Here are a few facts about the European Union (EU), which caused some kind of a revolution in the FOREX world.

It is a union of twenty-five independent states based on the European Communities and founded to enhance political, economic and social co-operation. It is formerly known as the European Community (EC) or European Economic Community (EEC).

Date of foundation: 1st November, 1993. New members since 1st January, 1995: Austria, Finland, Sweden. For the ten new members as of 1st May, 2004, see below.

Member states (EUR: Euro currency in the FOREX market):

Austria (EUR)
Belgium (EUR)
Denmark (independent currency)
Finland (EUR)
France (EUR)
Germany (EUR)
Greece (EUR)
Ireland (EUR)
Italy (EUR)
Luxembourg (EUR)
Netherlands (EUR)
Portugal (EUR)
Spain (EUR)
Sweden (independent currency)
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (independent currency)

It is not a State intended to replace existing states, but it is more than any other international organisation. The EU is, in fact, unique. Its Member States have set up common institutions to which they delegate some of their sovereignty so that decisions on specific matters of joint interest can be made democratically at European level.This pooling of sovereignty is also called "European integration".

There are five EU institutions:

European Parliament (elected by the peoples of the Member States);
Council of the European Union (representing the governments of the Member States);
European Commission (driving force and executive body);
Court of Justice (ensuring compliance with the law);
Court of Auditors (controlling sound and lawful management of the EU budget).

Other important bodies:

European Economic and Social Committee (expresses the opinions of organised civil society on economic and social issues);

Committee of the Regions (expresses the opinions of regional and local authorities);

European Central Bank (responsible for monetary policy and managing the euro);

European Ombudsman (deals with citizens' complaints about maladministration by any EU institution or body);

European Investment Bank (helps achieve EU objectives by financing investment projects);

Much of the co-operation between EU countries was about trade and the economy, but now the EU also deals with many other subjects of direct importance for our everyday life, such as citizens' rights; ensuring freedom, security and justice; job creation; regional development; environmental protection; making globalisation work for everyone.

The European Union has delivered half a century of stability, peace and prosperity. It has helped to raise living standards, built a single Europe-wide market, launched the single European currency, the euro, and strengthened Europe's voice in the world.

The Euro is a very stable currency and since it was used in the different FOREX markets, it got stronger by the day.

To most people, being right is more important than making money.
Here’s the deal. The way to make real money in the Forex market is to cut your losses short and let your winners ride. In order to do that, you have GOT to accept that some of your trades are going to lose, cut them loose and move on to another trade. It’s simply a loss, and the best way to deal with it is to stop losing money by moving on – and really move on. Moving on means you don’t keep a running total of how many losses you’ve had – that’s the way to paralyze yourself. This brings us to the next point:

Losing traders see loss as failure. Winning traders see loss as learning.
Not too long ago, a friend of mine told me that before Thomas Edison invented a working light bulb, he invented 100 light bulbs that didn’t work. But he didn’t give up – because he knew that creating a source of light from electricity was possible. He believed in his overall theory – so when one design didn’t work, he simply knew that he’d eliminated one possibility. Keep eliminating possibilities long enough, and you’ll eventually find the possibility that works.

Winning Forex traders see loss in the same way. They haven’t failed – they’ve learned something new about the way that they and the market work.
Winning traders can look at the big picture while playing in the small arena.

Suppose I told you that last year, I made 75 trades that lost money, and 25 that made money. In the eyes of most people, that would make me a pretty poor trader. I’m wrong 75% of the time. But what if I told you that my average loss was $1000, but my average profit on a winning trade was $10,000? That means that I lost $75,000 on trades, but I made $250,000, making my overall Forex profit $175,000.

Learning to cross currency in the Forex market can be complicated. The biggest factor in trading is having knowledge about the market and how it works. In addition, there are many benefits for trading in the market. Crossing currency gives traders the leverage to make large profits while keeping the risk of losing capital to a minimum. In ideal conditions, an investor that puts in $500 could potentially make over $100,000.

Crossing currency also allows traders and investors to profit in rising and falling markets. This is another difference between the stock market and the foreign exchange market. With the stock market, an investor can only make money when the shares are on the rise. When there is a falling “bear” market or the stocks decline, investors cannot make money on the stock market. When crossing currency - this is not true. This is one appealing factor of trading on the Forex market. Investors can make large amounts of profits when a currency pair is either up or down. Crossing currency in the right direction can always make profits.

Another benefit of using currency crossing, or trading is that this market is always open. When investing the in the stock market, the trading is limited to when the market is open. It has a definite closing time during the business week. This is not true of the foreign exchange currency. The currency market is open all the time and does not close except for a know period of time in the weekend. Traders benefit from the ability to trade twenty-four hours a day using the Internet.

Learning to trade in the Forex market can be easy when new investors go through an experienced broker or financial institution. Also, there are many ways to learn how to trade using free demo accounts available on the Internet. These websites offer valuable resources and free ways for the new investor to practice. This is very important for those who want to learn the ins and outs of crossing currency before opening an actual account. Mini accounts are also a good way for the new investor to trade currency without having the risk of a regular account. A mini account allows traders to use a smaller amount of money as their initial investment.

Understanding how exchange rates work and how they affect Forex markets is essential if you’re going to last as a trader in the currency market. Exchange rates, Euros, dollars, yens, pips, and points – the whole concept of the exchange rate can be confusing and exhausting for a beginner.

What the heck is an exchange rate?

The exchange rate refers to the relative worth of one type of currency against another. To make it simple, let’s use an example with a simple exchange rate that everyone is familiar with – the exchange rate of dollars to cents. Suppose you have 10 one-dollar bills. You know that each of those dollar bills is worth 100 cents. You could, if you wanted, go to the bank and exchange your 10-dollar bills for 1000 cents. The exchange rate would be expressed as DOL/CEN=.01 or CEN/DOL=100. In other words, you can exchange one dollar for 100 cents or 100 cents for one dollar.

This example can be expanded to include foreign currencies (that’s the way it is in the forex market). Instead of dollars and cents though, you’re dealing with Euros, yen, pounds and francs. EUR/USD=1.1023 means that each euro is worth $1.1023 (the fourth decimal point is used due to the large volume of trading). In reverse, that would be expressed as USD/EUR=.9071. In other words, if you want to trade US dollars for Euros, it will cost you $1,102.30 to get 1000 Euros.

Another big difference is that exchange rates of foreign currencies in the forex market change every second, and by that, it is possible to make a profit out of the buying and selling differential.

The Forex trading range is actually a chart pattern. It is often used to represent a resting period before the original trend is resumed. You may see these when you are charting trends and should know what they imply, since they have helped me take better positions.

Often trends are very important to investors. Those who engage in trend-following are people who look at major trends and make decisions in the direction of the trend. This can be a good strategy, but you must know a lot about trends in particular and the market in general in order to use this technique successfully.

Beginners are not usually very good at tracking Forex trends and using trend-following techniques. One thing that you should also note is that some price movements are trend-less. This means that they have no strong direction, which makes trend-following literally impossible.

Remember that in order to fully understand trends and the way to deal with them and make them profitable - you must know the ways of the market and foreign exchange in general. Beginners should be careful when relying on the trend tracking strategy. Once you get more experience you can begin looking into tracking more and more.

However, be aware that different things affect and influence the Forex. These influences can change what people expect trends to be. Therefore, you should be a seasoned trader in order to rely on the trends and ranges alone. Educate yourself on these terms and learn to recognize them in the actual market. After all, learning the terms is one thing and being able to see them in reality is different.