I just watch The Dark Knight Rises and saw the scene where Bane stole money by hacking into the computers at the Gotham Stock Exchange can that really happen in real life?

Answer
We've all seen too many movies of someone hacking into a high security system with just a few clicks. It's pretty stupid of us to believe anything we see on TV; it's just entertainment. Without someone at the institution giving you their pass codes, it takes hours, maybe weeks of work, only to meet up with their software and hardware firewalls and tracking systems that leave your footprints all over the place. It just isn't done, at least not successfully. After hours of work trying to get through their security systems, several red flags are raised and security people are alerted long before you can do anything meaningful like withdraw or transfer money (which is going to require authorization by a top-level employee if for a significant amount), even if you manage to get in.

"Can you really rob a bank electronically?" No. Is it possible? Anything's possible. Can you get away with it. Not likely.

"Can you really rob a bank in person?" Sure. Will you get away with it? Not likely. About 99% of them get caught. Almost all of these bank robbers are lazy people that were never successful at anything else, so why would they be successful at this?

When you hear of someone getting robbed electronically, it is almost always a security breach of the individual person, not the bank. These cyber criminals are using a form of social engineering attack model combined with malware. Their favorite targets are large business customers.

Details abound on physical robberies of banks, but almost no data is released by the federal gov't on cyber crime.

Addendum
Just a little story for some fun.
I used to program and run mainframe computers in a previous life, so I'm very security conscious. About 10 years ago, I was trading forex and got the attention of a lot of people, maybe the wrong people that wanted to steal my algorithms.

I had one of the best hardware firewalls money could buy for an individual PC (not a network or mainframe), that cost about $1,500. The logging feature alerted me to some persistent hack attempts, but I didn't pay too much attention since they weren't getting anywhere.

I was in the habit of leaving my computer on all the time, 24/7. One Monday morning, I came to work and my computer was down. Not only that, I couldn't get online. I'm a computer genius, right, so I tried checking the firewall logs and connections, but it would not let me communicate with it. I am the master, and it was blocking ME. Fine, rebooted the hardware, and everything was back to normal, with a few exceptions. It required my logins for security control. This was weird, so I checked the logs.

A persistent hacker had been hacking away at my firewall all weekend. He gave up after six hours on Saturday, but came back and hacked at it for four hours on Sunday. The alerts had been sent to my computer, but nobody was there on the weekend. This hacker was good, and almost got in. The firewall saw that he was about to get through, knew it was an unauthorized entry, and alerted me multiple times, pleading with me to break the connection. At the last minute, just when the hacker was making real progress, the hardware firewall severed the connection to all outside sources and shut down my computer, requiring re-authorization to start again. The poor hacker wasted a whole weekend for nothing.

Needless to say, I don't leave my computer on over the weekend anymore.

Incidentally, the security system and multiple firewalls used by businesses and banks are a hundred times more complex than my little $1,500 hardware firewall. And theirs are monitored 24/7 by real people.

Anybody know whats going on with Knight Fox Holdings?

Have they gone under?
Thanks for the reply....but it seems that the phone# on their website directs you to some real estate website that does not work. Has anybody had any direct contact with anybody from the company?

Answer
No, they're still around. Contact info is:
Knight Fox Holdings
The Pinnacle Building
3544 Peachtree Rd. North East
5th Floor
Atlanta, Ga. 30326
(404) 419-6094
info@knightfoxholdings.com

http://www.knightfoxholdings.com/

What's more, I found this:

"If anyone suggests you borrow money using the equity in your house to invest in a Forex based trading scheme don't walk away, run away as fast as you can.

Did you notice this little gem from their disclaimer?

"The possibility exists that you could sustain a total loss of initial margin funds and be required to deposit additional funds to maintain your position. If you fail to meet any margin call within the time prescribed, your position will be liquidated and you will be responsible for any resulting losses."

http://www.knightfoxholdings.com/disclai...

In other words, you could give them $50,000 and have a $60,000 loss, in which case you owe them another $10,000.

I have no experience with the company. My comments are based on your question and what I found about them at their website."
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Avd_8idhjb2nPiATq2HzJTwjzKIX;_ylv=3?qid=20080402185328AA0AoGC

What about Commodity market? Is it also like forex market?

Answer
My majority of retail (i.e you and us, not big banks and hedge funds) are short to medium term traders. Retail Forex trading is not really suited to those wanting to take a long term view on the currency markets, this is due to the fact that the majority of retail traders make use of substantial leverage. By using leverage traders incur rollover costs, essentially leveraged traders have to pay interest. Typically this interest works out to LIBOR+3% divided by 365. Which can significantly eat into long term profits.

Many people think the Foreign exchange market is very high risk and very volatile. This is not really the case, the major currencies pairings are infact less volatile than some of the bigger stocks. What makes retail Foreign exchange particularly is the amount of leverage that traders can use. In the US leverage on stocks is limited to 2:1, but Forex traders can use up to 10:1 leverage. Leverage both increases your risk, as well as increasing the size of your returns. Making leverage a particularly dangerous tool.

The same goes for the commodities markets which can suit both long term and short term strategies. However, small individual traders tend to again trade shorter term than big institutional investors.

