HOW IT WORKS

Retail forex trading is the buying and selling of currency through an online broker in the foreign exchange market. It's called "retail" because it's done by individual traders and investors rather than institutions or banks. Forex trading is popular because it offers the potential for high returns and the market is open 24 hours a day, five days a week.

To trade forex, traders use a trading platform provided by a broker. The platform displays live currency prices and allows traders to place orders to buy or sell currency. Traders can trade major currency pairs such as EUR/USD, GBP/USD and USD/JPY, as well as exotic currency pairs that include currency from emerging markets.

Forex trading involves speculating on the direction in which currency prices will move. Traders can make a profit if they buy a currency pair and its price increases, or if they sell a currency pair and its price decreases. However, forex trading also involves risks, and traders can lose money if they make incorrect predictions or if the market moves against them.

Successful forex trading requires knowledge and skill, as well as a trading strategy and risk management plan. Traders can use technical and fundamental analysis to make trading decisions, and they can employ various trading strategies such as scalping, day trading or swing trading.

A trading platform is a software application that allows traders to access financial markets and execute trades. These platforms usually provide real-time market data, charting and technical analysis tools, and a range of order types that traders can use to enter and exit trading positions.

MetaTrader and JForex are very popular examples of trading platforms used by forex brokers and some spread-betting account providers. MetaTrader is a popular platform developed by MetaQuotes Software that offers advanced charting capabilities, as well as the ability to use automated trading strategies known as Expert Advisors (EAs). JForex is a platform developed by Dukascopy Bank that offers similar functionality to MetaTrader and in some ways can be considered a more professional platform but this is very subjective.

Fixedpips works by using its own software Plug-in within MetaTrader or JForex. Plug-ins are software components that add to a trading platform and extend its functionality.

MetaTrader and JForex both support the use of plug-ins natively within their architecture and we have developed our own custom plug-in that allows us to open and close trades within our customers' trading accounts by sending trading instructions to our plug-in software over the internet.

A trading account provider or 'broker' is a financial intermediary that connects buyers and sellers in financial markets. In the context of forex trading, a broker is a company that provides traders with access to the forex market, usually through an online trading platform such as MetaTrader or JForex. Brokers can earn revenue through commissions, spreads, or a combination of both. They may also offer additional services such as market analysis, trading education, and customer support.

A spread-betting account provider is a company that offers spread-betting accounts to traders. Spread betting is a form of derivatives trading that allows traders to speculate on the direction of financial markets without owning the underlying assets. Spread-betting account providers offer traders the ability to place bets on a range of financial instruments, including currency, stocks, and commodities, with the potential to profit from both rising and falling markets.

Trading margin refers to the amount of collateral that a trader needs to deposit in order to open a trading position with their trading account provider. Margin trading allows traders to control a larger position than they would be able to with their own capital alone, by effectively 'borrowing' funds from the trading account provider to use in the markets. The amount of margin required will depend on the size of the trading position, as well as the leverage offered by your account provider. Leverage allows traders to control a larger position with a smaller amount of capital, but this also increases the risk of losses.

Margin requirements are typically expressed as a percentage of the total value of the trading position. For example, if a trader wants to open a position worth $10,000 and the margin requirement is 1%, they would need to deposit $100 as collateral. If the value of the position increases, the trader will earn a profit, but if it decreases, they will incur a loss.

The bid-ask spread on a currency pair is the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay (the bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept (the ask). In other words, it is the cost of trading a currency pair and represents the profit margin of the market maker or broker facilitating the trade. The bid-ask spread can vary depending on market conditions, liquidity, and other factors, and traders need to take it into account when buying or selling a currency pair to minimize their transaction costs.

In summary, a broker (or trading account provider) is a financial intermediary that connects buyers and sellers in financial markets, a spread-betting account provider offers traders the ability to place bets on financial instruments without owning the underlying assets. Trading margin refers to the amount of collateral that a trader needs to deposit with their trading account provider in order to open a trading position and the Bid-Ask spread is the different prices that you can buy and sell a currenct pair at and the difference between the two is what the trading account provider makes as a profit for facilatating the trade.

Manual trading or day trading involves making trading decisions based on your analysis of market data, which can be a time-consuming and stressful process. While it's possible to make profits through manual trading, there are several reasons why it can also lead to losses.

One reason is that manual trading is prone to human error. Traders may make mistakes in their analysis of market data, or they may make emotional decisions that go against their trading strategy. Fear, greed and other emotions can also cloud a trader's judgement, leading to poor decision-making and ultimately, losses.

Another reason why manual trading can lead to losses is that the forex market is highly volatile and unpredictable. Currency prices can fluctuate rapidly in response to economic news or political events, and traders may not be able to stay focused or react quickly enough to these changes. This can result in losses if trades are not closed in time or if stop-loss orders are not managed correctly.

Manual trading also requires a significant amount of time and effort to be put in on a daily basis, which can lead to burnout or fatigue. Traders who are not well-rested or who are under stress may make poor decisions or miss important signals in the markets, which can lead to losses.

So while manual trading or day trading can be profitable, it also carries a high level of risk due to the emotional and psychological factors involved. Traders need to be disciplined, patient and well-rested in order to succeed in manual trading but let's face it, most people aren't these things - well, at least not all of the time and all it takes is a few bad trades and you will have lost a significant amount of your money. Please look up 'the risk of ruin' as a topic online for more information.

Using a successful automated trading product like Fixedpips is superior to manual trading for several reasons. Fixedpips use algorithms and software to make trading decisions, this eliminates human error and emotional bias from the trading process. This results in more consistent and profitable trading, as our systems analyse market data and execute trades much faster and more efficiently than any human trader.

