subject: The Concept Of The Foreign Trading Network [print this page] Forex is known as the greatest trading system around. It is also the largest, with a rate of no less than $3 trillion per day, as trades value. Only a small percentage of these trades belongs to companies and government authorities, though. Most of the conversions are made by speculators.
The main difference in between Forex trading and the stock market is that Forex functions on the basis of an interbank market (an Over The Counter type of market) and is therefore not subject to change depending on the central exchange rates. Forex trading has several places around the world and all operate 24hrs a day and each and everyday. The counterparts always discuss the trade, via phone or on the internet.
You need to purchase and then sell currency to make a profit in Forex trading. The symbol used in this kind of trades is the cross, which can be represented as "EURUSD", "GBPUSD" or "USDJPY", and the main market that traders aim at is the spot market (called "spot" because of the immediate settling of the trades). The main thing you must be careful with is of course the interest rate differential, combined with the type of currencies cross you are using in the trade - that is the key factor that leads to either gain or loss in your transactions.
Other markets do not allow you to use more than the capital you have this is different with Forex. This is called "trading on margin"; this will allow you to benefit out of the fluctuations of the exchange rates. For example, a margin of 1. 0% will allow you to trade a maximum sum of $1 million, even if your capital is only of $10,000.
Some of the advantages of using Forex trading are: 24/5 availability, enough buyers to trade with at any time, commission-free trades and the probability of gaining on one hand after losing on another as a consequence of falling markets.
