Forex Network

Forex. For what? To some, the Forex network is shrouded in mystery. But what is it, exactly? (Hint: it’s not an ultra-secret international WAN maintained by the Fantastic Four and the X-Men.)

Forex, also known simply as the “FX,” is the commonly accepted abbreviation for the over-the-counter Foreign Exchange market.

The currency volume on Forex is huge — exceeding a trillion dollars each day. Forex exists on a 24-hour-a-day global network that spans corporate, banking, and individual interests. There is no central trading floor. Currency is traded around the world and around the clock, with fluctuations responding to speculation on the latest news as it happens.

The lion’s share of Forex trades involve the Major currencies: the Australian Dollar, British Pound, Canadian Dollar, Euro, Japanese Yen, Swiss Franc, and US Dollar.

Currencies are bought and sold simultaneously on Forex. For instance, a US Dollar/Japanese Yen (USD/JPY) trade would buy US Dollars while selling Yen.

The Forex was traditionally a playground for the monolithic international banks and substantial corporations. Times have changed, however, and it’s now possible for the small investor to enter the speculative waters of currency trading.

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Latency becomes critical for Forex brokers

With latency becoming a key issue now that Forex brokers move to STP execution rather than Market Making it is interesting to see the results of the latest StreamBase survey.

latency: (computer science) the time it takes for a specific block of data on a data track to rotate around to the read/write head.

From Forex perspective that means execution time: how long it takes from the click on order execution and until you receive a confirmation that the order was actually executed. It is also probably the issue that gets the most complains from Forex traders.

For Market Makers this issue doesn’t exist as they choose whether to accept the trade or not, and are not dependent on latency issues.

StreamBase announced today the results of its “FX Trading and Technology Trends in 2009” survey. Participants included over 200 buy- and sell-side individuals who are actively trading FX.

“The survey results indicate that innovation in electronic FX trading is on the rise and that more and more firms are looking to improve their speed of trade executions, largely through the implementation of low latency technologies,” said independent analyst Bob Giffords. “Spending in these areas appears to be increasing as firms begin to connect to more venues and advance the sophistication of their trading infrastructure,” he explained.

Key findings of the 2009 FX Trading and Technology Trends report include:

- 89.6% of firms plan to increase spending on low latency technologies in the next 18 months
- 64.6% execute FX trades electronically in order to improve execution speed
- 47.7% of firms plan to change or add electronic FX venues, primarily for better pricing
- 68.7% use algorithms for their FX trading or plan to do so
- Access to liquidity is the single most important selection criteria for choosing an FX trading platform

“This survey confirmed that electronic trading in foreign exchange is rife with opportunity. A technology arms race has begun in FX and automated, low-latency trading is the main battlefield in that race,” said Mark Palmer, Chief Executive Officer of StreamBase Systems. Palmer continued, “CEP is rapidly becoming the defacto application development platform to quickly build, deploy, and evolve automated FX trading applications. We’re seeing a broad range of CEP applications in FX including those for real-time, aggregated market data management, FX price targeting, algorithmic trading and multi-venue FX execution.”

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Is Social Networking The New Wave In Forex Marketing?

This morning, Ideal World Forex, a full-service Hong Kong broker, announced the formation of a new online Forex Trading Room where clients can interact, share ideas and continue their ongoing trading education.

Ideal World traders will have access to a platform where participants can chat, post charts and interact via VOIP. In addition the Forex Trading Room will allow traders to draw and illustrate in the room on actual trading charts in real-time.

Currensee, a Boston area company, created the first Forex decision-making network where like-minded traders could connect with each other and share unique insights based on the actual trading activity of the community. Currensee traders, like Ideal World traders, can collaborate based on real trade activity and can share trades and positions with their teammates in real-time.

Currensee and Ideal World are pioneering a new way for Forex traders to look at the market to make trading decisions.

So, who will be the next to jump on this feature-rich, marketing bandwagon?

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High Street Networking

High Street Networking was founded in 1998 with the only objective - to provide for all professional needs of Forex Traders all over the world via internet-based trading system Dealing Desk 2005^TM.

From 1998 HSN is using internet trading software system (client terminal, brokerage system and so on) called Dealing Desk from our partner Forex Euroclub Ltd., the biggest Russian brokerage company. HSN is using this system because it was the first dealing software that has integrated internet dealing, charting, news and money transfer modules in the world in 1998.

High Street Networking was the first company in the world that offered mini forex servicies (10 000 base currency trading lot) via internet based trading system.

To make money transfers for clients easier HSN was established as off-shore company and was based in UK, Virginia Islands, Tortola, Road Town.

Our service Bank (POPULAR BANK) is based in Cyprus, Nicosia, Elephteria Square, 2. and is the member of Laiki Banking Group that provides forex and banking services in UK, Greece, Australia, South Africa and so on. From 1998 till 2005 we have provided mini forex service nearly to 6 000 clients from various countries from US to China and Iran.

The Activity of High Street Networking is regulated by the Trading Rules integrated in the Dealing Desk 2005^TM.

Each member of System, is using the client interface, has its own level of the access to information and functionality of the Dealing Desk 2005^TM system.

There are three levels of membership:

Administrative Level – Forex Dealers (brokerage accounts)

Trading Level – Forex Traders (real accounts)

Study Level – Students (demo accounts)

Forex Dealers – are Market Makers of Dealing Desk 2005^TM system with their own aggregate accounts which allows them to open individual trading accounts for their clients and provide them with access to their dealing room. Executions of all clients orders are passed under the direct control of the High Street Networking.

Forex Traders – Clients of the Forex dealers. Traders, can open or reopen their individual trading account(s), deposit their marginal funds and trade currencies on forex market.

Students – Can be anyone interested in trying a demo account of the Dealing Desk 2005^TM free of charge. Also, anyone who'd like to take a part in the competition and try his own high profitable strategy based on forex trading.

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