Diffrences between Forex Trading and the Stock Trading

Foreign exchange or Forex or FX, as is sometimes called is global, worldwide currency while the stock market is trading within the country on the basis of business and products in this country. Foreign exchange market transactions in trillions of dollars on a daily basis unsurpassed any other trade, including the stock market. Foreign exchange is the most active liquid financial market in the world. Half the trading volume is transferred from London, England - Forex trading center. it always possibile to trade 24 / 7. While one market is closing, another opening and whether the currency is weakening or strengthening, so the chance for trade and profits at any time, if you know what you do. Before you open a trading account, make sure you are dealing with a reputable firm or broker. Not too many people know that external trade must pass through a broker or company with direct participation in foreign exchanges and that the company should be backed by a major financial institution. The company also should be allowed to do business in your country. There is only forex providers, where you can only trade in foreign currency. There are other companies that provide multiple trading platforms such as oil and gas, metals, commodities, indices and shares in addition to foreign currency. On one account, you can trade all of these markets. There are many scam artists on the prowl on the Internet to keep abreast, so your own inquiries before you part with your money, because it has no chance to get it back. There are amazing new software on the market called FAPS or Forex Autopilot system, developed very took insider trading and mathematician. This automated robot will be on duty 24 / 7 market analysis and make your money while you sleep. Top legally "get rich quick" programs on the Internet today. I do not think work. If you can point and click and follow the instructions, you'll do a lot of money. Designed for beginners and experienced trader in equal measure. There is now a big discount on the software for only a limited time, so hurry before the door closes. There Money Back Guarantee if not satisfied, so you have nothing to lose but much to gain.if you want to know more about forex visit our site http://www.forexgen.com/

Characteristics of forex Market

In recent years, the forex market favors more and more people as it becomes a favorite for international investors, and this is strongly related to the properties of the forex market. The main characteristics of the forex market are summarized below.

It is a market without a trading field
The finance industry generally consists of two sets of systems, namely the operation market and the business network. Stock trading is carried out through stock exchanges, like the New York Stock Exchange and the Tokyo Stock Exchange, that are centralised business financial commodities - they consist of unified procedures and intermediaries such that the quoted price and transaction time are the same across various brokers. The investor can buy and sell their holdings through any broker, therefore the stock market is said to "consist of a trading market and trading field".

On the other side , foreign exchange transactions take place without any unification of the operation market and business network. The foreign exchange market has no centralised market like a stock exchange. The foreign currency trading network has formed into a global, non-formal organization that consists of an advanced information system. Forex traders are not required to hold a membership of any organization, but must obtain their colleague's trust and approval. The forex market therefore is said to "consist of a market but no trading field". Each day, the trading volume in the global forex market runs into several billions of U.S. dollars.

Circulation work
Due to the different geographical position of the various financial centres, the forex market operates 24 hours each working day.

Early morning 0830 (New York time) New York market opens, 0930 Chicago market opens, 1830 Sydney opens, 1930 Tokyo opens, 2030 Hong Kong and Singapore open, before dawn 1430 Frankfurt opens, and at 1530 London market opens. The forex market therefore undergoes 24 hours of uninterrupted operation, from Monday to Friday each week.

This kind of continued operation, free from any time and spatial barrier is an ideal environment for investors. For instance, a forex trader may buy the Japanese Yen in the morning at the New York market, and in the evening if the Japanese Yen rises in the Hong Kong market, the trader can sell in the Hong Kong market. The freedom to operate in multiple markets provides an enormous number of opportunities.

Shift of Wealth
In the forex market, the exchange rate refers to the exchange ratio between the currencies of two countries. Fluctuations in the exchange rate change will cause one currency to lose its monetary value, and at the same time increase the monetary value of another currency. For instance, over 20 years ago a single US dollar bought 360 Japanese Yen, whereas at present 1 US dollar buys 110 Japanese Yen; this explains that the Japanese Yen has risen in value, and the US dollar has decreased in value (relative to the Yen). This is said to be a shift in wealth, as a fixed amount of Japanese Yen can now purchase many more goods than two decades ago.

