Foreign Exchange Market
The foreign exchange market, sometimes
known as forex or FX for short, is the largest market in
the world, with the average daily turnover estimated to
be more than 3 trillion dollars. Its purpose is to
facilitate the buying and selling of different
currencies.
Unlike stocks, there’s no central base of
operations and the market is a network of financial
institutions and traders trading 24 hours a day, with
trading activity moving from New Zealand and Sydney
across to Tokyo, Hong Kong, London, and New York, just to
name a few major dealing centres.
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With the ability to trade around the
clock, currency traders have the advantage of customizing
their own trading schedule; they can usually get in or
out of the market at any time without waiting for an
opening bell or encountering a market gap. While trading
stocks after usual market hours is possible, very often
that possibility is negated by a lack of volume or a
drastic widening of the bid-ask spread.
Today, the major currencies include the US
Dollar, the Euro, the Japanese Yen, the British Pound and
the Swiss Franc and some of the more popular minor
currencies include the New Mexican peso, Czech koruna,
Thai baht and Singapore dollar.
Until recently, the main participants in
the foreign exchange market were central banks, financial
institutions and investment firms. All that changed with
the introduction of the internet and online trading and
today, many retail investors are trading forex online
from the comfort of their homes. In fact, many forex
traders have become so successful that they trade
exclusively for a living and are making far more money
than in their previous jobs.
Traders participating in the foreign
exchange market normally do not pay commissions per
trade, with costs confined to the bid-ask spread. Another
advantage of forex trading is the ability to leverage,
which is the ability to control a large sum of money with
a small capital. Using the power to leverage wisely can
often bring huge profits with limited risk.
Unlike the equity market, there is also no
restriction on short selling in the foreign currency
market, no matter which way the market is moving. Since
currency trading involves buying one currency and selling
another, a trader has the same ability to trade in a
rising market as in a falling one.
Because of the nature of currency prices,
there’s no possibility of insider trading in the foreign
exchange market and that makes it even more attractive to
the average joe who may not have access to insider
information.
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