Inside Trade | The Trend - Bear and Bull

Often times we see a bear and a bull on a fighting stance depicted on different online brokers or near financial centers. The famous charging bull, known as the Wall Street Bull, in Manhattan, New York City is one of those remarkable peace of art. There is also a bear and a bull in front of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in Germany.

Newbies, especially those who do not have a business background, often wonder what are those  really for or what does it symbolized. I for one had also gone that stage.  

These symbolic beast represent the direction of the trend in the market.

We spend our time monitoring the trend and we could observe that the movement trend may go up or down. An uptrend is called Bullish and a downtrend is called Bearish. The uptrend is characterized by higher highs and higher lows while a downtrend are lower highs and lower lows.

The Bull market trend is associated with the increased in the investor's confidence and increased in anticipation of future price increases or capital gains.

The Bear market trend shows the opposite. The investor's pessimism is widespread and a decline in the market is visible and inevitable. 

In case there is no movement in a direction, it is called Flat.

Forexpress | Gold Melting Away

According to Bloomberg reports, the price of Gold had plummeted down to its lowest point since 1999. If we checked on the records, on September 1,1999 the price of Gold had reached its lowest peak during the 90's with a price of $252.85 before showing signs of recovery.

“Gold price reached its record low since 1999.

The fall in gold prices that took place in recent months was the most prolonged in the XXI century, Bloomberg reports. The prices for gold declined for the fourth consecutive month reaching its lowest level since 1999 though in early 2012 the troy ounce of gold edged 0.7 pct. During the Asian trades of May 29 gold fell 0.6 pct to $1573 per ounce. In general, during the whole month of May the price was down 5.5 pct. This fall in prices on gold results mainly from the strengthening of the dollar, while the fundamental factors point at the growth of prices. In April the most of world’s central banks including those of Turkey, Ukraine, Mexico and Kazakhstan expanded their gold reserves. Moreover, the consumption of gold in China increases. According to various estimates, in 2011 the total volume of gold consumption varied from 761 to 769 tons. This year this figure will increase making China the leader among world’s biggest gold consumer and leaving behind the former leader – India that has been occupying this position in recent years. Gold is used by investors on world markets as the safe place for investing money in case of emergency. At the same time the growth of dollar prevents the growth of prices for gold. For the last 10 years the price on this precious metal increased more than 5 times reaching its record in 2011 when the price for gold was $1889 per ounce.”

Gold being the safest instrument to lean on, when an adversity is at hand, is also starting fail.

Its high value and being an independent resource, since it is not directly connected to organizations and countries thus making it almost invulnerable to a sudden change in the economic enviroments, makes it the apple of the eye of some traders.

Also it may served as a protection against the US dollar but it seems that it won't be regaining its strength anytime soon.     

Inside Trade | The Bid, Ask, and the Spread

Before jumping in to currency trading, you must first know how the exchange system is running. The exchange is done through buying and selling of different currencies. It consists of the buy and sell rate.

The buy rate (Bid) is the amount that a trader may be willing to buy a certain currency. The sell rate (Ask) is the amount that a trader is willing to sell the currency. The concept of buy and sell rate is anatropous from the trader's perspective.

In the EUR/USD quotation, you could buy a euro for 1.2485 USD and sell it for 1.2482 USD. If you have a 100 euro, you would need 124.85 USD to buy it and you would get 124.82 if you're willing to sell it. If you would notice, the Ask rate is always higher and it is now up to the traders how they would trade it in order to gain profit.

Have you ever wondered how brokers gain their profit? In trading currency quotations you could also notice that there's a difference between the Bid and Ask price. That difference is called Spread.

The Spread is where the brokers earn their profit. Its size depends on liquidity of the chosen currency market. If the currency isn't traded actively on Forex then the Spread can be bigger. As a rule, the broker houses representing private investors do no take commission on transaction-they earn on a spread. The Spread in the exchange market is way smaller compared to banks.

