Forex trading Report/SPECULATION IN THE FOREIGN EXCHANGE MARKET
do atleast 12 transcation on forex account. Atleast 12 transcations and report on those transcations
report” 2000 words
Format: (A) Internet trading game and (B) report (with a 1-page executive summary).
Grading: Numerical grade out of 40, divided up as 15 for part (A) and 25 for part (B).
Nature: Individual assignment.
Word length: For the report: not more than 2,000 words (electronic count) excluding executive
summary, footnotes and appendices to the report.
Submission: This assignment must be submitted electronically on CloudDeakin by 11:59pm on
the due date (please refer to the Unit Guide for further details).
In this assignment, students are required to:
(A) Speculate with virtual money on a real internet trading website.
(B) Write a report (maximum of 2,000 words) on their trading experience.
(A) Internet trading game (15 points)
The Unit Team will provide each student with a free demo account with Easy Forex, an online foreign
exchange trading website. The url for Easy Forex is http://www.easy-forex.com/au/. You will have
access to many of the features on the website that actual traders receive, including real-time quotes,
news and a variety of charts (though some features that are licensed from third parties are not
available on demo accounts). Please note that the website works best with Internet Explorer. You
can download Internet Explorer from the Deakin Software Library:
http://www.deakin.edu.au/software/internet.php.
Each student will be given an account on this website with AUD 50,000 virtual money. The goal of the
exercise is simple: to make as much money as possible. Easy Forex provides access to foreign
exchange spot markets and forward markets in order for you to perform your speculative activities.
The website has a ‘Learn’ tab, which contains information on the basics of forex trading. Please take
the time to understand how the trading platform works before commencing your trading activities.
All students will receive an email (from the Unit Team) that contains a username and password for an
account on Easy Forex within the first week of April 2016. On receiving this, please do not change
the settings (i.e. please do not change the email and password on the account). The url for direct
access to the login area on Easy Forex is http://www.easy-forex.com/au/. You can access your
account by entering the username and password in the “SECURE LOGIN” area.
I would highly recommend that you do not start trading straight away; rather, it would be very useful
to spend some time reviewing the features on Easy Forex. Even before you receive the username
and password for your account, you can practise trading (and familiarise yourself with the platform)
by using the ‘Trading Simulator’ that is available in the ‘Learn’ section of Easy Forex (you will need to
login as a ‘guest’). The foreign exchange market reacts very rapidly to news, so it is highly
recommended that you do make it a point to spend a few minutes every day keeping track of how
economic variables impact the forex market.
Please note that your account will not be replenished if your funds run out; this is to ensure
that you manage risk while trading.
Disclaimer: Deakin University is not responsible for the content that appears on Easy Forex. The
use of Easy Forex in this unit is for educational purposes only. Easy Forex is one of many firms
providing services for transacting in the foreign exchange market, and students who wish to invest in
the foreign exchange market are advised to research the market thoroughly to find a suitable firm for
their purpose. Successful speculation in this assignment does not guarantee success in actual
speculative trading.
Assignment
© Deakin University MPE707 ASSIGNMENT – TRIMESTER 1 , 201 6
2
Please note: The demo accounts function in exactly the same way as a normal account, so if your
funds run low you may receive a default message from Easy Forex reminding you that your account
needs to be replenished using funds on a credit card. This may be a default setting on normal Easy
Forex accounts, but as demo account holders you do not have to, and should not, provide any
information of a personal nature to Easy Forex. So if you do receive any such message, please
ignore it.
Before completing your assignment and turning it in, please ensure that all open positions are
closed. If a position remains open after the due date (12 May 2016), it will be closed at any
time by the unit team during the marking process, and any losses will be counted toward your
final account balance (while any profits will not be counted).
Assessment:
The speculative component of this assignment is marked out of 15. Grades are based on
performance in trading, that is, the amount of money (denominated in AUD) in the account when the
assignment is submitted.
There is a hurdle requirement to pass this component of the assignment: you must undertake at
least 12 transactions (or deals) by the due date of the assignment (12 May 2016) using the demo
account provided to you by the Unit Team. For the purpose of this assignment, a transaction is
defined as entering into an open position and eventually closing it before submitting the assignment.
