Showing posts with label forex hedging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label forex hedging. Show all posts

Monday, 24 November 2008

Hedging and forex market


In the Forex market, hedging is a method practiced by Forex traders in order to minimize their losses. Generally, hedging involves complicated financial instrument known as derivative, and the 2 most common types of derivatives are future and options.

With these instruments used correctly, a loss in one of the investment can be offset by a gain in a derivative. In order to better understand how hedging works, let's take a car maker company in the US as an example. After the car company is US manufactures the car, they intend to sell the car in the European market. Each time when they are selling the car, they need to convert the value of the car from the USD to GBP, however, due to the constant fluctuation of the currency exchange rate, the actual value of the car (after converted to GBP) may varies. In order to protect the profit margin of the company from the fluctuation of the currency exchange, the car manufacturer company hedge and fix the conversion rate from USD to GBP at a specific value, thus eliminating the risk of losses due to fluctuation in the currency exchange. Hedging in Forex market works in a similar way mentioned above, however, there's a variety of way to hedge in the Forex market for an investor as there are numerous options and future contracts available in the Forex market.


Although hedging may sound like a foul proof technique, there are still some reasons why an investor may need to think carefully before considering to hedge in Forex market. Firstly, hedging will be a very useful tool IF an investor suffers a loss in his investment due to the fact where by hedging, the amount of losses can be decreased and minimized to a smaller amount.


However, hedging will only be a nuisance to the profit gain if the investor doesn't suffer any form of losses because the amount of potential profit would be greatly decreased due to hedging. Besides that, unlike buying insurance, hedging is not a 100% safe technique as hedging in Forex trading is not as simple as it seemed. Hedging precisely in an investment is a very complicated task and in most of the time, things may go wrong and not according to the way as planned.


For beginners in Forex trading, Forex hedging is always a very good tool to be utilized in order to avoid from suffering a huge amount of losses in their early stage of investment. Therefore, it is most advisable for all of the investors, regardless of what type of investment they are in, to understand more about hedging because this is considerably one of the most effective way in order to protect themselves in Forex trading.


How can I use Forex Hedging :Say you used dollars to take a long position in euros, but you are a little worried that the price of euros will fall relative to the dollar. One thing you could do is take out a futures contract on dollars using euros. As external factors affect the price of currencies, the price of futures contracts rise and fall as well, allowing your euros-to-dollars contract to counteract your long position in euros. If the euro weakens, the futures contract price rises, and vice-versa, so you have therefore eliminated the risk from your currency investment.


For example : try simply to buy Sell a pair of currency then do the opposite for example buy one lot of any pair and then then sell it again Now you have a hedged trade and . You can see in the "S/B" column the one position that you bought and the one that you sold. If the EUR/USD rises, you have a profit in the buy position and a loss in the sell position. If it falls, the exact opposite applies.Should I hedge?Most investors never hedge in their entire trading careers. Short-term fluctuation is something that the majority of investors do not worry with. Therefore, hedging can be pointless. Even if you choose not to hedge however, learning about the technique is a great way to understand the market a bit more.


You will see large corporations and other large traders use this and may be confused at why they are acting this way.

When you know more about hedging you can fully understand their strategies.Ways of Hedging:It's say you take a long position is EUR/USD at 1.2700. The price drops. With a different broker, you take a short position at 1.2650. Have you hedged your long?I've met traders who say yes. They say that now there short will make what every there long position loses.I hate to burst bubbles, but going long and short is going flat. It's the same as having no position on.


The only difference is you'll pay the spread twice (a bad thing).The traders who say that going long and going short is hedging say that when the price moves up they will take the short position off to capture the upward movement are still deluded.Having a short and long position in the same instrument, and then taking the short one off, is the same as just entering long. That's it. Furthermore, how do you know that the market will continue to move up after you take the short off? If it moves down again will you put the short on again? If you do, you will pay the spread a third time for a single trade. Believe, make this a habit and you find being profitable is tough even if you pick more winners than losers and have great money management.So, let's take this is a different direction.


What if you traded EUR/USD long and went short USD/CHF? Have you hedged against the dollar? No. What you've done is created the currency pair EUR/CHF with two other pairs. You're not hedged; you're long EUR/CHF.So how do you create a true hedge with currencies? You have two tools to use. One way would be with futures. The next subsection deals with the other. The CME has an emini Euro FX contract (symbol is E7).


