FOREX TRADE

Why do hundreds of thousands online traders and investors trade the forex market every day, and how do they make money doing it?

This two-part report clearly and simply details essential tips on how to avoid typical pitfalls and start making more money in your forex trading.

1. Trade pairs, not currencies - Like any relationship, you have to know both sides. Success or failure in forex trading depends upon being right about both currencies and how they impact one another, not just one.
   
2. Knowledge is Power - When starting out trading forex online, it is essential that you understand the basics of this market if you want to make the most of your investments.
   The main forex influencer is global news and events. For example, say an ECB statement is released on European interest rates which typically will cause a flurry of activity. Most newcomers react violently to news like this and close their positions and subsequently miss out on some of the best trading opportunities by waiting until the market calms down. The potential in the forex market is in the volatility, not in its tranquility.
   
3. Unambitious trading - Many new traders will place very tight orders in order to take very small profits. This is not a sustainable approach because although you may be profitable in the short run (if you are lucky), you risk losing in the longer term as you have to recover the difference between the bid and the ask price before you can make any profit and this is much more difficult when you make small trades than when you make larger ones.
   
4. Over-cautious trading - Like the trader who tries to take small incremental profits all the time, the trader who places tight stop losses with a retail forex broker is doomed. As we stated above, you have to give your position a fair chance to demonstrate its ability to produce. If you don't place reasonable stop losses that allow your trade to do so, you will always end up undercutting yourself and losing a small piece of your deposit with every trade.
   
5. Independence - If you are new to forex, you will either decide to trade your own money or to have a broker trade it for you. So far, so good. But your risk of losing increases exponentially if you either of these two things:
   Interfere with what your broker is doing on your behalf (as his strategy might require a long gestation period);
   Seek advice from too many sources - multiple input will only result in multiple losses. Take a position, ride with it and then analyse the outcome - by yourself, for yourself.
   
6. Tiny margins - Margin trading is one of the biggest advantages in trading forex as it allows you to trade amounts far larger than the total of your deposits. However, it can also be dangerous to novice traders as it can appeal to the greed factor that destroys many forex traders. The best guideline is to increase your leverage in line with your experience and success.
   
7. No strategy - The aim of making money is not a trading strategy. A strategy is your map for how you plan to make money. Your strategy details the approach you are going to take, which currencies you are going to trade and how you will manage your risk. Without a strategy, you may become one of the 90% of new traders that lose their money.
   
8. Trading Off-Peak Hours - Professional FX traders, option traders, and hedge funds posses a huge advantage over small retail traders during off-peak hours (between 2200 CET and 1000 CET) as they can hedge their positions and move them around when there is far small trade volume is going through (meaning their risk is smaller). The best advice for trading during off peak hours is simple - don't.
   
9. The only way is up/down - When the market is on its way up, the market is on its way up. When the market is going down, the market is going down. That's it. There are many systems which analyse past trends, but none that can accurately predict the future. But if you acknowledge to yourself that all that is happening at any time is that the market is simply moving, you'll be amazed at how hard it is to blame anyone else.
   
10. Trade on the news - Most of the really big market moves occur around news time. Trading volume is high and the moves are significant; this means there is no better time to trade than when news is released. This is when the big players adjust their positions and prices change resulting in a serious currency flow.
    
11. Exiting Trades - If you place a trade and it's not working out for you, get out. Don't compound your mistake by staying in and hoping for a reversal. If you're in a winning trade, don't talk yourself out of the position because you're bored or want to relieve stress; stress is a natural part of trading; get used to it.
    
12. Don't trade too short-term - If you are aiming to make less than 20 points profit, don't undertake the trade. The spread you are trading on will make the odds against you far too high.
    
13. Don't be smart - The most successful traders I know keep their trading simple. They don't analyse all day or research historical trends and track web logs and their results are excellent.
    
14. Tops and Bottoms - There are no real "bargains" in trading foreign exchange. Trade in the direction the price is going in and you're results will be almost guaranteed to improve.
    