When buying currency via FOREX, how long can one hold onto the currency?

Is it true that most forex brokers/ platforms charge fees for holding currency in your account, as to encourage a person to trade quickly and often?

Answer
Hi,

Charging a fee for holding your funds with a broker is that broker's decision.
Most of the brokers do not charge a fee for holding your balance, however some might charge an administrative fee.For example, if you stop trading on your account for 2-3 years without closing that account, your broker might have a clause that allows it to charge you an administrative fee.
To make sure if there is an fee charged for holding your funds with your broker, you will however need to contact your broker directly on this matter.
Another type of charge most brokers charge is the swap or the rollover. Each liquidity provider or broker charges a fee for holding a position open overnight. If you check the swap rates displayed on your broker's web site, you will notice that some are negative and some are positive.
If you hold a position open overnight, the negative swap rates will be deducted from your account equity at the end of the trading day, whereas the positive swap rates will be added to your account's equity.
If you wish to look at this from a different perspective, you might say that your liquidity provider/broker is encouraging you to trade instruments that have a positive swap rate.

Best Regards,
FXCC Representative

Interest rates affect all curriences and help determine the rise and fall of all major dollar levels. Where can the earliest daily results be found? The euro, yen , dollar, and many other curriences are major factors in global economic trading decisions. How can I learn how this information is conveyed, displayed, expedited, and understood throughout the markets?

Answer
There are no "daily results" per se - The are non-stop from Sunday afternoon (EST) until Friday afternoon.
Here are some real time 5-minute charts for various currencies against the dollar:
EUR/USD - http://forex.tradingcharts.com/charts/index.php?sym=EURUSD
USD/JPY - http://forex.tradingcharts.com/charts/index.php?sym=USDJPY
AUD/USD - http://forex.tradingcharts.com/charts/index.php?sym=AUDUSD
NZD/USD - http://forex.tradingcharts.com/charts/index.php?sym=nzdusd

And you are right, interest rates have an effect, often a big effect.
Here is a 1 hour chart for the New Zealand Dollar vs the US Dollar: http://forex.tradingcharts.com/charts/index.php?sym=NZDUSD&data=b&tz=GMT&type=b&cs=1&period=1h&defdates=1&bmonth=Jan&bday=1&byear=2007&bhour=&bmin=&emonth=Jan&eday=1&eyear=2007&ehour=&emin=&Img+Type=png&drsi=0&ma1=0&dmacd=0&ma2=0&bol=0&dstoch=0&Submit=Submit
Near the end of the day on 03/07/07 (20:00 hours to be exact) you will see a large drop in the "Kiwi" vs the dollar. What happened is that New Zealand announced they were raising the cash rate (interest rate) to 7.50% from 7.25%. Normally when a country increases their interest rates, their currency appreciates but in this case there is a worry that the NZ Reserve Bank may strangle growth with such a high interest rate thus the currency is less attractive.

That's all probably more than you asked for, but I was on a roll :)

Question about Forex market?

$1.45 for 1 GBP. It used to be $2.00. If it went back to $2.00, it would be an increase of 38%. Does my investment really just increase in value to 38%? What sort of hidden fees are there, etc. And how likely is it that GBP would even return to that value.

Answer
The leverage for Forex is 100:1. This means that you only need a $1000 to control an amount $100000.
1 pip is 0.0001 and is worth USD $10 for GBP/USD currency pair. If GBP/USD goes up from 1.45 to 2, it will be a profit of 5500 pips * 10 = USD $55000. This makes the return to be 5500% for the initial margin of USD $1000.
There is no commission for Forex but you need to take care of the bid/ask spread in the trade. When you roll over to the next day, you will either receive interest or pay interest depending on which currency have the higher interest rate. If you buy the currency with the higher interest, you will receive interest when you roll over.
IMHO, it is unlikely will GBP/USD return to $2 level in the short term as the economy outlook is uncertain.

I currently dabble in the forex market and using a US broker. How will I be taxed on my earnings, and what happeneds if I lose money that year, is it a capital loss? HOw does this work in regards to canadian tax laws with the broker being in the US?

Answer
Your tax reporting for dealing with a US broker is the same as dealing with a cdn broker in that the income reporting and transactions should be translated in Cdn $.

Regarding your quesion whether your loss should be a capital loss depends on whether your "playing" in the fx market constiute an investment or a business. There are no provisions in the Act which specify whether a foreign exchange gain or loss is on account of income or capital. An investment is generally in a situation of buy and hold, while a business is in a situation when you are knowledgeable and maybe with insider information, lots of daily time spent and numerous buys and sells during the day or week, etc.

Please see the CRAâs IT-95R âForeign Exchange Gains and Lossesâ. http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/E/pub/tp/it95r/it95r-e.txt

What is the secret to successful forex trading?

A complete newbie to forex trading, I am having difficulties figuring out where to look for information, but also what exactly to look for. Commodities? Bank quarterly results?

