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Introduction to Forex

Sunday, February 04, 2007

Do you ever feel like you know just enough about Forex to be dangerous? Let's see if we can fill in some of the gaps with the latest info from Forex experts.

The Foreign Exchange Market – better known as FOREX - is a world wide market for buying and selling currencies. The Foreign Exchange Market was established in 1971 with the abolishment of fixed currency exchanges. Businesses use the market to buy and sell products in other countries, but most of the activity on the FOREX is from currency traders who use it to generate profits from small movements in the market.

There was a time when forex trading was limited to banks and large financial institutions. The most important is trading in multiple currencies in multiple markets. Online trading has made the market fully transparent. The trading is instantaneous. This makes online trading both exciting and dangerous. The traders don’t have sufficient time to reflect. The best is through full-time educational programs that teach the working of forex markets. This involves working with a forex brokerage or with a forex trading firm.

The forex market is the largest market in the world where trade is conducted round the clock in real time. The entire trade is seamless, and works across time zones and across countries.

The most important forex markets are London, New York and Tokyo, and the most traded currencies are the US Dollar, European Euro, Japanese Yen, Swiss Franc and British Pound. These currencies are traded in pairs. A few traders rely on their instinct and experience while making these trades. The forex market is by far the world’s most volatile market. It is also the most unpredictable market where all trading happens in real time. Forex trading therefore becomes a major challenge for even the most experienced forex bankers and traders. Earlier, only large banks were allowed to trade in currencies. Today anyone can become a forex trader. There is someone or some organization always trading in foreign currency in some market or the other.

All these markets work seamlessly. There is no central location from where trading in currency is conducted. The volumes of currency that get traded during this period jumps; so does the number of trades.

Forex traders rely on several parameters to conduct their trade. The more successful or experienced traders follow their instincts based on years of experience of trading in the forex market. The traders who are not technology-savvy buy trading signals from online brokerages or forex research firms.