15. Ignoring the technicals- Understanding whether the market is over-extended long or short is a key indicator of price action. Spikes occur in the market when it is moving all one way.
    
16. Emotional Trading - Without that all-important strategy, you're trades essentially are thoughts only and thoughts are emotions and a very poor foundation for trading. When most of us are upset and emotional, we don't tend to make the wisest decisions. Don't let your emotions sway you.
    
17. Confidence - Confidence comes from successful trading. If you lose money early in your trading career it's very difficult to regain it; the trick is not to go off half-cocked; learn the business before you trade. Remember, knowledge is power.

The second and final part of this report clearly and simply details more essential tips on how to avoid the pitfalls and start making more money in your forex trading.

1. Take it like a man - If you decide to ride a loss, you are simply displaying stupidity and cowardice. It takes guts to accept your loss and wait for tomorrow to try again. Sticking to a bad position ruins lots of traders - permanently. Try to remember that the market often behaves illogically, so don't get commit to any one trade; it's just a trade. One good trade will not make you a trading success; it's ongoing regular performance over months and years that makes a good trader.
   
2. Focus - Fantasising about possible profits and then "spending" them before you have realised them is no good. Focus on your current position(s) and place reasonable stop losses at the time you do the trade. Then sit back and enjoy the ride - you have no real control from now on, the market will do what it wants to do.
   
3. Don't trust demos - Demo trading often causes new traders to learn bad habits. These bad habits, which can be very dangerous in the long run, come about because you are playing with virtual money. Once you know how your broker's system works, start trading small amounts and only take the risk you can afford to win or lose.
   
4. Stick to the strategy - When you make money on a well thought-out strategic trade, don't go and lose half of it next time on a fancy; stick to your strategy and invest profits on the next trade that matches your long-term goals.
   
5. Trade today - Most successful day traders are highly focused on what's happening in the short-term, not what may happen over the next month. If you're trading with 40 to 60-point stops focus on what's happening today as the market will probably move too quickly to consider the long-term future. However, the long-term trends are not unimportant; they will not always help you though if you're trading intraday.
   
6. The clues are in the details - The bottom line on your account balance doesn't tell the whole story. Consider individual trade details; analyse your losses and the telling losing streaks. Generally, traders that make money without suffering significant daily losses have the best chance of sustaining positive performance in the long term.
   
7. Simulated Results - Be very careful and wary about infamous "black box" systems. These so-called trading signal systems do not often explain exactly how the trade signals they generate are produced. Typically, these systems only show their track record of extraordinary results - historical results. Successfully predicting future trade scenarios is altogether more complex. The high-speed algorithmic capabilities of these systems provide significant retrospective trading systems, not ones which will help you trade effectively in the future.
   
8. Get to know one cross at a time - Each currency pair is unique, and has a unique way of moving in the marketplace. The forces which cause the pair to move up and down are individual to each cross, so study them and learn from your experience and apply your learning to one cross at a time.
9. Risk Reward - If you put a 20 point stop and a 50 point profit your chances of winning are probably about 1-3 against you. In fact, given the spread you're trading on, it's more likely to be 1-4. Play the odds the market gives you.
   
10. Trading for Wrong Reasons - Don't trade if you are bored, unsure or reacting on a whim. The reason that you are bored in the first place is probably because there is no trade to make in the first place. If you are unsure, it's probably because you can't see the trade to make, so don't make one.
    
11. Zen Trading- Even when you have taken a position in the markets, you should try and think as you would if you hadn't taken one. This level of detachment is essential if you want to retain your clarity of mind and avoid succumbing to emotional impulses and therefore increasing the likelihood of incurring losses. To achieve this, you need to cultivate a calm and relaxed outlook. Trade in brief periods of no more than a few hours at a time and accept that once the trade has been made, it's out of your hands.
    
12. Determination - Once you have decided to place a trade, stick to it and let it run its course. This means that if your stop loss is close to being triggered, let it trigger. If you move your stop midway through a trade's life, you are more than likely to suffer worse moves against you. Your determination must be show itself when you acknowledge that you got it wrong, so get out.
    
