market

Market size and liquidity
The foreign exchange market is unique because of:
*its trading volume,
*the extreme liquidity of the market,
*the large number of, and variety of, traders in the market,
*its geographical dispersion,
*its long trading hours - 24 hours a day (except on weekends).
*the variety of factors that affect exchange rates,


Average daily international foreign exchange trading volume was $1.9 trillion in April 2004 according to the BIS study Triennial Central Bank Survey 2004
*$600 billion spot
*$1,300 billion in derivatives, ie
*$200 billion in outright forwards
*$1,000 billion in forex swaps
*$100 billion in FX options.


The ten most active traders account for almost 73% of trading volume, according to The Wall Street Journal Europe, (2/9/06 p. 20). These large international banks continually provide the market with both bid (buy) and ask (sell) prices. The bid/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 only 1-3 pips. For example, the bid/ask quote of EUR/USD might be 1.2200/1.2203. Minimum trading size for most deals is usually $1,000,000.
These spreads do not apply to retail customers. To individuals, banks will routinely mark up the difference to say 1.2100 / 1.2300 for transfers, or say 1.2000 / 1.2400 for banknotes or travellers' cheques.

forex

Forex is my user name for a reason! I like what has been said here on Wiki about FX, but I don't like the changes that keep being pushed towards "big business" by so called gurus just because they have been around for years. If the major market players want to Spam Wikipedia with their agendas then I will take the bias start for content and edit it the way I see it- as someone in Forex everyday and working with Forex Traders and Brokers everyday. Good retail trading in Forex can bring good insight, and with Programs out there empowering traders many are getting in most cases better then "them" anyway and trading to win is the goal right? Worst case is that retail forex trading has made Forex a "topic" and has driven what was once thought of as the "step child" market into the next big market. So if retail forex has driven the popularity in the first place, retail traders should be heard. So my goal is not let the "Monday morning QB's" fom big banks and brokrage firms and hedge funds come back around and act as if, and push their power agendas. I'm user name FOREX and this part of the Wiki Pedia Forex section should reflect real helpful information! Forex
Forex where one currency is traded for another. It is by far the largest market in the world, in terms of cash value traded, and includes trading between large banks, central banks, currency speculators, multinational corporations, governments, and other financial markets and institutions. Retail traders (speculators) are a smaller part of this market. They may participate directly through brokers or banks if they research the market correctly and or establish relationship with them Many that are not in the know about how the market works have become targets of forex scams.