Thursday, December 13, 2018

Your toolbox price alerts

As currency markets move around the clock, having a reliable alert service is important. This is because major setups can occur at any time, so if you have the ability to be warned when they come, you can put money to work in a market set up that you have determined previously. The Internet has several different places that you can go, but one of our favorites is Alert FX.

This website gives you the ability to put a price alert for most currency pairs, and the method of delivery is also an option. If your price gets hit, you can have the service send you an SMS when these things happen, and thereby put your money to work when the correct situation arises.

There are a multitude of applications out there that you can trade with as well that have the possibility of having price alerts set also, so obviously that is always an option if your brokerage offers that. Otherwise, this service allows you to not only get SMS signals, but RSS signals, email, ICQ, twitter, or even Google Talk.

This is especially important when there is a specific level that you are paying attention to. For example, if you have noticed that the Australian dollar has been banging up against the 0.80 level for several weeks, you know that a breach of that level will be important. In that situation, you simply put an alert on for your price, and when your cell phone let you know that it’s time to get involved, you do. It doesn’t matter if it’s in the middle of the night or the middle of the day, it gives you an opportunity to watch out for those major levels. I have used this more than once to get involved in what should be either a major trend change, or the next leg higher on the overall attitude of a currency. The best part of the services is that many of them are free.

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Your toolbox position size calculator

Very straightforward answer to the risk-management problem in the Forex market is knowing how much you are risking per pip. Unfortunately, most traders don’t take the time to understand their risk profile, and what they could lose per trade. I believe that the fact that most traders focus on what they can gain instead of what they can lose, they tend to dig themselves into a deep hole rather quickly.

A position size calculator figures out how much each tick in a trade is going to be worth, and more importantly, the position size you need to use. You need to be cautious by applying too much leverage to your trades and using the calculator can keep you from doing so. For example, if you need a 100 pip stop loss, and want to keep your risk below a certain percentage, it’s a simple mathematical equation that the application will do for you.

If you look online, there are plenty of pip value calculators out there that you can use for free. The one at Baby Pips is one of the better ones and can be found at https://www.babypips.com/tools/position-size-calculator with its sleek form and simple interface. You pick the currency pair, the account balance, and then stop loss in pips. By default, you have an account currency of the US dollar. However, if you are using another currency as your base, you can adjust the base accordingly.

As an example, you might need a 100 pip stop loss and have a balance of $10,000 in your trading account. If you are trying to risk 1%, you simply hit the calculate button, and it gives you the position size in units, standard lines, mini lots, and micro lots. This is one of the most valuable tools out there that I have found.

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Your toolbox Forex time zone converter

Your toolbox Forex market time zone converter

The Forex markets are global, and therefore a 24-hour situation that moves fluidly. The markets aren’t always the same though, so it is important to understand who is online, and more importantly – how liquidity is in the market. The markets will sometimes be more likely to move, if there are more participants. The London market is the busiest, as the largest traders tend to be in that city, or at least the time zone.

The second busiest market is the North American market, or “New York session.” The busiest time of the day is typically the convergence of New York and London. This will have the largest funds in the world trading at the same time, meaning that the liquidity is highest.

Asian markets are the least liquid, meaning that the least amount of volume is traded when those are the markets in control. The Asian markets can move violently as well as the other ones, but typically won’t be as likely. The other problem that you can run into is the larger spreads that the markets will have. The trading session in the middle of Asia can often feature little in the way of volatility, and larger spreads. In contrast, the average day trader will often prefer the European (London) session, as the spreads are smaller, and the liquidity higher. It really comes down to the strategy that you are using, and the timeframe that you are interested in.

Longer-term traders typically don’t care as much about these things, but the short-term trader should pay attention. By using a Forex market time zone converter, you can see which markets, and by extension banks, are open and trading. The more markets that are open, the better the trading conditions, especially for you day traders. There are a lot of free tools on the net, but in this example, I am using this one: http://forex.timezoneconverter.com

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Your toolbox Forex correlation chart

When placing a Forex trade, one of the most common mistakes that a new trader will make is that they don’t understand how the global markets are correlated. For example, the Australian dollar is highly leveraged to the gold markets, as Australia is one of the largest exporters of gold in the world. It makes sense that if gold starts to rise, more people are buying it from Australian miners, which of course need to be paid in the Australian dollar. This creates demand for the currency. However, most new traders don’t understand that there are plenty of opportunities to figure out the correlations on the Internet, in various freely available charts and tables.

One of the best charts that I have found online is found that http://www.myfxbook.com, as it lists not only Forex pairs, but commodities and indices around the world. When you look at the chart, you can see how a currency pair performs against other currency pairs or financial instruments. The results are shown in percentage form, and with either a positive or negative correlation. For example, the AUD/JPY pair is 94% correlated to the EUR/JPY pair. In other words, if the AUD/JPY pair is starting to rally, the EUR/JPY pair tends to rally as well. Obviously, if one is falling, there’s a 94% chance of the other one is as well. By contrast, the CHF/JPY pair is negatively correlated to the EUR/AUD pair with the result of -81.4%. This means that 81.4% of the time the pairs will move in opposite directions.

So how does this help you win trading? It’s quite simple, if you know that there is a high correlation between 2 markets, you can watch one move, and then place the trade that you’re looking at in the correlating market if it needs to catch up. You can also look at a cross correlation with some type of indices as well. For example, Silver/EUR will move in a 52.9% correlation to the EUR/USD pair. This makes sense, because typically money will flow away from the US dollar, which almost always means that the EUR will gain strength, just as precious metals will.

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Your toolbox dual monitors

While it may not be the first thing you think of when it comes to a Forex trading tool, having a second monitor on your computer set up can make a huge difference. This will be especially true if you are an active trader, scalping bits and pieces during the session.

Having dual monitors gives you the opportunity to pay attention to the Forex markets that you are trading, but more importantly pay attention to some of the peripheral information as well. This can come in the form of news, analysis, or correlating markets. For example, if you are trading the Australian dollar, you may be looking to pay attention to the gold market simultaneously, as the two markets are so highly correlated.

As you can see, having the ability to monitor different situations around the world and what has become such a highly correlated global market will continue to be crucial. I think that with the nature of the Forex markets being so interconnected to equity, futures, and bond markets, it’s difficult to pay attention to the markets without having enough real estate to lay all of your charts and tools out on.

In the example that I have in this video, I’m using an Australian dollar Forex chart while simultaneously pulling out Bloomberg news online, found freely available on YouTube. This gives you the opportunity to pay attention to news as it breaks, and of course react accordingly. This is especially useful when you are expecting economic news announcements, and of course political speeches and situations.

Most modern video cards allow for at least two inputs from your monitors, so there’s no need to skimp. At this point, most laptops also give you the ability to add an external monitor as well, so you should spend the couple of hundred dollars and get this important addition to your trading set up.

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Your toolbox Commitment of Traders report

In the never-ending quest to figure out what the market may do next, one of the few official reports that are available to give you an idea of market sentiment is going to be the Commitment of Traders report coming out of the CFTC in the United States. You can go to the CFTC website to see these reports, but there are some brokers out there such as Oanda that post these charts on their trading sites.

