What is Foreign Exchange (Forex or FX)

Forex describes trading in the many currencies of the world. It is the largest and least regulated market providing the greatest liquidity to investors. Daily volume in the currency markets is around $1.5 trillion. By comparison, the NYSE daily volume averages $25 billion a day.

The spot Forex market is the most liquid. Spot, meaning that trades are settled within two banking days. There is no central exchange of physical location. Trading takes place over-the-counter, 24-hours a day directly between the two parties of a trade over the telephone and electronically.

Participants in Forex include central banks, corporations, individual investors and speculators, and hedge funds.  With the advent of electronic trading platforms, self-directed investors and smaller financial firms now have access to the same liquidity as larger market participants.

Trading, or speculation, makes up 95% of the daily volume. The other 5% of daily volume consists of governments and commercial companies converting one currency into another from buying and selling goods and services.

Forex Trading
When trading currencies, the trade is always done in pairs – currency Pair. One currency is bought and the other sold. For example, you buy Euros with Dollars, anticipating, the Euro to increase in value relative to the Dollar. If the Euro rises relative to the Dollar, you sell the position and have made a profit.

Most Commonly Traded Currencies (the “Majors”):
US Dollar (USD)
Japanese Yen (JPY)
Euro (EUR)
British Pound (GBP)
Canadian Dollar (CAD)
Australian Dollar (AUD)
Swiss Franc (CHF)

Commonly Traded Currency Pairs:
US Dollar and the Japanese Yen (USD/JPY)
Euro and US Dollar (EUR/USD)
US Dollar and Swiss franc (USD/CHF)
British Pound and US Dollar (GBP/USD)

When quoting currency pairs, the first currency is referred to as the base currency and the second, the counter or quote currency. The base currency is always equal to 1 monetary unit of exchange, for example, 1 Dollar, 1 Pound, 1 Euro. The dominant base currencies are, in order of frequency, the EUR, GBP, and USD. When a currency is quoted against the US Dollar it is called a direct rate. Any currency not against the US Dollar is referred to as a cross rate.

The quote currency is translated into a certain number of units of the base currency. For example, a quote of USD/JPY at 1.20, says that for every 1 US Dollar, you get 1.20 Japanese Yen, while a quote for AUD/JPY of 67.73 says that for every 1 Australian Dollar, you get 67.73 Yen.

Currency pairs are generally traded as 100,000 units of the base currency. For example, if you were buying EUR/USD at .97 you would be paying Dollars for Euros as follows:  100,000 x .97 = $97,000 for 100,000 Euros

Dominant Base Currencies
Euro - EUR/USD, EUR/GBP, EUR/CHF, EUR/JPY, EUR/CAD
British Pound - GBP/USD, GBP/CHF, GBP/JPY, GBP/CAD
US Dollar - USD/CAD, USD/JPY, USD/CHF

Sam Seiden - Author
Sam brings over 15 years experience of equities, forex, options and futures trading which began when he was on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. He has traded equities, futures, interest rate markets, forex, options, and commodities for his personal interests for years and has educated hundreds of traders and investors through seminars and daily advisory services both domestically and internationally. Sam has been involved in the markets since 1991 both on and off the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. He has served as the Director of Technical Research for two trading firms and regularly contributes articles to industry publications. Sam is known for his trading, technical research, and educational guidance.

Points of interest:
• Chicago Mercantile Exchange Floor
• Author of Market Advisory Letters
• Fund Manager/CTA
• Speaker to Investment Groups, Universities, and Private Seminars
• Contributing Author for Stocks, Futures, and Options Magazine, Active Trader Magazine, and Futures Magazine
• Trading and Investment Conference Speaker