13. Short-term Moving Average Crossovers - This is one of the most dangerous trade scenarios for non professional traders. When the short-term moving average crosses the longer-term moving average it only means that the average price in the short run is equal to the average price in the longer run. This is neither a bullish nor bearish indication, so don't fall into the trap of believing it is one.
    
14. Stochastic - Another dangerous scenario. When it first signals an exhausted condition that's when the big spike in the "exhausted" currency cross tends to occur. My advice is to buy on the first sign of an overbought cross and then sell on the first sign of an oversold one. This approach means that you'll be with the trend and have successfully identified a positive move that still has some way to go. So if percentage K and percentage D are both crossing 80, then buy! (This is the same on sell side, where you sell at 20).
    
15. One cross is all that counts - EURUSD seems to be trading higher, so you buy GBPUSD because it appears not to have moved yet. This is dangerous. Focus on one cross at a time - if EURUSD looks good to you, then just buy EURUSD.
    
16. Wrong Broker - A lot of FOREX brokers are in business only to make money from yours. Read forums, blogs and chats around the net to get an unbiased opinion before you choose your broker.
    
17. Too bullish - Trading statistics show that 90% of most traders will fail at some point. Being too bullish about your trading aptitude can be fatal to your long-term success. You can always learn more about trading the markets, even if you are currently successful in your trades. Stay modest, and keep your eyes open for new ideas and bad habits you might be falling in to.
    
18. Interpret forex news yourself - Learn to read the source documents of forex news and events - don't rely on the interpretations of news media or others.
    

There are thousands of successful Forex traders making money trading foreign currency, but did you know that 90% of new traders lose money doing this? In order to be successful, there are a few things you absolutely must know. The following are some of the more important forex trading tips to understand if you plan earn money trading currency.

Learn In Pairs - Know Both Sides Of The Currency

It is absolutely impairitive that you understand the relationship that both currencies you’re trading have with each other. Understand how swings on one currency affects the other, and their cyclinicals. Failure to have the basic understanding of learning what you’re trading will likely end up cost you alot of money.

Watch Global Influencers - News and Events

One of the largest contributers in currency fluctuation is events happening around the world. News good or bad, especially in the financial sector, will cause a swing in global currency values. Instability in one market will likely lead to upturns in another - make sure you know your pairs! Remember, instability and volatility is where you make your money.

Tiny Margins and Over-Cautious Trading

We’ve all heard the old addage “slow and steady wins the race.” Well, it’s this trader’s opinion that those types of investments will lose the race. This is a player’s game, if you don’t give your position a chance to demostrate it’s value you’ll end up undercutting yourself in trading fees. Making big trades is where the money is, then again you must know and be confident in your position.

Have A Strategy But Stay On Your Toes

Would you start a business without a business plan? If so, Forex trading isn’t right for you. You must have a plan that details the approach to take, the currencies to trade and how to manage the risk your taking. But with that said, always be aware of your market and don’t be afraid to call an audible if you see indicators suggesting a change of plans Remember the global influencers?

Emotional Trading and Confidence

This goes back to having a strategy. If you’re emotional then you’re not thinking with your head, much like a poker player who goes on tilt. Keep cool stay confident and stick to your plan. Learn to manage stress and understand that as long as you play a winning strategy, they’ll be ups and downs but in the end you’ll be successful as long as you keep your cool.

Forex is a big market to participate in and surprisingly only the top 5% are making money. That means the remaining 95% of traders are either breaking even or losing money. The small minority at the top in this business have their own hidden techniques and strategies that they use to profit. I hope to give you a glimpse into what they do.

The expert trader also knows when it is appropriate to drop the training wheels, which happen to be the demo platforms. I’m not saying demos are bad because they are excellent tools for people relatively new, but there is a point where they can no longer help you and can be detrimental to your success. You have to learn to recognize this point and stop using it.

