Forex (short for Foreign Exchange) is the real-time buying and selling of currency. The Forex market is one of the largest around the globe. With Forex, one can trade currency and earn money through predicting what currency will climb compared to another, in a certain period of time. (like fifteen minutes after the original investment) One might, for example, expect that at 4PM the US dollar will be worth more than the euro.
Most traders exchange the US dollar for another currency, like the Japanese yen. As already stated, the American dollar is usually the base currency when we look at exchange rates. As an example, an exchange rate of USD/JPY 2.34 means that one American dollar is worth 2.34 Japanese yen.
Given that the US dollar is the base currency, its value will rise compared to another when its exchange rate goes up. If the exchange rate of USD/JPY is 2.50 -and the time period has come to an end- the dollar is worth more. On the other hand, the dollar can also be the weaker currency - called 'counter currency', when the English pound or the euro is exchanged with the American dollar. (i.e. EUR/USD or GBP/USD)
More precisely, FOREX is a currency trading market, and it's one of the largest and most rapidly developing markets on the planet. Over 2.5 trillion dollars are turned over on Forex every single day. That's more than 100 times more than the amount turned over daily on NASDAQ. If you're intrigued, you can click here and get more detailed market information from E-Global Trade & Finance Group, Inc.
So, what's a market? Simple: it's a place where goods are traded. Forex is no different, but with one little twist: the goods traded on Forex are the national currencies of the world's countries. For example, on Forex you might pay in American dollars and buy some Canadian dollars. Or, you could sell your Euros for Japanese Yen. There's nothing more to it than that.
