General and system / computer related questions

What is the difference between spot forex and forex cfds?                                                                            At FXFlat you have the great possibilty to trade in the forex market either with cfds or cash through spot forex trading. The quotes are absolutely identical. The difference is, that spot forex positions kept overnight will sold and bought back at 10 p.m. to charge the rollover costs. For cfd position the interests will be charged separately on the account. The buying rate for cfd positions won´t change until the position is sold while for spot forex positions the price changes every night.

The margin requirements for spot forex trading vary between 0.25 % and 1 % and can be choosen by the client at any time. Forex cfds always have a margin requirement of 1 %.  

How are transactions secured by FXFlat?
FXFlat makes use of state-of-the-art security technologies. All information exchanged between your computer and our servers is encrypted: Transmitted data is therefore not accessible by others. All transactions made are confirmed on screen. If you are not connected to the computer at the time, this confirmation will appear at the start of the next session.

How are my funds secured?
Customer funds are held at Barclays Bank, which is covered by the Deposit Guarantee Fund (Great Britain) up to an amount of 48,000 GBP. Furthermore, all customer funds are deposited in segregated accounts and will not be affected in the event of an insolvency of the broker firm.

Is trading with mini-lots possible?
Yes – not a problem. You can choose between lot sizes from 10,000 upwards in local currency. In some cases, lotsizes of 1,000 are also possible after clients requests.

What is the commission rate when trading indices (e.g. Dow Jones)?
No commission is charged when trading cfd on indices, spot forex or forex cfds, commodities, bonds or inflation rates. Only cfds on individual equities are charged a commission of 0.10 %.

What is the margin when trading in Forex and DAX?
The intitial margin for Dax is 0.5 %. You can select a margin requirement for Forex between 0.25 % and 1 % when opening the account or at any time through signing the base 10 form.

Can FlatTrader be used on other computers?
Yes. You can install our trading platform FlatTrader on any computer and log-in with your personal user name and password. You only need to install FlatTrader and have internet access. You can also use Webtrader at any time with the same log-in details.

Does FlatTrader use a lot of storage space?
FlatTrader needs very little storage space (approx. 20 MB) which allows downloading the software in shortest time with any type of internet connection (Modem 56K, ADSL, GPRS etc.).

What are the minimum system requirements for FlatTrader?
FlatTrader has the following system requirements:

• Internet connection with minimum speed 28.8 Kbs (modem)
• Internet Explorer 4 or higher
• Operating system Windows 98, ME, NT4, 2000, XP or newer.
• Ideally high-speed internet (ISDN, DSL or faster).

Can FlatTrader be used with other operating systems? The present version of FlatTrader can only run on Windows (see system requirements). Vista, Windows 7 and newer systems are supported.

How do I obtain a version of FlatTrader?
FlatTrader is available only online on our website www.fxflat.de and www.fxflat.com. You can download the programme without charge and try out all the features in a 30-day trial version with a fictitious portfolio.

Questions related to FXFlat / programme / trading

What are the conditions for participation when using FXFlat?
You must fulfil the following requirements when opening an account with FXFlat:

• You trade on your own account and with own funds;
• You are at least 18 years of age;
• Minimum deposit of 2,000 Euro or equivalent in foreign currency / 500 Euro for the mini-account.

How do I open an account with FXFlat?
Click on “Open account” and follow the online application. After you have submitted all the required information, we will review your application and contact you.

How much does trading with FXFlat cost?
There are no costs when trading with FXFlat apart from the spread and the financing. Customers are not charged transaction or processing fees.

Do I receive interest on my account?
When a position is closed either by the customer or the platform with a stop loss, take profit or margin call, the corresponding interest rate will be processed.

Do I receive interests on my account?
Starting with amounts of 50,000 Euro, you will receive interests on your account according to Libor minus a disagio.

Is there an option to trade via telephone?
You can execute your orders by phone. In order to make trading easier, however, the platform enables users to stop losses, take out profits and set higher or lower limits. These orders are executed automatically.

What is a trading unit?
In the FXFlat platform, 1 'lot' equals one unit in the base currency of a currency pair. For example: 1 lot USD/CAD, USD/CHF or USD/JPY equals U.S. $ 100,000. 1 unit EUR/USD, EUR/CHF or EUR/AUD equals 100,000 Euro.

Which kinds of financial analysis are available through FXFlat?
FXFlat offers financial analysis for foreign currencies, stocks, stock indices, commodities and other cfd contracts. These types of analysis address investors that are looking for new trading ideas for stocks and foreign currencies as well as investors looking for assistance with the management of their portfolio. We offer studies, investment advice and an economic calendar.

Does the system support real time charts?
Yes, the charts are displayed in real time within the chart window of the trading platform and can be viewed in different time intervals. The intervals can be adjusted to ticks, 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 min., 10 min., 15 min., up to 55 min., 1 hour, 2 hours, 4 hours, 8 hours, 1 day , weekly and  monthly.

For example: If you adjust FXFlat DAX to a 10 second interval, every 10 seconds a new point will be displayed in the chart window and connected to the previous price development. With this, the current chart will be based on prices updated every 10 seconds.

