Forex Trading in Greece

The Greek economy has had its ups and downs in recent years, but the forex market remains a relatively safe endeavor for investors. Greece’s position as a part of the European Union (EU) provides its forex industry a level of regulation that is not present in many other parts of the world. Greek debt is no longer the toxic asset it was 10 years ago, with many investors preferring it to the negative interest rates of savings accounts. Local forex traders work from a position of relative strength.

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Disclosure: CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 68% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

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Attribution: Greeka

The euro, which replaced the Greek drachma as the national primary currency after the 2008 Greek financial crisis, continues to advantage Greek investors as the world’s 2nd most commonly-held reserve currency. The Hellenic Capital Market Commission (HCMC) and Market in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) both provide a strong regulatory framework to protect investors. If you are looking to trade safely in the retail forex market from Greece, your opportunity is present and growing.

Get Started with Forex in Greece

To take full advantage of the opportunity to trade forex in Greece safely, follow these steps:

1. Check your internet connection. You connect to every aspect of the market — brokerage, bank, trading interface — through the web. You need all of these working parts moving at once. Make sure you have enough bandwidth to handle multiple programs and browsers open at once because you may have to access research from multiple places at once.
2. Vet a reputable broker. You have choices within and outside of Greek borders depending on your preference. Greek regulation allows brokers to deal in contracts for differences (CFDs) as well as traditional forex. Vet your choices for compliance with the HCMC, MiFID or international financial authorities.
3. Connect your 3rd-party bank account. You will need to connect an outside bank account and ID yourself to fund an investment account. Each broker will have its own process.
4. Fund the account. Now that you have connected your outside account, you can transition funds from that account to your investment account. Vet your broker here closely. You should be able to easily move funds into and out of your brokerage account.
5. Vet a trading interface. Your broker is the connection between your personal setup and your investment accounts, but your trading software is actually how you connect with the forex market. The solution you choose should be somewhat intuitive for you but don’t be afraid of a learning curve.
6. Invest. You are now ready to trade currencies in the forex market.

Greek Forex Trading Strategies

Being able to trade forex in Greece means that you understand investment blueprints that inform how you approach the market. Here are the general plans of action that most traders use to build a strategy.

Attribution: Greek City Times – Greek investors Con Berbatis, Andrew N. Liveris and Dr. Helen Zorbas

Short-Term Investing

If you are investing in the short term, you may define yourself as a scalper, day trader or momentum trader. Because profits for each individual investment are small, the strategy is usually more high-frequency than other types of forex trading. Some trades may last only a fraction of 1 second. Extremely high-frequency trading sometimes involves automated trading interfaces. Your internet connection must be extremely stable for short-term investing because you are competing against institutions with sophisticated setups.

Mid-Term Investing

Mid-term traders are also known as trend traders, range traders and swing traders. Investors hold these trades for hours or weeks to allow the trade time to develop. To perform well at this type of investing, traders learn how to tell the difference between ranges (price changing direction in a pattern) and trends (price moving in 1 direction for a while). Real-time indicators measuring variables like trading volume and momentum can be helpful in technical assessments. Short-term news items can also be important depending on how long an investor plans to hold a certain trade.

Long-Term Investing

Long-term investors are also known as fundamental investors. This type of investment strategy makes a profit from inefficiencies between the value and the price of a currency. Trading indicators and news become less important than the underlying macroeconomic conditions that cause exchange rate volatility, reserve rate holdings and other large-scale variables. Learning about a country’s long-term economic and political plans will help you succeed in this market time frame. Some long-term investors will hold a trade for years until it has time to fully develop or show itself to be incorrect.

Forex Trading Example in Greece

Imagine that the EUR/USD is trading at 1.12300/1.12500, and you want to buy €40,000. You think that the price is low and it will rise in the short term. Your broker will allow you to control a €40,000 investment with $1,375.78 cash in your account at a margin rate of 3.06%. 

The new EUR/USD price after 4 hours of trading is 1.12700/1.12900, a 20-point move. Your total profit is (€40,000 x 1.12700) – (€40,000 x 1.12500), or $80.

Making Money with Forex in Greece

Attribution: World Finance

Once you have your overall investment strategy, you can take advantage of many different financial vehicles in the forex market. Here are some of the most important:

• Short selling: Currencies will often fall in value against a strong euro and you can take advantage of this drop through short selling.
• CFDs: The Greek regulators allow brokers to use contracts for differences (CFDs) as a way to trade currencies without owning them. 
• Binary options: Binary options do not track currency prices directly. They offer a yes or no proposition to investors. Choose correctly, and you gain a large percentage gain on your investment. Choose incorrectly, and you lose a sizable percentage.

Best Online Forex Brokers in Greece

You have a choice of many forex brokers in Greece. Here are a few of the more reputable to jumpstart your search:

Forex Terminology

Here is some of the most important forex terminology you should master before trading:

• Pip: The smallest division of a currency in the forex market is $0.0001.
• Lot size: This is usually equal to 100,000 currency units unless you specifically order in smaller unit sets.
• Orders: You order the currency that you want in the lot size that you want from the market through your broker.
• Calls: A call option is a contract for a future order, also known as a derivative investment, with its own properties that you can trade on.

Building a New Greek Economy

Greece continues to create new opportunities for its investors with a business-friendly policy and the use of a strong euro. The 2008 crisis seems to be fully in the past, although the economy has not fully recovered. The rising activity in the retail forex market only serves to further improve Greece’s place in the European financial structure.

For the updated information you need about forex trading in Greece, bookmark this website.