Forex Trading Tips - Understand Forex Lots

By Mark Green

Do you know exactly what a forex lot is? If you trade Forex you need to understand all of the language and terms exactly. Lots are the base unit size of any given forex transaction. You may have heard "I will take 5 lots of the euro against the British pound". In general, one standard lot is equivalent to 100,000 units of the base currency.

You may remember that the base currency is essentially just the first currency of a currency pair, for example in the EUR/USD currency pair the base currency is the EUR and the 'quote' currency is the USD; this means that you if you buy 1 lot (100,000 EUR) you will pay for it in USD and if you buy 5 lots of the Euro as stated earlier, you would pay for 500,000 Euros using the equivalent amount of British pounds.

You may remember that the base currency is essentially just the first currency of a currency pair, for example in the EUR/USD currency pair the base currency is the EUR and the 'quote' currency is the USD; this means that you if you buy 1 lot (100,000 EUR) you will pay for it in USD and if you buy 5 lots of the Euro as stated earlier, you would pay for 500,000 Euros using the equivalent amount of British pounds.

So now that we know what it is, what is the significance or use of all this? Okay, so if you have a 10,000 dollar account with your favorite forex broker, who gives you leverage of 100:1 (for every dollar in your account you control 100 dollars worth of any currency in the forex market) you can gain full control of a maximum of 10 lots of any base currency in the market. But if you have a micro account but want to control lots 100,000 units in size, you will definitely need to increase the amount of money in your account. Do not make the erroneous decision to use large leverage to control lots greater than permissible for your account type as the risk just isn't worth it.

When you start out trading the forex market, begin with a small number of lots. The best size is between 1 and 3. After you gain some experience you may find that this is sufficient to be a successful trader in the market. Once you become more experienced, and possibly have 10,000 dollars and above in your account, you can increase the size of your lots and the number of lots to trade in accordance with your trading and risk management strategy. - 23222

About the Author:

Want to learn more forex tips?, visit http://www.abc-of-forex.com

Forex Trading Tips - Do You Understand The Fundamentals?

By Mark Green

I view fundamentals as a technique of qualitative analysis of economic situations and events that affect a countries currency, it is not easy to master by any means; it deals with a lot of underlying effects and consequences of decisions from the central bank, government and political news, major bank policy changes, major economic events, and world trade news and how this information from different sources may change money market decisions in the forex.

For the beginning trader who would, and rightfully so, just want to plunge into the forex market ready to trade, it can be daunting to learn. That said any good trader will tell you that it would not be wise for any forex trader beginner or otherwise to completely neglect this method to analyze forex market currency pairs and that to truly excel you really must understand both fundamental and technical analysis techniques. Hopefully this article may change your perspective on the techniques and how they are used.

The most important indicators in fundamental analysis are: the country's interest rate, employment figures - which are usually publicly released every quarter but this may vary by country, trade balances; budgets; which are both normally released at the end of every fiscal year, and GDP (gross domestic product) figures. As all currencies of the world are controlled by the central banks of their respective nations, fundamental analysis aims to measure the supply and demand of a currency using the indicators I mentioned earlier. Also calendars of various economic events that can affect a nations currency prices are available all over the internet for discerning scrutiny; this is a good place to start for a fundamentalist.

Having used these indicators and determined interest rates, a trader may open a position(s) where they will sell the currency of a country in which its central bank has lowered the interest rates or whose interest rates are declining; and then buy a currency of a country in which the interest rates are high or are climbing. Interest rate changes last for as long as they are in effect hence the question of time and intervals as in technical analysis is unheard of by fundamentalists. Big investors take full advantage of this and go a step further and buy a country's depreciating economy's currency at a low price, and then fund that nation's boom by investing heavily in industry knowing labor and costs are significantly low, then to top it all up as if they were masters of a flawless symphony, sell the currency back when the economy picks up (boom-to-bubble) at high prices.

In conclusion if you understand the underlying reasons of why a nation's currency trend is moving in a particular direction based on information you derive from comparing money supply (i.e. inflation rates) with previous baseline periods, interest rates of major global economies, and analyzing balance of payments of the nation whose currency you wish to trade in, you will be able to tell when to enter, participate and exit from a bubble early before it destructs. I hope this article has bettered your understanding of fundamental analysis and that you found it informative and useful. - 23222

About the Author:

For more forex tips, visit http://www.abc-of-forex.com

Getting a Mortgage Is Not Only For Contracted Workers

By Jason Myers

It's a sad reality facing our real estate market today with the daily updates of foreclosures occurring everywhere. There is a group that is always weary of their destiny when it comes to obtaining a mortgage and that is the self employed. These are the individuals that rely on themselves for their daily bread, and due to the assurance of getting the monthly payment is not always there, mortgage lenders are careful about having faith in them.

However you do not need to be anxious since the possibility of you as your own boss is completely real. But there are some things that you must do ahead of time to guarantee your chances of obtaining one. The first and most obvious factor is your credibility. Your credit score has to be outstanding above everything else. If you own any loans taking place, you must make certain that you make all the required payments also. This will give your mortgage lender a reason to trust you because you have established your worth previously.

Saving for your first house is suggested specifically if you are self employed. You need to be able to pay that initial down payment, 5% at the very least. But if you want to record even higher points, be in a position to clear 10% of the initial payment and that would be awesome.

Your lender needs to be informed that you are in the position of making all the needed payments. That means that you need to have a type of proof of income.

