ISO 4217, juga di kenali sebagai kod mata wang, ialah kod tiga huruf piawai antarabangsa yang dirumuskan oleh Pertubuhan Pemiawaian Antarabangsa (ISO) untuk mentakrifkan nama mata wang. Kod itu bukan sahaja digunakan untuk mata wang tetapi juga untuk logam berharga (emas, perak, paladium, dan platinum), serta sesetengah entiti yang lain yang digunakan dalam kewangan antarabangsa, misalnya Hak Pengeluaran Khas (HPK). si Penggunaan senarai kod ISO 4217 ialah norma yang mantap dalam bidang perbankan dan perniagaan di seluruh dunia.

Di banyak negara, kadar pertukaran untuk mata wang yang umum dan yang kodnya dikenali ramai diterbitkan di dalam akhbar atau dipaparkan di dalam bank. Kod ISO 4217 juga digunakan oleh tiket penerbangan dan tiket kereta api antarabangsa untuk mengelakkan sebarang kekaburan harga tiketnya.

Yang berikut ialah senarai kod aktif nama mata wang rasmi ISO 4217.

Kod: Mata wang: Lokasi yang menggunakan mata wang ini.

• AED: Dirham Emiriah Arab Bersatu: Emiriah Arab Bersatu
• AFN: Afghani: Afghanistan
• ALL: Lek: Albania
• AMD: Dram Armenia: Armenia
• ANG: Guilder Antillen Belanda: Antillen Belanda
• AOA: Kwanza: Angola
• ARS: Peso Argentina: Argentina
• AUD: Dolar Australia: Australia, Wilayah Antartik Australia, Pulau Krismas, Kepulauan Cocos (Keeling), Pulau Heard dan Kepulauan McDonald, Kiribati, Nauru, Pulau Norfolk, Tuvalu
• AWG: Guilder Aruba: Aruba
• AZN: Manat Azerbaijan: Azerbaijan
• BAM: Mark boleh tukar: Bosnia dan Herzegovina
• BBD: Dolar Barbados: Barbados
• BDT: Taka Bangladesh: Bangladesh
• BGN: Lev Bulgaria: Bulgaria
• BHD: Dinar Bahrain: Bahrain
• BIF: Franc Burundi: Burundi
• BMD: Dolar Bermuda: Bermuda
• BND: Dolar Brunei: Brunei, Singapura
• BOB: Boliviano: Bolivia
• BOV: Mvdol Bolivia (kod wang): Bolivia
• BRL: Real Brazil: Brazil
• BSD: Dolar Bahamas: Bahamas
• BTN: Ngultrum: Bhutan
• BWP: Pula: Botswana
• BYR: Ruble Belarus: Belarus
• BZD: Dolar Belize: Belize
• CAD: Dolar Kanadan: Kanada
• CDF: Franc Congolais: Republik Demokratik Congo
• CHE: Euro WIR (mata wang pelengkap): Switzerland
• CHF: Franc Switzerland: Switzerland, Liechtenstein
• CHW: Franc WIR (mata wang pelengkap): Switzerland
• CLF: Unidad de Fomento (kod wang): Chile
• CLP: Peso Chile: Chile
• CNY: Yuan China: China (tanah besar)
• COP: Peso Colombia: Colombia
• COU: Unidad de Valor Real: Colombia
• CRC: Colon Costa Rica: Costa Rica
• CUC: Peso boleh tukar Cuba: Cuba
• CUP: Peso Cuba: Cuba
• CVE: Escudo Tanjung Verde: Tanjung Verde
• CZK: Koruna Czech: Republik Czech
• DJF: Franc Djibouti: Djibouti
• DKK: Krone Denmark: Denmark, Kepulauan Faroe, Greenland
• DOP: Peso Dominica: Republik Dominica
• DZD: Dinar Algeria: Algeria
• EEK: Kroon: Estonia
• EGP: Paun Mesir: Mesir
