Traders in Forex Market came up with a number of different ways to invest or speculate in currencies. Among these, the most popular ones are
Spot Forex,
Currency Futures,
Currency Options, and
Exchange-Traded Funds (or ETFs).
Currency Futures
These are Futures Contracts on currencies, which are bought and sold based on a standard size and settlement date. FX Futures were created by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) way back in 1972. The CME Group is the largest foreign currency futures market. They offers futures contracts on G10 currency pairs as well as emerging market currency pairs and e-micro products.
Since Futures Contracts are standardised and traded on a centralised exchange, the market is very transparent and well-regulated. This means that price and transaction information are readily available.
Currency Options
Foreign currency options give the choice holder the right – but not the obligation – to buy or sell a hard and fast amount of a foreign currency at a specified price on or before expiration date. If a trader “sold” an option, then he or she would be obliged to shop for or sell an asset at a selected price at the expiration date.
Like other financial market like NYSE or LSE, the Forex market has neither a physical location not a central location. The bulk of Forex Trading takes place using the system called “Interbank market“.
Forex market is consider a Over the Counter (OTC) Market. It is because the entire market runs electronically within a networks of banks 24 hours a day. It means the Forex Market is spread all over the world with no central location. So it means your trade can take place from any where as long as you have an Internet Connection.
The Forex OTC market is far bigger and biggest than most of the popular financial market in the world, traded globally by a large number of Individuals & Organisations.
In Forex OTC market, participants determines whom they want to trade with looking on the trading conditions, the attractiveness of price and also the reputation of the trading counter-party (the other party who takes the other side of trade).
The below chart shows the most actively traded currencies.
Two currencies are involved in each transaction. The sum of the percentage shares of individual currencies totals 200% instead of 100%
The Dollar is King in the Forex Market
The U.S. dollar is the most traded currency, making 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!
You’ve probably noticed how often we keep mentioning the U.S. dollar (USD). If the USD is one-half of each major currency pair, and therefore the majors comprise 75% of all trades, then it’s a requirement to concentrate to the USD. The USD is king! In fact, consistent with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the USD comprises roughly 64% of the world’s official exchange reserves!
Because almost every investor, business, and financial institution owns it, they concentrate to the U.S. dollar.
There are also other significant reasons why the U.S. dollar plays a central role in the Forex market:
The United States economy is the LARGEST economy in the world.
The U.S. dollar is the reserve currency of the world.
The United States has the largest and most liquid financial markets in the world.
The USA has a stable political system.
The United States is the world’s sole military superpower.
The U.S. dollar is the medium of exchange for many cross-border transactions. For example, oil is priced in USD. Also called “petrodollars”. So if Mexico wants to buy oil from Saudi Arabia, it can only be bought with the U.S. dollar. If Mexico doesn’t have any dollars, it has to sell its pesos first and buy U.S. dollars.
Speculation in the Forex Market
One important thing to notice about the Forex market is that while commercial and financial transactions are a part of the trading volume, most currency trading is predicated on speculation.
Most of the trading volume comes from traders that buy and sell supported the worth movements of currency pairs. The trading volume caused by speculators is estimated to be quite 90%!
The scale of the Forex market means liquidity is extremely high. This makes it very easy for anyone to shop for and sell currencies. From the attitude of a trader, liquidity is extremely important. Because it determines how easily price can change over a given period of time .
A liquid market environment like Forex enables huge trading volumes to happen with little or no effect on the worth , or price action. While the Forex market is comparatively very liquid, the market depth could change counting on the currency pair and time of day.
Trading of Forex is buying of one currency and selling of another currency. Currencies are traded through a broker or dealer and are always traded in pairs.
For example, the Euro and the US 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.
Exchange rates fluctuate based on which currency is stronger at the moment.
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.
CURRENCY PAIR
COUNTRIES
FX GEEK SPEAK
EUR/USD
Eurozone / United States
“euro dollar”
USD/JPY
United States / Japan
“dollar yen”
GBP/USD
United Kingdom / United States
“pound dollar”
USD/CHF
United States/ Switzerland
“dollar swissy”
USD/CAD
United States / Canada
“dollar loonie”
AUD/USD
Australia / United States
“aussie dollar”
NZD/USD
New Zealand / United States
“kiwi dollar”
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.
