Japanese currency are becoming more interesting for carry traders, while forex experts estimate a set-back over the next months.

Yen as a carry trade

During much of the beginning of the century, yen was the main carry trade currency among international forex investors and traders. This mean it was sold by investors because its yield was so negligible, and the proceeds were invested in higher yielding currencies, such as Australian dollar (AUD) or Sterling (£). However, in the middle of the financial crisis, the yen was displaced by the US dollar, in the light of the slashed American interest rates.

Shift in lending rates

It’s now cheaper to borrow money in Yen then Läs resten av Yen attract carry traders again »

The Krona have started to appreciate considerible against the Euro and other currencies lately. Many currency traders now belive it’s time to add the krona to their portfolios. At least as long the Euro is under pressure.

Swedish Krona – from loser to winner

Last quater, the krona was the worst performing major European currency. The link to Baltic banks and quickly increasing unemployment
rate was part of the problems. Now, it’s gone to the regions leading currency instead.

The reasons behind are a few. To start with, Sweden’s budget deficit are shrinking while most other countries deficit are growing. Läs resten av Swedish Krona – A Safe Currency »

Are you into comparing various forex brokers and their trading platforms? We found a good site doing the job, ForexTradingPlatforms.net.

What’s required in your forex trading platform?

We have never seen a forex page with so detailed reviews about how the forex sites look like. Here, Läs resten av Latest Reviews of Forex Trading Platforms »

Many European Investors believe the Euro crisis are about to spread to Spain and Portugal, after Greece took a hard hit in the beginning of the month. The Euro have taken a hard hit and lost over 6 % against the Euro the last weeks. Are Europe just in the beginning of the crisis, while US are on their way out?

Spain deny lost budget control

“We have control of the ship, we have a plan,” said María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, Spain’s deputy premier. Earlier the same day, the prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, visited Washington
where he was confident about his home country: “Spain has a strong and solid financial system.”

Well, all are not as confident. Both Madrid and Lisbon ran up their budget deficits to dampen the effects of the economic crisis and partly because of Läs resten av Eurozone Crisis Spreads, USD Gains »

Indian authorities had enough. Now they are closing down another international foreign brokerage, Société Générale, from trading and operation in India. The reason being problems following the international laws that compel companies to provide complete information about overseas clients.

Soc Gen suspended from Indian financial markets

It was a clear decision from The Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI), regulator of the derivate och stock market in the country. If foreign brokerages should operate in India they better follow the rules, was the message from Indian authorities. Läs resten av Soc Gen Suspended From Trading In India »

Swedish Riksbanken speech insisted that Sweden’s rate is planned to remain flat until autumn 2010. Ingves pointed out the risk of a potential real estate bubble if the current interest rate levels remains for a long period.

He continues: “We believe that interest rates will be significantly higher in a few years from now”. In 2011, the interest rates will probably go up sharply, from less than 1% to 3%. At least if we are to believe the current forecast from the Swedish Riksbank.

Why was the Swedish interest rates unchanged?

Everything indicates that the recovery in the economy continues, while inflation pressures continue to be low.

With the Riksbank’s inflation target of 2 percent and to simultaneously support the economic recovery of the Riksbank decided to leave the repo rate unchanged at 0.25 percent. Läs resten av Swedish estimations for interest rates & currency during 2010 »

Wen Jiabao, Chinas premier minister, made it clear yesterday that China will not give in to US and European demands for the Yuan to strenghten. Beijing are becoming more defiant against foreign pressure regarding their currency policy.

“On the one hand, you are asking for the renminbi to appreciate; and for the other hand, you are taking all kinds of protectionist measures”, said Jiabao.

He find that by keeping the Yuan stable against the Dollar, China is contributing to the global recovery. Läs resten av China will not let its currency strenghten »

The last week have put a lot of focus on Greece and the Euro. Below are some possible outcomes of the crisis in Greece.