• ERN: Nakfa: Eritrea
• ETB: Birr Etiopia: Etiopia
• EUR: euro: 16 negara Kesatuan Eropah, Andorra, Kosovo, Monaco, Montenegro, San Marino, Vatican (lihat eurozon)
• FJD: Dolar Fiji: Fiji
• FKP: Paun Kepulauan Falkland: Kepulauan Falkland
• GBP: Paun sterling: United Kingdom, Wilayah tanggungan Mahkota (Pulau Man dan Kepulauan Channel), sesetengah Wilayah Luar Negeri British (Georgia Selatan dan Kepulauan Sandwich Selatan, Wilayah Antartik British dan Wilayah Lautan India British)
• GEL: Lari: Georgia
• GHS: Cedi: Ghana
• GIP: Paun Gibraltar: Gibraltar
• GMD: Dalasi: Gambia
• GNF: Franc Guinea: Guinea
• GTQ: Quetzal: Guatemala
• GYD: Dolar Guyana: Guyana
• HKD: Dolar Hong Kong: Kawasan Pentadbiran Khas Hong Kong
• HNL: Lempira Honduras: Honduras
• HRK: Kuna Croatia: Croatia
• HTG: Gourde Haiti: Haiti
• HUF: Forint: Hungary
• IDR: Rupiah: Indonesia
• ILS: Sheqel baharu Israel: Israel
• INR: Rupee India: Bhutan, India
• IQD: Dinar Iraq: Iraq
• IRR: Rial Iran: Iran
• ISK: Krona Iceland: Iceland
• JMD: Dolar Jamaica: Jamaica
• JOD: Dinar Jordan: Jordan
• JPY: Yen Jepun: Jepun
• KES: Syiling Kenya: Kenya
• KGS: Som: Kyrgyzstan
• KHR: Riel: Kemboja
• KMF: Franc Comoros: Comoros
• KPW: Won Korea Utara: Korea Utara
• KRW: Won Korea Selatan: Korea Selatan
• KWD: Dinar Kuwait: Kuwait
• KYD: Dolar Kepulauan Cayman: Kepulauan Cayman
• KZT: Tenge: Kazakhstan
• LAK: Kip: Laos
• LBP: Paun Lebanon: Lebanon
• LKR: Rupee Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka
• LRD: Dolar Liberia: Liberia
• LSL: Loti Lesotho: Lesotho
• LTL: Litas Lithuanias: Lithuania
• LVL: Lats Latvia: Latvia
• LYD: Dinar Libya: Libya
• MAD: Dirham Maghribi: Maghribi, Sahara Barat
• MDL: Leu Moldova: Moldova
• MGA: Malagasy ariary: Madagascar
• MKD: Denar: Macedonia
• MMK: Kyat: Myanmar
• MNT: Tugrik: Mongolia
• MOP: Pataca: Kawasan Pentadbiran Khas Macau
• MRO: Ouguiya: Mauritania
• MUR: Rupee Mauritius: Mauritius
• MVR: Rufiyaa: Maldives
• MWK: Kwacha: Malawi
• MXN: Peso Mexico: Mexico
• MXV: Unidad de Inversion Mexico (UDI) (kod wang): Mexico
• MYR: Ringgit Malaysia: Malaysia
• MZN: Metical: Mozambique
• NAD: Dolar Namibia: Namibia
• NGN: Naira: Nigeria
• NIO: Cordoba oro: Nicaragua
• NOK: Krone Norway: Norway, Pulau Bouvet, Queen Maud Land, Pulau Peter I
• NPR: Rupee Nepal: Nepal
• NZD: Dolar New Zealand: Kepulauan Cook, New Zealand, Niue, Pitcairn, Tokelau
• OMR: Rial Oman: Oman
• PAB: Balboa Panama: Panama
• PEN: Nuevo sol: Peru
• PGK: Kina: Papua New Guinea
• PHP: Peso Filipina: Filipina
• PKR: Rupee Pakistan: Pakistan
• PLN: Z?oty: Poland
• PYG: Guarani: Paraguay
• QAR: Rial Qatar: Qatar
• RON: Leu baharu Romania: Romania
• RSD: Dinar Serbia: Serbia
• RUB: Rouble Rusia: Rusia, Abkhazia, Ossetia Selatan