Euro Crosses
CURRENCY PAIR
COUNTRIES
FX GEEK SPEAK
EUR/CHF
Eurozone / Switzerland
“euro swissy”
EUR/GBP
Eurozone / United Kingdom
“euro pound”
EUR/CAD
Eurozone / Canada
“euro loonie”
EUR/AUD
Eurozone / Australia
“euro aussie”
EUR/NZD
Eurozone / New Zealand
“euro kiwi”
EUR/SEK
Eurozone / Sweden
“euro stockie”
EUR/NOK
Eurozone / Norway
“euro nockie”
Yen Crosses
CURRENCY PAIR
COUNTRIES
FX GEEK SPEAK
EUR/JPY
Eurozone / Japan
“euro yen” or “yuppy”
GBP/JPY
United Kingdom / Japan
“pound yen” or “guppy”
CHF/JPY
Switzerland / Japan
“swissy yen”
CAD/JPY
Canada / Japan
“loonie yen”
AUD/JPY
Australia / Japan
“aussie yen”
NZD/JPY
New Zealand / Japan
“kiwi yen”
Pound Crosses
PAIR
COUNTRIES
FX GEEK SPEAK
GBP/CHF
United Kingdom / Switzerland
“pound swissy”
GBP/AUD
United Kingdom / Australia
“pound aussie”
GBP/CAD
United Kingdom / Canada
“pound loonie”
GBP/NZD
United Kingdom / New Zealand
“pound kiwi”
Other Crosses
PAIR
COUNTRIES
FX GEEK SPEAK
AUD/CHF
Australia / Switzerland
“aussie swissy”
AUD/CAD
Australia / Canada
“aussie loonie”
AUD/NZD
Australia / New Zealand
“aussie kiwi”
CAD/CHF
Canada / Switzerland
“loonie swissy”
NZD/CHF
New Zealand / Switzerland
“kiwi swissy”
NZD/CAD
New Zealand / Canada
“kiwi loonie”
Exotic Currency Pairs
Exotic currency pairs are made up of one major currency paired with the currency of an emerging economy, such as Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Turkey, or Hungary. The chart below contains a few examples of exotic currency pairs. Wanna take a shot at guessing what those other currency symbols stand for? Depending on your FOREX broker, you may see the following exotic currency pairs so it’s good to know what they are. Keep in mind that these pairs aren’t as heavily traded as the “majors” or “crosses,” so the transaction costs associated with trading these pairs are usually bigger.
CURRENCY PAIR
COUNTRIES
FX GEEK SPEAK
USD/BRL
United States / Brazil
“dollar real”
USD/HKD
United States / Hong Kong
USD/SAR
United States / Saudi Arabia
“dollar riyal”
USD/SGD
United States / Singapore
USD/ZAR
United States / South Africa
“dollar rand”
USD/THB
United States / Thailand
“dollar baht”
USD/MXN
United States / Mexico
“dollar mex”
USD/DKK
United States / Denmark
“dollar krone”
USD/SEK
United States / Sweden
“dollar stockie”
USD/NOK
United States / Norway
“dollar nockie”
USD/RUB
United States / Russia
“dollar ruble” or “Barney”
USD/PLN
United States / Poland
“dollar zloty”
USD/CLP
United States/ Chile
It’s not unusual to see spreads that are two or three times bigger than that of EUR/USD or USD/JPY. So if you want to trade exotics currency pairs, remember to factor this in your decision.
G10 Currencies
The G10 currencies are ten of the most heavily traded currencies in the world, which are also ten of the world’s most liquid currencies. Traders regularly buy and sell them in an open market with minimal impact on their own international exchange rates.
COUNTRY
CURRENCY NAME
CURRENCY CODE
United States
dollar
USD
European Union
euro
EUR
United Kingdom
pound
GBP
Japan
yen
JPY
Australia
dollar
AUD
New Zealand
dollar
NZD
Canada
dollar
CAD
Switzerland
franc
CHF
Norway
krone
NOK
Sweden
krona
SEK
Denmark
krone
DKK
The Scandies
Scandinavia is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties. The term “Scandinavia” in local usage covers the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Together, their currencies are known as the “Scandies“.