In recent years, the size of the foreign exchange market fund has constantly increased, causing more exchange rate fluctuation every day, and urging this wealth shift to be larger.

Forex types of accounts | ForexGen

There are many different types of forex accounts available to the retail forex trader.
Demo accounts are offered by forex brokers as a way to introduce traders to their software and execution methods.
live account is an account opened by traders with real money deposited in order to start trading for real profit
Mini accounts, and full accounts are the most common types of funded accounts. Mini accounts are similar to regular trading accounts; however currency is traded in lots of 10,000 rather than 100,000. This allows for lower mandatory initial deposits, and greater customization of risk management.It is important that the currency trader consider what they want to get out of their account, before deciding on the type to open. Demo accounts, and mini accounts, are great for the retail forex trader to learn a profitable system, and get used to the execution methods of the broker. For the currency speculator that doesn't want to trade by themselves, a managed account would be better.

Understanding Spreads | ForexGen

What Is A Spread?
FIRST, spread is the difference between the ask price (the price you buy at) and the bid price (the price you sell at) quoted in pips. If the quote between EUR/USD at a given moment is 1.2222/4, then the spread is 2 pips. If the quote is 1.22225/40, then the spread is 1.5 pips.
SECOND, it is how brokers make money. Wider spreads result in a higher ask price and a lower bid price. As a consequence, you pay more when you buy and get less when you sell, making it more difficult to realize a profit
Brokers don't typically earn the full spread, especially when they hedge client positions. The spread compensates the market maker for taking on risk from the time it executes a client trade to when the broker's net exposure is hedged (possibly at a different price).
Why Are Spreads So Important?
Spreads affect the return on your trading strategy in a big way. Probably more than you think. As a trader, your sole interest is buying low and selling high. Wider spreads means buying higher and having to sell lower. A half-pip lower spread doesn't sound like much, but it can easily make the difference between a profitable trading strategy and an unprofitable one.

Using Moving Averages | ForexGen

You can make money with individual stocks no matter what the market is doing.But it is important to look at some key measurements. One of these measures is the moving average. Short-term moving averages help gauge the short-term direction of the market, while longer moving averages take a big picture view.For example: if a stock breaks the 200-day moving average on its way down, that's generally thought to be bearish, and the longer-term trend could be reversing. The 200-day moving average can also act as support. If a stock comes down, but stops at the major moving average and then starts moving higher from there, it can act as a firm underpinning of support for the stock.Looking at the 50-day moving average can be quite useful as well. It's more of an intermediate snapshot of the price trend and is more sensitive than the longer-term 200 day. A rising moving average with the price trading above it is bullish, while a descending moving average with the price trading below it is bearish. More short-term signals can be seen with the 10- and 20-day moving averages. Moving average crossovers can also be valuable. When the quicker moving average (50 day for example) is above the slower moving average (200 day), this is thought to be bullish. Likewise, when the shorter term is trading below the longer-term moving average, this is thought to be bearish.Using a screener can be helpful in finding stocks that meet this criteria. Of course, moving averages alone don't tell the whole story. But a company with solid fundamentals while also trading above these momentum indicators can help you find stocks bucking a downtrend or confirming an uptrend.The screen that I'm running today looks for stocks trading above their short term (10 and 20 day), intermediate term (50 day) and long-term (200 day) moving averages. I'm also demanding that their current quarter earnings estimates have been raised within the last 4 weeks (or at the very least, not lowered); their average broker rating has been upgraded (or at the very least, not downgraded): and they have a Zacks #2 Rank or Zacks #1 Rank (Buy or Strong Buy).

What types of accounts are available for forex trading?

There are many different types of forex accounts available to the retail forex trader.
Demo accounts are offered by forex brokers as a way to introduce traders to their software and execution methods.
live account is an account opened by traders with real money deposited in order to start trading for real profitMini accounts, and full accounts are the most common types of funded accounts. Mini accounts are similar to regular trading accounts; however currency is traded in lots of 10,000 rather than 100,000. This allows for lower mandatory initial deposits, and greater customization of risk management.It is important that the currency trader consider what they want to get out of their account, before deciding on the type to open. Demo accounts, and mini accounts, are great for the retail forex trader to learn a profitable system, and get used to the execution methods of the broker. For the currency speculator that doesn't want to trade by themselves, a managed account would be better.

