Beginner Trading Course

The foreign exchange market is the world's largest financial market, with a daily turnover of up to $5 trillion. As the main currency exchange mechanism, the foreign exchange market not only provides basic services for global business and trade, but also provides a variety of trading opportunities for those who want to invest in the foreign exchange market. Foreign exchange traders can buy or sell different currencies 24 hours a day, five days a week, and speculate on global currency flows and market fluctuations by using leverage (increasing nominal trading volume).

– This is a global market and all the quotes you see are the relative value of one country’s currency to another country’s currency
– Global economic and political events drive these markets, which in turn affect the relative value of the currencies of the countries involved, which in turn changes the value of the currency pairs.

– A distributed market means that unlike the stock market, the Forex market does not have a centralized exchange.
– Instead, financial centers around the world form a large 24-hour trading network that brings together different types of buyers and sellers, closing only on weekends.

– The foreign exchange market is not controlled by any central authority, and there is no clearing house to guarantee transactions.
– Brokers and traders negotiate transactions directly between each other through electronic networks.
– This market where traders negotiate prices between each other is called "over-the-counter trading".

For active traders, the Forex market is not much different from other trading markets, such as stocks, commodities, or fixed income markets. The Forex market is also a place for buyers and sellers to trade, but the commodities bought and sold are currency pairs. Currency pairs can be EUR/USD, USD/JPY, GBP/USD, EUR/GBP, or a combination of many different currencies. Different currency combinations represent the value of one currency against another, and this relationship is expressed by a price. In the Forex market, the price of a currency pair is actually the market's expected value of one currency measured in another currency, taking into account the current economic and political situation and expectations of the two countries. From the perspective of stocks, the price mechanism of currency pairs is similar to that of stock prices.
Different currency combinations represent the value of one currency against another, and this relationship is expressed by a price. In the Forex market, the price of a currency pair is actually the market's expected value of one currency measured in another currency, taking into account the current economic and political situation and expectations of the two countries. From the perspective of stocks, the price mechanism of currency pairs is similar to that of stock prices.

While the stock market has a daily trading volume of about billions of dollars, the foreign exchange market has a daily trading volume of up to $5 trillion. Participants in the foreign exchange market include large banks, hedge funds and other financial institutions, global corporations, and individual traders. Most foreign exchange transactions are the result of currency exchanges involved in daily global trade. The huge daily trading volume in the foreign exchange market provides endless trading opportunities and also allows traders to make more diversified investments through the global foreign exchange market.
What factors play a key role in foreign exchange trading? How does it compare with stocks? Let's use an example to illustrate. Suppose a country's inflation rate or bank interest rate is low and stable, its economic output growth is strong, and its politics are very stable. One would expect that the country's currency would remain strong relative to another country's currency with weaker fundamentals.
Let's use the example of stocks for comparison. Suppose the domestic and global economies are strong, inflation is not severe, market competition has not undermined the market share of the company's products, product demand is stable, and workers are productive, then you would expect the company's stock to remain strong relative to other companies with weaker fundamentals.
Similar to stocks, the short-term trend of foreign exchange currency pairs will be affected by a number of other factors, including technical analysis, short-term supply and demand, seasonal capital flow patterns, current prices, etc. These factors are generally in dynamic change, causing currency prices to rise or fall in real time.

Step 1: Apply for a real account We offer trading in a variety of global financial products. You only need to fill out an account application online and upload the required documents. We will review your application and email your trading account information to you in the shortest possible time.
Apply for a real account now
Step 2: Deposit funds
After your real account is successfully opened, you can deposit funds to start your first transaction. Depositing funds is very convenient and can be done by logging into the customer center. On the website, you can choose to deposit funds using credit/debit cards, bank wire transfers, and other e-wallet methods. After the deposited funds arrive, you are ready to start your first transaction.
Deposit funds now
Step 3: Start trading
Now that your trading account has been successfully opened and funded, you are ready to start your first transaction. The following are some things to pay attention to before you start trading. Please remember: Never trade when you are unsure. Every new transaction means new risks. Make sure you are fully prepared before clicking to open a position.

1. Understand the market Know what you want to trade and when to trade.
2. Understand the operation of the trading platform - Before making your first trade, you need to be familiar with the operation of the trading platform
3. Start your trade - After you are familiar with the operation of the platform, you can start your first trade.

We have introduced you to the participants in the foreign exchange market. Now we will continue to introduce you to the common reasons for market price changes.

Remember that the main market participants contribute the vast majority of liquidity in the market. At the same time, it is the flow of money from one currency to another that causes price fluctuations and turns into market trends. The actual reason for the flow of money may be related to real speculative demand, such as hedging for protection purposes or the need to purchase assets, but people's expectations also account for a large part, that is, the expectation of changes in the flow of money in the market.

GDP (gross domestic product), inflation, interest rates, budget and trade surplus/deficit changes, and other changes in macroeconomic conditions can cause market participants to have expectations of changes in fund flows.

News events that may cause volatility

– Gross domestic product (GDP)
– Interest rates
– Employment/unemployment status
– Trade surplus/deficit
– Force majeure events

Non-farm payrolls and unemployment rate

The most watched news in the market is the US non-farm payrolls and unemployment rate, and the release of this data may bring a lot of volatility to the market. Watch the webinar below to learn more about why this is an important news event.

So how do we keep an eye on these potential market movers? While we can’t predict the world, we can monitor which important news releases are coming up in the coming days, weeks or months by using an economic calendar.

An economic calendar lists news and events that are publicly released in a particular country, meaning that people around the world can learn about the same news at the same time. While this is a major benefit for retail traders like us, it’s good to realise that banks have a major advantage too – they can see where money is flowing to (and from) by looking at their clients’ order flow.

For active traders, the Forex market is not much different from other trading markets, such as stocks, commodities, or fixed income markets. The Forex market is also a place for buyers and sellers to trade, but the commodities bought and sold are currency pairs. Currency pairs can be EUR/USD, USD/JPY, GBP/USD, EUR/GBP, or a combination of many different currencies. Different currency combinations represent the value of one currency against another, and this relationship is expressed by a price. In the Forex market, the price of a currency pair is actually the market's expected value of one currency measured in another currency, taking into account the current economic and political situation and expectations of the two countries. From the perspective of stocks, the price mechanism of currency pairs is similar to that of stock prices.

Different currency combinations represent the value of one currency against another, and this relationship is expressed by a price. In the Forex market, the price of a currency pair is actually the market's expected value of one currency measured in another currency, taking into account the current economic and political situation and expectations of the two countries. From the perspective of stocks, the price mechanism of currency pairs is similar to that of stock prices.

Market sentiment can be used by both long-term and short-term traders. For long-term traders, they prefer to observe the trend of data over a period of weeks or months and compare it with the price of the relevant currency pair.

News trading is a very popular way of trading forex. This group of traders focuses on trading before and after news releases. As mentioned above, real data that deviates from market expectations can cause large market fluctuations.

This is the third way to trade, which is to use the same filter to filter out high impact news and make sure to avoid trading during these news periods. This method is more suitable for traders who use the 1 hour, 4 hour or daily chart to set up trades (or very long term traders).

The most significant benefit of trading CFDs is that you can use up to 100 times leverage, which means you can open larger transactions with lower starting capital and relatively small transaction costs. It should be noted that although leverage can magnify profits, it can also magnify losses, so when trading CFDs with leverage, you need to adopt appropriate risk management strategies. CFDs also support two-way trading, whether it is a bear market or a bull market, you can buy and sell freely, and GF will not charge any commissions or financing fees throughout the process. Trade all products on one account and take full advantage of the multiple trading opportunities GF provides you.