Important factors to consider before trading the live assets

What is crucial in trading? Is it trading? Definitely, it is not trading. There are many other things which should be considered as crucial. As examples, selecting a broker is crucial, selecting a platform is crucial, selecting a trading method is crucial, and there are many other things which are crucial. Sadly, most of the traders give less attention to the crucial parts. If you consider the Singaporean traders they are not as the ones we have mentioned above. They have given 100% attention to the crucial part of trading as they knew that the platform plays the major role in Forex. So if you want to trade the market as a successful trader you should learn to take the important decisions. How do you make the right decision? What will a naïve trader do? What are the key factors to be considered?  If you read the article you will definitely understand the importance of a platform and you will understand the ways to make a decision.

As we said above platform is one of the crucial things in your trading career so you should give the necessary attention to it. If the platform does not suit your trading style then it will be difficult for you trade the market. When you are not comfortable with the platform you cannot trade successfully so you should make sure that the platform is comfortable enough. You should not consider the decision of selecting a platform as a minor thing because it is not. Read the article to understand better.

Wider accessibility

You know that mobile phones are something which everyone one of us carry anywhere we go so it’s important to find a platform which can be accessed through your mobile phone. From booking a hotel to reserving tickets to movies will be done through the mobile phones so why not the platform? If the platforms are accessible through the mobile phones it is a great exposure for the traders. In fact, it will enable you to trade online meaning you can place trades online. Every professional trader takes the time to select the best platform as they need a platform which offers the wider accessibility. If the platform offers wider accessibility it is advantageous for the trader’s career and knowledge.

Essential Information

The essential information should be obtained from the platform so it can be called as the best trading platform. So keep in mind when you are searching for a platform it should be something which offers you standard experience and essential information. If you want to know the price-earnings ratio, income statement, stock quote, dividend yield, or anything you should be able to obtain it from the platform itself. If you are able to get hold of a platform as we mentioned above you will be able to succeed in the market easily. You should understand that platform is something which acts as a basement for your trading so it’s in your hand to select the strongest basement. Moreover, you should not select a RANDOM platform to trade as it will impact heavily on your trading career. Keep in mind that each and every successful trader has achieved success due to being intelligent when selecting the platform. If you want to trade like a pro trader and if you want to become successful you should not treat crucial things as a minor factor.

Tools for trading

You will be able to obtain the trading tools from the platform so make sure to pick the perfect platform by analyzing thoroughly. If you have the smart tools you will be able to execute trades in a successful way. For instance, if you trade with SaxoTraderGo platform then we can assure you that you will have all the cutting trading tools to do your technical analysis. Most importantly you will be able to execute your orders at a lightning speed.

 

Read More...

5 Reasons to Invest in P2P Lending Now

P2P lending, popularly known as crowdfunding, provides individuals and institutions an opportunity to earn passive income through investing in business loans to growing and deserving SMEs. Returns on investment are in the form of repayment of periodic interest along with the principal, based on the amount that investors have put in. In a single loan, there could be hundreds of investors who co-invest and share the risks and returns of investment.

This concept first appeared in 2005 with Zopa  (founded in the UK), and has become a proven investment product globally. In 2016, more than US$330 Billion has been invested in P2P lending with China, US and UK as market leaders.

Can you guess where’s the next region of growth for P2P lending? That’s right – Southeast Asia. Funding Societies (based in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia) is one of the leading platforms in this region with licenses/approval by regulators in all 3 markets.

Here, we give you 5 compelling reasons to put your money into P2P lending :

1. Returns are higher than most traditional investment products

One of the key factors in any investment is what you get in return.

In Singapore, investing in P2P lending can potentially earn you up to 14% per annum returns on your investment. This is much higher than 1%-2% per annum on Fixed Deposits or 2.5% per annum on your CPF account.

2. And you don’t need to wait for years to see your returns

The typical tenure for these business loans range between 1-12 months, so unlike fixed deposits or insurances, you don’t need to lock your money in for years to see the returns. In addition, you get the interest as well as principal back on a monthly basis, allowing you to unlock the cash and provide opportunities to reinvest the money and creating a compounding effect.