Back in the day, Denmark and Sweden established the Scandinavian Monetary Union to merge their currencies to a gold standard. Norway joined later.
This meant that these countries now had one currency, with the same monetary value, with the exception that each of these countries minted their own coins.
But then World War I happened, and the gold standard was abandoned and the Scandinavian Monetary Union disbanded. These countries decided to keep the currency, even if the values were separate from one another. And this remains the state of things.
If you notice their currency names, they all look similar. That’s because the word “krone or krona” literally means “crown”, and the differences in spelling of the name represent the differences between the North Germanic languages.
COUNTRY
CURRENCY NAME
CURRENCY CODE
Denmark
krone
DKK
Sweden
krona
SEK
Norway
krone
NOK
CEE Currencies
“CEE” stands for Central and Eastern Europe.
Central and Eastern Europe is a term encompassing the countries in Central Europe, the Baltics, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Europe (the Balkans), usually meaning former communist states from the Eastern Bloc (Warsaw Pact) in Europe.
Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) is an OECD term for the group of countries comprising Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, and the three Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
Regarding the FX market, there are four main CEE currencies to be aware of.
COUNTRY
CURRENCY NAME
CURRENCY CODE
Hungary
forint
HUF
Czech Republic
koruna
CZK
Poland
zloty
PLN
Romania
leu
RON
BRIICS
BRIICS is the acronym coined for the association of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia, China, and South Africa.
Originally the first four were grouped as “BRIC” (or “the BRICs”). BRICs was a term created by Goldman Sachs to name today’s new high-growth emerging economies.
BRIICS is the term created by the OECD, when it added Indonesia and South Africa.
Here first we need to know that, what is traded in FOREX Market? The simple answer in Money or Currency.
Because we are not buying anything in physical, Forex Trading can be confusing. Think of buying a currency as buying a share in a particular country, kind of buying share in a company. The price of the currency is direct reflection of the market’s opinion on the current and future health of it’s respective economy.
When you but Indian Rupee, you are basically buying a share in the “Indian Economy”. You are betting that the Indian Economy is doing well and will even get better as time goes. Once you sell those “shares” back to the market you will end up with a profit or loss.
The exchange rate of one currency versus other currencies is a reflection of the condition of that country’s economy, compared to other countries’ economies.
Major Currencies
As a new Forex trader, you must be interested to know the list of Major Currencies to start trading with.
CODE
COUNTRY
CURRENCY
NICKNAME
USD
United States
Dollar
Buck
EUR
Eurozone
Euro
Fiber
JPY
Japan
Yen
Yen
GBP
Great Britain
Pound
Cable
CHF
Switzerland
Franc
Swissy
CAD
Canada
Dollar
Loonie
AUD
Australia
Dollar
Aussie
NZD
New Zealand
Dollar
Kiwi
Why these listed currencies are called the “majors” because they are the most widely traded ones.
Currency symbols always have three letters. By 1973, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) established the three-letter codes for currencies that we use today. The first two letters identify the name of the country and the third letter identifies the name of that country’s currency, usually the first letter of the currency’s name. These three letters are known as ISO 4217 Currency Codes.
Lets take AED for instance
AE stand for Aarab Emirates and D stands for Dirham. Hope it’s now easy to understand
In Simple term you can say FOREX is FOREIGN EXCHANGE. You can say the global market that allows you to exchange of one currency to another. When you travel by flight to another country, you usually had to find a currency exchange booth at the airport so that you can exchange the money you have in your wallet into currency of the country you are visiting.
There you found a Notice Screen showing different exchange rate of different currencies. Now think you are coming back from America and having some USD [US Dollars] in your pocket. You find “Indian Rupee” and think of yourself “Wow! 1 USD worth 79 INR” and I have 50 USD, I am going to be rich.
When you do this, you entered in the FOREX Market, you exchanged one currency to another. Or in Trading Term you can say, you sold USD for INR.
Before you fly back to America, you stopped by the same currency exchange booth to exchange INR, leftover after meeting your all expenditure in India and noticed the Exchange Rate have changed. This change in the Exchange Rate allow you to make money in the Foreign Exchange Market.
