Forex Price

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To accurately read the FX market, you only need four pieces of information: the Open, the High, the Low and the Close Price.

The Open Price:

The open price is the price at which the first trade for the day takes place. Both buyers and sellers have had time to reflect upon the markets close on the previous day. Their perceptions will affect whether the stock opens higher or lower the next day. The subsequent price holds the clue as to which side of the market is the more dominant force — the buyers or the sellers.

The High Price:

The high price refers to the highest price at which the security has traded that day. It is at this point that buyers decide not to push the price up any higher or alternatively, when sellers have gained control. If the high is at or near the opening of the day, that is a sign that the sellers have been the dominant force. If the high occurs near the end of the trading session and the open was near the low of the day, the buyers have had control.

The Low Price:

The low price refers to the lowest price at which the security has traded that day. At this point the sellers have decided not to accept a lower price or alternatively, when buyers have gained or regained control of the market.If the low is near the opening of that day, that is a sign that the buyers have been the dominant force. If the low is near the close of the day, that is a sign that the sellers are keen to sell and that therefore they have been in control.

The Close Price:

The close price is also sometimes called the sentiment. It is the price at which the security is trading at the end of the day. This is the most watched price in analysis as it is seen as the final judgment on who won the day between the buyers and the sellers.If the close is at or near the high of the day and the opening was near the low, it points toward a day of buying. An intra day chart would also reveal that prices were probably in an upward trending mode all day.If the close is halfway between the high and low irrespective of the open, that is interpreted as the market being evenly divided. That is, that the buying power was balanced by the selling pressure.

What is Forex Quotes

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Reading a Forex quote may seem a bit confusing at first. However, it's really quite simple if you remember 2 matters:

A- The first currency listed first is the base currency.

B- The value of the base currency is always "number one".

The american dollar is the centerpiece of the FX market and is normally considered the base currency for quotes. In the Majors currencies, this includes USD/CHF, USD/JPY and USD/CAD. For the formerly mentioned currencies and many others, quotes are expressed as a unit of "$1 USD" per the second currency quoted in the pair. For example, (a quote of USD/JPY 110.01 means that one US dollar is equal to 110.01 JPY).

When the US dollar is the base unit and a currency quote goes up, that means the dollar has appreciated in value and the other currency has weakened. If the USD/JPY quote we previously mentioned increases to 113.01, the US dollar is stronger because it will now buy more Japanese yen than before.

The 3 exceptions to this rule are the British pound or (GBP), the Australian dollar or (AUD) and the Euro (EUR). In these cases, you might see a quote such as GBP/USD 1.7366, meaning that one British pound equals 1.7366 US dollars.

In these 3 currency pairs, where the US dollar is not the base rate, a rising quote means a weakening dollar, as it now takes more US dollars to equal one British Pound, euro or Australian dollar (AUD).

And in other words,, if a currency quote goes higher, that increases the value of the base currency. And lower quote means the base currency is weakening.

Currency pairs that don't involve the US dollar are called "cross currencies", but the premise is the same. For example (a quote of EUR/JPY 127.95 signifies that one Euro is equal to 127.95 Japanese yen (JPY)).

When trading FX you will often see a two-sided quote, consisting of a "bid" and "ask":

(1) The [ask] is the price at which you can buy the base currency (at the same time selling the counter currency). (2) The [bid] is the price at which you can sell the base currency (at the same time buying the counter currency).

September 2009 February 2009 Home