Forex Broker Guide

Introduction

The following is a list of questions you may like to consider before opening an account. You can use this checklist to narrow down your selection of companies that fit your requirements. You may also wish to refer to the forex broker ratings page on this site to read about traders unique experiences with particular brokers.

Important Note to Traders: GoForex recommends you do not open an account with a U.S. based forex broker regulated by the CFTC and NFA, due to excessive and over-bearing regulation imposed on retail forex brokers including reduced leverage levels, the "no-hedging" rule and the FIFO (first-in, first-out) rule which affects the way you trade.

The following links will also give you some background information on U.S. FCM's (Futures Commission Merchants).

• Selected Financial Data for FCM's
• NFA Background Affiliation Status

1. Word of Mouth

• What do other traders say about the broker? See Forex Broker Ratings & Forex Broker Reviews
• What is their customer service like?

2. Customer Protection

• Is the broker regulated?
• What regulatory organisation are they registered with and what protections does it afford the client?
• Are client funds protected against fraud?
• Are client funds protected against bankruptcy?

3. Execution

• What business model do they operate? i.e. Are they a Market Maker[?], ECN[?] or no-dealing desk broker[?]?
• How fast is their order execution?
• Are orders manually or automatically executed? [?]
• What is the maximum trade size before you have to request a quote?
• Are all clients trades offset?

4. Spread [?]

• How small is the spread?
• Is it fixed or variable?

5. Slippage [?]

• How much slippage can be expected in normal and fast moving markets?

6. Margin [?]

• What is the margin requirement? e.g. 0.25% margin = max 400:1 leverage [?]), 0.5% margin = max 200:1 leverage, 1% margin = max 100:1 leverage, 2% margin = max 50:1 leverage, etc.
• Does the margin requirement change for different currency pairs or days of the week?
• At what point does the broker issue a margin call?
• Is required margin the same for standard and mini accounts? [?]

7. Commissions

• Does the broker charge commissions? (Most market makers commissions are built into the spread)

8. Rollover Policy [?]

• Is there a minimum margin requirement in order to earn rollover interest?
• What are the swap rates like for going long or short in a particular currency pair?
• Are there any other conditions for earning rollover interest?

9. Trading Platform

• How intuitive and functional is it to use?
• Are there many disconnections during trading hours?
• How reliable is it during fast moving markets and news announcements?
• How many different currency pairs are available to trade?
• Does the broker offer an Application Programming Interface (API) to allow clients to automate their trading systems?
• Does the broker offer any other special features? (e.g. One click dealing, trading from the chart, trailing stops, mobile trading etc.)

10. Trading Account

• What is the minimum balance required to open an account?
• What is the minimum trade size?
• Can clients adjust the standard lot size traded? [?]
• Can clients earn interest on the unused margin in their account?

There is still no action after audit slams SABC

Auditor-general Terence Nombembe has proved an exemplary example of independence, displaying fair-mindedness in his auditing decisions. No more so than when he found hundreds of millions of rands worth of alleged financial mismanagement and corruption in his special investigation into the SABC.

What a contrast he is to members of the parliamentary communications committee, who insisted this week on closing a hearing with the SABC - supposedly the public broadcaster - over which it has insight. While members of the parliamentary press gallery were squatting on the floor outside of the meeting room - waiting for a court order to end the closed meeting - I couldn't help thinking what a mockery it was to call it a "communications" committee.

What an irony that Parliament used the police to protect the MPs - from journalists! Whereas, they should have been deployed to protect transparency and the public pursuit of truth by MPs.

It is just short of a year since the damning auditor-general's report. Only in February was the Special Investigating Unit - headed by state crime buster Willie Hofmeyr - roped in to probe these allegations. One of the more extraordinary auditor-general's findings was that senior managers had notched up millions of rands of misuse of SABC petrol supplies, some surely requiring vehicles to be lined up all day to be filled up. It makes hiding behind closed doors by MPs deeply suspicious.

It has been a rough year for the SABC, with an interim board appointing - at the eleventh hour - Solly Mokoetle, as the chief executive, just before its handover to a new board headed by chairman Ben Ngubane.

Now it appears that all board members, with the exception of Ngubane, have turned against Mokoetle. He has been given notice of his suspension, in spite of protestations all along by Ngubane that "the factual situation is that all the non-executive board members accepted the new group chief executive", as he was reported saying to Sapa in January.

