Currency Trading for Dummies

The foreign exchange market — most often called the forex market, or simply the FX market — is the most traded financial market in the world. We like to think of the forex market as the “Big Kahuna” of financial markets. The forex market is the crossroads for international capital, the intersection through which global commercial and investment flows have to move. International trade flows, such as when a Swiss electronics company purchases Japanese-made components, were the original basis for the development of the forex markets. Today, however, global financial and investment flows dominate trade as the primary non-speculative source of forex market volume. Whether it’s an Australian pension fund investing in US Treasury bonds, or a British insurer allocating assets to the Japanese equity market, or a German conglomerate purchasing a Canadian manufacturing facility, each cross-border transaction passes through the forex market at some stage.