Technological advances continue to change the manner in which people communicate, conduct business, and purchase commodities. Similarly, technological transformations in the financial sector have changed how institutions operate and the way in which customers complete various transactions. People and institutions adopt technologies because they make work easier, enhance communication, minimize errors, and make processes more efficient. You should learn to select technologies that fit your company’s operations. The following are the unique financial sector technologies:

Digital Experience Platforms

Although digital experience platforms are already known in banks, modern technologies have helped financial institutions to improve the technologies they had adopted. An example is hybrid cloud solutions, which increases accessibility and privacy for customers. The hybrid platform captures real-time digitalization, analytics, and does other integrations in intelligent data. Another technology in this regard is the API platforms. It allows customers to integrate banking information in different apps.

Banks and other financial institutions across the United States and the European Union are now forced to provide open API. The open banking option enables customers to share data with budgeting apps that belong to a third-party and use tools for managing money. Providing an online modern digital platform for your customers helps to attract buyers, increase value, and allows customers to access and utilize data. Hybrid solutions, in particular, enhance security and cut operational costs.

Blockchain Technologies

Blockchain is relatively a new technology with minimal adoption. This is the technology upon which Bitcoin is based, and it presents unmatched opportunities. For financial institutions, blockchain solutions improve how they conduct services such as checking, processing of money, and trade finance. Many institutions, especially the smaller ones, may see this investment as demanding and even difficult to follow through. The good news is that the technology is becoming popular and will soon be recognized by customers. If properly implemented, the solution allows for fraud detection and reduction, loan processing, and enables processing of loans.

Artificial Intelligence

Digital transformation in the banking sector is led by artificial intelligence solutions. An example is chatbots, which is popularly used by financial institutions such as banks and the small credit unions. Other than chatbots, there are many artificial intelligence solutions for marketing, product delivery, security, and risk management. Machines that apply artificial intelligence utilize simple algorithms to finish data entry, risk evaluation, and processing of loan forms. For banks, the artificial intelligence technologies enable data sharing, and customer communication. Moreover, artificial intelligence can enable the making of smart agile decisions and reduce work hours overall time spent at the bank.

Automation Technologies

These technologies apply a set of pre-established rules to develop simple and dependable outcomes. These are useful for fixed and recurring procedures. Some automation technologies use learning patterns to improve over time as data volume increases. One of the automation technologies that works for banks and other financial institutions is an ID scanner app. It is an automatic ID scanning technology with ability to identify document type and extract all the necessary data. The app automatically verifies data, scans ID cards, and checks for consistency of the provided information.

Endnote

Technologies tend to be very expensive when they are introduced but their costs start to decrease overtime as more businesses and companies continue to adopt them. This is why banks and businesses of various sizes access artificial intelligence today. There is no single technology that can accomplish all financial processing needs on its own but the good news is that every technology has something unique to offer. Several technologies can make many processes a lot easier in your financial department. You should check the available options and select the one that works best for your business.

 

 

Have you been looking for creative ways to build wealth for retirement?

If so, there’s never been a better time to generate serious income. After all, the economy is roaring along and the stock market seems to be continually reaching new highs.

Speaking of the stock market, becoming a day trader is one of the best ways to build wealth quickly. The key to getting started is understanding the basics of how to become a successful day trader regardless of your age or background.

Fortunately, this article can help. Keep reading to learn some important day trading tips that will give you the edge needed to make money fast.

Educate Yourself About the Stock Market

Before you start day trading, it’s important to understand how the stock market works. It can seem complicated at first because it is. The key is to have a firm grip on the basics of the trading process.

Talk to people with experience who can offer tips and guidance, especially when first getting started. It’s also a good idea to buy books that provide insight into how to make smart trades and minimize risk.

Be Realistic

Make no mistake, being a day trader can be stressful. One minute you might feel like you’re on top of the world, and the next minute everything changes.

That’s why you need to be realistic about making big bucks as a beginner. Remember to focus on the fundamentals of the stock market and utilize strategies that have worked for decades for other traders.

Be Honest About What You Can Afford to Risk

Day trading can be exciting, especially when things are going well. Just be careful about how much money you’re willing to risk at any given moment.

