BUYING/SELLING CURRENCY
Cardinal Rule: All trades result in the buying of one currency and the selling of another, simultaneously.
The objective of currency trading is to exchange one currency for another with the expectation that the market rate or price will change such that the currency pair you have bought has appreciated in value relative to the currency you have sold. If the currency you have bought appreciates in value and you close your open position by selling this currency, or effectively buying the currency that you originally sold, then you are locking in a profit. If the currency depreciates in value and you close your open position by selling this currency, or effectively buying the currency you have sold, then you are realizing a loss.
BASIC ENTRY & EXIT RULES
- Buying a currency is equivalent with taking a long position in that currency.
- Selling a currency is equivalent with selling short that currency.
OPEN TRADE
An open trade or position is one in which a trader has either bought or sold one currency pair and has not sold or bought back an adequate amount of that currency pair to effectively close the trade. When a trader has an open trade or position, he/she stands to profit or lose from fluctuations in the price of that currency pair.
CURENCY SPREAD AND DEALING RATES
A currency exchange rate is always quoted for a currency pair. For example, EUR/USD refers to two currencies: the Euro Dollar and the US Dollar.
EXCHANGE RATES
An exchange rate is simply the ratio of one currency valued against another. The first currency is referred to as the base currency and the second as the counter or quote currency. If buying, an exchange rate specifies how much you have to pay in the counter or quote currency to obtain one unit of the base currency. If selling, the exchange rate specifies how much you get in the counter or quote currency when selling one unit of the base currency.
A currency exchange rate is typically given as a bid price and an ask price. The bid price is always lower than the ask price. The bid price represents what will be obtained in the quote currency when selling one unit of the base currency. The ask price represents what has to be paid in the quote currency to obtain one unit of the base currency. The following EUR/USD price quote is an example of bid/ask notation:
EUR/USD: .9726 / .9731
The first component (before the slash) refers to the BID price (what you obtain in USD when you sell EUR). In this example, the BID price is .9726. The second component (after the slash) is used to obtain the ASK price (what you have to pay in EUR if you buy USD). In this example, the ASK price is .9731.
SPREAD
The difference between the bid and the ask price is referred to as the spread. In the example above, the spread is .05 or 5 pips. Unlike the EUR/USD, some currency pair quotes are carried out to the 2nd decimal place (i.e. USD/JPY may be quoted at 119.45/50), in which case 5 pips represents a difference of .05. Although a pip may seem small, a movement of one pip in either direction can translate into thousands of dollars in gains or losses in the inter-bank market.
DIRECT RATES
Most currencies are traded directly against the US Dollar. The market rates that are expressed for such currency pairs are called direct rates. In most cases, the US Dollar is the base currency pair whereby the quote currency is expressed as a certain number of units per 1 US Dollar. For example, the following rate USD/CAD=1.4500 indicates that 1 USD (US Dollars)= 1.4500 CAD (Canadian Dollars).
INDIRECT RATES
For some currency pairs, the US Dollar is not the base currency but the counter or quote currency. The market rates that are expressed for such currency pairs are called indirect rates. This is the case with GBP (British Pound or "Cable"), NZD (New Zealand Dollar), EUR (Eurodollar), and AUD (Australian Dollar). For example, the following rate GBP/USD=1.5800 indicates that 1 GBP (British Pound)= 1.5800 USD (US Dollars).
CROSS RATES
When one currency is traded against any currency other than the USD, the market rate for this currency pair is called a cross rate. Cross rate is the exchange rate between two currencies not involving the US Dollar. Although the US dollar rates do not appear in the final cross rate, they are usually used in the calculation and so must be known. Trading between two non-US Dollar currencies usually occurs by first trading one against the US Dollar and then trading the US Dollar against the second non-US Dollar currency. There are a few non-US Dollar currencies that are traded directly, such as GBP/EUR or EUR/CHF.
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