The costs of trading depend on several factors, including the instrument and market you are trading. Most of the costs you pay are to your brokerage firm. They need to make a living in exchange for the services they provide.

• Commissions
• Slippage
• Spread
• Platform Fees
• Expenses

However, if you want to look at trading as a business, you may have to minimize them and make sure you are getting the most for every dollar you spend to ensure your long-term survival.

Choosing the right time to trade can make a differences between successful and hopeless forex trading.

It’s proved and highly recommended not to trade on Weekday, Mondays, when the Forex market has recently opened and is making first steps to form a new trend and on Friday’s afternoon, during the big volume of closing trades. The best days to trade are Tuesday’s, Wednesday’s and Thursday’s, So Basically trade between Weekdays.

Happy Forex Trading.

Forex Trading Strategy - Three Steps of Development

The three steps of development are:-

1. Emotions
2. Complexity
3. Testing

Emotions and intuition cannot be calculated mathematically. Mathematics is the only thing a trading system has to work with. So the first and most fundamental principal of trading system development is that every rule to enter or exit the market must be mathematically justified.

Trading systems grow into more and more complex ones by including rules that take into account more and more parameters. I believe that excessive amount of rules can ruin the successful trading system.

Testing is the absolutely necessary step. You need to have historical price data to test your system.

We cannot say that it is very easy to make money in forex trading, but it isn’t really difficult also. It is the smart work that matters than hard work in trading currency market. Following are the essential tips on how to avoid usual pitfalls and start making more money in forex trading.

Trade in pairs not in currency- Like any relationship; you need to know both the sides. Success or failure in forex currency trading relies upon being right about both foreign currencies and how they contact each other, not just one.

Understand the basics - When you start to trading currency online, it is indispensable that you understand the basics of this particular market if you desire to make the most of your investments. The chief forex influencer is worldwide news and other related events. Most newcomers respond aggressively to news like this and close their positions and next miss out on some of the most excellent trading chances by waiting until the market goes down. The latent in the forex market is in the instability, not when it is clam.

Self-government - If in case you are fresher to forex, you would either choose to trade your own money or to have a forex broker trading it for you. It is good but your risk of losing augments tremendously if you either of these two things: you also need to interfere with what your forex broker do on your behalf; seek counsel from too many other sources - many input would only result in multiple losses. Take a location, ride with it and then analyze the result - by yourself, for yourself.

Small margins – Small margin trading is one of the leading benefits in trading forex as it permits you to do trading in the amounts far bigger than the total of your deposits. However, it could as well be risky to beginner traders as it could demand to the voracity factor, which wipes out many forex traders. The best guideline is to boost your leverage in line with your skill and success.

Trade during Off-Peak Hours - Professional FX traders, option traders, and other hedge funds mobs a wide benefit over small retail traders in off-peak hours (usually between 2200 CET and 1000 CET) as they could hedge their place and move them around when there is far tiny trade volume is going through (that simply means that their risk is smaller).

Trade on the news - Most of the actually big trade market moves arise around news time. Trading volume is lofty and the moves are very important; this means there is no superior time to trade than when news is actually released. This is when the big players alter their places and prices alter resulting in a somber currency flow.

Confidence - Confidence comes from winning forex trading. If you lose money early in your trading career it's extremely hard to gain it back; the ploy is not to go off half-cocked; study the forex business before you start to trade. Keep in mind, knowledge is power.

Everyday, currencies are traded in an international foreign exchange market, otherwise known as the forex market, with the main marketplaces (otherwise known as bourses) existing in the world financial centes New York, London, Tokyo, Frankfurt and Zurich. Historically, the only way to participate was from the trading floor of one of these bourses, but today, people can trade forex from anywhere through a secure internet connection and a PC.

Today traders operate in a global network, taking positions in the market and making investment decisions based on either relative value between two currencies, or a particular currency actual price. Currency value fluctuations are constantly renegotiated through trading activity, and this activity, and the corresponding currency values are also indicators of the levels of currency supply.