3. You can invest even if you’re a fresh grad or NS man

Funding Societies is the only platform that allows investments starting from as low as $100 (minimal investment on other platforms is usually $1,000 per loan), which means literally anyone can invest. It allows one to test the platform before increasing the amounts and also provides opportunities to diversify into multiple loans even with a small starting capital.

4. It’s a simple product that doesn’t require any technical knowledge

Some investment products require a high level of technical knowledge plus a close watch on the market movements.

P2P lending is simple and straightforward. It’s easy to understand the factsheet (prepared by the platform) which covers the SME’s business model, track record, financials and purpose of loan. Investors can make decisions based on the factsheet. If you are too busy to review every factsheet, Funding Societies has an auto investment feature which lets you select your investment criteria and make the investments automatically.

5. Southeast Asia’s leading P2P platform is in Singapore

Most Singaporeans prefer to invest with companies with (i) a solid track record, (ii) operations in Singapore.

Since starting its operations in Singapore, Funding Societies has already expanded to two more Southeast Asian countries over the last two years – Indonesia and Malaysia. It is the only P2P lending platform to have won Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) Fintech Award in 2016 and was recognised as one of the Top 250 Fintech companies globally. It is backed by world class venture capitalist Sequoia Capital who have invested into companies like Google, Apple, Airbnb and Carousell amongst many others.

More than 19,000 investors are already on Funding Societies’ platform regionally, and the reasons:

  • LICENSED AND REGULATED: Funding Societies is licensed in Singapore by MAS and is a regulated entity. It uses escrow account for investor funds managed by a licensed trustee ensuring safety of investor monies.
  • HIGH QUALITY INVESTMENTS: Because of the rigorous risk assessment that Funding Societies does on the companies before offering the business loans for crowdfunding, the investments are good quality and at the lowest default rates in town.
  • EASY TO INVEST: Investors can make their investments and review their portfolio on the go with Funding Societies investor mobile app. With Auto-Invest, investors just need to define their preferred parameters and let the system do the work.
  • SKIN IN THE GAME: The top management at Funding Societies believes in ALL the business loans that they give, they invest in every single loan. As CEO Kelvin Teo says, “We co-share the risks and rewards of investments with you.”

Sign up for your investor account with Funding Societies now.

Disclaimers

This article is contributed by Funding Societies.

It should not be construed that Moneydigest is endorsing this article or any of the products and services provided by Funding Societies.

Nothing in this article should be construed as constitute or form a recommendation, financial advice, or an offer, invitation or solicitation from Funding Societies to buy or subscribe for any securities and/or investment products. The content and materials made available are for informational purposes only and should not be relied on without obtaining the necessary independent financial or other advice in connection therewith before making an investment or other decision as may be appropriate.

Read More...

Understanding the Forex Market

The trading of currencies on the open market serves many practical purposes. It enables individuals to purchase local coinage when visiting a different country or region. It allows governments to regulate the supply of money within their own economies. It also provides an opportunity for traders to realise a profit, simply by speculating on the price movements of different currency pairs. Each of these contributes to the vast size and scale of trading activity that occurs within the foreign exchange market every single day.

How big is the forex market?

The FOReign EXchange (forex) market is is the single largest financial market on the planet, when measured in daily trading volumes. Each day, around $5.3 trillion worth of currency is bought and sold on the open market. That equates to more than $220 billion of trading activity every hour.

The volume of forex trading far exceeds that of the bond market or the stock exchange – and even the economies of entire nations.

The New York stock exchange, for example, would have to trade for 30 days to match the single-day trading volume of the currency market. The combined annual GDP of Russia, Italy, and India is approximately equal to one day’s forex trading.

A brief history of forex trading

The trading of one currency for another is an ancient phenomenon, but the modern forex market truly emerged in 1971, with the completion of the Smithsonian Agreement.

