Friday, May 28, 2010

24hr Forex Trading – Forex Trading Hours



Open a forex account and enjoy a 24hr Forex Trading experience. Currencies are traded 24 hours a day, from Sunday afternoon EST* (Eastern Standard Time) to Friday afternoon EST. Through this 5+ day week of market activity, there is always at least one financial center open for business. Indeed, as some markets close for the night, others open somewhere else on the planet. Since forex trading hours overlap, currencies are being traded continuously. In other words, forex practically never stops.

Traders new to the world of foreign exchange tend to think that since the market is open 24 hours a day, they may trade whenever they choose during the day. Although this preconceived idea is actually true, it needs to be clarified. Indeed when it comes to forex trading hours, some hours present better opportunities than others. By better opportunities, we mean of course potentially greater profit. So what are the most suitable forex trading hours and why?

Usually, the best time to enter forex markets is when large volumes of currencies are traded. At those hours, traders can take full advantage of forex benefits. Since the forex market is traded 24 hours a day, the best time to enter is when several countries are trading at the same time. In each time zone across the world, forex markets operate from 8 am to 4 pm. So, to take advantage of heavy trading volume, the best is to look at when forex market hours in different countries overlap. Those hours are usually the time when the forex market is the most active and has thus the largest volume of trades and the biggest pip movements. It is when currencies are the most active that traders have a better chance of making some profit. Slow markets offer little chances of profit and therefore, forex traders usually stay out of them. When do forex trading times overlap?

Worldwide Forex Trading Hours:



To see when markets overlap, let's have a look at the different forex trading times in each main financial center across the globe. (Times are displayed according to EST) So here are the times when two trading sessions overlap:

New York and London: from 8 am to 12 am (EST)
Sydney and Tokyo: from 7 pm to 2 am
London and Tokyo markets overlap one hour, from 3 am to 4 am.

What does this mean? Trading EUR/USD, GBP/USD, or USD/CHF between 8 am and 12 am (EST) can lead to good results since markets for those currencies (European and American) are both active at the same time. This is when the largest volume of trades occurs, creating a greater chance of making significant profit in the forex market.

Another good time to trade is from 1 am to 3 am EST. As you can see in the table above, at that time, European markets are waking up while Asian markets are closing, offering good trade opportunities. The same goes for the 7 pm to 10 pm EST time period, when the Asian and Australian markets overlap.

Also, you have probably noticed that from 4 pm to 6 pm EST, there is no interesting overlap. That’s when the US markets close without overlapping any other large market. At those hours, the volume of trades is much lower, offering less great trade opportunities.

You can thus see that while you can take advantage of a 24hr Forex Trading experience, some hours will allow for better opportunities than others.

*EST = UTC** - 5 hours
**UTC= Coordinated Universal Time

While some hours of the day are busier than others, meaning that forex trading activity is greater at those hours, price fluctuation varies from day to day. As a general rule, some days of the week are busier than others. Whether in London, Tokyo, or the U.S., pip range movements for all 4 majors tend to be greater towards the middle of the week.



















May 29, 2010 Rates updated at 08:39 AM



Foreign Currency Unit
Buying Rate PKR Selling Rates PKR Change History
U.S. Dollar (USD) 85.10 85.30 ---------
British Pound (GBP) 122.51 123.01 ---------
Euro (EUR) 104.23 104.53 ---------
Swiss Franc (CHF) 72.71 73.41 ---------
Canadian Dollar (CAD) 80.49 80.99 ---------
Chinese Yuan (CNY) 12.45 12.75 ---------
UAE Dirham (AED) 23.10 23.17 ---------
Saudi Arabian Riyal (SAR) 22.65 22.70 ---------
Bahraini Dinar (BHD) 224.17 225.67 ---------
Kuwaiti Dinar (KWD) 289.44 291.44 ---------
New Zealand Dollar (NZD) 56.33 57.83 ---------
Qatar Rial (QAR) 23.22 23.37 ---------
Australian Dollar (AUD) 71.61 72.11 ---------
Singapore Dollar (SGD) 59.76 60.46 ---------
Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) 10.68 10.93 ---------
Swedish Krona (SEK) 10.64 10.84 ---------
Norwegian Krone (NOK) 12.95 13.10 ---------
Danish Krone (DKK) 13.83 14.03 ---------
Indian Rupee (INR) 1.77 1.82 ---------
Japanese Yen (JPY) 0.92 0.93 ---------
Malaysian Ringgit (MYR) 25.80 26.10 ---------
Omani Rial (OMR) 219.48 220.98 ---------

WORLD FOREX: Dollar steps forward Vs Rupee

KARACHI: The dollar gained strength versus the rupee in the interbank market, dealers said on Tuesday.

