Know Forex Pips (Part II)

By Ahmad Hassam

It is always good to be familiar how to calculate the pips in US Dollar. If the quote currency is anything other than US Dollar, the results must be converted to dollars using the current exchange rate between the quote currency and the US Dollar in order to obtain the dollar value of the pip. Lets take a few examples:

Example#1: Consider the currency pair USD/JPY. USD is the base currency. JPY is the quote currency here. Using our formula: Pip value for 1 standard lot of USD/JPY= 100,000 (Lot Size)*1(No of Lots)*0.01(Pip Size) = 1000.

You need to convert this pip value into USD if your account is in US Dollar. The quote currency is in Yen, so the value of 1 pip on a standard lot is also in Yen. The broker will do that for you automatically if you instruct the broker to do so.

Your profit and loss will stay in that currency you made a profit or loss in until you instruct the broker to exchange those currencies into your own base currency. However, lets do it ourselves as well.

Suppose the USD/JPY rate is 101.02. In order to make the conversion to USD, you need the USD/JPY exchange rate. So the exchange rate is 101.02. The Dollar pip value will be 1000/101.02= $ 9.89. Therefore, 1 pip is equal to $ 9.89 in the case of USD/JPY for a standard lot at the exchange rate of 101.02.

Second Example: Now consider the currency pair EUR/GBP. It is a cross currency pair. Meaning it does not involve USD on any side. Any currency pair that does not have USD in it is known as the cross currency pair. Some cross currency pairs are very important. The base currency in the currency pair EUR/GBP is Euro and the quote currency is British Pound.

Pip value for a standard lot of EUR/GBP= 100,000 (Lot Size)*1 (Number of Lots)*0.0001(Pip Size) = 10. Here, the quote currency is in British Pounds, hence the value of pip is also in Pounds.

You need the GBP/USD exchange rate in order to convert into USD. Suppose the GBP/USD exchange rate is 1.8465. Dollar pip value will be 10*1.8465=$18.46. This means that the pip value will keep on changing depending on the currency pair exchange rate.

Example No 3: Lets take the currency pair EUR/USD. Here the base currency is in USD so you wont have to make any conversions. Pip value on a standard lot=100,000(Lot Size)*1(Number of Lots)*0.0001(Pip Size) = $10 per pip.

Leverage does not affect the pip value. It should be kept in mind that while the lot size, amount of lots traded and the specific currency pair traded will certainly affect the pip value, the leverage chosen by the trader whether it is 50:1, 400:1 or somewhere in between, has absolutely no bearing whatsoever on the pip value.

There is something more that you need to know. You must have seen many times the exchange rates expressed like 0.5678/0.5683. For example the EUR/USD exchange rate might be 0.9955/0.9959 at a particular moment in time. Always remember that exchange rates keep on changing almost from moment to moment due to the inherent volatility in the forex markets. This volatility in the currency market is what makes forex trading so exciting. The exchange rate for any currency pair is expressed in the form of bid/ask. The first number is the bid price that you will get from your forex broker if you sell Euros against US Dollar. The second number is the ask price also known as the offer price, the price at which the broker will sell you Euros against US Dollar.

The difference between the bid and ask price is known as the spread. This is the brokers profit. Sometimes there can be slippage also. New traders often think that the difference between the price they see on their charts and the price the broker quotes them is slippage. This is wrong. Your charting software and broker prices are two different things. - 23229

About the Author:

Mr. Ahmad Hassam has done Masters from Harvard University. He is interested in day trading stocks and currencies. Try These 1500 Pips A Day Forex Signals From Heaven. Know Forex Rebellion!

Iron Condors Can Be Very Aggressive and Risky Trades

By Morris Puma

Recently, I had an important chat with a stock-option manager who is still seeking for the mysterious formula to yielding dependable returns with option investing each month. He mentioned some things which were so obvious to me and brought up many past memories.

The topic that really hit home for me was when he mentioned "Non-directional option investing doesn't mean we should generate return on investment in each and every direction. It means that we generate a profit if the asset doesn't move in any direction. In a few words, it's actually a directional strategy, sideways." This is absolutely the truth, and most investing programs say that it's easy to manufacture a profit with options simply because we can generate money for each and every direction. This is true in some viewpoints and false in others.

Those of you trading Iron Condors know what I am talking about; especially if you are trading the Condors that most courses and books teach. If you are trading this strategy in 2009, you probably aren't making anything. The reason being that the Iron Condor is just as directional as most option trades only that its direction is sideways. For some, it's just as hard to predict a sideways move as it is up or down.

Over the last few months I have had many phone calls from option traders losing most of their trading capital with Condors and Credit spreads. They all have said one thing in common: "I was making great returns at first, and then one day, I lost most of my money." I've heard this tale many a time.

