Forex, also known as foreign exchange, is the largest and the most liquid market in the world. Its retail part has come with the development of the internet. This allowed retail clients to trade Forex online via various trading platforms. Forex opened its doors to retail clients in the late 1990's. At this time the first retail online brokers started their operations. Forex, as a market had been functioning for decades before that, it was just that it only accepted institutional clients. Currently there are trillions of US dollars traded daily on the Forex market, with retail clients contributing nearly 5% of the total volume or around 5 trillion US dollars in daily turnover.

The biggest attraction of any market, or any financial venture for that matter, is the opportunity for profit. In the Forex market, profitability is expressed in a number of ways.

First of all, just to set the record straight, you do not have to be a millionaire to trade Forex. Unlike most financial markets, the Forex market allows you to start trading with relatively low initial capital. At Perfect Capital Markets, you can start trading Forex with as little as $100!

Trading Forex is exciting business. The market is always on the move, and every tiny shift in currency rates can mean profits and losses of hundreds and even thousands of dollars!
Let’s demonstrate how that can happen. In general, the eight most traded currencies on the Forex market are:

• USD US Dollar
• EUR EuropeanEuro
• GBP British Pound
• JPY British Pound
• CHF Swiss Franc
• CAD Canadian Dollar
• AUD Australian Dollar
• NZD New Zealand Dollar

If you have been at all exposed to the world of Forex, you have probably heard the word “Leverage” being tossed around. But what exactly is “Leverage”?

Leverage is a very important part of Forex trading, and it is critical that you know exactly how it works and how to use it. It is the term Forex traders use to refer to the ratio of invested amount relative to the trade’s actual value.

If you do not already have a MetaTrader Demo Account, get one now for free at https://download.mql5.com/cdn/web/matchtrade.technologies.llc/mt4/matchtrade4setup.exe. You will get a Login and Password and be prompted to download the software. Go ahead and Login, selecting the MatchTrade-DEMO server, and click “Next”:
Once logged in, you will see the MetaTrader interface below: The interface is organized into several windows:

• A MarketWatch window on the upper left which displays the list of tradable instruments and their live quotes from which you can trade;
• Several charts, from which you can also trade and view various indicators;
• A Navigator window which shows all accounts (demo and live) as well as other information
• A Terminal window across the bottom, which has information and functionality described by each tab.

Here is a to-do list of actions to be taken as you place a trade:

• Identify the pair to buy or sell
• - Decide on the initial trade size (in Lots). Note that in MetaTrader, 1 lot is 100,000 currency units but it is possible to trade fractional lots
• Consider applying Stops or Limits (covered in the next chapter)
• Open the trade

Let’s say that after spending some quality time looking at the charts of several currencies, you’ve concluded that EUR/USD is trending up. Therefore you decide to buy EUR/USD (equivalent to buying EUR/selling USD).

You have now bought 1 lot of EUR/USD at 1.2918, and you will see this position in the “Trade” tab of the Terminal window. This is also where you will see your account Balance and Margin information:

You can manage this Open position by right-clicking on it and selecting from the menu:
Note that you can close this position at the market by selecting “Close Order.” You can add or change Stop or Limit orders by selecting “Modify or Delete Order,” or you can add Trailing Stop orders to the selected position.

You can now see this “Account History” tab of the Terminal window. To view closed trades history, right-click anywhere in this Account History tab, and select the time frame you wish

This will display the trade details of closed positions for the designated time period in the Account History tab. Your profit on the sample position is $10 per pip x 1 lot x 10 pips = $100. This means that this seemingly insignificant fluctuation in the rate allows you to cash in $100 on an initial Used Margin or investment of only $250.

Forex trading can be a risky business. Perfect Capital Markets’s MetaTrader platform allows for a variety of order types, which can limit risk and lock in profits. In additional to Market Orders described on page 9, Perfect Capital Markets offers the following Order types:

• Stop Loss
• Trailing Stop
• Entry Stop Orders
• Take Profit Orders
• Limit Orders

Perfect Capital Markets’s MetaTrader platform offers trading in hundreds of symbols, including over 50 currency pairs, CFDs on Gold, Crude Oil, Stock Indices, and more. Perfect Capital Markets has pre-populated your “MarketWatch” window with some of the most popular symbols, but you can easily add or remove symbols, fully customizing what you see and what you trade.
The symbol will now be at the bottom of your MarketWatch window, available for trading and charting. Symbols that are already added to the MarketWatch window will have a gold-colored icon next to them. If you want to remove them, select the symbol to be removed and click “Hide.”

Perfect Capital Markets’s MetaTrader platform provides unlimited charting, with a variety of graphical and trading features. Some charts have been pre-set up on your trading interface, but you can change the symbol, time frame, chart type, and many other details. There are two ways to create a new chart:

Turn on One Click Trading to show the blue or red SELL/BUY buttons in the upper left corner of the chart. With One Click Trading turned on, you can buy or sell the currency pair with a single click on the corresponding button. This will instantly buy or sell the number of lots you have selected.

The Forex market is open 24 hours a day, but what are the best times to make a profit?

Even though the Forex market is open 24 hours a day with the exception of weekends, not all hours are as equally good for trading. The reason that the Forex market is open 24 hours a day is that it is made up of different sessions around the globe that between them cover 24 hours.

The more markets are active at the same time, the more trades are being executed, and the more action for you to cash in on.

This eBook is designed to cover the basics of analyzing and trading the markets with Perfect Capital Markets’s MetaTrader 4 platform, so you can trade successfully and profitably. MetaTrader is a sophisticated platform that has a variety of additional capabilities not covered in this eBook, including trading with automated ExpertAdvisors, integrated Trading Signals, and other features. We encourage you to explore them as desired. Some additional resources:

Technical analysis and indicators: http://ta.mql4.com/
MetaTrader Community: http://www.mql4.com

Ask: Price at which broker/dealer is willing to sell, and the price at which you can buy. Same as "Offer".

Balance: The value of your account not including unrealized gains or losses on open positions.

Bid: Price at which broker/dealer is willing to buy, and the price at which you can sell.

Bid/Ask Spread (or "Spread"): The distance, usually in pips, between the Bid and Ask price. A tighter spread is better for the trader.