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What is Forex?

Trade Forex in a global decentralised market where currencies are traded

Forex, or foreign exchange, FX or currency trading, is the act of buying and selling a country’s currency in exchange for another. The forex market is one of the most liquid and largest markets in the world with an estimated trading volume exceeding $5 trillion daily.

Benefits of Forex Trading

Round-the-clock Trading

Trade up or down just with equal ease. If you think a currency’s value will be increased you can go ahead and buy it. If you think otherwise, you can sell it.

Leverage

Trade forex CFDs using leverage and receive a probable higher market exposure. The higher the exposure the bigger ups and downs. Speculate when one currency is rising and falling as opposed to other currencies.

Currency Pairs

Forex trading provides you with the opportunity to trade a wide suite of currency pairs, speculate to trade a wide suite of currency pairs, speculate and minor economies.

Low Costs

In this market, there is no commission, exchange, government or brokerage fees. Most companies are compensated for what they offer though spreads.

How does forex trading work?

To be exact, Forex is a network of people, who buy, sell and transfer currencies among them at a predetermined price. These people can be companies, banks or individuals. Forex is the means to convert one currency into another. Travelling abroad usually includes making forex transactions. Although most of the foreign exchanges occur for practical reasons, as the one stated above, another portion of it is done with the purpose of profiting off it. However, since the currencies converted every day come in huge amounts, price movements become volatile to a very great extent. The combination of the chance to make higher profits along with the increased possibility of risk is what makes forex attractive to most traders.
Bull and bear trading indicator graphic illustrating market trends with a bull symbolizing growth and a bear representing decline.
A smartphone screen showing forex trading apps with live currency exchange rates and trading options.

The FX Market

What makes the Forex Market unique is that while being an international market, there is no central marketplace to trade forex. Instead, this trading of currencies happens electronically, over-the-counter (OTC), meaning that all transactions occur online among traders worldwide rather than via one centralised exchange. Having approximately $4 trillion USD trading every day, the foreign exchange market is the most liquid in the world. As a result, any currencies in high volumes can be bought, while the market is open. What is also worth noticing is that, the market is open 24/5, Monday to Friday, and currency trading happens in the major financial centres of London, New York, Tokyo, Zurich, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Singapore, Paris and Sydney. Therefore, depending on the time zone, when one trades in the U.S another does not in Tokyo, thus the forex market can be active at any time, with prices constantly changing. This is not the case with all the other instruments, where if the market falls, traders’ assets will remain untradeable. With forex there is always someone to buy or sell.

Buy and Sell Currencies

All forex trading transactions include two currencies since traders bet on the value of a currency against another. Taking the most frequently traded currency pair EUR/USD as an example, EUR is considered the base while USD is the counter. When you see a price presented on your platform, it indicates how much one euro is worth in US dollars. There are always two prices because one is the buy price and the other is the sell. Their difference is called the spread. Once you click buy or sell, you are buying or selling the first currency in the pair.
Forex trading tips displayed on a digital screen with graphs and currency symbols, emphasizing market strategies.

Why trade Forex with IronFX?

IronFX is committed to providing the best trading conditions so as to help you trade in a competitive environment.

Trade forex with IronFX and gain:

The market standard MT4 Platform is also provided to you to facilitate your trading even further.

Open an Account

All trading involves risk. It is possible to lose all your capital.

Join IronFX today and make the most out of forex trading!

Open an account

All trading involves risk. It is possible to lose all your capital.