This is the reason why I don't push the popular Iron Condors, Bear Calls or Bull Puts. If you are a couple days from expiration, and the RUT is really near the sold strike, then at that moment you are in a very risky position. I'll remind you that this is the same risky method that many other investors are using to manage this option spread. Shortly all of your friends will be hearing the same story, but you won't be sharing this news with your wife! You smile at the moment, but you won't be if it happens to your trading portfolio. Another sad thing about this investng style is that the fear level is so astronomical that it really hurts your personal life. It makes it tough to sleep or even just relax each day.

Well, we've addressed this aggressive trading style at San Jose Options Mentoring. We've redesigned Condors and Credit Spreads. Our technique gives the underlying more room for the price fluctuation, giving us breathing room in our trading as well as in our lives. We find the less adjustments we have to make, then the more we bring home at the end of the month.

Our safer method of trading speaks for itself, but we have also developed another method that is very exciting to share with you. For most option strategies we trade, we now have a way to lock-in the profits and stay in the trade to make more. This is a great technique to use as an investor.

Also, when we do have a trade go against us, well, we have ways to get a free trade from it. This is another important technique that we teach to our students. While many traders exit with a loss or never exit and sustain a huge loss, we exit and get a free bonus trade that can always lead to returns at a later date.

So, finally I'd like to say that whether we have a winner or a loser, we have some excellent adjustment tricks that will be sure to greatly improve your personal trading skills. - 23229

About the Author:

Are you ready to become an elite option trader? Improve your Option Trading now by visiting San Jose Options Mentoring online at www.sjoptions.com. Visit today and get a Free Video on Option Greeks, a $200 value absolutely free!

Should GM Go Through A Corporate Name Change?

By Jennifer McClelland

There have been more than a few companies that have replaced their names after coming under attack and falling into insolvency. Some of the corporations that have done that include ValuJet or at the moment known as AirTran, Altria or as you may have one time known it, Philip Morris, and Xe, that was once known as Blackwater. Even electronics manufacturer LG has changed its name from Lucky Goldstar to just LG and said that it stood for Lifes Good and now its doing just fine with its sales of consumer electronics and appliances.

These businesses have done well with the name modification; it is as if they are detaching what they once were and becoming a new company with a gleaming, pure image.

Marketing professionals across the country agree that the rebranding of GM could be a good thing. If the goal is to try and put this company on a huge diet and just turn it into a smaller car manufacturing company, Im not positive thered be that much damage in rebranding, said Jean-Pierre Dube, a University of Chicago marketing lecturer. The name isnt in good form, he stated, so they have not much to misplace.

The General Motors make has already grown to be a stained brand, with a reputation of constructing shabby quality cars and now with a gigantic insolvency filing under its belt, not to bring up what everyone thinks about the corporation taking all that national cash to keep from having to file for the vast bailoutwhich they filed in any case.

Of course, right now many GM officials are sticking to what they know and not wanting to re-brand the business. CEO Fritz Henderson claimed that re-branding wasnt awfully high on his list of things to do in the business. Which is possibly a good thing to do considering all the troubles he inherited, but couldnt rebranding be given to the marketing section? After all, GM even now has one of those and it really doesnt have the money to be throwing into high-cost television spots presently.

Bits and pieces of GM have already begun to be rebranded; GMAC financial services has changed its name to Ally Bank and General Motors Asset Managemnet is now known as Promark Global Advisors.

But, with a company that is as well identified as GM might it work?

I dont think anything wrong with trying to perhaps advertise the company differently than before, but an whole new brand could be difficult to pull off for the corporation. I think that the best execution of rebranding could come from if it were to rebrand some of its subsidiaries such as Chevy or Cadillac. - 23229

About the Author:

Find out more about Quality Cars and get the best Stock Information.

Are Automated Expert Advisors (EAs) Worth Considering?

By Ash Naeck

This is an important question that has had so many mixed opinions and no real consensus.

My early days of trading were spent searching the net for the best Expert Advisor out there. I got caught up in this never ending search for the "holy-grail" trading system and believe me I wasted a lot of time and money in the process. I wish I could go back in time and change some of the decisions I made but you learn from your mistakes and as long as you do not repeat those same mistakes again you are on the right track.

What makes Expert Advisors so attractive?

These are the main points why traders use EA's:

- No emotion involved

- No thinking involved

- More time to relax

- Emotion free

- Easy to use

- No thinking required

- Help documents available

The above, outline the main points why traders seek the use of an Automated Expert Advisor. They do look attractive when put that way; however you should also consider the negative aspects as well.

