The foreign exchange market is exploding! About two trillion dollars are being traded daily! and yet Americans are lagging far behind their international counterparts in entering this market. How can this be? Americans have never taken the backseat to anyone in any financial market. Why is forex the exception?

Having lived my first 20 years in Greece and my last thirty in America, I believe I can offer an educated guess. The American dollar has been the super colossus of currency. Americans never had to think in terms of their currency’s equivalence to any other currency. This kind of “dollar isolationism” has made the American mind resistant to thinking in currency pairs, which is the heart of the forex market. How do we overcome this apparent handicap? education!

I am going to try to introduce the forex market concepts through a real life example. In 1955 My father and my uncle received $100 each from their aunt in Chicago. At the time one dollar was worth 15 Greek drachmas. My father decided that his 100 USDs were not doing him any good in Greece so he exchanged them and got his 1500 DRMs. My uncle kept the 100USDs unchanged for a while. Then, one fine morning, Greece woke up to the news that the government had devalued the drachma. Instead of one USD being worth 15 DRMs, it was now worth 30!. My uncle was ecstatic. His dollars had doubled in value. Instead of 1500 DRMs he could now get 3000 with his 100 USDs. My father was inconsolable. He had sold his 100 dollars and now had 1500 drachmas in the bank instead of 3,000 DRMs worth of USDs.

This is the kind of exchange that make up the forex market. But you do need to learn the forex lingo in order to communicate and understand the forex world. Now let us apply forex lingo to our illustration above. In this lingo, my father did not sell his 100 dollars to buy 1500 drachmas. What he did was: “he sold the USD/DRM currency pair”. When you “sell a pair” it means that you exchange the first member of the pair for the second. When you “buy a pair” it means that you exchange the second member of the pair for the first member of the pair. When you buy the pair USD/DRM You give up your drachmas and hold dollars. That is what my uncle did. When you sell the USD/DRM pair you give up your dollars and hold drachmas, that is what my father did. The key to these transactions is to be positioned on the side of the member of the pair that will appreciate against the other member.

In order to illustrate and further practice the forex lingo of buying and selling a pair, lets apply it to buying a car. In forex lingo you cannot say that you bought a car for $10,000. In forex you first define the pair, in this case it would be dollars/car or USD/CAR. If you say that you bought the USD/CAR pair it would

mean that you exchanged the second part of the pair for the first. You gave up the car in order to get the dollars. That is what the car dealer did. If you say that you sold the USD/CAR pair it would mean that you exchanged the first part

of the pair for the second. That is what YOU did, you exchanged the first part of the pair “dollars”, in order to get the second, “car”. Moral of the story? Don’t get hung up on the terms buy and sell, look at the order of the pairs.

Another way to express the same thing in forex lingo is actually easier to grasp. You can say that when you bought the car, you went long on the CAR and short on the USD. The dealer went long on the USD and short on the CAR. Going long on one member of a pair means that you chose to position yourself as holding that member. Conversely, going short on a member of a pair means that you positioned yourself with the opposite member.

If you like this kind of “from the ground up” approach to explaining forex markets, please stay tuned to this site. In the next article I submit, I will discuss some of the advantages of trading in forex and also some concepts like “pip” and “carry”.

First of all, what is Forex? It is a short version of FOReign EXchange. It is also called FX and 4X, but regardless of the name you use, it is the largest financial market in the world. From 1997 to the end of 2000, daily Forex trading has skyrocketed from $5 billion to over $1.5 trillion..

Let’s look at some reasons why Forex trading is rapidly gaining popularity over other markets.

Trading hours: The Forex market is traded 24 hours per day from about 7pm EST on Sunday until about 3pm EST on Friday. The stock market is only traded Monday thru Friday with limited hours.

Liquidity: Forex markets trade over $1.5 trillion each day while the stock market only around $200 billion. There are only 7 major currencies traded on the Forex while there are more than 40,000 stocks from which to choose.

Commissions: No commissions are charged on the Forex while the stock markets charge high commissions and transaction fees.

Leverage: Forex Market offers great leverage power. Brokers usually offer from 100:1 to 400:1 leverage. This means a trader using 100:1 leverage you control $100,000 with only $1,000 margin. Stock market investors pay full price for stock when purchased unless they have a margin account and the leverage with margin is usually only 2:1.

