Thursday, October 15, 2009

Car Finance Basics


There happens to be a lot of different things that people do no understand when it comes to getting yourself a new vehicle whether it is through leasing it or buying it, it still requires some information to know how it really does work. The thing that you should keep in mind the most is that a car dealership does not typically finance a car lease or a loan but in turn they will most definitely have some sort of impact on how much you will end up paying on your car financing.

One good thing to keep in mind is that a car dealership will always sell you a vehicle for cash in hand. These people are third party businesses that have purchased a franchise from one or multiple different car makers in order to sell the vehicles. They do not work for these car makers and always work for themselves. It is important to realize that the dealers buy these cars themselves usually through the use of a very large loan through a bank or another type of financial institution and as a result they are also charged rates of interest on these car loans. They then need to sell the cars off in order to pay off their initial loans as well as all of the other associated costs that come with running a car dealership.

Dealers will always get cash for a vehicle that they sell to someone, it could either come from the consumer himself, or some other financial institution that has loaned out the finances to a consumer in order to purchase the vehicle of their choice through an auto loan. People are usually under the misconception that they will be able to get a discount or a better deal if they pay for a vehicle in cash but this is not the case because they in fact will make more from raised interest rates and commissions if you go about financing the vehicle itself.

When a car dealership sells a vehicle to a consumer he will usually push onto them the typical bank or financial institution that they have working with them in order to get their financing settled. A lot of these dealerships will use some of the more well known and major financial institutions that have special deals with the car makers if you do not already have one and you would be paying an additional premium for that luxury. As a consumer however, you have the ability to bring on your own auto financing company if you would like to. The point of stating this is to make it perfectly clear to you that a car dealership does not finance a loan to a consumer at all. They will not process the loans or even take payments on the loans themselves, all they will do is take the application papers that you fill out and will try to arrange some sort of financing with companies that they usually work with for a small fee.

Now a dealer could go about checking your credit history, but this is not for the purposes of getting you the consumer a car or vehicle loan, but is done in order to figure out quickly whether or not the consumer would even be capable of getting a vehicle or if they have any serious credit issues that are currently outstanding. The dealer is not the financial institution and is unable to approve you the consumer for a loan. The financial institution that the dealership forwards your filled out application to will do their own set of credit history checks as well as check out your past payment history and your overall debt to income ratio. This check is a lot better done then what a dealer could possibly do so if you happen to have a dealer check out your credit and tell you that you are alright, they really may not have any idea at all so keep this in mind as well.

When the financial institution is done checking out your credit worthiness you will be classified in one of three types which are prime, near prime, and sub prime. Prime means that you have a great credit profile and have a higher score usually above six hundred and eighty, as a result of this you will be offered the best possible interest rates on your loan. Near prime usually will fall around the six hundred and twenty to the six hundred eighty mark and will usually mean that you could pay as much as four or so percent more then someone that has a prime score. If you happen to be below that and are considered to be sub prime then you are going to have some issues with finding a lending institution that will be willing to give you a auto loan and when you do end up finding a good one the rate of interest you will be paying is going to be very high.

You should also be aware that a car dealership has the ability to change the rate of interest that you would be paying on your car loan. One of the types of hidden fees that some shady car dealerships will try to include to consumers when they purchase or lease a vehicle is to mark it up so that your interest rate is increased regardless of your good credit score. This sort of markup can go up as much as two percent on your overall rate of interest and this particular markup of your interest rate will never be mentioned on any document that you would ever be signing. The car dealership will say that this increase can be considered justifiable because it helps them cover the cost of getting the consumer the financing they need but it is just additional profit or is used to make up for something they may have given to you somewhere else in the car deal. The most a car dealership is legally allowed to mark up your interest rate is by two and a half percent.

Something that a lot of people will ask when they go about getting a new car or vehicle is whether or not they are able to negotiate for their own rate of interest. In a lot of these situations you will not be able to negotiate the base rate of interest that a lending institution gives to you but you will be able to try and haggle down the markup that a car dealership tries to give to you. You should know that though some car dealerships practice this shady act not all of them take part in it. You should also realize that the better credit profile that you have the better rate of interest you will receive over all from the financial institution. So knowing what your credit profile looks like and shopping around on the internet is of the best things you can do for yourself before even ever walking into a car dealership.