Venturing on Forex | InstaForex Copy System

Trekking on an unfamiliar terrain is dangerous, most especially if there's no trail to follow. There's a high percentage that you would injure yourself or worst, lose your way.

The InstaForex Copy System may serve as your trail in the unfamiliar terrain of currency market. A map that would be your reference during you exploration on the currency terrain. It allows you to copy a trade or trades from a Trader's account and use it as your own. Since it had already proven its worth, it enhances your chance of success.

In this system, you could customized the scale of the trades that you wanted to copy and the currency pairs involved. A Follower(the one copying the trade) could choose the time when the payment for the service would be made. It could be either in a commission per day basis, wherein the owner would receive the commission everyday at 23:30 (GMT +3), or until such time that the Follower unsubscribes from the service. The commission of the trader depends on how well his/her formula performed during the followers trade.

Unfortunately this system is not allowed to collaborate with the PAMM system at the moment. There are also certain restriction when using this system. You could only close a copied trade but you cannot cancel it.

If ever you feel that you are already capable in handling yourself on your own, you could unsubscribe anytime. The good thing is, once you had established yourself as a successful trader, you could make a profit out of people's subscription to your trades. It's your chance to share your knowledge to the world and those that had just made Forex as one of their endeavors.

Inside Trade | The Risk: Take it or Leave it

"Far better it is to have a stout heart always and suffer one's share of evils, than to be ever fearing what may happen." -Herodotus

Risk is part of our everyday lives, only some people have greater risk than others. Like any other business, Forex also has it risks. A sudden change in the market condition due to unpredicted occurrences could drastically affect you're trade.

In Forex, risk could be managed. There are general risk management and methods that decreases the risk, although it could not guarantee a 100% success in trading at least it could minimize the danger.

The Financial risk management are the following:

1.Stop order setting;

2.Capital share investment;

3; Trend trading;

4. Emotion control.

A greater goal involves greater risk. If you want to achieve more then you must be also willing to risk more. But those risk could be lessen by being wary about world events, honing you're trading skills, managing you're money properly, learning hedging methods and diversification risks, and mostly importantly learning from your mistakes. Even though you cannot fully take risk away from the formula at least you could lessen it through experience and continuous learning.

Forexpress | InstaForex Champion: Oleg Taktarov

In whatever field, success counts. Every great figure in our history books has a great achievement behind them. It is what makes them to be written on books.

But some of those prominent personalities had achieved success in more than one field and that made them stood out from the rest.

The sportsman, world champion of mixed martial arts, actor and TV-presenter, film producer and writer, a man of success in various fields, Oleg Taktarov finally joins InstaForex. The man who stood-out and always aims to be better than himself than yesterday had finally decided to be the champion of the best online broker in Asia, InstaForex.com. “If you want to be the best, work with the best” Taktarov said in an interview.

According to him discipline, fast reaction, and strong will are the keys to success. You must always aim for perfection or don't start at it at all. He is one of the few who possess a staunch heart of a champion that never wears down even in times of great adversities.

He is in a new chapter in his life wherein he would try himself to be successful trader in Forex. A field that he had never explored before but with an undaunted courage, still hoped to conquer.

In an interview, He said that for him it didn't matter how long it takes you to be at the top as long as you continue in your path slowly but surely.

Inside Trade | The Martingale trading strategy

A very risky but rewarding strategy. Gamblers are quite familiar with this strategy and the halls of casinos in Las Vegas had been witness to this before. Its power is enough to corner the casinos in puttin a ceiling in their minimum and maximum bet. The only question is, if you have the power to wield it, I mean you're pocket.

The Martingale system was introduced during the 18^th century by a french mathematician namely Paul Pierre Levy and was further researched by an American mathematician named Joseph Leo Doob, who wanted to disprove the possibility of it being a 100% profitable betting strategy. This strategy was based on the premise of “doubling down”.

