One of the easiest, but extremely effective ways to evaluate the current state of retail economy in a country is based upon the volume of items sold by retail organizations. The information collected from 9 000 shops of the network Redbook allows to achieve the clear picture of consumer demand in a country and evaluate the dynamics of consumer´s preferences regarding the time of the year, days of the week, holidays and other events.

About the index.

Redbook index is calculated by a branch of the network called Redbook Research Inc and is published every week, on Thursday. In other words, the index is some kind of review o retail sales done by the network’s branches allowing to find out the tendencies of retail sales. For own convenience, it is divided into the following categories:

• Clothes

• Furniture

• Drugs (pharmacy)

• Sections

• Goods on sale

• Etc

The results of the research powered by Redbook Research Inc. are published since 1964 which grants an enormous analytical base regarding the consumer demand of the whole country.

How to interpret the data extracted from Redbook?

Knowing how do the data on consumer demand change at a certain timeframe, one may draw certain conclusions about private income of the population. This references to employment rate allowing to evaluate the volume of production being stored etc.

It is not exactly that Redbook index makes a significant influence on financial market and its participants, but it often accompanies some serious market changes. One should keep in mind the traditional days of sales, pre-holiday discounts, and an increased demand during natural disasters etc. At “Black Friday”, famous for its discounts, customers buy almost everything they see. At such occasions, the indicator Redbook is studied extremely thoroughly by the experts all over the world.

Not only the biggest players of forex market pay extra attention to it, but American financial experts also. The consumers’ customs change in accordance with the index influence the business cycle, escalation and thus the establishment of optimum interest rates by the main financial regulators of the country.

The volume of one´s personal income is different from salary in the way that the first one includes all the possible sources of money. In some cases the sum differs a lot, thus making their purchasing power analysis way more difficult. Real Earnings indicator is a narrow case, the data collected from the registered entities, while Personal Income is a general case, which includes not only salary and official income, but government aid and other sources.

What are the data sources?

Traders get information about Personal Income from Economical Analysis Bureau’s specialists the month proceeding after the fiscal month. Since this indicator is extremely important for strategy build-up, one’s got to clearly know at what exact time it is published — 9:30 EET (Eastern Standard Time) is the time when official reports appear on the Bureau’s web-site, and at Bloomberg’s, Thomas Reuters and others several minutes later.

How to interpret the Personal Income data?

Following the dynamics of personal income volume allows drawing certain conclusions. A growth of the indicator tells us about an increase in consumers’ customs leading to an increase in the amount of goods obtained. All of the mentioned above positively affects the county’s currency, but if the data revealed in the report shows no growth, but a decrease, one shall expect nothing but a negative scenario.

Personal Income Indicator is an important variable in every prognosis’ formula, though traders notice insignificant influence on the market. But either way, Personal Income is the best preceding indicator which reflects consumer costs and accordingly retail sales and escalation expectations.

American existing home sales is a field of domestic economics which is paid extra attention to by financial experts, bankers and, of course, traders. This is understandable, since the last global economical crises started particularly with severe problems with realty market.

The main trait of American realty consists in comparatively small share of new houses being built (and sold). Citizens normally buy and sell houses on secondary market, but each house is obligatory renewed before the sale.

Secondary Market Indicator

The number of sell-buy deals on secondary realty market — one of the clearest indicators reflecting the state of the mentioned field. That’s why it is paid extra attention to, since it shows the amount of re-sold houses per month. This indicator is more important than new home sales.

When is it published?

A specific trait of this indicator is it’s period of publication — per year. Each numeral collected by the census bureau is multiplied by 12. You may find the current report on the Bureau’s web-site (or some other news agency) on the 20th of each month following the financial month. The data regarding sold houses is published at 11 O’clock EST.

How does the indicator affect financial market?

The field of American realty is attractive, since it opens some new employment opportunities. These are representatives of building field, who repair the old houses, bank accountants who permit or reject loans and the whole army of brokers who are in charge for execution of corresponding transactions. It is obvious that if Existing Home Sales turns out to higher than expected, it shall have positive effect on the market, an increase in sales also increases labor demand.

Along with the mentioned, this indicator sometimes isn’t correctly analyzed by traders while studying its dynamics. The “problem” is in different price levels for secondary buildings. In other words, if the general volume for financial month has fallen it shall be extremely important to study the dynamics in “cheap”, “middle” and “expensive” price level segments. Thus there was a situation in 2013 when Existing Home Sales hadn’t made it to the prognosis level, but the amount of deals in “expensive” segment skyrocketed. This factor almost neutralized the effect that general sales volume produced when it has fallen.