This Foreign Exchange Market which is usually known as “FOREX” or “Fx“, in the largest financial Market in this world.
Compare with Stock Market
The largest stock market in the world, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), trades a volume of about $22.4 billion each day. The Foreign Exchange Market looks absolutely Enormous Giant comparing to NYSE with it’s USD 5 trillion a trade day volume. When people talk about the market, they usually means . So the NYSE sound big, it’s loud and likes to make a lot of noise.
The Currency Market is over 200 times bigger! It;s Huge! The huge USD 5 trillion numbers cover the Global Foreign Exchange Market. But the daily trading volume from the retails traders (that is people like you and me) make between 5-6% of overall volume or you can say between 300-400 Billion.
Where from it operates
Now, this FOREX market operates 24 hours a day 5 days a week, only closing down during weekends. The FOREX market does not close at the end of each business day.
Instead, the trading just shifts to different financial centres around the world.
The day starts when traders wake up in Wellington, then moves to Sydney, Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Frankfurt, London, and finally, New York, before trading starts all over again in Wellington!
I was looking for some other source of Income, because I was taught that there should be multiple source of Income. During this time I was completely into Website Development and Digital Marketing as a free lancer. But working as a free-lancer was not enough to give me the freedom to do anything what I wanted to do.
During this time one of my friend suggested me to start investing. Now I was having two options whether I should invest in Forex or Share. Both the fields are very new to me, and to work properly I need to learn those things. So I started learning more details about Investment in Forex & Share Market.
Search & Research
Here I found that investment and working in Forex is more profitable but it comes with maximum risk. When I went more deep into this Forex Market I came to know that, investment in Forex in 100% calculative. Now a person like me driven by heart, it was not so easy to gain profit from Forex market. I came to know that most of the Forex trading platforms are providing trial account to practice.
That was the time when I was searching more and more to learn about Forex trade. I went through many online courses (paid & free), but most of them I found useless. Because those people whoever is publishing those course just wanted to make them self popular or was trying to get some money. After all my research I learn I need to test the chilly to find it out how hot it is.
The Beginning
So I decided to jump into the rived. But I don’t know how to swim, and that was a terrible mistake for me. So I lost my 1st investment, though it was very small (as I was started with only USD 10) within next couple of hours. Again next day I put another USD 10 and again I started. This time also I lost my investment but now my 2nd investment sustained for 10 working days and before loosing all I was able to gain USD 25 into the same.
Learning Process
gain I was searching for new courses, mentors who can teach me more about Forex Trading. So I started visiting various websites and YouTube Channels randomly. Now I started learning basic technical things about Money Market (Share / Forex). At the same time how to implement this technical knowledge into real life.
I found a new website name https://www.babypips.com/, and that was a turning point for me. Here I started learning more about What is Forex. It is completely free and within a span of 15 days I learn a lots of things here. Again I invested some money, and this time it was USD 100. Slowly I got into subject, and in next 6 months I recovered all my previous losses in terms of money and time.
Not a bed of Rose Petal
I never thought that it could be a bed of rose petal, I was expecting thorn also on my way. One fine morning I lost my access to Forex account. I contacted the service providers in Mumbai. They said “It is a server problem and in next 3/4 working days it will be fine” and then I lost everything. That time I had USD 500 as working capital. In the mean while I withdrawn USD 400 in total time to time.
Now, it was the time when I lost all my trust into Forex Market. But after a few month I recover and start my search to find out a better service better. I found fbs.com. I started working with FBS but this time I start working with only a investment of USD 10. This is almost now 4 years I am working with FBS, without facing any problem. Now I am really happy as I found a reliable service provider. FBS is into the market for more than a decade since their inception from 2009. If you are looking for a reliable and honest broker, consider FBS. You will be surprised how easy and comfortable trading on Forex can become.
The largest stock market in the world, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), trades a volume of about $22.4 billion each day. The Foreign Exchange Market looks absolutely Enormous Giant comparing to NYSE with it’s USD 5 trillion a trade day volume. When people talk about the market, they usually means . So the NYSE sound big, it’s loud and likes to make a lot of noise. 