• RWF: Franc Rwanda: Rwanda
• SAR: Riyal Saudi: Arab Saudi
• SBD: Dolar Kepulauan Solomon: Kepulauan Solomon
• SCR: Rupee Seychelles: Seychelles
• SDG: Paun Sudan: Sudan
• SEK: Krona/kronor Sweden: Sweden
• SGD: Dolar Singapura: Singapura, Brunei
• SHP: Paun Saint Helena: Saint Helena
• SLL: Leone: Sierra Leone
• SOS: Syiling Somali: Somalia
• SRD: Dolar Suriname: Suriname
• STD: Dobra: São Tomé dan Príncipe
• SYP: Paun Syria: Syria
• SZL: Lilangeni: Swaziland
• THB: Baht: Thailand
• TJS: Somoni: Tajikistan
• TMT: Manat: Turkmenistan
• TND: Dinar Tunisia: Tunisia
• TOP: Pa’anga: Tonga
• TRY: Lira Turki: Turki, Cyprus Utara
• TTD: Dolar Trinidad dan Tobago: Trinidad dan Tobago
• TWD: Dolar New Taiwan: Taiwan dan pulau-pulau lain di bawah kuasa berkesan Republik China (ROC)
• TZS: Syiling Tanzania: Tanzania
• UAH: Hryvnia: Ukraine
• UGX: Syiling Uganda: Uganda
• USD: Dolar AS: Samoa Amerika, Wilayan Lautan India British, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guam, Haiti, Kepulauan Marshall, Micronesia, Kepulauan Mariana Utara, Palau, Panama, Puerto Rico, Timor-Leste, Kepulauan Turki dan Caicos, Amerika Syarikat, Kepulauan Virgin, Bermuda (serta juga Dolar Bermuda)
• USN: Dolar Amerika Syarikat (hari berikut) (kod wang): Amerika Syarikat
• USS: Dolar Amerika Syarikat (hari sama)) (kod wang): Amerika Syarikat
• UYU: Peso Uruguayo: Uruguay
• UZS: Som Uzbekistan: Uzbekistan
• VEF: Venezuelan bolívar fuerte: Venezuela
• VND: D?ng Vietnam: Vietnam
• VUV: Vatu: Vanuatu
• WST: Tala Samoa: Samoa
• XAF: Franc CFA BEAC: Cameroon, Republik Afrika Tengah, Congo, Chad, Guinea Khatulistiwa, Gabon
• XAG: Perak (satu auns troy):
• XAU: Emas (satu [[auns troy]):
• XBA: Unit Komposit Eropah (EURCO) (unit pasaran bond):
• XBB: Unit Mata Wang Eropah (E.M.U.-6) (unit pasaran bond)):
• XBC: Unit Akaun Eropah 9 (E.U.A.-9) (unit pasaran bond)):
• XBD: Unit Akaun Eropah 17 (E.U.A.-17) (unit pasaran bond):
• XCD: Dolar Caribbean Timur: Anguilla, Antigua dan Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, Saint Kitts dan Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent dan Grenadines
• XDR: Hak Pengeluaran Khas: Kumpulan Wang Antarabangsa
• XFU: Franc UIC (mata wang penempatan khas): International Union of Railways
• XOF: Franc CFA BCEAO: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo
• XPD: Paladium (satu auns troy):
• XPF: Franc CFP: Polynesia Perancis, New Caledonia, Wallis dan Futuna
• XPT: Platinum (satu auns troy):
• XTS: Kod yang disimpan untuk tujuan pengujian:
• XXX: Tiada mata wang:
• YER: Rial Yaman: Yaman
• ZAR: Rand Afrika Selatan: Afrika Selatan
• ZMK: Kwacha: Zambia
• ZWL: Dolar Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe

Pedagang membuat keputusan menggunakan laporan perniagaan, dasar ekonomi, faktor teknikal dan maklumat berkaitan yang lain. Pedagang teknikal menggunakan carta, garis kecenderungan trend lines, tahap sokongan support dan tahap anjal resistance, dan beberapa pola dan analisa matematik untuk mengenal pasti peluang jualbeli, sementara ahli dasar-dasar ekonomi atau fundamentalist meramalkan pergerakan harga dengan mentafsirkan pelbagai maklumat ekonomi, termasuk berita, laporan dan petunjuk yang dikeluarkan oleh kerajaan, malah khabar angin. Bagaimanapun pergerakaan harga paling dramatik berlaku bila peristiwa yang tidak dijangkakan berlaku. Peristiwa itu meliputi daripada kenaikan kadar faedah tempatan atau domestic interest rates hingga ke keputusan pilihanraya atau juga aksi peperangan. Walaubagaimanapun kebiasannya jangkaan terhadap peristiwa itu yang mengerakkan pasar berbanding peristiwa itu sendiri.

Posisi Long (beli kemudian jual) dan posisi Short (jual kemudian beli) adalah: Posisi Long rengkasnya adalah dimana peniaga membeli instrumen pasar pada satu harga dan dengan tujuan untuk menjualnya kemudian pada harga yang leibh tinggi. Dalam senario ini, peniaga mendapat keuntungan daripada pasar yang meningkat. Posisi short adalah dimana peniaga menjual instrumen pasar dengan jangkaan ianya akan menurun. Dalam senario ini, peniaga mendapat keuntungan daripada pasar yang sedang menurun.

Financial market is a mechanism that allows people to easily buy and sell (trade) market instruments at low transaction costs and at prices that reflect efficient markets. Financial markets have evolved significantly over several hundred years and are undergoing constant innovation to improve liquidity.

If you believe value of a market instrument is going to increase, then you would buy the instrument and at one point in the future you would sell it for a higher price. This is the basic motivation for trading on financial markets.

Orders and Positions

When you want to open a position you need to place an “entry” order. If and when the entry order executes, the position becomes “open” and starts its life on the market. At some point in the future, you will place an “exit” order to “close” the position. A position can be “long” (entry order is to buy and exit order is to sell an instrument) or “short” (entry order is to sell and exit order is to buy an instrument).

At the point when you place your entry order, you need to define price level at which you want to buy or sell certain instrument. You also need to specify type of the order and quantity of the instrument you want to trade. There are 3 order types:

Market Order

Placing a market order means that you will buy at the current “ask” (or “offer”) price, or sell at the current “bid” price, whatever that price currently is. For example, suppose you are buying a market instrument and its current market price is 129.34 / 129.38. This means a participant in the market is willing to buy the instrument from you at 129.34 and / or sell it to you at 129.38.

Stop Order

Initiating a trade with a stop order means that you will only open a position if the market moves in the direction you are anticipating. For example, if an instrument is trading at 129.34 / 129.38 and you believe it will move higher, you could place a stop order to buy at 129.48. This means that the order will only be executed if ask price in the market moves up to 129.48. The advantage is that if you are wrong and the market moves straight down, you will not have bought (because 129.48 will never have been reached). The disadvantage is that 129.48 is clearly a less attractive rate at which to buy than 129.38. Opening a position with a stop order is usually appropriate if you wish to trade only with strong market momentum in a particular direction.

Limit Order

A limit order is an order to buy below the current price, or sell above the current price. For example, if an instrument is trading at 129.34 / 129.38 and you believe the market will rise, you could place a limit order to buy at 129.28. If executed, this will give you a long position at 129.28, which is 10 pips better than if you had just used a market order. The disadvantage of the limit order is that if the instrument moves straight up from 129.34 / 129.38 your limit at 129.28 will never be filled and you will miss out on the profit opportunity even though your view on the direction was correct. Opening a position with a limit order is usually appropriate if you believe that the market will remain in a range before moving in your anticipated direction, allowing the order to be filled first.