Even if a car dealership does check your credit it really does not matter and this is a mistake that most people think occurs. Just because they said it looks good on their end it does not mean it is a done deal for you. When a consumer buys or leases a new vehicle with a car finance they will usually sign papers that state that they agree to purchase the vehicle using funds that are provided to them through a financing company and if they are not approved by the company the deal itself is considered nulled and voided unless they are able to secure another way of financing. Once this is done the car dealership is in no way again involved in the monthly repayment of the loan itself and is no longer responsible for it.

If you happen to have poor credit and come across problems trying to get approved for a vehicle because of your past payment history or debt to income ratio there are still a couple of things that you can do in order to get yourself that car of your dreams. Often times a co signer will allow you to get a vehicle without much of a problem. Other times a financial institution will ask for a large down payment to off set the high amount of risk that you have shown to them through your credit history. This will usually allow you to keep the same monthly payments while having the overall cost of the vehicle to go up. Even if a dealer lets you drive away with the car if the bank or financial company comes back to them denying the loan application the vehicle still will legally belong to them and they will require you to return it regardless of anything that you could have signed originally.

So when it comes down to it you should always know what your personal credit profile and score is before even walking into a car dealership just to make sure that you will not be startled when something goes down later on. The next thing you should do is to shop around for a good car finance that is flexible for all situations online before going into a car dealership so that you are prepared with money in hand in order to make sure that the car you are buying is yours and not the dealers. There are many different places to do this online and getting multiple quotes from different companies will allow you to find the best possible deal regardless of your credit history and situation.

If you have credit problems, repossession, bankruptcy, slow pays or are a first time buyer and in need of Car Lenders in USA. The car finance company offers the opportunity to buy a car on credit when you have been refused credit in the past. So, whatever the reasons - bad credit or no credit or bankruptcy, there is a good chance we can help you!

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Foreign Margin Markets

Comparing to other investment, the Foreign Exchange margin trading is one of the fairest and the most attractive investment method.

The Foreign Exchange margin trading meaning the traders borrow loan from bank, finance organization or broker house to carry on the foreign currency trading. Generally, the financing proportion is above 20 times, which means the Forex traders’ fund may enlarge to 20 times to carry on the trading. The bigger the financing proportion, means the Forex traders just need to pay very less fund, for example, the financing proportion provided by the financial organization is 400 times, namely the lowest margin request is 0.25%, the traders just need to pay 25 US dollars, then he or she could trade as high as 10,000 US dollars, fully using the contra method to make big profit by only paying a very less price.

Besides the fund enlargement, another attraction of the Forex margin trading method is that it can be traded in both ways, you can make profit by buying the currency when the currency rise (makes many), or to sell a currency when the currency is dropping to make profit (short-selling), thus does not need to be restricted by the restriction so-called bear market is unable to make money.

Making Profit in the Foreign Exchange Market
The currency fluctuate continuously due to reasons such as political, economical reasons, sometimes the changes could be extremely great, therefore, the Forex traders also can have the opportunity in among which makes a profit. For example, the Japanese Yen daily fluctuation is probably between 0.7% to 1.5%, Forex traders may make profit through buying and selling. All trading could be completed in a short time, the trading strategy could be carry up according to the market conditions, it is extremely flexible, even if the direction looks wrong, the lost could be stop immediately, the lost could reduce but profit potential is still great. Therefore, the Foreign Exchange margin trading is the most flexible and the most reliable investment method.
Foreign Exchange Margin Trading elementary knowledge
Currency name Commonly used currency code
Singapore dollar
Thai Bath
Swedish krona
Danish Krone
Norwegian krone
Spanish peseta
German Mark
US dollar
Euro
Japanese Yen
Pound
Swiss franc
Australian dollar
New Zealand Yuan
Canadian dollar
Hong Kong dollar
French franc
Italian lira
Belgian franc
SGD
THB
SEK
DKK
NOK
ESP
DEM
USD
EUR
JPY
GBP
CHF
AUD
NZD
CAD
HKD
FRF
ITL
BEF

The Perfect Forex Trading System


Most Forex trading systems forget about the most important component in a trading system, price action. Incorporating it in our trading system will generate more consistent results.

Trading the Forex market has became very popular in the last few years. But how difficult is it to achieve success in the Forex trading arena? One of the main reasons of this is because Forex traders focus on technical indicators to make their trading decisions and totally forget about the most important factor: Price behavior.

Most Forex trading systems are made off technical indicators (a moving average (MA) crossover, overbought/oversold conditions in an oscillator, etc.) But what are technical indicators? They are just a series of data points plotted in a chart; these points are derived from a mathematical formula applied to the price of any given currency pair. In other words, it is a chart of price plotted in a different way that helps us see other aspects of price.