Then there is the saga of the appointment of Phil Molefe, a former parliamentary press gallery member, as the head of SABC news.

Before she left office as interim board chairwoman, billionaire businesswoman Irene Charnley said at the handover meeting that the interim board's core focuses were to stabilise the corporation after a severe financial crisis, leaving the broadcaster with a deficit last year of R900 million. She noted that the government had stepped in with a R200m additional injection and a guarantee of a further R1.4 billion. It was her board, however, which thrust Mokoetle into office.

The auditor-general's report last year was damning. He found 20 employees were directors or members of 20 companies or close corporations which received payments from the broadcaster to the tune of R3.4m. Few if any heads have rolled since. Four senior managers were suspended but their heads never rolled. What a pickle.

Walmart Online Job Application

Formerly known as Wal-Mart, Walmart Stores, Inc. is world's largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000 of the year 2010. Walmart is a large chain of discount departmental stores and membership required warehouse stores, in the US, which was founded by Sam Walton in the year 1962. Being such a large public corporation, Walmart employment opportunities are there in various fields like store management, pharmacy, marketing, optometry, retail store associate, web designing, logistics, web developer, etc. Job opportunities in these sectors are largely attracting the youths and unemployed people. Walmart jobs also provide you several Walmart employment benefits like incentives, store discounts, profit sharing, 401k plan, health insurance, education and many more. However, you need to know everything about Walmart online job application format, in order to gain all this and more.

Process of Walmart Online Job Application

As I said earlier, Walmart job opportunities are actually endless and you can definitely get the desired job at Walmart, after you finish their enrollment formalities in the correct manner. First of all, you need to have a clear idea that Walmart employment application is completely an online procedure and hence, you will not get their printable versions. You can get more information about the Walmart employment opportunities at the nearest Sam's store or directly on Walmart hiring website itself. Let me tell you that Walmart online application process differs by the respective job for which you are applying. Well, here are a few steps that you can do to apply online for Walmart.

Sign Up
You cannot fill Walmart online job application if you are nor a registered member with Walmart. Hence, to do that, you need to sign up with them on their website. Before the registration process begins, you need to accept the terms and conditions of of the company that clearly mentions the drug testing and background checking policies of Walmart. Acknowledgment of the fact that omission or misrepresentation of any information in the form is bound to bar you from appearing for the Walmart employment test. Once you agree to some of these basic yet important terms and conditions, you will also need to present your social security number while registration. Afterwards, you can easily get the access of the Walmart online application form.

Fill Out
Filling the online application form is quite simple, wherein you are asked to fill out the basic information like gender, education, nationality, qualification, special skills, email address, contact number, two reference personalities with their addresses and contact numbers, etc. However, you can withhold information like your ethnicity and gender, if you wish. Amongst the rest of the mandatory information is the type of Walmart service that you wish to join. For instance, Walmart transportation, Sam's club, Walmart retailing or distribution, etc. Make sure that you clearly mention your employment specifications, in order to avoid future misunderstandings. In short, you need to be really frank and truthful while filling out the Walmart employment form online.

Take Care
Once you are done with filling out the Walmart online job application, you need to wait for some time, before submitting it for the final time. Well, you need to check the form twice in order to check a few things that you might have missed out while filling the form. The most important thing is that you should not leave any mandatory field empty. You also shouldn't leave any field empty even if you are afraid of filling in the correct information. In short, Walmart maintains utmost transparency and expects the same from its future associate aspirants. It is the reason why, filling previous employer's name is not enough but you also need to mention the time span of your unemployment after you left it.

Once you are sure that you have filled the Walmart online job application form without bluffing or without leaving any blank fields, then only submit the form for further processing. In the mean time, (before appearing for the test), you need to constantly stay into touch with the latest disclaimers from Walmart to become aware about the currant requirements. The company responds within two week's time span and if not, then feel free to contact them for further follow up. All the best!

Is This Any Way to Stimulate Global Trade?

As the global economy slowly finds its footing in the wake of the credit crisis, regulators are tightening risk standards for banks. Though this response is understandable, keeping a close hand through tighter regulations also requires a closer eye to avoid disruptions in global trade. Broad-brushstroke regulatory changes should come with a warning label-and with sufficient time for informative exchanges between affected parties.

