Posted on: 04-08-09 18:43:37
I am not willing to jump into forex or anything but want to do small scale purchase of USD when its cheaper and sell it when the rates go high. I am spanking new at this thought and am looking for information on below mentioned.
1. What would be the best place in toronto to buy and sell USD
2. If banks are the only option, which bank generally has the best exchange rates
3. current rate for USD is 1.07, Is this a good enough time to buy ?
3. I can go buy and store in Safety deposit box to save it for future sale, is that the only way to do this ? or is there an efficient way to buy and sell.
Any and all ideas and suggestion are much appreciated folks. The intent is to make some money and take advantage of the USD/CAD exchange rates - thanks in advance 
Quote:
Originally posted by Cougar
I am not willing to jump into forex or anything but want to do small scale purchase of USD when its cheaper and sell it when the rates go high. I am spanking new at this thought and am looking for information on below mentioned.
1. What would be the best place in toronto to buy and sell USD
2. If banks are the only option, which bank generally has the best exchange rates
3. current rate for USD is 1.07, Is this a good enough time to buy ?
3. I can go buy and store in Safety deposit box to save it for future sale, is that the only way to do this ? or is there an efficient way to buy and sell.
Any and all ideas and suggestion are much appreciated folks. The intent is to make some money and take advantage of the USD/CAD exchange rates - thanks in advance
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1) Places where you can exchange are
a) Banks Every Street Corner
b) Cambios. Or Kiosks Here in Canada at the airports
c) Some Travel Agents and Agencies. (CAA)
d) the neighborhood UTB. (Under the table)
e) the Brokers.
And a few that we all can explore and find as we go along.
2) RBO seems to be leading in my inquiries currently But it see-saws between all of the banks. Depends upon who is sleeping at the wheel. (Controls)
3) For people who want to buy and hold in small quantities you will have to average the purchase value to come up with a figure. But it will always be nice to buy at the periodic lows. One such time is now. Will it go lower and can I wait?
For this, say, if you have 1,500.00 dollars on you, You buy 500 today before the week ends and you buy another 500 when you feel it is lower, a few days from now. Then finally wait with another low with the last 500 for another opportunity to buy still lower. If it bounces back before you can buy at the lowest, then jump in immediately and take at what ever level it is at. OR alternately ask the bank to buy when the price hits 1.05 and tell them you want all of the 1,500 whenever it hits that low. That way you know you are getting 'a' price for all of it at that particular price and feel happy about it.
What happens if it never goes to 1.05? Then you loose and hence the suggestion that you take the bull by the horn yourself. Which means you do it all by your self whenever you feel right. Like what you see today. You have not missed the bus, because it is still going down and you can hop on it. The movement slows down when it is hesitant. But be prepared it will suddenly bounce two cents at a time.*
3) Good question. Is there an efficient way? Yes of course, without which the Day Traders will not benefit much. And How do they do it?
There is a mechanism called a Platform. You Trade on the platform. Or even calling over the phone and liquidating what you hold in your hand. (Which is a trade.) Then there are other advantages trading with a broker. IT is....
The mechanism is simple. One part of it is called the Leverage. What it means is. normally you go to the bank and give one Canadian Dollar and get 93 cents US minus what the bank takes as their commission, which is 2.5 cents, so you come home with 90.5 cents to the dollar. He that is not bad.
But when you leverage, the broker who does the exchange for you, gives you 100 dollars for the one Canadian Dollar that you give him. So when you liquidate your position or the trade, he gives you 100 times the gain. But you only get to keep the difference if you win, plus your initial sum with him. If you loose you lose the whole dollar. That is not what you want. So trading is not what you want. So, keep out of it.
Now see if you can find a broker who will do this exchange of a dollar for dollar, or one for one. They might do that. When you find one, you can leave the money with them in the form of Canadian Dollars or in US Dollars. You both decide upon the way you want to hold your positions. Also tell him that you want your money in US Currency, because that is what YOU want. You can keep on doing this over and over till you become an expert at it. Then you can move in BIG.
These Brokers are called Forex Brokers. AND
The process that you are thinking of accomplishing is called Forex Trading.