Using Oanda as an example, you can see the futures contract and the commitment of non-commercial traders. They offer an insight as to what speculators are doing, which of course has an influence on the overall price of a currency pair. This chart will show how people are trading a particular futures contract, which is listed as a currency against the US dollar. For example, when you look at the Euro Commitment of Traders report, you are looking at the futures market for the EUR traded against the US dollar. These futures contracts are treated around the clock and are highly liquid. While they are not part of the spot Forex market, they give us an idea as to how traders feel about a particular currency.

You can see that there is a blue histogram on the chart, showing the attitude of the markets. If we break higher, that shows that there are more net long positions out there, showing bullish pricing. Alternately, if there is a histogram below the zero level, then there are more net short positions, showing bearish attitudes.

There is also a section of the report called “open interest.” This tells you the number of contracts out there that people are trading, which is essentially the same thing as saying volume. The more volume, the more convinced traders are that they should be going in one direction or the other. While not a crystal ball, the Commitment of Traders report can give you an idea as to where people are trying to get to.

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US dollar as a risk barometer

New Zealand dollar and agriculture

The New Zealand dollar, long considered a staple in the commodity currency sector, is highly sensitive to specific commodities. This is because New Zealand is a huge exporter of agricultural commodities to Asian countries, with a particular focus on China.

As one would expect, the New Zealand dollar will quite often move with specific exports. After all, if the Chinese are coming into purchase a lot of milk, then they will need to do so in New Zealand dollars. This creates a natural demand for the Kiwi dollar. By extension, if agricultural commodities are declining, this can put downward pressure on the New Zealand dollar as well.

There are a couple of ways that you can track how agricultural commodities are doing. You can go through each individual futures market, you can use an ETF, such as the MOO, which is an agricultural ETF issued by VanEck, or simply look for import and export numbers coming out of China, but that is a bit difficult to track.

On the attached chart, I have three lines. I have the blue line which is the New Zealand dollar versus the United States dollar, the orange line which is the MOO ETF, and the pink line which is the front month Milk III futures contract. You can see clearly that the New Zealand dollar tends to rise and fall with the ETF, as well as the milk contract, which of course makes a significant amount of sense considering that New Zealand export so much milk to Asia.

Granted, other things can move the New Zealand dollar, but all things being equal agricultural commodities will be a major portion of what influences the market. The better the Asian economy does, the more likely they are to buy more commodities from the Kiwis. Obviously, this works in both directions.

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New Zealand dollar and agriculture

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Henyep Markets (HYCM) Review

Account types

Henyep offers three different account types, all offering the opportunity to trade in micro lots. There is the Fixed account, the Classic account, and the Raw account. There are also Islamic swap free accounts available as well.
Trading conditions and deposits

Initial deposit

To open up an account with Henyep, you can begin trading with as little as $100. In fact, you can use either the Fixed or Classic accounts with just the initial $100 deposit. To get a Raw account, you need to open up with $200.

Henyep allows deposits through bank wire, Visa, Neteller, Skrill, Mastercard, and WebMoney. There are no fees to deposit, or withdrawal. However, it should be noted that bank wires need to be at least $250. The other deposit methods can be as little as $20.

Spreads and commissions

The Fixed account offers fixed spreads, with spreads being as low as 1.8 pips. The minimum trade volume is 0.01 lots, allowing for micro lot trading. The Classic account offers variable spreads, with spreads on currency pairs as low as 1.2 pips, and the ability to also trade micro lots. Beyond that, there is the Raw account, which offers the tightest spreads, but charges a commission of four dollars per lot. It also allows you to trade micro lots.

Leverage

Henyep allows 1:200 leverage, which is a reasonable ratio. However, keep in mind that there are brokers out there that offer much more, but understand that leverage isn’t necessarily a good thing if you don’t know how to use it properly. While it does allow you to multiply the profits on a small account, it also allows you to blow up that small account much quicker.

Security of funds and company information

Henyep has been in the trading business since 1977, making it one of the oldest brokers that you will run across. It is also highly regulated, from its initial days at the Hong Kong Gold and Silver Exchange Society, to the year 1998, when it got its FCA license and the United Kingdom. Since then, it has gone on to be regulated in Cyprus as well.

Range of markets

Henyep offers a wide range of financial instruments to trade, including Forex, Stocks, Indices, Commodities, and Cryptocurrencies. The Forex pairs that they offer include all of the usual suspects such as the Euro, but also offers such exotics as the Indian rupee. The stock offerings are a bit slim, but they do allow you to trade the CFDs on companies such as Facebook and Google. It should also be noted that stocks trade with leverage rated at 1:20. The indices include US and British ones, while the Crypto markets include the four most popular coins. Gold and silver are both offered in the US dollar and Euro denominations. All of these are available on Metatrader 4.

Added values

Henyep offers some of the usual Forex trading tools such as economic calendars and market opinion, as well as a knowledge base and the occasional webinar for their online classroom.

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Forex Time FXTM Review

FXTM (Forex Time) Review

Account types

Forex Time offers several different trading accounts, which can be thought of as belonging to two groups: the standard account, and the ECN account. With the standard accounts, you get exactly what you would expect, a typical account that can be anything from the Standard type of currency count, the Cent account, and there Shares account, used for trading CFDs on stock chares that is connected to the NYSE and NASDAQ price listings. With ECN account, you have the ECN MT4 account, ECN MT5 account, ECN Zero, and Pro accounts.

Beyond that, there is also the possibility of trading a swap free Islamic account, which involves a small fee of $1.70 per lot. Forex Time allows micro, many, and standard lots available on all account types.

Trading conditions and deposits

Initial deposit

To open up an account with FXTM, you can start with as little as five dollars to begin. However, some of the more specialized or ECN accounts could ask for more in the way of deposit, extending all the way to the Pro account which begins at $25,000. As with most multi-tiered brokerages, spreads and commissions vary depending on the account size, but suffice to say the larger accounts do get the better conditions.

Forex Time offers a ton of deposit and withdrawal methods, most of which have either no fee, or very minor to say the least. Anything from Bitcoin to bank wires, credit cards, and even many of the world’s global payment systems are accepted.

Spreads and commissions

Most of the accounts that Forex Time offers are commission free. This includes standard, ECN Zero, and Pro accounts. However, with the ECN MT4 and MT5 accounts, there is a small commission fee of four dollars per standard lot round-trip.

Floating spreads are offered by this broker, but very depending on the account side. The tightest spreads of course are available on the ECN and Pro accounts, but obviously with the large initial deposit for Pro accounts, they are meant for institutional clients. As an example, with the ECN MT4 account, typical spreads start at just 0.4 pips in the EUR/USD pair. If you include the commission in that scenario, $2 x 2, this brings the trading cost for EUR/USD to roughly 0.8 pips per lot.

Leverage

Forex Time offers high leverage levels, as much as 1:1000. However, in regard to cryptocurrency CFDs, the leverage drops down to 1:10, as they tend to be much more volatile and dangerous than normal Forex markets.

Security of funds and company information

Forex Time is a multitier broker that has offices around the world and is regulated in various national regulatory bodies such as the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Cyprus Commodities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), and in some of their peripheral companies, are regulated in other such countries such as South Africa. The company was founded in 2011 by one of the cofounders of Alpari.