Huge Earning Potential with ForexGen

Forex currency exchange trading is one of the fastest growing trade markets in the world. It is also the biggest with an estimated 1.8 trillion dollars being exchanged every single day.
With these stats to it's name it should come as no surprise that one of the major reasons for this exponential growth is the fact that Forex trading offers incredible earning potential.
This is also why large multi-national corporations have been investing in foreign exchange, and specifically in ForexGen, for years and more and more individuals are utilizing currency trading to supplement their incomes and some are even living purely off the profits they make. Read more…

Using Technical Analysis to Build your own Forex Strategy

Technical analysis can supplement your trading strategy. Many professionals for example make use of moving averages along with other indicators. This method has an element of risk control (built-in) – where a long position will be stopped out fairly quickly in a falling market generating a stop-and-reverse signal or a sell signal in a rising market
At the initial stage you should rely on a logical system in having a view of the market. Discipline will be the keyword for establishing yourself as a successful trader. Your trading decisions should not be based on irrational emotions where you continue to experience losses with the hope of regaining the position. Your ability to limit your losses is just as important as determining the entry points.

Developing a Forex Strategy with ForexGen

A fool-proof trading strategy can help you gain profit from day one in the Forex market. If you spend some time to study the market you will find some price patterns that recur consistently.
You can substantiate your observations with charts or graphs using a strategy builder software and then finally develop a strategy unique for your trading habits.
So developing a sound and effective trading strategy is the important foundation of the trading. You must develop working knowledge of technical analysis as well as knowledge of some of the more popular technical studies before deciding which is going to be the best strategy for you.
A trading strategy should optimize your risk with respect to the reward, or vise versa. It should have a disciplined method of limiting the risk and make the most out of favorable market moves. Read more…

Trading Forex Currency Pairs for Maximum Profit

It is also known as domestic currency or accounting currency and sometimes also referred to as the primary currency of a Forex currency pair. The price represents how much of the quote currency is needed to get one unit of the base currency.
When a currency is quoted against US Dollar, it is known as direct rate. Any currency not against the US Dollar is called a cross rate.
The quote currency is translated into a certain number of units of the base currency. This is also referred to as the foreign currency, secondary currency or counter currency. For example, if you find that a quote of USD/JPY is at 1.30, it says that for every 1 US Dollar, you get 1.30 Japanese Yen. When you quote for AUD/JPY of 67.73, it says that for every 1 Australian Dollar, you get 67.73 Japanese Yen.
Currency pairs are generally traded as 100,000 units of the base currency. For example, if you were buying EUR/USD at 0.95 you would be paying Dollars for Euros as follows:
100,000 x .95 = $95,000 for 100,000 Euros
When you find a quote going up, it means that the value of the base currency is rising or in other words, it is getting stronger. If a quote is going down, it means that the base currency is weakening.
The dominant base currencies are:
Euro - EUR/USD, EUR/GBP, EUR/CHF, EUR/JPY, EUR/CADBritish Pound - GBP/USD, GBP/CHF, GBP/JPY, GBP/CADUS Dollar - USD/CAD, USD/JPY, USD/CHF
The currency pairs are usually traded and quoted with a ‘bid’ and ‘ask’ price. The ‘bid’ is the price at which you are willing to buy and the ‘ask’ is the price at which price you are willing to sell.
For example, if the USD/EUR currency pair is quoted as - USD/EUR = 1.5 and you purchase the pair, this means that for every 1.5 euros that you sell, you get US$1. If you sold the currency pair, you receive 1.5 euros for every US$1 you sell.
The key to successful trading lies in selecting one or two pairs of currencies that you wish to trade in as a beginner. As you gain confidence, you may wish to add more pairs in your trading portfolio. But for a new trader or investor it is always advised to have limited pair just to ensure simplicity. And that what ForexGen Promises with.

