The Currency Trading Market! In the past, access to the currency trading market was restricted only to banks, financial companies, large corporations, hedge funds, large Commodity Trading Advisors and other institutional investors which would manage all the market.
However, thanks to innovation, the internet and technology the ever growing online trading currency market opportunities arose, with many forex brokers that have opened up the currency market now to individual retail traders, providing leveraged trading as well as extensively feature rich web based trading platforms with incorporated complex charting systems, real-time news and expert advisors amongst other interactive tools in aid to help both the novice retail trader and the more experienced gurus of forex trading. Also mostly these features are made available free to the retail trader in exchange to trade with the selected broker.
Forex Requirements
Unlike the U.S. currency futures markets, which have fixed daily trading hours, the Forex market is a 24-hour market with endless opportunity and money making time window for anyone with knowledge, time and an internet connection. Trading occurs between large banks (which is why Forex is sometimes referred to as the “interbank” market), with numerous smaller brokers and dealers providing access to this market for individual retail traders.
The 24 hour time zone overlap starts at 2 p.m. ET each Sunday, trading opens as markets open for the week in Wellington, New Zealand, followed by Sydney and Singapore. At 7 p.m. ET the Tokyo market opens, followed by London at 2 a.m. and finally New York would open at 8 a.m. This overlapping movement of currency trading among the different worldwide market centers allows retail traders to react to news immediately, and also provides the added flexibility of determining their trading schedules. The Currency Trading Market
If important overseas news occurs while the U.S. currency trading market is closed, the next day’s opening could be a wild ride with typical opening gaps amongst high trading volatility. Some currency trading market brokers and dealers do not charge outright commission fees to individual retail traders since instead, they profit from the bid-ask spread they set to the trader in the trading platform given.
As a result, many currency firms promote their low spreads rather than their low commission rates since they do not charge any commission or fees. Whether this is a good deal or not depends on the size of the spread in a given currency of course so the ultimate currency trading market broker chase is the spread.
