forex is all about risks

Assuming you are dealing with a reputable broker, there are still risks to FOREX trading. Transactions are subject to unexpected rate changes, volatile markets and political events.

Any investments have the whole set of risks.

What factors define the risks? Many factors. Among them:

1) The Basic purposes of the company
2) The Organization (mechanism) of the purpose achievement
3) Management of the company, that defines its successful and long functioning
4) Presence of sufficient own company's resources for opposition various acts of God

All rest (duration of existence, the big building in the center of the town, big attractive office, the affable personnel) are not so essential. Forex market stand independently from other markets first of all because it is out of the exchange. Why so happens - probably because it formed rather recently, about 20 years ago, and banks became its participants. By virtue of development of a communication facility and automation banks began to trading "directly", not requiring in the special organizations - stock exchanges. Been born, this market became global at once, and in one country it was not possible to limit, "settle" it legislatively. Therefore there is such dislike and neglect for this market from many "classical" financiers. Nevertheless for a lot of the European and North American banks speculative operations on Forex market are the basic source of the income while the quantity of the personnel working in other markets, is constantly reduced.

So, Forex market practically has no legislative regulation in one country, and in the majority of the countries is equated to the organization of games. It follows from this that Forex market's broker does not require any licenses and certificates. It is the usual legal person.

Here is the second important fact - Forex market is not adjusted, despite of set of the confused problems and risks in addition to the risk connected with movements of the price of the market. These problems rotate around of trust, honesty of carrying out of operations, managed of Forex risks, a transparency and marketing of Forex brokers. But in the beginning we should understand, that, unlike highly adjustable exchange markets, broker firms cannot be carried to any separate stock exchange on character of problems and risks.

FOREX trading can be risky, but there are ways to limit risk and financial exposure.

Every FOREX trader needs to know at least the basics about technical analysis and how to read financial charts. He should study chart movements and indicators and understand how charts are interpreted.

Even the most knowledgeable traders, however, can't predict with absolute certainty how the market will behave. For this reason, every FOREX transaction should take advantage of available tools designed to minimize loss. Stop-loss orders are the most common ways of minimizing risk when placing an entry order. A stop-loss order contains instructions to exit your position if the currency price reaches a certain point. If you take a long position (expecting the price to rise) you would place a stop loss order below current market price. If you take a short position (expecting the price to fall) you would place a stop loss order above current market price.

As an example, if you take a short position on USD/CDN it means you expect the US dollar to fall against the Canadian dollar. The quote is USD/CDN 1.2138/43 - you can sell US$1 for 1.2138 CDN dollars or sell 1.2143 CDN dollars for US$1.

You place an order in the following way:
Sell USD: 1 standard lot USD/CDN @ 1.2138 = $121,380 CDN
Pip Value: 1 pip = $10
Stop-Loss: 1.2148
Margin: $1,000 (1%)

You are selling US$100,000 and buying CDN$121,380. Your stop loss order will be executed if the dollar goes above 1.2148, in which case you will lose $100.

However, USD/CDN falls to 1.2118/23. You can now sell $1 US for 1.2118 CDN or sell 1.2123 CDN for $1 US.

Because of the immense volume of FOREX, however, it is impossible for one force to control the market for any length of time. Market forces will prevail in the long run, making FOREX one of the most open and fair investment opportunities available.

Prices of foreign exchange are indicated by FOREX quotes in pairs of currencies. The first currency is the 'base' and the second is the 'quote' currency. In this example:

USD/EUR = 0.8419

...the currency pair is US dollars and European euros. The base currency (USD) is always at '1' and the quote currency shows how much it costs to buy one unit of the base currency. In this example, 1 US dollar costs 0.8419 euros.

Conversely...

EUR/USD = 1.1882

...tells us that it costs 1.1882 US dollars to buy 1 euro.

When the price of the quote currency goes up it indicates that the base currency is becoming stronger – one unit of the base currency will buy more of the quote currency. If the quote currency falls, however, the base currency is becoming weaker.

FOREX quotes are seen in 'bid' and 'ask' prices. Bid is the price that buyers will pay for the base currency (while selling the quote currency), and ask is the price that sellers will sell the base currency (while buying the quote currency).

Symbol Bid Ask

USD/CAD 1.2392 1.2397

This chart tells us that we can buy one American dollar for 1.2397 Canadian dollars, or sell one American dollar for 1.2392 Canadian dollars. The most commonly traded currencies pairs are the "Majors": GBP/USD, EUR/USD, AUD/USD, USD/JPY, USD/CHF, and USD/CAD.

We often see exchange rates listed in cross currency charts that list many different currencies and their values against each other. An example of such a chart is seen here:
US $ Ca $ Euro UK ?
US $ 1.00000 1.24060 0.83935 0.56870
Ca $ 0.80606 1.00000 0.67657 0.45841
Euro 1.19140 1.47805 1.00000 0.67755
UK ? 1.75840 2.18147 1.47591 1.00000

In this chart, the currencies listed down the left side of the chart are the base currencies and the currencies at the top are the quote currencies. We can convert the chart above into currency pairs by following the row beside the base currency. Using US dollars as the base currency we get the following currency pairs:
USD/CAD = 1.24060
USD/EUR = 0.83935
USD/GBP = 0.56870

...which tells us that one US dollar is equal to the corresponding value of the quote currency. To find the opposite pair e.g. CAD/USD follow the Canadian dollar row to the US dollar column - CAD/USD = 0.80606 (one Canadian dollar is worth 0.80606 US dollars).

There is no standard for cross-currency charts: some have the base currency on the top and some have it on the side. How to tell which is which? You need to know at least one pair of currencies and which one of the pair is more valuable.