The agreement allowed the central banks of ten major economies to buy, sell and issue currency in a way that would allow their money to fluctuate in value by 2.25 per cent against the US dollar. The Smithsonian Agreement is widely accepted as the first step towards the free floating exchange rates that we recognise today.

The proliferation of web-based technologies in the 1990s proved another significant milestone in shaping today’s forex markets. Access to the internet gave private individuals the means to not only access markets, but also the educational resources that would help them to understand forex, and how to start trading. Since the end of the 1990s, the number of forex trades that are executed through an online platform has grown exponentially: accounting for as much as 23 per cent of all forex activity by 2016.

Digital trading platforms have also eased the transition to an era of automated trading: where algorithms are used to calculate and execute trades far quicker than any human could hope to achieve. The forex market grew 20 per cent between 2007 and 2010 – and much of this expansion has been attributed to the development of high frequency, algorithmic trading machines.

Who are the big players?

This rapid expansion of the forex market has caused some of the established currencies and institutions to lose a degree of significance in recent history. Yet the biggest players in the foreign currency trade remain some of the more familiar names in the world of finance – for the time being, at least.

The most commonly traded currencies by share of total transactions are the US dollar (which accounts for more than 87 per cent of all trades), the Euro (31 per cent), and the Japanese Yen (almost 22 per cent). Of these, EUR/USD is the most commonly traded currency pair, accounting for 23 per cent of all trades in 2016.

International banks dominate forex trading: the largest six banks account for half of all transactions; the top ten banks are responsible for more than 65 per cent of trades. Citigroup (13 per cent), JP Morgan, (9 per cent), UBS (9 per cent), and Deutsche Bank (8 per cent) are the four most active financial institutions in the forex market.

Where is forex traded?

Asset 1 - Forex Market

Forex is a truly global marketplace. Four major trading centres – in London, New York, Tokyo and Sydney – provide access to the currency markets 24 hours a day. Of these, London sees the highest trading volume, accounting for 37 per cent of all currency trades.

However, while the City of London is responsible for a high percentage of daily total trades, it does not regulate or control the market in any way. In fact, the trade in foreign currency is not facilitated by any single authority or centralised exchange at all. Instead, traders can buy or sell currency pairs directly with other traders in the market. This form of direct exchange is known as an over-the-counter (OTC) market. OTC trading is considered one of the primary factors in the growth of forex: independent investors can access and participate in the market from any location, at any time of the day or night.

The foreign currency market has undergone dramatic change, and experienced rapid growth, throughout the past five decades. It has adapted its role to make use of new technologies: permitting free-floating currency valuations, and enabling private individuals to participate in markets without having to leave their homes.

Today, the forex market continues to evolve, and represents one of the most open and democratic trading opportunities on the planet. But the buying and selling of world currencies represents more than an investment: it is helping to make efficient world trade a reality.

Read More...

Always develop your trading strategy from the scratch

There a lot of traders in forex industry who think that only they are smart and other traders do not know how to make money in an easy way. These smart traders do not like to work hard on developing their strategies and like the homemade strategies which are given for free on the websites of Forex. Though these websites swear all their strategies are best and you can make money with any of them, you will find that some of these strategies are not even strategies. They have only filled some space in their websites and trying to sell you whatever they can. Making and developing a strategy in Forex is not that easy. For an experienced trader, it takes years to make money and develop their strategies. To be precise nothing is ready made in the world of forex. Those who trade in Singapore knows very well that in order to make money they must educate themselves properly so that they can trade with precision.

So the question that arises in the minds of other traders who are reading this article is to how to develop my strategy? If the other strategies are wrong, is there any way I can develop my own strategy? This article contains the answers to your questions and as you read more, you will find many new things about Forex.

Build your strategy from scratch

If you are planning to develop your strategy, do not think you will take some strategy from many websites and you will try them all one by one. The strategy that gives you the most profit is your working strategy. You will no need to work on the market and you get yourself a developed strategy which works best.