How does FXFlat check my positions towards the margin limit?
FXFlat automatically checks the margin requirement of the positions. The account summary that informs about the initial margin and the maintenance margin is updated in real time on the screen.

Are stop loss and limit orders executed at the prices specified?
When placing an order, the platform will show you the current price. You can protect yourself against unexpected price movements by adding price limits to your orders. The order will only be executed if the price remains within the specified limits.

How do I change the leverage for my account?
In order to change the leverage of the account, click on the menu item “Account” on the platform and select “Change leverage of the account” from the drop-down menu. You can change the leverage only if all open positions are closed. To display the changes, you first have to log-out and then log-in again. If you want to try out different trading strategies, you can create sub-accounts with different leverages. Please contact the FXFlat team to create sub-accounts.

General questions on the trading business (related to exchange market / exchange market glossary)

What is foreign exchange trade?
Foreign exchange trading – also FX or Forex – refers to trading one country’s currency against another country’s currency. When it comes to the trading volume, the global foreign exchange market is the largest market. This means that the order volume in the foreign exchange market is larger than in the federal or stock exchange market. As an example, the New York stock exchange has a daily trading volume of only a very small percentage of the traded volume at the Forex market.

Which are the most commonly traded currencies?
The most commonly traded currencies are: USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, CHF, CAD and AUD. The most commonly traded currency pair is EUR/USD.

Why trade currencies?
Currencies are traded, for example, to secure currency differences (hedging) and for speculative purposes. Currency markets are ideal for speculative trading. The last years showed, that long and clear trends are more often in the forex markets than in the stock markets or other exchanged.

What is the purpose of a technical analysis?
The technical analysis is a systematic approach to analyze the market developments based on historical and graphical data, which means that the technical analysis, can be used to decide whether a financial product is oversold or not. Another advantage of the technical analysis is the detection of crucial trend reversals in the markets or in connection with a product and the anticipation of new tendencies.

What is a fundamental analysis?
The fundamental analysis uses economic data and news to analyze the market situation.

What is bid and ask?
Bid (money) is the price at which customers sell. Ask (brief) is the price at which customers buy. For example: EUR/USD is traded at a price of 1.2250/53. The bid price is the first price (on the left): 1.2250. This price is the conversion rate when selling EUR and buying USD. The ask price is the second price (on the right): 1.2253. This price is the conversion rate when buying EUR and selling USD.

What is a “tom next trade”?
The present position is closed at the end of the day and continued on the next day at the opening price - also called “tomorrow next procedure”.

What does the term “leverage” mean?
Through the leverage, the capital invested is multiplied or reduced disproportionately.

What is a spread?
The difference between bid and ask – buying and selling rate.

What is the difference between an order, a trade and a position?
Order is the intention to trade with fixed conditions.
Trade is the execution of an order.
Position is the total of all trades for a specific market.

What is the difference between a market order and a limit order?
Unlimited stock market orders are executed immediately at the next available market price. Limit orders are orders at which a trade will be executed in the future as soon as the market price reaches a specific level. A limit order is a restriction placed by the customer on the maximum buying price or the minimum selling price.

What is the leverage?
Leverage refers to the relation between margin and trading position. You can use a leverage of 10:1, 30:1, 100:1 or 400:1 on the FXFlat trading account. If you choose, for example, a leverage of 30:1, you will be able to trade a position that is 30 times larger than your actual capital investment.

How do I manage the trading risk?
FXFlat offers its customers different options to limit their risk:

• Stop loss orders
• Trailing Orders
• Low leverage
• Trade only with money that you can afford to lose
• Many other order types available

Can I classify for any risk category or do I have to provide proofs?
You are self-responsible for the classification in a specific risk class. Please always consider your actual experience in the security trade to prevent financial losses. New customers are generally classified by us as retail customers.

How do I set an indicator alert in the chart?

• You will find the "Alert sound" setting under File -> Configuration -> Parameter, in the menu item "Sounds".
• You will find the "Alert message" setting under File -> Configuration -> Parameter, in the menu item "Alert". This includes the setting on/off for the text message in "Display message."
  In order to add an "Indicator alert", follow these steps (Notice: You must  have an indicator in the chart where you want to add the alert):
• You will find the "Indicator alert" button in the chart window in form of a bell that is crossed by a green, blue or magenta coloured line.

• After selecting this option, an "Indicator alert" window will be displayed where you can add an indicator by clicking on "Add" on the left side. With this, "" will be added to the "Indicator alert list".

• To select the parameters for the new "" alert, click on "Add" in centre of the field of the "Indicator alert" window.

• If you select this option, the window "Add alert conditions" will open. The first selection window is the indicator for which you want to add the alert, the centre window is the option for the final option that represents another indicator or numerical value.

• If you want to add several conditions to the alert, you can choose between "AND" or an alternative condition "OR."

• If you want to select additional conditions, choose between "AND" and "OR" from the "operations" window and click on "add".

• Repeat for any desired operation and close by clicking on "OK" on the right-hand bottom of the window.

• The alert will remain activated until deactivation. To deactivate the alert, return to the window "Indicator alert" and uncheck the option in the list.