Range of markets

Forex Time offers a large range of markets, including currencies, CFDs on commodities, CFDs on Indices, Spot Metals, Share CFDs, and Cryptocurrency CFDs. This opens up a world of trading, as you can go along the New Zealand dollar, while shorting the US dollar. At the same time, you could look into some other exotic Forex pairs such as the Swiss franc versus the Norwegian krone. Beyond that, you have the ability to trade the energy markets, the world’s major Indices, four of the world’s most popular crypto’s, and of course spot metals, and a long list of US shares.

As the world has become much more interconnected, it’s important that you have the ability to diversify your holdings. With the truly global reach of its markets offerings, Forex Time gives you the ability to do so. Forex Time presently offers over 250 financial instruments to choose from.

Added values

Forex Time offers daily market analysis, as well as quarterly market forecasts. There are e-books, trading seminars, trading webinars, a glossary, and a plethora of educational materials that the trader can delve into.

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What are CFDs

What are CFDs?

One of the great things about Forex brokers is that they will quite often offer other markets beyond currencies. They do this by offering something known as a CFD, or “Contract for Difference.” This is a flexible contract in which you are placing a trade in anticipation of prices moving in an underlying instrument. However, unlike other financial instruments, you don’t actually own the underlying asset.

For example, you may wish to trade the wheat market, which is typically traded in the futures market. The biggest issue that many retail traders face is that it takes a significant amount of margin to trade that futures contract. Beyond that, futures contracts have a set size, so if you wish to trade an odd amount that is not part of the standard futures contract, you can run into serious issues. However, with the CFD market, you can trade wheat in as little or as large of the position as you choose, while not worrying about how many bushels the standard contract is.

CFDs are found around the world and covering a plethora of instruments. They can be commodities, stocks, bonds, and indices. For example, if you choose to trade the DAX, you can place a trade with your broker, close out the trade when you are done, and you either keep the difference between the opening value in the closing value, or have that difference subtracted from your account. This offers a very convenient way to trade other markets and can be a great way to play the global correlations that we see these days.

The most common CFD contracts that you will see add brokerage firms will be for gold, silver, and oil. However, some brokerage firms have hundreds of CFD markets that are available. CFD trading offers an immense amount of flexibility, as well as convenience, giving you the opportunity to trade the world from one platform. However, CFD regulation varies depending on the country you are in, so make sure to check your local regulations. For example, CFD trading is not available in the United States. However, it is very popular around the world.

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CFDs Weather cycles and natural gas

Weather cycles and natural gas

Weather has a major influence on the natural gas markets, and there is also a cyclical aspect to it as well. This makes sense if you think about it long enough, because the United States uses a lot of natural gas to heat homes in the Northeast, and as temperatures dip it should bring in a lot of demand.

On the attached chart, you can see that I have three salmon colored rectangles, showing when we have had spikes in price during three of the last four years in the last couple of months per calendar year. There was a bit of an outlier at the end of 2015, because at that point fracking really took off in the United States, flooding the market with oversupply.

Even though the market has been a bit soft over the last couple of years, there still is that sudden burst higher during the months of November and December, as shown on this weekly chart. This is an easy way to take advantage of what is the norm of the market and pick up some year-end profit. By extension, you can see that as we roll over into the new year, natural gas starts to sell off and anticipation for the warmer temperatures in the springtime, which of course drives down demand. In fact, this is one of the more reliable trades that I know of in the CFD market. Just as Christmas shopping season approaches, natural gas markets start to rally. Beyond that, sometime in the first week or two of January, quite often you can short this market as well, because remember the CFD markets are working on the front month and the futures market, and by then we are normally talking March. While not an exact science, it certainly is a reasonably reliable market phenomenon.

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CFDs Using a CFD broker to play global correlations

As mentioned previously, one of the great things about trading the CFD market is the ability to take advantage of global assets and more importantly in this example, correlations. For people who use standard Forex brokers, the world is limited to trading currencies only. While currency markets certainly do offer great trading opportunities, they aren’t the only ones that are available, and if you understand global markets and the way that they interact, using a CFD broker adds a lot of versatility and flexibility in your trading opportunities.

In this example, I’m looking at the Australian dollar against the US dollar. This of course is one of the major Forex pairs, in a market that most of you will be familiar with. The Australian dollar is highly influenced by the gold markets, as Australia is one of the larger producers of gold in the world. It is because of this that many currency traders will buy and sell the Australian dollar right along with gold. If gold rallies, the Australian dollar will typically strengthen as well, as it shows that there will be high demand for one of Australia’s largest commodities. Beyond that, if you think about how gold buying will be done, the Australian companies need to be paid in Australian dollars. This means that people are changing out their home currencies for Australian dollars. This puts upward pressure on the AUD/USD pair, and for that matter all Australian dollar pairs where it is the quote currency. However, the exact opposite is true, meaning that if gold falls it is quite often a sign that the Australian dollar will fall as well.

However, if you find yourself a bit late trading the Australian dollar itself, will you might be able to do is get involved in gold and traded accordingly if it is lagging, something that is quite possible. Over the longer term, both markets move in the same direction and you can take advantage of inefficiencies when you spot them if you have the ability to trade both markets. The CFD broker allows you to flip back and forth, meaning that you can truly trade the global markets. Obviously, there are other correlations that you can get involved with such as the Canadian dollar and crude oil, the Mexican peso and crude oil, and many others. By using a CFD broker, you allow yourself the opportunity to not only take a trade that is showing inefficiency, but also pay attention to fundamental factors for currencies by flipping through charts.

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CFDs Weather cycles and natural gas

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CFDs – Using a CFD broker to play global correlations

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CFDs US dollar and crude oil

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CFDs Not all CFD brokers are equal

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CFDs offer the ability to trade stocks after hours

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CFDs Correlation in the energy markets

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CFDs CFDs make shorting stocks much cheaper

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CFDs CFD markets offer flexibility in margin requirements

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Agricultural CFDs and weather

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CFDs US dollar and crude oil

US dollar and crude oil

The US dollar and crude oil markets are highly correlated, in a negative fashion. What I mean by this is that the stronger the US dollar gets, quite often that can put a bit of bearish pressure on crude oil, because it takes less of those US dollars to buy a barrel. Beyond that, you can also have the US dollar strengthening because of geopolitical concerns when it comes to trade, which of course has people looking for the safety of the treasury markets and perhaps thinking that global demand for energy may drop.

On the attached chart, I have three markets represented. The candle stick chart is the crude oil market on the weekly timeframe, while the orange line chart is the Euro against the US dollar. This is one of the easiest ways to tell what the US dollar is doing overall, as it is roughly 60% of the US Dollar Index. Beyond that, I have the blue line on the chart that represents the USD/CAD pair, with of course the Canadian dollar being a proxy for crude oil as it is so important when it comes to exporting oil to the rest of the world.

As you can see, oil prices have been rising over the last several months, while the EUR/USD pair has done the same. Quite frankly, you should keep in mind that there are a lot of European Union issues going on at the same time, so the fact that the EUR/USD pair is rallying in and of itself is rather impressive. Going throughout history, you can see several times where the USD/CAD pair has gone up and down with the oil market, although this has diverged a bit from time to time. This is because so many people will need to buy Canadian dollars to purchase crude oil from that country. Obviously, the opposite is true as well.