You could be long in the spot market and short in the futures market and you would be hedged. However, the futures contract and a spot contract are not worth exactly the same; so you would not be totally covered.The last way to hedge is with options.

This is also how you can trade without stops safely. Let's say you go long USD/JPY at 116.00. You also go long a put option out of the money with a strike price at 115.50. Let's say it cost you $20.The price must go up 20 pips (in a mini account) for you break even. You lose the cost of the option if the price doesn't sink below 115.50. If the price does plunge down to 114 say, your put options will be worth a lot.


Subtracting what you made on the options from what you lost on your position, you'd find that you only lost 70 pips (the cost of the option $20 plus the difference between your entry and the strike price $50).You are truly hedged. You only lose the cost of the option if the price skyrockets (and you'll make a bundle on the price moving up so far). On the other hand, the price can sink as low as it wants to, you're loss is fixed.


This gets even better. How often has the price touched your stop taking you out of the market before going your way? With an option as a stop loss, that can't happen. You can ride out a market that wants to stop you out. Your option protects you.Obviously this is just a quick look at this strategy. If you want to do it, study the concepts behind it a lot more before you try it. Options are an animal all of their own.


Know what you are doing, before you do it.Hedging objectives :Earlier, we noted that a hedge is a financial instrument whose sensitivity to a particular financial price offsets the sensitivity of the firm's core business to that price. Straightaway, we can see that there are a number of issues that present themselvesSome of the best-articulated hedging programs in the corporate world will choose the reduction in the variability of corporate income as an appropriate target. This is consistent with the notion that an investor purchases the stock of the company in order to take advantage of their core business expertise.Other companies just believe that engaging in a forward outright transaction to hedge each of their cross-border cash flows in foreign exchange is sufficient to deem themselves hedged.


Yet, they are exposing their companies to untold potential opportunity losses. And this could impact their relative performance pejoratively.It is important to measure and to have on a daily basis some notion of the firm's potential liability from financial price risk. Financial institutions whose core business is the management and acceptance of financial price risk have whole departments devoted to the independent measurement and quantification of their exposures.


It is no less critical for a company with billions of dollars of internationally driven revenue to do so.There are three types of risk for every particular financial price to which the firm is exposed.Transactional risks reflect the pejorative impact of fluctuations in financial prices on the cash flows that come from purchases or sales. This is the kind of risk we described in our example of the pulp-and-paper company concerned about their US$10 million contract. Or, we could describe the funding problem of the company as a transactional risk. How do they borrow money? How do they hedge the value of a loan they have taken once it is on the books?Translation risks describe the changes in the value of a foreign asset due to changes in financial prices, such as the foreign exchange rate.Economic exposure refers to the impact of fluctuations in financial prices on the core business of the firm.


If developing markets economies devalue sharply while retaining their high technology manufacturing infrastructure, what effect will this have on an Ottawa-based chip manufacturer that only has sales in Canada? If it means that these countries will flood the market with cheap chips in a desperate effort to obtain hard currency, it could mean that the domestic manufacturer is in serious jeopardy.When is it best to use which instrument is the question the corporate Treasurer must answer.


The difference between a mediocre corporate Treasury and an excellent one is their ability to operate within the context of their shareholder-delineated limits and choose the optimal hedging structure for a particular exposure and economic environment. Not every structure will work well in every environment. The corporate Treasury should be able to tailor the exposure using derivatives so that it fits the preferences and the view of the senior management and the board of directors
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Friday, 21 November 2008

ForexGen | How to Hedge ?


Proper risk management and hedging are essential when trading forex,futures stocks... Highly leveraged forex trading (400:1) can lead to exponentially large gains or exponentially large losses. Forex Hedging is a very important aspect of risk management and every trader should know what a forex hedge is and how to implement a hedging strategy

A hedge is placed when a trader enters the market with the specific intent of protecting existing or anticipated physical market exposure from an adverse move in futures prices. Both hedgers and speculators can benefit by knowing how to properly utilize a hedge. forex traders, marketers, bankers and end-users may have specific trading and/or hedging needs that require proper risk management.

Speculators can hedge existing positions against adverse price moves by utilizing combination futures and options on futures trading strategies. A good Forex trading platform can help analyze, develop and implement trading and hedging strategies based on your short and long-term objectives.

