Forex Trading In Kenya – An Introduction


Forex or foreign exchange or simply FX, are terms used to represent the many world currencies being traded in the market. There is no single central forex market in Kenya, or the world. The foreign exchange market is more like an over the counter market and trading typically happens between two people/companies directly. You can trade currencies over the phone, or through the Internet from the world over. Some of the main forex trading centers are New York, London, Frankfurt, Sydney, and Tokyo. Due to these worldwide located hubs, the forex market pretty much trades around the clock.

What is Forex Trading?
Forex trading in Kenya or anywhere else in the world, is the buying and selling of a combination of two currencies simultaneously. This combination of trading currencies is known as ‘cross.’ For example: you can buy the Euro and sell the US dollar or you can buy Japanese yen and sell the GB pound or any other combinations. However, there are some currencies that are traded more often than others. These combinations of currencies, “crosses”, are known as ‘majors’ and include EURUSD (Euro-USD), USDJPY (USD-Yen), and GBPUSD (Pound-USD).

Another thing to remember when trading foreign exchange is that the forex market’s maximum volume of trade is known as the ‘spot market’. This is because the various trades get settled on an immediate or “on-the-spot” basis here. Typically, immediate means 2 banking days.

So How Do You Make Money?
Well, you make money by trading: buying low and selling high. One of the simplest ways to do this is by ‘forward outrights’.

Forward Outrights – simply put, this is a contract to buy an agreed amount of a certain currency at a future date and at a fixed price. For example, you could agree to buy $1,000 next month at Kshs 76 per dollar. When next month comes, if the dollar has risen to, say, Kshs 78 per dollar, then you can buy 1,000 dollars at 76 and selling them at 78, making Kshs 2 per dollar. It’s a gamble but can pay off quite well.

In the past, foreign exchange trading required huge amounts of money to start and was only for the “big boys”. However in the 1980s the rules were changed, and now even individuals can trade forex profitably and fairly easily. One major improvement is margin accounts.Basically, having a 100:1 margin account means that you can control $100,000 using only $1,000 of your own money. That said, ofrex trading is not always a smple affair. Every aspiring forex trader has to educate himself in order to make goos investment decisions. Once started, the trading is not difficult. But it is risky.

Why Trade Forex?
The advantages of trading forex and making money online are many. Some of these are:

  1. Around the clock trading – You can trade from Sunday evening 20:00 GMT to Friday evening 22:00 GMT.
  2. Higher Liquidity – You will always find buyers and sellers to trade FX with. The high market liquidity helps in stabilizing the price and narrow down the spreads.
  3. No commissions – Most forex trade is done without commission. This is one of the main reasons for foreign exchange trading being such as wonderful online money making choice for people in Kenya or the US.

How to Start Trading FX
To start trading, all you need a FX account with funds to buy forex and a PC with a good speed Internet connection. For beginners, we recommend sharpening your trading skills by opening a demo account with a good FX trading company. The account is free and allows you to ‘play’ with your funds to learn the trade. You can get a free practice account here or here.

In order to minimize your risks and maximize your gains, research extensively on the subject and use proper trading tools only. Do not hesitate to ask us for more information. Good luck. 🙂

Additional Resources

Comments

  1. ART is beauty which is greatly admired by the eyes of many but been an artist takes time to learn the art,skill,patience , commitment and lastly coming up with a signature that defines the artist work dont just admire forex.

  2. If you are a serious person interested in forex, you can get intouch with me I offer you plus upto 10 of your friends free training . Only the serioes people interested in forex will get the free training. You can get my number on the above comments. Kindly only call/ sms if you take forex trading as a serious business and you are in need of training or write to kenyaforexanswers@gmail.com if you need further clarification. I wish all forex traders great success in this online business.

  3. forex is not a get rich quick scheme as most people think.we are talking about the hardest game in town.we are talking of about 95% failure rate.you have to think outside the box,guys say you should start trading on a demo…well thats not good enough…you have to use a simulator which can be found for free on forums like forex factory to fasten your learning curve…test every system on forex factory,a minimum of 100 trades..you will discover 95% of the systems are bull sh*t….now start to create you own system,something that fits your personality..read wide,books like reminisces of a stock operator,market wizards,way of the turtle,definitive guide to position sizing..all can be downloaded for free via 4shared.i doubt any ‘teacher ‘ or guru in kenya has studied half this sh*t…you will be taught indicators,trendlines,pennants,patterns, simple money management…this stuff you can study for free unless you are retarded.few people have the will to succeed…you want every thing easy…well trading is one of the only real meritocracy on earth…you will soon find out what that means….this will hit home after your inevitable margin call.

    • As much as the forex market is risky, you sound to me more like a critic than one encouraging others to venture into forex

      • Agreed.
        Is civility so difficult?