The main idea was once your initial bet loss had incurred, you would double it on your next bet and keep doubling it until such time that one winning bet would compensate for all the losses. This strategy is 100% profitable as long you have the capital to support your bet and there are only two possible outcome. The trick is that you must not change direction because both of the direction had an equal probability to turn out. But sometimes traders run out of capital before gaining profit or even returning their losses.

In Forex, there are some few additional things that are needed to be taken into consideration.;

The Stop-Loss. Unlike gambling wherein you're just be in either the winning or losing side. In Forex there are such things as Temporary loss. A loss when an open position is had incurred but may be turned into profit after a while. If you're balance greatly decreases and hits the stop-loss then you are really in deep trouble. You're balance should at least be sufficient enough to withstand more than 5 sequential movement.

The upward or downward movement of the rate. Currency movement goes by trend and if you're are in the wrong direction, better braise yourself because you it would keep on one direction for quite sometime and hope that you don't ran out of available funds for new trades. It would also be difficult to handle once more than 1 lot is opened.

You must also be psychologically ready- imagine repeatedly doubling your position while losing, and watching you're account depleting rapidly just before your eyes.

A friendly reminder, If you think you can't handle it then don't start it.  

Inside Trade | Ever Changing Price Tag: Currency Quotations

In the Foreign Exchange market, currencies are traded against one another. Their value depends on many aspects such as economic climate, import & export rate, the number of investor and many more. In order for the market value of a specific currency to materialize, currency quotations are made.

Currency Quotations determines the amount of the currency that we're trading. It gives us value of one currency if it is converted to an another currency. It is like the price tags in your local supermarket that determines the price of a product or goods. The only difference is that it constantly changes its price.

Normally a currency in a quotation is defined by the initials of the country then followed by the currency. An example of this is USD. “US” stands for United States and “D” is for the dollars. The Japanese yen also has this kind of format. The “JP” in JPY stands for Japanese and the “Y” for yen.

If you have observed, there are two currencies involved in the quotation. A currency that is stated before “/” is called the Base currency and the currency placed after the it is Counter (Quoted) currency. In the pair USD/CHF, USD is the Base currency and CHF is the Quoted currency.

In the method of currency rate record, when a unit price of a foreign currency is denominated in a certain units of the national currency, it is called a direct quotation. And Indirect quotation when a unit price of a national currency is denominated in certain units of the foreign currency. But bear in mind that there is no national currency at Forex and that US dollars is the currency of the main reserve. That is why direct and indirect quotations are always towards US dollars.

In the formula of A/B=X, “A” may be bought or sold for “X” units of quoted currency “B”. Let us say that you have USD/JPY 97.50. You may buy or sell a dollar for 97.50 Japanese yens.

Online brokers most of the time do not emphasize which is the direct or indirect quotation but it is a must to know “which is which” because you have to know which is against USD. Otherwise a mistake may be omitted and you would lose money. Remember that your aim in Forex is to buy a currency in cheap price and sell it for a higher price.

By the way, the most traded currency pairs are called Majors. They are euro (EU), US dollar (USD), Japanese yen (JPY), pound sterling (GBP), Australian dollar (AUD), Canadian dollar (CAD), and the Swiss franc (CHF). Currency pairs such as EUR/USD, USD/JPY, GBP/USD, AUD/USD, USD/CHF and USD/CAD has the highest liquidity.

Venturing on Forex | InstaRebate

Imagine you're in the grocery and after you're done paying to the cashier, they would tell you that they would return some of your money back. Wouldn't it be nice? InstaForex has this kind of system.

The InstaRebate system is a system that returns a part of the broker's commission to the trader. Although it had caught into my attention that other brokers also has this kind of system, Instaforex has the highest rebate among existing online brokers. A trader would only need a real trading account, replenished for a certain amount, to be entitled to this kind of service.

In InstaRebate, a trader shall get 1.5 points for each closed deal whether if it is profitable or not. Even if you lose, you still sold or bought deals of a certain volume. Consequently, you are still entitled to a rebate. An InstaRebate partner is also entitled 1 point for each profit or loss operation of his/her referral.