Forex traders must have a working knowledge of the risk management. First, learn how to properly manage risk by utilizing different types of risk management such as stop and limit orders to protect yourself against adverse foreign exchange price moves. Learning to use the orders in combination can improve your foreign exchange trading technique by allowing you to realize maximum profit potential while, at the same time, limiting your potential losses. Next, make sure you fully understand how to use both Forex Technical and Forex economic calander indicators when making trading decisions. Also take the time to learn hedging and trading strategies and techniques that can reduce both risk exposure as well as lower your trading costs - a number of resource links are listed below. Finally, make sure you know how to properly read and interpret your account statements to help you monitor the positions in your account.

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ForexGen Introducing Brokers ,White Label and Money Manager holders are recognized as a strategic business partners. The main focus of our service is to satisfy our partner's needs in order to deal with a qualified service and gain a large income sharing plan.
ForexGen provides appropriate services satisfying the needs of all business partner's specified situation and requirements.

Hedging on a ForexGen Trading System


You’ve probably used the terminology “hedging your bet” a few times in your life. Perhaps you wanted to “hedge your bet” by purchasing more life insurance when your lifestyle improved or before you entered your 40’s. “Hedging your bet” is a similar concept in both the stock market and Forex market. Basically, it means playing it safe by protecting yourself against any possible losses. Losses might occur anytime you trade on a Forex trading system, but it’s wise to lessen or hedge your bet in certain situations.

How does it work?


Hedging is rather simple to perform - you buy and sell in the same currency pair at the same time. This limits your risk in case of market fluctuations. Let’s say you want to buy one lot (100,000 units) of EUR/USD on a Forex trading system. You’re not sure if the euro will strengthen in the upcoming month so you decide to hedge your bet by placing an order on the Forex trading system to sell one lot of EUR/USD. Now you’ve limited your risk by placing a hedged bet.

Let’s say that you decide to sell one lot (100,000 units) of EUR/USD. The value at the close of trade is 1.5887. You’re a bit worried that the euro might weaken so you decide to hedge your bet or sell one lot of EUR/USD, at the rate of 1.5890. Now, if the euro rises, you earn a profit in the buy position, but a loss in the sell position. On the other hand, if the euro weakens, you lose in the buy position, but win in the sell position. What you’ve just done is limit your overall risk with both buying and selling in the same currency.

Margin requirement


In placing a hedged bet on a Forex trading system, you’re margin requirement is equally divided between the two positions. Suppose you have a margin requirement in a non-hedge trade of two lots (200,000 units). Now, when you decide to hedge your initial bet, your margin requirement is equally divided between the two positions – 100,000 units for each trade.

Hedging seems like a good practice, but risks are involved and overall equity can be reduced by other factors that come into play. For further advice, just ask a customer representative from one of the online Forex

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Monday, 10 November 2008

Why Hedge Foreign Currency Risk Exposure | ForexGen

International commerce has rapidly increased as the internet has provided a new and more transparent marketplace for individuals and entities alike to conduct international business and trading activities. Significant changes in the international economic and political landscape have led to uncertainty regarding the direction of foreign exchange rates. This uncertainty leads to volatility and the need for an effective vehicle to hedge foreign exchange rate risk and/or interest rate changes while, at the same time, effectively ensuring a future financial position.

Each entity and/or individual that has exposure to foreign exchange rate risk will have specific foreign exchange hedging needs and this website can not possibly cover every existing foreign exchange hedging situation. Therefore, we will cover the more common reasons that a foreign exchange hedge is placed and show you how to hedge forex risk.

A. Foreign Exchange Rate Risk Exposure.

Foreign exchange rate risk exposure is common to virtually all who conduct international business and/or trading. Buying and/or selling of goods or services denominated in foreign currencies can immediately expose you to foreign exchange rate risk. If a firm price is quoted ahead of time for a contract using a foreign exchange rate that is deemed appropriate at the time the quote is given, the foreign exchange rate quote may not necessarily be appropriate at the time of the actual agreement or performance of the contract. Placing a foreign exchange hedge can help to manage this foreign exchange rate risk.

