Trading Currencies - Beginner Tutorial

Trading currencies is a good way of making extrato a large sum of money. It stands to reason that
money in your spare time. But as with otheryou should make the most of PIP gains rather than
professions, it comes with its own terminologies andlosses.
strategies relating to its industry. Beginners shouldMinimizing losses
make the effort to learn as much as they canLosses are to be expected but you can minimize
before venturing into it.these with effective risk management and the use
Forex PIPSof a "Trailing Stop" -- which rises with the trade as
Forex PIPS is a term often confusing to the novice.long as it's in profit, but automatically closes trading
A PIP is a contraction of the phrase Percentage Inwhen falling prices hit the Stop.
Point. It represents the smallest price change inIt also stands to reason that in order to make a
currency trading. PIPS are the universally acceptedprofit you should buy currency when its value is low,
mode of measuring currency changes across theand sell when its value reaches its peak. However this
world. This is necessary because even though the USis easier said than done, as there are many factors
dollar plays the most important role in currency trade,that affect the rise and fall of currency. Beginners
not all trades involve the USD. In such casescan, in time, become proficient in assessing these
therefore, profits or losses cannot be measured infactors to the point of being able to anticipate
US dollar terms.currency movements.
Currency pairs are quoted to their 4th decimal place.Robotic help
The Japanese yen however is quoted to its 2ndBut in the interim both novices and seasoned traders
decimal point. For example, in EUR/USD, an increaseoften avail themselves to the benefits of automated
from .8945 to .8946 is 1 PIP -- therefore a PIP isForex robots. These monitor and assess all the
.0001. But in USD/JPY, an increase from 130.38 tovarious market conditions using preset indicators, and
130.39 is 1 PIP -- therefore a PIP is .01. Currencythen respond to favorable conditions by opening and
traders use PIPS to measure their profits or losses.closing your trades for you. This is particularly useful
If you were to bid on the EUR/USD currency pair atfor the novice because it removes potential disasters
.8945 and sell at .8951, your profit (or spreadthat can occur when trading currencies -- especially
difference) is 6 PIPS. This may appear to be a verywhen the inexperienced trader succumbs to roller
small profit but when you consider that many Forexcoaster emotions.
traders trade in lots of $100,000, profits can amount