Forex Trading

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4. Timing your trade, or trading your time

The right to trade whenever you want

Common knowledge among equity investors says that time in the market trumps market timing. Try that strategy in the forex market and see how long you last.

In currency trading the strategic value of a position is calculated more often in seconds or minutes than in days or weeks. Opportunity is defined as locking in your trade when you're ready, not your market maker.

Many market makers advertise round-the-clock trading and 24/7 customer service. But virtually all of them close the trading book on Friday afternoon. Which is fine until it's Sunday morning and you've just fine-tuned your strategy, but you can't place your order.

The hallmark of the forex market is volatility: it's a direct reflection of trading activity, momentary liquidity, and breaking news that can move prices in whole numbers, not just pips. You can't control volatility, but you won't profit by watching from the sidelines.

While much of the industrial world has come to celebrate the weekend, events that drive currency prices have a way of ignoring the calendar. For example:

  • political and economic summit meetings
  • national elections
  • acts of terror
  • military confrontations and attacks
  • natural disasters
  • unnatural disasters—like assassinations, coups and hostage-taking
  • the fact that many countries don't take off on Saturday and Sunday

For traders in a global market fueled by 24/7 news coverage, the sometimes market maker represents a tangible threat.

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Trading off-exchange foreign exchange on margin carries a high level of risk and is not suitable for all investors. Trading through an on-line platform carries additional risks. Please refer to our more detailed Risk Warning, and NFA's FOREX INVESTOR ALERT.
 

The right to trade whenever you want

No trader should be prevented from acting on information that matters—while it still matters.

Don't accept the argument that limited access is about available infrastructure. The trading infrastructure is up and running, but the bureaucratic infrastructure likes to take the weekend off.

Since the technology for uninterrupted trading is already here, every responsible market maker should offer continuous, automated trading 24 hours a day, seven days a week.