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Frequently
Asked Questions
What
services are provided?
Offers 24-hour real-time dealing prices that can
be accessed over the internet or by phone. A charting package with technical analyses.
Customers can access their accounts through an account summary which shows all
previous trades, orders and real-time P&L on their positions. Also, for traders
and money managers you can manage multiple accounts controlling each account separately
or grouped as one.  Can
I deal on the phone as well as the internet?
Telephone dealing is available
to clients. Some clients use the phone to make trades or check currency levels
if they are away from their computers. How
do I withdraw money from my account?
A client can have money mailed to
their bank account within 3 to 5 business days. A fax or letter sent from the
client stating the amount they wish to have withdrawn. Partial withdrawals are
permitted provided margin requirements of the open positions are fulfilled. Please
fill out a Withdraw Request. What
hours can you trade, are you open 24 hours a day?
Market hours are from
5 p.m. EST on Sunday to 4 p.m. EST on Friday. Can
I place limit and stop loss orders?
Limit orders and stop loss orders are
available to our clients at no charge. How
Do I open an Account?
The customer agreement is online on our website.
We can also mail all necessary information to you. How
large is the Foreign Exchange Market on a daily basis?
Between $800 billion
to $1.6 trillion changes hands every day. Who
is responsible for the size of this market?
International banks, multi-national
corporations, and large brokerage houses that trade in huge volumes of currencies.
Can
I trade if I am changing my place of living or if I¡¦m traveling?
As
long as you have a laptop (and access to a telephone) you can trade from anyplace
in the world. You can also trade by phone with our 24 hour dealing desk. Please
keep us updated with your new address, phone numbers and e-mail. Do
you recommend people to open a demo account before opening a real account. Is
there any difference between the two?
Yes, every investor should use the
trading platform before opening a live account. This will give the investor a
better level of understanding on how the Foreign Exchange Market moves and increase
the comfort level for the investor as to whether this is a good investment strategy.
The difference between demo trading and live trading is simply using simulated
versus real funds. Demo fills are done automatically by the computer based on
the on-screen price, while real trading relies on dealers accepting the trades.
Because of volatility of price movement, not all market orders are executed. What
is a "margin call?"
A margin call is simply the established dollar
limit below which a trader is not permitted to go. A margin level not only reduces
credit risk, it also protects the integrity of the market. What
do the terms "bid/ask" and "spread" mean?
Bid is the
highest price that the seller is offering for the particular currency at the moment;
Ask is the lowest price acceptable to the buyer. Together, the two prices constitute
a quotation; the difference between the two is the spread, that is, the difference
between the price offered by a dealer willing to sell something and the price
he¡¦s willing to pay to buy it back. In a trading situation consider
the figure $/Y 115.05/10. What this figure means is that we would be able to offer
you yen at .05 but is willing to buy it back at 10. As a trader, the spread is
inherently important to know because your desire to obtain or liquidate your position
on the market will be effected by the spread. What
do the phrases "going short" and "going long" mean?
First
of all, you have to realize that the understanding of these terms is relative
to what is being discussed. Generally speaking, when you go long a currency it
means you bought it and are holding it in the expectation that it will appreciate
in value. By contrast, going short means you¡¦re selling currency
in the expectation that what you¡¦re selling will depreciate in value.
Specifically, if you¡¦re going long Sterling, it means you are buying
or holding onto Sterling. At the same time, when you buy Sterling it means you¡¦re
shorting the dollar. What
is the difference between liquidity and volatility?
Liquidity is the possibility
to maneuver around the market, i.e., buying or selling with any quantity of financial
product (stocks, bonds, etc.). Volatility is the average movement in any given
period of time. The higher the average, the higher the volatility.
What is the minimum amount needed to open an account?
Our
minimum account size is $2,000 for regular trading and $300 for Mini trading.
Does the foreign exchange market operate
like the securities market?
No. Unlike the
securities market, there is no central, geographic location such as the New York
Stock Exchange (NYSE) where transactions are bid and cleared. As a result, foreign
exchange trading requires the use of state-of-the-art technology to allow its
investors to communicate instantly, 24 hours a day. Currency rates are influenced
by supply and demand, making the foreign exchange market highly volatile. Average
foreign exchange trading volume exceeds $1.6 trillion daily, compared to $50 billion
in stock trades on the heaviest day in NYSE.
When are the interest
rates added?
The interest rates are added at
5 p.m. EST.
Why is GBP and EUR inverted?
It
is simply an FX convention, a tradition derived from the fact that historically
GBP has been relatively more expensive than the USD. And now EUR too. What
is a "pip"?
The smallest price movement
available in an instrument. For example, USD/JPY 118.48/53 shows a 5 pip spread,
and EUR/USD at 0.9517/22 also shows a 5 pip spread. For most currency pair quotes
1 pip is equivalent to 1 basis point (0.01%).
In case of systems' failure,
can clients still execute their trades?
Clients
can call the 24 hour manual dealing desk. If the system failure is on the client's
side, the dealer will execute the trades as per verbal instructions of the client,
which is recorded over the phone. If the failure is on the mainframe of our system,
liquidation and stop loss orders will be taken manually and adjustments will be
made once the system is back on. NO NEW OPEN POSITIONS will be taken in this situation.
How to save and print charts?
Follow
these simple steps: - Open a chart
- Click
Edit-->reverse colors
- Click Edit-->set
to print
- Press "Print Screen" on
your keyboard
- Open an image editor (for MS
Paint - click Start --> Programs --> Accessories --> Paint)
- In
MS Paint: Click Edit-->Paste
- In MS Paint:
Click File-->Save
- In MS Paint: Click File-->Print
If I opened
2 sub accounts, how will system calculate my margin and balance - as combined
margin and balance or separately?
Separately
for each of your sub accounts, which are the same independent trading accounts
as all others, so our margin requirements are appied for each account, so having
more money in one account will not save you from having a margin call on another
if there is not enough usable margin there. To avoid such situation - please monitor
your accounts constantly and transfer funds from one account to another.
What are your commissions
and fees?
Phi Capital Management does not charge
commissions. Prices quoted are inclusive of our normal dealing spreads, which
are Interbank dealing spreads or less on all major currencies, including US Dollar,
British Pound (Sterling), Japanese Yen, Euro, Swiss Franc, Canadian Dollar, and
Australian Dollar.
About how long will the
setup file take to download? - 56K:
15 minutes
- ISDN (128K): 7 minutes
-
DSL/Cable/T-1: 1-3 minutes
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