Foreign Exchange Trading

Today we are commencing an online guide to all things related to the ever popular Foreign Exchange Market, aka, Forex. First things first… Let's begin by breaking down all the terms you will need to know to get yourself started in the wonderful world of Forex. So, what the hell is Foreign Exchange Trading? Basically, foreign exchange trading occurs in a market when one currency is traded against another. For example, a United States Dollar can be traded against a Japanese Yen, or a Euro can be traded against a Great British Pound. The foreign exchange market is the largest market in the world, with daily world wide trading exceeding $1.9 trillion (that's over $1,900,000,000,000!) A highly varied group participates in this trading – from central banks to governments, from other financial markets to individual spectators. Everyone is invited to participate. Furthermore, as an individual investor you can start with a very small investment, yet start playing with very big money. Engaging in Foreign Exchange trading is different than investing in any other market. First of all the hours of operation are totally different. Because people all over the world are trading their currencies at their local time, for five days straight, the foreign exchange market is open for 24 hours at a time, closing for only two days during the weekend. The sheer volume of trading is enormous, and the types of traders are tremendously varied – encompassing people from all parts of the globe.