While not a 100% predictor of what goes on in the oil markets, it can give you an idea as to whether oil is going to rise or fall with the EUR/USD pair being positively correlated, and the USD/CAD pair being negatively correlated.

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CFDs Not all CFD brokers are equal

Not all CFD brokers are equal

While most Forex brokers offer roughly 20 pairs in the currency markets, the CFD market can be quite a different animal. For example, almost all Forex brokers offering CFD trading will start with silver and gold. Beyond that, the most common CFD is for crude oil.

However, there are some CFD brokerage firms out there that offer thousands of instruments to trade. Obviously, there are several different amounts of CFDs available between various brokerages, but if you are interested in trading copper for example, you need to look for that before putting your money to work. Opening an account with the CFD broker only to find out that they offer just a handful of markets is counterproductive.

There are some brokerage firms out there that offer CFDs against individual stocks, and at that point you could be talking thousands of markets to trade. It comes down to what market you want to trade, but in general what you will find is that most of the major stocks are covered. For example, one of the most common CFD stocks out there will be Apple. You can also expect to see IBM, Google, Citibank, and the like.

The advantage of finding a CFD broker that has individual stocks from several different countries is that it allows you to play the global marketplace from one account. This is one of the major advantages to a CFD broker, because you don’t need large deposits to do so. You can trade according to your account size. While there are some brokerage firms out there that allow you to trade stocks in various countries on the actual stock exchange, and those brokers tend to be very expensive with a high barrier to entry, quite often an initial deposit requirement of $10,000 or more. With a little bit of searching, you can find a global brokerage firm that allows you to take advantage of multiple opportunities. This is one of the biggest mistakes that new traders will make, they will settle for a broker that offers just a couple of CFD markets, only to find that they want to trade many other markets and can’t.

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CFDs offer the ability to trade stocks after hours

One of my favorite benefits of trading the contract for difference market is that it gives you the ability to trade stocks after hours. Remember, the markets are based upon the underlying movement of price, and the market doesn’t necessarily need the stock market to be moving. It’s based upon the expectation of price by those involved in the CFD market.

For example, if you are trading a US-based stock, you can trade during US hours only if you are trading through the actual Stock exchange. However, if you are trading through the CFD brokerage firm, quite often you can trade 24 hours. When you look at a stock chart, there are a lot of gaps, both higher and lower. By trading through the CFD market, you have the ability to take advantage of fundamental news “overnight.” What I mean by this is that in the stock market you are very likely to see headlines cross the wires overnight involving specific companies. If you are trading through the New York Stock Exchange for example, you need to wait until trading opens again the next day. However, with the CFD market you can take advantage of the news immediately.

On the attached chart, I have Facebook shown on the 4-hour timeframe. You can see clearly that Facebook has gapped several times over the last several sessions, causing risk to the underlying portfolio of people who hold that stock. I believe that the market is much easier to deal with when you can jump in and out 24 hours at a time, as we have the ability to be much more nimble. In general, CFD markets make a much more flexible way to base your global trading upon, and that’s why we love them.

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CFDs Correlation in the energy markets

Correlation in energy markets

When trading the CFD market, some things you should pay attention to that are a bit different than currencies is the correlation between sectors. For example, the energy markets, most likely to be expressed in US oil, UK oil, and natural gas will quite often move very similarly.

The most obvious correlation is between Brent (UK oil) and WTI (US oil) markets. They are both petroleum products, and simply a different grade of crude oil. When you look at the longer-term price movement, there is typically a bit of a spread between these markets, and they move in the same direction. However, typically one will be more expensive than the other. On the weekly chart that I have attached in this video it’s obvious that the West Texas Intermediate market tends to be a bit more volatile, but on the whole they tend to move in the same direction.

We also have the natural gas markets that a lot of CFD market makers will offer. While this market is a little bit disconnected from crude oil itself, the reality is that the underlying demand for energy will have a correlated effect across all of these markets. However, when you look at these markets, natural gas is a market that has an extreme amount of supply, so it does keep natural gas a bit cheaper. When looking at energy demand though, typically rising energy demand will drive all three of these markets.

And this brings me to my point: you need to be cautious about putting too much money to work in competing directions when it comes to energy trading. Overall, energy trading focuses on things like jobs numbers, industrial output, things along those lines that suggests that there could be more buying. Energy markets are a crucial part of CFD trading, and you should be aware that they do tend to move in tandem overall.

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CFDs CFDs make shorting stocks much cheaper

CFDs make shorting stocks much cheaper

CFD brokers allow traders to go both long and short in various financial markets. One of the places that this becomes much handier is in individual stocks. The CFD broker allows you to trade with a much smaller amount of margin than the standard stockbroker will. In fact, some stock brokers won’t even allow you to short sell, or you may find various other problems with trying to do so.

Margin is a major issue when it comes to shorting stocks, because some stockbrokers will make you carry 100% margin. In other words, if you are trying to short $8,000 worth of stocks, you need to keep that amount of margin in your account. Others will ask for 50% of the position. So, with an $80 stock that you are trying to short, you will have to do so with at least 100 shares. That is the figure I use to come up with the previous $8000 example. Think about that for a while, because if you must come up with 1000 and margin, that ties up a massive amount of trading capital.

However, if you are using the CFD broker, it may be as little as 3%. That allows you to trade many more positions than with one of the larger typical brokers. Beyond that, one of the major issues that you have is that the stock you want to start selling my not be able to be traded. You must borrow stocks in order to short them, and not all stocks are available, or perhaps might be difficult to combine. By using the CFD market, you avoid all of those issues in simply take advantage of the price movement more than anything else, and that of course is the essence of which are trying to do. Simply put, shorting a stock through the CFD market makes much more sense.

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CFDs CFD markets offer flexibility in margin requirements

CFD markets offer flexibility in margin requirements

One of the main drivers of traders to the CFD markets is that contracts are not standardized. While the futures markets give you a standardize contract size, the contract for difference markets are a bit different, because you are betting on the price move itself, not the actual market. What I mean by this is that you can trade as little as one share in a stock, rather than buying a full lot, or 100 shares. If you are to trade the futures for Apple for example, there is a standardized size that is far too expensive in the form of a lot for most retail traders.

In this example, we will take a look at the silvers futures market. The “SI contract” is 5000 ounces. While the futures market does give you an opportunity to pick up silver cheaper than you would by purchasing it outright, the futures markets are expensive to get involved with. For example, buying the SI contract through US futures markets demands an initial margin that is larger than most retail accounts. To buy one contract at the time of recording, you need to have $3960 as margin. Compare that to the average CFD broker out there that can offer is much as 50 to 1 margin. In other words, if the silver market is currently trading at $17.50, that means that a full contract is worth $87,500. If the broker offers 50 to 1 margin, you could trade an entire contract with as little as $1750 for margin.

Better yet, you can trade 0.25 lots, for only $437.50 for margin. This allows you to trade a much more reasonable size and opens up a world of possibilities as you can now trade precious metal. Obviously, each market is a little bit different as far as the initial margin needed at the futures exchanges, but this gives you an idea as to just how innovative and helpful CFD brokers can be in this aspect.