The Forex Currency Pairs with ForexGen

Foreign Exchange trading is in general the trading of many currencies of the world. It is emerging as the largest and least regulated market providing the greatest liquidity to investors.
This trading is always done in pairs – Currency Pairs, one currency is bought and the other is sold. Together, they make up what is known as the "exchange rate".
For example, you may buy Euros with Dollars, anticipating that the Euro to increase in value relative to the Dollar. If the Euro rises relative to the Dollar, you sell the position and can earn a profit.
Most commonly traded currencies or the “majors” are:
US Dollar (USD)Japanese Yen (JPY)Euro (EUR)British Pound (GBP)Canadian Dollar (CAD)Australian Dollar (AUD)Swiss Franc (CHF)
Most commonly traded currency pairs are:
US Dollar and the Japanese Yen (USD/JPY)Euro and US Dollar (EUR/USD)US Dollar and Swiss franc (USD/CHF)British Pound and US Dollar (GBP/USD)
While quoting currency pairs, the first currency is referred to as the base currency and the second as the counter or quote currency. The base currency is always equal to 1 monetary unit of exchange, for example, 1 Dollar, 1 Pound, 1 Euro.

ForexGen Partnerships

We offer partners who are looking to grow their business the broadest range of equity and derivatives products, both exchange-traded and over-the-counter (OTC), adaptable partnership solutions, a quick and cost-efficient route to market and flexible commercial terms.
We offer a variety of partnership solutions tailored to your needs:
Introducing Brokers

Fund Managers

White Label/Branding
A partnership with ForexGen Securities will be of interest to you if you are:
Looking to retain customers and increase their profitability by offering additional products

Seeking to grow revenues by entering new markets and attracting new types of business

In need of a new partner who can offer more flexible, better value solutions and products
Offer your customer base a comprehensive range of equities and derivatives products:

Spot and forward FX, gold & silver


Global CFDs

UK, US, Canadian and European Equities

Financing your FX with ForexGen

Financing your FX positions held overnight (known as interest rollover or ‘TomNext’) Trading strategies involve the use of interest rate differentials between the currencies in a pair and those positions that are rolled over from one trading day to the next will incur financing based upon these interest rate differentials. You pay interest on the currency that you sell and receive interest on the currency that you buy.

The interest rate applied is ‘TomNext’ which is an abbreviation for ‘Tomorrow’ or the ‘Next’ business day because the first value date is tomorrow or the next business day. The TomNext price reflects the applicable interest rate between Tomorrow/Next and the ‘Spot value’ date. At (22:00) 10:00pm London Time (Standard FX market Value-Date change time) each day, ForexGen settles all spot positions by closing the trade at the current market rate and re-opening it for the following day’s spot date at a rate that will reflect the interest rate differential.

Example:You are long the GBP/USD pair.You will receive interest on the GBP and pay interest on the USD.If GBP has a higher interest rate than the USD, you will receive a net interest payment but if GBP has a lower interest than the USD, you will pay out a net interest payment.

Advantages of Trading Forex with ForexGen

Advantages of trading margined spot and forward foreign exchange:
Ability to trade on margin. Access to the FX market can be made using small capital outlays by taking advantage of superior leverage
The FX market is the largest and most liquid in the world
24 hour seamless trading. The FX market is open for a continual 5 1/2 day period allowing you to enter and exit the market at any time
Ability to establish long (opening purchase) and short (opening sale) positions
Superior market transparency. There are no multiple exchange listings of the same instrument
No standard trade sizes exist
No delivery or contract expiry to consider

Advantages of trading FX using technical analysis
Strong persistent trends
No directional bias

Advantages of trading FX using fundamental analysis
Global economic information readily available
Considerably less complicated than stock investing
Ability to trade on news and events

ForexGen Trading Platform

Trading Platform Features, Tools & resources to aid successful trading
Windows-based click and deal trading platform providing trading executions typically under a second
Real time automated inter-bank dealing prices
Real-time margining, position keeping and mini statements detailing unrealised & realised profit & loss summaries
Charts and news
Free demo
Market, limit, stop and OCO orders available
Squawk box facilities - live audio rates of major currency pairs direct to your PC
Wide range of trading tools
Live audio rates of major currency pairs direct to your PC
Live chat interaction with dealers
Free real time charting package
Real-time news & analysis of data pre and post release
Regular economic diaries, updates and FX commentaries
Telephone trading available

ForexGen Advantages

1] 24-hour Internet, telephone and Reuters tradingAccess ForexGen, spot gold and silver prices ensuring price integrity, transparency and consistent liquidity.