There is an important implication on this definition of technical indicators. The fact that the readings obtained from them are based on price action. Take for instance a long MA crossover signal, the price has gone up enough to make the short period MA crossover the long period MA generating a long signal. Most traders see it as “the MA crossover made the price go up,” but it happened the other way around, the MA crossover signal occurred because the price went up. Where I’m trying to get here is that at the end, price behavior dictates how an indicator will act, and this should be taken into consideration on any trading decision made.

Trading decisions based on technical indicators without taking price action into consideration will give us less accurate results. For example, again a long signal generated by a MA crossover as the market approaches an important resistance level. If the price suddenly starts to bounce back off that important level there is no point on taking this signal, price action is telling us the market doesn’t want to go up. Most of the time, under this circumstances, the market will continue to fall down, disregarding the MA crossover.

Don’t get me wrong here, technical indicators are a very important aspect of trading. They help us see certain conditions that are otherwise difficult to see by watching pure price action. But when it comes to pull the trigger, price action incorporation into our Forex trading system will definitely put the odds in our favor, it will generate higher probability trades.

So, how to create a perfect Forex trading system?
First of all, you need to make sure your trading system fits your trading personality; otherwise you will find it hard to follow it. Every trader has different needs and goals, thus there is no system that perfectly fits all traders. You need to make your own research on various trading styles and technical indicators until you find a concept that perfectly works for you. Make sure you know the nature of whatever technical indicator used.

Secondly, incorporate price action into your system. So you only take long signals if the price behavior tells you the market wants to go up, and short signals if the market gives you indication that it will go down.

Third, and most importantly, you need to have the discipline to follow your Forex trading system rigorously. Try it first on a demo account, then move on to a small account and finally when feeling comfortably and being consistent profitable apply your system in a regular account.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

What is Forex???


Most aspiring traders may have heard about forex trading. For those that are unfamiliar with this market, here is a simple definition of what Forex is. Forex basically refers to the Foreign Exchange market. Veterans in this market have givin’ the market several names over time, some include “FX”, “Spot FX” or “Retail Forex”. Whatever you want to call it, you should know that it is the biggest financial market in the entire world. With volume trades nearing $5 trillion dollars a day. Compared to other popular American markets such as the NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) this equates to nearly 40x larger. Its no surprise that Forex trading has huge a following of aspiring traders!

Friday, October 9, 2009

Benefits of Forex Markets

FX market trading requires the trade of money or worldwide currencies There are not many nations in the world that aren’t engaged in the fx market where they buy and sell money based on the value of that particular currency at the moment. because of the fact that some currencies aren’t worth much that money will not be bought and sold hard when the currency improves in value, additional brokers and bankers start to commit in the market at that moment.


The trading on the Forex market happens daily and it involves moving over two trillion dollars each day which is a lot of money. Think about how many millions it takes to bring about a total of a trillion and now think about how this is done each day. So, if you want to get involved in where the money is, the foreign exchanage market is the setting where money is exchanging hands each day.

The currencies that are traded on the forex markets are going to be those from countries all over the world. Each currency has it’s own three-letter symbol this symbol represents that country and the monies that are being traded. For example the British pound is GBP and the United Stated dollar is USD, and the Japense yen is JPY and the Euro is EUR. Many currencies can be traded in one day, or you can trade to a different currency every day. Most trades through a broker, or those of a company are going to require some type of fee, before making too many trades you want to be sure of the trades you are making so you know which involve additional fees.

Every day there are trades between countries and markets most of the heavy trading takes place between the Euro and the US dollar, then the US dollar and the Japanese yen, and finally between the British pound and the US dollar. The trading takes place all night, and all day and in various markets. As one country opens trading for the day other countries are closing trading for the day which means worldwide time zones impact how the trading will take place and at what time the markets open.

Moving from one market to another moving from one currency to another your transactions will be explained by symbols. Each transaction will look something like this JPYzzz/USDzzz the zzz is to represent the percentages of trading for the percentage of the transaction. You could also see could look like this AUSzzz/USD and so on. When you review and read your fx statement as well as your online information the symbols will make more sense just learn the symbols that represent the currency that you are trading.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Forex Trading Basics


The global foreign exchange market is the biggest market in the world. The 3.2 trillion USD daily turnover dwarfs the combined turnover of all the world's stock and bond markets.

There are many reasons for the popularity of foreign exchange trading, but among the most important are the leverage available, the high liquidity 24 hours a day and the very low dealing costs associated with trading.

