The word FOREX is derived form Foreign Exchange
and is the largest financial market in the world.
Unlike many markets, the FX market is open 24 hours per day and has an estimated $1.5 Trillion in turnover every day.
This tremendous turnover is more than the combination
of all the worlds’ stock markets on any given day.
This tends to lead to a very liquid market and thus a desirable market to trade.
Unlike many other securities (any financial instrument that can be traded) the FX market does not have a fixed exchange.
It is primarily traded through banks, brokers, dealers, financial institutions and private individuals.
Trades are executed through phone and increasingly through the Internet.
It is only in the last few years that the smaller investor has been able to gain access to this market. Previously, the large amounts of deposits required precluded the smaller investors. With the advent of the Internet and growing competition it is now easily in the reach of most investors.
The Foreign Exchange Market is also referred as Forex market, FX market or Currency Market. Forex Markets trade the actual exchange rate between two currencies (i.e. the most traded currency pair is the EUR/USD, this is the value of 1 Euro in US Dollars).
The Forex Market is the biggest and most liquid financial market in the world, with more than 3 trillion dollars of turnover on a daily basis. There is no physical location, where all the volume is traded at, this is called an Over The Counter (OTC) Market, due to the fact that all transactions over the world are conducted via telecommunications (phone, on-line platforms, etc).
An over-the-counter market where buyers and sellers conduct foreign exchange transactions. The Forex market is useful because it helps enable trade and transactions between countries, and it also allows an investment opportunity for risk seeking investors who don't mind engaging in speculation. Individuals who trade in the Forex market typically look carefully at a country's economic and political situation, as these factors can influence the direction of its currency. One of the unique aspects of the Forex market is that the volume of trading is so high, partially because the units exchanged are so small. It is estimated that around $4 trillion goes through the Forex market each day. also called foreign exchange market.
