Forex

Is Forex Worth Making an Investment?

The Foreign Exchange market ("Forex"), is the largest financial market in the world, the daily average turnover of which reaches US$1.2 trillion. The main essence of Foreign Exchange is the simultaneous buying of one currency and selling of another (world's currencies are on a floating exchange rate and are always traded in pairs, e.g. Euro/Dollar or Dollar/Yen).

FX Trading is not centralized on an exchange, as with the stock and futures markets. On the contrary, Forex market is considered an Over the Counter (OTC) or 'Interbank' market, due to the fact that transactions are conducted between two counterparts over the telephone or via an electronic network.

Historically, Forex has been mainly dominated by banks, including central banks, commercial banks, and investment banks. However, the percentage of other market participants is rapidly growing, and now includes large multinational corporations, global money managers, registered dealers, international money brokers, futures and options traders, and private speculators.

One of the main advantages of Forex is that it is a true 24-hour market that begins each day in Sydney, and moves around the globe as the business day begins in each financial center, first to Tokyo, then London, and New York. Unlike any other financial market, investors can respond to currency fluctuations caused by economic, social and political events at the time they occur - day or night.

Therefore, the most often traded or 'liquid' currencies are those of countries with stable governments, respected central banks, and low inflation. Today, over 85% of all daily transactions involve trading of the major currencies, which include the US Dollar (USD), Japanese Yen (JPY), Euro (EUR), British Pound (GBP), Swiss Franc (CHF), Canadian Dollar (CAD) and the Australian Dollar (AUD).

These currency prices are affected by a variety of economic and political conditions, most importantly interest rates, inflation and political stability. Moreover, governments sometimes participate in the Forex market to influence the value of their currencies, either by flooding the market with their domestic currency in an attempt to lower the price, or conversely buying in order to raise the price. This is known as Central Bank intervention. Any of these factors, as well as large market orders, can cause high volatility in currency prices. However, the size and volume of the Forex market makes it impossible for any one entity to "drive" the market for any length of time.

It is clear that the most common risk management tools in Forex trading are the limit order and the stop loss order. A limit order places restriction on the maximum price to be paid or the minimum price to be received. A stop loss order ensures a particular position is automatically liquidated at a predetermined price in order to limit potential losses should the market move against an investor's position. The liquidity of the Forex market ensures that limit order and stop loss orders can be easily executed.

Basically, the majority of decisions are being made by taking into consideration technical aspects, as well as economic data. Investors, preferring technical factors are using charts, trend lines, support and resistance levels, and numerous patterns and mathematical analyses to identify trading opportunities, whereas fundamentalists tend to predict price movements by interpreting a wide variety of economic information, including news, government-issued indicators and reports, and even rumor. However, the biggest price movements take place, when unexpected events happen, such as Central Bank raising domestic interest rates to the outcome of a political election or an act of war. Still, it is interesting to mention, that exactly the expectation of an event drives the market rather than the event itself.

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