Of course many commercial organisations participate purely due to the currency exposures created by their import and export activities, but the main part of the turnover is accounted for by financial institutions. Investing in foreign exchange remains predominantly the domain of the big professional players in the market - funds, banks and brokers. Nevertheless, any investor with the necessary knowledge of the market's functions can benefit from the advantages stated above.

In the following article, we would like to introduce you to some of the basic concepts of foreign exchange trading. If you would like any further information, we suggest that you sign up for a FREE Membership on this website, where you will be able to exchange views with other Forex traders and get answers to any questions you might have.

Margin Trading

Foreign exchange is normally traded on margin. A relatively small deposit can control much larger positions in the market. For trading the main currencies, Saxo Bank requires a 1% margin deposit. This means that in order to trade one million dollars, you need to place just USD 10,000 by way of security.

In other words, you will have obtained a gearing of up to 100 times. This means that a change of, say 2%, in the underlying value of your trade will result in a 200% profit or loss on your deposit. See below for specific examples. As you can see, this calls for a very disciplined approach to trading as both profit opportunities and potential risks are very large indeed.

Base Currency and Variable Currency

When you trade, you will always trade a combination of two currencies. For example, you will buy US dollars and sell euro. Or buy euro and sell Japanese yen, or any other combination of dozens of widely traded currencies. But there is always a long (bought) and a short (sold) side to a trade, which means that you are speculating on the prospect of one of the currencies strengthening in relation to the other.

The trade currency is normally, but not always, the currency with the highest value. When trading US dollars against Singapore dollars, the normal way to trade is buying or selling a fixed amount of US dollars, i.e. USD 1,000,000. When closing the position, the opposite trade is done, again USD 1,000,000. The profit or loss will be apparent in the change of the amount of SGD credited and debited for the two transactions. In other words, your profit or loss will be denominated in SGD, which is known as the price currency. As part of our service, Saxo Bank will automatically exchange your profits and losses into your base currency if you require this.

Dealing Spread, but No Commissions

When trading foreign exchange, you are quoted a dealing spread offering you a buying and a selling level for your trade. Once you accept the offered price and receive confirmation from our dealers, the trade is done. There is no need to call an exchange floor. There are no other time-consuming delays. This is possible due to live streaming prices, which are also a great advantage in times of fast-moving markets: You can see where the market is trading and you know whether your orders are filled or not.

The dealing spread is typically 3-5 points in normal market conditions. This means that you can sell US dollars against the euro at 1.7780 and buy at 1.7785. There are no further costs, commissions or exchange fees.

This ensures that you can get in and out of your trades at very low slippage and many traders are therefore active intra-day traders, given that a typical day in USDEUR presents price swings of 150-200 points.

Spot and forward trading

When you trade foreign exchange you are normally quoted a spot price. This means that if you take no further steps, your trade will be settled after two business days. This ensures that your trades are undertaken subject to supervision by regulatory authorities for your own protection and security. If you are a commercial customer, you may need to convert the currencies for international payments. If you are an investor, you will normally want to swap your trade forward to a later date. This can be undertaken on a daily basis or for a longer period at a time. Often investors will swap their trades forward anywhere from a week or two up to several months depending on the time frame of the investment.

Although a forward trade is for a future date, the position can be closed out at any time - the closing part of the position is then swapped forward to the same future value date.

Interest Rate Differentials

Different currencies pay different interest rates. This is one of the main driving forces behind foreign exchange trends. It is inherently attractive to be a buyer of a currency that pays a high interest rate while being short a currency that has a low interest rate.

Although such interest rate differentials may not appear very large, they are of great significance in a highly leveraged position. For example, the interest rate differential between the US dollar and the Japanese yen has been approximately 5% for several years. In a position that can be supported by a 5% margin deposit, this results in a 100% profit on capital per annum when you buy the US dollar. Of course, an even more important factor normally is the relative value of the currencies, which changed 15% from low to high during 2005 – disregarding the interest rate differential. From a pure interest rate differential viewpoint, you have an advantage of 100% per annum in your favour by being long US dollar and an initial disadvantage of the same size by being short.
Please refer to our page Forex Rates & Conditions for current Spreads, Margins and Conditions!

Such a situation clearly benefits the high interest rate currency and as result, the US dollar was in a strong bull market all through 2005. But it is by no means a certainty that the currency with the higher interest rate will be strongest. If the reason for the high interest rate is runaway inflation, this may undermine confidence in the currency even more than the benefits perceived from the high interest rate.