B. Interest Rate Risk Exposure.

Interest rate exposure refers to the interest rate differential between the two countries' currencies in a foreign exchange contract. The interest rate differential is also roughly equal to the "carry" cost paid to hedge a forward or futures contract. As a side note, arbitragers are investors that take advantage when interest rate differentials between the foreign exchange spot rate and either the forward or futures contract are either too high or too low. In simplest terms, an arbitrager may sell when the carry cost he or she can collect is at a premium to the actual carry cost of the contract sold. Conversely, an arbitrager may buy when the carry cost he or she may pay is less than the actual carry cost of the contract bought. Either way, the arbitrager is looking to profit from a small price discrepancy due to interest rate differentials.

C. Foreign Investment / Stock Exposure.

Foreign investing is considered by many investors as a way to either diversify an investment portfolio or seek a larger return on investment(s) in an economy believed to be growing at a faster pace than investment(s) in the respective domestic economy. Investing in foreign stocks automatically exposes the investor to foreign exchange rate risk and speculative risk. For example, an investor buys a particular amount of foreign currency (in exchange for domestic currency) in order to purchase shares of a foreign stock. The investor is now automatically exposed to two separate risks. First, the stock price may go either up or down and the investor is exposed to the speculative stock price risk. Second, the investor is exposed to foreign exchange rate risk because the foreign exchange rate may either appreciate or depreciate from the time the investor first purchased the foreign stock and the time the investor decides to exit the position and repatriates the currency (exchanges the foreign currency back to domestic currency). Therefore, even if a speculative profit is achieved because the foreign stock price rose, the investor could actually net lose money if devaluation of the foreign currency occurred while the investor was holding the foreign stock (and the devaluation amount was greater than the speculative profit). Placing a foreign exchange hedge can help to manage this foreign exchange rate risk.

D. Hedging Speculative Positions.

Foreign currency traders utilize foreign exchange hedging to protect open positions against adverse moves in foreign exchange rates, and placing a foreign exchange hedge can help to manage foreign exchange rate risk. Speculative positions can be hedged via a number of foreign exchange hedging vehicles that can be used either alone or in combination to create entirely new foreign exchange hedging strategies.

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Hedging in the Forex Market | ForexGen

For those who are not familiar with the Forex market, the word “hedging” could mean absolutely nothing. However, those who are regular traders know that there are many ways to use this term in trading. Most of the time when you hear this phrase it means that you are trying to reduce your risk in trading. It is something that everyone who plans to invest should know about. It is a technique that can protect your investments to some degree.

What Is It?

While hedging is a popular trading term, it is also one that seems a little mysterious. It is much like an insurance plan. When you hedge, you insure yourself in case a negative event may occur. This does not mean that when a negative event occurs you will come out of it completely unaffected. It only means that if you properly hedge yourself, you won’t experience a huge impact. Think of it like your auto insurance. You purchase it in case something bad happens. It does not prevent bad things from happening, but if they do, you are able to recover a lot better than if you were uninsured.

Anyone who is involved in trading can learn to hedge. From huge corporations to small individual investors, hedging is something that is widely practiced. The manner in which they do this involves using market instruments to offset the risk of any negative movement in price. The easiest way to do this is to hedge an investment with another investment. For example, the way most people would deal with this is to invest in two different things with negative correlations.


This is still costly to some people; however, the protection you get from doing this is well worth the cost most of the time. When you begin learning more about hedging, you start to understand why not many people completely know what it is all about. The techniques used to hedge are done by using derivatives. These are complicated instruments of finance and most often only used by seasoned investors.

Is There A Downside To Hedging?

When you decide to hedge, you must remember that it comes with a cost. You should always be sure that the benefits you get from a hedge should be more than enough to make it worth your while. You should make sure the expense is justified. If it is not, then you should not hedge. The goal of hedging is not to make money. You will not make large gains by hedging yourself. You have to take some risks in order to gain. Hedging is intended to be used to protect your losses.

The loss cannot be avoided, but the hedge can offer a little comfort. However, even if nothing negative happens, you will still have to pay for the hedge. Unlike insurance, you are never compensated for your hedge. Things can go wrong with hedging and it may not always protect you as you think it will.

Should I Hedge?

Keep in mind that most investors never hedge in their entire trading careers. Short-term fluctuation is something that the majority of investors do not worry with. Therefore, hedging can be pointless. Even if you choose not to hedge however, learning about the technique is a great way to understand the market a bit more. You will see large corporations and other large traders use this and may be confused at why they are acting this way. When you know more about hedging you can fully understand their strategies.

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Friday, 7 November 2008

100% Hedging Strategies

Hedging is defined as holding two or more positions at the same time, where the purpose is to offset the losses in the first position by the gains received from the other position.

