Forex (FX) is a foreign currency and exchange. Foreign exchange is the process of changing one currency into another for a variety of reasons, usually for commerce, trading, or tourism.
Forex trading is the process of buying and selling currencies. This is the world’s largest financial market with a daily turnover of $5 trillion and it involves many people – and many currencies. Because you are always buying one currency using another currency, you trade ‘currency pairs’.
How do currency markets work?
There are three different types of forex market:
- Spot forex market: the physical exchange of a currency pair, which takes place at the exact point the trade is settled – ie ‘on the spot’ – or within a short period of time.
- Forward forex market: a contract is agreed to buy or sell a set amount of a currency at a specified price, to be settled at a set date in the future or within a range of future dates.
- Future forex market: a contract is agreed to buy or sell a set amount of a given currency at a set price and date in the future. Unlike forwards, a futures contract is legally binding.
Most traders speculating on forex prices will not plan to take delivery of the currency itself; instead they make exchange rate predictions to take advantage of price movements in the market.