At the encouragement of the G-20, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision drafted recommendations for changing bank capital and liquidity standards (often called "Basel III") in an effort to promote a more resilient banking sector that can be a foundation for sustainable economic growth. The fundamental goals of stronger capital and liquidity are on target, but some of the recommendations work at cross-purposes to those goals.

In comment letters to the Basel Committee, BAFT-IFSA outlined some of our key concerns that focus on trade finance, which has historically maintained a low risk profile in comparison with other financial transactions. As background, trade finance transactions generally involve fixed, short-term instruments that cover the movement of goods. They are not automatically renewed or extended upon maturity and they are self-liquidating by nature. In stress situations, countries and banks have traditionally continued to prioritize the repayment of short-term trade finance obligations as they fall due because these obligations are fundamental to commercial exchange. Failure to honor them can put at risk invaluable trading partner relationships. And, as a result of the short-term, self-liquidating nature of trade finance transactions, banks active in this business are generally able to react swiftly to deteriorations in bank and country risk.

This notwithstanding, the implementation of the Basel II accords, concomitant with the global recession, put more pressure on banks to not only meet additional capital requirements under Basel II, but also to reconsider certain proposed transactions because of global risk deterioration. This dynamic propelled deleveraging even further during the economic crisis.

Recent surveys conducted jointly by BAFT-IFSA and the IMF indicated dramatic changes in the volume and value of trade finance transactions during the crisis. In particular there was a growing sense among banks that the value of transactions had declined because of decreased demand for trade activities.

Trade underpins the prospects of global economic recovery, and any measures that potentially restrict the willingness or ability of banks to support trade have the potential to disrupt global economic growth. Take the Basel Committee's latest recommendations regarding capital. For the purposes of calculating a leverage ratio constraint under Basel II, the committee would require banks to hold a higher quantity and quality of capital, and proposes increasing the credit conversion factor (CCF) for trade-finance instruments and other off-balance-sheet items to 100 percent. Currently, the most frequently used value for trade-related contingencies is 20 percent. Increasing the CCF by a factor of five for trade-related contingencies does not account for their intrinsically safe structure and could disadvantage banks that are focused on trade finance. Such a high leverage ratio may encourage the diversion of capital to other financial instruments, resulting in significantly reduced lending or increased cost of providing trade finance for customers.

The Basel Committee also proposed specific tests designed to improve liquidity management. Banks engaged in transaction banking generally support creation of a framework for a quantitative liquidity regime. Recent indications that the timeframe may be extended for implementing some of the liquidity recommendations have been well received; allowing for a greater understanding of the impact the liquidity proposals will have on banks' ability to provide transaction banking services is crucial.

The financial crisis was not driven by transaction banking, and just as too much risk is undesirable, regulations that go too far in their attempt to purge certain risks from bank loan portfolios have the potential to hamper recovery. Global trade relies on cost-effective and accessible financing for trade transactions. And as global trade has grown, trade finance has grown with it, facilitating the reliable and secure movement of goods and services across the globe. That is well worth preserving.

Improving Your International SEO Skills

If you're starting out on a career path in which you'll be working in international search and you need to quickly acquire search engine optimization (SEO) skills that enable you to operate globally, you'll be asking yourself some tough questions about where to start.

Let's be frank, any SEO specialist who is regarded as an expert in their field will tell you, in their bar moments, about their catastrophic past errors. Trial and error and experience count for so much in this business -- and for much more than is generally attributed to the science of information retrieval.

A well-known SEO friend of mine once said to me, "You're not really an SEO until you've been banned at least once." This particular SEO was well qualified, as he'd gone through the experience twice!

The challenge then is to acquire international experience without needing to go through lots of errors, upsetting all your clients in the process -- especially because you're no longer a beginner and not regarded as such by your clients.

In any case, you've probably allowed them to believe that you already have significant international experience when this next project will be your first! That is how most people get into this business and how the vast majority leave! (Clients and website owners beware!)

International SEO Isn't Different Anyway?

If this is your view now, you're probably a lost cause -- upload your CV to a few job boards while there's still time. You might also consider signing up for some humility training.

