| The Forex market is a cash inter-bank or inter-dealer market established in 1971 when floating exchange rates began to materialize. |
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| The simplest definition of foreign exchange is trading one currency for another.
In comparison to the daily trading volume averages of $300 billion in the U.S. Treasury Bond market and the less than $10 billion exchanged in the U.S. stock markets, the Forex market is huge; in September 1992 The Wall Street Journal estimated the trading volume at $1 trillion per day. |
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| Today, it is believed to have grown in excess of $1.5 trillion per day. |
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| The most important foreign exchange activity is the spot business between the dollar and the four major currencies (British Pound, Euro, Swiss Franc, and Japanese Yen). |
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| Participants in the market consist of five main groups: central banks, commercial banks, other financial institutions, corporate customers, and brokers. Commercial brokers conduct by far the largest volume of trading. |
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| But Forex is not a "market" in the traditional sense. There is no centralized location for trading activity as there is in other market instruments. |
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| Trading occurs over the telephone and through computer terminals at hundreds
of locations worldwide. |