Choosing A Forex BrokerWritten by Geoff Turnbull
With currency trading becoming ever more popular, number of brokers is growing at a rapid rate. What should one look at when deciding which broker to open an account with? These are important points to consider.Spread Because currencies, unlike futures and stocks, are not traded through a central exchange, spread can be different depending on broker you use, so it's well worth checking a few out before you open an account. Most forex brokers publish live or delayed prices on their websites so you can compare spreads, but check if spread is fixed or variable. A fixed spread means exactly that - it will always be same no matter what time of day or night it is. Some brokers use a variable spread, which might appear to be nice and small when market is quiet, but when things get busy they can widen spread which means market must move more in your favor before you start to make a profit. Fixed spreads are generally slightly wider than variable spreads are when at their narrowest, but over long term fixed can be safer. Execution Some brokers will show live prices on their trading platform, but will they honor them when it comes to pushing Buy or Sell button? The best way to find out is to open a demo account and give them a test drive. This will also give you opportunity to see what speed of execution is like - when you want to buy, you want to buy now, not sit around waiting for ten minutes whilst your order is confirmed! Trading Platform Good trading software will show live prices that you can actually trade at, not just indicative quotes. It will offer Limit and Stop orders, and ideally will let you attach these to your entry order. One-Cancels-Other orders are another useful feature - they mean you can set up your trade and then leave software to get on with it. And most important feature of all - can you actually understand platform? Having all bells and whistles is of no use if you can't use them, so again, get a demo account and give it a go.
| | The Credit Card DiseaseWritten by Jim Noel
The little disease that comes with those credit cards. Oh yes, we all get it in mail, all those offers to get a credit card. So tempting 0% financing for a year, no payment for 3 months, $10,000 credit line, and most dangerous, YOU ARE APPROVED! We have all had a credit card in our possession at one time or another. Whether it is a department store, or gas card, or most dangerous of all MasterCard or Visa! Good at most places in world. Let’s talk about MC/Visa cards for a moment. These you can use everywhere, even at McDonalds. These cards tempt you with there low rates, big credit lines, and ease of applying for one of these. Now why do I call credit cards a disease? Well you begin paying for that dinner out on town, next thing you are doing is picking up a few items at your local Wal-Mart or other discount store. You get bill in mail and you pay it off. Next month you put a little bit more on it, when bill comes you pay it in full. Well this goes on for a few months, and you think, I am in control of this situation. WRONG! Before you know it you are charging bigger ticket items, then you have that little problem with car, and you use your MC/Visa to pay for it. The month is coming to an end and you are running low on cash. Well you figure I just need a few groceries, so I will just put them on ole charge card. Well bill for that month arrives and your hair stands up on end because balance is a lot higher than you thought. What now, I don’t have money to pay it in full, so I will pay half of it. The cycle of spending on credit card goes again for next month. Sure you try to keep it down, but when bill comes again you have sticker shock! And now you have that balance starting to climb, and again you cannot pay whole bill in full. As months go buy ole credit card keeps getting used.
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