Stocks & Commodities V.

18:5 (78-79): Product Review: Forex Trader

PRODUCT REVIEW

Forex Trader
Version 2.0

Forex Trader from QED is a program that will appeal to novice

QED TECHNOLOGY
3700 Koppers Street
Baltimore, MD 21227
Phone: 410 368-9063
Internet: http://www.forex-trc.com
Product: Foreign currency exchange
simulation program.
Equipment requirements: IBM-com-
patible 386+ PC running Windows 3.1/
95, 8 MB RAM, VGA monitor, 10 MB
hard disk space, CD-ROM drive.
Price: $195
by Jayanthi Gopalakrishnan
nterested in foreign ex-
Each tick is color-coded to show whether
price is in the top 25% (green), middle
50% (yellow), or lower 25% (red) price
range. For each currency, a median and
maximum price range in US dollars are
displayed for the trading day. Click on
the box with a question mark to display
Forex Trader is an easy-to-use
program that simulates the
currency markets, helping you
learn the ropes before you
actually invest in the market.
currency traders and could appeal to more sophisticated traders
to brush up on their skills.
manual with the program. Documenta-
tion is straightforward and does a good
job of walking the user through the
features of the program.
FEATURES
The CD must be in the CD-ROM
drive in order to run the pro-
gram. Forex Trader focuses on
the more frequently traded cur-
rency contracts — that is, the
Swiss franc, Deutschemark, yen,
British pound, and the Euro. You

I change trading? Here’s a

product that lets you prac-
tice currency trading with-
out risking a penny in the
actual market. Forex Trader is a simula-
tion program that helps you get a feel
for the highly liquid market in which an
average of $1 trillion is traded every-
day.
INSTALLATION AND SETUP
Installation involves inserting and run-
ning the CD-ROM. Once installation is
complete, you will notice six files:
1 Forex Trader program
2 Forex Review
3 SimROS program
4 A currencies datafile
5 Time zone files
6 A read-me file
The Forex Trader file is the actual
program that lets you simulate foreign
currency trading. You can trade various
currency contracts at realistic broker
prices.
The Forex Review file plots histori-
cal tick data from the CD. An example
of the display can be seen in Figure 1.
a dialog indicating the profit/loss po-
tential for the specific currency of your
interest on the selected date.
The SimROS file is used to feed his-
can trade up to four currencies simulta-
neously, with the option of using both
historical and real-time data to run the
program. Real-time simulation can be
performed with D BC ’s real-time
torical tick data from the CD to your
real-time data analysis program. If datafeed. Historical tick data is stored in
you’re using real-time tick data, you simple ASCII text files on the CD. To
would use DBC’s Data Manager instead use real-time data, you must have Data
of SimROS. If you’re using historical Manager running and you must change
data, you have the option of utilizing the the currency symbols to be compatible
quick mode that allows you to trade an with DBC. All you have to do is retype
entire day in less than one hour. While the symbols in the currency’s file.
you can use the historical data
from the program CD to learn
with, using DBC’s real-time
datafeed with Forex Trader
gives you a better feel for the
markets.
The currencies file lists ISO
(International Organization
for Standardization) ticker
symbols of the five currencies
available on the CD. The time
zone files specify your local
time relative to Greenwich
mean time (GMT). The read-
me file is a write source file
that contains the user guide, FIGURE 1: FOREX REVIEW. Here’s a display of the four different currencies
although you will receive a trading on any specific day. Clicking on the question mark will bring up a dialog
printed, hard-copy user’s box displaying the profits/losses for the currency in question.

Copyright (c) Technical Analysis Inc.

 Stocks & Commodities V. 18:5 (78-79): Product Review: Forex Trader

negative. Yellow indicates

neutral conditions.

FIRE AWAY
Select the currency you
wish to chart and hit start
to initiate the simulation.
Click the “fast” checkbox
to run through the simula-
tion quickly. You can view
a chart with the price ac-
tion of the currency being
traded (Figure 2). If you
FIGURE 2: CHARTS. Here’s a chart displaying intraday activity of the
wish to execute a trade, FIGURE 3: ORDERS. A screen displaying your order entries keeps you
Japanese yen. click the orders button, updated on your cumulative profits/losses.
which will bring up a trade
window, where you can
Your hypothetical account starts off place buy, sell, and stop orders (Figure SUMMARY
with $5,000, and you can only make 3). Whenever you want to change the Forex Trader is an easy-to-use program
transactions within the limits of avail- simulation speed, just click the “fast” that simulates the currency markets,
able cash in your account. If exchange checkbox. Since the fast mode runs helping you learn the ropes before you
rates drop and you are on the losing side through the program very quickly, it actually invest in the market. You can
of a trade, the program will show that can be difficult to monitor price action, use the historical data from the program
you owe money to your theoretical bro- so if you’re going to place an order, CD to learn with or DBC’s real-time
ker. You have the option of flushing you’re better off setting your simula- datafeed, which may give you a better
cash into your account by entering the tion speed to the slow mode. feel for the markets. Forex Trader is not
amount you wish to deposit. In the orders window, you’ll find a designed to serve as a trading system; it
Forex Trader will watch the markets display listing all your trades. The profit/ is an order execution simulator that
24 hours a day. Because of this, you loss for all open trades are updated so provides the tools and information to
should set the time zone to your local you can monitor them continuously. test trading systems developed in pro-
area before running the program. You Forex Trader doesn’t allow you to enter gram such as TradeStation. You can
have the option to set alerts, which, if commissions, so you will need to factor use Forex Trader to execute trades based
you are online, will beep you if certain this in when you are determining your on the buy and sell signals of your
conditions are met. If you are offline, profits and losses. At the end of the externally developed system. This is a
the program will give you the opportu- trading session, you can print a report of program that will appeal most to novice
nity to study your charts and make your your trades. currency traders, and could appeal to
trading decisions. WinROS.exe uses Microsoft’s Dy- more sophisticated currency traders to
The program offers different chart namic Data Exchange (DDE), which brush up on their skills.
types. You can use tick, average, line, allows you to use other software such as
bar, candlestick, and point & figure. MS Excel, TradeStation, and Visual Jayanthi Gopalakrishnan is a Staff
These are all color-coded, with green Basic with Forex Trader. Writer for STOCKS & COMMODITIES.
indicating a positive condition and red a †See Traders’ Glossary for definition S&C

Copyright (c) Technical Analysis Inc.