Introduction to FOREX Trading

Introduction to FOREX Trading If you're not sure just what the "FOREX" is, don't worry, you're not alone. Most everyone has certainly heard of buying and selling stocks and bonds, FOREX still remains a mystery for many. The Foreign Exchange Market - better known as FOREX - is a world wide market for buying and selling currencies. It handles a huge volume of transactions 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. Daily exchanges are worth approximately $1.5 trillion (US dollars). In comparison, the United States Treasury Bond market averages $300 billion a day and American stock markets exchange about $100 billion a day. The Foreign Exchange Market was established in 1971 with the abolishment of fixed currency exchanges. That's right, it buys and sells money! Currencies became valued at 'floating' rates determined by supply and demand. The FOREX grew steadily throughout the 1970's, but with the technological advances of the 80's FOREX grew from trading levels of $70 billion a day to the current level of $1.5 trillion. The FOREX is made up of about 5000 different trading institutions such as international banks, central government banks (such as the US Federal Reserve), and commercial companies and brokers for all types of foreign currency exchange. FOREX is traded everywhere - major trading centers are located in New York, Tokyo, London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Paris, and Frankfurt, and all trading is by telephone or over the Internet. 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. Even though there are many huge players in FOREX, it is accessible to small investor's as well. Previously, there were high minimum transaction sizes and traders were required to meet strict financial requirements. Now though, regulations have been changed to allow large interbank units to be broken down into smaller lots. Each lot is worth about $100,000 and is accessible to the individual investor through 'leverage' - loans extended for trading. Typically, lots can be controlled with a leverage of 100:1 meaning that US$1,000 will allow you to control a $100,000 currency exchange! There are many advantages to trading in FOREX.