Smart traders understand the benefits of taking a conservative approach at first, learning your way around, and then gradually increasing the amount of money you’re willing to invest. Resist the urge to take big risks, especially when investing money you can’t afford to lose.

You can find more information about investing in the stock market at www.monexsecurities.com.au.

Create an Online Trading Account

Next, open an account on a reputable stock market trading platform. This will enable you to connect your banking information and start buying and selling stocks anytime you like.

Set a Stop Time Each Day

As a newbie, it’s important to limit the number of hours you spend day trading each week. This will help minimize your losses.

You should also force yourself to step away from the computer, focus on something unrelated to the stock market, and get plenty of fresh air, sunshine, and exercise.

Tips for How to Become a Successful Day Trader

It’s no secret that building wealth in the stock market can be complicated and stressful. Fortunately, these tips for how to become a successful day trader will help make the experience as fun and exciting as possible.

Please continue exploring the content on this blog to discover more articles filled with valuable lifestyle tips and advice.

 

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) have made a huge mark in the cryptocurrency space, in less than a year. Basically, every day, you hear about a new collectible NFT which could be an old image from the ’60s that has probably fizzled out but is still an important part of history.

As a huge investor in the Crypto space, Jurgen Cautreels has not been left out in the race to acquire NFTs. We had a chat with him on the uncertainties that still surround NFTs and the possible future of these assets in the coming year.

Jurgen, what is all the rave about NFTs? And why do investors like you, think it is valuable enough?

Thank you for that question. The value of an NFT comes from the property it represents, which is generally something that exists in the digital world like an original piece of art or digital memorabilia.

The NFT itself doesn’t necessarily contain the digital property, but points to its location on the blockchain. So, just like a concert ticket or a deed to a physical property, an NFT reflects the value of the thing it represents.

There have been several arguments on the connection between NFTs and cryptocurrency, how are NFTs regarded as “crypto coins”?

NFTs aren’t really cryptocurrencies, but they are built using technology similar to Ethereum and Bitcoin. Also, like cryptocurrencies, NFTs exist on a blockchain, which verifies their unique identity and ownership.

What is the future of NFTs in the coming year?

Before continuing, I would like to state that whatever statement or prediction I might make on NFTs are not to be taken as financial advice. Now, NFTs have a lot of benefits, to those who are investors in cryptocurrency and those who have no single idea on cryptocurrency.

For artists, musicians and celebrities, NFTs will be beneficial because they offer a new and unique way to sell their wares — including things like GIFs, memes, and tweets — directly to fans. NFTs also provide artists an opportunity to program in continued royalties if it is sold to a new owner.

Also, for art galleries there’s the potential of reaching out to more collectors with NFTs. And for investors like me, it’s a huge opportunity to invest in because it’s going to be around for a long time.

Do you think the high cost of minting NFTs will discourage investors in the coming year?

It is true that unlike Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies, minting NFTs is quite expensive. For example, NFTs minted on the Ethereum blockchain currently have a gas fee of around $40.

This is not feasible for low-value digital arts. But the side is that there are alternative options to mint NFTs in other platforms such as Tezos and Polkadot at lower costs.

Lastly, do you think NFTs present a hope for the crypto economy?

As much as I am an investor in cryptocurrency and NFTs, I can’t categorically state whether or not NFTs serves as a hope for the crypto economy. But the cryptocurrency space is becoming a huge part of the economy of the world, and NFTs is going to catch on more buzz in coming years, so make of that what you will!

You Might Also Like: 5 Quick Facts About Marketing Entrepreneur, Jurgen Cautreels

 

The big money is in investing or at least, passive income is. I’ve been investing in stocks for a couple of years now, so I’m not a greenhorn in that area.

I’ve even tried a couple of so-called solutions for traders only to be disappointed. That’s why when I heard about WealthPress, I was prepared to be disappointed, but it turned out to be a great decision.

The main idea behind WealthPress is for Roger Scott to help stock traders identify explosive stock options that are likely to help them become powerful stock traders. Roger Scott is the head trader at WealthPress and he uses efficient techniques that depend heavily on using a fundamental catalyst that most investors will overlook to identify stocks that will skyrocket in the future.

Why Was Working with Roger Scott and WealthPress the Best Decision Ever?

