Understanding at the core

Hi,

Rather than the usual banter regarding the usual books, old time greats, wonderous systems and live ego/system selling calls, I'm aiming on compiling a thread on understanding the whats, why's and wheres in regards to wholesale and retail currency trading.

I may be wrong but I'm sure the larger money don't buy/sell when the 10 and 35 ema cross etc, so why do they trade when they do? Pretty sure they don't mark projected elliot waves on pretty charts neither, so I want to get down to the grit and really understand as I can only see this as helping. I have a feeling a brain surgeon must understand how each part of the brain works, where it is and what function it serves before commencent and surely wouldn't survive long if he walked into surgery after reading a book saying 'cut here, tie here and stich up like this....!'

Although comfortably profitable, my ignorance amazes me and I have a real desire to understand as much as possible in regards to the world of currency trading away from just the 'how to make money?' issue....

To kick things off there are a couple of links and a list I believe to be the main investment banks but may be well wrong...!


http://www.hsbcnet.com/hsbc/home/our-solutions

http://www.ibtalk.com/

This is by no means a comprehensive or full list (or even correct) but lifted from elsewhere to get an idea of major institutions participating....

ABN AMRO Bank N.V.
Altium Capital Limited
Arbuthnot Latham & Co., Limited
Arbuthnot Securities Limited
Banc of America Securities Limited
BNP Paribas
Barclays Capital
Bear, Stearns International Limited
Brewin Dolphin Securities Limited
Bridgewell Group Limited
British Linen Advisers Limited
CIBC World Markets
Cantor Fitzgerald Europe
Citigroup Inc.
Close Brothers Corporate Finance Ltd
Code Securities Limited
Collins Stewart Limited
Credit Suisse Securities (Europe) Ltd
Daiwa Securities SMBC Europe Limited
Dawnay, Day & Co., Limited
Deutsche Bank AG London
Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein
Evolution Securities
Goldman Sachs International
Greenhill & Co. International LLP
Hawkpoint Partners Limited
HBOS Treasury Services plc
HSBC Bank plc
ING Bank N.V.
Instinet Europe Limited
Investec Plc
JPMorgan Cazenove Limited
J.P. Morgan Securities Ltd
KBC Peel Hunt Ltd
Lazard &Co., Limited
Lehman Brothers
Libertas Capital Group plc
Macquerie
Merrill Lynch Europe PLC
Mizuho International plc
Morgan Stanley International Ltd
N M Rothschild & Sons Limited
Nomura International plc
Numis Securities Ltd
Oriel Securities Limited
Panmure Gordon & Co.
PiperJaffray Ltd
Robert W. Baird Group Limited
Sanford C. Bernstein Limited
Singer & Friedlander Limited
Société Générale
3i Group plc
UBS AG London
Winterflood Securities Limited
WestLB AG

Any links, suggested related reading, advice and anything forex related to build a decent understanding of currency trading, aside from the usual systems etc, to help newbies and seasoned FX traders actually understand these markets....

Cheers

A better list of all worldwide interbank participants...

http://www.forexdirectory.net/interdealer.html

Worthwhile reading

Mastering Foreign Exchange and Currency Options: A Practical Guide to The New Marketplace (FT S.)
Francesca Taylor ...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0273662953/026-2220801-1054059



Trading in the Global Currency Markets
Cornelius Luca

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0735201463/ref=pd_bxgy_img_2_cp/026-2220801-1054059

Intermarket Technical Analysis: Trading Strategies for the Global Stock, Bond, Commodity and Currency Markets (Wiley Finance Edition)
John J. Murphy

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0471524336/ref=pd_sim_b_dp_2/026-2220801-1054059

Another that looks promising. Not read any of these (yet) but all seem to be more in relation to understanding....

Looks like could be good reading....

http://www.eagletraders.com/books/bookshop.htm



and a few more

http://www.eagletraders.com/forex_trading/forex_books.htm

The top 25 investment banks in the world based on a Euromoney poll of polls. Source: Euromoney



1 DEUTSCHE BANK Germany
2 MERRILL LYNCH USA
3 MORGAN STANLEY DEAN WITTER USA
4 WARBURG DILLON READ Switzerland
5 CITIGROUP USA
6 GOLDMAN SACHS USA
7 JP MORGAN USA
8 ABN AMRO Netherlands
9 CHASE MANHATTAN CORP. USA
10 CREDIT SUISSE FIRST BOSTON Switzerland
11 LEHMAN BROTHERS USA
12 HSBC HOLDINGS UK
13 DRESDNER KLEINWORT BENSON Germany
14 BNP PARIBAS France
15 BARCLAYS CAPITAL UK
16 SOCIETE GENERALE France
17 BANK OF AMERICA USA
18 CREDIT LYONNAIS France
19 NATWEST GROUP UK
20 ING BARINGS Netherlands
21 NOMURA SECURITIES Japan
22 S-E-BANKEN Sweden
23 ROYAL BANK OF CANADA Canada
24 BEAR STEARNS USA
25 JARDINE FLEMING Hong Kong

Good thread Jezza.

Understanding what the key "drivers" are in the currency markets should be high on the list, this probably sounds obvious, but I'd like to wager most retail punters have no idea.


A news source with expected Volatility indicator, should at least put punters on their guard.

http://www.forexfactory.com/index.php?page=calendar

Tons of other stuff , but lets see how this develops.

C V

counter_violent said:

Good thread Jezza.

Understanding what the key "drivers" are in the currency markets should be high on the list, this probably sounds obvious, but I'd like to wager most retail punters have no idea.

C V

Click to expand...

Cheers counter_violent and thanks for the links, certainly a bit of reading there!

As you say, so many are only interested in the 'systems' and 'indicators' and 'quick schemes' and spend all their time learning those instead of actually learning the market itself which I find amazing. I started the thread a while back and it receieved very little interest but hopefully more we can accumalate more information here as to me, understanding the market is crucial.