Low Minimum Investment: The minimum initial investment to open a Forex trading account is as low as $300. Most stock brokers require several thousand dollars as a minimum to open an account.

This is the perfect market. Foreign Exchange trading has long been recognized as a superior investment opportunity by major banks, multinational corporations and other institutions. Now the internet has propelled Forex trading among private individuals tremendously. Trade from home, the office, or virtually anywhere in the world. Trade virtually anytime day or night. Work part time or full time.

Step-by-Step Practical Guide

Step One: Choose Your Mentor

If you think carefully about Forex Market, you’ll come to the realization that Forex Market is something which is in your head, only. It is your perception for the market and that perception is going to change as you grow trough the process of learning it.

The question here is: How to control something, which is in your head and you have no control of? No matter what you do, the first thing you have to put under control is: manage the mind. The problem #1 in our life is using the mind properly.

What is that has to do with the Forex Market? As you know, already, this is something which exists in your head and you have to use your mental power on its full capacity. No success can be achieved in whatever you do if you cannot control the mind. If you loose your concentration you can loose the money invested there.

How can you prepare yourself for Forex? - Follow the path of the successful players. Choose Your Mentor. Do not try to reinvent the wheel.

How to find Your Mentor? - Do your FOREX research. It is very easy. Use Internet to get very good free content on that topic. Subscribe to several free e-courses. The number of e-courses can run from 3 to 11. Visit as much websites as you can feel comfortable to handle, without being overload.

Read the information carefully and try to soak the new terminology. Do not force your self. If you are really passionate about the Forex you’ll find how quickly and easy the information will be learned. Dedicate between 2 to 4 weeks to accomplish this process.

There are many websites offering free ebooks and reports on FOREX. Download as much as you want and study those materials. They usually contain a lot of valuable information. Some of them are even better then the highly overpriced ebooks, seminars and training packages.

Once you follow the above carefully, start to eliminate those sources you do not like. Raise the bar and leave just 2-3 sources of the information you are going to follow. Keep on learning from what they offer for about 2-4 weeks.

When you feel you are ready, make your decision and pick ONE source, only. Choose your Mentor. Now you can buy what is offered by your Mentor. Start serious work study process on the materials. Open DEMO account and test what you learn with fake money.

As you acquire more and more knowledge, you’ll need to open another DEMO accounts. Apply the lessons immediately on the market and watch carefully for the results. At this time, your loosing trades are your best gifts. Allow yourself to loose a lot and learn as much as possible from those “bad” trades. Do not skip any lesson the market deliver to you for free.

There are many many advantages over the various other ways of investing. First of all it is a 24 hr market, except for weekends of course. You have the US market then the European and then the Asian. One of the great times to trade is during the over lapping periods. The USA and European overlap between 5am & 9am eastern and the Euro & Asian between 11pm & 1am eastern. Usually the busiest time and best to trade.

The is also the risk factor for the accounts. With futures and options you can get margin calls that can wipe you out. If you get caught in a bad trade not only do you lose the money in the account but you may have to come up with a lot more from your pocket. It can be very risking. But not in Forex. Worst case scenario you could lose whats in you account. But you would have to do something really stupid. Like making a big trade on a Fundamental day and leave it alone. If market takes a bad move and you weren't there. OOOPS. But That wouldn't happen with a smart trader.

Then there are the demo accounts which is an account where you can trade using all the right things, platform, charts, and information. But you are using play money, or what we call paper trading too.

Plus with Forex you have a mini account. Instead of needing thousands of dollars to get into it. You can open an account with as little as $300.00. Now of course you will be trading at 1 tenth of a trade. IN other words you controling 10,000 instead of 100,000.00 These are call lots. Which also means you will only risk 1 tenth too!

The real question is “Why are YOU not trading FOREX today?"

Trading FOREX is surely one of the best investment vehicles available, if not the best! Since the introduction of the PC (personal computer) and the internet, ANYONE from all walks of life (yes, including YOU and ME) can trade in the world’s most liquid market – FOREX (FX or Foreign Exchange). Trillions of dollars are traded each day, making it the most liquid market available to investors. Trading opportunities abound, 24 hours a day, in FOREX.

So, are you getting your share of the PROFITS? Master this investment market and you will undoubtably develop a financially abundant mindset for life! Imagine never having financial problems again. Need to pay your children’s school fees; or the car needs urgent costly repairs; or the fridge has just died and you need a new one quickly ... How can you pay for all this without going into debt? No problems, since you recently just made massive profits trading FOREX. And the best thing is you can repeat this process time and time again!