There isn't really the space in this article to argue this point fully -- but I would just point out that languages, keyword research, hosting issues, country redirections, payment systems, information architecture, and usability are all significantly different for multinational projects -- and that's before we've even mentioned the word "culture." Do you still want more proof?

How to Gain Your First Experience?

Ideally, you should approach getting to grips with international SEO in just the same way you began in single-market, single-language SEO. That means getting your hands dirty with an actual live project.

Because we don't want to experiment on your client's pet project, one way to do this is to create your own test project. Perhaps you already have a blog that you could set to work on. This approach will cost you or your agency some investment monies, but this is the professional way to go.

There are a couple key things you'll need to do.

1. Decide on how you're going to manage all the different languages. Buy and test local domains and, even before you have localized the site, run English versions of the site on those. Before you've even had the opportunity to set up Webmaster Central, you'll probably notice them appearing in Google's index in all the right places. The first time I ever did this, it took minutes, rather than hours, to see a result.
   
   
2. Get the languages. A good idea might be to use automated translation for one language and get a professional translation for the other.

You should see a significant difference in your traffic performance between these two approaches.

Perhaps the Client Will Hel

One other option for getting going with a test project is to get the agreement of a client with whom you have a particularly good working relationship. Perhaps you'll target their business in a market that might be of interest to them, for free, or with them only paying for actual demand generated.

Where to Go for Initial Support?

Naturally, you'll need some extra help in this venture from somewhere -- it's unrealistic to think otherwise. Going to relevant conferences and, of course, referring to sites such as this one to gain lots of valuable information are good places to start.

Specialist organizations also support agencies with international and multilingual roll-outs -- just go and do a search in our old friend Google for something similar to [multilingual search marketing agency support] and you should find a range of options.

Buying arm's length support services is one way of doing things. But if you really want someone to look directly over your shoulder and give you hands-on support, then you'll need to think somewhat differently.

I'm not aware of people who specifically offer this type of consultancy, but if someone put a case to me for this type of service, I'm sure that I could invent just as others could. It probably helps if you know your potential "mentor" first.

There are also now a few international SEO schools, which would be a good approach. These aren't particularly well publicized, so you'll need to ask around.

Dealing with Languages?

I'm guessing that you don't speak too many languages and certainly not all those that the website you'll be working on actually needs. You have a number of options here:

• Specialist multilingual agency support organizations.
  
  
• Translation agencies.
  
  
• Friendly agencies local to the target market.

I definitely wouldn't recommend translation agencies, although I know that's where most people turn first. Their business models are just not designed around search marketing.

After you've looked at the international agencies that are prepared to help, you can always turn to small local agencies based in the target country. They're tougher to coordinate because each agency has its own processes and its own culture -- so coordinating a project through multiple countries can become a little time-demanding, but they are generally helpful and friendly to get you started on your way.

Leadership Critical To Managing Change

When change is imposed (as in downsizing scenarios), clearly the most important determinant of "getting through the swamp", is the ability of leadership to...well, lead. The literature on the subject indicates that the nature of the change is secondary to the perceptions that employees have regarding the ability, competence, and credibility of senior and middle management.

If you are to manage change effectively, you need to be aware that there are three distinct times zones where leadership is important. We can call these Preparing For the Journey, Slogging Through The Swamp, and After Arrival. We will look more carefully at each of these.

The Role of Leadership

In an organization where there is faith in the abilities of formal leaders, employees will look towards the leaders for a number of things. During drastic change times, employees will expect effective and sensible planning, confident and effective decision-making, and regular, complete communication that is timely. Also during these times of change, employees will perceive leadership as supportive, concerned and committed to their welfare, while at the same time recognizing that tough decisions need to be made. The best way to summarize is that there is a climate of trust between leader and the rest of the team. The existence of this trust, brings hope for better times in the future, and that makes coping with drastic change much easier.

In organizations characterized by poor leadership, employees expect nothing positive. In a climate of distrust, employees learn that leaders will act in indecipherable ways and in ways that do not seem to be in anyone's best interests. Poor leadership means an absence of hope, which, if allowed to go on for too long, results in an organization becoming completely nonfunctioning. The organization must deal with the practical impact of unpleasant change, but more importantly, must labor under the weight of employees who have given up, have no faith in the system or in the ability of leaders to turn the organization around.

