With all of the doom and gloom around the world such as civil unrest, global recession and natural disasters it seems bizarre to hear that online Forex trading is as popular as ever, with more and more retail investors taking investments into their own hands at sites such as eToro. Over the last few years there has been a huge breakthrough made by leading online Forex brokers in a bid to bring Forex trading to the everyman.
Not so long ago, Forex trading was an investment opportunity that was only available to banks, brokers and the privileged few. But thanks to the accessibility of online Forex trading for you and me, without the need for huge investment and with a massive amount of support, Forex trading is no longer an exclusive opportunity.
After OpenBook, a highly innovative piece of software from eToro comes something tied in and potentially even better. Launched this Summer, Copy Trader allows you to select Forex and Commodity traders from OpenBook to copy their trades automatically. You can only allocate 20% of your account to these copies, and you get to invest 10% of the traders trade, so unless you’ve got a huge account you’re not going to make a mil overnight.
Having said that, if you look at what is going on at the platform, it’s quite obvious that a lot of traders see it as a valuable tool. So, it’s time to revisit it, and take a look at the ‘ups and downs’ of this fascinating new product.
Just select, click and sit back, goes the blurb, no need to learn about trading etc, all on autopilot. Hmm… Now this software is great, but as we all know there is no such thing as a magic bullet, although in this case, it could be referred to as a ‘smart bullet’ (in the right hands).
You will need to pick your traders carefully, based on a variety of criterion. If you listened to the ‘pitch’ (and believed it), you could go away for a few weeks vacation, safe in the knowledge that your account will be a lot bigger in the black on your return.
Hmmm… Worst case scenario, while you’re away, Rod, Jane, and Freddy all for some reason simultaneously go bonkers, and rack up a load of losing trades – which have been automatically copied to your account. All very unlikely, but, in this game you’ve always got to be aware of the potential downside, even more so when you are literally putting your hard earned cash in someone else’s hands.
So you are probably not going to get wiped out, but the point is, you cannot leave anything to run on autopilot without at least checking in on a pretty much daily basis. A trader that you are copying may decide to experiment with a new currency pair, or commodity, which may not suit their style, and bang, a run of losing trades reflected in your ‘p and l’.
In short this is a potentially great tool which needs a bit of care in use, and attention to detail. If you would like to check what types of elements you should be looking at when copying traders, then head on over to a newly launched Copy Trader learning site, which is taking an experimental look at the software to assess it’s viability, and to create a learning base for new traders.
The site is taking real examples using a demo account, and at the very least gives new traders a couple of ideas on where to start with Copy Trader.
Once again, the euro suffered as the Greece debt crisis continued to top the headlines of most financial news pages. The euro lost more than 1.5 per cent against the US dollar during Friday’s Forex trading sessions at eToro and at other Forex markets, and today, to make matters worse, the Greek Prime Minister has said that Greece cannot meet the agreed repayment plan required to secure the IMF bailout funds on offer.
In a cabinet meeting today, the Greek Government proposed a move that would see civil servants who are approaching retirement age being put in ‘reserve’ or being suspending at reduced rate of pay. However, this, and the many other austerity measures proposed, still won’t be enough to meet the repayment quota that’s a condition of the next £1.6 billion instalment of the total £94 billion rescue plan.
If you’re looking for a place to trade Forex online, look no further than eToro. Award winning Forex broker eToro offers a simple and easy place to trade the world’s leading currency pairs and commodities from a PC or mobile phone but these aren’t the only eToro Forex trading benefits. There are many, many other reasons why you should choose eToro as your preferred online Forex broker.
If you’re new to the world of online Forex trading then eToro has everything you could need (and more) to start you off on your Forex journey. eToro offers a fantastic practice mode, which offers you the opportunity to trade Forex in real time at real prices but with virtual funds, eliminating any risk whatsoever. There’s also a comprehensive Forex education centre that offers a wide range of courses and advice areas where you can find out exactly how to become a successful Forex trader.
Despite disappointing US non-farm payroll numbers, the euro continued to fall against the dollar during a busy end to the Forex trading week. Forex traders at eToro witnessed the single European currency continue its recent slide throughout Friday, only recovering slightly when the Federal Reserve released the eagerly anticipated employment figures.
