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The dealing desk is continually open between Sunday
5 p.m. New York time and Friday 4 p.m. New York time.
Quotations, Order Placement and Confirmation available
over the telephone or via the Internet.
4-5 pips on the Majors and 5-10 pips on the Crosses:
- U.S. dollar / Japanese yen (5 pips)
- U.S. dollar / Swiss franc (5 pips)
- U.S. dollar / Canadian dollar (5 pips)
- Euro / U.S. dollar (4 pips)
- Euro / Great Britain pound (5 pips)
- Euro / Japanese yen (5 pips)
- Euro / Swiss franc (7 pips)
- Euro / Canadian dollar (10 pips)
- Euro / Australian dollar (10 pips)
- Great Britain pound / U.S. dollar (5 pips)
- Great Britain pound / Japanese yen (10 pips)
- Great Britain pound / Swiss franc (15 pips)
- Swiss franc / Japanese yen (10 pips)
- Australian dollar / U.S. dollar (5 pips)
- Australian dollar / Canadian dollar (10 pips)
- Australian dollar / Japanese yen (10 pips)
- New Zealand dollar / U.S. dollar (5 pips)
- New Zealand dollar / Japanese yen (10 pips)
- Canadian dollar / Japanese yen (10 pips)
What is a pip?
A pip is the smallest increment a price moves and will determine
the profit/loss of the trade. A pip in most currencies is 0.0001
or 0.01% but depends on the currency pair. When a currency moves
from 1.0650 to 1.0655 it has moved 5 pips.
On the RefcoFX trading
platform all trades are executed in standard sizes of 100,000
base currency per one lot. There is no maximum trading volume on
the RefcoFX Trading Station, however, for trading sizes larger than
$10 million, traders must request a quote over the telephone.
RefcoFX enables currency trading to be conducted
on a highly leveraged basis. You are able to select the degree of
leverage or gearing that the client wishes to employ in trading.
Unless you specify otherwise, RefcoFX sets your leverage level at
RefcoFX's most lenient requirement. The requirements for leverage
vary with account size.
- Accounts Under $50,000: minimum $1,000 in equity per open
lot (1%)
- Accounts $50,000 - $200,000: minimum $2,000 equity per open
lot (2%)
- Accounts $200,000 - $500,000: minimum $3,000 equity per open
lot (3%)
- Accounts Over $500,000: minimum $5,000 equity per open lot
(5%)
Equity is the value of funds in the account adjusted
for floating profit/loss on open positions. One lot has an approximate
market value of $100,000. A requirement of $1,000 in equity per
open lot is, therefore, approximately equal to a maximum leverage
or gearing of 100:1.
Dealers constantly monitor the leverage levels
of all accounts. Although RefcoFX makes no guarantees, the dealing
desk may attempt to contact clients whose accounts are near the
minimum equity requirement for their open positions. Clients are
fully responsible for monitoring the activity in their accounts.
In the event that an account exceeds its maximum
allowable leverage, the dealer has the right to liquidate all positions
in the account, without notice.
In the spot forex market, trades must be settled
in two business days. If a trader sells 100,000 euros on Tuesday,
the trader must deliver 100,000 euros on Thursday, unless the position
is rolled over. As a service to our traders, RefcoFX automatically
rolls over all open positions to the next settlement date at 5 p.m.
ET. Rollover involves exchanging the position being held for a position
expiring the following settlement date. The positions being exchanged
are usually not valued at the same price. The amount of the difference
varies greatly based on the currency pair, the interest rate differential
between the two currencies, and fluctuates day to day with the movement
of prices. For instance, on any given day, the rollover can be $2
per lot for USD/JPY and $15 per lot for GBP/JPY.
At 5 p.m. ET, funds are subtracted or added to
accounts with open positions because of the automatic rollover.
For accounts that have a margin requirement of 2% or more, funds
are added to the account for positions in which the client is long
(holding) the currency bearing the higher interest rate. Funds are
deducted in the opposite circumstance. For accounts that do not
have a 2% margin requirement, the rollover amount is deducted from
the account for each position, regardless of the account's holdings.
This 2% margin requirement is the most generous policy available
to traders in the forex industry, as many firms require 3-5% minimum
margin before traders can benefit from rollover.
Note: On Wednesdays, the amount added or subtracted
to an account as a result of rolling over a position tends to be
around three times the usual amount. This "3-Day" rollover
accounts for settlement of trades through the weekend period.
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