For both entry and exit orders you can specify price levels at which you want them to be executed. You have to specify entry levels when you place you entry order, while most trading systems would allow you to specify exit levels at any time.

Calculating Profit

The objective of trading is to buy a market instrument and later sell the same market instrument for a higher price. In case of margin trading, trader can also sell a market instrument first and later buy the same market instrument for a lower price. Either way, trader has to close position in order to lock in the profit.

Let us assume that you open a long position by buying a market instrument for 129.38 (quantity of 10000) and few hours after that, you close the position by selling it for 129.52 (same quantity of 10000). These two trades would bring you profit of (129.52 – 129.38) * 10000 = 1400.

We can also say that these two trades would bring you 14 “points” profit. A “point” is the smallest increment in an instrument’s price. For the instrument in the above example, one point is 0.01 and for an instrument denominated with 4 decimals, one point would be 0.0001. Expressing position profits in points is often very useful for quick calculations and estimates.

One point, from the example position above, would bring you 0.01 * 10000 = 100 profit, denominated in the same currency the market instrument is denominated in.

In case of Forex, currency pair denomination will be in the counter currency (JPY is the counter or quote currency in the USD/JPY pair) and you may need additional currency conversion to get profit calculated in the currency your trading account is denominated in.

Asset Allocation: Dividing instrument funds among markets to achieve diversification or maximum return.

Bearish: A market view that anticipates lower prices.

Bullish: A market view that anticipates higher prices.

Chartist: An individual who studies graphs and charts of historic data to find trends and predict trend reversals.

Counterparty: The other organization or party with whom trading is being transacted.

Day Trader: Speculator who takes positions in instruments which are liquidated prior to the close of the same trading day.

Economic Indicator: A statistics which indicates economic growth rates and trends such as retail sales and employment.

Exotic: A less broadly traded market instrument.

Fast Market: Rapid movement in a market caused by strong interest by buyers and / or sellers.

Fed: The U.S. Federal Reserve. FDIC membership is compulsory for Federal Reserve members.

GDP: Total value of a country’s output, income or expenditure produced within the country’s physical borders.

Liquidity: The ability of a market to accept large transactions.

Resistance Level: A price which is likely to result in a rebound but if broken may result in a significant price movement.

Spread: The difference between the bid and ask price of a market instrument.

Support Levels: When a price depreciates or appreciates to a level where analysis suggests that the price will rebound.

Thin Market: A market in which trading volume is low and in which consequently spread is wide and the liquidity is low.

Volatility: A measure of the amount by which an asset price is expected to fluctuate over a given period.

There are 2 basic types of analysis you can take when approaching the forex:

1. Fundamental analysis
2. Technical analysis.

There has always been a constant debate as to which analysis is better, but to tell you the truth, you need to know a little bit of both. So let’s break each one down and then come back and put them together.

Fundamental Analysis

Fundamental analysis is a way of looking at the market through economic, social and political forces that affect supply and demand. (Yada yada yada.)  In other words, you look at whose economy is doing well, and whose economy sucks.  The idea behind this type of analysis is that if a country’s economy is doing well, their currency will also be doing well.  This is because the better a country’s economy, the more trust other countries have in that currency.

For example, the U.S. dollar has been gaining strength because the U.S. economy is gaining strength. As the economy gets better, interest rates get higher to control inflation and as a result, the value of the dollar continues to increase.  In a nutshell, that is basically what fundamental analysis is.

Later on in the course you will learn which specific news events drive currency prices the most.  For now, just know that the fundamental analysis of the Forex is a way of analyzing a currency through the strength of that country’s economy.