Usual hedging is to open a position for a currency A, then opening a reverse for this position on the same currency A. This type of hedging protects the trader from getting a margin call, as the second position will gain if the first loses, and vice versa.

However, traders developed more hedging techniques in order to try to benefit form forex hedging and make profits instead of just to offset losses.

In this page, we will discuss, some of the hedging techniques.
1. 100% Hedging.

This technique is the safest ever, and the most profitable of all hedging techniques while keeping minimal risks. This technique uses the arbitrage of interest rates (roll over rates) between brokers. In this type of hedging you will need to use two brokers. One broker which pays or charges interest at end of day, and the other should not charge or pay interest. However, in such cases the trader should try to maximize your profits, or in other words to benefit the utmost of this type of hedging.

The main idea about this type of hedging is to open a position of currency X at a broker which will pay you a high interest for every night the position is carried, and to open a reverse of that position for the same currency X with the broker that does not charge interest for carrying the trade. This way you will gain the interest or rollover that is credited to your account.

However there are many factors that you should take into consideration.

a. The currency to use. The best pair to use is the GBPJPY, because at the time of writing this article, the interest credited to your account will be 24 usd for every 1 regular long lot you have. However you should check with your broker because each broker credits a different amount. The range can be from $10 to $26.

b. The interest free broker. This is the hardest part. Before you open your account with such a broker, you should check the following: i. Does the broker allow opening the position for an unlimited time? ii. Does the broker charge commissions?

Some brokers charge $5 flat every night for each lot held, this is a good thing, although it seems not. Because, when the broker charges you money for keeping your position, the your broker will likely let you hold your position indefinitely.

c. Equity of your account. Hedging requires lots of money. For example, if you want to use the GBPJPY, you will need 20,000USD in each account. This is very necessary because the max monthly range for GBPJPY in the last few years was 2000 pips. You do not want one of your accounts to get a margin call. Do not forget that when you open your 2 positions at the 2 brokers, you will pay the spread, which is around 16 pips together. If you are using 1 regular lot, then this is around 145 usd. So you will enter the trades, losing 145 usd. So you will need the first 6 days just to cover the spread cost. Thus if you get a margin call again, you will need to close your other position, and then transfer money to your other account, and then re-open the positions. Every time this happens, you will lose 145 usd!

It is very important not to get a margin call. This can be maintained by a large equity, or a fast efficient way to transfer money between brokers.

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Is There Such A Thing As Hedging In The Forex Market

Just like hedging your bet at the horse track you can hedge your trading in the Forex Market.

What is the Forex Market: The Forex and the stock market have some similarities, in that it involves buying and selling to make a profit, but there are some differences. Unlike the stock market, the Forex has a higher liquidity. This means, a lot more money is changing hands everyday. Another key difference when comparing the Forex to the stock market is that the Forex has no place where it is exchanged and it never closes. The Forex involved trading between banks and brokers all over the world and provides twenty-four hour access during the business week.

For those who are not familiar with the Forex market, the word "hedging" could mean absolutely nothing. However, those who are regular traders know that there are many ways to use this term in trading. Most of the time when you hear this phrase it means that you are trying to reduce your risk in trading. It is something that everyone who plans to invest should know about. It is a technique that can protect your investments to some degree.

While hedging is a popular trading term, it is also one that seems a little mysterious. It is much like an insurance plan. When you hedge, you insure yourself in case a negative event may occur. This does not mean that when a negative event occurs you will come out of it completely unaffected. It only means that if you properly hedge yourself, you won't experience a huge impact. Think of it like your auto insurance. You purchase it in case something bad happens. It does not prevent bad things from happening, but if they do, you are able to recover a lot better than if you were uninsured.

Anyone who is involved in trading can learn to Forex hedge. From huge corporations to small individual investors, hedging is something that is widely practiced. The manner in which they do this involves using market instruments to offset the risk of any negative movement in price. The easiest way to do this is to hedge an investment with another investment. For example, the way most people would deal with this is to invest in two different things with negative correlations. This is still costly to some people; however, the protection you get from doing this is well worth the cost most of the time. When you begin learning more about hedging, you start to understand why not many people completely know what it is all about. The techniques used to hedge are done by using derivatives. These are complicated instruments of finance and most often only used by seasoned investors.