This index is characterized by an extreme influence on the market and neither traders, nor market analysists and financial experts leave it out in the cold. The index of business activity in the field of services is also that important, since its indicator is the result of public surveys conducted among specialists who find themselves in the amidst of the market and who see it from the inside and participate in it.

The monthly survey in Supply Services is conducted by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM). 400 surveyed are the representatives of different fields of business (finance, life and property insurance, sales, education, real estate, etc). They are asked about the current business conditions, volumes of orders, price levels, product stock levels, etc. The result of the survey is reflected in percentage and subdivided accordingly.

When is it published?

The report on ISM is published every 3rd day of the month proceeding the financial month. The exact time is 10.00 EET (Eastern European Time). Traders may find the report on the ISM web-site — www.instituteforsupplymanagement.org or in feeds of such news agencies as Bloomberg, Thomas Reuters and others.

Influence of ISM on the market

Much does the business sector know about all the changes that happen inside the market. Specialists in Forex all as one call Supply Managers the connoisseurs of the country’s economy, prospects and expectations. As a result ISM Services Index is considered to be a most accurate leading index of country’s economic health.

Everyone has heard about the fantastic possibilities provided by Forex: that it means high income, low initial deposit, availability of various trading-facilitating software, absence of intermediaries and thus, of high commissions that eat into the profits, etc. Let's consider all this item by item.

Forex is an international currency market where major world currencies are traded. Anyone can become a trader and make money in this market. The main currencies traded on it are US dollar, euro, Japanese yen and British pound.

What is the work schedule of this market?

Forex is open for trading around the clock, five days a week from Monday to Friday, closing only on weekends and major holidays, such as Christmas and Easter.

How is money made?

Everything is very simple: you have to buy currency at a lower price, wait and then sell it at a higher price. Let’s suppose that the quotation of the euro to dollar currency pair (EURUSD) is 1.1226, and the trader believes that the rate will grow in the next few hours or days. Thus, he buys euros for dollars, and if the quotation goes up to, let’s say, 1.1296, he can conduct the reverse operation: sell euros and buy dollars.

As we can see, the difference between the purchase and sale price is 0.0070 or 70 points, which are called thousandths or PIP (point in percentage). Since the trader buys not one but 10,000 euros at once, he earns $70.

What to do if the exchange rate is going down?

If a trader believes that the exchange rate will fall, he can first sell, for example, the same 10,000 euros, and then buy them back. The main thing is to make this operation profitable, and thus, every PIP of the rate decrease will translate into one dollar of profit.

Fluctuations of exchange rates are based on fundamental principles, including the strength of the economy and changes in interest rates; yet, political and economic news, events elsewhere in the world or neighboring countries can affect these fluctuations as well. To profit from these changes, the trader needs to either own extensive amount of funds or use credit leverage. When using the latter, even small amount of a few hundred or a thousand dollars can grow 100-, 200- or 400-fold.

With only 1000 US dollars, you can use credit leveraging, for example, 1 to 50 or 1 to 100, to get very large profits within a short period of time. Let's say, the exchange rate of the peso against the dollar has changed from 19.20 to 19.60, i.e., the difference is 0.40. With a leverage of 1 to 50, your earnings with an investment of one thousand dollars will increase 50 times, from 400 pesos to 20,000 pesos. On the other hand, if the trader’s estimation of the direction of the rate change proves to be wrong, he will lose the lion share of the deposit amount with even the slightest fluctuation.

Where can I get 1,000,000 pesos? I don’t have so much money at my disposal

This issue can be solved by using leveraging. If you have funds sufficient for a small security deposit, leveraging will enable you to obtain the amount of funds that is several times larger: the broker will lend you this amount, albeit for a short time and only for investing it in financial markets. With about 1,000 US dollars at a 1-to-50 leverage you will be able to use $50,000 (about 1 million pesos); and the higher the leverage is, the greater the amount of funds will be, meaning that even a 1 point change in the exchange rate will bring you tens and hundreds dollars of profit if your prediction of the direction of price movement has been correct.

All this is true: you can indeed trade at any time convenient for you from almost any place with access to the Internet, getting high profits from small investments. However, you always need to remember the risks involved and understand that Forex trading may not be suitable for everyone.

What are the Forex risks?

The main risk of trading in the Forex market is the use of leveraging. Leveraging will multiply your profits manifold provided the rate moves in the direction you have predicted, but it can also cause losses as quickly if your prediction proves to be incorrect. Statistics show that most Forex traders lose their investment, but it is possible to reduce the risk.

