Forex is a commonly used abbreviation for "foreign exchange," and it is typically used to describe trading in the foreign exchange market by investors and speculators.
For example, imagine a situation where the U.S. dollar is expected to weaken in value relative to the euro. A forex trader in this situation will sell dollars and buy euros. If the euro strengthens, the purchasing power to buy dollars has now increased. The trader can now buy back more dollars than they had to begin with, making a profit.
This is similar to stock trading. A stock trader will buy a stock if they think its price will rise in the future and sell a stock if they think its price will fall in the future. Similarly, a forex trader will buy a currency pair if they expect its exchange rate will rise in the future and sell a currency pair if they expect its exchange rate will fall in the future.
In forex trading, when you buy, say, the Japanese yen, you are basically buying a “share” in the Japanese economy. You are betting that the Japanese economy is doing well, and will even get better as time goes. Once you sell those “shares” back to the market, hopefully, you will end up with a profit.
In general, the exchange rate of a currency versus other currencies is a reflection of the condition of that country’s economy, compared to other countries’ economies.
Currency symbols always have 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.
The currencies included in the chart above are called the “Major” because they are the most widely traded ones.
We’d also like to let you know that “buck” isn’t the only nickname for USD.
Forex trading is the simultaneous buying of one currency and selling another. Currencies are traded through a broker or dealer, and are traded in pairs; for example the euro and the U.S. dollar (EUR/USD) or the British pound and the Japanese yen (GBP/JPY).
When you trade in the forex market, you buy or sell in currency pairs.
Major Currency Pairs
The currency pairs listed below are considered the “majors”. These pairs all contain the U.S. dollar (USD) on one side and are the most frequently traded. The majors are the most liquid and widely traded currency pairs in the world.
Major Cross-Currency Pairs or Minor Currency Pairs
Currency pairs that don’t contain the U.S. dollar (USD) are known as cross-currency pairs or simply as the “crosses.” Major crosses are also known as “minors.” The most actively traded crosses are derived from the three major non-USD currencies: EUR, JPY, and GBP.
Forex Market
Unlike other financial markets like the New York Stock Exchange, the forex market has neither a physical location nor a central exchange.
The forex market is considered an Over-the-Counter (OTC), or “Interbank” market due to the fact that the entire market is run electronically, within a network of banks, continuously over a 24-hour period.
This means that the spot forex market is spread all over the globe with no central location. They can take place anywhere, even at the top of Mt. Fuji!
The forex OTC market is by far the biggest and most popular financial market in the world, traded globally by a large number of individuals and organizations.
In the OTC market, participants determine who they want to trade with depending on trading conditions, attractiveness of prices, and reputation of the trading counterpart.
The chart below shows the ten most actively traded currencies.
The dollar is the most traded currency, taking up 84.9% of all transactions. The euro’s share is second at 39.1%, while that of the yen is third at 19.0%. As you can see, most of the major currencies are hogging the top spots on this list!
The chart above shows just how often the U.S. dollar is traded in the forex market. It is on one side of a ridiculous 84.9% of all reported transactions!
