Forex, also known as the foreign exchange market, is the marketplace for buying, selling, and exchanging currencies from around the world. It’s the largest and most liquid financial market globally, with trillions of dollars in transactions occurring every day.
Unlike other financial markets like the stock exchange, the Forex market is decentralized. This means there is no centralized exchange or location where trades take place. Instead, currency trading is conducted electronically over-the-counter (OTC), meaning all transactions happen through computer networks between traders around the world, rather than on one centralized exchange.
Trades in the Forex market are primarily done between pairs of currencies. The value of one currency is always quoted against the value of another currency. For example, the EUR/USD pair represents the value of the Euro versus the US Dollar. If the pair is trading at 1.2000, it means it takes 1.20 US dollars to buy 1 euro.
Forex trading takes place 24 hours a day, five days a week because there’s always at least one financial center in the world that’s open for business. The market opens on Sunday evening with the start of the trading day in Sydney and Auckland and runs non-stop until the close of the business day in New York on Friday.
Participants in the Forex market include central banks, commercial banks, financial institutions, hedge funds, corporations, and individual retail traders.
The main reasons for trading in the Forex market include speculation for profit, hedging against currency risk, and facilitating international trade.
Open a real or demo account and start exploring the world of trading from your home.
Don’t spend more time, click on the right chat button to speak with us in real time.
