The Foreign Exchange market is a global decentralized (OTC) market for the trading of the world's currencies. Currency is a medium of exchange issued by a government body and is used as a method of payment.

Starting a Currency Trading Account (FAQ)

To trade the Forex market you need a trading account. There are several different types of accounts, however, it is highly recommended to start by opening a free demo account. A demo account can help you gain experience without any risk of losing your funds. Every respectful Forex broker will provide you with a free demo account. After gaining some experience, you can trade for real money. When starting to trade for real money note that a micro-lot account is more suitable for beginners.

• Demo/Practice accounts offer an excellent chance to gain experience and evaluate the conditions of every Forex Broker without any cost
• A micro-lot account is the best option for beginners and semi-advanced Forex Traders as it allows trading in smaller order sizes

» Opening a Forex Trading Account (FAQ)

Forex Currency Symbols

A currency symbol is a graphic symbol that works as a shorthand for a currency's name. This shorthand is widely used in international money markets instead of using a formal currency name.

What are currency symbols in the Foreign Exchange Market?

The symbology for currency exchange rates includes a six-character symbol that consists of two exchange rates. The first three characters of the pair represent the base currency and the second three characters represent the counter currency.

• The first three characters represent the base currency
• The second three characters represent the counter-currency
• These symbols are practically unique for every country. 

These are some basic questions/answers regarding what matters the most when opening a new Forex trading account.

1) How do I start trading Forex?

It is highly recommended to start trading Forex by opening a free demo account. A demo account can help you gain experience without any risk of losing your funds. Every respectful Forex broker will provide you with a free demo account. After gaining some experience, you can trade for real money. When starting to trade for real money note that a micro-lot account is more suitable for beginners.

• Demo/Practice accounts offer an excellent chance to gain experience and evaluate the conditions of every Forex Broker without any cost
• A micro-lot account is the best option for beginners and semi-advanced Forex Traders as it allows trading in smaller order sizes

The Forex market has a daily trading volume of more than 4 trillion dollars, making it the biggest financial market in the world. The Foreign Exchange currencies are traded continuously (24/5), only breaking for weekends. The reason the Forex market is almost always open is that it is International, operating in every single time zone. It is always office hours somewhere in the world. But certain times are highly active, while other times are remarkably slow.

The Forex Market Trading Sessions

Forex is a 3-session financial market:

1) London Trading Session

2) New York Trading Session

3) Asian Session (Tokyo and Sydney sessions are called the Asian sessions)

THE HISTORY OF MONETARY EMPIRES (ACCORDING TO RAY DALIO)

The legendary hedge fund manager Ray Dalio offers an insight into the dynamics that he saw when studying the rises and declines of the last three reserve currency empires (the Dutch, the British, and the American) and the six other significant empires (Germany, France, Russia, India, Japan, and China) over the last 500 years.

Monetary Patterns & Key Findings

After studying these past cases, he has identified clear patterns that occurred for logical reasons:

1. Behind the success and failure of great monetary empires, over time, there are giant cycles

2. 17 forces affect the big cyclical swings in wealth and power (check below)

3. Of the 17 forces, the debt cycle, the money and credit cycle, the wealth gap cycle, and the global geopolitical cycle are the most important to understand

Major Forex Currencies and Their Short History

Currency names vary from country to country based on domestic culture and linguistic factors. Many monetary units got their name from the domestic word for ‘weight’ or the word for ‘golden’. This was happening probably because these domestic currencies had an equal value of their weight in gold.

The Modern History of Currency Trading

Modern currency trading started in 1973, after the end of the Bretton Woods system. On August 15, 1971, President Nixon announced a ‘New Economic Policy’ that was the beginning of the end for the Bretton Woods agreement that was established at the end of World War II.

The Bretton Woods system (1944-1971)

The Bretton Woods system tightly regulated all exchange rates by linking them to their gold reserves. More specifically, all participating countries guaranteed the convertibility of their currencies into U.S. dollars to within 1% of fixed parity rates, with the dollar convertible to gold bullion for foreign governments and central banks at US$35 per troy ounce of fine gold.