What's FOREX??
The Foreign Exchange market, also referred to as the "FOREX" or "Forex" or "Retail forex" or “FX” or "Spot FX" or just "Spot" is the largest financial market in the world, with a volume of about $2 trillion a day.wauu...bravo. If you compare that to the $25 billion a day volume that the New York Stock Exchange trades, you can easily see how enormous the Foreign Exchange really is. It actually equates to more than three times the total amount of the stocks and futures markets combined! Forex rocks!
What's traded on FOREX?
Which curency are traded?
The most popular currencies along with their symbols are shown below:
Symbol | Country | Currency | Nickname |
USD | United States | Dollar | Buck |
EUR | Euro members | Euro | Fiber |
JPY | Japan | Yen | Yen |
GBP | Great Britain | Pound | Cable |
CHF | Switzerland | Franc | Swissy |
CAD | Canada | Dollar | Loonie |
AUD | Australia | Dollar | Aussie |
NZD | New Zealand | Dollar | Kiwi |
Forex currency symbols are always three letters, where the first two letters identify the name of the country and the third letter identifies the name of that country’s currency.
When can currencies be traded?
The spot FX market is unique within the world markets. It’s like a Super Wal-Mart where the market is open 24-hours a day. At any time, somewhere around the world a financial center is open for business, and banks and other institutions exchange currencies every hour of the day and night with generally only minor gaps on the weekend.
The foreign exchange markets follow the sun around the world, so you can trade late at night (if you’re a vampire) or in the morning (if you’re an early bird). Keep in mind though, the early bird doesn’t necessarily get the worm in this market - you might get the worm but a bigger, nastier bird of prey can sneak up and eat you too…, so flexible...:)
Time Zone | New York | GMT |
Tokyo Open | 7:00 pm | 0:00 |
Tokyo Close | 4:00 am | 9:00 |
London Open | 3:00 am | 8:00 |
London Close | 12:00 pm | 17:00 |
New York Open | 8:00 am | 13:00 |
New York Close | 5:00 pm | 22:00 |
What does it cost to trade FOREX?
An online currency trading (a “micro account”) may be opened for with a couple hundred bucks. Do not laugh – micro accounts and its bigger cousin, the mini account, are both good ways to get your feet wet without drowning. For a micro account, we'd recommend at least $1,000 to start. For a mini account, we’d recommend at least $10,000 to start.
In the FX market, you buy or sell currencies. Placing a trade in the foreign exchange market is simple: the mechanics of a trade are very similar to those found in other markets (like the stock market), so if you have any experience in trading, you should be able to pick it up pretty quickly.
The object of Forex trading is to exchange one currency for another in the expectation that the price will change, so that the currency you bought will increase in value compared to the one you sold.
source:babypips.com
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