Forex Currency Pairs

Forex Currency Pairs traded at Windsor:

Forex, Fx or Foreign Exchange Market, is a network of the largest financial institutions in the world such as central banks, commercial banks and other financial institutions, corporations and private investors, where foreign currency is bought and sold.
Daily Forex trading in traditional Forex exchange is the largest and was estimated at US$ 1.5 trillion in 1998.

The Forex market is a 24 hour global market that works continuously all week, except Saturdays and Sundays.

The four largest Forex centers in the world are London, New York, Tokyo and Singapore. Usually Forex trading is brisk in North America mornings, i.e. afternoons in Europe due to both markets being open at the same time and due to new US economic data releases.

The Forex markets trade a very wide range of currencies on a regular basis. However, the majority of Forex transactions are made in five major currencies: the US Dollar, the Euro, the British Pound, the Japanese Yen and the Swiss Frank. The greatest number of Forex currency trades is made against the US Dollar.

Spot Precious Metals

Spot Precious Metals traded at Windsor: Gold and Silver.
Nations around the world embraced gold and silver as a store of wealth and a medium of international exchange. Individuals have sought to possess precious metals as insurance against the day-to-day uncertainties of paper money. Gold, silver, platinum and palladium constitute the majority of trading in precious metals.

Trading in precious metal futures market or spot market in a speculative manner provides an important alternative to traditional means of investing in precious metals such as gold bullion, coins, and mining stocks, and where substantial profits, as well as losses can be made. Trading contracts in precious metals also provide valuable trading tools for commercial producers and the users of these metals.

Precious metals are traded on the futures and spot markets in contracts (a contract of gold is 100oz while a contract of silver is 5000oz). On the spot market, precious metals are usually bought or sold based on a value date of 48 hours which can be rolled over on a daily basis thereafter. Trading on the futures market is done by buying or selling precious metal for a specific settlement date in the future. For example July Gold, can be bought in March for July settlement.

Future (OTC) Indices

Future (OTC) Indices traded at Windsor: Mini Nasdaq 100, Mini S&P 500 and Big Dow Jones.

The principle of buying and selling for future delivery has characterized the markets for over a century and a half in physical commodities, mainly metals and staple foodstuffs. It has also been the feature of the foreign exchange markets, where prices can be agreed today for foreign currencies and other financial instruments that can be delivered in the future.

Futures Markets are markets in which participants can fix the price they will pay or receive for bonds, shares and currencies and other financial products, in the future (effectively the parties thus "lock into" a known exchange rate/price).

Trading is made by buying or selling futures contracts which are standardized according to the quality, quantity, delivery time and location for each instrument. A futures contract is specified with the month during which the delivery or settlement is to occur i.e. if the product is gold and delivery is in July then the price quoted is for July Gold.

There are three types of participants in futures markets, the one that wants physical delivery, the hedger who wishes to protect himself/herself against adverse movements in prices and the speculative investor.
The speculative investor has no intention of making or taking delivery of the commodity but, rather, seeks to profit from a change in the price. Investors buy a product when they anticipate rising prices i.e. entering long (and sell that product later, at the higher price), or sell a product when they anticipate declining prices i.e. entering short (and then buy that product later, at the lower price).
If you speculate in futures contracts and the price moves in the direction you anticipated, then you will be making profit. Conversely, if prices move in the opposite direction then losses are made. Speculators therefore are individuals and corporations who seek to profit from anticipated increases or decreases in futures prices.

For those individuals who fully understand and can afford the risks that are involved, the allocation of some portion of their capital to futures trading can provide

Future (OTC) Energies

Future (OTC) Energies traded at Windsor are: Light Sweet Crude Oil, Mini Natural Gas.

Crude oil is the raw material that is refined into gasoline, heating oil, jet fuel, propane, petrochemicals, and other products. In today's complex global markets, the price of crude oil is set by movements on the three major international petroleum exchanges the New York Mercantile Exchange, the International Petroleum Exchange in London and the Singapore International Monetary Exchange.

Prices of crude oil have always been volatile and are greatly influenced by supply and demand. They behave much as any other commodity with wide price swings in times of shortage or oversupply and in times of political instability. The crude oil price cycle may extend over several years.

There are two types of crude oil, sour crude is primarily the type of crude that comes from OPEC, as opposed to West Texas Intermediate (WTI) or sweet crude. The WTI price is traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX).

Crude oil began futures trading on the NYMEX in 1983 and is the most heavily traded commodity. It trades in units of 1,000 US barrels i.e. 42,000 US gallons (1 contract), and the price is quoted in dollars and cents per barrel. The minimum price fluctuation in the price of crude oil is US$ 0.001per barrel (US$ 10 per contract).

Crude oil Futures trading has always been of tremendous interest to speculators who hope to profit from the ever changing price of this commodity.