There are two different prices in the Forex market. The bid price and the ask price. The prices do not favor you but the broker. This is the way the broker makes his money so the prices are in his favor. The ask price is always higher than the bid price. Unlike the stock market, when you are trading on the Forex market, you generally buy high and sell low to take advantage of trending markets.
If you want to purchase currency pair, you have to pay the ask price. If, using the example of the GBP/USD you believe the pound is going to strengthen against the dollar, you would then be purchasing the pound at a lower rate and selling the dollar, which is going to weaken. The pound will be the base currency and will control the trade. This is called a long position.
The price that you sell at is called the bid price. Using the GBP/USD example, if you predict that the dollar will come back and eventually become stronger than the pound, you would take a short position and sell the pound and buy the dollar. The base currency will still control the direction of the trade.
When you are purchasing the cross currency, the one that is not controlling the trade, all of the signals are reversed in a short sale. The price of the currency pair will then decrease. As you sold the currency pair, you want the price to decrease and will only earn a profit if the price of the pair declined.
You have to calculate the number of pips you earn in a short trade as the same as those you would earn in a long trade. Ignore the purchase or sale price and figure the difference between the higher number and the lower one to get your gain.
The spread is the difference between the bid price and ask price. This is the amount the broker will take as his commission. The broker makes money on the large volume of trades and not by charging large commissions.
Spreads are often competitive. Brokers frequently will offer spreads that are small in order to attract more customers and let them keep more profits from trades. The most commonly traded currency pairs, termed as "sticking with the majors," usually have spreads that are much smaller than others since the volume of activity makes up for the decreased brokers fees. - 16732
If you want to purchase currency pair, you have to pay the ask price. If, using the example of the GBP/USD you believe the pound is going to strengthen against the dollar, you would then be purchasing the pound at a lower rate and selling the dollar, which is going to weaken. The pound will be the base currency and will control the trade. This is called a long position.
The price that you sell at is called the bid price. Using the GBP/USD example, if you predict that the dollar will come back and eventually become stronger than the pound, you would take a short position and sell the pound and buy the dollar. The base currency will still control the direction of the trade.
When you are purchasing the cross currency, the one that is not controlling the trade, all of the signals are reversed in a short sale. The price of the currency pair will then decrease. As you sold the currency pair, you want the price to decrease and will only earn a profit if the price of the pair declined.
You have to calculate the number of pips you earn in a short trade as the same as those you would earn in a long trade. Ignore the purchase or sale price and figure the difference between the higher number and the lower one to get your gain.
The spread is the difference between the bid price and ask price. This is the amount the broker will take as his commission. The broker makes money on the large volume of trades and not by charging large commissions.
Spreads are often competitive. Brokers frequently will offer spreads that are small in order to attract more customers and let them keep more profits from trades. The most commonly traded currency pairs, termed as "sticking with the majors," usually have spreads that are much smaller than others since the volume of activity makes up for the decreased brokers fees. - 16732
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