Before we go any further we are going to be 100% honest with you and tell you the following before you consider trading currencies:

1. All forex traders, and we mean all traders LOSE money on trades.
   Ninety percent of traders lose money, largely due to lack of planning and training and having poor money management rules. Also, if you hate to lose or are a super perfectionist, you’ll probably have a hard time adjusting to trading.
2. Trading forex is not for the unemployed, those on low incomes, or who can’t afford to pay their electricity bill or afford to eat.
   You should have at least $10,000 of trading capital (in a mini account) that you can afford to lose. Don’t expect to start an account with a few hundred dollars and expect to become a billionaire.

The Forex market is one of the most popular markets for speculation, due to its enormous size, liquidity and tendency for currencies to move in strong trends. You would think traders all over the world would make a killing, but success has been limited to very small percentage of traders.

Many traders come with the misguided hope of making a gazillion bucks, but in reality, lack the discipline required for trading. Most people usually lack the discipline to stick to a diet or to go to the gym three times a week. If you can’t even do that, how do you think you’re going to succeed trading?

Short term trading IS NOT for amateurs, and it is rarely the path to “get rich quick”. You can’t make gigantic profits without taking gigantic risks. A trading strategy that involves taking a massive degree of risk means suffering inconsistent trading performance and often suffering large loss. A trader who does this probably doesn’t even have a trading strategy – unless you call gambling a trading strategy!

Technical analysis is the study of price movement.  In one word, technical analysis = charts.  The idea is that a person can look at historical price movements, and, based on the price action, can determine at some level where the price will go.  By looking at charts, you can identify trends and patterns which can help you find good trading opportunities.

The most IMPORTANT thing you will ever learn in technical analysis is the trend!  Many, many, many, many, many, many people have a saying that goes, “The trend is your friend”.  The reason for this is that you are much more likely to make money when you can find a trend and trade in the same direction.  Technical analysis can help you identify these trends in its earliest stages and therefore provide you with very profitable trading opportunities.

Now I know you’re thinking to yourself, “Geez, these guys are smart.  They use crazy words like “technical” and “fundamental” analysis. I can never learn this stuff!” Don’t worry yourself too much. After you’re done with the School of Pipsology, you too will be just as….uhmmm…”smart?” as us.

By the way, do you feel that green pill kicking in yet?  Bark like a dog!

The eight most frequently traded currencies (USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, CHF, CAD, NZD and AUD) are called the major currencies. All other currencies are referred to as minor currencies. Do not worry about the minor currencies, they are for professionals only. Actually, on this site we’ll mostly cover what we call the Fab Five (USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, and CHF). These pairs are the most liquid and the most sexy.

Base Currency

The base currency is the first currency in any currency pair. It shows how much the base currency is worth as measured against the second currency. For example, if the USD/CHF rate equals 1.6350, then one USD is worth CHF 1.6350. In the Forex markets, the U.S. dollar is normally considered the “base” currency for quotes, meaning that quotes are expressed as a unit of $1 USD per the other currency quoted in the pair. The primary exceptions to this rule are the British pound, the Euro, and the Australian and New Zealand dollar.

Quote Currency

The quote currency is the second currency in any currency pair. This is frequently called the pip currency and any unrealized profit or loss is expressed in this currency.

Pip

A pip is the smallest unit of price for any currency. Nearly all currency pairs consist of five significant digits and most pairs have the decimal point immediately after the first digit, that is, EUR/USD equals 1.2538. In this instance, a single pip equals the smallest change in the fourth decimal place – that is, 0.0001. Therefore, if the quote currency in any pair is USD, then one pip always equal 1/100 of a cent.

One notable exception is the USD/JPY pair where a pip equals $0.01.

Take your time with this information, as it is required knowledge for all Forex traders. Don’t even think about trading until you are comfortable with pip values and calculating profit and loss.

What the heck is a Pip?

The most common increment of currencies is the Pip. If the EUR/USD moves from 1.2250 to 1.2251, that is ONE PIP. A pip is the last decimal place of a quotation. The Pip is how you measure your profit or loss.

