NEWS USER GUIDE: OVERVIEW

The Friedberg News Plug-In is a brand new feature on the FX Trading Station that provides real time news and analysis from Thomson Financial’s IFR Markets. Friedberg News updates itself with the latest news every time the user logs in. It continues to stream news on a regular basis, updating in real time. Clients can store news for up to 10 days or they can choose to store it for a shorter period of time to prevent the Plug-In from becoming too cluttered. Friedberg News gives clients vital FX information that is both easy to access and to understand.

A general view and breakdown of the application are shown below:

MENU:

Consists of three menu items: System, News, and Help

System:

• Options – opens “Options” dialog box. This box allows the user to view the News in either a vertical or horizontal format. Also allows user the time parameter for how long news data is to be saved.
• Exit – exits the application

News:

• Go Back – returns to the previously selected item in the Headlines area.
• Save – opens “Save As” dialog box and allows saving Contents area to an HTML file.
• Print – opens “Printer” dialog box and allows printing of Contents area.

Help:

• Index – opens application help file
• Terms and Conditions – opens “Terms and Conditions” box
• About – opens “About” box

Toolbar:

• Consists of buttons that duplicate the “News” submenu functions.

HEADLINES AREA:

Contains a tree of news, available for reading. News is filtered into related subfolders.

Squawk Box:

• 24-hour scrolling headlines with all the latest forex news and commentary.

Orders Board:

• This is a whispers and rumors section on what big global foreign exchange customers (major hedge funds and fortune 500 companies) are buying and selling, and where they are placing their stops, etc.

Daily Features:

• The daily features section includes focused reports for the opening of each of the trading sessions: North America, Europe and Asia.

Tech Levels and Analysis:

• This includes specific support and resistance levels in 13 currency pairs with accompanying commentary.
  Trading Outlook Pages
• Trading outlook offers commentary on 7 specific currencies (including Yen, Euro, Swiss Franc, and the British Pound), and their movements versus other major currencies.

Options:

• This comprehensive options section includes market commentary, with trading activity, trading levels, and interests that are driving the market.

Economic/Central Banks:

• A comprehensive global calendar of all economic numbers that are coming out around the world.

The content is combined into different groups by singular topics. Every tree item (group or news) has both a “Name” and “Last change” heading. The “Name” heading shows the name of the group or headline of news. The “Last change” heading shows the date and time (GMT) of the news.

If the group has subgroups or news, it has a “plus” sign near the icon and can be opened simply by clicking on it. Empty groups have no signs near the icon and thus cannot be opened. When a group is opened all of its news and subgroups are shown. Subgroups can also have sub-items. Opened groups have “minus” signs near the icon. Clicking the mouse on the “minus” sign closes the opened groups.

Unread news is bold. When the news is read, the font changes to a regular font. A “folder” icon can identify groups. The “notes” icon can identify news. News can be static or dynamic. A “one note” icon can identify static news and a “two note” icon can identify dynamic news. Static news is a simple news update that is added to the group while dynamic news is usually a certain kind of analysis that overwrites the previous version.

CONTENTS AREA:

The content area contains the news when an article is selected and the list of group items when a folder is selected.

This area displays the contents of groups or news depending on the item selected in the Headlines area. When the selected item is changed, the contents area is automatically changed. When a list of group items is shown, every item is shown as a reference. The user can move to the referenced item by clicking on it. The item will then be selected in the Headlines area and its contents will be shown in the Contents area.

Group “Special Studies” is selected in Headlines area.

News can also be referenced to other news, which can be accessed by clicking on that link. Referred news will be shown in the Contents area. With the help of the “Go Back” command, the user can return to the previously selected item, which will automatically be shown in the Contents area.

News is selected in “Headlines” area.

STATUS BAR:

Contains information on the connection, current date, and time.

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