When you decide to hedge, you must remember that it comes with a cost. You should always be sure that the benefits you get from a hedge should be more than enough to make it worth your while. You should make sure the expense is justified. If it is not, then you should not hedge. The goal of hedging is not to make money. You will not make large gains by hedging yourself. You have to take some risks in order to gain. Hedging is intended to be used to protect your losses. The loss cannot be avoided, but the hedge can offer a little comfort. However, even if nothing negative happens, you will still have to pay for the hedge. Unlike insurance, you are never compensated for your hedge. Things can go wrong with hedging and it may not always protect you as you think it will.

Keep in mind that most investors never hedge in their entire trading careers. Short-term fluctuation is something that the majority of investors do not worry with. Therefore, hedging can be pointless. Even if you choose not to hedge however, learning about the technique is a great way to understand the market a bit more. You will see large corporations and other large traders use this and may be confused at why they are acting this way. When you know more about hedging you can fully understand their strategies.

Whether you decide to use hedging to your advantage or not, you will benefit from learning more about it. You can use it like an insurance policy when trading. You should remember however that hedging can be costly. Always check to make sure the costs of hedging will not run against any profits you may or may not make. Be sure those costs are realistic and that your need for hedging is realistic as well. You will be able to use hedging to help cut your potential losses, however hedging will never guard against the negatives altogether. Learning about it will give you a better understanding at how large traders work the system however, which can in turn make you a better player in the trading game.
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Thursday, 6 November 2008

Hedging – What is It, and It’s Uses in Risk Management

Before I discuss the use of hedging to off-set risk, we need to understand the role and the purpose of hedging. The history of modern futures trading begins in Chicago in the early 1800’s. Chicago is located at the base of the Great Lakes, close to the farmlands and cattle country of the U.S. Midwest making it a natural center for transportation, distribution and trading of agricultural produce. Gluts and shortages of these products caused chaotic fluctuations in price. This led to the development of a market enabling grain merchants, processors, and agriculture companies to trade in contracts to insulate them from the risk of adverse price change and enable them to hedge.

The first commodity exchange was the creation of the Chicago Board of Trade, CBOT in 1848. Since then, modern derivative products have grown to include more than the agricultural industry. Products include Stock Indices, Interest Rates, Currency, Precious Metals, Oil and Gas, Steel and a host of others. The origins of the commodity and futures exchange was created to support hedging. The role of speculators is beneficial as they add trading volume and important volatility to what would otherwise be a small and illiquid market place.

A bona-fide hedger is someone with an actual product to buy or sell. The hedger establishes an off-setting position on the futures or commodity exchange, thereby instituting a set price for his product. Someone buying a hedge is known as being “Long” or “Taking Delivery”. Someone selling a hedge is known as being “Short” or “Making Delivery”. These positions known as “Contracts” are legally binding and enforced by the exchange.

Entering your trades either for speculation or hedging is done through your broker. Commodity Trading Advisor, Genuine Trading Solutions President Dwayne Strocen, states that “Commodity and Futures exchanges are distinct from Stock Exchanges, although they operate using the same principals. They are regulated by different agencies such as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission who are responsible for regulation of retail brokers in the USA as well as Commodity Trading Advisors such as us.”

Now let’s view some real life examples of hedging or mitigation of risk by using exchange traded derivatives.

Example 1: A mutual fund manager has a portfolio valued at $10 million closely resembling the S&P 500 index. The Portfolio Manager believes the economy is worsening with deteriorating corporate returns. The next two to three weeks are reports of quarterly corporate earnings. Until the report exposes which companies have poor earnings, he is concerned of the results from a short term general market correction. Without the privilege of foresight, he is unsure of the magnitude the earnings figures will produce. He now has an exposure to Market Risk.

The manager thinks of his options. The greatest risk is to do nothing, if the market falls as expected, he risks giving up all recent gains. If he sells his portfolio early, he also risks being wrong and missing further rally’s. Selling also incurs substantial brokerage fees with additional fees to buy back again later.

Then he realizes a hedge is the best option to mitigate his short term risk. He begins by calling his CTA (Commodity Trading Advisor) and after consultation places an order to sell short the equivalent of $10 million of the S&P 500 index on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange “CME”. Now his result is when the market falls as expected, he will off-set any losses in the portfolio with gains from the Index hedge. Should the earnings report be better than expected, and his portfolio continues upward, he will continue making profits.