Answer
Well you could take courses on US and World economics, read some financial economies books and/or know when and the fundamental news that affects price swings are reported. Stay clear during these volatile times because they can take out your stop in a heartbeat and a few beats later go back the other way. And remember that the news could already be mostly priced into the current price.

http://www.forex.com/learn.html
Link will answer many questions and answers you should know. I have 3 accounts (never put all your money/eggs in one account/basket). You can start with $500 when you can afford to open account. Since you are just starting you will lose money if you don't learn the basics, first. #1 best tip, don't trade your real money until you try trading demo account. When you can trade a demo for about 2-3months daily and make money then if you feel ready slowly start trading real money. So making and/or losing money depends on how well you can trade. For some it very profitable, for many it is not. So trading with the right tools and knowledge can become a very good income(s) for short and long term goals. And trade with the current trend.

I use Lightning Strikes Trading System for trading in any time frame and it works on forex, stocks, bonds, etf's, mutual funds, etc... They have 3 free training sessions a week and you don't have to buy the software to join in the live chat and text. They focus their training/trading on the Forex markets major currencies. You can even watch some recorded past live sessions. Here are some past charts that I used.
http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/MB16R0zjjaZ...
http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/MB16RxjOUQt...
There are 7 indicators (2 short, 2 medium, and 3 long term) and if volume is reported another one is added (on balance volume). Plus whatever time-frame is used the 2 green horizontal lines are the support and resistance for that time frame. So when indicators are all touching the bottom price is at or very, very near support. At top is at or very, very near resistance. Which helps my entry/exits and risk/reward ratio.
http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/MB16R9Wv-wt...
http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/MB16R9wSKdV...
http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/QCt6R2fYIj6...
http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/QCt6R3R0VQe...
If you can not view charts above or want to see other charts, I can email them. Or you can view more charts in this yahoo group. http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/lightninglive/

Start learning the basics of fundamentals and technical analysis so you will be more informed in your investments. You can find all the basic info you need to learn on websites for free.
This site should give you a good start.
http://finance.yahoo.com/education

Try what you learn on demo sites. They can be a very fun but educational way to learn from mistakes. If you pick 75% right with play money then you might be ready to start slowly investing.
http://simulator.investopedia.com/
http://simulator.zacks.com/
http://www.fxcm.com/open-free-100k.jsp
http://www.alpari-idc.com/en/metatrader4...
Or just google for more.

Here are my favorite sites.

http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/lightninglive/
Join group to see and discuss LS charts.

http://stockcharts.com/
Has basically all you need from fundamental to technical terms. Plus stock screens, charts, public chart lists, and much more useful info.

https://www.fidelity.com/
Has good learning resources.

http://moneycentral.msn.com/home.asp
In addition to yahoo finance.

http://www.reuters.com/
For news and more.

http://www.marketwatch.com/default.aspx
For news and more.

http://www.valueprime.com/index.php
For rating stock risk/reward ratio and reports.

http://www.barchart.com/
For investing in more than stocks.

http://www.investopedia.com/
For more great learning tools.

http://www.lightninglive.com/
For best software timing your entry/exits any time frame for day traders and long term investors.

Others worth exploring.
http://www.equis.com/
http://www.stockta.com/
http://www.secform4.com/

Best Wishes,
Burt Whitley

I opened a Bank stock trading account ( a custody account) in Iceland in June 2006. Purpose is to trade securities on the Iceland stock exchange. My deposit into the account was $191.00 (middle of June). In the middle of August my initial deposit was worth $209.00 I am not exactly sure what the interest rate might be but it is high. Regardless of how i approach my new brokerage account the underlying asset will be the currency (Iceland ISK). The custody account gave me the option of currecies to convert my US dollars from-To ISK or GBP or Denmark Krona, a few others. Any suggestions as to how i might play this account to my advantage to make a continuous profit just from the currency? Without trading stocks on that exchange? Thanks

Answer
Well, $209 - $191 = $18
$18 is 9.24% of $191, and that was for about 2 months, or 4.62% per month.
Assuming you continue at that rate, and just leave it there
for 20 years, it will have grown to $11,688,740.88 in June 2026.

What is this place so I can get an account there also?

Stay way from FOREX accounts, they use extreme margin and unlike stocks can lose all your money if they drop a mere 1 or 2%.

What is the cheapest Forex broker commision?
If i have about 100$ and i want to have them in EUR.
How mutch do i pay the broker then with the cheapest forex broker?

Answer
1 pip in the spread for the EUR/USD.

If you have 3-5 years of very successful trading experience Forex trading may be good for you. If you're new to trading...... starting with Forex is not only a joke.... it's going to destroy your portfolio.

How to set up a forex introducing broker service in Australia?

What personal qualification and criteria do I need to register an Australia Forex Introducing Broker Service? Some forex brokers tell me to get an AFSL license but I am not sure whether I am eligible to get one.

Answer
Good!
You can setup a Forex introducing broker service anywhere in the world regarding the rules and regulations of the country you are in. But there are certain things to put in place.

1. You need basic knowledge of how forex works and basic knowledge of education to maitain an organisation. You therefore, have to register a business name depending on regulation of that country but it is advisable.

2. Do a good search about the broker you want to promote. This promotion can be online or offline.

3. Register with the Broker on the broker's website as Introducing Broker (IB) to agree with their terms and conditions. Make sure you contact the broker to explain your interest.

