The US Non-Farm payroll report is released on the first Friday of every new month . It is released by the US Bureau of Labor and Statistics or (BLS) and what it quantitatively measures , is the number of brand new jobs, excluding farming, created by the economy in the US the previous month. This announcement is so important because the health of the US and global economy are both reflected . After all , in the world, the US economy happens to be the largest and within the US the main component happens to be consumer spending; actually making up 70%!  So , in free forex training, because the weakness or strength of a currency in a country is mainly affected by the interest rates in the country , you need to take a look at what actually drives those rates ; or the US Federal Reserve policy on interest rates. Probably the most important data for the Fed to use is this job report to set short term interest rates and because of this, this report can and usually does , lead to quite a bit of volatility in various markets .
Why does the jobs report have anything to do with where the Federal Reserve sets short term interest rates ? Great question ! If you have a strong jobs report usually it means that people have employment and the utilization of resources is high . This also means that companies are employing workers and the consumers, or workers, are then spending money by shopping, dining out, or on clothing, and all of these things drive the economy ; they help to heat or grow the economy. When the economy is growing, this means that there is more money circulating and keeping inflation in check is very important for the Federal Reserve. The way they keep inflation in check is that they raise short term rates to lower inflation and cool down the economy , or they lower short term rates to raise inflation and heat up the economy . So it’s easy to see, so the job number is a huge factor , driving all this right under the surface.
When you’re getting ready for your free forex training day or week ahead , take a look at the fundamental information on the events calendar that will be released in the next day or week . If you are still in the month’s first week then on the Friday of that first week you’ll have the Non-Farm Payroll report coming out since that’s always when it’s released . If you’re looking to take advantage of the volatility that comes after the release of the jobs report , simply keep the following formula in mind : A stronger economy usually is going on if the numbers of jobs are stronger than expected which means higher short term interest rates that lead to currency strength . Conversely , if there is a weaker than expected jobs report then this usually means lower short term interest rates that lead to currency weakness . Of course it’s not always this cut and dry or black and white , but this knowledge can give you a bit of an advantage over your competitors who are trading alongside you.

I would argue that the US Dollar is simply benefiting right now due to the Euro weakness and only that weakness. The US consumer spending driven economy has only picked up steam because for some time the rates have been near 0% from the Federal Reserve . What will occur when the Fed has to raise these rates? Will the economy in the US be able to deal with this ? Probably not . You have to keep in mind that there is more spending right now by consumers because they are not paying credit card payments, automobile payments, mortgage payments, and more . This means that consumers have income that they usually don’t have and so they can spend more money on things like dinner out, new clothing, and the newest technology items. Again consumers are going at it like crazy. The last Federal Reserve boom that was inflated was not sustainable and again, it won’t be sustainable. Inflation or default are the only two options for the US Dollar in the next several years and those two things can only mean disaster for the Greenback .

When involved in free forex training the goal is to make some money. There is no bias . We simply want to profit from our foresight . So the second question’s answer is that there will be a point when the Euro bottoms out because it has been over sold. Probably around 1.2300-2400 . Really , do you think that the world’s 3rd largest economy, Germany , will let its currency fail ? The answer is, "probably not." This happens to be why they are not printing even more Euros and helping Greece bail themselves out. Due to the problems in Greece the Euro will become a currency that is more sound . Investors will know that the Euro is safe because when they face problems they will deal with a loss in the short term to preserve their health in the long term . Thus , their economy may be having problems, but all of this will make their monetary unit better . The situation in the US of A is exactly the opposite . Here, we print money to stave off our short term problems , which in the end will only exacerbate the longer term health of our economy and our monetary unit .
With all of that said , we are close to the point where you’ll get the Euro for a great bargain that you need to jump on as you do your own free forex training. Not only for the reasons we’ve talked about , but you also need only look at market psychology . The professionals buy when there is a free fall just as the average person is catching wind of the crisis and comes in off the street to go short the move that has already happened . This is a pattern that has happened repeatedly , and will continue to repeat itself as long as the limbic system plays a part in human physiology .

Although the above questions alone can start a big response , in this article we’re going to focus on the basics . The easiest way to get comfortable within this world of FX trading is to simply go with an account with a brokerage specializing in forex trading . What broker should you choose ? That is a topic that is better left for another article. Just make sure you do your research and due diligence before depositing money anywhere !

Now that your free forex training is up and operational and you’re off and running , you need to learn more about what you are involved in . In this example , we suggest that since you started with an account with a specialized broker , you’ll begin by trading cash or spot contracts. Without making this complicated , all this means is that you are trading the current price as it sits in the open, global market at that very second . If the Eur/Usd pair is trading at 1.3200 on your brokerage screen then at this rate you can sell Euros against US Dollars or you can buy US Dollars and sell Euros at that rate . There is a small spread built into that price you’re seeing and when you take the trade this will be the cost of entry. Try finding a broker that only has a spread of 2-3 pips and no more.