Stop-loss discipline

As you can see from the description above, there are significant opportunities and risks in foreign exchange markets. Aggressive traders might experience profit/loss swings of 20-30% daily. This calls for strict stop-loss policies in positions that are moving against you.

Fortunately, there are no daily limits on foreign exchange trading and no restrictions on trading hours other than the weekend. This means that there will nearly always be an opportunity to react to moves in the main currency markets and a low risk of getting caught without the opportunity of getting out. Of course, the market can move very fast and a stop-loss order is by no means a guarantee of getting out at the desired level.

But the main risk is really an event over the weekend, where all markets are closed. This happens from time to time as many important political events, such as G7 meetings, are normally scheduled for weekends.

For speculative trading, we always recommend the placement of protective stop-lossorders. With Saxo Bank Internet Trading you can easily place and change such orders while watching market development graphically on your computer screen.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

International organizations of Finance and Trading


International organizations European Common Market GATT = General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade G8 IMF = International Monetary Fund OPEC = Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries Basically trade means exchange of goods, services, or both. Trade is also called commerce. The actual face of trade was barter, which was the direct exchange of goods and services. Today traders generally negotiate through a medium of exchange, like money, which then makes buying separate from selling, or earning. The invention of money has made trade simpler. Trade between two traders is called bilateral trade, while trade between more than two traders is called multilateral trade. Trade exists for many reasons. It can be due to specialization and division of labor. Trade exists between regions because different regions have a comparative advantage in the production of some tradable commodity, or because different regions' size helps getting benefits of mass production. History of Trade: Trade originated in prehistoric times. It was the main facility of prehistoric people, who bartered goods and services from each other when modern money was never even thought of. Peter Watson dates the history of long-distance commerce from circa 150,000 years ago. Trade is believed to have taken place throughout much of recorded human history. Materials used for the creation of jewelry were traded with Egypt since 3000 BC. Long-distance trade routes first appeared in the 3rd millennium BC, by the Sumerians in Mesopotamia when they traded with the Harappan civilization of the Indus Valley. Trading is greatly important to the global economy. From the very beginning of Greek civilization to the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century, a financially worthwhile trade brought valuable spice to Europe from the Far East, including China. The fall of the Roman Empire, and the succeeding Dark Ages brought insecurity to Western Europe and a near end of the trade network. However some trade did occur, the Radhanites were a medieval group of Jewish merchants who traded between the Christians in Europe and the Muslims of the Near East. The Sogdians ruled the East-West trade route known as the Silk Road from the end 4th century AD to the 8th century AD. The Vikings and Varangians also traded from the 8th to the 11th century as they sailed from and to Scandinavia. Vikings sailed to Western Europe, while Varangians to Russia. Vasco da Gama restarted the European Spice trade in 1498. Earlier to his sailing around Africa, the flow of spice into Europe was controlled by Islamic powers, especially Egypt. The spice trade was of major economic importance and helped encourage the Age of Exploration. Spices brought to Europe from distant lands were some of the most valuable commodities for their weight, sometimes rivaling gold. In the 16th century, Holland was the centre of free trade, imposing no exchange controls, and advocating the free movement of goods. In 1776, Adam Smith published the paper “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”. This paper criticized Mercantilism, and argued that economic specialization could benefit nations just as much as firms. Since that time the division of labor was restricted by the size of the market, he said that countries having access to larger markets would be able to divide labor more efficiently and thereby become more productive. The Great Depression was a major economic collapse that ran from 1929 to the late 1930s. There was a great setback in trade and other economic indicators during this period. The lack of free trade was considered by many as a root cause of the depression. Only during the World War II the recession ended in United States. History of Money: The first instances of money were objects with fundamental value are called commodity money and includes any commonly-available commodity that has intrinsic value; historical examples include rare seashells, whale's teeth, and cattle. In medieval Iraq, bread was used as an early form of money. Roman denarius Currency was introduced as a standardized money to facilitate a wider exchange of goods and services. This first stage of currency metals were used to represent stored value. As the system of commodity money evolved in many instances it then became representative money. Current Trends: Doha round The Doha round of World Trade Organization negotiations aims to lower barriers to trade around the world, focusing on making trade fairer for developing countries. Talks have been hung over a divide between the rich, developed countries, and the major developing countries. Agricultural subsidies are the most significant issue upon which agreement has been hardest to negotiate. By contrast, there was much agreement on trade facilitation and capacity building. The Doha round began in Doha, Qatar, and negotiations has subsequently continued in: Cancun, Mexico; Geneva, Switzerland; and Paris, France and Hong Kong.