Forex Trade Basics
Foreign Exchange, Forex, or just plain FX are the names used to describe the trading of the currencies of the countries around the world. By far, the Forex Market is the largest trading market compared to stock or futures trading market and other investment portfolios. Majority of Forex trading is based on speculation done by individual and institutional speculators which is roughly about 85% of the market, with the remaining 15% of trading for goods and services. Forex trade transactions amount to more than USD 1 – 3 trillion on average in a daily basis.
The main purpose of the Forex market is to help facilitate the trade and investment of various investors of the world by providing the means to exchange one currency to another.
Forex market business is termed as an OTC (over the counter) market, and is facilitated by “interbank” marketing such as email, fax, or phone. For a trade to be consummated there has to be two parties directly involved by way of telephone or electronic networks. Forex Trading is not conducted by a central exchange, nor by one ruling central body but through the many trading centers spread across the world. These are in Sydney, Tokyo, London, Frankfurt, and New York. With a trading system so designed, the Forex market is able to operate non-stop in all days of the weeks except Sundays.
In essence, a currency trade is when there is the simultaneous buying and selling of one currency to another currency – usually for one that it is paired against. This currency combination is termed as a cross, e.g. the EURO/USD, or the GB/Japanese Yen. Currencies that are most commonly traded as known as the “majors” like the EURO/USD, USD/JPY, USD/CHF, and the GBP/USD. The USD is currently ranked as the top traded currency in the world, followed closely behind by the Euro, Japanese Yen, Pound Sterling, Swiss Franc, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar, Swedish Krona, and so on.
Some common yet important Forex trading terms to remember are the spreads and Pips. Spreads means the difference between the price of a currency that any trader can sell at (Bid) and the price a currency can be bought at (Ask). A Pip is the smallest increment by which a cross price changes. In Forex trading a trader may often encounter a 3 Pip spread when trading majors. This spread is seen when comparing the bid and ask price of a paired currency. An example would be: EUR/USD quote is with a bid price of 0. 9876 with an ask price of 0.9879 = USD 0.0003 or 3 pips.
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