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Friday, July 31, 2009

Forex 11

In the forex market, currencies are exchanged through a floating exchange rate system. The forex market has no central exchange and has no trading floor. It is considered as an 'over-the-counter' (OTC) market and is run electronically within a network of banks known as the interbank market. The FX market runs continuously 24 hours a day from Sunday afternoon to Friday afternoon.

In the past, the forex interbank market was not available to small investors and only the world’s largest banks were allowed to trade openly. Since the introduction of the internet, forex brokers have emerged to cater for the needs of almost any individual with the use of online forex currency trading platforms. The trading platform is where you will execute all of your trades with your broker with just a few clicks of the mouse.

Individual traders like you and I are known as “Retail Traders”, and must go through retail brokerage firms in order to buy and sell currencies on the foreign exchange market. Today, however, you can buy and sell currencies at the click of a button, in much the same way as you buy and sell stocks. Everything has been automated and linked up electronically. Exchanges in the Forex market happen instantaneously.

You should know up front that online retail trading by individuals (represented by online retail brokers) is still in its infancy. Prior to the Internet, and subsequent availability of real-time market data, it was virtually impossible for the average person to get involved in the foreign exchange market with any degree of success.

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