        On that note, i encourage any interested party to try it out. Of course it won’t be easy, at all! (quite difficult in the beginning actually ;D) but once you’ve done the basics (quite an amount of research and training) you can learn to play quite well. But there are major risks involved (as in, you can loose your shirt as mike states), but you’ll never have the chance to succeed if you don’t actually try right?

        • I want to discourage all of those who believe in easy money ….this is probably the hardest way to make money …you have to love to take losses to survive and you have to love the game beyond money, let it be a passion above all else.

          sorry for the discouragement but that’s the way it is.

          • Yes, yes ,yes ,its good to tell it as it is,baby this not for the faint heart or some pyramid schemes,but the reward is…You have to be a sniper at taking the trades not a machine gunner,otherwise we may meet you without your shirt in downtown streets of nairobi.Patience is the name of the game,you should know that ,you are competing against the sharks-the hedge funds and big banks.

  4. Njoroge Dave says:

    Forex to me is the best thing to do because it earns me a good living.Though it is appreciative in returns it’s definitely not a shortcut to getting wealth especially to the Novice but having a demo account and a good broker contribution to enable you to enhance your trading skills both fundamentally and technically.

  5. Honestly speaking forex is not for every one,in order to trade forex you need to have the proper motivation,extensive research and reading,you need to be patient and persistent..you do not just wake up one day and decide to trade forex…but once you have gathered enough experience and you have started banking in your profits,you will realise that there is no better way of making money.

    • it’s true forex,is not for the novice, you will get ‘slaughtered’ or loose your shirt, but in the same note i must say its very easy to trade forex ,if you can listen to what the market is whispering to you .you have to trade in line with the big ‘dogs’ in the market.you will not make it big time if you are trading anything below one hour time frame,that will be gambling and you are better off at the casino or some ‘tazama chapaa’. Most traders, like cluttering their charts with fancy indicators,making trading more difficult,than it should be ,anyway i don’t see why a good currency trader should not double his account every month if he press the right ‘button’. Again i say, don’t loose your shirt.Good trading.

    • well said,

  6. Talk about Forex n will turn to your direction. I have been doing it for two years now and since i started trading its has moved me from a zero to a hero..i offer Forex Training at a negotiable prices location: around Nairobi and along Thika Road. if u around these areas count on me. Contact me on 0715164428 or email me at avaforexagency@yahoo.com

  7. what minimum can one start with?am in Kenya.am willing to venture in the business

    • Forex is 75 % psychology,money management,then your trading strategy.You need to identify what type of trader you are,swing,position,scalper,or a combination of all three and this takes time,your learning curve.You need to invest a lot of time,material on books that focus on mind,money management and method.Forex is not for everyone,most traders lose all their money,fund their accounts again,and lose more money,it becomes an addiction.@Marwa,its the best business if you can survive the journey,this market weeds out newbies.Losses are unavoidable,they are part of trading.Focus on learning how to trade,not the money,or dreaming on how you will be a millionaire.I always say it,your mind first,control risk,risk,risk.Be careful of people who offer to teach for a pay,many are not genuine.Professionals are too busy making money and they cant show you their ‘edge’.In this business DISCIPLINE will determine your success,your emotions will take control of you,fear,greed,losing trade after trade,blaming the market,the broker,the news,hell even the weather!Take ten people,teach them to trade,give them the same amount of money,the same currency pairs in a given time frame=different results,9 will break even,get margin calls,have large drawdown and maybe 1,yes MAYBE, one will be profitable in the long run.I am a full time trader.Good trading

      • professionals indeed don’t have the time to advertise themselves in the net,they simply make money like the ‘big dogs’. I will say once again anybody claiming to be a pro , yet trading anything below 1 hr time frame is just taking you for a ride.It took me many years to find my edge in this market,but majority just want to start making money the following day hence they end up losing their ‘shirts’. i aim for a minimum of 2500 pips every month,but i am not interested to show anybody my edge,good trading folks.

  8. Hi.i just wanted to know how much money can one start with? I am really interested and would like to understand this better.

    • the amount varies, it depends with the brokerage company you choose. Usually most of them insist on a minimum of $200 for a mini account and $500 for a standard account. However for a mini account if you have less than $200 you can negotiate with them via customer support(preferably a live chat from their website). I hope you got what you were looking for, all the best Michael

      regards,
      aphi.

  9. i real want to learn forex. I have dedicated my time to learning the theory and doing some demo. I still think I need somebody to give me more insight. I will appreciate any help from anyone of you.

    • may be as newbies, we can hook up and see what each one of us has to offer. remember there is no universal holy grail. just personalised, bespoke nostrums will do.

  10. how did you guys submit documents showing proof of residence…i have submitted electricity bill and bank statements to no avail.how do you get around this issue? thanks

  11. Geoffrey nduhiu says:

    0702758278if you want to know more about forex

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