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Agricultural CFDs and weather

One of the unique aspects of trading CFD markets presents itself when you trade agricultural commodities. Unlike many other CFD markets, there is a lot of risk in the markets based upon something that is very difficult to forecast: the weather. It is because of this that you need to understand what weather is doing in certain parts of the world.

Without a doubt, the biggest agricultural influence is going to be in the central part of the United States when it comes to weather. Corn, wheat, soybeans, and many other “softs” are produced in massive quantities and that area. The weather forecast can be very difficult to get a grasp on, but it is going to be crucial if you’re going to trade these markets.

For example, I have a Corn CFD chart in front of you. Understanding what the weather is doing in a place like Kansas is crucial. The cyclical part of what we are going through during the year also has a major effect on price. For example, pricing corn typically drops from Midsummer into the harvest. In July, it’s quite common that prices are high, because the factors associated with the old crop supplies and uncertainty over how much new crop will be planted. This is where weather can come into play as well, because if the weather is not favorable, it can shrink yields, or perhaps even wipeout crops. This is going to be different for every market, but there is a great page on seasonality at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange website.

Also, the occasional flood can wipeout crops as well, and of course there’s always drought to worry about. It is because of this that you need to have a source of information for weather in the central part of the US for some of these crops. Intellicast, AgWeb, and several other websites have excellent weather forecast pages that you can pay attention to. Some trading platforms and the futures markets even have weather maps included for agricultural trading as well.

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Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Anti-ageing, Face lifting massage - Abigail James Facialist

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Thursday, December 6, 2018

Coinbase Exchange Review - Set Up Your First Cryptocurrency Account

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Wednesday, December 5, 2018

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Monday, December 3, 2018

Destek markets UK ltd | Forex and CFD Online Trading

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DF Markets Review - FX, CFDs and Spread Betting

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Destek Markets Review – Forex and CFD Online Trading

Looking for the best forex broker? Your search is over. Read our Destek Markets review to evaluate the pros and cons of this online forex broker and choose on the basis of data if it is suitable for your needs. This article is dedicated to reviewing one of the best regulated brokers and to give you a clearer idea of what to expect in case you decide to open an account with them.

Destek Markets Review

Destek Markets Ltd is a British company that opened in 2017, specializing in retail trading of Forex and CFD markets. The company is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority of the United Kingdom, which is crucial for safety. It should be noted that as of October 26, 2018, the company is now owned by Britannia Financial Group Limited, rebranding the company as Britannia Capital Markets Limited. This should open up more professional and institutional business for the brokerage and is not expected to change the retail side of the business.

Trading accounts

Destek offers both a Mini account and a Standard account. Both of these accounts require just $100, €100, or 100 British pounds as an opening deposit. This gives quite a few different traders the ability to trade here, and it should be noted that the accounts both are market maker and STP accounts. Unfortunately, Americans are not accepted, as regulatory issues in America because so many headaches for foreign brokerages.

The company

Destek was founded in 2017 but has since been bought out by the Britannia Financial Group Limited and is in the process of being rebranded. They are FCA regulated and have a presence in the City of London. They are highly regulated, use segregated funds, and are continually trying to improve their technologies.

Trading conditions

Initial deposit

Destek allows traders to get involved in the markets by opening up with as little as $100, €100, or 100 British pounds as the opening deposit. This allows for multiple base currencies, but quite frankly the greatest thing that it does is lower the bar for entry.

Spreads and conditions

Destek offers tight spreads in their markets, typically less than most other brokerages. It is because of this that a lot of people find the situation here quite favorable. Micro lots are available, with a variable spread type. There are no commissions, and the average spread on the EUR/USD pair is 1.6 pips.

Leverage

Destek offers large leverage, such as 1:200 in the Forex market. The CFD markets typically offer 1:20 leverage, of course depending on which market you are trading. Because of this, you have the ability to make quite a bit of profit with just a small amount of margin. Obviously though, your losses can also be greatly enhanced using leverage.

Trading platforms

Destek offers world renowned MetaTrader 4, which of course most of you should be familiar with. This gives you the ability to trade on desktop or mobile and using expert advisors and trading robots. If you are not used to trading with this platform, you will be stunned at just how easy it is to operate, and just how flexible it can be with thousands of both free and paid add-ons available. With a simple search, you can find almost anything you could ever need or even want to enhance your MT4 terminal.

Payment methods

Destek offers the payment and withdrawing of funds via bank wire transfer and credit/debit cards.

Extras

Destek features a lot of extras as far as tools are concerned, like analysis, sentiment gauges, Forex trading education, as well as both technical and fundamental instructions. This section is good, but there are plenty of free resources on the internet that are available also, so this is an added bonus more than anything else.

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DF Markets Review – FX, CFDs and Spread Betting

Looking for the best forex broker? Your search is over. Read our DF Markets review to evaluate the pros and cons of this online forex broker and choose on the basis of data if it is suitable for your needs. This article is dedicated to reviewing one of the best regulated brokers and to give you a clearer idea of what to expect in case you decide to open an account with them.

DF Markets Review

DF Markets is a retail brokerage firm that is based and located in Canary Wharf, London. The company is of course regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, and protection of client funds is provided by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. They offer competitive trading conditions, with no re-quotes, no minimum deposit, and with instant order execution.

Trading accounts

DF Markets offers only one account, the standard account. It offers base currencies of the US dollar, Euro, and British pounds.

The company

DF Markets is based out of London, and of course is regulated by the FCA. The spreads that they offer are some of the best in the market, and of course segregate funds. There are plenty of key regulations that they follow, and the fact that they are based in Canary Wharf suggests that they are in the heartbeat of the Forex global markets.

Trading conditions

Initial deposit

DF Markets allow traders to open up accounts with as little as one dollar, so therefore pretty much anyone can get involved in the Forex markets at these levels. This allows you to try out your trading systems with very little risk.

Spreads and conditions

DF Markets allows you to trade either fixed or variable spreads. For example, the EUR/USD pair has a fixed spread of two pips, but there is a target of 0.8 pips in that market. Another example would be the NZD/USD pair, which has a fixed spread of three pips, with a target of 1.9 pips. The minimum order size is 1000 units of the base currency.

Leverage

DF Markets offers 1:200 leverage for major Forex markets but offer a bit less in other markets. For example, metals offer 1:20 leverage. Stocks can be traded at 1:5 and are found in a multitude of countries. This of course is one of the largest reasons to trade this brokerage, because you have multiple countries such as Sweden, Spain, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, and many more countries to buy shares via the CFD market.

Futures markets can be traded via the CFD market on a 1:10 leverage position, while cryptocurrencies are 1:4 as far as leverage is concerned. Spread betting is also offered at DF Markets, which of course is appealing to those of you in the UK.

Trading platforms

DF Markets offer their own proprietary platform, called DF Trader. There is a web-based version, a desktop version, and of course a mobile version. All of these platforms are very robust, and of course free.

Payment methods

DF Markets offers the payment and withdrawing of funds via bank wire transfer, credit/debit cards, and snail mail.