Go on, plant a $300 “seed" today and grow this into your own financial fortune. How? By trading FOREX online. Recently I came across this amazing training material which clearly lays out the path to successfully trading FOREX, step by step. We all need to start some where, and even those already trading FOREX can gain extra knowledge

from the many insightful tips and techniques offered.

Some benefits of trading FOREX over other types of investments include:

1. FOREX is the most liquid investment market, making it extremely easy to get into AND out of quickly. Try that with real estate!
2. FOREX has a low startup capital cost (from $300) with potentially huge returns over a shorter time frame. Again, try buying a home for only $300 upfront.
3. FOREX allows you to make money if the market goes up, down or sideways. Try this with traditional "buy and hold" stocks.
4. FOREX allows you to make money in minutes; hours; days; weeks and/or months. Some other investments (eg. art; real estate) need to be held for YEARS!
5. FOREX can be traded by ANYONE, ANYTIME, ANYWHERE (internet conection required), typically 24 hours a day.
6. FOREX compared to running a typical business requires NO STAFF; NO EXPENSIVE LEASED OFFICES; NO STOCK TO WAREHOUSE
7. FOREX pays promptly on all settled trades (usually next day),which is much quicker than stocks or real estate sales.
8. FOREX is FUN and CHALLENGING.
9. FOREX allows you to "work" the hours you choose, however long or short you wish, whenever you wish!

Simply stated, like any new challenge or experience, get an good education on the subject. Then develop a plan, follow the ground rules - always! Whilst trading FOREX does involve risk, you set to level of risk you are willing to accept. By this, accept total responsibility for all your actions and in-actions. Learn to adopt practical money management techniques and use the "compound leverage, lot-trading technique" wisely, and use it regularly. Just like almost anything in life you must learn. People trading FOREX successfully now are no smarter than you or me - they learnt, continue to learn and take action.

Do this and you too can turn your $300 seed into your own FOREX money tree. Nurture it well and you can "grow your own orchid", your financial freedom for life! What ever you do you can not afford to pass on this incredible investment opportunity. Do NOT make another investment decision before learning the insider secrets of FOREX trading.

It is a known law of physics that an object in motion tends to stay in motion. Why then would a person expect that investing small amounts of money each month ever expect to receive the windfall profits they hope for? Small efforts produce small rewards. The rabbit will most often prevail over the tortoise in the game of life. That is why it is necessary to learn to use fast money instead of slow. That is the reason to trade the forex market.

The market is open Sunday afternoon until Friday at 4pm eastern. There are opportunities for profit at almost any time of day. No one is left out in any time zone.

The forex market is the best trending market in existence. Money is constantly changing hands. Trading opportunities abound day and night. Minimal investments can create large profits. With the proper use of leverage, a simple $300 investment can become a massive $30,000 in as little as six months.

Government data is released on a regular basis almost everyday. These releases can produce huge price swings which are easily tradable. Most notable is interest rate decisions, payroll data and speeches by the heads of individual countries central banks.

There are many resources for free charts and demo trading platforms available on the net. It is possible to have a firm grasp of the basics of trading forex in as little as 30 days. While it may not be possible to be master trader overnight, there are many who have achieved success in extremely small amounts of time. With the proper use of risk control and money management anything is possible.

Forex traders are raking in big profits with low risk high yield, investment strategies that exist only in the foreign currency market.Especially those who have a trained eye that can see excessive profit points that explode when done correctly. The forex market has created many millionaires who understand the exceptional leverage that is provided by trading currency. To be exact a 100:1 leverage ratio, this means you can leverage your money 1x100 so $100 leverages $10,000 and $10,000 leverages $100,000. This extraordinary benefit of the currency market allows you to realize windfall profits in a short period of time and can quickly make you a lot I mean a whole lot of money. Big Businesses, banks, and wealthy investors have been making billions for years from foreign currency exchange, and now the little guy with a few hundred bucks has the same opportunity to profit from this supercharged money making forex machine.