If you want to be a professional trader in Forex, you have to build your strategy from the scratch. Have you ever seen a Michelin star restaurant how they prepare their own meal? From making pasta to preparing the spices, all the things are done by their chefs at the chicken. There is no chance for using any homemade spices which are not made by them. It is only for these reasons these restaurants can charge you thousands of dollars for having a one-course meal. If they bought all the spices and make homemade foods like other restaurants, they will not have earned those Michelin stars. Similarly, when it comes to trading you need to execute your trade in your online trading account with your own developed system. If you follow other people trading system then you will never be able to follow discipline. You need to find such a strategy which will suit your personality. And for this reason, the expert traders always suggest trading with a well-developed trading strategy based on the trader’s personality.

Facts about trading

Trading in Forex and becoming a legend player to live an exotic life will need you to make your strategy from the scratch. There is no website you should use to develop your strategy. Only take help when you do not understand. Use all your own things for making your own strategy for success. At your initial stage, you should use your demo trading account to build your own trading system. Instead of risking real money try with the virtual dollar so that you don’t face any financial loss. But in order to develop a winning system you need to educate yourself with the proper knowledge or else you will never be able to develop a solid trading system.

Summary: Building your won trading system is very hard especially if you are new to this industry. You need to use the demo account and trade with a reputed broker like Saxo. Make sure that you develop your trading system based on the major three types of analysis so that you can deal with the dynamic changes of the market.

Read More...

Rising popularity of short time frame trading in forex

Traders who are scalping the market do not only trade the market to make a quick profit. There are also people in the market who scalps the market to check out this strategy. This strategy is highly rewarding to successful traders in the market who can understand the market trend. If you are a new trader and want to make a lot of money, you can start scalping. It is not a good choice for the new people in forex to scalp as their main strategy. There are many long-term strategies in the market and you should follow these strategies to make a profit in your beginner account. Also, you need to have a lot of money in your account to scalp the market. The professional scalpers at Singapore always trade with a huge trading capital since they know in order to reduce the risk exposure in short time frame trading they will need a decent balance. But a big trading account is not going to ensure your profit factors in this industry. As short time frame trader, you must have a very clear knowledge in this industry.

Why traders scalp in forex?

Most of the traders prefer scalping in the forex trading industry since it allows them to book their profit in the market very quickly. Unlike the long term traders, they don’t wait for days and weeks to lock their profit in the market. They simply execute high lot size trade in the market and within hours they close the trades either with profit or loss. But in order to become a profitable short time frame trader, you must have a very clear understanding of the basic of the forex market or else it will be extremely difficult for you to survive in the long run.

They are greedy: Not all, but most of the traders who scalp the market are greedy. It is not that every trader who uses this strategy are greedy, but most of them are. Many interested people who haven’t opened a Forex account have heard of scalping and how easy it is to make money in Forex. To them, scalping is the only way to become rich in Forex. Out of greed, many traders scalp in forex. However there some expert traders trading CFDs with an extreme level of precision in the short time frame. If you want to become such an expert then you need to learn the fundamental and technical analysis very precisely. A single mistake is enough to wipe your entire trading account in the market.

Think of this strategy as a quick rich scheme: Many traders also want to get rich quickly. They have been looking for a perfect strategy where they can make money quickly in their accounts and do not have to trade all day. Scalping is their answer. They think of this strategy as some quick rich scheme in the market of Forex.

Know the markets: traders who scalp are very experienced. They can understand the market in any second. They trade the market in a very short timeframe and they do not need hours to figure out the market. With experience and knowledge, they can tell where the market will go. They trade the market for this reason to use their experience to make quick money.

Love fast results: if you love fast results, you will love scalping. Traders want to make money quickly in the market. Scalping gives them this opportunity. Though there are risks, the professional traders trade with this strategy. The fast result of scalping is one of the reasons it has become popular among the traders though it has many bad sides in trading.

Summary: Trading is nothing but running a sophisticated business. As a professional trader, you will always have some losing trades but you need to learn to take managed risk in the market. Always try to execute your orders by using rational logic. Last but not the least try to trade in favor of the long-term prevailing trend.

Read More...