An example of market behaviour greater demand for the Euro might indicate a weakening supply. Low supply and increased demand will drive the price of the Euro up against other currencies like the dollar, until the price better reflects what traders are prepared to pay when short supply exists. Another way to look at this situation is this higher demand means it will cost more dollars to buy the Euro, which equates to a weakening of the dollar in comparison. Analysis of situations such as in this example forms the basis for a trader investment decisions, and they will purchase or sell currency accordingly.

This should be remembered, as while many see the foreign exchange market as the vehicle for converting their home currency while travelling abroad, many others choose to use the market to advance their financial position and secure their future.

Forex, or Foreign Exchange, trading can be a very rewarding. In fact, it can be one of todays best wealth generating opportunities. Regular people like you and me are consistently making $500, $600 and more per day from the comfort of their home trading forex. Many do not know this, but the forex market is by far the largest market in the world. It is estimated that around $1.5 TRILLION is traded every single day. By far more then all the stock, bond and futures markets of all the world combined!

But what does a forex trader do? Simple, buy a currency at a low value and sell it at a higher value, and in the process profit from it! For example, buy Great British Pounds with US Dollars, wait for the Pound rate to go up and make money! This can be done several times a day if the forex trader is a day trader or several time a week or month if the trader is a forex swing trader.

Lets look at the exclusive benefits forex trading offers:

1. The forex trader can start trading with as low as $300. Yes, today most on-line brokers will allow you to open an account with such a low sum making forex trading accessible for virtually everyone.

2. The forex trader does not have to own the money he or she is using to trade currencies. Through a concept called leverage, the traders broker will allow him or her to buy up to 400 times the value of the traders account. For example, if the trader has US $100 in his brokerage account he can buy/trade $4,000! If he has $1,000 he can buy/trade $40,000. That is how traders actually make $500, $600, or $700 per day trading forex, using the brokers money!

3. Many currency pairs are very volatile. Volatility means that they move a lot during the day, from side to side. This allows the forex trader to capture several price swings that this volatility causes. In fact, there are currency pairs that offer up to six daily swing opportunities, each one potentially allowing the trader to capture impressive profits.

4. With the right system the forex trader can trade with just following simple rules. If A happens and B happens then do C. This is called mechanical trading. It requires absolutely no discretion, interpretation or thinking from the trader.

5. The forex market is a 24 hour market. Never stops. This means that as a forex trader you can chose exactly when to trade. Some people have day jobs and do not have the necessary time to trade during the day so they can trade at night. People who make their living as forex traders can chose to trade any time of the day or night. The point being, a 24 hour market allows the trader a lot of flexibility.

6. An incredible benefit of the forex industry is that today all forex brokers allow traders to open free demo accounts. This means that the trader can test his strategies without risking a single dollar! In fact, I always test my trading strategies before going live. I make sure they work before risking real money. I know of no other business opportunity that allows you to see if it works before you spend money!

7. Making a living as a forex trader allows you to be truly free! No office, no workers, no inventory, no marketing worries, no advertising, no selling. For me this is one of the greatest advantages of being a forex trader. No headaches!

In conclusion, the forex market provides a lot of opportunities that many markets and industries do not provide. Many people hear the term forex and get a bit scared, they are afraid of the unknown. Do not be, forex trading is something that people have been using to generate wealth for many years. The reason many people have not heard of this opportunity until recently is that until not long ago trading currencies was reserved to the big dogs (banks, institutions, companies etc). Today with the help of the internet anyone can take advantage of on-line currency trading that was once reserved to an exclusive group.

Wish you well and I hope you found this article useful.

Everyone is talking about it. It's the newest get rich quick scheme on the block and you want a piece of the action. Who wouldn't? But before you go any further, it's good to spend some time to familiarize yourself with some of the basics. What is forex? Forex stands for foreign exchange, i.e. the currency of any country anywhere in the world, such as the US Dollar, the Chinese Yuan, the British Pound and so on. The concept of forex trading implies that one currency is exchanged for another; hence it is also called currency trading. There exists a huge international forex market where currencies are bought, sold and traded.