The way you want to do does not attract attention if you hold it in your own wallet, because every buy and sell is small and you want to carry the money home with you to a safety deposit box or to a safe in the wall.
But when you start to do the same in a BIG way, you start to pay taxes on the gains which is called Capital Gains.
Hence the title of the thread. Which "I call a spade a spade". What you are thinking of doing is Forex Trading.
I know, now you want to ask me can I keep on doing this BIG, in a small way? YES. Will I be making money all of the time? May be. Will I be winning all or most of the time. YES. So, how do I start? Simple. Learn the fundamentals first. Then do the same on Paper NEXT. When you are making money with it on Paper you will slowly gain confidence. That ounce of confidence will get you moving to the next level. From there you can proceed into the next level, and so on...
Where do I get that Ounce of Confidence?
You did not ask for it. But I am trying to get you into it. Learning is a process and a few master it quick and become champions. May be you can become the next one. So, here is the link to it. It may sound ODD but sorry for the title.
Hope this helps you a little.
Freddie.
https://secure.efxnow.com/forex2/eng/ct-dummies.pdf
It may take a little time to load, because the link is slow in finding the site and it is a large file too.
Quote:
Originally posted by ftfl
I know, now you want to ask me can I keep on doing this BIG, in a small way? YES. Will I be making money all of the time? May be. Will I be winning all or most of the time. YES. So, how do I start? Simple. Learn the fundamentals first. Then do the same on Paper NEXT. When you are making money with it on Paper you will slowly gain confidence. That ounce of confidence will get you moving to the next level. From there you can proceed into the next level, and so on...
Where do I get that Ounce of Confidence?
You did not ask for it. But I am trying to get you into it. Learning is a process and a few master it quick and become champions. May be you can become the next one. So, here is the link to it. It may sound ODD but sorry for the title.
Hope this helps you a little.
Freddie.
https://secure.efxnow.com/forex2/eng/ct-dummies.pdf
It may take a little time to load, because the link is slow in finding the site and it is a large file too.
I don't want to hijack this thread. However, I guess anyone getting into Forex will be interested in this.
Freddie,
Do you recommend any STP/NDD broker with the smallest possible initial capital requirement? If I were given a choice, I would prefer starting a new account with 5000 USD..lol..
Freddie,
Do you recommend any STP/NDD broker with the smallest possible initial capital requirement? If I were given a choice, I would prefer starting a new account with 5000 USD..lol..
____________________________________________________________
BUT a few of them do have a depth in field, which will give you a pool of funds that is available prior to placing an order, by which you can see the liquidity of the pool to tell you that the trade will go through. That is a relief. The initial Dollar value that they want from you to get in are slightly higher. They may also ask for a larger volume in lots.
Since there are no favourites, I will say you have to follow your insatincts and even if you have ONE bad trade take the phone and scream. If you need to switch, do it. Make sure you have all of the trades and times printed as soon as they appear on your screen, for each and every trade. Don't let it vanish. Once it has vanished, it is gone for ever. You snooze you loose.
That is the only way to keep this business clean.
So, do your own due diligence through the web and survive.
Hope this helps you a little.
Freddie.
And you are not hijacking this thread. You are making it better. Currently we are six cents off from PAR for the US dollar, and it is a good time to do the exchange. But one must learn the trade well before getting into it. After that sky is the limit. Let us see where we go with it. Before everyone gets their act together I want them to Paper Trade. Freddie.
Very interesting insights from knowledgable CDs....
Last year when CAD hit par with USD I converted few hundred CAD to USD and later used my USD at almost 20% discount (since the gap was 20%) it was good feeling but I have seen guys loose huge amount.
It all boils down to keeping the balance between discplne and greed, sticking to a plan or currecy pair and you need to mintor the fundamentals and technical variations. Good news is thanks to de-centralised computing or PC power (Windows + Intel magic) the Forex game has now become a consumer affair. Recently I found some AutoPilot programs or Robots which help you trade based on a strategy requiring minimum interventon just like topping up the fuel tank in car.
