The
foreign exchange market (
forex,
FX, or
currency market) is a worldwide decentralized
over-the-counter financial market for the trading of currencies. Financial centers around the world function as anchors of trading between a wide range of different types of buyers and sellers around the clock, with the exception of weekends. The foreign exchange market determines the relative values of different currencies.
[1]The primary purpose of the foreign exchange is to assist international trade and investment, by allowing businesses to convert one currency to another currency. For example, it permits a US business to import British goods and pay
Pound Sterling, even though the business's income is in
US dollars. It also supports speculation, and facilitates the
carry trade, in which investors borrow low-yielding currencies and lend (invest in) high-yielding currencies, and which (it has been claimed) may lead to loss of competitiveness in some countries.
[2]In a typical foreign exchange transaction, a party purchases a quantity of one currency by paying a quantity of another currency. The modern foreign exchange market began forming during the 1970s when countries gradually switched to
floating exchange rates from the previous
exchange rate regime, which remained
fixed as per the
Bretton Woods system.
The foreign exchange market is unique because of
- its huge trading volume, leading to high liquidity;
- its geographical dispersion;
- its continuous operation: 24 hours a day except weekends, i.e. trading from 20:15 GMT on Sunday until 22:00 GMT Friday;
- the variety of factors that affect exchange rates;
- the low margins of relative profit compared with other markets of fixed income; and
- the use of leverage to enhance profit margins with respect to account size.
As such, it has been referred to as the market closest to the ideal of
perfect competition, notwithstanding
currency intervention by
central banks. According to the
Bank for International Settlements,
[3] as of April 2010, average daily turnover in global foreign exchange markets is estimated at $3.98 trillion, a growth of approximately 20% over the $3.21 trillion daily volume as of April 2007. Some firms specializing on foreign exchange market had put the average daily turnover in excess of US$4 trillion.
[4]The $3.98 trillion break-down is as follows:
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eforex
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