However, it should be noted that the point cost depends on the currency pair. The rebate sum is always proportional to the volume of a trade carried out. To calculate the cost of one point, please use the forex calculator. It is also should be noted that the InstaRebate is available for all types of accounts, including PAMM accounts, but the calculation in Cent accounts differ when compared to the Standard accounts.

InstaRebate in simple terms is the reimbursement of the amount that you had paid to your broker for conducting your transaction.

Venturing on Forex | Before the Worst: Margin call

A sudden drop in the ever unstable market of Forex could mean disaster for an investor. It might get into the point wherein it would bring you to the brink of bankruptcy. Online brokers have a means to stop a trader from plunging down into a total disaster.

Once a position opens a part of the capital is frozen, and that part is called Security Deposit. It is intended to guarantee that a trader wouldn't lose more than what he is really capable of. The leverage size provided by the broker and the type and number of lost determines the size of the deposit. The remaining fund that may be used to open other positions are called Free Margin.

Even if a there's a deposit, traders should bear in mind that the remaining balance is also needed in backing up the capital from the temporary losses of the opened positions. There are times wherein an opened position loss would suddenly turn around and be converted into a profit. But when all else fails, and the assessment of the broker is otherwise, then the Margin call occurs.

Margin call signals the trader about his current loss and that the account is dwindling thus should be soon replenished. If unheeded, it would automatically close all the current opened positions and actual loss is incurred. In the bright side, at least the account wouldn't be zeroed to none. On the other hand, once the margin call was automatically activated real losses would be incurred and the chance of the account's recovery is slim. Only the untouched security is left which would turned into free margin.

As traders, we should be wary about it and shouldn't allow this to occur. It would really be a hard blow on our part and the recovery of the loss would really prove to be a challenge. It is like being in a quicksand with only your head remaining on the surface with nothing to cling on but your wits.  

Forex Jargon | Knowing the Language of the Trade

“Slang is a language that rolls up its sleeves, spits on its hands and goes to work.” -Carl Sandburg, New York Times, 13 February 1959  

Have you ever traveled to a place that doesn't use the same language as the one that you're using? It's funny when you are trying to ask for direction and no one's giving you one because they can't understand a thing that you're saying.

In Forex, beginners also experiences this language barrier. That's why it is a must for those who wanted to try out in Forex to research and learn the Jargon that seasoned traders are using. By doing so, it would allow the beginners to interact with more experienced traders in a more comprehensive manner.

When a new trader enters a Forex-related forum, it is quite normal to have difficulty in joining in the conversation. But by frequently visiting such forums and doing a diligent research on the topics, a new trader would eventually catch up and adopt to the traders language.  

Inside Trade | Keeping a Diary: Trading Journal

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards."

Have you ever tried keeping a diary? Usually kids do it as a homework back then without any idea what it is really for. Only after a few years that they would realized its true worth. Its a record of our former self. The priceless memories and experiences that might fade in nothingness and be totally forgotten. Forever kept in the back of our head until tapped by an unexpected event.

In Forex, traders also have this kind of diary. It is called Trading Journal. It keeps track of our observations, trading experiences, and even some claimed that it contributes to self-discipline. Parameters on a particular trade, describing a trading strategy, including indicators employed and signals are usually the content of it.

Decision making elements may also be recorded in your journal. Even if you're trade had resulted to an utter failure, you could make the most out of it by keeping it in your journal to serve as a future reference.

Inside Trade | Money Management

“It is better safe than sorry”

Billions of dollars is circulating in Forex every day. The capital of an Investor could boom instantaneously sky high but also may fall flat on the floor after a while. It could make you in a second then break you after another. One of the secrets of seasoned traders is proper money management.

Take one step at a time. Its advisable to practice your trading first in a demo account before going to Cent accounts and eventually to Live account in order to develop a profiting strategy.

Trading in constant amounts may also help. Moving forward slowly but surely is better than a come what may attitude. Saving portions of your profit could really be handy especially when you incurred a sudden huge loss. You could add to your capital little by little. A huge capital would dwindle in no time if it is not properly managed. 

