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What Advantages Does Forex Have Over Other Trading Options?

Author: Usman Asad
by Usman Asad
Posted: Apr 26, 2018

Foreign exchange trading, often shortened to forex trading, is a type of investment trading, featuring currencies as the asset class. Exchanging currencies is nothing new, and has been a major pillar of the world economy for as long as nations have traded globally. Foreign exchange has allowed businesses to make international transactions using a nation's own currency. However, the exchange rate and the valuation of currencies fluctuates almost constantly due to a vast multitude of unpredictable factors. Those factors include trade flows, geopolitical events, economic stability, interest rates, and even tourism. Forex trading allows traders to profit from these constant fluctuations in value by buying and selling foreign currencies and hoping that currencies you purchase increase in value or that the ones you sell will lose value against its paired counterpart.

Forex trading is what's known as a macroeconomic endeavor. Forex traders are required to have a high-level overview of the global economy, geopolitics, and the connections between currencies around the globe. Find a good broker such as marketgbp and start trading. A high-level understanding of these factors will allow a trader to adequately grasp the fundamental forces which drive the value of currencies. For some traders, it's easier to focus on the macroeconomic aspects of the forex market, than the nuanced and closed environment of the futures market and the stock market, where it's imperative to not only understand the macroeconomics, but also the microeconomics. Understanding of a company's management, finances, the market they operate in, and even the industry as a whole are often necessary to make informed decisions in those markets. However, the forex market has no such requirements, as it operates solely on macroeconomic factors.

Before the creation and widespread adoption of the internet, foreign exchange was, for the most part, limited to activity between banks on behalf of their clientele. Over time, banks developed their own proprietary desk to use for trading their own assets, followed by the creation of desks for large international corporations, hedge fund managers, and even individuals with a high net worth. With the aid of the internet, that market has become far less exclusive, with a retail market emerging which aims to serve individual traders. This new retail market provides access to the forex market to the average person either through the banks or via a secondary market managed by the brokers.

In terms of both volume and liquidity, the forex market is the largest in the world. This makes it easy to either enter or exit a position in only a fraction of a second for any of the world's major currencies. Another major advantage of the forex market, aside from its immense liquidity, is that it's open 24 hours per day, for five days every week. The markets begin every day in Sydney, and the day ends in New York. The central nexuses for the forex markets are Sydney, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Frankfurt, Paris, London and New York, and the market cycles through those locations each day.

One result of the liquidity present in the forex market and the immense ease with which an individual is able to enter or exit their trades is leverage. Banks and brokers often offer leverage, which allows traders to control larger positions than they're actually able to afford. However, leverage is a dangerous tool and should be used with immense caution if a trader hopes to reap the benefits. Poor understanding or a lack of self-control can easily result in a trader wiping out their account with leverage. In all cases, a trader has to be aware of their own personality and emotions in order to prevent themselves from forgoing wise trading habits by making impulsive or emotional decisions.

About the Author

I'm Ariyan Usman, Ceo of Drak Blue Marketing based in UK

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Author: Usman Asad

Usman Asad

Member since: Apr 26, 2018
Published articles: 9

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