2] Transparent competitive two-way pricingWe offer very competitive spreads on over 27 currency pairs, typically 1 pip spread on the major currency pairs.

3] Instantaneous auto trade executionsWe are committed to ensuring you deal on the prices you see. At a glance you can see where the market can be bought and sold (under normal market conditions).

4] Low margin requirementsAccess ForexGen, spot gold & silver with margin requirements starting at just 1% or leverage of 100-to-1.

5] State-of-the-art trading platformsFree easy-to-use Windows-based click and deal mini and maxi trading platforms which are fully customisable and offer multiple stored layouts. Our platforms offer a wide variety of order types - MARKET, LIMIT, STOP and OCO. We aim to make it as easy and seamless as possible to access demonstration and live trading platforms and to open and fund your trading accounts.

6] Flexible lot sizesYou are not restricted to trading in standard lot sizes. Take advantage of our wide range of trading sizes from 0.01 million - 100 million (equivalent to $1 / point - $10,000 / point).

7] Risk management in real timeOur platform monitors and controls risk exposure in real time. Based on your margin requirement, it calculates funds needed to retain current open positions and resources available for new positions or for adding to existing open positions.

8] Hedging capabilityYou have complete control over whether you close or hedge your positions to reduce risk. You can run multiple positions for each currency pair which can be individually selected for closing.

9] Earn interest on cash balancesUnlike many FX brokers ForexGen Securities pays interest on those funds not being used for margin purposes.

10] 24 hour personalised customer serviceOur experienced and knowledgeable people are available 24 hours a day to answer questions and provide assistance. Our professional dealers can be accessed at all times via live chat and telephone, and our technical and administrative support is second to none.

11] A fast and efficient back office systemWhen you fund your account and start trading, you receive straight-through-processing of your trades offering live position keeping, margining, statements, unrealised and realised profit & loss.

CFDs with ForexGen

A CFD gives you all the benefits of the underlying cash equity whilst avoiding many of the typical costs associated with dealing in the physical share. CFD trading allows you to gain cost-effective, flexible and geared exposure to world shares and indices. We offer very competitive financing and commission charges on equity CFDs as well as tight spreads and commission free trading on Index CFDs.
The Advantages of Trading CFDs with ForexGen Securities
Market prices or better.
No fixed minimum spread or invented price.
No minimum deal size.
No minimum deposit requirement.
Low commission rates.
Low financing rates.
Low initial margins.
Separate CFD account or one account for all financial products.
No stamp duty.
Instant execution and improved liquidity.
Interest paid on your free equity balance.
Commission-free index trading.

Exchanges Around the World with ForexGen

Technology has fueled the growth of global trading over the past decade, fostering dreams of a single universal marketplace. Yet, investors who have diversified their portfolios across borders and product lines might not always know how their orders are handled on a multiplicity of exchanges and market centers around the globe.
Rules and trading technologies differ significantly not only from one country to the other, but often from one exchange to the other. Rules change frequently too, as exchanges continue to evolve from members-owned monopoly utilities into competitive execution businesses.
ForexGen LLC , which provides direct access to over 50 exchanges and market centers around the world, has incorporated these various exchange rules in its SMART-routing technology to ensure that customers obtain true best execution, no matter what product they trade or where they trade it.
The business of the exchanges is in flux, due to heightened competition and the consolidation trend inherent to a utility-type sector. A number of exchanges have already demutualized and turned themselves into for-profit corporations, some of which are publicly traded. Other markets are merging to better compete in a low-margin business where innovations require substantial investments.
U.S. exchanges face important regulatory challenges as well, with the Securities and Exchange Commission mulling crucial reforms to modernize U.S. capital markets in the 21st century.
The proposed Regulation NMS would acknowledge the advance of electronic trading and likely force the remaining floor-based securities exchanges to alter their model in order to remain competitive. In anticipation of the changes, the New York Stock Exchange has already submitted a proposal for a new hybrid model.
An even bigger challenge may come from the SEC concept release on self-regulatory organizations. It questions the “advisability of implementing enhancements to the current SRO system or pursuing an alternative regulatory model,” which could lead to a single independent regulator with no business ties to the exchanges. Without a regulatory franchise, exchanges would be businesses fighting for customers.
ForexGen has followed how trading began and is still evolving on the major venues that its Universal platform accesses via broadband to trade equities, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), options, futures, foreign exchange and bonds. With Universal, ForexGen provides a gateway to global markets and multiple products from a single account in a single currency.