Forexpress | Now or Never: 3 months to save Euro

George Soros, the man behind the famous Quantum Fund, had made an announcement during the Festival of Economics in Trento, Italy that Europe has only three months left to save the Euro from falling in the edge. As we all know that Euro's value had been declining for a long time now. There had been several theories of the decline but it seems overspending was one of the main reason. The European debt crisis seems to be amplified by the overspending of European governments especially after the 2008 financial crisis.

The famous investor-billionaire thinks that the EU summit, which is planned out for the end of June, would be only limited to temporary measures. According to him, in order to save Euro, it is necessary to create bank deposit insurance to stop mass deposit outflow from the banks, which can be observed with peripheral countries of the EU. Besides, it is necessary to provide European banks with direct financing from ESM, which would start working in the middle of summer 2012. Soros emphasized that all these measures should be combined with the implementation of all-European control and regulation instrument.

“It is necessary to ease the financial burden for the countries with the biggest debts. It can be reached in different ways, however, they all demanded active German Federal Bank and FRG participation. Nothing can be reached without German support,” he then mentioned that, “The euro's chance of survival is very high as its crash will have negative effects not only on peripheral countries but also on Germany,”.

For the full article: http://www.facebook.com/instaforex

Inside Trade | The Capital

There are a number of reason why an individual or groups of individuals are afraid to enter the currency market. One of which is the capital. The common notion when the conversation leads to Forex is that it requires a huge amount of capital. Gone are the days wherein the rich and famous are the only ones that are capable of venturing on Forex.

There are now online brokers that allows one to trade in with a very small amount, really small. The minimum deposit ranges from $10 up to just a buck. There is also a type of account that caters to this very little transaction, the Cent accounts. So if ever you want to explore the world of Forex, go ahead and try it. As they always say, “There's no harm in trying”.

Venturing on Forex | Opening an account

In order to trade in the currency market you must first acquire an account. There are two types of accounts: Demo account and Live account.

The Demo account is an account that allows you to experience trading without any risk. It is intended for traders, both beginners and experienced traders, to practice their trading skills and techniques that they could later apply on the actual market.

Steps in opening a Demo-account:

1. To download trade terminal InstaTrader4 from our http://instaforex.com/downloads.php

2. Then install the program.

3. Once the program is installed, please launch the terminal and choose "File", then "Open Account".

4. Please fill out the registration form for opening Demo-account.

5. Then choose item "I agree to receive news via email" and press "Next".

6. After that choose one of the fastest Demo-servers. For this purpose it is necessary to take a look on ping. The less is ping the better is communication with a server.

7. Then again press "Next" and obtain all information about registered account.

The Live Account allows trader to actually trade with each other, in terms of options, in order to gain profit.

Steps in opening a Live-account:

1. Visit InstaForex company's website.

2. Click the tab "For Traders", then "Open Live Account".

3. In order to avoid disputable situations further, it is necessary for you to familiarise in details with "The Public Offer Agreement".

4. Then accept the terms of agreement and fill in "Account opening form" according to the presented requirements.

5. Further all account's data are displayed and also sent on your inbox at the address provided on the registration form.

6. Download and install the trading terminal InstaTrader4 from our http://instaforex.com/downloads.php.

7. In the top menu of the trading terminal please choose "File" => "Login" and fill the data of your account (the number of the real account, trader’s password), and also specify a server of the real trading account.

You could open an account in http://instaforex.com/open_live_account.php.

Inside Trade | Like a Boss

Credits are due, unpaid bills scattered all over, sick and tired of being scolded by you're boss even withthe slightest mistake? Not being with you're love ones wasn't even on the equation yet. These are common problems that comes with the bundle-package of your typical job that unfortunately you had to live with.

The back-breaking works that couldn't even afford a little comfort maybe now pushed aside through Forex. It would give you the chance to afford everything that you want plus the fact that you are the boss of your own.