Working with WealthPress and Roger Scott came with a lot of perks and the following are the ones that I particularly enjoyed while working with the company:

Explicit Order Instructions

Most stock trading solution programs assume that people who get their services know quite a bit about stock trading. The truth is, not all of them do. And those who knows only have a rudiment knowledge.

WealthPress does not make this assumption. They create explicit orders for entries so there’s nothing to worry about when you’re trying to implement them.

Periodic and Prompt Alerts

WealthPress is going to promptly contact you every 7 days through SMS and email. This alert contains stock news and a little bit of forecast to guide your analysis of the market and whatever decision you end up making.

Video Tutorial

The tutorial option is also a great. You get to learn more about stock trading or brush up on your knowledge of what you already know. You even get great content on trading techniques.

Support

Another thing you get from trading with the help of Roger Scott is unlimited support. You’re going to get alerts periodically and can make enquiries on some things you want explained.

There are no limits to how many queries you can send. If you send them, they’ll be answered.

Updates

In addition to the alerts you get every 7 days, WealthPress also gives coaching and daily position update. As a day trader, this will help you to find a favorable position. So, if you trade regularly, WealthPress is just right up in your alley.

Spreadsheets

This involves the position tracking spreadsheets. This will give you the chance to access past, present and future performances.

Note that as great as WealthPress is, no financial endeavor comes without its own risks. Therefore, you stand the chance to lose your money sometimes, but if you are struggling with finding the right investment options, you’ll probably make more money than you’ll lose from any prompts you get from WealthPress.

You should also know that you can’t always win. That’s not what WealthPress represents.

Lastly, the program only deals with small cap stocks and the average annual return you’re expected to see is 49.14 percent.

Read Next: WealthPress Announces the 2 Year Anniversary of the ‘Ask the Pros’ Podcast

No one ever prepares for accidents, but they happen anywhere, anytime. You can become injured in a road accident on your way to work, slip and fall on a wet salon floor, fall from the roof during construction, or even from a dog bite.

If you’re injured in an accident due to negligence, consider filing an injury claim with the help of a Lakeland injury attorney. Filing an injury claim is not a complicated process. However, you do not want to apply trial and error, hence the need for an attorney.

If you are filing a claim for the first time, below is a step-by-step guide to help you understand the process.

How to File an Injury Claim

1. Seek Medical Care

The first thing you should do after an accident is to seek medical help. Depending on the severity of the injuries, call an ambulance or if you can drive yourself to the nearest medical facility.

In addition to recovery, the doctor’s report will help you in getting compensation later. If you do not go to the hospital immediately, the insurance adjusters will use that to question the severity of your injuries, hence devaluing your claim.

2. Report the Accident

The next step is to report the accident to the responsible person. If your neighbor’s dog bites, they are probably aware, but you need to inform them. State your injuries and tell them what you expect from them.

In many cases, especially for minor accidents, the parties at fault cooperate and pay for hospital bills and other losses as requested. However, in major accidents or if the person at fault does not cooperate, you need to take the next step.

3. Consult an Attorney

Many personal injury cases are settled between the parties involved, but some need the help of a personal injury attorney. An injury lawyer will help you understand the value of your claim and the legal requirements to file a claim.

Personal injury claims might seem simple, but they can become complicated. Therefore, you should work with an injury lawyer to get the compensation you deserve.

4. Investigating the Accident to Establish Negligence

When you hire an injury lawyer, they will gather details about the accident by asking you to explain the accident, ask for medical reports, speak to eyewitnesses, and consult with expert witnesses.

With the collected evidence, the lawyer can prove negligence. Personal injury cases are built on negligence. If your lawyer cannot prove the person at fault was negligent, then there is no case.

5. Serve Notice of Claim

This step involves informing the party at fault and the insurance company that you will file a claim. Sometimes serving the notice helps speed the compensation process because some defendants do not want the lawsuit to tarnish their name.

6. Start Negotiation Talks

Your lawyer can make compensation demands before taking the case to court. If the defendant’s side cooperates, negotiations happen, and the lawyers can settle the claim outside the court. This will only happen if both parties can come to an agreement.

7. Filing a Lawsuit

If the settlement is not made in the negotiation stage, the case goes to court. While the court procedures are long and tiresome, sometimes it is the only way to get fair compensation. Therefore, your lawyer should be willing to walk the long court route.