Extras

DF Markets offer quite a bit of educational opportunities, with not only a beginner course, but also intermediate and advanced courses. They are video on demand, so that of course helps the new trader an opportunity to get involved. There are FAQ sections, and of course analysis that professional researchers offer at DF Markets. Because of this, it’s likely that we will see beginners feel very comfortable at this highly regulated, educational, and trader driven brokerage.

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Amana Capital Reviews 2019 | Amana financial services

Amana Capital Reviews 2019 | Amana Financial Services

Looking for the best forex broker? Your search is over. Read our Amana Capital review to evaluate the pros and cons of this online forex broker and choose on the basis of data if it is suitable for your needs. This article is dedicated to reviewing one of the best regulated brokers and to give you a clearer idea of what to expect in case you decide to open an account with them.

Amana Capital Review

Amana Capital is a global leader in online brokerage services when it comes to Forex and CFD markets. They are regulated by several different bodies around the world including the Financial Conduct Authority in the United Kingdom, meaning that you have a significant amount of safety built into your account.

Account types

Amana Capital offers four different account types, including the Amana Mini MT5, Amana Basic MT4, Amana Elite MT5, and Amana Basic MT5. You will notice that the accounts all feature MetaTrader platforms, but both version 4 and five being offered. The accounts feature zero commission or low commission on FX, in the Elite account. Leverage does vary per account, with the Mini account offering 1:500, the Basic account offering 1:300 in MT5, the Basic account offering 1:500 in MT4, and the Elite account offering 1:100 leverage. The Mini account offers 28 currency pairs, gold, and silver. The other accounts offer 54 currency pairs, as well as 24 future/commodity/indices/cryptocurrency markets. All accounts offer as little as 0.01 lots.

Trading conditions and deposits

Initial deposit

depending on the account you are choosing, the initial deposit changes. For example, the Amana Mini MT5 only requires $50, while the Amana Basic MT4 requires the same. Moving up from there, the Amana Basic MT5 requires $2000, while the Amana Elite MT5 requires $50,000. Obviously, the higher the barrier to entry the more advantages that you can get. Keep in mind that the Amana Elite and Amana Basic MT% accounts are based upon commissions per million in the Forex markets, zero commission in cash CFD markets, and $10 per lot on futures CFD markets, which is a bit high in my estimation.

Spreads

Obviously, with the higher end accounts the spreads are much tighter. On the lower end accounts, the minimum spread for EUR/USD is 1.4 pips. However, in the Elite account it is 0.4 pips. Spreads in the CFD market can vary, but to give you an idea as to what they can be, the US NASDAQ 100 CFD is 1.8 pips, while the DAX 30 is 1.9 pips.

Leverage

leverage at Amana Capital varies from 1:500 in the little account, with the higher end accounts going down to 1:100. It should be noted that if you have more than $100,000 in your account, the leverage is dropped to the 1:100 amount regardless of what account you started out with. Leverage is generous, and quite frankly more than enough for the average trader.

Range of markets

You have the ability to trade Forex, spot metals, spot energies, cryptocurrencies, stock indices, and CFD’s on futures markets. This gives you the ability to trade the world over, and quite frankly is more than enough to get you going. However, if you are looking to trade futures markets, you are probably better off using an actual futures broker as the round-trip commission is rather large.

Extras

Amana Capital offers a bit of extras but quite frankly it’s not anything to write home about. The broker is highly regulated and offers strong execution services. For those looking for more information on how to trade, this is probably not where you start.

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ATC brokers review 2019 | Forex trading platforms review, Pros, Cons and Verdict

Looking for the best forex broker? Your search is over. Read our ATC brokers review to evaluate the pros and cons of this online forex broker and choose on the basis of data if it is suitable for your needs. This article is dedicated to reviewing one of the best regulated brokers and to give you a clearer idea of what to expect in case you decide to open an account with them.

ATC Brokers Review

ATC Brokers is a British based brokerage firm in London that offers Forex, metals, CFD markets, all to the benefit of retail traders. They are highly regulated being British and fall under the auspices of the Financial Conduct Authority. Safety and protection of funds is crucial, and falls under the FSCS, or the Financial Services Compensation Scheme in Britain that protects customers of to 50,000 GBP. This of course allows for traders to feel comfortable.
Trading accounts

ATC Brokers offers individual, joint, or corporate trading accounts. The minimum deposit is $5000 or the equivalent in British pounds or Euros. Because of this, not everybody can afford to get involved with ATC Brokers, but if you can, this is a very professional firm and the financial protection afforded the trader of course is paramount and a very important.

The company

ATC Brokers is a British based company, offering a non-dealing desk approach to the markets. They are heavily regulated by British authorities and several others around the world. With that in mind, keeping your money here is a say proposition. A simple pass-through model is employed by ATC Brokers, thereby matching orders without interference, eliminating potential conflicts of interest between you and the broker.

Trading conditions

Initial deposit

As mentioned previously, ATC Brokers doesn’t offer an account for anything less than a $5000 deposit. This is a somewhat high bar to cross, and not all of you will be able to take advantage of this firm. However, if you have more than enough trading capital, this will give you an opportunity to trade with one of the most highly regulated firms in London.

Spreads and conditions

ATC Brokers offers tight spreads, in a variable spread environment. The average spread for the EUR/USD is 0.3 pips, while the average spread for gold is 0.07 pips. CFDs such as the Dow Jones 30 average 2 pips. With that type of tight spreads being offered, you can see that fighting profit won’t be overly difficult.

Leverage

ATC Brokers offers tight spreads and conditions, with 1:30 leverage. The leverage is a bit lower than some other brokerage firms, but it is much more professional as most of the time when you are offering several hundred times leverage, you are simply trying to get retail traders to blow up their accounts quicker. This gives you more protection, which is the biggest advantage to trading at ATC Brokers.

Trading platforms

ATC Brokers offers MetaTrader Pro, the paramount MetaTrader platform available. This allows for a DOM in trading, giving you access to liquidity information. Beyond that, there are several other benefits to using the professional platform, and those who have experience using the more common MetaTrader platforms, you will feel right at home with this powerful platform.

Payment methods

ATC Brokers offers both deposit and withdrawal options including bank wire, credit card/debit, Union Pay, and Skrill. This allows traders to be able to access their money and fund their accounts rather easily, as most of you will have plenty of access to these options.

Extras

ATC Brokers has a very minimal education section, so therefore if you are a brand-new trader, this is not going to be the broker for you. Quite frankly, this is for professionals or experienced traders only, so those of you looking to learn, find somewhere else.

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ATC brokers review 2019 | Forex trading platforms review, Pros, Cons and Verdict

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Core Spreads Review 2019 - User Ratings, Bonus, Demo & More

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Core Spreads Review – User Ratings, Bonus, Demo & More

Core Spreads Review 2019 – User Ratings, Bonus, Demo & More

Looking for the best forex broker? Your search is over. Read our Core Spreads review to evaluate the pros and cons of this online forex broker and choose on the basis of data if it is suitable for your needs. This article is dedicated to reviewing one of the best regulated brokers and to give you a clearer idea of what to expect in case you decide to open an account with them.

Core Spreads Review

Core Spreads is a retail brokerage firm in the United Kingdom that has been open since 2013. They are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the United Kingdom, under the umbrella Corporation Finsa Europe Limited. The broker features tight spreads, as well as simplify and lightning fast technology.