Two weeks later the fund manager calls his CTA and closes the hedge by buying back the equivalent number of contracts on the CME. Regardless of the resulting market events, the mutual fund manager was protected during the period of short term volatility. There was no risk to the portfolio.

Example 2: An electronics firm ABC has recently signed an order to deliver $5 million in electronic components of next years model to an overseas retailer located in Europe. These components will be built in 6 months for delivery two months after that. ABC instantly realizes they are exposed to two risks.
1. the rising and volatile price of copper in 6 months may result in losses to the firm.
2. the fluctuation in the currency could easily add to those losses.
ABC being a young firm cannot absorb these losses in view of the highly competitive market from others in the field. Losses from this order would result in lay-offs and possibly plant closures.

ABC telephones their CTA and after consultation places an order for two hedges, both for an expiry in 8 months, the date of delivery.

Hedge #1 is to buy long $5 million of copper effectively locking in today’s price against further price increases. ABC has now eliminated all price risk. The risk of plant closures is greater than the lure of increased profit should copper price fall. After all, ABC is not in the business of speculating on copper prices.

Hedge #2 is to sell short the equivalent of Euro Currency vs US Dollars. Since ABC is effectively accepting EC in payment, a rising US dollar and a weak EC would be detrimental and erode profits further. The result of the hedge is no risk and no surprises to ABC in either copper or currency levels. A risk free transaction and full transparency is the result. In 8 months with the order completed and the customer accepting delivery, ABC notifies the CTA to close the hedge by selling the copper and buying back the Euro Currency contacts.

Many examples exist to demonstrate the mitigation of risk to an institution or financial portfolio. Dwayne Strocen states that new products are constantly created and available on both over-the counter and exchange traded markets. If would be wise to consult with a qualified Commodity Trading Advisor or broker to discuss the analysis for an on-going risk management solution or a one time only hedge.

Trading

The Foreign Exchange currency market is known as FX. It is the simultaneous buying of one currency and selling another, currencies are traded and exchanged in pairs. Traders are all unified on one goal, making profit. Profits are produced when the prices move in the trader direction.

In the past, Forex markets were accessed only by larger financial institutes, investment banks, large multinational companies, global money managers, international currency dealers, and liquidity providers. Lately, online trading is offering trading platforms for each individual who wants to trade currencies in order to gain profit.

How Many Kinds of Main Strategies are There in Forex Trading?

There may be dozens of strategies in Forex trading. Let's just talk about the roots.

Nature Of Market:

Every thing in the universe has its NATURE. So is Forex market. So is every currencies pair in this market. For example, GBP/JPY always moves faster, and its wave range is longer than other pairs, such as a hundred pips during a day or even a hour. EUR/GBP generally waves narrowly several pips only within a day. For American, EUR/USD and GBP/USD like to sleep in day and dance at night. AUD/USD and NZD/USD look like twin, they commonly act in the same style, if one of they goes north, another one does not like to go south. But EUR/USD and USD/CHF are doomed to be enemy, while one of them flies up like a hydrogen balloon, the counterpart mostly will drop like a lead ball. And so on, so on.

Once we find this kind of "Nature of Market", we can develop and figure out some strategies for particular currencies pairs, just follow their nature, predict their moving direction and range. Then we will get our own trading strategy and system.

Fundamental Trading:

In Forex market, many professional analysts like to use a kind of method to predict the future. It is so-called "Fundamental Analysis". Based on this method, they develop many kinds of strategies to trade Forex. These are strategies of forecasting the future price movements of currencies based on economic, political, environmental and other relevant factors and statistics that will affect the basic supply and demand of whatever underlies the foreign currencies.

If you like to try Fundamental Trading, you need learn and understand a lot of finance knowledge. Actually, not only finance knowledge, you need to be interested at many things of this world, including politics, economy, geography, culture, diplomacy, even military affairs. And you need to study the core underlying elements that influence the economy of a particular entity. For example, when the USA's GDP or employment report is strong, you begin to get a fairly clear picture: the general health of America's economy is good. So the US dollar should be stronger than other currencies. But how far can the US dollar go? Fundamental Trading may not answer this question very accurately. You may need to come up with other precise tools as to how best to translate this information into entry and exit points for a particular trading strategy.

Hedge:

In finance, a hedge is an investment that is taken out specifically to reduce the risk in another investment. Hedging is a strategy designed to minimize exposure to an unwanted business risk, while still allowing the business to profit from an investment activity.

