Posted: 31 Mar 2020 01:00 PM PDT

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For investors the financial market offers a wide variety of ways to grow your wealth. Foreign exchange, or forex, gives you direct access to trade with international currencies at the click of a button. And trading binary options on the forex market is one of the simplest methods of making money.

A binary option lets you predict the price movement of a currency pair over a set period of time. For example, if you are speculating that the European euro (EUR) will rise in value against the U.S. dollar (USD) in the next minute, you can invest in a call option for the EUR/USD currency pair. If you are right, your binary option contract will settle for $100 and you get your money back with an earned profit of $100, minus the price of the contract. And if the bid falls below your strike price, you will lose all of your invested money in 60 seconds.

Forex binary options are the epitome of the high risk-high returns proposition. It is an apt investment strategy for active traders who expect fast results in the forex market. Here's what you need to get started.

Step 1: Choose an Online Forex Broker

Before you begin, you need to have an account with a forex platform that allows binary options trading. You can compare different online forex brokers before signing up. Some things to consider in an online forex platform for binary options include minimum deposits, minimum trade value, payout percentage and the number of currency pairs available to trade.

Step 2: Pick a Currency Pair

Most online forex brokers will have a list of at least 80 currency pairs to pick and choose from. Common currency pairs that are traded in the forex market are EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY, AUD/USD, USD/CHF, USD/CAD and NZD/USD. But, just because a currency pair is popular doesn't make it profitable. Making informed investments based on research and statistical data helps you limit the risks involved in the binary options you buy.

Step 3: Pick a Binary Option

Online forex platforms let you pick the type of binary option you want to buy. Depending on your choice, the payout percentage on the binary options will vary accordingly. The most-traded binary options are listed below.

High or low: You can predict if the price will rise above or fall below the strike price of your currency pair. For instance, if the EUR/USD is valued at 1.1134, you can buy a high or a call option at 1.1139. Likewise, you can buy a low or a put option at 1.1131.

Range or boundary: You can predict if the price of the currency pair stays within the strike price or if it will exceed it. For instance, if the GBP/USD is valued at 1.2452 and you expect it to reach 1.240, you can buy a range option. Likewise, you can buy a boundary option if you expect it to reach 1.259.

One touch: You can predict the price a currency pair is likely to reach. For instance, if the AUD/USD is valued at 0.6147, you can buy a one-touch option at 0.6150.

No touch: You can predict the price a currency pair is not likely to reach. For instance, if the AUD/USD is valued at 0.6147, you can buy a no-touch option at 0.6140.

60 seconds: You can predict the rise or fall of a currency pair value within 1 minute. For instance, if USD/CAD is valued at 1.3997 and you expect it to reach 1.3999 in the next 60 seconds, you can buy a call option.

Step 4: Set the Option for a Call or Put

Once you've decided on the type of forex binary option to trade, you can choose to buy a call or a put contract. If you expect the value of the currency pair to rise, buy a call option. And if you expect the value of the currency pair to fall, buy a put option. This does not apply for one touch and no touch binary options.

Step 5: Set an Expiry

You need to set a time duration for the forex binary option to trade. The expiry on a forex binary option contract can be anywhere between 30 seconds to 1 day or even 1 week. Many traders indulge in intraday binary options to make a quick buck. Be careful while following in their footsteps; you could burn your fingers on a binary option just as fast.

Step 6: Reap the Rewards

Unlike forex trading, binary option contracts are purchased for a fixed rate and a fixed reward. Both the buyer and the seller of the binary option contracts will have to put in their money beforehand. So, you can cash in on your earnings as soon the currency pair hits the strike price.

Recommended Forex Binary Options Broker

Foreign exchange trading does not have a physical marketplace. You have to open an account with an online forex broker to be able to trade in currency pairs. Since global economic and political news has a drastic impact on forex, you have to explore the full set of analytical tools that an online broker provides with a registered account.

Based on crucial factors such as pricing, trade fees, trade execution speed, ease of use and regulations, Benzinga recommends the following online brokers for trading forex binary options.

1. FOREX.com

FOREX.com is an industry-leading online broker for foreign exchange trading. It offers tight spreads on over 90 currency pairs. You can open an account on FOREX.com with a minimum deposit of $100 or 100 units of your preferred currency. With it, you can trade forex on desktop, internet browsers or on its mobile application. It has an impressive average execution speed of 0.05 seconds per trade.

FOREX.com provides powerful market analysis tools such as the economic calendar, advanced charting, pivot points and daily updates from current events and geopolitical news. It is regulated by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority. For more information, you can read our full FOREX.com review.