Increasing Budget deficit

How far can the statistics for Greece’s public finances be trusted? The Bank of Greece says the budget deficit in 2009 will be 12.7%. Two months ago the previous government said it would be 6.7%. The latest numbers reveal a debt level of 121 % higher then GDP. However, the true numbers might not be discovered
yet, in the highly corrupt country of Greece.

Even lower credit ratings

Both Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s have now lowered Greece credits ratings. Greece have now the lowest credit ratings in EU. But it’s still higher then many investors had expected. After the news of the adjusted credit ratings for Greece, the Euro fell 0,5 % against the dollar. Läs resten av Greece, a danger for the Euro and Eurozone? »

The Dollar ended the week with monthly records against its major six rivals, indicating a broad strenght of the US currency.

Major investors and forex analysts expect that recent stronger economic data will prompt FED to higher interest rates sooner the earlier expected.

Stronger data supports the US dollar

The recent series of stronger data are shifting to support the dollar. “At least from an interest-rates perspective,” said Mike Moran, senior forex strategist at Standard Chartered Bank in New York. Läs resten av Dollar Surges after Rate-Hike Assumptions »

About to choose a new forex broker? Then you should check out the newest and perhaps most detailed fx platform comparison site out there: ForexTradingPlatforms.net.

With a unusual and very professional webdesign, you can guess that a lot of time have been spent to make proper forex broker reviews. A lot of brokers are compared, such as Forex Yard and Ava Fx, covering a lot of dimensions of every forex trading platform. Which Läs resten av Which Forex Trading Platforms are best? »

Neonet, a Scandinavian company that offers execution services in equity trading, is now launching a new trading algorithm to conceal liquidity. The company is already well-known maker of systems for trading robots and algorithmic trading.

Dark algorithm – Popular among large trading firms?

Being able to trade shares and currency, without the trade can be seen on the market, is something that has become increasingly popular. The development of the European marketplace has driven the demand of the new generation of algorithms that can provide access to non-displayed (dark trading) liquidity in order entry.

Perfect for Läs resten av Neonet launching a new trading algorithm to conceal liquidity »

An important fundamental factor for online forex traders are the account balance for a country, strongly effecting foreign exchanges rates in the long term (6 months to 3 years).

What is Current Account Balance?

The account balance summarize the flow of goods, services, income and transfer payments into and out of a certain country.  It tracks the trade balance (exports and imports for goods and services), income payments (such as interest, dividends and salaries) and unilateral transfers (aid, taxes, and one-way gifts). Positive values indicates inflow of capital while negative values means that capital are leaving the country.

It is a record for how a countries economy interact with other regions. The balance is the total amount of money in a certain account, equal to the net of credits & debits at a defined time period. Countries strive to have a positive trade balance, or trade surplus, exporting more than importing.

Why is trade balance important for online forex traders?

Countries with positive trade balance require traders to buy the local currency, increasing the value against the other currency. On the other hand, an unfavourable current account balance is known as a trade deficit, which tend to lower the local currencies value against the major trading partners.

Below you find a table over countries with the best current account balance Läs resten av Best Current Account Balance (2007 vs 2008) »

Have you been thinking about going to some Forex Event, Forex Conference or Exhibition? Look no more. We have here collected all the best currency trading exibitions and conferences as we know of.

Forex Expos, Seminars, Conferences and Events in September, 2009

Forex Conference: FXpress User Group Conference
Date: Sept. 14-15
Location: Calyon International Bank, New York City
For more information: Visit https://portal.fxpress.com and click on “Events”. Here you have all availible information about this forex conference.

Forex Trade Show: 4th Annual Paris Trading Show
Date: Sept. 18-19
Location: Paris, France
For more information: Go to www.salonat.com..

Forex Conference: 4th Annual FIA and OIC New York Equity Options Conference
Date: Sept. 22-23
Location: New York Marriott Marquis
For more information: Go to www.futuresindustry.org and you will find all info you need.

