There are 2 basic types of analysis you can take when approaching the forex:

1. Fundamental analysis
2. Technical analysis.

There has always been a constant debate as to which analysis is better, but to tell you the truth, you need to know a little bit of both. So let’s break each one down and then come back and put them together.

Fundamental Analysis

Fundamental analysis is a way of looking at the market through economic, social and political forces that affect supply and demand. (Yada yada yada.)  In other words, you look at whose economy is doing well, and whose economy sucks.  The idea behind this type of analysis is that if a country’s economy is doing well, their currency will also be doing well.  This is because the better a country’s economy, the more trust other countries have in that currency.

For example, the U.S. dollar has been gaining strength because the U.S. economy is gaining strength. As the economy gets better, interest rates get higher to control inflation and as a result, the value of the dollar continues to increase.  In a nutshell, that is basically what fundamental analysis is.

Later on in the course you will learn which specific news events drive currency prices the most.  For now, just know that the fundamental analysis of the Forex is a way of analyzing a currency through the strength of that country’s economy.

Before we go any further we are going to be 100% honest with you and tell you the following before you consider trading currencies:

1. All forex traders, and we mean all traders LOSE money on trades.
   Ninety percent of traders lose money, largely due to lack of planning and training and having poor money management rules. Also, if you hate to lose or are a super perfectionist, you’ll probably have a hard time adjusting to trading.
2. Trading forex is not for the unemployed, those on low incomes, or who can’t afford to pay their electricity bill or afford to eat.
   You should have at least $10,000 of trading capital (in a mini account) that you can afford to lose. Don’t expect to start an account with a few hundred dollars and expect to become a billionaire.

The Forex market is one of the most popular markets for speculation, due to its enormous size, liquidity and tendency for currencies to move in strong trends. You would think traders all over the world would make a killing, but success has been limited to very small percentage of traders.

Many traders come with the misguided hope of making a gazillion bucks, but in reality, lack the discipline required for trading. Most people usually lack the discipline to stick to a diet or to go to the gym three times a week. If you can’t even do that, how do you think you’re going to succeed trading?

Short term trading IS NOT for amateurs, and it is rarely the path to “get rich quick”. You can’t make gigantic profits without taking gigantic risks. A trading strategy that involves taking a massive degree of risk means suffering inconsistent trading performance and often suffering large loss. A trader who does this probably doesn’t even have a trading strategy – unless you call gambling a trading strategy!

Technical analysis is the study of price movement.  In one word, technical analysis = charts.  The idea is that a person can look at historical price movements, and, based on the price action, can determine at some level where the price will go.  By looking at charts, you can identify trends and patterns which can help you find good trading opportunities.

The most IMPORTANT thing you will ever learn in technical analysis is the trend!  Many, many, many, many, many, many people have a saying that goes, “The trend is your friend”.  The reason for this is that you are much more likely to make money when you can find a trend and trade in the same direction.  Technical analysis can help you identify these trends in its earliest stages and therefore provide you with very profitable trading opportunities.

Now I know you’re thinking to yourself, “Geez, these guys are smart.  They use crazy words like “technical” and “fundamental” analysis. I can never learn this stuff!” Don’t worry yourself too much. After you’re done with the School of Pipsology, you too will be just as….uhmmm…”smart?” as us.

By the way, do you feel that green pill kicking in yet?  Bark like a dog!

The eight most frequently traded currencies (USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, CHF, CAD, NZD and AUD) are called the major currencies. All other currencies are referred to as minor currencies. Do not worry about the minor currencies, they are for professionals only. Actually, on this site we’ll mostly cover what we call the Fab Five (USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, and CHF). These pairs are the most liquid and the most sexy.

Base Currency

The base currency is the first currency in any currency pair. It shows how much the base currency is worth as measured against the second currency. For example, if the USD/CHF rate equals 1.6350, then one USD is worth CHF 1.6350. In the Forex markets, the U.S. dollar is normally considered the “base” currency for quotes, meaning that quotes are expressed as a unit of $1 USD per the other currency quoted in the pair. The primary exceptions to this rule are the British pound, the Euro, and the Australian and New Zealand dollar.

Quote Currency

The quote currency is the second currency in any currency pair. This is frequently called the pip currency and any unrealized profit or loss is expressed in this currency.

Pip

A pip is the smallest unit of price for any currency. Nearly all currency pairs consist of five significant digits and most pairs have the decimal point immediately after the first digit, that is, EUR/USD equals 1.2538. In this instance, a single pip equals the smallest change in the fourth decimal place – that is, 0.0001. Therefore, if the quote currency in any pair is USD, then one pip always equal 1/100 of a cent.

One notable exception is the USD/JPY pair where a pip equals $0.01.

School of Pipsology is designed to help you acquire the skills, knowledge, and abilities to become a successful trader in the foreign exchange market. Our definition of a successful trader is having the ability to do three things:

1. Make pips
2. Keep pips
3. Repeat

If you can repeatedly do these three things, then you’re on your way! But it’s no cakewalk.

Remember when you attended grade school? No? Well, according to our memories, here’s how it worked.

You start schooling at the age of five and enter Kindergarten. The next year you enter 1st Grade. If you pass, the next year you enter 2nd Grade, and so on, all the way up to the 12th Grade. Depending on what grade you’re in, you’d attend one of three schools:

1. Elementary school (Kindergarten – 5th grade)
2. Middle school (6th grade – 8th grade)
3. High school (9th grade – 12th grade)

This is how our lessons are broken apart, so you can relive the past and also be able to learn and study forex trading techniques at your own pace – but our high school goes beyond the 12th grade!

But there’s more!

Learning doesn’t end in high school!

If you’ve done well throughout grade school, you get a full scholarship to our college! All expenses paid and we won’t even require you to fill out any applications or write essays. What a deal!

Our curriculum here at the School of Pipsology will make a bold attempt to cover all aspects of forex trading. You will learn how to identify trading opportunities, how to time the market (aka smart guessing), and when to take profits or close a trade.

But that’s not all folks.

You will also learn how to predict the future and never have a losing trade.

Yeah right. In your dreams pal.

But there is plenty more to learn and you’ll just have to see for yourself!

What is traded on the Foreign Exchange?

The simple answer is money. Forex trading is the simultaneous buying of one currency and the selling of another. Currencies are traded through a broker or dealer, and are traded in pairs; for example the Euro dollar and the US dollar (EUR/USD) or the British pound and the Japanese Yen (GBP/JPY).

Because you’re not buying anything physical, this kind of trading can be confusing. Think of buying a currency as buying a share in a particular country. When you buy, say, Japanese Yen, you are in effect buying a share in the Japanese economy, as the price of the currency is a direct reflection of what the market thinks about the current and future health of the Japanese economy.

In general, the exchange rate of a currency versus other currencies is a reflection of the condition of that country’s economy, compared to the other countries’ economies.

Unlike other financial markets like the New York Stock Exchange, the Forex spot market has neither a physical location nor a central exchange. The Forex market is considered an Over-the-Counter (OTC) or ‘Interbank’ market, due to the fact that the entire market is run electronically, within a network of banks, continuously over a 24-hour period.

Until the late 1990’s, only the “big guys” could play this game. The initial requirement was that you could trade only if you had about ten to fifty million bucks to start with! Forex was originally intended to be used by bankers and large institutions – and not by us “little guys”. However, because of the rise of the Internet, online Forex trading firms are now able to offer trading accounts to ‘retail’ traders like us.

All you need to get started is a computer, a high-speed Internet connection, and the information contained within this site.