As each currency has its own value, it is necessary to calculate the value of a pip for that particular currency. In currencies where the US Dollar is quoted first, the calculation would be as follows.

Let’s take USD/JPY rate at 119.80 (notice this currency pair only goes to two decimal places, most of the other currencies have four decimal places)

In the case of USD/JPY, 1 pip would be .01

Therefore,

USD/JPY:

119.80
.01 divided by exchange rate = pip value
.01 / 119.80 = 0.0000834

This looks like a very long number but later we will discuss lot size.

USD/CHF:

1.5250
.0001 divided by exchange rate = pip value
.0001 / 1.5250 = 0.0000655

USD/CAD:

1.4890
.0001 divided by exchange rate = pip value
.0001 / 1.4890 = 0.00006715

In the case where the US Dollar is not quoted first and we want to get the US Dollar value, we have to add one more step.

EUR/USD:

1.2200

.0001 divided by exchange rate = pip value
so
.0001 / 1.2200 = EUR 0.00008196

but we need to get back to US dollars so we add another calculation which is

EUR x Exchange rate
So
0.00008196 x 1.2200 = 0.00009999

When rounded up it would be 0.0001

GBP/USD:

1.7975

.0001 divided by exchange rate = pip value
So

.0001 / 1.7975 = GBP 0.0000556

But we need to get back to US dollars so we add another calculation which is

GBP x Exchange rate

So
0.0000556 x 1.7975 = 0.0000998

When rounded up it would be 0.0001

You’re probably rolling your eyes back and thinking do I really need to work all this out and the answer is NO. Nearly all forex brokers will work all this out for you automatically. It’s always good for you to know how they work it out.

In the next section, we will discuss how these seemingly insignificant amounts can add up.

Would You Like Fries with Your Pips?

The term “order” refers to how you will enter or exit a trade. Here we discuss the different types of orders that can be placed into the foreign exchange market. Be sure that you know which types of orders your broker accepts. Different brokers accept different types of orders.

Order Types

Basic Order Types

There are some basic order types that all brokers provide and some others that sound weird. The basic ones are:

• Market order
  A market order is an order to buy or sell at the current market price. For example, EUR/USD is currently trading at 1.2140. If you wanted to buy at this exact price, you would click buy and your trading platform would instantly execute a buy order at that exact price. If you ever shop on Amazon.com, it’s (kinda) like using their 1-Click ordering. You like the current price, you click once and it’s yours! The only difference is you are buying or selling one currency against another currency instead of buying Britney Spears CDs.
• Limit order
  A limit order is an order placed to buy or sell at a certain price. The order essentially contains two variables, price and duration. For example, EUR/USD is currently trading at 1.2050. You want to go long if the price reaches 1.2070. You can either sit in front of your monitor and wait for it to hit 1.2070 (at which point you would click a buy market order), or you can set a buy limit order at 1.2070 (then you could walk away from your computer to attend your ballroom dancing class). If the price goes up to 1.2070, your trading platform will automatically execute a buy order at that exact price. You specify the price at which you wish to buy/sell a certain currency pair and also specify how long you want the order to remain active (GTC or GFD).
• Stop-loss order
  A stop-loss order is a limit order linked to an open trade for the purpose of preventing additional losses if price goes against you. A stop-loss order remains in effect until the position is liquidated or you cancel the stop-loss order. For example, you went long (buy) EUR/USD at 1.2230. To limit your maximum loss, you set a stop-loss order at 1.2200. This means if you were dead wrong and EUR/USD drops to 1.2200 instead of moving up, your trading platform would automatically execute a sell order at 1.2200 and close out your position for a 30 pip loss (eww!). Stop-losses are extremely useful if you don’t want to sit in front of your monitor all day worried that you will lose all your money. You can simply set a stop-loss order on any open positions so you won’t miss your basket weaving class.