The forex market is one of largest financial markets in the world. And the amazing thing is that Sunday to Friday, it is a 24 hour market, it does not close daily like the stock market. Further, it is an international market, so it is bigger than almost any domestic stock market could ever be. Speculators on the forex market make money depending on the movements of the market and many have their own forex trading strategy. The most widely traded currencies are the US Dollar, the Euro, the British Pound, and the Japanese Yen. As you can see, these are the world's most powerful economies, implying that due to the amount of trade going on in these countries, businesses in these countries need plenty of foreign exchange.

As a speculator or forex trader, one would take a position on a country, depending on what one believes are the future prospects for that country and then either buy or sell its currency. For instance, if you believe that the US dollar will depreciate against the Euro, as a forex trader, you would sell US dollars right now at a higher price with the expectation of buying them from the market at a lower price when the US dollar depreciates. You will make the differential between the higher price and the lower price per dollar that you sold. Since you did not actually have stock of US dollars at the time you sold, this is called a short position.

The opposite of this is a long position, meaning that you believe the US dollar will appreciate and as a forex trader, you buy US dollars in hopes of selling them at a higher price when the market for them goes up. This is a simple long trade. There are plenty of forex currency trading systems to help you maximize your profitability.

An understanding of factors that go into successful forex currency trading is essential when you decide to become a forex trader, or maybe eventually a broker. The main factors that interact to form the basis for the trade are time, currency, interest rates and exchange rates. A solid understanding of these elements and their interplay is what makes a good forex trader.

The internet is a big driving force in the increased popularity of forex currency trading. With the introduction of the internet into every home, the average person now has gained access to the huge forex market. Earlier a playground for rich individual investors or huge institutions like financial companies and banks, the international forex market is now open to you and millions of others. And people are already tapping it to make their private fortunes.

Forex, is an exchange that allows investors to trade national currencies through the foreign exchange. This is the worlds largest market for currency, based on the Dollar, anywhere between 1 – 2 TRILLION dollars are traded upon this market on a daily basis. This type of trade is typically performed online or on the telephone. By taking advantage of the world wide web, you are enabling yourself to make your investments in a reliable, easy, safe and fast way.

Some investors are able to enjoy returns of around thirty percent on a monthly basis, this takes a great deal of experience to gain this type of enormous return on your investment. The Forex market does not have one specific place of trade like many of the other markets do, for this reason alone is why most of the trade is performed by internet, fax, or telephone. In the beginning for currency trade was not all that popular, they were bringing in only about seventy billion dollars on a daily basis, with the invention of Forex, that number grew massively.

Of course, the currencies do not only deal with the American dollar, these currencies can be translated to over 5,000 currency institutions world wide, which include, commercial companies, large brokers, international banks, and government banks. Many major countries have forex trading centers such as, Frankfurt, London, New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Bombay to name a few.

When trading online there are many benefits such as, the ability to trade or track your investments at anytime day or night, from anywhere within the world that offers an internet connection. Another added benefit, is that some online exchange sites allow you to start with a small investment, known as a mini account, some with as little as two-hundred dollars. With online trading, the trade is instant. When you trade offline you have to deal with paperwork, with online trading there is no paper work involved.

The world of the internet, has allow us to do many things with just a click of a button, where else can you bank, trade, talk to your family and friends, research your investments and earn money all at the same time? Make the internet work in your best interest by implementing online trading into your portfolio. There’s a whole world of money waiting for you to earn with your online investments, and it’s all available at the click of your mouse button.

The foreign exchange market (currency, forex, or FX) is where currency trading takes place. It is where banks and other official institutions facilitate the buying and selling of foreign currencies. ^[1]FX transactions typically involve one party purchasing a quantity of one currency in exchange for paying a quantity of another. The foreign exchange market that we see today started evolving during the 1970s when worldover countries gradually switched to floating exchange rate from their erstwhile exchange rate regime, which remained fixedas per the Bretton Woods system till 1971.