Then, you are done. you can see example here: http://www.gopeoplefinder.com

Q. Hi guys,
Recently i've seen so many sites that speak about forex trading and brokers and so on. I saves a bit money and i was thinking to start trading forex and double it. Please i need some advice. Preferably someone who has past experience with it. Is it a good or bad idea. Please advice

Answer
Playing Forex can appear alluring, but the majority of people who try it lose money. All you have to do is do a web search on the words "Forex" and "lose" to see this is the consensus.

Forex is similar to what we call a "zero sum" game. You are making a bet with someone else about whether a currency will rise or fall. For every winner there has to be a loser. The net winnings of everyone combined equals zero. If you are smarter than the average player, you may make money. If you are dumber than the average player, you are likely to lose money. Most of the people making the "bets" in Forex are highly trained professionals at banks and other institutions. You are unlikely to beat them at this game.

Actually Forex is not quite a zero sum game. It's a slightly negative sum game as the Forex broker takes a small percentage each time in the spread. It's a small amount but over a hundred trades, it ends up being a considerable amount of money. So the average player is likely to lose money, and remember the average player is a highly trained professional and probably smarter than you.

There is a lot of luck in Forex, and if you play it, you will have some periods of time where you make money. This is usually because you are having a lucky streak, not because you have suddenly become an expert Forex player. However, most people are unwilling to admit their success is due to luck. They become convinced they have a system that works, and lose a lot of money trying to refine it.

Further complicating the problem is the large number of Forex scams on the internet. Most Forex websites are of questionable honesty. You will find many people on the Internet that claim they made a lot of money using Forex. They are usually liars trying to make money. They will say: "Go to Forexcrap,com/q2347." The "q2347" is a signal to the Forexcrap site that you are being referred to them by "q2347." If they sell something to you, "q2347" gets a kickback. These coded signals can be hidden by different methods in the link. Other people will refer you to their own private website or blog for the purpose of trying to get money off you. Also there are a good number of trolls out there that like to pretend they are successful forex traders just for the fun of it.

I would recommend not trying to do Forex at all, unless you are a trained professional. It's like playing poker with people better than you, with the house constantly taking a small percentage from the pot.

Read the warnings in the links below:

Which genuine online trading forex system is suitable for a new comer?

I have always wanted to trade forex online and have done a lot of reading including attended a short course. Now Iâm looking for a genuine online forex system to use. Please share what you actually have tried out and found profitable.

P/S Please don't share what you have not tried out yourself, please.

Answer
I've read a lot about Forex, but I've never seen a proven profitable forex strategy, despite the claims of some scam web sites.

Playing Forex can appear alluring, but the majority of people who try it lose money. All you have to do is do a web search on the words "Forex" and "lose" to see this is the consensus.

Forex is what we call a "zero sum" game. You are making a bet with someone else about whether a currency will rise or fall. For every winner there has to be a loser. If you are smarter than the average player, you may make money. If you are dumber than the average player, you are likely to lose money. Most of the people making the "bets" in Forex are highly trained professionals at banks and other institutions. You are unlikely to beat them at this game.

Actually Forex is not quite a zero sum game. It's a slightly negative sum game as the Forex broker takes a small percentage each time in the spread. It's a small amount but over a hundred trades, it ends up being a considerable amount of money. So the average player is likely to lose money, and remember the average player is a highly trained professional and probably smarter than you.

There is a lot of luck in Forex, and if you play it, you will have some periods of time where you make money. This is usually because you are having a lucky streak, not because you have suddenly become an expert Forex player. However, most people are unwilling to admit their success is due to luck. They become convinced they have a system that works, and lose a lot of money trying to refine it.

Further complicating the problem is the large number of Forex scams on the internet. Most Forex websites are of questionable honesty. You will find many people on the Internet that claim they made a lot of money using Forex. They are usually liars trying to make money. They will say: "Go to Forexcrap,com/q2347." The "q2347" is a signal to the Forexcrap site that you are being referred to them by "q2347." If they sell something to you, "q2347" gets a kickback. These coded signals can be hidden by different methods in the link. Other people will refer you to their own private website or blog for the purpose of trying to get money off you. Also there are a good number of trolls out there that like to pretend they are successful forex traders just for the fun of it.

I would recommend not trying to do Forex at all, unless you are a trained professional. It's like playing poker with people better than you, with the house constantly taking a small percentage from the pot.

I'm looking for a Forex broker who provide cent accounts with the following features:
1- hedging on same currency should be possible
2- Leverage is 1:400 or 1:500
3- Lot size can go up to 10,000
4- reputable in trading and withdrawal of funds

Thanks

Answer
try www.gomarketsaus.com, they're very good

How does FOREX positions trading work and what is the profitability?

what exactly is a position? a lot?

what is the advantage in investing now that the economy is in shambles and the dollar has depreciated?

I don't know a lick of this stuff so please be specific, thank you!

Answer
You take a "Forex position" when you enter the Forex market buying or selling a specific currency pair at a specified price. The size of the position is determined in "lots" or units. For instance, lets imagine that you have a Forex account that you funded with U.S. Dollars. The first trade you decide to take is to buy 100,000 units of EUR/USD. At the moment you buy those 100,000 Euros you simultaneously sell the difference in the exchange rate in Dollars (136,000 approximately). If the price of the EUR/USD at the moment you bought was 1.3600 you now hold 1.0 lot (commonly referred to as 1 standard lot or 100,000 units) of EUR/USD long. If the value of the EUR/USD climbed to 1.3700 and you exited (or converted your euros back to dollars) you would have made $1000.