Trading accounts

Core Spreads offers both the Mini account and the Standard account. Both feature the ability to trade CFD markets and commodities, shares, and indices. They also offer the ability to trade Forex, as one would expect. Both of these accounts feature commission, with a simple $1.50 per lot available for all clients. Spreads are tight and should also be noticed that there is spread betting available at Core Spreads as well.

The company

Core Spreads has been formed in the United Kingdom and has served clients for several years now. They do not accept US clients, and they are a straight through processing broker type. In other words, they simply match orders and don’t take the other side directly. By offering spread betting, they also give traders the ability to trade in a tax-deferred situation.

Trading conditions

Initial deposit

Core Spreads allows traders to open accounts with as little as one dollar deposited, and in several different currencies as a base. Accounts are able to be funded in US dollars, Euros, and British pounds. This allows a lot of flexibility for international traders.

Spreads and conditions

Core Spreads offers tight spreads in their markets, typically less than one pip in most major currency pairs. Remember though, there is a commission on these trades so it does add slightly to the cost. However, you will find that Core Spreads is one of the cheapest option that you have out there as far as execution is concerned.

Leverage

Core Spreads offers strong leverage, such as 1:100 in the Forex market. The CFD markets typically offer 1:20 leverage, of course depending on which market you are trading. Because of this, you have the ability to make quite a bit of profit with just minimal amounts of margin. Obviously, your losses can also be greatly enhanced using leverage.

Trading platforms

Core Spreads offers world renowned MetaTrader 4, which of course most of you should be familiar with. This gives you the ability to trade on desktop or mobile and using expert advisors and trading robots. If you are not used to trading with this platform, you will be stunned at just how easy it is to operate, and just how flexible it can be with thousands of both free and paid add-ons available.

Core Spreads also offers CoreTrader, their proprietary software. This would remind you quite a bit of software that you see on binary options trading sites, so if you are coming from that world, it may make more sense to use this platform. They also have a mobile version that is quite handy.

Payment methods

Core Spreads offers the payment and withdrawing of funds via bank wire transfer, credit/debit cards, and snail mail.

Extras

Core Trader doesn’t feature much of an educational section, and the analysis isn’t going to be a reason to open an account. However, if you are looking for cheap execution in a variety of markets, Core Spreads might just be for you. I would suggest that experienced traders will love this place.

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City Credit Capital Review | Forex Broker Rating 2019

Looking for the best forex broker? Your search is over. Read our City Credit Capital review to evaluate the pros and cons of this online forex broker and choose on the basis of data if it is suitable for your needs. This article is dedicated to reviewing one of the best regulated brokers and to give you a clearer idea of what to expect in case you decide to open an account with them.

City Credit Capital Review

City Credit Capital is a British brokerage that offers foreign exchange, as well as contract for difference markets. Founded in 2001, City Credit Capital is probably one of the oldest brokerage firms in the United Kingdom if not the world. They have strong regulatory oversight, are known for technical innovation, and have some of the most experienced staff available.

Trading accounts

City Credit Capital offers to accounts, the Many and the Standard. The Mini account offers the ability to trade 10,000 unit sized trades, while the Standard account only offers full lots, or 100,000 units. The markets both offer the same ability to play the global markets, and many of the same benefits.

The company

City Credit Capital has been operating out of the City of London for a couple of decades, showing retail traders the benefits of being involved in foreign exchange, as well as CFD markets. This gives clients the ability to trade the world from one account. They are headquartered in London, but they also have international offices in Hong Kong and São Paulo. They are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority out of the United Kingdom.

Trading conditions

Initial deposit

The initial deposit depends on the accounts being open, as the Mini account requires a minimum deposit of $500. The Standard account requires a minimum deposit of $5000. Because of this, it will come down to what kind of trading capital you have as to which account you will be using. The accounts both use the same types of platform, as well as the same variable maximum leverage, depending on the market.

Spreads and conditions

City Credit Capital offers multiple markets to get involved in, including precious metals, CFD commodity futures, CFD index futures, and of course Forex. Spreads of course will change drastically depending on the market.

Leverage

Leverage is drastically different as mentioned previously. It is variable depending on the liquidity of the market trading. For example, equity indexed CFD markets offer 1:20, while CFD commodity futures offer 1:10. Gold is a bit better than silver, and Forex markets range anywhere from 1:33 to 1:20 depending on the market.

Trading platforms

City Credit Capital offers a couple of different platforms for you to trade the markets. Markets Trader is their award-winning platform that is standard, but they also have iMarkets Trader, which is a mobile version of the same platform. They also offer the world renowned and common MetaTrader 4 platform. This allows you to run expert advisors, as well as robots, and custom indicators.

Payment methods

City Credit Capital allows deposits and payments via bank wire, credit card, Neteller, Moneybookers, and a few other minor venues.

Extras

City Credit Capital offers a bit of educational information, but it isn’t necessarily the greatest. It is mainly written articles, so therefore it’s not necessarily where new traders are going to go to learn how to trade. It’s not that there isn’t any information, it’s just that you will find plenty of information on free sites around the Internet. That being said, this isn’t a major issue. They do have analysis though, which is relatively good. Because of this, this is more or less going to be thought of as a brokerage that experienced traders may like, but brand-new traders may wish to look for other brokerages that are a bit more apt to hold their hands.

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City Credit Capital Review | Forex Broker Rating 2019

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Sunday, December 2, 2018

ADS securities Forex Broker Review | ads securities london

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ADS Security Forex Broker Review| ads securities london | best cfd trading platform

ADS Securities Forex Broker Review

Looking for the best forex broker? Your search is over. Read our ADS Securities Forex Broker review to evaluate the pros and cons of this online forex broker and choose on the basis of data if it is suitable for your needs. This article is dedicated to reviewing one of the best regulated brokers and to give you a clearer idea of what to expect in case you decide to open an account with them.

ADS Securities Forex Broker review – Best CFD trading platforms

ADS Securities is an international brokerage firm that has its roots in Abu Dhabi, but also has roots in London as well, regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Because of this, the heavily regulated brokerage firm is one that you can expect significant protections ADS Securities offers a host of brokerage services, investment banking, works with private clients, and of course does wealth management.

Trading accounts

ADS Securities offers a standard and ECN account. Leverage is 1:500, which is quite generous for professional accounts. For retail accounts, it is much less. (More on this later.) This allows for maximum leverage of professional clients as well as large, offering liquidity through ADS Securities UAE. The broker offers five digit decimal pricing, allowing for exacting trades. There are private and institutional accounts available, which aren’t publicly played out as far as qualifying is concerned. They do offer better execution as you would expect of course, and the spreads would obviously be affected.

The company

It’s priorities on bridging ADS Securities of course is based in the United Arab Emirates, and focuses Eastern and Western investors. One of the main features of ADS Securities as far as the larger marketplace is concerned is that it helps bridge liquidity between the closing of Singapore through the opening of London for many major institutions. They are regulated by the central bank of the United Arab Emirates, and are in direct contact with tier 1 liquidity providers.