So, for example, if you buy USD 100,000 on 10 April 2016 and close this position on 15 April 2016,
you would have completed one transaction. Any student who undertakes between 1 and 11
transactions during the trimester using the demo account provided will receive a score of 4.5 out of
15. Any student who does not conduct any transaction will receive 0 out of 15. In order to calculate
the scores, accounts will be ranked on performance. The distribution of scores for those who satisfy
the hurdle requirement (at least 12 transactions) is shown in the table below:
Ranking of student (with at least 12 transactions) Score
Top three students 15.0
Next 5% 13.5
Next 15% 12.0
Next 15% 11.0
Next 15% 10.0
Next 15% 9.5
Next 15% 9.0
Next 10% 8.5
Remainder 8.0
You will realise as you commence trading that the foreign exchange market is extremely volatile.
Trading in this market is, therefore, a very risky proposition. The purpose of this trading game is not
to make you a forex trader (though some of you may find that you have a talent for it). Rather, it is
meant to provide you with insights into the functioning of the foreign exchange market, which is best
achieved by participating in it.
© Deakin University MPE707 ASSIGNMENT – TRIMESTER 1 , 201 6
3
(B) Report (25 points)
The report must start with a cover sheet (using the template posted on CloudDeakin). On the cover
sheet of your report, please provide the information as requested (your last name, first name, and
student ID; username and password for your trading account; the final account balance and the
number of transactions undertaken for each instrument; the currencies traded; and the word count).
Your assignment will only be graded when all information required in the cover sheet are provided.
Immediately after the cover sheet, please provide a 1-page executive summary. The executive
summary should show a brief account of your overall strategy, the financial instruments you have
used, the number of transactions and currencies you have traded, and justify the total losses/profits
on your account and whether or not you have undertaken any risk management activities.
In the body of the report, please provide a detailed description of the trading strategy you have
employed. You do not need to explain every transaction; this would be virtually impossible given the
word limit. Rather, your report should attempt to show the sophistication and management of the
trading strategies, highlight how you have used the theoretical tools developed in this unit, any
research you have conducted on the foreign exchange market, and the manner in which you have
approached your trading activity, using specific transactions as examples. You should also discuss
the use of risk management tools available on the Easy Forex platform during the trading period.
Please note that any news item or report that helped you make your decisions should be carefully
referenced, and if possible, included in the Appendix.
In an Appendix to the report, please include the information below. First, click on the ‘My Account’ tab
located on the top right of the trading platform when you log-in, and then:
(1) Click on ‘My Summary’ and print the screen.
(2) Click on ‘My Closed Positions’, set the date from when you commenced trading to when
you stopped, and print the position data (you can use the print icon on the webpage). Please
note that there are different tabs for Day Trading, Limit Orders, and Forwards.
(3) Click on ‘My Statement’, set the date from when you commenced trading to when you
stopped, and print your statement (you can use the print icon on the webpage).
Please note that even if you lose money while speculating, it is quite possible for you to do well in this
component of the assignment if you are able to provide a clear and logical account of your strategy,
and possibly some insight into why it led to losses. Similarly, students that make money must also
substantiate their strategy in the report in order to do well in the assignment.
Assessment criteria (see the attached rubrics):
• Sophistication and management of the trading strategy. [6 points]
(GLO6 assessed: Self-management)
• Use of the theoretical tools developed in this unit to support the trading strategy. [5 points]
(GLO1 assessed: Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities)
• Use of research and external sources (i.e. news) to support the trading strategy. [5 points]
(GLO5 assessed: Problem solving)
• Use of trading and risk management tools available on Easy Forex. [5 points]
(GLO3 assessed: Digital literacy)
• Overall presentation, clarity of expression, communication of ideas, and referencing. [4 points]
(GLO4 assessed: Critical thinking)
All elements of the report must be included in one single document (which should be of either Word
or PDF format) to be uploaded on CloudDeakin by the due date. Please name the document using
this format: “IBF-xxx-Surname-First name”, where “xxx” stands for your IBF account number (for
example “IBF-001-Nguyen-Xuan”).
Your report should follow the “Guide to assignment writing and referencing”, available at this link:
http://www.deakin.edu.au/students/study-support/referencing (the Harvard style is preferred).