Consider Hiring a Personal Injury Attorney.

Handling an injury claim on your own, especially when you are still nursing injuries, can take a toll on you. Therefore, as you concentrate on your health, hire an experienced attorney to handle the process of filing the claim.

 

Are you taking forex tutorials? Are you confused on how to be a successful forex trader? Even experts were newbies when they started out; you might just be one if you’re willing enough to become. Well, here are a few tips, 4 in all, which will help you out in reaping some huge profits from foreign exchange trading.

• Learn what runs Foreign Exchange

If you think forex is all about trading in between currencies as per their value ratios, then you’ve only taken a straw from the haystack. This is one of the most liquid financial markets, and the number of variables accounting for every single fluctuation in it is innumerable.

This is one of the first and foremost things you need to do if you want to know how to be a successful forex trader. Get more insights from the Etoro review and learn more detail on the overall functionality of how the forex industry works.

• Trading in Foreign Exchange

Applying the know-how, you have so far gathered regarding forex is the next step and the most realistically important one on how to be successful in forex trading. Trading requires anticipating the market with the help of technical tools and indicators, which are used on a daily basis by professional traders for analysis.

After analyzing and anticipating the market comes the actual trading part. You need to make a plan as per the market analysis, a plan which is not more profit potential compared to risk, and then you have to execute that plan.

There will always come situations where your planning goes completely haywire and where loss is the only eventuality. These situations call for loss minimization and risk management. Whatever the situation might be, you have to make sure that you live to fight another day. So, a proper aptitude and attitude will answer your question regarding- can you successful in forex?

• Demo Practice Accounts

This is where you can take your own leaps without the impending danger of a fall. Demo accounts are the perfect foreplay if actual trading can be considered as the real deal. You can trade with virtual cash in these trading accounts on a simulated market structure, a simulation that is more often than not real-time.

Experience is something that can only be achieved through time and loss, but here, there is no loss at all. You’ll be provided with all the necessary tools and indicators which you’ll be using in real-time. This experience will turn out to be invaluable for you in the future and ease the path of how to get success in forex trading.

• Choosing the right accountand broker

Ask yourself how can I be a successful trader, and the reality check which you might get from the back of your head would be – you need to open an account first. Pun intended, but the seriousness of this variable is deceptive.

A forex account ought to complement your investment and your involvement. So, one of the final answers to how to be a successful forex trader is simply to open the proper account for trading! To learn more, opt for Etoro review.

So far, so good, then! Hoping that you’ve found quite a bit of help with a very obvious albeit obnoxious question on how to be a successful forex trader, so learn invest and profit.

 

For traders who are just starting off forex trading, this can be a complicated venture. The platform involves numerous ifs and buts and requires an in-depth knowledge of the market to be actually good at it.

Getting started with a demo account can prove to be of great help. Many exponents of Fx-trade suggest novel traders to open Forex account as it can help them get an insight into the working of the Fx market.

The pressure of losing the invested money is another thing that these demo accounts eliminate. Rather than exaggerating, putting it simply- they serve great importance to new Fx traders.

6 simple steps to open a demo Forex trading account:

You might have heard about meta-traders and their success stories from different traders. But before that, you have to find something which proves to be beneficial to you. One clear way of checking it out is to try out your strategies and see if they reap any benefits to you. Plus, also check if it is convenient for your usage or not. All these are important factors, and they should be given consideration beforehand.

1. Start by downloading the MT4 terminal. After you have downloaded it, you will need to run the program with its setup.exe.file.
2. The first step in installing is to set the language, and only after that will the program start to get installed, showing you all the user license agreements, etc. Before clicking on the neck, make it a point to go through all the terms and conditions
3. After you have agreed to meet all its terms and conditions, you have to set the drive to install the MT4 program. The pre-set location is usually the program’s drive, right where all your other programs will be preserved. However, if you want to store it somewhere else, you can do that too.
4. As all this is done and dusted, your program is finally ready to get installed on your machine
5. As you launch your demo account, some information will be asked for the account start-up, namely your name, address details, and contact details. Other details include your leverage, deposit, and the currency in which you will be doing your Fx trading.
6. Once you have spared all that information, your steps to open a Demo Forex trading account are complete.

You can start using your demo account in Forex trading immediately.

