Forex
Trade Forex with Orix Wealth
What is FOREX?
Forex, also known as “Foreign Exchange” or “FX,” refers to the global marketplace for buying and selling currencies. It is the largest and most liquid financial market in the world, with a daily trading volume exceeding $6 trillion. In the Forex market, currencies are traded in pairs, meaning you are simultaneously buying one currency while selling another.
Key Features of Forex Trading
Currency Pairs:
Forex trading involves trading currency pairs, such as EUR/USD (Euro/US Dollar) or GBP/JPY (British Pound/Japanese Yen). The first currency in the pair is known as the base currency, and the second is the quote currency.
Exchange Rate:
The exchange rate is the price at which one currency can be exchanged for another. It fluctuates constantly due to market forces like supply and demand, economic data, interest rates, geopolitical events, and more.
Market Participants:
The Forex market is highly decentralized and involves various participants, including central banks, commercial banks, financial institutions, corporations, governments, hedge funds, and individual retail traders.
Trading Hours:
The Forex market operates 24 hours a day, five days a week, across major financial centers in different time zones, including London, New York, Tokyo, and Sydney. This allows continuous trading opportunities.
Leverage:
Forex trading often involves leverage, allowing traders to control a larger position with a smaller amount of capital. While this can amplify profits, it also increases the risk of losses.
Spot Market vs Derivatives:
The Forex market can be divided into the spot market (where currencies are traded for immediate delivery) and the derivatives market (which includes forwards, futures, options, and swaps).
Forex Trading FAQs
Currency trading has soared in popularity this century amongst professional and non-professional traders alike. Before the arrival of the Contract for Difference (CFD) market in the late 1990s, currency trading was an asset class that was difficult for individuals to trade or invest in.
If you had a negative view for the Euro, perhaps because you felt that the Eurozone economy was performing poorly and was going to continue as such, you might look to short the Euro.
You might also have a view that the UK economy was looking healthy and that the short-term data was going to reflect this and beat expectations.
In this case, you would look to express your view by selling the Euro and buying the GB Pound, which would be a short position on the EURGBP currency pair.
Let’s say you sold EURGBP at 0.8500, with a target for a move down to 0.8000. You might then place a stop loss at 0.8700 in case the currency pair moved in the opposite direction.
- If the market moved down to 0.8000, you would realise a profit.
- If EURGBP moved up to 0.8700, you would be stopped out for a loss.
A forex account is a type of account that a forex trader opens with a retail forex broker. Forex accounts come in many forms, but the first that is opened is often the forex demo account.