In FOREX, there are two kinds of similar "hedging" strategies:

1, Buy and Sell the same currencies pair, same lots, same timing. Then let it go. While one of those orders goes north, the counterpart will go south. After the winner takes profit, we can wait for the loser turning around. In a yo-yo market, this method works well.

For example, buy 2 lots GBP/USD at 2.0003, at the same time sell 2 lots GBP/USD at 1.9997. While the rate rises up to 2.0053, we close the buy order and take profit 50 pips. Now, the sell order will draw down around 50 pips. Let's wait for the rate falling down, it will fall down usually, especially in yo-yo market environment. If the rate drops down to 2.0037, close the sell order, the sell order will lose 40 pips. Does it hurt? No. Don't forget the 50 pips we have taken at the buy order. Totally, we can get 50-40=10 pips. Furthermore, if the rate keeps falling, let's say down to 2.0027, we can take 50-30=20 pips, etc.

Some people would doubt it... doesn't this "strategy" sound like hedging flat for nothing, just paying double spread? Why bother? Well, they are right, because we forgot mentioning the key point: timing of closing orders. When to close the winning order to set a foundation and when to close the losing order to lock the profit, there are some tricks inside. Experienced traders use technical analysis skills to decide this vital timing. Believe it or not, those experienced traders say that this method helps them screening false signals out.

This kind of "Yo-Yo Hedge" can work at any currencies pair.

2, Buy (or sell) unequal lots of special currencies pairs and buy unequal quantities of another kinds of currencies pairs which usually move in the opposite direction. This seems a "Semi-Hedge" trading strategy. It is created based on "Correlation" between some particular currencies pairs. So it is not suitable for every currencies pair.

Actually, this kind of hedge has another feature: earning SWAP! You earn interest daily on the held position which can yield up to 50% per year of your full account balance.

There are several pairs can do it. Such as EUR/USD Vs. USD /CHF, GBP/USD Vs. USD/CHF, AUD/USD Vs. NZD/USD, EUR/JPY Vs. CHF/JPY, GBP/JPY Vs. CHF/JPY.

Let's take the EUR/USD and the CHF/USD pairs.

These pairs are historically negatively correlative 93-98% of the time. That is when one pair goes up the other goes down, and vice versa, up to 98% of the time. In a high leverage account (as high as 400:1 or 500:1), you could earn 50% SWAP interest in a year. How? Let's say you have $5,000 in your account and a 10% risk margin set. If the net interest we receive is 1.25% annually, this 1.25% interest will be enlarged to 50% per annum, by the 400:1 leverage.

And, this return does not include the buy low/sell high profits.

But, if the base of this kind of hedge collapses, it means the "Correlation" does not exist any more, for example the "Correlation" drops under 50% or lower, there will be a disaster.

ForexGen.com is an online trading service provider supplying a unique and individualized service to Forex traders worldwide. We are dedicated to absolutely provide the best online trading services in the Forex market.

ForexGen provides a unique online trading experience based on our intelligent online Forex trading package, the ForexGen Trading Station, including the best online trading system.

ForexGen serves both private and institutional clients. We have a strong commitment to maintain a long term relationship with our clients.

Tuesday, 4 November 2008

Forex Hedging System

In the forex trading world, it pays a lot to be a risk taker. Huge amount of profit could be gained if a trader is not afraid to take risks in betting, for a big chunk of the forex trading market revolves around gambling and being good at it.

However, in gambling, you either win or lose. If you win, then awesome! But if you lose, then you could just try your luck on a new trade or just walk away feeling sorry for yourself. Now, this could be avoided with the use of forex trading software that analyzes the risks in trading with utter precision.

Examples of this type of software are Forex Tracer and Forex Brotherhood. This type of software uses a forex hedging system that provides an analysis of the forex market and the probable risks in doing a transaction before actually trading; therefore, eliminating the possibility of losing a huge amount of money in unsure trades.

With the use of a forex hedging system, no matter which direction the market moves, the trader could be sure to gain profit. In this process, the trader safely bets on two opposing positions at the same time.

This way, one position will gain profit and the other will lose some as predetermined by the automated forex software. Yes, the profit could be relatively small than what you could have had if you won the trade, but you definitely saved your self from danger of losing a great sum of hard-earned money.

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