If you have done your home-work, you would know by now that there are numerous automated Forex providers on the net. They all claim the same thing, to make insane money in no time. Some of their famous selling pitches include:

- Robot turns $1000 into $10000 in matter of days

- Robot with a 98% success rate

- Make a ton of Money with no experience

- Quit your job and make a killing with this robot.

All those sound great to the new comers looking for a mean to make some quick and easy cash, but sadly the reality is that many of them end up losing their hard earned money in the process. Those systems that supposedly can make you thousands of dollars in no time are more than likely going to help you lose money in a relatively short amount of time.

If you have stumbled across this article before making any purchase consider yourself as being lucky. I am among the few people out there that will tell you the truth about Expert Advisors. Most expert advisors are just a waste of money. They don't and will never work. If they did, all the major Banks and Hedge Funds would sack their entire FX department and use those robots instead.

Well, the truth is that Banks and the other major institutions rely solely on their experience FX traders to make money on the Forex market. Compared to FX Traders, automated robots do not take into account the changes in market conditions, they simply follow a set of rules whatever the market throws as them. The Forex market is so unpredictable and volatile that trading heuristics do not apply most of the time.

Forex robots are many a time designed my mathematicians or engineers who believe they cracked the code to Forex trading. Well no offence to them but if they have already cracked the code, why am I still not profitable. You see the nature of the Forex market is such that changes in market conditions cannot be predicted. This is due to news, catastrophes, political changes etc Do you believe those robots can take all those changes into account?

The following are some of the major points you need to clear out if you are thinking of purchasing a Forex robot:

- The back ground of the developer (make sure the developer is a successful Forex trader and not another engineer or mathematician claiming they have cracked the Forex code)

- Live account results of the system (very important as the basis of your decision will rely heavily on that point)

- Live track record of the system (no back testing only live accounts)

Potential monthly return

- Maximum draw-down.

If all the above questions are ticked then you got yourself a potential winner.

I spent a lot of money on different Expert Advisors over the many years, and it is fair to say that I lost more money than I made. I nearly gave up on all those worthless expert advisors until the day I was introduced to a product designed by a guy named Ashkan Bolour.

At this point I had no clue who this guy was, so after some research I came to know that he was a highly respected and successful Forex trader. He had featured in many trading shows and books and was a veteran money manager. He had an automated system that had good reviews and which seemed fairly priced. So I decided to give it a shot.

Wellto cut the story short I never looked back. If you are serious about trading and looking to make some consistent and realistic profit every month with minimum draw-down, Ashkan Bolour's system, the FXprofit Mountain, is highly recommended. This is the only Forex Robot you will ever need. - 23229

About the Author:

To see this system in action go to the Forex Expert Advisors section of Forex Trading Domain for a review of all the Forex Systems.

Tax Lien Foreclosure Properties: Tips And Strategies The Successful Investor Needs To Know

By Nathan Williams

The most important thing any investor can do to take the risk out of investing is to have a solid understanding of the strategy principles, problems, and ways to effectively turn a profit. No Risk Investor provides sound education and step-by-step instruction in creative real estate investing strategies for beginners and seasoned investors alike. No Risk Investor gives members the necessary resources any investor would like to have in their arsenal in order to become successful.

Our students can discuss tax lien investing topics in our Investor Forum where they can interact with other students. They can also view our library of training videos in the Training Center and even consult the Auction Calendar in the Tax Lien Marketplace to plan and execute their individual investing strategy.

Do you know how to access your County's tax lien and deed county lists? The Tax Lien Marketplace is the place where you can view and purchase pre-evaluated tax foreclosure properties from our Tax Property List. Attend County online property tax sales and much, much more through the Tax Lien Marketplace.

No Risk Investor realizes the reasons people want to learn how to invest in Tax Lien Certificates and Tax Deeds in the first place--they want to get into property. They understand that it's hard to get into that first property but also how important it is to get some real assets into your portfolio. It's not only important to create cash flow but also to acquire assets. Although it's important that you learn these steps on your own, No Risk Investor also offers pre-evaluated properties for sale. Our team of skilled investors researches and buys properties specifically to help and inform our members.

No Risk Investor will help you buy tax foreclosure properties as soon as possible. Land is available today for under $1,000 and houses for under $5,000. Our houses are given with a Warranty Deed, meaning when you buy a house you receive the deed FREE AND CLEAR. These homes are complete with a BPO and necessary information to help the investor make an educated purchase. These properties are bought through a tax deed sale and other real estate strategies and brought directly to you. Call or email us today! - 23229

About the Author:

Learn more about Tax Lien Foreclosure Properties . Stop by No Risk Investor where you can find out all about Government Tax Lien Foreclosure and how to find the best deals.