The foreign exchange

The foreign exchange (currency, forex or FX) market is where currency trading takes place. Forex trading transactions typically involve one party purchasing a quantity of one currency in exchange for paying a quantity of another. The FX market is one of the largest and most liquid financial markets in the world, and includes trading between large banks, central banks, currency speculators, corporations, governments, and other institutions. The average daily volume in the global foreign exchange and related markets is continuously growing. Traditional turnover was reported to be over US$ 3.2 trillion in April 2007 by the Bank for International Settlement. Since then, the market has continued to grow. According to Euromoney’s annual FX Poll, volumes grew a further 41% between 2007 and 2008.

Market size and liquidity
The foreign exchange market is unique because of

• its trading volumes,
• the extreme liquidity of the market,
• the large number of, and variety of, traders in the market,
• its geographical dispersion,
• its long trading hours: 24 hours a day except on weekends (from 5pm EST on Sunday until 4pm EST Friday),
• the variety of factors that affect exchange rates.
• the low margins of profit compared with other markets of fixed income (but profits can be high due to very large trading volumes)
• the use of leverage

As such, it has been referred to as the market closest to the ideal perfect competition, notwithstanding market manipulation by central banks. According to the Bank for International Settlements, average daily turnover in global foreign exchange markets is estimated at $3.98 trillion. Trading in the world’s main financial markets accounted for $3.21 trillion of this. This approximately $3.21 trillion in main foreign exchange market turnover was broken down as follows:

• $1.005 trillion in spot transactions
• $362 billion in outright forwards
• $1.714 trillion in forex swaps
• $129 billion estimated gaps in reporting

Of the $3.98 trillion daily global fx turnover, trading in London accounted for around $1.36 trillion, or 34.1% of the total, making London by far the global center for currency trading In second and third places respectively, trading in New York accounted for 16.6%, and Tokyo accounted for 6.0%. In addition to “traditional” turnover, $2.1 trillion was traded in derivatives. Exchange-traded forex futures contracts were introduced in 1972 at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and are actively traded relative to most other futures contracts. Currency futures volume has grown rapidly in recent years, and accounts for about 7% of the total currency trading market volume, according to The Wall Street Journal Europe (5/5/06, p. 20).
Currency trading increased by 38% between April 2005 and April 2006 and has more than doubled since 2001. This is largely due to the growing importance of foreign exchange as an asset class and an increase in fund management assets, particularly of hedge funds and pension funds. The diverse selection of execution venues such as retail online currency trading platforms offered by companies such as DBFX have made it easier for retail traders to trade in the foreign exchange market.