I am sure, you now have many more questions. I believe it would be much easier if you took one of the free Forex courses online. The easiest is www.babypips.com/school but you can google to find others if you prefer.

As for the advantage of Forex now over other asset classes. Well, the biggest advantage is that there is no such thing as a bullish or bearish Forex market. You can make money Forex, no matter the market condition if you know what moves the currency market, take a disciplined approach to trading the market, and have a solid trade/cash management strategy.

As for the claims by many that Forex is a "scam," let me say this. Do people lose money in Forex? Sure. Are there companies out there willing and able to steal money from unsuspecting Forex newbies? Absolutely. But if you are careful, smart and educate yourself about Forex you will be fine.

The potential in the Forex market is unlimited - but the dangers are also great. Take your time. Don't rush into it. Find a few mentors and you can make it.

Has anyone had experience using the Forex robots that are available and are there any you would recommend? How successful have they been from a return standpoint?

Answer
The Federal government warns there are a lot of Forex frauds out there, and these Forex robots appear to be one type of these scams. If these robots really worked, there would be scads of articles about them in the Wall Street Journal and other financial publications talking about them. When I do a web search, I can not find a single reputable news article encouraging the use of Forex robots. The link below is a Federal website warning you about Forex fraud.

There are a lot of people on the Internet claiming they have done very well using Forex robots. These appear to be of two types. One is the outright liars. You might meet a person called "Zboy227" who says "I made a lot of money using ScamRobot2000, go to their website at ScamRobot .com/Zboy227." The "/Zboy227" tells the website that Zboy227 has referred you. If you buy the product, Zboy227 gets a commission. He is only lying to you to get a commission.

There is a lot of luck in Forex. Sometimes you will run into people on the web who have tried a robot for a few days and have had some beginner's luck with it. They start bragging about how well they have done. Later, they start to lose money, but they rarely get back on the web and talk about how much money they lost. People like to brag about their successes, but rarely talk about their losses. The result is that much of the feedback about these Forex robots is positive.

I may point out that websites that sell Forex robots admit there are a lot of scams out there. Of course they claim the other guy's robot is a scam, but their robot works. If you do a web search on the words "forex robot" and "scam" you will find a lot of sites saying their competitors are scams.

I will admit I have not personally tested every robot out there, and I can not prove they are all scams. But I would be very hesitant to spend a lot of money on a robot without clear proof it really works.

Which Forex Robot has the best results and easiest to use ?

Im still confused on which Robot to get to start Forex trading. If anyone has any experience, I would love hear any pros and cons.

Answer
The Federal government warns there are a lot of Forex frauds out there, and these Forex robots appear to be one type of these scams. If these robots really worked, there would be scads of articles about them in the Wall Street Journal and other financial publications talking about them. When I do a web search, I can not find a single reputable news article encouraging the use of Forex robots. The link below is a Federal website warning you about Forex fraud.

There are a lot of people on the Internet claiming they have done very well using Forex robots. These appear to be of two types. One is the outright liars. You might meet a person called "Zboy227" who says "I made a lot of money using ScamRobot2000, go to their website at ScamRobot .com/Zboy227." The "/Zboy227" tells the website that Zboy227 has referred you. If you buy the product, Zboy227 gets a commission. He is only lying to you to get a commission.

Take a look at Bob J's website. If you click on the link for Fapturbo, you can see that he is sending you to the site http://www .fapturbo . com/?hop=gannon6 The "/?hop=gannon6" means he gets a commission if you buy Fapturbo.

There is a lot of luck in Forex. Sometimes you will run into people on the web who have tried a robot for a few days and have had some beginner's luck with it. They start bragging about how well they have done. Later, they start to lose money, but they rarely get back on the web and talk about how much money they lost. People like to brag about their successes, but rarely talk about their losses. The result is that much of the feedback about these Forex robots is positive.

I may point out that websites that sell Forex robots admit there are a lot of scams out there. Of course they claim the other guy's robot is a scam, but their robot works. If you do a web search on the words "forex robot" and "scam" you will find a lot of sites saying their competitors are scams.

I will admit I have not personally tested every robot out there, and I can not prove they are all scams. But I would be very hesitant to spend a lot of money on a robot without clear proof it really works.

Please let me know in detail abut the forex and currency trading business?

Answer
It's a way to invest your money kind of like the stock market. You are buying and selling, just like the stock market. But rather than buying and selling the actual currency itself, you are buying and selling the DIFFERENCE in value (aka the exchange rate) between two different currencies.

Best way to get into the Forex is to open a demo account at http://comefollowme.zulutrade.com/Performance.aspx and add some strategies to your portfolio. It's all free, and it's the largest Forex strategy website in the world. I'll post some more links below in my sources.

What's an easy way to trade currency for profit?

I see all these Forex trade currency sites, but I don't get their explanation.
What's an easy way to do it? How much is needed? And what all needs to be done?