Pressure has once again been mounting on the euro as further debt worries for Greece and its economy continued to make Forex traders wary of the euro. During Friday’s trading sessions the EUR/USD currency pair fell as low as 1.4185 before recovering slightly ahead of the weekend close of the world’s Forex markets.
The GBP/USD made some hefty gains as the US employment data was released, soaring to 1.6251. However, the pound’s advances were short-lived as investors dumped the pound, taking quick profits, not wanting to risk holding the UK currency over the weekend. This is because the UK is due to release its PMI numbers on Monday and analysts believe that the news won’t be good.
So, one busy week of Forex trading has drawn to a close and another one will start on Monday, and it should be a busy Monday indeed. As we’ve mentioned, the UK is due to release its PMI numbers for August, which, many believe, will show a poor performance for the UK economy. But, if the numbers are good, following today’s mass selling of the pound, the UK currency will shoot up. This may only be a short spike so be ready to act fast.
If you’re not already trading Forex you can open a new online trading account by visiting www.eToro.com. eToro is one of the internet’s leading online Forex trading sites, with many unique education and training opportunities, a wide choice of instruments and a welcome Forex bonus of up to $10,000 when you first fund your trading account.
If you have a proven track record of trading Forex and you want some recognition for your talents you should become a Guru Forex Trader at eToro. As a Guru Forex Trader you will share your thoughts, insights and expertise among your followers and, as your talent becomes recognised by more people your followers will grow in number, giving you an even wider audience.
Not only will you be able to display your trading flair and abilities to other traders at eToro, you will also earn additional income if you’re successful enough. The more successful your followers are the more you will earn. You can interact with your followers in a number of ways, starting with the eToro OpenBook and also including social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The better that the insights and instructions that you deliver to your followers are the better the results will be for both them and for you.
Thanks to the world’s numerous financial crises and investors’ appetite for safe haven options, gold trading is as popular as ever at eToro and other leading online brokers. The price of gold has been rocketing over the last few months, reaching a new record high of $1,681.65 per ounce during Thursday’s trading sessions, but will the gold bubble burst or can we consider the precious metal a safe commodity to trade for the foreseeable future?
As silver prices almost always mirror the fortunes of gold prices, the price of silver has been on the rise too, climbing by over 25 per cent over the last year. Gold and silver have been bucking the trend recently, with both of their prices significantly increasing, while practically all other commodities and stock markets have been recording negative numbers during the same period.
Once again the price of gold has surpassed record highs, trading as high as $1,609.30 per ounce at eToro during the Tuesday trading sessions. The new record price for gold has come about largely due to weakened dollar and the troubled euro, as commodities and Forex traders sell dollars and euros in favour of the safe haven commodity that is gold.
Even though gold prices have retreated a little since Tuesday, at the time of writing this article gold was being sold for $1,589.53 at eToro, with no sign of a landslide fall in the precious metal’s fortunes anywhere in sight. Gold’s most recent charge is mainly due to economic issues and weak currencies on both sides of the Atlantic.
Forex traders at eToro and other trading platforms around the world saw renewed appetite for the euro today as Greece agreed new austerity measures to avoid defaulting on its debts, something that could spell disaster for the Greek economy. This latest agreement by the Greek Government will go a long way to securing the €28 billion EU/IMF bailout package, which is being voted on tomorrow.
The troubled Greek economy has been the primary reason for the euro’s recent poor performance across the world’s Forex markets, and the riots and protests by the people of Greece over the last 48 hours has done nothing to assist the fortunes of the euro. However, if a bailout package can be secured, the future of both Greece’s economy and the euro will look much brighter.
Over the past week there have been twist and turns across the world’s Forex markets, with many factors ranging from unemployment numbers to economic crises affecting the fortunes of foreign currencies and their exchange rates across the globe. Keep reading to find out what happened to the major currencies over the last seven days.
Last week the world’s most traded currency, the US dollar took a turn southward, reversing the advances made in previous weeks. Worse than expected manufacturing figures, higher unemployment and low consumer confidence left many Forex traders at eToro and other markets believing that the US Federal Reserve continue to keep interest rates low.
