Medford Mail Tribune – Currency trading used to be a strategy employed by only the wealthiest investors and hedge funds, but a growing number of mutual and exchange traded funds make it possible for individuals to try it for themselves, with significantly smaller amounts of money.
In the past, if you wanted to trade currencies, you’d need thousands of dollars to establish even a minimal position using futures contracts, said Jim King, director of portfolio management at Rydex Investments. Now do-it-yourselfers can get exposure through funds for a lot less  as little as $1,000, depending on the minimums required by your fund supermarket.
The Rydex Strengthening Dollar Fund (RYSBX) and the Weakening Dollar Fund (RYWBX), launched last May, along with the first currency ETF, the Euro Currency Trust (FXE), launched in December, allow regular folks to speculate on the direction of the dollar or hedge currency exposure in portfolios heavy in foreign stocks.
In effect, this is “bringing a hedge fund-type strategy to the common man,” King said.