Able to afford a vacation to a virgin island in the Philippines, or a a romantic trip to Paris that you had always dreamed of is almost at hand. In Forex its all up to you.

Find out more at: http://instaforex.com/

Forexpress | The Best Of Both Worlds

“Great minds think alike”

The world's no.1 ranked chess player joins InstaForex! Magnus Carlsen who has conquered the world of chess in such a very young age chooses InstaForex. According to him “Victory in Forex is a Triumph of Intellect!”

The young and famous grandmaster paid a visit to the InstaForex headquarters in Kalinigrad and even played several blitz game with one of InstaForex's official, International Master Pavel Shkapenko.

During his visit he shared his opinion on the quality of the services provided by the company and also gave valuable advices on the company's development. He also explained how understanding of chess strategies may contribute to success in life. 

Forexpress | InstaSniper

"High achievement always takes place in the framework of high expectation." -Charles Kettering

Do you have what it takes to take the toughest shot?

The InstaForex Sniper is a weekly contest held every week to determine who could achieve the toughest target. It is held every Monday from 0000 hours up until Friday 2359 hours. We want you!  Be the InstaSniper of the week.

For the complete details: http://instaforex.com/contest_forex_sniper_rules.php

Inside Trade | Grasping the Outcome-Forex and Casino

Many claimed that Forex is similar to Casinos. We both put our money in line without an assurance that we would gain profit and  both considers luck in the winning formula. Huge amounts of money always comes to them every year. But what's really the difference between them. How does Forex differ from Casinos?


When you enter a casino and play a dice, you had 1 out of 6 chances that you're number would turn out, you could only rely on luck alone. You don't have any control on the outcome of the situation.


In Forex, trading techniques are developed and economic climates are predicted and discerned among its investors. From there you could predict on how well a currency would do for the day. Although there's no assurance on the final outcome, at least you could predict it with a greater accuracy.

Forexpress | Trade Wise, Win Device

Gift giving is a practice that InstaForex is fond of, that's why they're giving away devices every two weeks. Get a chance to win a brand new mobile device such as iPad, iPhone, Blackberry or a Samsung Galaxy Tab.

You'll only need to make a 500 USD deposit or more then you're entitled to register for free in the campaign page.  The winner of every device will be determined by a transparent algorithm predicting the prize taker with a so-called Device number.

For details please visit: http://instaforex.com/contest_forex_device.php

Forexpress | Fairest of 'em all: Miss InstaAsia 2012

Hear 'ye! Hear 'ye! Another season for the annual search of the fairest lady in Asia is on.
The Ms. InstaAsia 2012 is calling every fair lady from the farthest corner of Asia to participate and reveal themselves to captivate the hearts of the investors online. If you have the beauty to stand out from the rest and the courage and confidence to upload your photo online then you might be the one we are searching for.




For the full details: http://miss-instaforex-asia.com/en/about/

Venturing on Forex | A Strong Foothold-Foreign Exchange Education

"If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable."  -Lucius Annaeus Seneca

In order to survive in the currency market , you need to equip yourself with the knowledge of the trade .Learning about options, currency quotations,trading hours, etc,  would truly help a lot.  It would prevent your investment from swirling down into abyss and your hard-earned money with it. By doing so, you would not only gain profit but also knowledge and an assurance that you could adopt to your new environment and not just rely on sheer luck.

There are many sites in the internet wherein you could you pool in for your Forex education. But if ever you're pumped up and wanted to start right away, here's a site that you could start with. http://support.instaforex.com/en/index.php/Forex_education

I acquired most of my knowledge through self-education in the net. Diligence and patience is really a must if ever you really want to know about the trade. Also paying attention to small details and taking down notes truly helps a lot. Good luck to your endeavor and I know some time soon your hard work would pay off.

Message from The Author

Dear All,

In the light of sharing knowledge to those who are willing and deprived, The Daily Forexcast aims to provide everyone a daily dose of Foreign Exchange without even shelling out a single cent.

-The Daily Forexcast