Answer
buy low then sell high?

I was just fooling around with the practice forex for a couple of hours today and made around $5k profit.

Answer
The simulations frequently do not match real world conditions.

Quoting from a federal government website:
"Real-time is not real: when marketing trading systems, some promoters claim that their systems have performed successfully in "Real-time Trading." This means only that the system has been tested using a live data-feed, rather than being tested using historical market data.
Remember though that in real-time trading, no trades have actually been placed in the market. Performance results based on real-time trading are merely another form of hypothetical results, with the same limitations. "

Where can I find historical financial data that can be imported into excel?

I know that yahoo finance allows you to download most indices, but im talking about a broader range of things (forex, pre-market data, commodities, bonds, treasuries..etc). I'm not concerned with it being free, I'd actually prefer paying assuming the data would be a little more accurate. any websites that offer premium data?? Thanks.

Answer
Download NinjaTrader for a free trial. The forex and futures data feeds through Zen-Fire are free.

http://www.ampfutures.com/index.php

You can build your own historical database as you go, or purchase historical data. Here are the different paid data feeds for NinjaTrader
http://www.ninjatrader-support.com/HelpGuideV6/helpguide.html?HistoricalData

Here are some free download sites if you want to use Excel. But Excel is so primitive compared to a trading platform that handles all the different time frames for you (1 min charts, 30 min charts, hourly, daily, monthly, etc.) and includes all of the indicators and moving averages and candlesticks and bar spacing, and on and on.

Stock Market Indices and Forex Data
http://pitrading.com/free_market_data.htm

Forex historical data download
http://www.fxhistoricaldata.com/

More Forex data
http://ratedata.gaincapital.com/

My much gold can I buy for $600? How much would gold need to be for me to make $100 - double in profit??? Serious replies only and thanks in advance for all who answer. Remember best answer is 10 points.
Please include details and exact figures.

Answer
It depends how much you want to risk.
If you want to go for 1/50 or 1/100 or 1/200.
In that case you need to see the gold in the price of 1002.
But first you have to study FOREX. There is a big risk out there.
Subscribe to my source and then check the scenario to calculate the profits in accordance with the gold price (XAU-USD).

I'm not new to investing, I have done risky stuff as well as some mutual funds. Since I understand tech. analysis and have practiced it (for fun not with real money) for many years, I can tell I do know something about trading.
How would I go about starting doing it online with $13,000 and little experience? Should I trade stocks, forex or something else?
Is there a way to start slow and grow? Mistakes to avoid?
Thanx to everybody.

Answer
As usual "Common Sense" has given good sound advice, while "David" is totally off the wall - It's almost impossible for any trader to use Sharebuilders, Kramer is a nightmare,

Let me add my suggestions for you
To be a trader you must first learn how to invest. You must know the products and the markets in which they trade and more importantly you must know the rules that govern those products and markets. So you must know what youâre doing, why youâre doing it, and how to do it. You should start by reading âInvesting for Dummiesâ by Eric Tyson.

Then hereâs a list of books you should consider, at least read half of them
Bulls Make Money, Bears Make Money, Pigs Get Slaughtered, by Gallea
How to Trade in Stocks, Jesse Livermore
Millionaire Traders, Lein & Schlosberg
One Up on Wall Street by Peter Lynch
Reminiscences of a Stock Operator, Edwin Lefevre
The Disciplined Trader, Mark Douglas
Trader Vic-Methods of a Wall Street Master, Victor Sperandeo
Trader Vic II-Principles of Professional Speculation, Victor Sperandeo
Trading for a Living, by Alexander Elder
Trading in the Zone, Mark Douglas

And when you think you want to trade, try some paper trading to test your skills without spending you money http://simulatorinvestopedia.com/ http://www.moneyworks4me.com/
and/or http://www.tradingsimulation.com/

Before you enter your first order you need to address four major policies and have very strong discipline to follow them
1 - You need a written sound trading/investment plan with rules that will not only help you but more importantly protect you, mostly from yourself. Always use stops either to protect you on the down side or to lock in profits on the up side. Never trade on emotions, when emotions get involved walk away. Donât try to out-smart the market, youâll loose but if you always take what the market is willing to give you, youâll be successful. Other words, you donât trade against the trend since the market is always right. And NEVER trade on emotions, once you let emotions in your trades you will loose
2 - A written money management program is essential. Remember never invest 100% of your capital into any one security and never have 100% of your capital invested. Never go into a trade without knowing when and where you are going to get out of it. Never let a loss on a trade get greater than 8%-10%, always take you loss and walk away - don't loose more than you need to and don't be afraid to take the loss. Remember you never can get hurt taking a profit. Never average down, but you can average up.
3 - You must have sufficient trading/investment capital. Use your own money, thereâs no need to go into debt so that you can trade and/or invest. Margin can be used but only with restraints, never let the account wall below 45% equity. Unless you fully understand margins you should not use it.
4 â A full and complete understanding of the rules & regulations of the industry. If your going to play in the game be sure you know the rules of the game and always follow them.

Unless you are willing to study and follow the above you will never make it as a trader. To be successful as a trader it takes work and constant study of the markets and the products traded in those markets, there is no easy way.

What are trading stocks, forex, and broker?

