Foreign Exchange Gone Wild
Why life has gotten a lot more complicated—and potentially profitable—for currency traders
By The Wall Street Journal
For the past decade, the foreign-exchange markets have been positively placid. Some of the credit goes to the euro, which gave Europe a single currency, simplifying the equation for investors. At the same time, a slew of emerging nations did some serious fiscal housekeeping, putting an end to the major ups and downs of their economies and markets.
Then came the financial collapse in 2008.
The euro has been battered back and forth as investors wrestle with diverging fortunes among Europe’s economies and politically charged battles over how to potentially bail out struggling countries

CME’s Rutherford: Momentum In Forex Trade Hard To Ignore
By Jacob Bunge Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
CME Group Inc. (CME) is approaching a critical mass in its long-sought bid to become a prime venue for global foreign exchange trade, according to its new head of currency business.
The rise of algorithm-driven trading and a growing preference for regulated markets has propelled forex derivatives trading at CME to an average $127 billion per day, placing it among the world’s top market centers, said CME’s Roger Rutherford in an interview.
“The banks and the [proprietary trading firms] and the hedge funds see those numbers and it’s very difficult for them to ignore,” Rutherford said. “With the growth in our volumes people are paying a lot more attention to us now.”
The claim comes as banks that still dominate the $4-trillion-per-day market remain wary of regulators’ efforts to drive business toward structured venues such as exchanges.

Hi everyone

Found a nice article about the growing Forex Market at the Wall Street Journal through our friend and colleague Jamie Coleman, who is doing an extraordinary job at the front of ForexLive.com

Thanks Jamie

Francesc

Currency Trading Gets Easier—but Stays Risky
By The Wall Street Journal
More investors are jumping into the risky currency markets in a search for higher-yielding alternatives to stocks and bonds—and financial-services firms are making it easier than ever for them to do so.
New rules set by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, designed to protect investors go into effect on Monday. Still, there are huge risks involved.
In a foreign-exchange trade, investors trade in pairs, buying one currency and selling another. Investors can borrow large amounts against a relatively small actual investment, potentially magnifying their gains—and losses.

FX emerges as the winner of the crisis
By Geraldine Lambe at The Banker

FX volumes have risen to new heights on the back of a huge increase in spot volumes and more activity from a broader range of players. But what the figures really tell us is that FX has matured as an asset class. Geraldine Lambe reports.

Already the biggest traded market in the world, currency trading has leaped to record levels this year. According to data published by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in early September, an average of $4000bn is being traded every day, up from $3200bn in 2007, when the BIS last carried out a survey of the global market.

Hi everyone

Back in April we at FXstreet.com were requesting the need of the retail Forex Market of improving price execution on limit orders, as we considered that it was leaving FX behind other asset class for investors.

Forex Needs To Improve Price Execution On Limit Orders

Well, a few days ago FXCM - a trend setter firm of the retail FX industry - released the news that clients limit and limit entry orders can receive positive slippage.

That’s good news indeed!

Francesc

FXCM Traders Can Now Benefit from Price Improvements on Limit Orders
FXCM recently enhanced its No Dealing Desk forex execution model by adding Price Improvements†. As of July 12, 2010, if a better price becomes available before your limit order executes, FXCM’s No Dealing Desk execution engine will automatically give you the best available price.

The Old
A common inconvenience to most No Dealing Desk execution models is that limit and limit entry orders always fill at the limit price—even if the market price gapped or spiked favorably through it. At the same time, stop orders can fill at a worse price.

The New
Now with FXCM Price Improvements, your limit and limit entry orders can receive positive slippage. That means you can potentially make more money if the market gaps or spikes favorably through your limit price.
This is especially true in situations where the market is moving fast like during weekend gaps or around news

Forex settlement volumes slips in July - CLS
LONDON Aug 10 (Reuters) - The average number of daily foreign exchange payment instructions fell slightly in July from June, easing further from a record high hit in May, data from FX settlement system CLS Bank showed on Tuesday.

The 7 pillars of Forex Trading on Sam Evans view…. and yours?

Francesc

The 7 Pillars of Forex Trading
by Sam Evans, Forex Instructor at Online Trading Academy
I started the positive leg of my trading journey the minute I walked into my local Online Trading Academy center. Just like numerous other graduates of Online Trading Academy, I sat through a Power Trading Workshop and listened intently about the true nature of Global Markets and how the professional traders of this world adapt and weave their way through with consistent profits and few headaches. Looking back, it shocks me when I think about just how much I thought I knew about the markets! My perception of trading back then was so very different to the reality I was introduced to and now know of so very well. I was no different from any other hungry novice trader and it was so refreshing to have my eyes opened to a whole new logical approach to trading. One of the key aspects of the presentation which I could really relate to was after our lunch break when we were introduced to the Online Trading Academy’s powerful structure of education, called The 7 Pillars of Trading. The 7 Pillars is a unique summary of the tried and tested skill sets which any rookie speculator needs to learn from in order to get the results they are looking for. For this week’s article, I would like to run through each of these 7 Pillars making them specific to the world of Forex trading, so we can all fully understand the main requirements and skill sets necessary to make it as a consistently profitable trader in today’s financial arena. Let’s begin…

How the Dodd−Frank WS Reform act will affect the Forex Market?
by FXstreet.com Team
The past July 21st, US President Obama signed the “Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act” in a new and fresh attempt to regulate strongly the financial industry and to protect the consumer. Traders, brokers and other institutions are concerned about the implications that this new regulatory wave would have in the Forex industry.
Read the James Bibbings, President and CEO at Turnkey Trading Partners, report on the latest events: Obama Threatens Forex; Says Goodbye to OTC Gold Trading.
Early this year, James Chen, chief technical Strategist at FX Solutions, said in an interview to FXstreet.com that “The industry would have to face a big challenge with the new regulations over the next 10 years”. Just some months after that, market are thinking deeply about this new issue.
FXstreet.com has asked forex experts on this and here we are starting a special coverage to follow closely further developments and implications in the industry.

Financial Bill Could Set The Stage For Uneven Retail Forex Rules
By Sarah N. Lynch Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)–Some firms that offer retail foreign-exchange trading like Interactive Brokers, TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. (AMTD) and Citigroup (C) face an uncertain regulatory future thanks to a provision in the financial bill.
The bill allows market and banking regulators to each impose their own new regulations on the retail forex industry, including registration, capital, margin and reporting requirements. But if all the regulators decide to adopt their own rules, it could create an uneven playing field that might benefit some firms over others, industry players say. Adding to potential regulatory issues: The various regulators have different deadlines to adopt their rules.

Obama Threatens Forex; Says Goodbye to OTC Gold Trading
by James Bibbings at Turnkey Trading Partners
President Obama signed into law the “Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act” (the “Dodd-Frank Act” or “Act”). The Dodd-Frank Act most likely will bring about sweeping regulatory changes within the financial services industry. However, at over 2,300 pages in length, few people have read this legislation in its entirety. Of those individuals who have read the Act, few can comprehend the implications of such sweeping reform. As a result, the President of Turnkey Trading Partners (“TTP”), James Bibbings, has teamed up with attorney Nicole Kuchera, from Chicago’s Henderson & Lyman, to review the content of the Dodd-Frank Act. Through this process we were able to identify some areas of the Act that are most likely to affect Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) regulated entities and National Futures Association (“NFA”) member firms.

What do you think about it?

You can leave your comments in our Forum:
http://www.fxstreet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=54581 - English
http://www.forex.es/final-del-forex-retail-eeuu-t2670.html - Spanish

Francesc