The dollar initiated the day’s trading at Rs 84.55 for buying, appreciated by 10 paisas and closed at Rs 84.65 for buying and Rs 84.70 for selling.

Look at Dollar in open market currency rates

Other Currencies Vs Rupee: The euro shed strength versus the rupee, as it started the day’s trading at Rs 104.57 for buying, depreciated by Rs 1.26 and closed at Rs 103.31 for buying and Rs 103.51 for selling. Similarly, the pound sterling remained low versus the rupee, as it started the day’s trading at Rs 121.57 for buying, lost 70 paisas and closed at Rs 120.87 for buying and Rs 121.07 for selling.

The dollar appreciated versus the rupee, dealers said. The dollar commenced the day’s trading at Rs 84.50 for buying, gained 20 paisas and closed at Rs 84.70 for buying and Rs 84.85 for selling. The euro also recorded losses versus the rupee, as it started the day’s trading at Rs 104.40 for buying and after losing Rs 1.95 closed at Rs 102.45 for buying and Rs 102.95 for selling.

see forex rates in Pakistan

The pound sterling also recorded losses against the rupee, as it initiated the day’s trading at Rs 121.25 for buying, depreciated by Rs 1.35 and closed at Rs 119.90 for buying and Rs 120.40 for selling.

FOREX RATES

Currency
Buying
Selling
Australian Dollar
72
73.5
Canadian Dollar
80.6
82.8
China Yuan
12.5
12.9
Euro
104.75
106
Japanese Yen
0.924
0.934
Saudi Riyal
22.58
22.75
U.A.E Dirham
23.08
23.33
UK Pound Sterling
123.8
125.3
US Dollar
84.95
85.25

History of the exchange in Japan

In modern, the electric banking makes us possible to settle on the ledger. It becomes very easy to send money from A bank to B bank. The system has been changed and both A bank and B bank have to hold their own current accounts in each counterparty.

The recent system has greatly changed. The central bank takes a main roll of financial markets. The Bank of Japan falls on it and the central bank behaves as the bank for banks. All banks in the private section are forced to have their own current accounts in the central bank accordingly to the reservation system regulated by BOJ acts.

It is the basic that the banks collect a lot of deposits to make loans, but they cannot loan out all the deposits because it means they have no room to withdraw any more. The reservation system helps banks in trouble by huge withdrawal at the same time, which requires some proportion of their liability to be reserved in the current account in the central bank. These current accounts makes it possible that the banks in private section can settle each other. In short, each bank send their money to another through the central bank.

Assuming that Mr. Taro in Tokyo would send the money to Ms. Hanako in Osaka, and Taro would go to the A bank in order to send money to B bank in which Hanako has her savings account. A bank have to take the relevant action to shift money in the Zengin system from A bank to B bank. Here, the Zengin system is used to offset all the balances relating to Yen transactions and the shortage arising from the Zengin system needs to adjust in the current account in the central bank. In this way, Ms Hanako gets the money without delay.

The domestic exchange generally means like this remittance workflow. For your information, the Bank of Japan is called as "Nippon Ginko" in Japanese as you can take a look at the bill at hand.

How to Trade Forex

Trading foreign exchange is exciting and potentially very profitable, but there are also significant risk factors. It is crucially important that you fully understand the implications of margin trading and the particular pitfalls and opportunities that foreign exchange trading offers. On these pages, we offer you a brief introduction to the Forex markets as well as their participants and some strategies that you can apply. However, if you are ever in doubt about any aspect of a trade, you can always discuss the matter in-depth with one of our dealers. They are available 24 hours a day on the Saxo Bank online trading system, SaxoTrader.



The benchmark of its service is efficient execution, concise analysis and expertise – all achieved whilst maintaining an attractive and competitive cost structure. Today, Saxo Bank offers one of Europe's premier all-round services for trading in derivative products and foreign exchange. We count amongst our employees numerous dealers and analysts, each of whom has many years experience and a wide and varied knowledge of the markets – gained both in our home countries and in international financial centres. When trading foreign exchange, futures and other derivative products, we offer 24-hour service, extensive daily analysis, individual access to our Research & Analysis department for specific queries, and immediate execution of trades through our international network of banks and brokers. All at a price considerably lower than that which most companies and private investors normally have access to.

