Basics Flashcards
(19 cards)
What does forex stand for?
Foreign exchange
What does the forex market determine?
- the relative values of different currencies
What does the price of a currency reflect?
What the market thinks about the current & future condition of a country’s economy compared to others
What are you doing when you buy USD with GBP?
- buying shares of the US economy
- expecting the US economy to outperform the UK economy
What is the task of a forex trader?
- to buy a currency pair when exchange rates are expected to rise in the future
- then sell a currency pair when it’s exchange rate is expected to fall
What are currency pairs divided into?
- majors
- crosses
- exotics
What do majors represent?
- developed economies
- they’re highly liquid with low spreads
- stable & predictable
What are crosses ideal for?
Diversification
What are exotics?
- exotics include a currency pair from a developing country
- they’re liquid with high spreads
How do you interpret ‘EUR/USD 1.2302’?
1 Euro is worth 1.2302 Dollars
What is the base in a currency pair?
- the base is always the first currency listed in the pairing
What does PIP stand for?
Price interest point
What does price interest point (PIP) represent?
- PIP represents the smallest change in a currency pair
- Usually the fourth decimal point
- e.g. in 1.2302, the PIP is 2 at the end
What does ‘spread’ mean
- the difference between the sell quote and the buy quote (in PIPs)
- the higher the liquidity of a currency pair the lower the spread
What does Bid and Ask mean
- bid = selling price
- ask = buying price
What influences currency rates?
- central banks (interest rates)
- national economy (inflation/deflation, employment/unemployment)
- politics (government stability, military conflicts etc)
What does leverage allow you to do?
- increase the potential of realising a profit/loss between 50:200 times faster
What are tips for forex beginners?
- never risk all your money
- start slow
- set up a stop loss order
What is a stop loss order?
- tells your broker to sell a currency if it hits a certain price