Leadership before, during and after change implementation is THE key to getting through the swamp. Unfortunately, if haven't established a track record of effective leadership, by the time you have to deal with difficult changes, it may be too late.

Preparing For The Journey

It would be a mistake to assume that preparing for the journey takes place only after the destination has been defined or chosen. When we talk about preparing for the change journey, we are talking about leading in a way that lays the foundation or groundwork for ANY changes that may occur in the future. Preparing is about building resources, by building healthy organizations in the first place. Much like healthy people, who are better able to cope with infection or disease than unhealthy people, organization that are healthy in the first place are better able to deal with change.

As a leader you need to establish credibility and a track record of effective decision making, so that there is trust in your ability to figure out what is necessary to bring the organization through.

Slogging Through The Swamp

Leaders play a critical role during change implementation, the period from the announcement of change through the installation of the change. During this middle period the organization is the most unstable, characterized by confusion, fear, loss of direction, reduced productivity, and lack of clarity about direction and mandate. It can be a period of emotionalism, with employees grieving for what is lost, and initially unable to look to the future.

During this period, effective leaders need to focus on two things. First, the feelings and confusion of employees must be acknowledged and validated. Second, the leader must work with employees to begin creating a new vision of the altered workplace, and helping employees to understand the direction of the future. Focusing only on feelings, may result in wallowing. That is why it is necessary to begin the movement into the new ways or situations. Focusing only on the new vision may result in the perception that the leader is out of touch, cold and uncaring. A key part of leadership in this phase is knowing when to focus on the pain, and when to focus on building and moving into the future.

After Arrival

In a sense you never completely arrive, but here we are talking about the period where the initial instability of massive change has been reduced. People have become less emotional, and more stable, and with effective leadership during the previous phases, are now more open to locking in to the new directions, mandate and ways of doing things.

This is an ideal time for leaders to introduce positive new change, such as examination of unwieldy procedures or Total Quality Management. The critical thing here is that leaders must now offer hope that the organization is working towards being better, by solving problems and improving the quality of work life. While the new vision of the organization may have begun while people were slogging through the swamp, this is the time to complete the process, and make sure that people buy into it, and understand their roles in this new organization.

Conclusion

Playing a leadership role in the three phases is not easy. Not only do you have a responsibility to lead, but as an employee yourself, you have to deal with your own reactions to the change, and your role in it. However, if you are ineffective in leading change, you will bear a very heavy personal load. Since you are accountable for the performance of your unit, you will have to deal with the ongoing loss of productivity that can result from poorly managed change, not to mention the potential impact on your own enjoyment of your job.

Forex Scalping Strategy

The term 'Forex', is basically an abbreviation of the words, 'foreign exchange'. The Forex is a securities market where different currencies of nations is the subject of trade. Like any other market, Forex market works on the buy and sell basis and is more like a barter exchange system, where currency for currency becomes the medium through which the exchange takes place. The Forex market works on the simple principle that there is a difference between the prices of two currencies. For example if you want to sell off 50 USD (United States Dollars) in the Forex market you will get back about 37 Euros. The rate of conversion changes every day and in many cases, it also changes almost after every hour. In fact, Forex scalping strategy is based on this short term changes on the rate of currency exchange.

Conventional Forex Strategies

There are some strategies of Forex market trading that been successfully tried and tested by traders in the past. The simple principle, that is applicable goes as follows…

The basic code that traders follow is, '…buy when cheap, sell when expensive…'. Confused? Here's an explanation. Suppose that you buy foreign currency at a price X. Due to the economic conditions, the market value of that currency drastically shoots in an upward direction. In such a situation, you will be able to sell that currency for a price, Y, which is of course, greater than X. The difference is your profit and the investment is the initial low price X. The key to become successful is to understand the rise and fall in the trend of the currency, that you are dealing in. A severe drawback in such cases that there is a high risk of the trend falling down and people losing money in the process. Since the Forex market is an international market, a trend that enters falling cycle, takes time to recover and the trader might end up losing a lot of money or the liquidity (in case if he decides to stay put). The Forex scalping techniques, are preferred in almost any business model or market, as the main emphasis is given on short term buys and sells. Thus, the risk of any dicey trend crashing down is eliminated.