The combination of our strong emphasis on customer service, our strategy and trading recommendations, our strategic and individual hedging programmes, along with the availability to our clients of the latest news and information builds a strong case for trading an individual account through Saxo Bank.

Terms of trading are agreed individually depending on the volume of your transactions, but are generally much lower in cost when compared to banks and brokers. Your margin deposit can be cash or government securities, bank guarantees etc. Large corporate or institutional clients may be offered trading facilities on the strength of their balance sheet. The minimum deposit accepted for an individual trading account depends on the account type. Trade confirmations and real-time account overview are built into SaxoTrader, while further account information can be produced in accordance with your specific requirements.

Forex Trading Basics

The global foreign exchange market is the biggest market in the world. The 3.2 trillion USD daily turnover dwarfs the combined turnover of all the world's stock and bond markets.

There are many reasons for the popularity of foreign exchange trading, but among the most important are the leverage available, the high liquidity 24 hours a day and the very low dealing costs associated with trading.

Of course many commercial organisations participate purely due to the currency exposures created by their import and export activities, but the main part of the turnover is accounted for by financial institutions. Investing in foreign exchange remains predominantly the domain of the big professional players in the market - funds, banks and brokers. Nevertheless, any investor with the necessary knowledge of the market's functions can benefit from the advantages stated above.

In the following article, we would like to introduce you to some of the basic concepts of foreign exchange trading. If you would like any further information, we suggest that you sign up for a FREE Membership on this website, where you will be able to exchange views with other Forex traders and get answers to any questions you might have.

Margin Trading

Foreign exchange is normally traded on margin. A relatively small deposit can control much larger positions in the market. For trading the main currencies, Saxo Bank requires a 1% margin deposit. This means that in order to trade one million dollars, you need to place just USD 10,000 by way of security.

In other words, you will have obtained a gearing of up to 100 times. This means that a change of, say 2%, in the underlying value of your trade will result in a 200% profit or loss on your deposit. See below for specific examples. As you can see, this calls for a very disciplined approach to trading as both profit opportunities and potential risks are very large indeed. Please refer to our page Forex Rates & Conditions for current Spreads, Margins and Conditions.

Base Currency and Variable Currency

When you trade, you will always trade a combination of two currencies. For example, you will buy US dollars and sell euro. Or buy euro and sell Japanese yen, or any other combination of dozens of widely traded currencies. But there is always a long (bought) and a short (sold) side to a trade, which means that you are speculating on the prospect of one of the currencies strengthening in relation to the other.

The trade currency is normally, but not always, the currency with the highest value. When trading US dollars against Singapore dollars, the normal way to trade is buying or selling a fixed amount of US dollars, i.e. USD 1,000,000. When closing the position, the opposite trade is done, again USD 1,000,000. The profit or loss will be apparent in the change of the amount of SGD credited and debited for the two transactions. In other words, your profit or loss will be denominated in SGD, which is known as the price currency. As part of our service, Saxo Bank will automatically exchange your profits and losses into your base currency if you require this.

Dealing Spread, but No Commissions

When trading foreign exchange, you are quoted a dealing spread offering you a buying and a selling level for your trade. Once you accept the offered price and receive confirmation from our dealers, the trade is done. There is no need to call an exchange floor. There are no other time-consuming delays. This is possible due to live streaming prices, which are also a great advantage in times of fast-moving markets: You can see where the market is trading and you know whether your orders are filled or not.

The dealing spread is typically 3-5 points in normal market conditions. This means that you can sell US dollars against the euro at 1.7780 and buy at 1.7785. There are no further costs, commissions or exchange fees.

This ensures that you can get in and out of your trades at very low slippage and many traders are therefore active intra-day traders, given that a typical day in USDEUR presents price swings of 150-200 points.

Spot and forward trading

When you trade foreign exchange you are normally quoted a spot price. This means that if you take no further steps, your trade will be settled after two business days. This ensures that your trades are undertaken subject to supervision by regulatory authorities for your own protection and security. If you are a commercial customer, you may need to convert the currencies for international payments. If you are an investor, you will normally want to swap your trade forward to a later date. This can be undertaken on a daily basis or for a longer period at a time. Often investors will swap their trades forward anywhere from a week or two up to several months depending on the time frame of the investment.

Although a forward trade is for a future date, the position can be closed out at any time - the closing part of the position is then swapped forward to the same future value date.

Interest Rate Differentials

Different currencies pay different interest rates. This is one of the main driving forces behind foreign exchange trends. It is inherently attractive to be a buyer of a currency that pays a high interest rate while being short a currency that has a low interest rate.