To reduce risk, you must develop a trading strategy and strictly follow it, as well as to be determined and non-greedy. A trader must keep learning, be able to extract information from the news, know how to analyze it, and anticipate possible changes in the exchange rates. Technical analysis and trading robots that reduce errors can be of great help. You should also avoid using the entire deposit or maximum leverage for trading.

How safe is Forex trading?

The Forex market is global and operates 24 hours a day, 5 days a week; therefore, no one controls or regulates it. Forex is not under the control of, say, the Mexican CNBV or the American SEC. However, brokers who provide trading services in this market are issued licenses and being controlled by the financial regulators of the countries in which they are registered.

Often, advertising for the services of Forex brokers does not disclose all the risks that accompany currency trading.

For example:

Forex trading is conducted round the clock and you can earn money in your free time.

Indeed, you can conduct Forex trading at any time and in any convenient place, but this doesn’t mean that you can earn at any time. The choice of the moment of opening or closing a transaction is very important, and for this you will have to study the exchange rate charts, follow the news and wait for the best moment for buying and selling a certain currency pair. This moment does not necessarily coincide with your free time. If you really want to make good profit on Forex, you need to make it your full-time job.

Some people argue that Forex trading is the easiest and fastest way to increase income.

If everything were that simple, everyone would be making money on Forex, but this is not so. In financial markets, the profit of one trader is, as a rule, derived from the losses of other traders. At that, it is the inexperienced traders who most often lose their investments.

Risks in the foreign exchange market are high, and financial advisers recommend Forex to major investors who already have sufficient trading experience, a good understanding of both the macroeconomic and political situation and have the ability to diversify their investments.

A cent account is a real trading account where the balance and all transactions are displayed in cents rather than dollars or euros. When depositing $20, the terminal displays 2,000 ¢. By market "physics," this is full trading: there are spreads, swaps, slippage, and order execution—everything you would expect on a regular account. The only difference is in the absolute sums, which are smaller, thereby reducing the cost of mistakes. This format is convenient for beginners to practice basic skills and discipline, for traders testing a strategy or an advisor in real execution, and for those who are considering a new broker and want to check spreads, speed, and stability of execution without undue risk. Unlike a demo, real money is involved here, which means there is emotion and responsibility—a key element of any practice.

The main advantage of a cent account is the flexibility in risk management through micro-lots. On EURUSD for a USD account, 0.01 of a lot corresponds to approximately $0.10 per point, and 0.001 of a lot is about $0.01 per point. This allows you to "slice" the position very finely: enter with minimal volume, increase with additional investments, partially fix profits, and carefully scale the strategy. Psychologically, this is also easier: you feel real profits and losses, but their absolute size doesn't pressure you or provoke impulsive decisions. Imagine an account with $25 (2,500 ¢) and a trade of 0.01 lot with a 50-point stop-loss: the potential loss would be about $5, which is already 20% of the deposit, which is quite a lot. With 0.001 lot, the same stop turns into $0.50—only 2% of the account, and such risk management looks reasonable. It is for this precision and forgiveness of mistakes that cent accounts are loved during intensive system debugging and collecting statistics on a large number of trades.

A cent account is not a "quick profit" instrument but a learning and testing environment with a real market and low point cost. A demo account provides a safe sandbox without emotions and often without the "rough edges" of real execution; a cent account is real trading with small amounts of money and the best bridge to a standard account; standard offers the same market conditions, but any mistake is more costly in absolute terms. Moving to a standard account makes sense when a strategy on a cent account consistently shows results, and risk management and psychology behave predictably in different phases of the market.

A cent account is the optimal intermediate step between demo and full trading. It retains the reality of the market but reduces the cost of the experiment: learning, fine-tuning entry/exit rules, debugging robots, and checking the broker "in action" is much safer here. When statistics become stable and risk processes mature, scaling up to a standard account will be natural and without unnecessary stress.

It's necessary to remember that forex is a high-risk market. A cent account reduces absolute losses but does not eliminate market and credit risks. Trade with amounts you can afford to lose and adhere to risk management.

A trading or investment account can be deposited in various ways — from bank transfers to cryptocurrencies. The available payment methods depend on the country and are displayed in the "Client Area."

Before depositing into the trading account, it is necessary to confirm your email address and phone number, as well as fill out a questionnaire. This is required firstly for subsequent client verification during deposit withdrawals, and secondly, within the framework of financial organizations' requirements (KYC policy).

To deposit into your account, go to the "Personal Account" and select a convenient method. Note that subsequent deposit withdrawals can only be made using the same method applied for the deposit. For instance, if the account was deposited via a bank card, withdrawal will be processed to the same card. The same applies to bank transfers, payment systems, and cryptocurrency wallets.

After selecting the method, a sequence of steps to be completed will open. We take the security of payments and the accuracy of their execution seriously. As a rule, if an email address is required during depositing, it must match the address used when opening the trading account. Also, the name of the account/bank card holder must match the name of the trading account holder opened in FIBO Group. Please note: payments from third parties for account deposits, as well as withdrawals in favor of third parties, are not possible.

During depositing, the No Fee Deposit offer applies: FIBO Group reimburses the fees charged by payment systems when depositing into a trading account. The reimbursement of the bank commission for bank transfers amounts to 30 USD for transfers over 1000 USD. The blockchain fee for cryptocurrency deposits is not reimbursed.

Although the MetaTrader 5 trading platform appeared in 2010, underwent some changes, and was adapted for functional use, there are still traders who treat it with skepticism. Let’s take a closer look.

What impressed users right away?

The MT5 trading platform quickly won the hearts of programmers. They use it to create trading robots. The developers of the terminal chose C++ as the main programming language, which allowed programmers to unlock the full potential of the platform for trading automation.

At the same time, it is possible to create an Expert Advisor in the platform even without programming skills. The process is simplified thanks to the Wizard service, built directly into MT5.

Other noteworthy features

• The platform includes 79 analytical tools for technical and fundamental analysis, more than enough for a comprehensive study of the forex market.
• MT5 is equipped with 21 timeframes for charting.
• A free library of custom indicators, an economic calendar, and Depth of Market (DOM) enable traders to fully track market conditions.

New tools, services, price archives, and other functions allow traders to customize the trading platform to their needs, taking into account all details and requirements, which undoubtedly diversifies the trading process.

What discourages some traders?

There has also been criticism of this powerful and modern platform. Traders with long experience using other terminals noted that the “sophisticated” MT5 interface was inconvenient and required “relearning.” However, beginner traders, who encountered the platform without extensive trading experience, considered such remarks insignificant, as one can get used to anything. After all, MT5 has “nothing unnecessary that could distract from trading.”

The MetaTrader 5 platform is quite capable of satisfying the demands of the most demanding traders, both beginners and professionals. Download and test it yourself to evaluate its potential and form your own opinion about MetaTrader 5.

Remember, successful trading does not depend on the platform you choose — only daily work and experience bring real success. You can start today together with FIBO Group.

FIBO Group Holdings provides its clients with access to the most advanced forex trading platform — MetaTrader 5. This platform is the best choice for everyone who has made trading their profession. On the website, you can download a preconfigured version of this terminal.

The MetaTrader 5 trading terminal was first introduced in 2010 and was considered a replacement for MetaTrader 4. However, the great popularity of the fourth version, its simplicity, and reliability contributed to its continued presence on the market. As a result, traders today can choose between two advanced terminals from the same developer, which differ in interface and a number of additional features.

The new, significantly improved architecture of MetaTrader 5 made it possible to implement new features, including Depth of Market (DOM), a wide range of timeframes, an expanded number of order types, the new MQL5 programming language, strategy testing, the ability to trade almost any instrument, and to purchase trading indicators and advisors directly within the platform.

The presence of the Depth of Market is a must-have requirement for professional traders. It allows them to easily assess supply and demand on the market at a given moment and to determine the path of least resistance along which a currency pair or another financial instrument is moving.

Now a trader can work with almost all financial instruments using only one trading platform — MT5. This expands opportunities for maneuvering and increases flexibility in choosing a trading strategy. Moreover, monitoring and analyzing other markets within a familiar interface and using familiar tools makes it possible to forecast forex price movements more accurately.

MetaTrader 5 was designed for extensive use of trading advisors, which are easily developed using the MQL5 language. The platform is promoted by the developer as a standalone product, and is therefore used not only by traders but also by professional programmers who create effective trading robots and complex technical indicators with it. The built-in marketplace enables the buying and selling of these developments.

To test trading strategies before using them on live accounts, a strategy tester is provided. It allows for automated testing on multiple currency pairs simultaneously, which speeds up and simplifies the process. Testing can be performed not only on a trader’s own computer but also using the MQL5 Cloud Network service.

Another innovation of the platform is the wide choice of timeframes, the default number being 21, which significantly expands the range of strategies that can be applied.

Traders’ tactical opportunities have been expanded with the introduction of new order types — Buy Stop Limit and Sell Stop Limit — in addition to the four existing ones in MT4.

FIBO Group has developed the MT5 NDD account, which allows the company’s clients to fully utilize the technical capabilities embedded in the MetaTrader 5 terminal.

Non Dealing Desk (NDD) is a technology of order execution without the participation of the Dealing Desk. With NDD processing, the client's orders are automatically executed directly at the best available prices of liquidity providers, bypassing the Dealing Desk.

More about NDD technology

The NDD (No Dealing Desk) technology implies order processing without broker intervention, meaning that all trader operations are sent directly to the market, bypassing market makers, where the counterparty to the trades are other market participants.

Brokers operating under the NDD model do not have access to traders’ funds and earn only from commissions.

NDD technology allows trading directly with the largest liquidity providers using the popular MetaTrader 4 trading platform, as well as others: MetaTrader 5 and cTrader. NDD is implemented on MT4 NDD, MT5 NDD, and cTrader NDD accounts. NDD accounts use an agency model, which completely eliminates conflicts of interest between FIBO Group and the client. These accounts operate with a market execution type of order fulfillment, known as Market Execution.

Market Execution literally means “execution at market.” This means that almost any order placed by a trader will be executed at the price available on the market at the moment the order is processed. For example, if a trader wants to enter the market with a Buy order at 1.5000, once the order is sent to the broker’s server, it goes into the execution queue. During the waiting time, prices may change slightly, e.g., rise to 1.5015, so the broker will open the position at the current market price of 1.5015. This situation is called slippage. Slippage can be positive (the order is filled at a more favorable price) or negative (at a less favorable price).

Advantages of this execution: high speed and 100% guarantee of entering the market.

Disadvantages: high risk of opening a losing position during periods of high market volatility.

Instant Execution implies that the order is executed exactly at the price indicated by the trader. Despite its literal translation as “instant execution,” orders with this execution type may take longer than Market Execution.

The main advantage of Instant Execution in forex is entering the market at the exact price specified.

The disadvantage is frequent requotes (messages informing the trader that the price has changed), or broker requests to confirm opening a trade at the new price. Traders can set an acceptable price deviation to minimize requotes. If during processing the price stays within this deviation, the order is executed with price correction.

Instant Execution is not suitable for scalping in volatile markets.

A spike is a non-market quotation. It may be represented in one of the following ways:

A non-market quote is a quote that complies with each of the below criteria:

• Existence of a considerable gap;
• The price returns to it’s original values within a short period of time generating a gap;
• Absence of sustainable price dynamics before this quote appeared;
• Absence of macroeconomic events or corporate pieces of news influencing the instrument’s quotes considerably.

Non-market quotes usually are sent to a broker via informational systems. The major reasons for that are:

1. Technical error.
2. A singular deal, often a mistaken one, registered in the informational system.
3. Considerable momentary spread widening or unilateral changes in the BID or ASK levels.

Example 1

One of the sellers placed a lot at a price way lower than the current one (e.g. by mistake). One of the buyers reacted to that immediately and bought the lot. Consequently nobody can place a deal at the same price, but the deal was registered and got to the informational system. The non-market quotes on do not get executed on live accounts and if they do, they are obligatorily annulled; the spike consequently gets deleted from the quotes archive. Such deals do not get annulled on the demo accounts.

Example 2

On a low liquidity market in the period between 23.00 EET and 04.00 EET, in the trading system of a large liquidity provider, there would be a high volume deal widening the spread 10 times for a short period. The positions closed due to that case are recovered if applicable, or a client gets a corresponding compensation.

Log in using your account details or register a new account.

In the application menu, select the 'Complaints' section. In this section, press the 'Create' button: a dialog with a complaint form will appear. Choose the complaint  topic 'Deleting a personal account'. Fill it out and submit.

Before deleting your personal account, you need to:

1. Close all open positions on trading accounts and withdraw invested funds from PAMM accounts.
2. Withdraw the remaining funds from the trading account using the methods chosen to make the deposit.
3. Close all previously opened trading accounts, including Demo accounts, PAMM accounts, and cTrader Copy accounts.
4. If you are an IB partner, submit a request to terminate the Agency Agreement.
5. Submit a request to delete your personal account. A representative from the Company's customer service department may contact you to confirm your request.

After your personal account is deleted, all your personal data will be removed from the Company's server. The account cannot be restored.

You can ask any questions that arise in the online chat.