Because it can be challenging to speculate , even for professionals such as myself , let’s say you want to in the United States have the goal of hedging your stock portfolio . Because U.S. Dollars is the denomination of your stock portfolio you could make money when the stocks go up in terms of the US Dollar but a weakening US Dollar could cancel those gains . This aspect of your portfolio is what you want to hedge and in the brokerage account you have decided you want to buy Euros against US Dollars. This way as against the Euro the US Dollar weakens and your portfolio starts to suffer because of this weakening, your forex gains that you are experiencing as a result of buying Euros are serving to hedge your downside risk .

The above example is one of the most easy ways that you can add a free forex training component to the portfolio you have . Other articles in the future will discuss more about global market speculation methods that are more advanced, but this should serve as a good starting place .

Currency pair. What is it? We’ll begin with the Eur/Usd this has as the base currency the US dollar against the Euro . What is the meaning of the pari when I have a price quote that is 1.3200 on the Eur/Usd? To remember this answer the easy way, do this: you take the base currency pair, in this case the US Dollar , take a look at the 1.3200 price quote , and then say , "it will take 1.3200 US Dollars for me to buy 1 Euro ." This is what that price quote really means. Perhaps a few months later you check out the price quote and it is suddenly 1.4000 this means that against the Euro the US dollar has become weaker because it now takes 1.4000 US Dollars to buy 1 Euro . Conversely , if the price quote is 1.2500 a couple of months later , then the US Dollar has become stronger since purchasing one Euro will only take you 1.2400 US dollars .

Free forex training can become even more challenging when for the Usd/Jpy pair you see a price quote that is 100.50. Using the method we discussed, take the Jpy base currency take a look at the price quote that is 100.50 and to purchase one US dollar this is the amount of Jpy it takes . That is fairly simple, isn’t it ? In the future you shouldn’t have difficulty understanding a pair and its price quote the next time you look at a chart screen or a quote window .

Now that price quotes can be read, you may wonder what are the cross pairs and the main pairs? Well the main pairs are usually the strongest economies throughout the world versus the US Dollar . A few of these pairs are Eur/Usd, Gbp/Usd, Aud/Usd, Usd/Cad, Usd/Jpy, and Nzd/Usd . Cross pairs do not involve the US dollar which includes the Gbp/Jpy and the Eur/Jpy to name a couple that are popular.

Hopefully this brief article will be helpful to you if you’ve been feeling intimidated the free forex training landscape previously. It takes a little getting used to with all of the different currency pairs, time zones, and economies . After you start understanding how everything falls together it’s not that difficult – and to many, this is a whole lot of fun!

What Are The Free Forex Training Time Zones All About Anyway

The forex trading time zones can be both difficult and intimidating to the average trader . Like many others , when I started in this global, cash, 24 hour market, the issue of time zones didn’t make much sense . However, that changed over time and within the article I’ll let you in on a few basic insights on how I handle this market and when you prepare for your next trading day, it will help you out .

The first thing you need to consider is where you live , or where you’ll be doing most of the free forex training trading from. This is the most important factor that affects how you look at this 24 hour market . For example, let’s say that California is where you life on the West Coast of the United States in the Pacific Standard Time (PST) zone which is three hours behind East Coast time in New York.

Now that we know the trading will be done in California, which is three hours behind the East Coast , we can start planning our free forex training trading day. In this market that goes 24 hours and never sleeps (but gets very quiet on weekends and major international holidays such as New Years ) the trading day stops and resets with the New York financial centers closing at or around 5pm EST and then banking centers like Hong Kong etc in the Far East open and start a new day at roughly the same time. Keeping this in mind it is best to set your trading charts up so that the daily bar or candle use use closes each day at 5pm EST .

So now we’ve determined that we are trading from the West Coast in the US which is three hours behond New York’s EST and we also know when this 24 hour market stops and resets for the next day . Next we have to decide when to prepare and plan for the next day . If you happen to be in California , like our example, and you happen to be a night owl then the London session is what you may want to prepare to trade from about 1am Pacific Standard Time to 4am Pacific Standard Time . Perhaps you like sleeping and you want to sleep through the session in London but have no problem getting up early , at about 4am Pacific Time so you’re able to see the London session end and prepare for the start of the New York session which gets a good start at 8:30am EST or 5:30am PST. Maybe you don’t like to get up early and so you’d prefer to be a middle of the day trader ; not a problem . Just wait until around 2pm PST (5pm EST) when the day begins in Tokyo and this session is when you can do your trading.

Now you have a good look at the forex trading time zones and what they’re about and you can accordingly plan your days . Keep in mind , preparation and planning are the most important yet overlooked factors of success in this business and any other business .  So this is how you plan out your free forex training day.