Yet to achieve minimum standard
Sophistication and management
of the trading strategy [6 points]
0 to 2.5 point
Poor/lack of management of trading
volumes/funds.
Poor/lack of time planning on trading
activities.
Poor/too risky strategy overall.
Only spot transactions conducted.
3 points
Limited management of trading
volumes/funds.
Limited time planning on trading activities.
Limited strategy overall.
Only spot transactions conducted.
3.5 points
Adequate management of trading
volumes/funds.
Adequate time planning on trading
activities.
Adequate strategy overall.
Only spot transactions conducted.
4 points
Good management of trading
volumes/funds.
Good time planning on trading activities.
Good strategy overall.
Evidence on use of instruments.
5 to 6 points
Excellent management of trading
volumes/funds.
Excellent time planning on trading activities.
Excellent strategy overall.
Excellent use of instruments.
Use of the theoretical tools
developed in this unit to support
the trading strategy
[5 points]
0 to 2 point
Lack of use of theory in real world context.
Lack of justification of how theory has been
used for trading activities.
2.5 points
Limited use of theory in real world context.
Limited justification of how theory has been
used for trading activities.
3 points
Adequate use of theory in real world
context.
Adequate justification of how theory has
been used for trading activities.
3.5 points
Good use of theory in real world context.
Good justification of how theory has been
used for trading activities.
4 to 5 points
Excellent use of theory in real world context.
Excellent justification of how theory has been
used for trading activities.
Use of research and external
sources (i.e. news) to support the
trading strategy
[5 points]
0 to 2 point
Lack of evidence on keeping track of policy
announcements.
Lack of evidence on keeping track of news.
Lack of justification of trading activities
based on policy announcements/news.
2.5 points
Limited evidence on keeping track of policy
announcements.
Limited evidence on keeping track of news.
Limited justification of trading activities based
on policy announcements/news.
3 points
Some evidence on keeping track of policy
announcements.
Some evidence on keeping track of news.
Adequate justification of trading activities
based on policy announcements/news.
3.5 points
Good keeping track of policy
announcements.
Good keeping track of news.
Good justification of trading activities based
on policy announcements/news.
4 to 5 points
Excellent keeping track of policy
announcements.
Excellent keeping track of news.
Excellent justification of trading activities
based on policy announcements/news.
Use of trading and risk
management tools available on
Easy Forex
[5 points]
0 to 2 point
Lack of use of risk management tools.
Lack of justification of how risk management
tools have been used in trading activities.
2.5 points
Limited use of risk management tools.
Limited justification of how risk management
tools have been used in trading activities.
3 points
Adequate use of risk management tools.
Adequate justification of how risk
management tools have been used in
trading activities.
3.5 points
Good use of risk management tools.
Good justification of how risk management
tools have been used in trading activities.
4 to 5 points
Excellent use of risk management tools.
Excellent justification of how risk
management tools have been used in trading
activities.
Overall presentation, clarity of
expression, communication of
ideas, and referencing
[4 points]
0 to 1.5 point
Poor/lack of executive summary and/or
appendix.
Poor report structure.
Poor statements/terminologies and
descriptions of the trading strategy.
Citations/references are missing and/or
contain too many errors.
2 points
Limited attempt on executive summary and
appendix.
Weak report structure.
Statements/terminologies and descriptions of
the trading strategy contain some problems.
Citations/references contain some errors.
2.5 points
Adequate executive summary and appendix.
Adequate report structure.
Statements/terminologies and descriptions
of the trading strategy contain some minor
problems.
Citations/references contain some minor
errors.
3 points
Good executive summary and appendix.
Good report structure.
Good statements/terminologies and
descriptions of the trading strategy.
Citations/references contain few minor
errors.
3.5 to 4 points
Excellent executive summary and appendix.
Excellent report structure.
Excellent statements/terminologies and
descriptions of the trading strategy.
Correct citations/references.
(fail)
0 to 12 points
(pass)
12.5 to 14.5 points
(credit)
15 to 17 points
(distinction)
17.5 to 19.5 points
(high distinction)
20 to 25 points Overall score
Criteria
MPE707/MPE907 T1.2016 Assignment Marking Criteria (Rubrics)
Meets standard Exceeds standard
(fail) (pass) (credit) (distinction) (high distinction)
