Many people and organizations also sell and buy foreign currencies for speculative purposes. With all these foreign exchange transactions carried out every day, no one is surprised that the currency market, also known as "forex" or "fx" "is the world's largest financial market.
It is larger than all the stock markets USA together with a volume exceeding the total volume of stock markets around the world daily operations.
Trillions of dollars are traded daily on the forex market. From 1997 to late 2000, the daily volume of foreign exchange transactions increased from 5 billion to 1.5 billion.
The currency market continues to grow at an incredible pace.
Before the advent of the Internet, only corporations and wealthy individuals could currency investments in the forex market through private currency trading systems of banks. These systems required as much as $ 1 million to open an account.
Today, thanks to advances in online technology, investors who have only a few thousand dollars can access the exchange market 24 hours a day.
For traders, the forex market is an alternative to the stock market. An investor can choose from hundreds of shares, while there are only a few major currencies to exchange (dollar, yen, pound sterling, Swiss franc and the euro are the most popular).
In addition, the forex market provides greater leverage that the stock market; and the minimum investment needed to start investing in the Forex market is much smaller.
In addition, one can opt for flexible hours of operation (the exchange market operates 24 hours a day), why many stock traders have chosen the currency market.