But, as others mentioned there are no short cuts, you need to learn, practice and keep unlearning and learning. I would not do this Forex trading as means of living but it can be good supplemental income (remember to set your stop loss level).
Even a journey of million $$ begins with baby steps and this is a good time to test waters.
Good Luck
Quote:
Originally posted by ftfl
Freddie,
Do you recommend any STP/NDD broker with the smallest possible initial capital requirement? If I were given a choice, I would prefer starting a new account with 5000 USD..lol..
____________________________________________________________
BUT a few of them do have a depth in field, which will give you a pool of funds that is available prior to placing an order, by which you can see the liquidity of the pool to tell you that the trade will go through. That is a relief. The initial Dollar value that they want from you to get in are slightly higher. They may also ask for a larger volume in lots.
Since there are no favourites, I will say you have to follow your insatincts and even if you have ONE bad trade take the phone and scream. If you need to switch, do it. Make sure you have all of the trades and times printed as soon as they appear on your screen, for each and every trade. Don't let it vanish. Once it has vanished, it is gone for ever. You snooze you loose.
That is the only way to keep this business clean.
So, do your own due diligence through the web and survive.
Hope this helps you a little.
Freddie.
And you are not hijacking this thread. You are making it better. Currently we are six cents off from PAR for the US dollar, and it is a good time to do the exchange. But one must learn the trade well before getting into it. After that sky is the limit. Let us see where we go with it. Before everyone gets their act together I want them to Paper Trade. Freddie.
Just to share that banks and Cambios around the corner never give good rates, the rate on yahoo or other online site shows 1.07 but when I enquired from HSBC they said 1.09. Can someone point fingers from where in they got good rate (with names of banks...or others)???
Jona
Why not get together at some place and discuss the various aspects of the trading game, a face2face interaction would be much better (if it can be arranged, since most of the posters are from the GTA), rather than interacting via CD. Probably, newbies can profit immensely from the experiences of people like Freddi. Financial supplement from trading can be a big morale booster during these tough economic times, that's for sure.
Quote:
Originally posted by pardesi_canadamein
Very interesting insights from knowledgable CDs....
Last year when CAD hit par with USD I converted few hundred CAD to USD and later used my USD at almost 20% discount (since the gap was 20%) it was good feeling but I have seen guys loose huge amount.
It all boils down to keeping the balance between discplne and greed, sticking to a plan or currecy pair and you need to mintor the fundamentals and technical variations. Good news is thanks to de-centralised computing or PC power (Windows + Intel magic) the Forex game has now become a consumer affair. Recently I found some AutoPilot programs or Robots which help you trade based on a strategy requiring minimum interventon just like topping up the fuel tank in car.
But, as others mentioned there are no short cuts, you need to learn, practice and keep unlearning and learning. I would not do this Forex trading as means of living but it can be good supplemental income (remember to set your stop loss level).
Even a journey of million $$ begins with baby steps and this is a good time to test waters.
Good Luck
Quote:
Originally posted by ftfl
Freddie,
Do you recommend any STP/NDD broker with the smallest possible initial capital requirement? If I were given a choice, I would prefer starting a new account with 5000 USD..lol..
____________________________________________________________
BUT a few of them do have a depth in field, which will give you a pool of funds that is available prior to placing an order, by which you can see the liquidity of the pool to tell you that the trade will go through. That is a relief. The initial Dollar value that they want from you to get in are slightly higher. They may also ask for a larger volume in lots.
Since there are no favourites, I will say you have to follow your insatincts and even if you have ONE bad trade take the phone and scream. If you need to switch, do it. Make sure you have all of the trades and times printed as soon as they appear on your screen, for each and every trade. Don't let it vanish. Once it has vanished, it is gone for ever. You snooze you loose.
That is the only way to keep this business clean.
So, do your own due diligence through the web and survive.
Hope this helps you a little.
Freddie.
And you are not hijacking this thread. You are making it better. Currently we are six cents off from PAR for the US dollar, and it is a good time to do the exchange. But one must learn the trade well before getting into it. After that sky is the limit. Let us see where we go with it. Before everyone gets their act together I want them to Paper Trade. Freddie.
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sumjo
