FOReign EXchange market

FOReign EXchange market is an inter-bank market that took shape in 1971 when global trade shifted from fixed exchange rates to floating ones. This is a set of transactions among forex market agents involving exchange of specified sums of money in a currency unit of any given nation for currency of another nation at an agreed rate as of any specified date. During exchange, the exchange rate of one currency to another currency is determined simply: by supply and demand – exchange to which both parties agree. The scope of transactions in the global currency market is constantly growing, which is due to development of international trade and abolition of currency restrictions in many nations. Global daily conversion transactions came to $1,982 billion in mid-1998 (the London market accounted for some 32% of daily turnover; the New York market exchanged approx. 18%, and the German market, 10%). Not only the scope of transactions but also the rates that mark the market development are impressive: in 1977, the daily turnover stood at five billion U.S. dollars; it grew to 600 billion U.S. dollars over ten years – to one trillion in 1992. Speculative transactions intended to derive profit from jobbing on the exchange rate differences make up nearly 80% of total transactions. Jobbing attracts numerous participants – both financial institutions and individual investors. With the highest rates of information technology development in the last two decades, the market itself changed beyond recognition. Once surrounded with a halo of caste mystique, the foreign exchange dealer’s profession became almost grasroots. Forex transactions that used to be the privilege of the biggest monopolist banks not so long ago are now publicly accessible thanks to e-commerce systems. And the foremost banks themselves also often prefer trade in electronic systems over individual bilateral transactions. E-brokers now account for 11% of the forex market turnover. The daily scope of transactions of the biggest banks (Deutsche Bank, Barclays Bank, Union Bank of Switzerland, Citibank, Chase Manhattan Bank, Standard Chartered Bank) reaches billions of dollars. The FOREX market as a place where to apply one’s personal financial, intellectual and psychic power is not designed for attempts at catching a bluebird there. Sometimes someone manages to do so but for a short time only. The key advantage of a forex market is that one can succeed there just by the strength of one’s intelligence. Another essential feature of the FOREX market, no matter how strange it might seem, is its stability. Everybody knows that sudden falls are very typical of the financial market. However, unlike the stock market, the FOREX market never falls. If shares devalue it means a collapse. But if the dollar slumps, that only means that another currency gets stronger. For instance, the yen strengthened by a quarter against the dollar late in 1998. On some days dollar fell by dozens percentage points. However, the market did not collapse anywhere; trading continued in the usual manner. It is here that the market and the related business stability lie - currency is an absolutely liquid commodity and will be always traded in.