Trade in Forex with ForexGen

Forex, Fx or Foreign Exchange Market is a network of the largest financial institutions in the world such as central banks, commercial banks, and other financial institutions, corporate customers and forex brokers, where foreign currency is bought and sold.
Daily forex trading in traditional forex exchange is very large and was estimated at USD 1.5 trillion in 1998.
The forex market is a 24 hour global forex market that works all week except Saturdays and Sundays with no opening or closing hours.
The four largest forex centers in the world are London, New York, Tokyo and Singapore. Usually forex trading is brisk in North America mornings, or afternoons in Europe due to both markets being open at the same time and usually due to new US economic data being released.
The forex trading markets regularly trade a very wide range of currencies; however the majority of forex transactions are in five major currencies: the US Dollar, the Euro, the British Pound, the Yen and the Swiss Frank . The greatest number of forex currency trades are made against the US Dollar.

Forex Currencies with ForexGen

The US economy is the largest in the world. That is in the majority of Forex transactions traders involve the US dollar against another currency.
The German mark, the Japanese yen, sterling (British pound) and the Swiss franc have been the basic currency of a lot of trading transactions. Each of these markets has very distinct features.
The German mark has been replaced by the Euro. The German mark was a tower of strength. The traditional role of the Bundesbank was undermined after unification with the former East Germany and it has now been replaced by the European central bank.
The Japanese yen has been highly changible in recent years. In October 1998, the most dramatic currency move in many years was seen as the dollar fell some 15% in just a few days against the Japanese yen.
The Swiss franc serves as does the dollar from time to time, as a "safe haven". This is due to the isolation of the Swiss economy, its independent and neutral political acts and the secrecy of Switzerland's banking system.
The British pound, always a big part of foreign exchange markets and the first currency to be Forex market traded actively against the US dollar via the transatlantic cables (hence the description "cable"), has traditionally weakened against most other currencies. This tendency has been reversed in recent years and the pound will remain an interesting currency as it takes its place as one of the few key European currencies.
European Currencies
European currencies have gained in importance in the last twenty years and have suffered some major crises due to the continued attempt to peg exchange rates to each other. The key to Continental European currencies has been the German mark-French franc Axis that was seen as the backbone of the common currency. The Benelux countries have benefited from long-term stability as well, whereas most Mediterranean and Scandinavian currencies have fluctuated wildly against this European core. The introduction of a common currency in 2001 attracts big changes to foreign exchange trading in Europe. As early as 1998, the participating currencies were fixed against each other and this has forced many European banks to revise many of their trading assets. Overall, however, we do not consider the introduction of the Euro to be particularly detrimental to foreign exchange markets. A feeble Euro has taken the place of the mark and non-participating European currencies will become more inconstant and more exposed to speculative attacks. This will spell a new dawn for sterling trading that will become the main national currency market (together with the Swiss franc) in Europe.
Arising markets
So-called exotic currencies have long offered enormous profit potential as well as very substantial risks. The most noticeable approach has been to single out weak, but fixed currencies for brutal speculative attacks, leading to large devaluations and extensive economic problems for the countries involved. The reason that many emerging currencies are artificially supported to the US dollar or other currencies is normally to force local monetary authorities to act with more discipline and to persuade holders of the currency against the risk of depreciation. Unfortunately, it has proven nearly impossible for most emerging countries to maintain the necessary discipline to justify stable currency levels and the result is nearly always a dramatic devaluation. In leveraged trading, such devaluations offer big profit potential, but in the intermediate periods where the currency is stable, high interest rates will benefit investors with the nerve to hold onto the currency.