Open a Demo Forex trading account and earn real money!

One great aspect of using a demo account in Forex trading is that you also get the scope of earning some cash.

When you open a Demo Forex account and use it for some time, you will find that numerous brokers offer cash prizes for the top spots. Prizes are allotted for every account which hosts a positive balance. Some of these firms also fund your account. Incentives in the form of iPods, iPhones, laptops, and even vehicles are obtainable.

Opt for a system making use of a technical approach.

One thing to watch is that the majority of these contests are short-lived, so you have to be sure that the system you make uses a technical approach rather than fundamental analysis.

Now that you have read it opt for etoro review to get more insights and get started if you are intrigued by the venture! The prospects are profitable waiting for you.

Happy trading!

It is unfortunate to know that someone has become a victim of a scam. The crime does not happen with a specific individual. Anybody and everyone can become a target. If you become a victim of the stock market scam, do not panic, as you are not alone. There is enough assistance waiting for you to recover money from a stock market scam.

The victim of a stock market scam generally faces issues including financial loss, credibility, and compromised identity. There are many painful emotions that an individual goes through being a victim of the stock scam, like frustration, fear, and anger. The effect of a stock market scam may not restrict only to loss of money. FINRA Foundation did a detailed study and concluded that almost 60-65 percent of the scam victims have to fight against the following emotional consequences.

• Depression
• Insomnia
• Anxiety
• Stress

Chances of recovering your entire amount may be less, but it is essential to report the crime at the earliest. The amount lost in the scams may be small, but that must not stop you from informing the government agencies and law enforcement regulators. Once the stock scam comes into the eyes of the government agencies, they put their efforts to safeguard others from becoming the victim of such a scam. They are in a position to restrict the stock scam. Also, to catch hold the criminal and sentence them according to the law of the land.

Your money must have been disposed of by the perpetrators as soon as they receive it from you. Hence chances of recovery become low. Still, the recovery process is crucial as against lost money. The objective of recovery is the protection of future financial assets and keeping your finances in better health. It also plays a vital role in bailing you out of different emotions that you go through after the scam.

There is a checklist that may help you to recover money from a stock scam.

1. Preparation of Stock Market Scam File

You may need to prepare a complete file of the scam. The first step would be to collect all the necessary documents related to the stock scam. Keep the file in a safe location. The file must have contact details of the perpetrators like name, website address, telephone number, and email address. If you have the alleged regulatory registration number of the Fraud Company or fraudster itself, it may be of great help.

Your file must also contain a police complaint, call recording if you possess it, and any relevant documents related to the scam. One more crucial piece of information that your file must have is your credit history from all the companies publishing credit reports.

2. Be Aware of Your Rights

The Federal and in few instances of crime the state law have given some rights to the scam victim. You must be aware of the rights that you have to protect yourself better. If you notice at the Federal level, the US Department of Justice, DOJ has listed the rights of the citizen who gets trapped in a financial scam. You can also have a look at the brochure in the office of the DOJ. The information brochure contains an overview of the victim rights and the help the department would provide.

The state Attorney General provides information about the rights of the victim at the state level. Please visit the website www.naag.org to get more details. The North American Securities Administrators Association releases, “Investor Bill of Rights” which is helpful.

3. Scam Reporting to Regulators

The bureau of state regulatory and the federal agencies at the national level proves to be a great professional help. There are many agencies with whom you can report about the financial scam.

• FINRA: (844) 57- Tip filing
• National Future Association: Complaint filing
• Internet Crime Complaint Center that is in partnership with National White Collar Crime Centre and FBI: ic3.gov U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
• National Association of Insurance Commissioners: You can file complaints or report fraud to the State Commissioner.
• U. S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, here you can again file a complaint or a tip

Reporting to the Federal Trade Commission can be a great help. You can contact them from their website ftccomplaintassistant.gov or get in touch with FTCs Complaint assistant by dialing (877) for FTC-HELP. The complaint filing will register the scam in the Consumer Sentinel Network. It helps law enforcement in putting an end to these crimes and also to track the fraudster. This step, however, may not proceed with the investigation of crime for your case.

4. Scam Reporting to Law Enforcement

It is a vital decision to report the scam to law enforcement to start with your recovery journey. The reporting will ensure that a thorough investigation takes place with the parties involved. It helps to protect others from getting into the trap of the scam.