Presently, 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 otherfinancial institutions. The average daily volume in the global foreign exchange and related markets is continuously growing. Traditional daily turnover was reported to be over US$3.2 trillion in April 2007 by theBank for International Settlements.^[2] Since then, the market has continued to grow. According to Euromoney's annual FX Poll, volumes grew a further 41% between 2007 and 2008.^[3]

The purpose of FX market is to facilitate trade and investment. The need for a foreign exchange market arises because of the presence of multifarious international currencies such as US Dollars, Euros, Japanese yen, Pounds Sterling, etc., and the need for trading in such currencies.

The foreign exchange market is unique because of

• its trading volumes,
• the extreme liquidity of the market,
• its geographical dispersion,
• its long trading hours: 24 hours a day except on weekends (from 22:00 UTC on Sunday until 22:00 UTC 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

Main foreign exchange market turnover, 1988 - 2007, measured in billions of USD.

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,^[2] 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 foreign exchange swaps
• $129 billion estimated gaps in reporting

Of the $3.98 trillion daily global turnover, trading in London accounted for around $1.36 trillion, or 34.1% of the total, making London by far the global center for foreign exchange. In second and third places respectively, trading in New York accounted for 16.6%, and Tokyo accounted for 6.0%.^[4] In addition to "traditional" turnover, $2.1 trillion was traded in derivatives.

Exchange-traded FX futures contracts were introduced in 1972 at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and are actively traded relative to most other futures contracts.

Several other developed countries also permit the trading of FX derivative products (like currency futures and options on currency futures) on their exchanges. All these developed countries already have fully convertible capital accounts. Most emerging countries do not permit FX derivative products on their exchanges in view of prevalent controls on the capital accounts. However, a few select emerging countries (e.g., Korea, South Africa, India) have already successfully experimented with the currency futures exchanges, despite having some controls on the capital account.

FX futures volume has grown rapidly in recent years, and accounts for about 7% of the total foreign exchange market volume, according to TheWall Street Journal Europe (5/5/06, p. 20).

Top 10 currency traders ^[5]
% of overall volume, May 2008

Rank	Name	Volume
1	Deutsche Bank	21.70%
2	UBS AG	15.80%
3	Barclays Capital	9.12%
4	Citi	7.49%
5	Royal Bank of Scotland	7.30%
6	JPMorgan	4.19%
7	HSBC	4.10%
8	Lehman Brothers	3.58%
9	Goldman Sachs	3.47%
10	Morgan Stanley	2.86%

Foreign exchange 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 have made it easier for retail traders to trade in the foreign exchange market. In 2006, retail traders constituted over 2% of the whole FX market volumes with an average daily trade volume of over US$50-60 billion (see retail trading platforms).^[6] Because foreign exchange is an OTC market where brokers/dealers negotiate directly with one another, there is no central exchange or clearing house. The biggest geographic trading centre is the UK, primarily London, which according to IFSL estimates has increased its share of global turnover in traditional transactions from 31.3% in April 2004 to 34.1% in April 2007. The ten most active traders account for almost 80% of trading volume, according to the 2008 Euromoney FX survey.^[3] These large international banks continually provide the market with both bid (buy) and ask (sell) prices. Thebid/ask spread is the difference between the price at which a bank or market maker will sell ("ask", or "offer") and the price at which a market-maker will buy ("bid") from a wholesale customer. This spread is minimal for actively traded pairs of currencies, usually 0–3 pips. For example, the bid/ask quote of EUR/USD might be 1.2200/1.2203 on a retail broker. Minimum trading size for most deals is usually 100,000 units of base currency, which is a standard "lot".

These spreads might not apply to retail customers at banks, which will routinely mark up the difference to say 1.2100/1.2300 for transfers, or say 1.2000/1.2400 for banknotes or travelers' checks. Spot prices at market makers vary, but on EUR/USD are usually no more than 3 pips wide (i.e., 0.0003). Competition is greatly increased with larger transactions, and pip spreads shrink on the major pairs to as little as 1 to 2 pips.