This makes the emerging markets very tricky to Forex market trading and while nobody should Forex market trading any foreign exchange market without a solid grasp of the technical aspects, this is even more true in emerging markets. Seen from a commercial company's point of view, however, failure to protect against the risks in such markets can be fatal. Mainly, interest focuses on South East Asia and South America, but there is no reason that both the African Continent and Eastern Europe should not provide interesting markets in the future.
And some words about of how currencies are traded in the Forex market.
In the Forex, currencies are traded in dollar amounts called Lots. One lot is equal to $1,000, which can control $100,000 in currency. This is known as the "margin". Yes with $1000 only you can control $100,000 worth of currency.
Currencies are always traded in pairs in the Forex market. Each pairs has its own unique notation that expresses what currencies are being traded. The notation for a currency pair will always be in this sort of format:
ABC/XYZ
Now ABC/XYZ is not a real currency pair, its just an example of the notation used to identify a currency pair. In this example of ABC/XYZ, ABC would be the symbol for one countries currency and XYZ would be the symbol for another countries currency.
Here are some of the creal and common symbols used in the Forex market:
USD - The US Dollar
EUR - The currency of the European Union "EURO"
GBP - The British Pound
JPN - The Japanese Yen
CHF - The Swiss Franc
AUD - The Australian Dollar
CAD - The Canadian Dollar
NZD - The New Zealand Dollar
The most commonly traded currencies are referred to as the 'Majors':
US Dollar (USD)
Japanese Yen (JPY)
Euro (EUR)
British Pound (GBP)
Canadian Dollar (CAD)
Australian Dollar (AUD)
Swiss Franc (CHF)
Most commonly traded currency pairs are:
EUR/USD which stands for Euro / US Dollar
USD/JPY which stand for US Dollar / Japanese Yen
GBP/USD which stands for British Pound / US Dollar
USD/CAD which stands for US Dollar / Canadian Dollar
AUD/USD which stands for Australian Dollar/US Dollar
USD/CHF which stands for US Dollar / Swiss Franc
EUR/JPY which stands for Euro / Japanese Yen
These are the symbols you will most commonly see in a Forex market platform. Of course there are many other symbols for other currencies as well, but these are the most commonly traded ones.
A currency can never be traded by itself. So for example you can never trade a JPY by itself. You always need to compare one currency with another currency to make a trade possible. This is the heart of the Forex market.
Numerator and Denominator
The Numerator is the top part of the fraction and the Denominator would obviously be the bottom part of it. Lets take an example with EUR/USD
EUR would be the Numerator (the first currency which is on top)
USD would be the Denominator (the currency that comes below or after the EUR)
The numerator is called the base currency and the denomiator is known as the counter currency.
Now whenever you place a "BUY" order in a Forex platform for example with the EUR/USD pair, what you are actually doing is buying the EUR and selling the USD. Buying in the Forex is known as going "LONG".
On the other hand if you were to sell the pair, you would be selling the EUR and buying the USD. This is known as going "SHORT" exactly like short selling in a stock market. (Short-selling is where you sell a stock/currency/commodity first and then try to buy it back at a lower price).
If you buy or sell a currency pair, you would be buying/selling the base currency (the one on top, NUMERATOR).
It would be the exact opposite of what you did to base currency if you were to sell a currency pair.
You are always buying one currency (the base) and selling another (the counter). If you sell the pair you are simply flipping which one you buy and which one you sell. The transaction is eventually the same.
The great thing about the Forex market unlike trading stocks is that you can always short sell with no restrictions. The good news here is that you can make money when the market drops as well as when it rises. Unlike the stock market where the market has to go up for you to make money, you can make money in both directions trading in the Forex.