Although such interest rate differentials may not appear very large, they are of great significance in a highly leveraged position. For example, the interest rate differential between the US dollar and the Japanese yen has been approximately 5% for several years. In a position that can be supported by a 5% margin deposit, this results in a 100% profit on capital per annum when you buy the US dollar. Of course, an even more important factor normally is the relative value of the currencies, which changed 15% from low to high during 2005 – disregarding the interest rate differential. From a pure interest rate differential viewpoint, you have an advantage of 100% per annum in your favour by being long US dollar and an initial disadvantage of the same size by being short.
Please refer to our page Forex Rates & Conditions for current Spreads, Margins and Conditions!

Such a situation clearly benefits the high interest rate currency and as result, the US dollar was in a strong bull market all through 2005. But it is by no means a certainty that the currency with the higher interest rate will be strongest. If the reason for the high interest rate is runaway inflation, this may undermine confidence in the currency even more than the benefits perceived from the high interest rate.

Stop-loss discipline

As you can see from the description above, there are significant opportunities and risks in foreign exchange markets. Aggressive traders might experience profit/loss swings of 20-30% daily. This calls for strict stop-loss policies in positions that are moving against you.

Fortunately, there are no daily limits on foreign exchange trading and no restrictions on trading hours other than the weekend. This means that there will nearly always be an opportunity to react to moves in the main currency markets and a low risk of getting caught without the opportunity of getting out. Of course, the market can move very fast and a stop-loss order is by no means a guarantee of getting out at the desired level.

But the main risk is really an event over the weekend, where all markets are closed. This happens from time to time as many important political events, such as G7 meetings, are normally scheduled for weekends.

For speculative trading, we always recommend the placement of protective stop-lossorders. With Saxo Bank Internet Trading you can easily place and change such orders while watching market development graphically on your computer screen.

Introduction to Trading Forex

Foreign Exchange

This short introduction explains the basics of trading Forex online, a brief explanation of the markets and the major benefits of trading Forex online. There are also two scenarios describing the implications of trading in a bear as well as a bull market to better acquaint you with some of the risks and opportunities of the largest and most liquid market in the world.




As an additional aid for those who are new to Forex, there is also a glossary at the bottom of this text which explains some of the terms used in connection with currency trading.

Overview

Foreign exchange, Forex or just FX are all terms used to describe the trading of the world's many currencies. The Forex market is the largest market in the world, with trades amounting to more than USD 3 trillion every day. Most Forex trading is speculative, with only a low percentage of market activity representing governments' and companies' fundamental currency conversion needs.

Unlike trading on the stock market, the Forex market is not conducted by a central exchange, but on the “interbank” market, which is thought of as an OTC (over the counter) market. Trading takes place directly between the two counterparts necessary to make a trade, whether over the telephone or on electronic networks all over the world. The main centres for trading are Sydney, Tokyo, London, Frankfurt and New York. This worldwide distribution of trading centres means that the Forex market is a 24-hour market.


Trading Forex

A currency trade is the simultaneous buying of one currency and selling of another one. The currency combination used in the trade is called a cross (for example, the euro/US dollar, or the GB pound/Japanese yen.). The most commonly traded currencies are the so-called “majors” – EURUSD, USDJPY, USDCHF and GBPUSD.

The most important Forex market is the spot market as it has the largest volume. The market is called the spot market because trades are settled immediately, or “on the spot”. In practice this means two banking days.


Forward Outrights

For forward outrights, settlement on the value date selected in the trade means that even though the trade itself is carried out immediately, there is a small interest rate calculation left. The interest rate differential doesn't usually affect trade considerations unless you plan on holding a position with a large differential for a long period of time. The interest rate differential varies according to the cross you are trading. On the USDCHF, for example, the interest rate differential is quite small, whereas the differential on NOKJPY is large. This is because if you trade e.g. NOKJPY, you get almost 7% (annual) interest in Norway and close to 0% in Japan. So, if you borrow money in Japan, to finance the trade and buying NOK, you have a positive interest rate differential. This differential has to be calculated and added to your account. You can have both a positive and a negative interest rate differential, so it may work for or against you when you make a trade.


Trading on Margin

Trading on margin means that you can buy and sell assets that represent more value than the capital in your account. Forex trading is usually conducted with relatively small margin deposits. This is useful since it permits investors to exploit currency exchange rate fluctuations which tend to be very small. A margin of 1.0% means you can trade up to USD 1,000,000 even though you only have USD 10,000 in your account. A margin of 1% corresponds to a 100:1 leverage (or “gearing”). (Because USD 10,000 is 1% of USD 1,000,000.) Using this much leverage enables you to make profits very quickly, but there is also a greater risk of incurring large losses and even being completely wiped out. Therefore, it is inadvisable to maximise your leveraging as the risks can be very high. For more information on the trading conditions of Saxo Bank, go to the Account Summary on your SaxoTrader and open the section entitled “Trading Conditions” found in the top right-hand corner of the Account Summary.