Can anyone who knows:

What is trading stocks and how to make money with it?

What is forex and is that related to trading stocks?

What is broker and the same questions above?

Can we absolutely make money with those?

Answer
Hi Dynasty,

Stock trading meaning if you think that for example Facebook share price will rise from current price say USD$20 and let say the next five days, the price will go up to USD$40, depending on how many shared you have purchased, say 50 shares and if you decided to liquidate it, you will make $20x50=$1000 and of course if let say the price will to drop to USD$10, then you will lose $10x50=$500.

Forex trading is trading on currency pair such as the most popular pair EURUSD and if tomorrow Germany will to announce that they will get out from EURO Zone, and if you know the information beforehand, you can short 1 standard lot, meaning 1 pip=USD$10 on EURUSD and take profit at 500 pips, you will make a profit of 500pipsx$10=$5000 within hours.

Of course both investment tools can make money only if you know how to take care of your money management to reduce your risk to the lowest. Actually in my personal forex blog, I did write something about money management on how to limit your risk if you are wrong of your trade.

Broker is platform that you need it to buy and sell your stocks or currency pairs (Forex) and they will take commission from every trade that you have transacted. If you want to try it out, you can apply for a Forex demo account to have a feel on what is Forex trading all about and try to read up Forex trading from babypips.com or my blog. In any case, it is all Free so take full advantage of it.

Absolutely can make money provided you can control your own psychology and have a sound money management to control your risk per trade.

Best Regards
Ah Kiat

I'm just wondering how long binary options will be around in the U.S.? Does anybody know any information about if they are illegal, and how long they will be around for?

Answer
Legality is not the issue as much as regulation and licensing.

Binary option sites are nothing but online betting at terrible odds. You are virtually guaranteed to lose long term.

In the US, options and forex are regulated by the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission). Most of the foreign sites (Cyprus, Israel) do not meet US regulatory standards.

One of the most widely publicized, Banc de Binary, is on a warning list from the SEC. Link below.

The 2nd link is a forex advisory from CFTC, equally applicable to binary options.

how does a binary forex option broker earn?

i want to trade in binary forex option . But first of all i want to know that how binary forex option brokers earn. If they earn from loss of money of a client then it is scary. So i want to the method of earning of binay forex option brokers.

Answer
I don't know how binary forex broker earns money. But I think, binary option is quite risky compare to traditional forex trading, since if you make a mistake in telling the trend you will lose almost all your money. Good for you if you always guess the right one. But as for me I use Omniforex Signals, a membership site that helps you successfully trade online by following signals.

How I earn Fulltime income through forex trading - http://hubpages.com/hub/Share-Market-Automatic-Forex-System

I was wondering if there was a forex broker that would let you trade the us dollar / Thai Baht pair. I have not been able to find one that offered this pair.

Answer
No any Forex brokers that I know offering USDBHT. Most importantly, the fluctuation for this pair will be minimum comparing to the major, as such less people will trade.

What is the best forex broker who has cent account with 1:500 leverage, allowing hedging, and 10,000 lot size?

I'm looking for a Forex broker who provide cent accounts with the following features:
1- hedging on same currency should be possible
2- Leverage is 1:400 or 1:500
3- Lot size can go up to 10,000
4- reputable in trading and withdrawal of funds

Thanks

Answer
try www.gomarketsaus.com, they're very good

I'm just looking for a good website or book to educate myself on investing money, something simple like a dummies guide or a beginners book.

Answer
Congratulations on attempting to learn investing at such an early age.

Let me share with you a little rule that Albert Einstein once claimed was "the greatest mathmatical discovery of all time". It is called the Rule of 72. It is pretty simple...

If you take an interest rate and divide it into 72 you get the number of years it will take your money to double.

For example, lets say you have $40K to invest if you were to get an interest rate of 12% your money would double every 6 years. So your 40K would turn into 80K in 6 years, 160K in 12 years......and $1,280,000 in 30 years.

Keep this rule in mind as you make your investment decisions and you will do quite well.

As to what areas to invest in. The stock market has done quite well for the past couple of years and mutual funds allow you to diversify your portfolio. Personally, I have been having the greatest amount of fun and success in the foreign currency market.....Forex.

What is really nice about Forex is that you can open a practice account while you are learning and not risk any of your money.

In fact I am assembling another Trading Team to evaluate some Forex trading strategies. You would be most welcome to join the team and learn along with us. Just drop me a line if interested.

Best wishes for a prosperous 2007!

Paul

http://www.teampip.com

where to start to learn about share markets and investing?

in Google lots of information are available but i need to learn clearly and from basic and in a simple way!!

Answer
First you should determine if you prefer investing like a trader selling and buying everyday on technical indicators (charts....)
Or if you are ready to invest for medium/long term.
For a beginner, investing for dummies is a good start.
Relying of internet information can be overwhelming and internet is full of scam (forex, penny stocks...)
Investopedia is a good site to learn the basics and the different terms.

I have about 10,000 dollars to invest. Is this enough?

Answer
After having 10 years or more of trading using "technical Analysis" and have a very strong "money management" system for losses, you may want to consider FX trading.