Forex Expos, Seminars, Conferences and Events in October, 2009.

Forex Expo: : Melbourne Trading & Investing Expo
Date: Oct. 2-3
Location: Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre Läs resten av Forex Exhibitions and Conferences 2009-10 »

Forex Traders are worried Fridays release of the US unemployment rate was way worse then expected and now the US Dollar might face further decrease.

American Labor Department reported that the much higher unemployment rate could be due to lagging data. The non-farm payroll employment fell by 216 000 jobs in August, followed by a revised decrease of 276 000 jobs in July. The new numbers are indication that America is now facing a 9.7 % unemployment rate, the highest in 26 years. Financial analysts and currency traders did expect a 9.4 % unemployment rate in July.

Further pressure on US Dollar

However, it seems like the decrease have moderated the last months, even if some sectors still face continued job losses. Still, consumer confident might be lagging in the coming months. As a result of the unexpected numbers from USA, many online forex traders assume that the US Dollar will continue to suffer against the Euro and Yen.

Many investors  see online forex as an alternative when the equity and property market remain risky.
There are many reasons for this. Let us explain a few here:

• When the stock market are turbulent, investors seek alternative investments.
• It’s hard to predict the stock market at the moment.
• Newspapers write more about online forex and how currencies fluctuate.
• With currency trading, you are not dependent of a positive equity market.

What will you do in turmoil times, trade online forex?

As the stock markets are starting to take a dip again, investors are moving away from smaller and riskier markets and currencies.

Swedish krona are having a hard time

One of the currencies that had a hard hit is the Swedish Krona, falling 1.35 % yesterday. It’s expected to fall from Läs resten av Expect the dollar to strenghten »

The latest days of increased stock market indecies have weakened the US Dollar (USD) and strenghtened many of the smaller currencies, such as the Swedish Krona (SEK), British Pound (GBP) and the Franc (CHF). We do expect a falling stockmarket within short (1-2 weeks) and a falling risk aptite, Läs resten av Increased risk appetite weakens the dollar »

Interested in learning how to trade forex? We have some good news for you..

OnlineForex.net have now an exclusive agreement with Easy Forex where we can provide you access to an Ebook Beginners guide how to trade forex.

Friday the 20th will bring a lot of interesting data, that most likely will effect the direction of many currencies. The pound will be strongly effected by the GBP retail sales, while the USD will be dependent on numbers from the consumer confidence index. My bet is that the pound will drop, since the data will probably come in lower then expected.

Feb 20, 09:30 GMT – GBP Retail sales

GBP Retail sales with a forecast of: -0.1%; Previous: 1.6%

Fri Feb 20 – EUR stimulus package

Germany´s Bundesrat upper House of parliament votes on second stimulus package

Fri Feb 20 13:30 GMT – CPI in America

US Core CPI. Forecast: -0.1%; Previous: -0.7%

Feb 24 15:00 GMT USD – Consumer confidence

US Consumer Confidence
Forecast: 37; Previous: 37.7

Feb 24 15:00 GMT – USD

Bernanke to testify to examine the US financial system

Feb 25, 15:00 GMT – US Home sales

US Home sales. Forecast: 4.75M; Previous: 4.74M

Feb 26, 09:00 GMT, Germany Unemployment rate

Some important data for the Eurozone – Germany Unemployment rate. Previous: 7.8%

The Swedish Krona (SEK) had a hard day. New statistics about the GDP showed scary results. Swedens economy are predicted to decline 2.4 % during 2009, from the earlier 1.4 % estimate. At the same time, the interest rate have been cut to 1 %. Not happy time for currency traders trying to profit on a stronger krona. Only this Tuesday, the currency lost between 2-3 % to most of the majors. Below you can find the latest forex spot exchange rates:

• USD/SEK 8,83
• EUR/SEK 11,13
• GBP/SEK 12.59
• DKK/SEK 1.49