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Monday, December 28, 2009

Margin Makes Foreign Exchange Trading Exciting

By John Eather

One of the chief benefits of foreign exchange trading is having "margin" on your side. This is what makes it so exciting as well as profitable. The ordinary investor would not have access to trading in forex if it we not for margin, but what exactly is this?

Margin allows traders in forex to leverage by controlling a large amount of currency with a proportionately small amount, or what is called a deposit. Essentially a margin account has to be opened through a foreign exchange broker and the trader is then able to control currency lots. Currency lots vary in size but they generally are around $100 000.

Through leverage the broker or trader is able to make a small deposit of say $1000, which will allow him a leverage ratio of 100:1. Essentially this means the broker is able to have access to a 1% margin which in the case of a $1000 deposit is $100 000. One hundred times their initial deposit!

Trading on a margin means that the broker is able to have access to very large profits. But as in all methods of investment there is risk too, so by the same token losses can be made. But reward does after all favor the brave. There are safeguards available that can limit the risk of losses and a broker will terminate a transaction which goes above the deposit margin. However it is still possible to lose more than the original deposit amount even if a small change in foreign exchange is experienced. By the same token, so can large profits be made.

An example of how cash is traded is that it is positioned at 2 decimal places. Forex on the other hand is traded at 4 decimal places. So normal currency may be for example $1.25, and forex would stand at $1.2567. The smallest unit in foreign currency exchange is the "pip" and this on a lot of 100 000 only equals $10. This amount bears no significance to a forex trader, while it may make the average American tourist decide not to take a holiday in Aruba this year. Profits and losses are decided by far larger drops and increases in the value of forex than $10 on $100 000 and this is what makes trading in margins so exciting. - 23226

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