2. IG

Founded in 1974, IG is the preferred online forex broker for over 178,000 traders worldwide. You can open an account on IG with a $0 minimum deposit. You can also open a demo account to practice forex trading with limited risks. The demo account provides you with AUD $20,000 in virtual funds to help you try your hand at forex trading without any capital investment.

IG offers over 80 currency pairs to trade with. IG's proprietary technology ProRealTime allows you to filter binary options by strike price and expiration date. It has a round-the-clock customer support facility to answer any queries you have. It is regulated by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission and is a member of the National Futures Association.

3. TD Ameritrade

TD Ameritrade is a commission-free online forex trading platform. You can open an account on TD Ameritrade with $0 minimum deposit. It offers over 70 currency pairs to trade with. The paperMoney tool helps you experiment with new forex trading strategies without risking your own money.

TD Ameritrade's thinkorswim platform gives you access to professional-grade tech tools to heighten your forex trading experience. With this integrated platform, you gain access to global forex charting packages, currency trading maps and real-time breaking news from CNBC International. TD Ameritrade is regulated by FINRA.

Sink or Swim

Trading forex binary options can feel a bit like cliff diving. When you hit the waters, you either sink or you swim, and for forex beginners that thrill can be all the more alluring. Similarly, when the contract expires on your forex binary options, it can either settle at $0 or $100. Your hard-earned money is either going to go in or swim out of your pocket, so you should consider this forex trading strategy only if you have a high-risk tolerance.

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For as little as Sh100, you can now have a go at online trading - The Standard

Posted: 31 Mar 2020 01:00 AM PDT

In a bid to draw in mass retail investors, Standard Investment Bank (SIB) plans to lower the requirements for online forex trading.The licensed online forex trading money manager currently runs Mansa X, a fund that invests in global online forex markets, where an investor needs to put in a minimum of Sh250,000 for at least six months.SIB now plans to introduce another product that will enable retail investors to put in as little as Sh100 and, just like with Mansa X, expose them to different global markets.

Other than online forex markets, the money manager also gives investors exposure to commodities, precious metals, global stock indices and global single stocks.SIB Executive Director for Global Markets Nahashon Mungai noted that the product, which will largely be distributed through mobile channels, will also enable investors easy exits, unlike with many traditional investments where investor cash is locked in for lengthy periods of time."We are going to lower the investment amount. We are already at an advanced stage with the new product that we have been planning to bring to the market. We have got all the approvals," Mr Mungai said in an interview.

Bishop who fought for Kenyans

"It will allow investments of as low as Sh100. That is how low we want to go. We want to allow the boda boda guy, when he looks at his numbers at the end of the day, to be able to send Sh200 into that account and to continuously grow his investments."Mungai said the returns for the mass market product could, however, be lower than what the firm gives its investors in Mansa X.

Investors will be able to open accounts with the company on platforms that can be accessed using mobile phones, including through an app and USSD codes."The emphasis on the new product is distribution. One of the reasons people do not invest is because of distribution. If you only have Sh5,000, it is too much of a hassle going to look for money managers …. We are at the tail end of implementing the technology and testing some of the applications. By the third quarter of this year, we will be ready to roll out," Mungai said."It is more flexible for investors to get in and exit. While Sh100 might seem too low to take to the markets, it adds to Sh100 million when it is pooled. It is a reasonable amount to invest."The firm will be wooing ordinary Kenyans into a segment that is littered with stories of numerous people losing huge investments, especially to online forex traders."Forex trading has the unique infirmity of being full of guys who do not know what they are doing. For the longest time, people have assumed that forex trading is full of conmen because people have been losing money," said Mungai."There are some who have been outright fraudsters, but there are instances where amateurs look at the markets for two to three weeks and feel that they can trade, so they collect money from friends and family only to discover markets are not so easy when they lose. These are the categories of people that have given the industry a bad name." He added that the eagerness that Kenyans have shown in the past in putting their money in diverse areas is an indicator of a market that is ripe for such classes of investments as online forex.While investors have sought areas with high returns, they have ended up losing to rogue players, but Mungai said players in the capital markets had failed as they have been slow to innovate, and provided limited alternatives to stocks and bonds."For the longest time, the products available in money markets restricted Kenyans to traditional assets, and Kenyans in the past sensed they could do better with their money," he said."The growth of money markets has not been as fast as would be expected, but that is not the fault of Kenyans but the fault of the industry players who should have created products and made them appealing to Kenyans." [email protected]

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Forex trading Standard Investment Bank Mansa X SIB Nahashon Mungai Investment

Italy offers a peek into the corona-future - ForexLive

Posted: 31 Mar 2020 12:12 PM PDT

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Italy offers a peek into the corona-future ForexLive

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