There is a common misconception that the Forex market is open 24 hours a day seven days a week. Theoretically the global Forex market is open 24 hours seven days a week but an individual is still limited to the hours he can trade. Opposed to other regulated markets such as that of the stock exchange the Forex market is a network of financial institutions and retail trading brokers which gives them the ability to create their own hours of operation. Forex hours of operation are in accordance to their time zone. Most establishments trade between the hours of 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. relative to their local time zone. Turnover of exchange-traded foreign exchange futures and options has grown rapidly in recent years, reaching $166 billion in April 2010 (double the turnover recorded in April 2007). As of April 2016, exchange-traded currency derivatives represent 2% of OTC foreign exchange turnover. Foreign exchange futures contracts were introduced in 1972 at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and are actively traded compared to most other futures contracts.
In May and June last year, Mandal and his wife, Wasima, 37, also a physician, invested $30,000 each with Secure, which required customers to use U.S. dollars. The Mandals swapped pounds for $60,000, using a bank. Following instructions from Secure, they then wired the money to banks in Australia and Cyprus to open their accounts.
More promising approach is capitalizing on range contraction. This can be done on most time frames 4H and higher. For example, if daily trading ranges of given currency pair start to get smaller and smaller, it is likely that a larger move will follow. The longer the contraction period, the larger potential move after it. If one has hard time deciding which way to trade, it would be very easy to place a straddle order. Very simple way to implement this strategy is to place the orders just above previous bar's high and under the low. Stop loss could be about half of last bar range, with a target of something like twice the value of stop, or maybe close the position at the end of the time value used. For the weekly bar close would be at the end of the week, daily bars would dictate closing position at the end of the day.
By making our world a smaller and more global place, this automatically means that people, goods and services can travel faster and more easily. This also means that a necessity of currencies to be traded against each other is needed in order for this to happen. All these factors have determined a growing forex trading marketplace, which will only continue to grow and become more dynamic, liquid and responsive.
Investors should make sure that anyone offering a forex investment is properly licensed and has a reputable business history. The public can obtain information about any firm or individual registered with the CFTC, including any actions taken against a registrant, through the National Futures Association (NFA) Background Affiliation Status Information Center (BASIC), available on the NFA website at: ? You can also find out if someone is registered by calling the National Futures Association at 1-800-676-4632.