Fixedpips also operates without getting tired, stressed or distracted. It makes low-risk, calculated trades on your behalf throughout the most liquid parts of the trading day to earn you consistent monthly returns based on your service plan.

In addition, Fixedpips uses advanced risk management techniques, stop-loss orders and position sizing to manage risk and protect your trading capital. These techniques are applied consistently and automatically, which reduces the risk of loss which human error introduces and improves the overall returns of trading.

As mentioned previously, we can not give specific recommendations on which trading account provider or trading platform you should use with our service for both legal and practical reasons. However, we can provide some general guidelines and suggestions and links to useful information on these topics.

Links to the official websites for MetaTrader and JForex are shown below. These are the trading platforms that are supported by Fixedpips and you will need to use a trading account provider that supplies one of these platforms if you wish to use our service.

Both of these platforms work very well and they are very popular with traders and as MetaTrader has been around for much longer, it has a much wider user base. We have no affiliation with either of these companies so it is completely up to you to decide which platform you would like to use with Fixedpips.

JForex is Java based so it runs natively on Windows, macOS or Linux operating systems. MetaTrader was originally developed as a Windows-only platform but in recent years it to has been ported over to macOS and Linux.

In our experience, JForex performs slightly better in terms of the way it receives tick data and it is what we use ourselves personally, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with MetaTrader and many more Trading account providers supply MetaTrader than supply JForex with their trading accounts (Dukascopy Bank developed JForex for their own business use, but they later also offered it to other trading account providers as a white label solution but it did not become anywhere near as popular as MetaTrader.)

MetaTrader 4 This is the official website for the MetaTrader 4 trading platform which is the most widely used version of this software. The website provides information on the platform and its features. Please note that if your trading account provider supports MetaTrader 4, you will need to download and install the platform from your trading account provider's website as they will likely have preconfigured the software for use with their service.

JForex 3 This is Dukascopy Banks' official website and they provide the JForex trading platform. You can also open a demo or live account from this page and it lists some details about the features of the platform.

In terms of Trading (Broker) or Spread-betting account providers, it really is very difficult for us to make any recommendations. There are so many of them out there and they all have their own strengths and weaknesses. We have no affiliation with any of them and we do not receive any commission or any other payment from them for recommending their products or services or for you using their product with our service.

As well as the potential legal implications of us making any recommendations, it is the sheer number of factors to consider that makes it impossible for us to advise you on this, for example, where are you based? what are the local laws in terms of forex trading or spread-betting and are there any special rules or regulations specific to your location or situation?

There is also the costs and fees that may be charged by an account provider to consider, as well as how well they will execute trade instructions and how large (or not) their bid-ask spreads are on the EUR/USD currency pair during peak market hours, etc...

If you don't already have a trading account provider, we suggest that you use a popular search engine to search for the 'best broker or spread-betting account providers' in your location - and then read the reviews and comments within the results you get back. You can also use a search engine to search for the 'best forex trading platform' or 'JForex vs MetaTrader' and then read the reviews and comments on the results that you get back. This may sound 'wishy-washy' but it's what we did and what we would do ourselves if we were looking for such information.

Please also note that to add to the complexity surrounding trading account providers, some trading account providers may not accept clients from North America or other countries or jurisdictions due to regulations or requirements from those countries for foreign financial institutions to report on the accounts and activities of the citizens of these countries.

This adds a lot of extra cost and complexity to these account providers' businesses, so a lot of account providers outside of these countries find it easier to just not accept any customers from these locations so that they can avoid the extra costs and work involved in accepting clients from locations where these laws are in place.

This is a very complex area and it is not something that we are experts on or able to give any advice about. This is another part of the reason why we do not give any official advice or guidance. If you have any questions or concerns about using any of the services you are considering using with Fixedpips then we suggest that you should contact your local government department which deals with such issues and ask them for any clarification or information you may need.

This may all sound very complicated and confusing, but please keep in mind that these rules and regulations are aimed more at trading account providers rather than their customers, so all you really need to be concerned with is selecting a provider that is compliant with the laws in your location and that offers you the best service at the lowest cost possible.

UTC time, or Coordinated Universal Time, is a standard timekeeping system used as a reference time across the world. It is based on the precise measurement of atomic clocks and is adjusted periodically to account for the Earth's rotation.

UTC is used as a basis for civil time in most countries, and it is the primary time standard used by the international aviation industry, the military, and many scientific and commercial organisations. In simple terms, UTC is a globally recognised time standard that ensures time is consistent and accurate, regardless of where you are in the world.

UTC and GMT time are also very similar and they are sometimes referred to interchangably, but as GMT is based on the earths rotation whereas UTC is based on the international atomic time scale, UTC is slightly more accurate although the difference between the two is usually only a few seconds, however, in trading and with automated trading systems, a few seconds matter so we always use UTC within Fixedpips and our software.

BabyPips is a great resource for new traders looking to learn about forex trading. The site offers free educational resources, including courses, articles, and a forum where traders can interact with each other and ask questions.

Forex Trading is explained within this Investopedia acticle. Investopedia is a reputable and authoritative website that contains lots of useful information on trading, investing and related topics.

Spread Betting is explained within this Investopedia acticle. Investopedia is a reputable and authoritative website that contains lots of useful information on trading, investing and related topics.

The above links direct to third-party organisations that are not affiliated with Fixedpips in any way and that we have no control over. There are many other sources of similar information available on the internet and you are welcome to use them rather than the above to learn more about online trading and spread-betting.