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Forex Trading: The EUR/USD Forex Currency Pair
The EUR/USD is a major forex currency pair and is among the most traded currency pairs in the world. According to the Bank of International Settlements (BIS), US dollar trades accounted for 88% of the daily turnover of OTC forex instruments in 2016. This amounted to a daily average of US$4,438 billion. The Euro accounted for 31% of the daily forex OTC turnover which amounted to an average of $US1,591 per day.
Because the US dollar and the Euro are the two largest currencies in the world, significant numbers of multinational corporations conduct business between the US and the European economies. This gives rise to the need to hedge against foreign exchange risk which is one of the main reasons why the EUR/USD is a popular trading pair.
In addition, due to the liquidity of the two currencies, the spreads are relatively low, making trading opportunities attractive for retail traders.
At the end of trading on Friday February 24, 2017, the currency pair closed at a price of 1.0563, a 0.16% fall from the previous close. The volatility of the EUR/USD currency pair during the last 10 weeks was 0.85%, with the pair moving by some 88.86 pips during the period.
Fundamental Factors Affecting the EUR/USD
There are several fundamental factors that may affect the EUR/USD currency pair, with the more impacting factors being interest rates, and employment numbers. Other factors include political decisions, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), trade balances and retail sales, and Consumer and Producer Price Indices.
Brexit has had a negative impact on not only the Pound Sterling, but also the Euro, with the euro falling by some 1% versus the US dollar since the June 23rd referendum in 2016. Factors that are likely to affect the EUR/USD in 2017 include Trump policies, European economies and interest rates.
There is some amount of uncertainty surrounding what will happen to the dollar if President Trump makes good on his promises of border tariffs and taxes. This may lead to an increase in the real effective exchange rate. If the Federal Reserve increases interest rates in the US, this is likely to create greater demand for the dollar, pushing up the exchange rate
How to Trade the EUR/USD
Trading the EUR/USD through a CFD broker is a popular way of trading among retail traders. With CFD trading, it is advisable to use a regulated CFD broker such as London Capital Group (LCG), since trading is supervised and therefore is likely to present a safer trading environment.
Brokers allow traders to buy and sell currencies using their computers or mobile devices.
Some of the advantages of CFD trading with a regulated broker include:
· The opportunity to trade several different currency pairs with smaller deposit requirements than traditional trading methods. CFD brokers may allow for trading with margin deposits ranging between 2% and 10%. With traditional trading, much larger deposits, sometimes as much as 50%, are usually required. It is important to remember that leverage can go both ways and amplify both losses and profits.
For larger deposit sizes, reputable brokers such as LCG, ECN accounts are available which means tighter spreads. However, this will only prove beneficial for high volume traders due to commission structures. LCG offers traders up to 60 forex pairs.
· The ability to trade smaller lot sizes to a minimum of 0.01 lots per trade
· Greater leverage which maximizes potential rewards. However greater leverage also magnifies potential losses. For. Eg, with LCG, the leverage is as high as 1:500.
· Access to live feeds, charting information and education
Summary: Trading The Major Forex Pair:EUR/USD
The EUR/USD currency pair is a popular choice among traders. The pair is characterised with a high amount liquidity which gives rise to relatively smaller spreads. Using a CFD broker is a popular way to trade the pair given the tighter spreads, smaller deposit requirements, greater leverage, access to several markets and trading support.
