Forex Trading
The foreign exchange market (dubbed forex or FX) is the market for exchanging foreign currencies, commodities, indices and now even cyrptocurrencies. Forex is the largest market in the world, and the trades that happen in it affect everything from the price of clothing imported from China to the amount you pay for a margarita while vacationing in Mexico.
At its simplest, forex trading is similar to the currency exchange you may do while traveling abroad: A trader buys one currency and sells another, and the exchange rate constantly fluctuates based on supply and demand.
Currencies are traded in the foreign exchange market, a global marketplace that’s open 24 hours a day Monday through Friday. All forex trading is conducted over the counter (OTC), meaning there’s no physical exchange (as there is for stocks) and a global network of banks and other financial institutions oversee the market (instead of a central exchange, like the New York Stock Exchange).
A vast majority of trade activity in the forex market occurs between institutional traders, such as people who work for banks, fund managers and multinational corporations. These traders don’t necessarily intend to take physical possession of the currencies themselves; they may simply be speculating about or hedging against future exchange rate fluctuations. For example, a forex trader might buy U.S. dollars (and sell euros) if she believes the dollar will strengthen in value and therefore be able to buy more euros in the future. Meanwhile, an American company with European operations could use the forex market as a hedge in the event the euro weakens, meaning the value of their income earned there falls.