If you insist on getting into it sooner.... take at least a year to read 5 - 10 books on the subject including the psychology of trading (which makes up 80% of your success). As you may know, experianced investors fail at Forex trading at a rate higher than 96%.

Be careful. Learn & be disaplined.

What stock should i invest in?

Q. Alright i have around $2,220 to invest in the sotck market. I was thinking along the line of Exxon Moblile (XOM). General Dynamics (GD) or Dow Jones (^DJI). Any suggestions?

Answer
´ve been investing for more than 20 years and trading for almost 14, and I can tell you that if you want to make BIG and FAST profits, I recommend you trading rather than investing, trading can help you to go from rags to rich.
If you are investing, you must have already achieved some degree of finalcial success, long term stock investing and FOREX can help you become much richer than you are today.
My experiences as a Nasdaq Market Maker, Head trader of seveal brokerage firms, and currently as a professional trader and private hedge fund manager, I can sugest you that:

We trade because we want quick, short term profits on a consistent basis. We want to cash flow the market. Milk it like a cow. Make consistent, small, short term gains rather than trying to hit a home run on every trade. Don't ever forget that, don't marry a stock, marry the idea of making money trading stocks. That's the only way to do it.

For me "All stocks are equally worthless"

I don't hold on to any illusion that the stock market will continue to go up and provide a nice retirement for me.
I could care less which way the market goes. It's irrelevant to me if the market goes higher, crashes or moves sideways for the next 50 years. I really could care less. Stocks are just four letters with two prices next to them that I use to make a living trading.

Trade ONLY when you have a clear, easy and identifiable advantage, because without a CLEAR EDGE your odds of success are NO better than a flip of a coin⦠That´s why so many new traders (and investors) lose money.

Take a look at any daily chart of any index or stock and you'll probably see the most volatility and the biggest opportunity for profit during the first Hour of the stock market's opening.

The popular thinking and conventional wisdom is that you should wait about an hour before you start trading.

But if you do, you'll miss the big, fast moves that stocks make as all the amateurs let their emotions out through their online accounts, usually right after they read some news headline or hear Maria Bartiromo go off about a stock on CNBC.

It's easy to see why trading the open is the market's prime time for profiting from other online traders.
The market's open is very volatile - that is the perfect environment for LARGE, FAST profits.

Learn to trade as a professional Market Maker ,not as an emotionally driven amateur trader or investor with few thousand dollars in an account at Etrade.

There isn't any other time during the day or any stock you can invest in, that can make you 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 or more points in minutes OTHER than during the first hour the stock market is open. That's why I love trading the open so much.

I trade only when I have an edge and that means "only the fisrt hour the market is open".

If you are a beginning trader or investor, you can give yourself an unfair advantage in the market trading this way.

I can continue giving you a lot of advises about how to make money trading, but if you ask me:
"What is the best thing you can do for me or that I can do for myself?
Go to this hiden site and learn the BEST guarded system on making the largest and fastest day trading profits you´ve ever seen...

www.onehourtrading.com

After you review this site you won´t need any other system, strategy, book, software or mentor to tell you what to do,
you will be able to find big profits opportunities evey day, and don´t rely on anybody else.

P.S. Check my last 3 trades, so you can have a better perspective...Check them in any chart softaware or website.

Date: 2/13/2008, Stock: NILE, Gap: $13.57, Action: Bought at $42 Sold at $43.5, Profit: $1500, No. of stocks: 1000, Time: less than 3 minutes.

Date: 2/14/2008, Stock: EQIX, Gap: $7.25, Action: Sold short at $80 Bought at $78, Profit: $2000, No. of stocks: 1000, Time: less than 1 hour.

Date: 2/15/2008, Stock: DRYS, Gap: $3.67, Action: Sold short at $86.5 Bought at $84.5, Profit: $2000, No. of stocks: 1000, Time: less than 1 hour.

TOTAL PROFITS IN 3 DAYS: $5500

What is the best option for you, to invest or daytrade? The answer will depend on your expectations, experience, money, time, but if you are a beginner and you want to put yourself light years ahead of every investor and trader you know and give yourself an unfair advantage in the market get The One Hour Trading System right away!!!

Good luck and good trading,

i was very much looking forward to invest in forex but later i came to know through forums that its illegeal in india. then i searched for these FEMA rules it states clearly:
"no person resident in India shall open or hold or maintain a Foreign Currency Account"
then why some ppl on forum said its legal in india? there must be many ppl in india who invest in forex. how to invest legally?

Answer
don't put money,
first u register with free broker and, win some trading challenge free, then u can withdraw it to your real trading account.
after that u can trade and, trading money can transfer your bank account without any doubt.

all the method describe very clearly in tradestealer e book
you can download in here
http://www.tradestealer.com/
coupon code- testing123 $42off your order, then actual cost is $5

Forex trading hours between USD and INR?

I see that the USD-INR forex rates seem to change only during the normal business hours in India. Are those the only hours for forex trading in USD-INR? If so, what about all those services that offer 24 hour trading -- is there some misunderstanding on my part?

Thanks.

Answer
If you are in India and looking for the 24 hrs trading, in my openion, you cannot. NSE is not round the clock market like forex. I am not suer if there are any regulations in place from Inida (RBI)