• District Attorney – Immediately get in touch with your District Attorney Office
• Federal Law Enforcement – Get in touch with your local FBI Field office. Also, an online tip submission is possible through tips.fbi.gov
• Local Law Enforcement – For filing a police report, get in touch with any local law enforcement.
• Attorney General – The prosecution unit and the general consumer protection of the State Attorney General can help you in stock scam reporting.

5. Exploring Option

It might not be easy to recover money from a stock market scam. But legitimate ways are available to try for your asset recovery. In most instances, the recovery is possible from your end itself by spending nothing or maybe a little.

6. Regular Follow-Ups

It is necessary to have a follow-up after a month with any law enforcement organizations or agencies. These agencies are committed to providing services to the victim.

Bury Your Worry

In this dynamic world of finance, the possibility of you becoming the victim of the scam may be high. Thus, it is always advisable to have a thorough background check of the company or broker you intend to invest money in. Never get carried away if they promise you heaven or a return on investment that is way beyond the industry standards. Most of the investors fall into the trap of scams because greed takes over them.

Always be prepared for the worst as it helps you to be strong emotionally. Having control of your emotions is crucial for your survival. The money lost is recoverable, but recovery from emotional imbalance is challenging. Give priority to your health and handle your victim position with a calm mind.

Explore all the options that are available with you in recovering your funds. The investment activity in your life is necessary to achieve your financial goals. The scam must not be the roadblock for investing your amount to gain a better rate of return from the stock market.

 

The common issues in the financial services industry include legacy systems that are difficult to maintain, stringent laws, increased security risks, and the inability to transfer, share and scale data to promote data-centricity and innovation.

Using synthetic data is the only available option to tackle all these issues. In this article, we will discuss how financial organizations benefit from using synthetic data.

Synthetic data increases the accuracy of deep machine learning models

The accuracy of deep machine learning models is heavily influenced by data size. To increase data size, synthetic data can be utilized. Labeled data, in addition to larger data size, is another perk of synthetic data for model accuracy.

Data labeling is a time-consuming procedure, and manual labeling is vulnerable to mistakes that might result in model inaccuracies. Synthetic data have proper labels for observations, removing the need for data labeling efforts and paving the way for extremely accurate ML models.

Synthetic data allows for market simulations

Financial organizations might wish to test methods under severe situations, such as market collapses or app outages, from time to time.

Instead of having an unbalanced dataset of such occurrences, they may lack the data resulting from these scenarios. They can use synthetic data to fill these gaps and assist them in developing measures to counteract these types of disasters.

Synthetic data facilitates data sharing and collaboration

Regulations such as GDPR and CCPA restrict financial data from being shared with third-party fintech corporations. As a result, it is difficult for a financial institution to analyze possible partners prior to launching new products.

The synthetic dataset comprises statistical information and correlations from bank transaction data but no data about the real customers. Instead of the real dataset, financial institutions can provide synthetic data that retains the key elements of the original dataset. Therefore, synthetic data has the potential to reduce the dangers associated with sharing.

Synthetic data helps in product development and software testing

The synthetic data platform enables banks to create a realistic test data environment by using synthetic replicas of their customer data. It matches the appearance, size, and shape of the production environment.

The realistic data also aids in the delivery of new data-driven product features, accelerates UX design decisions, increases development efficiency, and results in a more user-friendly and robust product/app.

Synthetic data helps generate additional revenue

A large library of credit card data, including transaction amounts, timings, and locations, would be highly helpful to the retail industry. Banks cannot sell the raw data for a plethora of reasons, including the violation of the privacy of their customers.

The collection and sale of customer data to other parties are strictly monitored. Therefore, banks can sell a synthetic dataset of accumulated values that is statistically identical to the original one. Potential purchasers would be willing to pay a high price for it.

Final thoughts

The benefits that the financial sector derives from synthetic data will only increase in the coming years. It will benefit model maturity across the financial services sector by enhancing data-driven decision-making and encouraging innovation.

 

You may have heard it called “the foreign exchange,” “FX,” or “forex,” but they all mean the same thing—a massive, 24/7 global marketplace where traders exchange national currencies for profit. Forex markets tend to be the biggest and most liquid asset markets in the world. According to a Nasdaq.com report, forex trades $5 trillion per day—that’s around 25 times more than all the world’s stock markets combined on any given trading day.

