge loss of money to you.

There are fortunately a few systems that have been developed by people that have indeed succeeded in earning a good amount of money from trading. If you spend a little money you can make use of such solutions that help you understand market forces (to a certain degree) and in this way you can learn how to make a profitable deal.

Most people that have succeeded in trading for a living have realized that they do not need to monitor the market on an hourly basis. What is required is managing their trades for between ten to sixty minutes on a daily basis. But remember what an old adage says and that is that you may be able to do anything in your life; just don't attempt to do everything because that is a surefire means of inviting failure instead of success.

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