Trading conditions

Initial deposit

The initial deposit minimum to trade at ADS Securities is just $200. Base account currencies offered include the US dollar, the Euro, and the British pound. ADS Securities also allows traders to use micro lots, giving them the ability to test the waters without forking out a ton of money.

Spreads and conditions

ADS Securities has very tight spreads and commissions, with variances between account types. For example, with an ECN account, commissions are just $35 per US$1 million traded. As for standard accounts, which don’t have a variable spread, the EUR/USD pair has 0.7 pips as it spread, and the variable account can go as low as 0.0 pips. Spread betting is available as well, with the EUR/USD pair having a 0.5 pips minimum.

Leverage

As mentioned previously, leverage at ADS Securities in a professional account is 1:500, giving you plenty of leverage to trade the currency markets. However, leverage in other markets such as spot gold is 1:200, commodities are 1:100, and shares are 1:24 professional traders. Retail counts are much less in the way of leverage, with currencies starting at 1:30, spot gold calling for 1:20, commodities at 1:10, and shares at 1:5, protecting smaller investors from massive losses.

Trading platforms

ADS Securities uses the standard trading platform for the industry, MetaTrader 4, and a proprietary platform called OREX. Both platforms are extraordinarily useful, with the ability to trade on mobile phones being extended to both. They also have Web Trader, meaning that you can trade from anywhere with an Internet connection without downloading software. As a general rule, most traders will probably pick MetaTrader, but it should be noted that the OREX platform does look very powerful and is worth at least looking into.

Payment methods

ADS Securities allows for bank wire transfers, credit card and debit card payments, Neteller, and Skrill to fund your account. You can also withdrawal in all of these forms as well. This is basically the industry standard and should be familiar for most of you out there. Ultimately, this is a brokerage that offers a wealth of opportunities, and more of a professional environment than the average retail trader is probably used to.

Extras

ADS Securities doesn’t have the largest educational section that you will run into. In fact, this is probably more of a professional type of environment than anything else. There is a small educational section, but quite frankly I don’t find it overly compelling, and suspect that it was probably more of an afterthought. That being said, there are plenty of educational sites for free out there on the Internet and of course analysis.

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Saturday, December 1, 2018

ActivTrades review 2018 | activtrades minimum deposit, bonus & leverage

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Admiral Markets Review 2018: User Ratings, Bonus, Demo & More

Admiral Markets Review 2018 – User Ratings, Bonus, Demo & More

Looking for the best forex broker? Your search is over. Read our Admiral Markets review to evaluate the pros and cons of this online forex broker and choose on the basis of data if it is suitable for your needs. This article is dedicated to reviewing one of the best regulated brokers and to give you a clearer idea of what to expect in case you decide to open an account with them.

Admiral Markets Review

Admiral Markets Group is a umbrella company that hosts several different brokerages. There is Admiral Markets UK Limited, in the United Kingdom, Admiral Markets AS in Estonia, Admiral Markets Cyprus Limited in Cyprus, and Admiral Markets Pty Limited in Australia. By default, when you go on the website you are directed to the United Kingdom but be aware that there are multiple companies that you can trade with.

Trading accounts

Admiral allows you to trade in micro lots, meaning 0.01 lots and with that offers quite a bit of flexibility depending on the account you are involved in. There is the Mini account, the Standard account, the ECN account, the VIP account, Admiral Prime, and Admiral MT5. It should be noted that the minimum size for both Admiral Prime and Admiral MT5 is 0.1 lots, so may not be appropriate for smaller accounts. Admiral does not take US clients, but works with many other countries around the world. The brokerage has been around since 2001, and is highly regulated in the various countries in which it has headquartered its offices. This means the FCA in the United Kingdom, the EFSA in Estonia. CySEC in Cyprus, MiFDD II in Europe, as well as many other regulatory bodies.

The company

Admiral Markets which again opened in 2001 has been trusted by thousands of clients around the world. The company offers an extreme amount of flexibility when it comes to trading accounts, with multiple conditions depending on your needs. Deposits can be made in most national currencies which are then converted into British pounds, Euros, US dollars, or Swiss francs. You can also have multiple trading accounts in different currencies at the same time to protect yourself from currency fluctuation. Admiral has been one of the leaders around the world for quite some time, and the ability to maximize your trading positions due to switching back and forth between currencies is one of the main reasons.

Trading conditions

Initial deposit

The initial deposit at Admiral start suggest 200 units, be it Euros, Pounds, Dollars, or Francs. This allows the trader to protect himself against the currency fluctuations that will inevitably happen, and there are a multitude of other currencies which you can deposit in, but it will be converted into the big four.

Spreads and conditions

Admiral offers tight spreads and conditions, although they are variable. For example, on the EUR/USD, with the more professional counts the spread can be as little as 0.0 pips. However, on your standard account it starts to reach towards 0.8 pips, still very tight for retail brokerage. Keep in mind that Admiral offers several other types of markets as well, including CFD markets. For example, Apple typically has a spread of four cents, BMW, BMP Paribas, and Facebook are all very similar. Admiral also offers ETF trading, bonds, CFDs for crypto currency, indices, and large commodities. Because of this, you have the ability to trade various markets at the same time and within the same account.

Leverage

Depending on the account size and whether it’s professional or not, Admiral offers anywhere from 1:10 to 1:20 leverage. As a general rule, the larger the account the last leverage that’s offered which quite frankly is a smart move considering how dangerous leverage can be with large balances.

Trading platforms

Admiral offers four different trading platforms, which of course would include the well-known MetaTrader series, including both version 4 and version 5. There is also MetaTrader Supreme Edition, which offers a handful of new widgets to trade, and quite frankly is rather well-designed, and then of course there is MetaTrader WebTrader in both version 4 and 5. This allows the trader to monitor or trade positions from anywhere that there is an Internet connection, and in a familiar environment. Beyond that, these platforms of course work on mobile devices as you probably know already.

Payment methods

Deposits are easy with Admiral Markets, as they include credit and debit cards, bank wire transfers, PayPal, Neteller, Sofort, and Skrill. They transfers, credit cards, and Skrill can be used to deposit multiple currencies, with credit cards, bank transfers, and a service known as Klarna are all free. Neteller is 0.9% with a minimum of one euro for cost, just as Skrill is. Withdrawing money from Admiral is free through bank transfer, but if you are looking to do it through Skrill or Neteller, it will cost you 1% with a minimum of one euro.

Extras

Admiral markets has plenty of extras, including webinars on both Forex and CFD markets. There is the usual FAQ section, as well as a traders glossary. Beyond that, they also have seminars on both Forex and CFD trading as well as risk management sessions. An extensive library of articles and tutorials also helps, and then finally there is the “Zero to Hero” course and the “Forex 101” course as well. What I found interesting is that there is a huge analytic section as well, including a market heat map, market sentiment section, and wave analysis – something that will be crucial for Elliott wave traders if that’s how you choose to go about the markets. In general, Admiral has one of the bigger sections of education and extras out there, but anymore this is becoming something that most brokers offer, so in and of itself it’s probably not a reason to trade. However, the conditions are right, the broker is highly regulated, and of course it has been around since 2001, making it a trusted partner for its so many over the years.

The post Admiral Markets Review 2018: User Ratings, Bonus, Demo & More appeared first on The Diary of a Trader.