So, what is forex, and how does it work?

IM Academy has the answers.

What is forex trading?

Put simply, foreign exchange trading simply means trading one currency (such as the United States Dollar) against another currency (like the euro).

Here’s an example: Say that Joe travels from Hoboken, New Jersey, to Vienna, Austria.

Joe wants to visit The Hofburg, Vienna’s storied palace, but he learns that he must exchange his U.S. dollars into euros to pay for his entry. Joe exchanges $100 for roughly 85 euros—the current exchange rate. Suddenly, Joe gets an urgent call that he must immediately return to New Jersey. When Joe gets back to the airport, he remembers to exchange his unused euros for dollars. Before fees, Joe receives $105 for the 85 euros—$5 more than he originally paid for them. In this case, the dollar’s value went down against the euro while Joe was holding them. So, when he traded his currency in for the dollars, he received $5 more than his original investment.

That is the basic concept behind trading foreign exchanges.

How does forex trading work?

Unlike the New York Stock Exchange, the foreign exchange market is open 24 hours a day, Monday through Friday. This is necessary so that trading can go on worldwide and accommodate different countries’ trading sessions and business hours. Where is the forex market located? Even though forex trading can be segmented into peak trading times in Sydney, Tokyo, New York, London, and other major financial centers—there is no central location for the market itself. The forex market is a decentralized over-the-counter (OTC) market made up of complex computer networks and trading terminals worldwide.

Currencies have three-letter codes, kind of like a stock’s ticker symbol. You’ve probably seen some of these, even if you didn’t realize it. The U.S. Dollar is USD, the Canadian Dollar is CAD, and the euro is EUR. Every currency on the market—from the Japanese yen (JPY) to the Swiss franc (CHF)—has its own unique three-letter code. Forex trades are always expressed as a combination of two currencies. Our friend Joe, for example, traded the currency pair: EUR/USD.

Why choose forex markets?

The forex market moves much faster than the stock market. While investors may hold onto stocks for months or years, it is rare for an investor to hold the currency for more than a few days—even hours. While this highly liquid market introduces the opportunity for more profit to investors, it also brings more volatility. Before the internet, forex trading was much more difficult for an individual investor. Currency trading was dominated almost exclusively by hedge funds, multinational corporations, and high-net-worth individuals with lots of capital.

Thanks to the internet, this is no longer the case. In IM Academy’s FRX forex trading program, students learn much more detail about spread, pip values, and their uses in forex trading.

But simply put: The spread is the difference between the buy price and the sell price of an underlying asset. This helps traders calculate the cost for a trade and serves as an indicator of the underlying asset’s volatility. Generally, during peak trading hours, assets available on the forex market are highly liquid with narrow spreads when compared to the stock market.

But the forex market is highly variable depending on the currency, the time of day of a trade, and economic conditions.

Is forex trading safe?

There is indeed a lot of volatility in forex trading. Much more so than in regular markets.

Dealers in the forex markets also allow a high amount of leverage. This can get very risky, as traders can control much larger positions than they might be able to afford on their own. In forex trading, leverage in the range of 100:1 is not uncommon. And given the global nature of currency trading, a successful forex trader must understand the economies and workings of various countries and their connections to other countries and entities that might influence and drive currency values.

One of the best ways to find out if forex trading is the right choice for you is to enroll in IM Academy and learn everything you can about the methods, strategies, and underlying fundamentals that have made previous traders successful.

IM Academy is currently offering a deep-dive forex trading training program called FRX, where students learn how to understand currency movement, the different types of chart analysis, how foreign markets operate, and the best strategies to enter into trades in the forex market.

You can learn more about the FRX Academy training opportunity at IM Academy’s website.

Note: IM Academy is an educational forum for analyzing, learning, and discussing general and generic information related to markets and strategies. IM Academy does not provide personalized recommendations or views as to whether an investment approach is suited to the financial needs of a specific individual. Before deciding to participate in the forex or other markets, you should carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk. Most importantly, do not invest money you cannot afford to lose.  You should take independent financial advice from a professional in connection with, or independent of, research and verify any information you find on the IM Academy website.