If you work through the internet where a check is not always given, you must rely on the proof of income sheet that is provided to you by the tax body, like the IRS for Americans. With these it's not totally impossible to apply for a loan, and it gives you more points when you have been self employed a longer duration. - 23222

About the Author:

As the housing crisis bottoms we'll have plenty of one in a lifetime real estate investing opportunities. You may also want to read our articles about home refinancing so you'll have funds to invest!

Gold Will Hedge Against Inflation

By Garrett Strong

Gold is a hedge against inflation and a way to preserve your wealth. The movements in gold have been huge lately. The rate of inflation is about currently about 10%, and its essential to be invested in gold coins, gold bars, and gold bullion.

For one, the official inflation rate is about 10%, and investors are getting out of dollars and into gold coins, gold bars, and gold bullion as a hedge against inflation. Buy gold bullion, gold ingots, and gold bullion coins to protect yourself during inflation.

If you have not seen the gold price lately, it is going to the moon. The demand continues to surge as worried investors seek shelter. Many countries China, India, and Russia are diversifying out of dollars and into gold bullion. The IMF recently sold 200 tons of gold bricks to Indias central bank.

The amount of gold available for each person is miniscule at 23 grams. That is only about $840 worth per person. The value of all above ground gold inventories is about $3.7 trillion, and is going up rapidly.

There is around--0,000 tons of gold above ground, and that number increases each year by 2,600 tons. That is an increase of about 2% per year, but that doesnt even come close to satisfying the demand.

Mine supplies have actually decreased by 10% due to suppressed gold prices. Since the fundamentals for the gold price put the price much higher than it has been, why has the price been suppressed?

The gold and silver mine supplies have plummeted by 10% due to the low prices. If you add up all of the fundamentals, gold should be much, much higher.

Why has the price manipulation occurred? There are several factors. Central banks have attempted to suppress the price by selling gold bars onto the market. This tactic did work, but the banks are running out of gold to use as a suppression tactic.

The answer is that there are a few factors that have caused this price suppression and they are still to blame. The central banks have been selling their gold supplies onto the open market in an attempt to suppress the price. It has worked, but central banks are running out of gold to sell.

Even though you can request physical delivery of the gold bullion on the COMEX, some investors have complained of receiving cash settlements or ETF shares instead. The COMEX does not have the gold they claim to have.

The way the default happens is that the COMEX will either give a cash settlement upon delivery, or shares of the GLD (exchange traded fund). Either way, you do not own the physical gold, which means that you are still holding paper. These paper investments have kept investors in dollars, which has fraudulently propped up the dollar.

All of these gold suppression tactics are starting to come unraveled, and with inflation setting in there is no doubt the gold price will continue to explode. Stay away from paper investments if you can, unless you know for sure that they are legitimately holding the gold. Stick with American Gold Coins, American Gold Eagles, and gold bars.

You have every reason to buy gold now due to the falling dollar. Just look at the gold price in the past month. The price of gold per ounce one month ago was $1,058/oz, and the current price of gold is at $1,140/oz. Smart investors are going crazy for gold coins because gold is the only safe investment right now. Educate yourself about the benefits of investing in gold and how to buy gold. You wont be sorry! - 23222

About the Author:

To learn more about whygold is a hedge against inflation then check out my site.

Master Limited Partnership (Part II)

By Ahmad Hassam

As said, this has to be done on a quarterly basis. The reason MLPs exist is to distribute all available cash back to the MLP unit holders. The following factors are considered before determining the amount of cash distributed to each individual investor:

1) How many units you hold as an MLP investor. 2) The incentive distribution rights created for the GP. 3) The difference between the total cash flow and the cash flow ploughed back into the MLP for futures growth.

You must do your due diligence while making your investment decisions. There are always pros and cons of each investment vehicle! So once you decide to invest in commodities, you have many investment options like mutual funds, stocks, ETFs as well as MLPs.

So investing in an MLP is just like investing in stocks. Investing in MLPs is quite simple. Since an MLP is a publicly traded entity. You can simply invest in an MLP by calling your broker and telling him or her how many units of a particular MLP you are interested in buying.

Something like 50 MLPs is being publicly traded in the United States. Out of these 50, 40 are energy MLPs meaning that they are involved in the storage terminals, pipelines, transportation, refining and distribution. Majority of MLPs trade on NYSE with a few trading on NASDAQ and AMEX!

Most of these MLPs engage in infrastructure investment that can pay a steady stream of revenue overtime. Moreover, investing in pipelines and other energy infrastructure offers steady cash flow streams for an MLP. You only need to remember this 90% of the income that comes to an MLP should come from the production and distribution of commodities for these MLPs to have the tax exempt status.

So when you invest in an MLP, you should look for answers to the following questions: 1) How much is the cash flow? And so on. 2) What's the historical payout of the MLP? If your brokerage firm has published some research on the MLPs, you can reference that.

Now investing in MLPs do come with some risks like most of the infrastructure is like pipelines and drilling rigs that are vulnerable to natural disasters and earth quakes like the Hurricane Katrina, so any such event can have a negative impact on your investment.

Since the MLP is fairly small at this moment, there can be liquidity issues in withdrawing your investment from an MLP. These are some of the risk that you can face while investing in an MLP. There is another risk related with the management. You don't have much say in the management of the MLP. Running an MLP is basically a GP show. If you are not satisfied with the performance of the management or its policies only thing that you can do is to withdraw your investment from that MLP. - 23222

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. Trade Dow Futures . Learn Commodity Trading !