Why Trade Forex?

  • 24 hour trading

    One of the major advantages of trading Forex is the opportunity to trade 24 hours a day from Sunday evening (20:00 GMT) to Friday evening (22:00 GMT). This gives you a unique opportunity to react instantly to breaking news that is affecting the markets.
  • Superior liquidity

    The Forex market is so liquid that there are always buyers and sellers to trade with. The liquidity of this market, especially that of the major currencies, helps ensure price stability and narrow spreads. The liquidity comes mainly from banks that provide liquidity to investors, companies, institutions and other currency market players.
  • No commissions

    The fact that Forex is often traded without commissions makes it very attractive as an investment opportunity for investors who want to deal on a frequent basis.
    Trading the “majors” is also cheaper than trading other cross because of the high level of liquidity. For more information on the trading conditions of Saxo Bank, go to the Account Summary on your SaxoTrader and open the section entitled “Trading Conditions” found in the top right-hand corner of the Account Summary.
  • 100:1 Leverage

    Leverage (gearing) enables you to hold a position worth up to 100 times more than your margin deposit. For example, a USD 10,000 deposit can command positions of up to USD 1,000,000 through leverage. You can leverage the first USD 25,000 of your investment up to 100 times and additional collateral up to 50 times.
  • Profit potential in falling markets

    Since the market is constantly moving, there are always trading opportunities, whether a currency is strengthening or weakening in relation to another currency. When you trade currencies, they literally work against each other. If the EURUSD declines, for example, it is because the US dollar gets stronger against the euro and vice versa. So, if you think the EURUSD will decline (that is, that the euro will weaken versus the dollar), you would sell EUR now and then later you buy euro back at a lower price. In case that the EURUSD indeed declines, then you can take your profit. The opposite trading scenario would occur if the EURUSD appreciates.


Important Forex Trading Terms

  • Spread

    The spread is the difference between the price that you can sell currency at (Bid) and the price you can buy currency at (Ask). The spread on majors is usually 3 pips under normal market conditions. For more information on the trading conditions at Saxo Bank, go to the Account Summary on your Client Station and open the section entitled “Trading Conditions” found in the top right-hand corner of the Account Summary.
  • Pips

    A pip is the smallest unit by which a cross price quote changes. When trading Forex you will often hear that there is a 3-pip spread when you trade the majors. This spread is revealed when you compare the bid and the ask price, for example EURUSD is quoted at a bid price of 0.9875 and an ask price of 0.9878. The difference is USD 0.0003, which is equal to 3 “pips”.

    On a contract or position, the value of a pip can easily be calculated. You know that the EURUSD is quoted with four decimals, so all you have to do is cancel out the four zeros on the amount you trade and you will have the value of one pip. Thus, on a EURUSD 100,000 contract, one pip is USD 10. On a USDJPY 100,000 contract, one pip is equal to 1000 yen, because USDJPY is quoted with only two decimals.

Definitions of FOREX on the Web:

The foreign exchange market (forex, FX, or currency market) is a worldwide decentralized over-the-counter financial market for the trading of currencies. Financial centers around the world function as anchors of trading between a wide range of different types of buyers and sellers around the clock, with the exception of weekends. The foreign exchange market determines the relative values of different currencies.

The primary purpose of the foreign exchange market is to assist international trade and investment, by allowing businesses to convert one currency to another currency. For example, it permits a US business to import European goods and pay Euros, even though the business's income is in US dollars. It also supports speculation, and facilitates the carry trade, in which investors borrow low-yielding currencies and lend (invest in) high-yielding currencies, and which (it has been claimed) may lead to loss of competitiveness in some countries.

In a typical foreign exchange transaction a party purchases a quantity of one currency by paying a quantity of another currency. The modern foreign exchange market started forming during the 1970s when countries gradually switched to floating exchange rates from the previous exchange rate regime, which remained fixed as per the Bretton Woods system.

An Introduction to Forex Trading

Firstly, I'd like to say welcome to this site! This site was designed to provide information for traders and investors who want to learn about the forex market and what it can offer. To help you navigate the site better, choose from one of the following three categories below as to what level of knowledge and experience you have of the forex market: