Economic Development

Economic DevelopmentEconomic Development

This article includes a

list of references or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations.You can improve this article by introducing more precise citations. Economic development is the development of economic wealth of countries or regions for the well-being of their inhabitants. From a policy perspective, economic development can be defined as efforts that seek to improve the economic well-being and quality of life for a community by creating and/or retaining jobs and supporting or growing incomes and the tax base.
Overview Overview
There are significant differences between economic growth and economic development. The term "economic growth" refers to the increase (or growth) of a specific measure such as real national income, gross domestic product, or per capita income. National income or product is commonly expressed in terms of a measure of the aggregate value-added output of the domestic economy called gross domestic product (GDP). When the GDP of a nation rises economists refer to it as economic growth.
The term "economic development," on the other hand, implies much more. It typically refers to improvements in a variety of indicators such as literacy rates, life expectancy, and poverty rates. GDP is a specific measure of economic welfare that does not take into account important aspects such as leisure time, environmental quality, freedom, or social justice. Economic growth of any specific measure is not a sufficient definition of economic development.
Local Development Local Daevelopment
The term "economic development"" is often used in a regional sense as well (e.g., a mayor might say that "we need to promote the economic development of our city"). In this sense, economic development focuses on the recruitment of business operations to a region, assisting in the expansion or retention of business operations within a region or assisting in the start-up of new businesses within a region. (See section 'regional policy' below.)
In addition to economic models, the needs of constituency groups guide economic developers actions. For example, a local economic developer working out of a mayor's office may act towards decreasing unemployment by attracting businesses with large labor needs (call centers). The economic developer working for the chamber of commerce dominated by banks, real estate agents and utilities will recruit manufacturers with large capital investments (steel and chemical plants). The economic developer working for the state manufacturers association will lobby for more workforce training money. The economic developer working for a university will concentrate on business start-ups, specifically those based on intellectual property developed by the university (biotech).
In its broadest sense, economic development encompasses three major areas:
1) Policies that governments undertake to meet broad economic objectives such as price stability, high employment, expanded tax base, and sustainable growth. Such efforts include monetary and fiscal policies, regulation of financial institutions, trade, and tax policies.
2) Policies and programs to provide infrastructure and services such as highways, parks, affordable housing, crime prevention, and K-12 education.
3) Policies and programs explicitly directed at job creation and retention through specific efforts in business finance, marketing, neighbourhood development, small business development, business retention and expansion, technology transfer, and real estate development. This third category is a primary focus of economic development professionals.

Economic Developers

Economic DevelopersEconomic Developers

Economic development, which is thus essentially economics on a social level, has evolved into a professional industry of highly specialized practitioners. The practitioners have two key roles: one is to provide leadership in policy-making, and the other is to administer policy, programs, and projects. Economic development practitioners generally work in public offices on the state, regional, or municipal level, or in public-private partnerships organizations that may be partially funded by local, regional, state, or federal tax money. These economic development organizations (EDOs) function as individual entities and in some cases as departments of local governments. Their role is to seek out new economic opportunities and retain their existing business wealth.
There are numerous other organizations whose primary function is not economic development work in partnership with economic developers. They include the news media, foundations, utilities, schools, health care providers, faith-based organizations, and colleges, universities, and other education or research institutions.
With more than 20,000 professional economic developers employed world wide in this highly specialized industry, the International Economic Development Council [IEDC] headquartered in Washington, D.C. is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping economic developers do their job more effectively and raising the profile of the profession. With over 4,500 members across the US and internationally, serving exclusively the economic development community. Membership represents the entire range of the profession ranging from regional, state, local, rural, urban, and international economic development organizations, as well as chambers of commerce, technology development agencies, utility companies, educational institutions, consultants and redevelopment authorities. Many individual states also have associations comprising economic development professionals and they work closely with IEDC.
There is intense competition between communities, states, and nations for new economic development projects in today's globalized world, and the struggle to attract and retain business is further intensified by the use of many variations of economic incentives to the potential business. IEDC places significant attention on the various activities undertaken by economic development organizations to help them compete and sustain vibrant communities.
Additionally, the use of community profiling tools and database templates to measure community assets versus other communities and is also an important aspect of economic development. Job creation, economic output, and increase in taxable basis are the most common measurement tools. When considering measurement, too much emphasis has been placed on economic developers for "not creating jobs." However, the reality is that economic developers do not typically create jobs, but facilitate the process for existing businesses and start-ups to do so. Therefore, the economic developer must make sure that there are sufficient economic development programs in place to assist the businesses achieve their goals. Those types of programs are usually policy-created and can be local, regional, statewide and national in nature.

Foreign Exchange Market

Foreign Exchange MarketForeign Exchange Market
Foreign Exchange

The foreign exchange (currency or forex or FX) market exists wherever one currency is traded for another. It is by far the largest financial market in the world, and includes trading between large banks, central banks, currency speculators, multinational corporations, governments, and other financial markets and institutions. The average daily trade in the global forex and related markets currently is over US$ 3 trillion. Retail traders (individuals) are a small fraction of this market and may only participate indirectly through brokers or banks, and are subject to forex scams

Market size and liquidity Market size and liquidity
The foreign exchange market is unique because of its trading volumes, the extreme liquidity of the market,
the large number of, and variety of, traders in the market, its geographical dispersion, its long trading hours: 24 hours a day (except on weekends), the variety of factors that affect exchange rates. the low margins of profit compared with other markets of fixed income (but profits can be high due to very large trading volumes) According to the BIS, average daily turnover in traditional foreign exchange markets is estimated at $3,210 billion. Daily averages in April for different years, in billions of US dollars, are presented on the chart below: This $3.21 trillion in global foreign exchange market "traditional" turnover was broken down as follows: $1,005 billion in spot transactions $362 billion in outright forwards $1,714 billion in forex swaps $129 billion estimated gaps in reporting In addition to "traditional" turnover, $2.1 trillion was traded in derivatives.
Exchange-traded forex futures contracts were introduced in 1972 at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and are actively traded relative to most other futures contracts. Forex futures volume has grown rapidly in recent years, and accounts for about 7% of the total foreign exchange market volume, according to The Wall Street Journal Europe (5/5/06, p. 20). Average daily global turnover in traditional foreign exchange market transactions totaled $2.7 trillion in April 2006 according to IFSL estimates based on semi-annual London, New York, Tokyo and Singapore Foreign Exchange Committee data. Overall turnover, including non-traditional foreign exchange derivatives and products traded on exchanges, averaged around $2.9 trillion a day. This was more than ten times the size of the combined daily turnover on all the world’s equity markets. Foreign exchange trading increased by 38% between April 2005 and April 2006 and has more than doubled since 2001. This is largely due to the growing importance of foreign exchange as an asset class and an increase in fund management assets, particularly of hedge funds and pension funds. The diverse selection of execution venues such as internet trading platforms has also made it easier for retail traders to trade in the foreign exchange market. Because foreign exchange is an OTC market where brokers/dealers negotiate directly with one another, there is no central exchange or clearing house. The biggest geographic trading centre is the UK, primarily London, which according to IFSL estimates has increased its share of global turnover in traditional transactions from 31.3% in April 2004 to 32.4% in April 2006. RPP The ten most active traders account for almost 73% of trading volume, according to The Wall Street Journal Europe, (2/9/06 p. 20). These large international banks continually provide the market with both bid (buy) and ask (sell) prices. The bid/ask spread is the difference between the price at which a bank or market maker will sell ("ask", or "offer") and the price at which a market-maker will buy ("bid") from a wholesale customer. This spread is minimal for actively traded pairs of currencies, usually 0–3 pips. For example, the bid/ask quote of EUR/USD might be 1.2200/1.2203. Minimum trading size for most deals is usually $100,000. These spreads might not apply to retail customers at banks, which will routinely mark up the difference to say 1.2100 / 1.2300 for transfers, or say 1.2000 / 1.2400 for banknotes or travelers' checks. Spot prices at market makers vary, but on EUR/USD are usually no more than 3 pips wide (i.e. 0.0003). Competition has greatly increased with pip spreads shrinking on the major pairs to as little as 1 to 2 pips.
Market participants Market participants
Unlike a stock market, where all participants have access to the same prices, the forex market is divided into levels of access. At the top is the inter-bank market, which is made up of the largest investment banking firms. Within the inter-bank market, spreads, which are the difference between the bid and ask prices, are razor sharp and usually unavailable, and not known to players outside the inner circle. As you descend the levels of access, the difference between the bid and ask prices widens (from 0-1 pip to 1-2 pips only for major currencies like the Euro). This is due to volume. If a trader can guarantee large numbers of transactions for large amounts, they can demand a smaller difference between the bid and ask price, which is referred to as a better spread. The levels of access that make up the forex market are determined by the size of the “line” (the amount of money with which they are trading). The top-tier inter-bank market accounts for 53% of all transactions. After that there are usually smaller investment banks, followed by large multi-national corporations (which need to hedge risk and pay employees in different countries), large hedge funds, and even some of the retail forex market makers. According to Galati and Melvin, “Pension funds, insurance companies, mutual funds, and other institutional investors have played an increasingly important role in financial markets in general, and in FX markets in particular, since the early 2000s.” (2004) In addition, he notes, “Hedge funds have grown markedly over the 2001–2004 period in terms of both number and overall size” Central banks also participate in the forex market to align currencies to their economic needs.
Banks Banks
The interbank market caters for both the majority of commercial turnover and large amounts of speculative trading every day. A large bank may trade billions of dollars daily. Some of this trading is undertaken on behalf of customers, but much is conducted by proprietary desks, trading for the bank's own account. Until recently, foreign exchange brokers did large amounts of business, facilitating interbank trading and matching anonymous counterparts for small fees. Today, however, much of this business has moved on to more efficient electronic systems, such as EBS (now owned by ICAP), Reuters Dealing 3000 Matching (D2), the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, FXMarketSpace, Bloomberg, and TradeBook(R). The broker squawk box lets traders listen in on ongoing interbank trading and is heard in most trading rooms, but turnover is noticeably smaller than just a few years ago.
Commercial companies Commercial companies
An important part of this market comes from the financial activities of companies seeking foreign exchange to pay for goods or services. Commercial companies often trade fairly small amounts compared to those of banks or speculators, and their trades often have little short term impact on market rates. Nevertheless, trade flows are an important factor in the long-term direction of a currency's exchange rate. Some multinational companies can have an unpredictable impact when very large positions are covered due to exposures that are not widely known by other market participants.
Central banks Central Bank
National central banks play an important role in the foreign exchange markets. They try to control the money supply, inflation, and/or interest rates and often have official or unofficial target rates for their currencies. They can use their often substantial foreign exchange reserves to stabilize the market. Milton Friedman argued that the best stabilization strategy would be for central banks to buy when the exchange rate is too low, and to sell when the rate is too high — that is, to trade for a profit based on their more precise information. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of central bank "stabilizing speculation" is doubtful because central banks do not go bankrupt if they make large losses, like other traders would, and there is no convincing evidence that they do make a profit trading. The mere expectation or rumor of central bank intervention might be enough to stabilize a currency, but aggressive intervention might be used several times each year in countries with a dirty float currency regime. Central banks do not always achieve their objectives. The combined resources of the market can easily overwhelm any central bank. Several scenarios of this nature were seen in the 1992–93 ERM collapse, and in more recent times in Southeast Asia.
Investment management firmsInvestment management firms
Investment management firms (who typically manage large accounts on behalf of customers such as pension funds and endowments) use the foreign exchange market to facilitate transactions in foreign securities. For example, an investment manager with an international equity portfolio will need to buy and sell foreign currencies in the spot market in order to pay for purchases of foreign equities. Since the forex transactions are secondary to the actual investment decision, they are not seen as speculative or aimed at profit-maximization. Some investment management firms also have more speculative specialist currency overlay operations, which manage clients' currency exposures with the aim of generating profits as well as limiting risk. Whilst the number of this type of specialist firms is quite small, many have a large value of assets under management (AUM), and hence can generate large trades.
Hedge fundsHedge funds
Hedge funds, such as George Soros's Quantum fund have gained a reputation for aggressive currency speculation since 1990. They control billions of dollars of equity and may borrow billions more, and thus may overwhelm intervention by central banks to support almost any currency, if the economic fundamentals are in the hedge funds' favor.

Security Bank

Security BankSecurity Bank
Security Bank Corporation
www.securitybank.com

Security Bank (PSE: SECB), more formally known as Security Bank Corporation and abbreviated as SBC, is one of the largest commercial banks in the Philippines. It is one of the twenty largest banks in the Philippines in terms of assets.
Historyistory
Security Bank was established on June 18, 1951 as Security Bank and Trust Company (SBTC) in Manila. At the time, SBTC was the first privately-owned, Filipino-controlled bank of the post-World War II era. The bank's head office was first located on Plaza Goiti, moving to Escolta in 1954. At the time, Security Bank was so aggressive in opening branches that at one point during the 1950s, it had more branches in Metro Manila than any other local bank.
Beginning in the 1960s, Security Bank also started expanding outside Metro Manila, with the opening of its first provincial branch in Angeles City, Pampanga. Within the decade, the bank started a rapid expansion in the provinces. It was also in the 1960s that Security Bank led a consortium of local and foreign companies that lent US$62 million to the Lopez family to fund their acquisition of Meralco, the first of its kind in Philippine banking history.
In the 1970s, Security Bank issued its first credit card, introducing the Philippines to Diners Club. It also marked the start of the bank's trust offerings, many of which were deemed innovative, and still survive today as pre-need and common-trust plans, of which they are descended from Security Bank's offerings at the time. Towards the end of the 1970s, the bank was granted permission to operate a foreign currency division by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. It widened its investment services portfolio in the 1980s, even when the Philippines was thrown into a deepening political crisis. Like other major banks, Security Bank survived.
The 1990s brought in new owners led by present chairman Frederick Y. Dy. On April 26, 1994, the bank was issued a universal banking license by the BSP. With the issuance of its universal banking license, the legal name of Security Bank changed to the present-day Security Bank Corporation. The bank also moved to its new headquarters along Ayala Avenue in Makati City. SBC's stock was also formally listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange on June 8, 1995, with a 1.5 billion-peso initial public offering. The bank celebrated its fiftieth anniversary on June 18, 2001.

New York Stock Exchange

New York Stock ExchangeNew York Stock Exchange

Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), nicknamed the "Big Board", is a New York City-based stock exchange. It is the largest stock exchange in the world by dollar volume and, with 2,764 listed securities, has the second most securities of all stock exchanges. Its share volume was exceeded by that of NASDAQ during the 1990s. Nontheless, the NYSE constitutes the biggest and crucial financial hub of the world, along with Tokyo Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange. As of December 31, 2006, the combined capitalization of all New York Stock Exchange listed companies was $25.0 trillion. The NYSE is operated by NYSE Euronext, which was formed by its merger with the fully electronic stock exchange Archipelago Holdings and Euronext. The New York Stock Exchange trading floor is located at 11 Wall Street, and is composed of four rooms used for the facilitation of trading. A fifth trading room, located at 30 Broad Street, was closed in February 2007. The main building, located at 18 Broad Street between the corners of Wall Street and Exchang Place, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978. NYSE Group merged with Euronext, and many of its operations (particularly IT and the trading platform) will be combined with that of the New York Stock Exchange and NYSE Arca.
Business Business
The New York Stock Exchanges provides an efficient method for buyers and sellers to trade shares of stock in companies registered for public trading. The exchange provides price discovery via an auction environment designed to produce the fairest price for both parties. Since September 30, 1985 the NYSE trading hours have been 9:30–4:00 ET. (As of February 9, 2007, the streetTRACKS Gold Share ETF started its trading day on the NYSE at 8:20 AM.)
As of January 24, 2007, all NYSE stocks can be traded via its electronic Hybrid Market (except for a small group of very high priced stocks). Customers can now send orders for immediate electronic execution, or route orders to the floor for trade in the auction market. In excess of 50% of all order flow is now delivered to the floor electronically.
On the trading floor, the NYSE trades in a continuous auction format. Here, the human interaction and expert judgment as to order execution differentiates the NYSE from fully electronic markets. There is one specific location on the trading floor where each listed stock trades. Exchange members interested in buying and selling a particular stock on behalf of investors gather around the appropriate post where a specialist broker, who is employed by a NYSE member firm (that is, he/she is not an employee of the New York Stock Exchange), acts as an auctioneer in an open outcry auction market environment to bring buyers and sellers together and to manage the actual auction. They do on occasion (approximately 10% of the time) facilitate the trades by committing their own capital and as a matter of course disseminate information to the crowd that helps to bring buyers and sellers together. The frenzied commotion of men and women in colored smocks has been captured in several movies, including Wall Street.
In the mid-1960s, the NYSE Composite Index (NYSE: NYA) was created, with a base value of 50 points equal to the 1965 yearly close, to reflect the value of all stocks trading at the exchange instead of just the 30 stocks included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. To raise the profile of the composite index, in 2003 the NYSE set its new base value of 5,000 points equal to the 2002 yearly close. (Previously, the index had stood just below 500 points, with lifetime highs and lows of 670 points and 33 points, respectively.) The right to directly trade shares on the exchange is conferred upon owners of the 1366 "seats". The term comes from the fact that up until the 1870s NYSE members sat in chairs to trade; this system was eliminated long ago. In 1868, the number of seats was fixed at 533, and this number was increased several times over the years. In 1953, the exchange stopped at 1366 seats. These seats are a sought-after commodity as they confer the ability to directly trade stock on the NYSE. Seat prices have varied widely over the years, generally falling during recessions and rising during economic expansions. The most expensive seat was sold in 1929 for $625,000, which, adjusted for inflation, is over six million in today's dollars. In recent times, seats have sold for as high as $4 million in the late 1990s and $1 million in 2001. In 2005, seat prices shot up to $3.25 million as the exchange was set to merge with Archipelago and become a for-profit, publicly traded company. Seat owners received $500,000 cash per seat and 77,000 shares of the newly formed corporation. The NYSE now sells one-year licenses to trade directly on the exchange.

New York Stock Exchange

New York Stock ExchangeNew York Stock Exchange
Stock Exchange

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), nicknamed the "Big Board", is a New York City-based stock exchange. It is the largest stock exchange in the world by dollar volume and, with 2,764 listed securities, has the second most securities of all stock exchanges. Its share volume was exceeded by that of NASDAQ during the 1990s. Nontheless, the NYSE constitutes the biggest and crucial financial hub of the world, along with Tokyo Stock Exchange and London Stock Exchange. As of December 31, 2006, the combined capitalization of all New York Stock Exchange listed companies was $25.0 trillion. The NYSE is operated by NYSE Euronext, which was formed by its merger with the fully electronic stock exchange Archipelago Holdings and Euronext. The New York Stock Exchange trading floor is located at 11 Wall Street, and is composed of four rooms used for the facilitation of trading. A fifth trading room, located at 30 Broad Street, was closed in February 2007. The main building, located at 18 Broad Street between the corners of Wall Street and Exchang Place, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978. NYSE Group merged with Euronext, and many of its operations (particularly IT and the trading platform) will be combined with that of the New York Stock Exchange and NYSE Arca.
Business
The New York Stock Exchanges provides an efficient method for buyers and sellers to trade shares of stock in companies registered for public trading. The exchange provides price discovery via an auction environment designed to produce the fairest price for both parties. Since September 30, 1985 the NYSE trading hours have been 9:30–4:00 ET. (As of February 9, 2007, the streetTRACKS Gold Share ETF started its trading day on the NYSE at 8:20 AM.)
As of January 24, 2007, all NYSE stocks can be traded via its electronic Hybrid Market (except for a small group of very high priced stocks). Customers can now send orders for immediate electronic execution, or route orders to the floor for trade in the auction market. In excess of 50% of all order flow is now delivered to the floor electronically.
On the trading floor, the NYSE trades in a continuous auction format. Here, the human interaction and expert judgment as to order execution differentiates the NYSE from fully electronic markets. There is one specific location on the trading floor where each listed stock trades. Exchange members interested in buying and selling a particular stock on behalf of investors gather around the appropriate post where a specialist broker, who is employed by a NYSE member firm (that is, he/she is not an employee of the New York Stock Exchange), acts as an auctioneer in an open outcry auction market environment to bring buyers and sellers together and to manage the actual auction. They do on occasion (approximately 10% of the time) facilitate the trades by committing their own capital and as a matter of course disseminate information to the crowd that helps to bring buyers and sellers together. The frenzied commotion of men and women in colored smocks has been captured in several movies, including Wall Street.
In the mid-1960s, the NYSE Composite Index (NYSE: NYA) was created, with a base value of 50 points equal to the 1965 yearly close, to reflect the value of all stocks trading at the exchange instead of just the 30 stocks included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. To raise the profile of the composite index, in 2003 the NYSE set its new base value of 5,000 points equal to the 2002 yearly close. (Previously, the index had stood just below 500 points, with lifetime highs and lows of 670 points and 33 points, respectively.)
The right to directly trade shares on the exchange is conferred upon owners of the 1366 "seats". The term comes from the fact that up until the 1870s NYSE members sat in chairs to trade; this system was eliminated long ago. In 1868, the number of seats was fixed at 533, and this number was increased several times over the years. In 1953, the exchange stopped at 1366 seats. These seats are a sought-after commodity as they confer the ability to directly trade stock on the NYSE. Seat prices have varied widely over the years, generally falling during recessions and rising during economic expansions. The most expensive seat was sold in 1929 for $625,000, which, adjusted for inflation, is over six million in today's dollars. In recent times, seats have sold for as high as $4 million in the late 1990s and $1 million in 2001. In 2005, seat prices shot up to $3.25 million as the exchange was set to merge with Archipelago and become a for-profit, publicly traded company. Seat owners received $500,000 cash per seat and 77,000 shares of the newly formed corporation. The NYSE now sells one-year licenses to trade directly on the exchange.

Stock Exchange

Stock Exchange Stock Exchange

A stock exchange, share market or bourse is a corporation or mutual organization which provides facilities for stock brokers and traders, to trade company stocks and other securities. Stock exchanges also provide facilities for the issue and redemption of securities as well as other financial instruments and capital events including the payment of income and dividends. The securities traded on a stock exchange include: shares issued by companies, unit trusts and other pooled investment products and bonds. To be able to trade a security on a certain stock exchange, it has to be listed there. Usually there is a central location at least for recordkeeping, but trade is less and less linked to such a physical place, as modern markets are electronic networks, which gives them advantages of speed and cost of transactions. Trade on an exchange is by members only. The initial offering of stocks and bonds to investors is by definition done in the primary market and subsequent trading is done in the secondary market. A stock exchange is often the most important component of a stock market. Supply and demand in stock markets is driven by various factors which, as in all free markets, affect the price of stocks (see stock valuation).
There is usually no compulsion to issue stock via the stock exchange itself, nor must stock be subsequently traded on the exchange. Such trading is said to be off exchange or over-the-counter. This is the usual way that bonds are traded. Increasingly, stock exchanges are part of a global market for securities.

History of stock exchanges

History of stock exchanges

In 11th century France the courratiers de change were concerned with managing and regulating the debts of agricultural communities on behalf of the banks. As these men also traded in debts, they could be called the first brokers. Some stories suggest that the origins of the term "bourse" come from the Latin bursa meaning a bag because, in 13th century Bruges, the sign of a purse (or perhaps three purses), hung on the front of the house where merchants met. However, it is more likely that in the late 13th century commodity traders in Bruges gathered inside the house of a man called Van der Burse, and in 1309 they institutionalized this until now informal meeting and became the "Bruges Bourse". The idea spread quickly around Flanders and neighbouring counties and "Bourses" soon opened in Ghent and Amsterdam. In the middle of the 13th century, Venetian bankers began to trade in government securities. In 1351, the Venetian Government outlawed spreading rumors intended to lower the price of government funds. There were people in Pisa, Verona, Genoa and Florence who also began trading in government securities during the 14th century. This was only possible because these were independent city states ruled by a council of influential citizens, not by a duke. The Dutch later started joint stock companies, which let shareholders invest in business ventures and get a share of their profits - or losses. In 1602, the Dutch East India Company issued the first shares on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. It was the first company to issue stocks and bonds. In 1688, the trading of stocks began on a stock exchange in London.

Forex Trader's Bill of Rights

Forex Trader's Bill of Rights
The Forex Trader's Bill of Rights

The Forex Trader’s Bill of Rights (2005) is a non-fiction book about the foreign currency trading market, published by OANDA_Corporation. It is primarily a call to arms for currency traders to call for greater transparency and accountability within the market. The overleaf provided with the printed version of the book states: “Big banks and confederated brokerages have overcomplicated forex: trading costs are inflated, unnecessary risk abounds, and the system is grossly unfair.” Essentially, the book elaborates on this premise, detailing ways in which traders are being unfairly treated and encouraging them to take action.
OANDA is a company that provides currency trading tools for investors, travelers, and businesses. As such, there is an unavoidable marketing aspect to this publication. However, OANDA is not mentioned throughout the book. There has been a clear effort to maintain a relatively neutral point of view. The back cover does state “OANDA is a leading provider of online currency trading…FXTrade…enables all currency investors to change the way forex trading is done”. The authors believe currency investors have 10 basic rights which are being violated: each short chapter deals with one of these rights. They are:1. The right to immediate, uncensored access to the marketplace2. The right to trade real spot3. The right to know4. The right to trade whenever you want5. The right to equal treatment6. The right to choose and manage risk7. The right to understand cost8. The right to learn – on your own, or through free exchange with other traders9. The right to full disclosure10. The right to pay and receive interest

1) The right to immediate, uncensored access to the marketplace Chapter one argues that when trading traditionally (with banks etc.,) execution and price are affected by who you are (size of your order/ relationship with your market maker etc.), the amount of greed on the part of the market maker, and manual intervention which can delay the trade. The chapter calls for transparency, fairness, and efficiency for traders from market makers.
2) The right to trade real spotChapter two addresses unnecessary delays in settlement of trades, which according to the authors increase risk for investors.
3) The right to knowThe third chapter states that market makers share information based on who you are: in some cases they share information that should not be shared; in other cases they do not share information that should be publicly available. This leads to an unfair advantage.
4) The right to trade whenever you wantThe chapter asserts that market makers may advertise 24 hour trading but they close the books on Friday. However, world events which affect currency price occur on weekends. The argument continues that since the technology for 24/7 trading is available, it should be offered by all market makers.
5) The right to equal treatmentChapter five argues that every trader should be given the same price and spread, and that market makers should not discriminate between traders.
6) The right to choose and manage riskTraders are encouraged to use a market maker who does not require high minimums, lets them trade any amount, and provides immediate settlement as a way of minimizing risk.
7) The right to understand costIt is reasoned that traders have the right to understand spreads, as well as who gets a “cut” and why. This chapter also includes a profitability calculator.
8) The right to learn – on your own, or through free exchange with other tradersThis chapter covers multiple ways to learn about trading, and test new strategies, including trading games offered by online market makers and other sources of Internet information.
9) The right to full disclosureThe book claims that a lack of transparency in pricing, execution, and after the trade needs to addressed. Market makers should publish statistics regarding real spreads and prices and traders should demand that they do this.
10) The right to pay and receive interestIt is argued that continuous interest should be introduced, which would make for price flows that are less volatile.

Best Forex Trading

Best Forex Trading System
Best ForexTradingSystem

Uncover Your Way of Obtaining Massive Profits Venturing oneself in any kind of investments is not easy. Though most people consider capital as the major element, still many failed to find success. Perhaps you have heard about forex trading as a business venture, but you don’t understand what it’s all about. This article will give you a little overview, before you can examine the benefits it can provide you.
Trading of foreign currencies through brokers is known as forex market. Movement of currency is the basis of forex exchange depending on market conditions. Process of dealing with the forex market to investors is called forex trading. Objective of every investor here is to profit. Opportunities of becoming rich or bankrupt via forex trading are speculative, because changes in forex rate are unexpected.
As time goes by, the impact of engaging in forex trading business is becoming more and more powerful especially to those who focused and risk their lives in this kind of gamble. Thus, every business individual or company at the back of this venture must not only be knowledgeable and responsive. There are so many qualities to own, ideas to adapt, and techniques or approach to apply in order to include your self in the series of successful forex trading investors.
Recently, many forex trading companies are providing best forex trading systems for their million clients. These systems can be accessed online, even without using your phone or going out somewhere else. In short, everybody deserves an effortless way of gaining profits at home. Online systems like these, provides historical display where you can back-check previous market exchange conditions. Having this is so simple. They can be downloaded directly to your PC, providing you a tutorial training based on video that will enhance your skills step by step. After this, why not imagine yourself profiting more in the biggest currency market in the world.
In fact, best forex trading system can be successfully achieved by examining first what is applicable or ideal for you. In choosing the best, you need to examine what is the difference between two kinds of forex systems – discretionary and mechanical forex trading systems.
Discretionary systems uses good or bad experiences, direct perception or immediate apprehension on input and outputs while programs coming out directly from mechanical systems following systematic procedures and technical studies are categorized under mechanical systems. Which of the two can fulfill your preference? It’s your duty to find out.
Know your personality first. If you think you can accomplish something based on the given standards of your systems, fearing yourself to be placed in risky situations, then it is recommended that you’ll use a system that belongs mechanically. On the other hand, if you’re flexible enough to adapt in any kind of forex trading conditions, then discretionary type of system is ideal for you. With this kind of set up, you need to plan what to execute next.
The ways you choose the best forex trading system actually do matter. At the end, you still need to consider several significant points before having one. Determine the compatibility between the system and your personality; otherwise you will end up waiting for nothing. Have one for trial and two as a second option is possible.

Forex Retails/Trading

Retail Forex Retail Forex

The Retail forex (Retail Currency Trading or Retail Forex or Retail FX) market is a subset of the much larger Foreign exchange market. The Foreign Exchange market trades around 1.9 trillion daily, and retail trading is about 20 - 25 billion of that volume.

Retail trading, is more structured than the forex market as a whole. While forex has been traded since the beginning of financial markets, modern retail trading has only been around since about 1996 . Prior to this time, retail investors were limited in their options for entering the forex market. They could create multiple bank accounts, each one denominated in a different currency, and transfer funds from one account to another in order to profit from fluctuating exchange rate. This was troublesome, however, because the transaction costs incurred were large due to the small quantity of funds being converted relative to the size of the market. This transaction type was at the very bottom of the forex pyramid.
By 1996, new market makers took advantage of developments in web-based technology that made retail forex trading practical. These internet-based market makers would take the other side of retail trader’s trades. The new companies felt that there was enough liquidity in the forex market, and eventually within their own customer base, to guarantee markets under all but the most unusual market conditions. These companies also created online trading platforms that provided a quick and easy way for individuals to buy and sell on the Forex Spot market. In addition, the companies realized that by pooling many retail traders together, they had the size to enter the upper echelons of the forex market, which reduced the size of the spread. As the business grew, the market makers were given better prices, which they then passed on to the customer.
Market makers got around this issue by allowing customers to inflate all movements many times over. In the world of online currency exchange, no transaction actually leads to physical delivery to the client; all positions will eventually be closed. The market makers are therefore able to offer high amounts of leverage. While up to 4:1 leverage is available in equities and 20:1 in Futures, it is common to have 100:1 leverage in currencies; some forex market makers offer up to 400:1. In the typical 100:1 scenario, the client absorbs all risks associated with controlling a position 100 times the capital they are putting up, and, given that the money is only being used for currency exchange and on the market makers’ books, the transaction can proceed.
Current spreads for the most common currency pair, EUR/USD, is typically 3 pips (3/100th of a percent). An equivalent trade using a bank account would most likely be between 200 and 500 pips, while an equivalent trade using cash at an exchange institution would be around 750 – 2500 pips.
Currencies are quoted in pairs i.e. EUR/USD (Euro vs. United States Dollar). Out of convention, the currency quoted first was the stronger currency at the time of inception.
Top 6 Most Traded Currencies
Ranking
Currency --------ISO 4217 Code ---Symbol ---Rank
United States dollar -USD----------$ -------1
Eurozone euro-------EUR------------ €--------2
Japanese yen -------JPY-------------¥ -------3
British pound sterling-GBP ---------£ -------4
Swiss franc ---------CHF ----------- - -------5-6
Australian dollar---- AUD------------$ ------5-6

Gold Standard

Gold standard Gold Standard

The gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is a fixed weight of gold. Under the gold standard, currency issuers guarantee to redeem notes, upon demand, in that amount of gold. Governments that employ such a fixed unit of account, which will redeem their notes to other governments in gold, share a fixed-currency relationship. The gold standard is not currently used by any government or central bank, having been replaced completely by fiat currency. However, private currency, backed by gold, is in use.
Why gold?Why gold

Many economies used gold as the currency standard due to its rarity, durability, easy divisibility, and the general ease of identification, often in conjunction with silver. Silver was typically the main circulating medium, with gold as the metal of monetary reserve. Even after silver was no longer basis of currency, gold remained a base global currency until the collapse of the Bretton Woods System in 1971. Under the gold standard, the function of paper currency was to reduce the danger of transporting gold, reduce the possibility of debasement of coins, and avoid the reduction in circulating medium to hoarding and losses, as well as to allow governments to control or regulate the flow of commerce within their dominion. Money backed by a specie, such as gold or silver, is sometimes called representative money, and the notes issued are often called certificates. One of the main disadvantages of the gold standard is that it artificially inflates the value of gold. The total amount of gold that has ever been mined is estimated at ~125,000 tonnes. At the current gold price of around USD $640 per Troy ounce, or around $20,000 per kilogram, the value of this entire planetary stock would be USD $2.5 trillion, which is less than the value of currency circulating. In the U.S. alone, more than $7.3 trillion is in circulation.
Early coinage

Early coinage
The first metal used as a currency was silver more than 4,000 years ago, when silver ingots were used in trade. Gold coins first were used from 600 B.C. However, long before this time, gold, as per silver, was used as a store of wealth and the basis for trade contracts in Akkadia, and later in Egypt. Silver remained the most common monetary metal used in ordinary transactions until the 20th century.
The Persian Empire collected taxes in gold, and when it was conquered by Alexander the Great, this gold became the basis for the gold coinage of Alexander's empire. The Roman Empire minted two important gold coins: the aureus, which was ~7 grams of gold alloyed with silver, and the smaller solidus, which weighed 4.4 grams, of which 4.2 was gold. These values applied only to the early Empire. Later Roman and Byzantine coins were frequently diluted with other metals, in an attempt to expand the money supply. The dinar and dirham were gold and silver coins, respectively, originally minted by the Persians. The Caliphates in the Islamic world adopted these coins, starting with Caliph Abd al-Malik (685–705)

In 1284 the Republic of Venice coined the ducat, its first solid gold coin. Other coins, the florin noble, grosh, złoty, and guinea, were also introduced at this time by other European states to facilitate growing trade. Beginning with the conquest of the Aztec and Inca Empires, Spain had access to stocks of new gold for coinage in addition to silver. The wide availability of milled and cob gold coins made it possible for the West Indies to make gold the only legal tender in 1704. The circulation of Spanish coins would create the unit of account for the United States, the "dollar" based on the Spanish silver real, and Philadelphia's currency market would trade in Spanish colonial coins.

Digital Gold Currency

Digital gold currencyDigital gold currency

Digital gold currency (or DGC) is a form of electronic money denominated in gold weight. The typical unit of account for such currency is the gold gram or the troy ounce, although other units such as the gold dinar are sometimes used. DGCs are backed by gold through unallocated or allocated gold storage.
Digital gold currencies are issued by a number of companies, each of which provides a system that enabled users to pay each other in units that held the same value as gold bullion. These competing providers issue independent currency, which normally carries the same name as their company. In terms of the most popular providers, e-gold has the greatest number of users and Gold Money holds the greatest quantity of bullion (as of January 2007). As of January 2007, DGC providers held in excess of 9.5 tonnes of gold as disclosed reserves, which is worth approximately $184 million.
Features
Asset protection
E-gold is, according to their website, "100% backed by gold"
Unlike fractional-reserve banking, DGCs (such as e-gold and Gold Money) hold 100% of clients' funds in reserves with a store of value. Proponents of DGC systems contend that deposits are protected against inflation, devaluation and other possible economic risks inherent in fiat currencies. These risks include the monetary policy of countries or territories, which are perceived by proponents to be harmful to the value of paper currency. It is also theoretically much harder for governments and/or creditors to seize or confiscate digital gold currency from someone, as most DGC companies are incorporated in offshore financial centres.
Bullion investing Billion investing
Digital currencies backed by gold are the most popular, although e-gold, e-Bullion and e-dinar also provide digital currency backed by silver. while GoldMoney and Crowne Gold also provide storage in silver. Other digital silver currencies include the eLiberty Dollar and Phoenix Silver. In addition to gold and silver, e-gold supplies digital currency backed by platinum and palladium. Gold, silver, platinum and palladium each have recognised international currency codes under ISO 4217.
Exchanging fiat currency exchanging fiat currency
Some providers, like e-gold, do not sell DGC directly to clients. In the case of an e-gold account, currency must be bought and sold via a digital currency exchanger (DCE). According to their website the reason they do this is so there can be no debt or contingent liabilities associated with the business, making e-gold Ltd. absolutely free of any financial risk. DGCs are known as private currency as they are not issued by government.
Non-reversible transactions Non-reversible transactions
Unlike the credit card industry, DGC issuers generally do not bundle services such as repudiation. Thus having transactions reversed, even in case of a legitimate error, unauthorized spend, or failure of a vendor to supply goods is not possible. In this respect, a DGC spend is more akin to a cash transaction while PayPal transfers, for example, could be considered more similar to credit card transactions.
Universal currency Universal currancy

Proponents claim that DGC offers a truly global and borderless world currency system which is independent of exchange rate variations. Gold, silver, platinum and palladium each have recognised international currency codes under ISO 4217.

Retail Forex Concepts

Concepts Behind A Retail Forex Trade
Retail Forex Trading

As previously mentioned, currencies fluctuate relative to other currencies. Take two of the most common currency pairs, the EUR/USD (the price for Euros in US dollars) and the GBP/USD (the price for The Great British Pound in US dollars). If there is positive economic news in the Euro zone and negative economic news in the United Kingdom, it is very conceivable that the EUR/USD would go up in value, meaning it is now more expensive in US dollars to purchase one EUR, and that the GBP/USD would go down in value, meaning it is now cheaper to buy Great British Pounds with US dollars. In this scenario, the US dollar went up in value against one currency and down in relation to another. It is important to understand this idea that currency pairs move mostly independently from one another. Currency pairs with similar currencies on one side (like the USD in the previous example) can be similarly affected by news regarding the common currency, but the crucial concept is that they don’t have to be.

Retail Forex is usually highly leveragedRetail Forex is usually highly leveraged

The idea of margin (leverage) and floating loss is another important trading concept and is perhaps best understood using an example. Most retail Forex market makers permit 100:1 leverage, but also, crucially, require you to have a certain amount of money in your account to protect against a critical loss point. For example, if a $100,000 position is held in Eur/USD on 100:1 leverage, the trader has to put up $1,000 to control the position. However, in the event of a declining value of your positions, Forex market makers, mindful of the fast nature of Forex price swings and the amplifying effect of leverage, typically do not allow their traders to go negative and make up the difference at a later date. In order to make sure the trader does not lose more money than is held in the account, Forex market makers typically employ automatic systems to close out positions when clients run out of margin (the amount of money in their account not tied to a position). If the trader has $2,000 in his account, and he is buying a $100,000 lot of EUR/USD, he has $1,000 of his $2,000 tied up in margin, with $1,000 left to allow his position to fluctuate downward without being closed out. Typically a trader's trading platform will show him three important numbers associated with his account: his balance, his equity, and his margin remaining. If trader X has two positions: $100,000 long (buy) in EUR/USD, and $100,000 short (sell) in GBP/USD, and he has $10,000 in his account, his positions would look as follows: Because of the 100:1 leverage, it took him $1,000 to control each position. This means that he has used up $2,000 in his margin, out of a $10,000 account, and thus he has $8,000 of margin still available. With this margin, he can either take more positions or keep the margin relatively high to allow his current positions to be maintained in the event of downturns. If the client chooses to open a new position of $100,000, this will again take another $1,000 of his margin, leaving $7,000. He will have used up $3,000 in margin among the three positions. The other way margin will decrease is if the positions he currently has open lose money. If his 3 positions of $100,000 decrease by $5,000 in value (not at all an unusual swing), he now has, of his original $7,000 in margin, only $2,000 left. As discussed above, if you have a $10,000 account and only open one $100,000 position, this has committed only $1,000 of your money plus you must maintain $1,000 in margin. While this leaves $9,000 free in your account, it is possible to lose almost all of it if the position dives. On the other hand, if you have 5 positions open in a $10,000 account, you can lose only $5,000 because the other $5,000 is held in margin. However, this does not make it safer to hold more positions. The Forex market fluctuates so rapidly, that with shallow margins, you are much more likely to be closed out of your position and lose it entirely when it might have recovered from a temporary fluctuation if you had had sufficient margin to cover the variation. The more positions open at one time, the more risk the trader is exposed to.

Texas Univerity

History of Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University in 1902

The history of Texas A&M University, the first public institution of higher education in Texas, began in 1871, when the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas was established as a land-grant college by the Texas Legislature. Classes began on October 4, 1876. Although Texas A&M was originally established under the Texas Constitution as a branch of the yet-to-be-created University of Texas, subsequent acts of the Texas Legislature never gave the University any authority over Texas A&M.
For much of its first century, enrollment at Texas A&M was restricted to men who were willing to participate in the Corps of Cadets and receive military training. During this time, a limited number of women were allowed to attend classes but forbidden from gaining a degree. During World War I, 49% of A&M graduates were in military service, and in 1918, the senior class was mustered into military service to fight in France. During World War II, Texas A&M produced over 20,000 combat troops, contributing more officers than both of the military academies combined.
Shortly after World War II, the Texas Legislature redefined Texas A&M as a university and the flagship school of the Texas A&M University System, making official the school's status as a clear and separate institution from the University of Texas. In the 1960s, the state legislature renamed the school Texas A&M University, with the "A&M" becoming purely symbolic. Under the leadership of James Earl Rudder, the school became racially integrated and coeducational. Membership in the Corps of Cadets became voluntary.
In the latter half of the twentieth century, the university was recognized for its research with the designations sea-grant university and space-grant university. The school was further honored in 1997 with the establishment of the George Bush Presidential Library on the western edge of the campus.

Financial Instruments

Financial Instruments Financial Instruments

There are several types of financial instruments commonly used. Forwards: One way to deal with the Forex risk is to engage in a forward transaction. In this transaction, money does not actually change hands until some agreed upon future date. A buyer and seller agree on an exchange rate for any date in the future, and the transaction occurs on that date, regardless of what the market rates are then. The duration of the trade can be a few days, months or years. Futures: Foreign currency futures are forward transactions with standard contract sizes and maturity dates — for example, 500,000 British pounds for next November at an agreed rate. Futures are standardized and are usually traded on an exchange created for this purpose. The average contract length is roughly 3 months. Futures contracts are usually inclusive of any interest amounts. Swaps: The most common type of forward transaction is the currency swap. In a swap, two parties exchange currencies for a certain length of time and agree to reverse the transaction at a later date. These are not contracts and are not traded through an exchange. Spot: A spot transaction is a two-day delivery transaction, as opposed to the futures contracts, which are usually three months. This trade represents a “direct exchange” between two currencies, has the shortest time frame, involves cash rather than a contract; and interest is not included in the agreed-upon transaction. The data for this study come from the Spot market. The Difference between Spot and Futures in Forex Before a description of retail trading, it is important to understand the difference between the Spot and Futures markets. Futures are generally based on contracts, with typical durations of 3 months. Spot, on the other hand, is a two-day cash delivery. While the Futures markets was created to hedge out risks and speculate on future market conditions, Spot was created to allow actual cash deliveries. Spot developed a two-day delivery date in order to give those transporting the actual cash a window of time to receive it. While in theory there still is a two-day delivery date imposed after a Forex transaction, this is effectively no longer used. Every day, at 5 pm EST (the predetermined end of the trading day) Spot positions are closed and then reopened. This is done in order to guarantee an unlimited timeline for delivery. For example, if a Spot transaction occurs on a Monday, the delivery date is Wednesday. At 5 pm on Monday, the position is closed and then immediately re-opened; now this is a new position with the close date of Thursday. This daily process allows an investor to hold open a position indefinitely. Another important difference between Futures and Spot is how interest is credited. Each currency in a Forex transaction has an inherent interest rate attached to it. In the case of the US dollar, this is the Federal Funds Rate. This interest is added every single day whether the market is trading or not. Interest cannot take a vacation; money and its loaning value are still important even if the financial world has stopped dealing. In Futures, the interest is built into the price of the contract. In Spot, however, interest is not taken into account in the offering price because the Spot market is a cash market, not a contract market. There must be some mechanism for crediting interest, and various institutions have developed ways to do it. The most common method is to credit that day’s worth of interest at the same time they “flip” the position, or carry it over to the next day. This is important for later discussions and analysis because the transactions examined in this study had interest credited at the end of the business day at exactly 5 pm EST. If a position was held from 5:01 pm on Tuesday and closed at 4:59 pm on Wednesday, no interest would be credited for that day. If, on the other hand, a position was opened Tuesday at 4:59 pm and closed Tuesday 5:01 pm, a full day’s interest would be credited. This has interesting ramifications; traders who work intra-day, or “day traders,” often do not use interest for either gain or loss.