gci forex

The foreign exchange (currency or forex or FX) market exists wherever one currency is traded for another. It is the largest and most liquid financial market in the world, and includes trading between large banks, central banks, currency speculators, multinational corporations, governments, and other financial markets and institutions. The average daily trade in the global forex and related markets is continously growing and was last reported to be over US$ 4 trillion in April 2007 by the Bank for International Settlement.

FOREX trading is all about trading foreign currency, stocks, and similar type of products. The currency of one country is weighed against the currency of another country to determine value. The value of that foreign currency is taken into consideration when trading stocks on the FOREX markets. Most countries have control over the value of that countries value, involving the currency, or money. Those who are often involved in the FOREX markets include banks, large businesses, governments, and financial institutions.

What makes the FOREX market different from the stock market?
A forex market trade is one that involves at least two countries, and it can take place worldwide. The two countries are one, with the investor, and two, the country the money is being invested in. Most all transactions taking place in the FOREX market are going to take place through a broker, such as a bank.

What really makes up the FOREX markets?
The foreign exchange market is made up of a variety of transactions and counties. Those involved in the FOREX market are trading in large volumes, large amounts of money. Those who are involved in the FOREX market are generally involved in cash businesses, or in the trade of very liquid assets that you can sell and buy fast. The market is large, very large. You could consider the FOREX market to be much larger than the stock market in any one country overall. Those involved in the FOREX market are trading daily twenty-four hours a day and sometimes trading is completed on the weekend, but not all weekends.

You might be surprised at the number of people that are involved in FOREX trading. In the years 2004, almost two trillion dollars was an average daily trading volume. This is a huge number for the number of daily transactions to take place. Think about how much a trillion dollars really is and then times that by two, and this is the money that is changing hands every day!

The FOREX market is not something new, but has been used for over thirty years. With the introduction of computers, and then the internet, the trading on the FOREX market continues to grow as more and more people and businesses alike become aware of the availablily of this trading market. FOREX only accounts for about ten percent of the total trading from country to country, but as the popularity in this market continues to grow so could that number.

Market size and liquidity

The foreign exchange market is unique because of

• its trading volumes,
• the extreme liquidity of the market,
• the large number of, and variety of, traders in the market,
• its geographical dispersion,
• its long trading hours: 24 hours a day except on weekends (from 3pm EST on Sunday until 4pm EST Friday),
• the variety of factors that affect exchange rates.
• the low margins of profit compared with other markets of fixed income (but profits can be high due to very large trading volumes)
• the use of leverage

Main foreign exchange market turnover, 1988 - 2007, measured in billions of USD.

Of the $3.98 trillion daily global turnover, trading in London accounted for around $1.36 trillion, or 34.1% of the total, making London by far the global center for foreign exchange. In second and third places respectively, trading in New York accounted for 16.6%, and Tokyo accounted for 6.0%.

In addition to "traditional" turnover, $2.1 trillion was traded in derivatives.

Exchange-traded forex futures contracts were introduced in 1972 at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and are actively traded relative to most other futures contracts. Forex futures volume has grown rapidly in recent years, and accounts for about 7% of the total foreign exchange market volume, according to The Wall Street Journal Europe (5/5/06, p. 20).