Foreign exchange market, or better known as FOREX, is the world’s largest and most prolific financial exchange market originated on 1973. Bearing the status of largest and most prolific currency exchange market, FOREX is the center stage where a vast majority of the currency trading or FOREX trading takes place, with a total daily turnover of currency worth more than $1.2 trillion.
For having such an enormous sum of total turnover everyday, FOREX can be considered as a liquid market ideal for Forex trading. Unlike many other securities, FOREX does not trade on a fix exchange rate, instead, currencies are traded primarily between central banks, commercial banks, non-banking international corporation, hedge funds, private investors and not to forget, speculators. Previously, smaller investors are precluded from trading in FOREX due to the large amount of deposit required. However, until the recent years, with the continuous growing of Internet and the rise of competitions, smaller investors can now trade in FOREX as the requirement to trade in FOREX has been amended.
The Miracle of Forex
My father, who owns a small parts store and garage for vintage British sports cars, called me up recently and droned on and on about how he is getting killed by the Euro. Confused as to how the Euro could possibly be affecting his small and seemingly insignificant business, I asked him how. "Because of the Euro!"
He went on to explain, after calming down of course, that the distributor that he orders his vintage parts from had increased their prices by roughly 30% due to the dollar’s poor performance against the Euro. Apparently, it takes about $1.30 USD to buy the same merchandise that may be acquired with 1 Euro.
Essentially, the relationship between the dollar and the Euro is the same as we have always had with the Canadians-only we have become the Canadians in this bizarre scenario!
After getting off the phone with dad I decided to investigate this currency exchange question a lot further and came to one startling but very true realization-the stock market is for chumps! Foreign Exchange is where it’s at.
The Seven Most Traded Currencies in FOREX
Currencies are traded in dollar amounts called "lots". One lot is equal to $1,000, which controls $100,000 in currency. This is what is known as the “margin”. You can control $100,000 worth of currency for only 1,000 dollars. This is what is called "High Leverage".
Currencies are always traded in pairs in the FOREX. The pairs have a unique notation that expresses what currencies are being traded. The symbol for a currency pair will always be in the form ABC/DEF. ABC/DEF is not a real currency pair, it is an example of a symbol for a currency pair. In this example ABC is the symbol for one countries currency and DEF is the symbol for another countries currency.
Here are some of the common symbols used in the Forex:
USD - The US Dollar EUR - The currency of the European Union “EURO” GBP - The British Pound JPN - The Japanese Yen CHF - The Swiss Franc AUD - The Australian Dollar CAD - The Canadian Dollar
There are symbols for other currencies as well, but these are the most commonly traded ones.