My friend the forex boom is just beginning and I have a secret weapon that neither the newbie nor professional forex fanatics possess. Let me put this in perspective for you, lets say you could have been friends with Warren Buffet before he became a billionaire and he was willing to show you all his techniques and insight into the markets. Would you have listened? I hope you answered yes, because every investor that got involved with Warren Buffet before he became a household name has since become super multi millionaires. Now you have a similar opportunity, but there is one problem (a good problem) the leverage that is available to you through the forex market will speed up the amount of time it takes to make substantial gains that made those select few multi millionaires.

There is a little known multi millionaire forex trading champion that I discovered online who has been dumping his number crunching brain power and secret proprietary forex strategies which have made millions for everyone to see. You would not believe some of the simple yet powerful techniques this forex fiend was revealing. I mean I was floored at the sight of some the stuff this guy was showing me because I knew it meant the difference between making millions of dollars, or still trying to figure out what a pip was (forex jargon). I had to put this in writing so everyone could A. (know about the forex market) and B. (get access to this forex fortune teller). The forex market has opened up new doors for everyday Joe Schmoes such as myself and will continue to grow and give new opportunities to those who want to discover a new way to wealth. The fact of the matter is when you combine a market like foreign currencies and a Warren Buffet like forex genius that equals profits, period.

Here’s the challenging question: WHAT CAN I DO that’s profitable as a business? Here’s a sound business philosophy: Produce value for yourself others by improving the quality of life. Here’s a sound business goal: Have a lucrative Foreign Exchange (Forex) currency trading business online!

Forex - The buying of one currency and selling of another simultaneously
Forex – The Largest financial market in the world, larger than all US equity and Treasury markets combined!

Does the thought of casually making substantial income daily for doing what you love, instill a sense of passion and motivation? You’re probably ready to experience this as soon as possible. Read on!

You can easily start a business currency trading in the Forex market because –
- The startup costs extremely low.
- You don't need any employees.
- You trade from the comfort of your own home directly from your computer.
- Make money regardless of the state of the US or world economy.

Trade from anywhere you have an internet connection. You have total freedom of location

Now there is one thing that takes us from imagining the profit goal to experiencing the profit goal. That one thing is take action right? If a profitable Forex trading business is the object of your desire, then just get it going! But when? How?

The winning techniques and concepts that were revealed to me came from a mentor dedicated to propelling me to action, to success! We used a complete forex trading & profit guide that’s been in place for years and it’s free - downloadable and easy to follow, obtained via – www.fxstrategycentral.com. Their differentiator is – they actually go the extra mile and position you to take the decisive winning action!

- In Forex, trading there aren’t any leading indicators that you have to look for.
- Successful traders only trade when the odds of success are in their favor.
- It is not necessary to become an expert in these markets to profit from them.

Just decide to make Forex trading your choice for lucrative profits and positive cash flow! The free downloadable e-guide mentioned is called “Forex Freedom”. Make the decision to commit a few more minutes each day with it, and you will find that momentum to your goal will move more in your favor – in both your trading performance and in your own personal fulfillment! For example make $200 to $3,000 a few hours work using some exclusive techniques!

In the e-guide, course materials will teach you truly remarkable step-by-step unique strategies to trade the FOREX in highly specialized ways! Those closely guarded techniques for successful Forex trading are clearly examined, described and expanded into an entire confidence-building, decision-strengthening, go-do-it process. The puzzle of what-to-do is simplified into clearly defined and easily achievable pieces.

Back when I first started learning about investing, I decided to start from the beginning and read basic books on personal finance as well as “guides” for understanding all of the investment world in a nut shell. Most of these authors were very knowledgeable and informative, but their investment advice was far too conservative for my taste. They would literally write chapter after chapter talking about the differences between conservative investing, which according to them generally yields somewhere around 5% PA, as opposed to “risky” investing which usually meant a diversified stock/mutual fund portfolio yielding (in my mind) only slightly higher averages. What kind of returns can you expect in the stock market? Well they say the market has gone up an average of 10% a year since Adam and Eve. Popular indexes like the DOW and the now more popular S&P500 have always, like real estate, “gone up over time.”

Now, these market averages are almost worshiped like golden calves. Repeatedly drilled into my brain was the concept that there were hundreds (if not thousands) of fund managers and other “professionals” out there with Harvard degrees, decades of experience, millions of dollars under management, and they were all spending 15 hours a day consuming every single bit of market information in the hopes of beating these golden calves by a few points.

What chance did I have? If Dr. Fund Guru Jr. who eats, sleeps, breathes the markets and has more credentials than I have individual hairs on my body can’t consistently make 20% a year...well...forget it kid...your chances are slim to none. I guess I’ll buy some shares of XYZ fund and accept the scraps off the table from the stock gurus.

NOT!

The foreign exchange market offers many benefits that the stock market does not have. Most of these have been beaten to death on various forums, blogs, articles, e-books, etc. However, it’s always good to reiterate the positive (my own personal reason is last):

- Forex offers unprecedented liquidity. With over two trillion dollars transacted per day on the market, it makes filling any buy/sell order virtually instant. That equates to less slippage and more profitability. “Paper trading” stocks vs actually trading stocks is very different, because orders may not be filled in a timely manner. The difference between trading a forex demo account and an actual account is virtually nill.

- Forex is available 24 hours a day 5.5 days a week, as opposed to the daylight trading hours of the stock exchanges.

- Forex is uncontrollable by large entities. Large net worth individuals, banks and fund managers who throw their weight around in the stock market can often have huge effects on price action. Because of the immense volume of foreign currency traded per day, the market is unmoved by “heavy hitters.” Not even central banks can control the Forex market.

- Forex offers up to 200:1 leverage as opposed to 2:1 stock leverage.

- Forex has no restrictions for selling short, as opposed to the stock market’s “uptick” rule

- Forex can actually be traded INSIDE of an IRA or Roth IRA account.

- Forex gains are taxed at the preferred 60/40 rate, no matter what trading style you use (intra-day, swing, position) as opposed to the tax penalties for holding stocks for short periods of time.

The list does go on, but for me the biggest advantage is a psychological one. I know it probably sounds silly, but fear and intimidation can sometimes subconsciously defeat us before we even begin. I don’t like the idea of having to live up to, and in a way, compete with “professional managers” who have more knowledge of the fundamentals of the markets than I ever will. It’s almost as if Forex, in some way, levels the playing field. I don’t have to psychologically compete against anyone’s idea of what kind of returns are “acceptable and realistic” and what kind of returns are “pure fantasy.” I only have to trade until I can find an acceptable reward to risk ratio, and consistent profitability thereof. The only one I compete against is myself.

Transferring your money to Spain, whether it is to pay your bills or buy a property is always a contentious issue. People are always astonished at the amount of money the banks take in transfer charges. Often two charges are taken off the same payment with both the bank in the UK charging to make the transfer and the bank in Spain charging to receive and credit the money to the customers account. These charges which can run into hundreds on large transfers are just the tip of the iceberg…

When it comes to foreign exchange rates the banks also do you no favours. Why should a company get a better rate than an individual when exchanging the same amount of money? Why when the bank already takes what is often a large margin on the exchange rate it gives you does it also charge you commission?

If this was any other industry, people would vote with their feet but for too long the banks have had a captive audience that left their customers with no where else to go. For too long banks have been held in high reverence with customers thanking and paying them to hold on to our money. But not any longer – with the emergence of Money Transfer Companies consumers can now shop around and look for the best deals on both price and service.

If you’ve heard any of the statements quoted below from your bank it is time for you to wise up and look at the alternatives:

• Your funds still haven’t arrived, can you call back again tomorrow.
• Those exchange rates are only for companies.
• The charge for a telegraphic transfer in Sterling is £25 and Euro €40
• We can’t reduce the £25 charge as we need to cover our costs.
• We can’t guarantee how quickly your funds will be transferred but we’ll do our best to get them there as soon as we can.

REMEMBER - You have the right to shop around. You can negotiate interest rates and commissions and more importantly you can use other companies that are now providing the services that banks traditionally had the monopoly on.

These companies offer international transfers at vastly reduced rates compared to the banks. Their foreign exchange rates are much more competitive than you’ll find on the high street and your money will get transferred and arrive at it’s destination within 24hrs.

So how do they do it?

There’s no mystery surrounding these better deals. The money transfer companies are simply capitalising on the banks shortfalls. They negotiate better exchange rates with the clearing banks because of the volume of business they have and pass on the savings to their customers.

And when it comes to the speed of the transfer again it’s simple. These companies often hold balances in all of their global accounts and when you make a transfer from, for example, the UK to Australia, they simply take the funds from their Australian Account to make your payment.

And why you ask do the banks not do this?

Well they could – but as we all know for too long the banks have shrouded their operations in secrecy and led us to believe there was only one way to do things and that was their way.