Currency Market – Forex 2009

Forex
The Contraction of the words of Foreign Exchange, Forex is the nickname given the market universal exchange, where currencies are traded among themselves, exchange rates that vary continuously.

Economic Importance
This world market, which is essentially of exchange is the second largest market in the world in terms of total volume, behind the interest rates. However, the concentrated and the first for the liquidity of most treaties, such as the euro / dollar.

To give an idea of liquidity in circulation, the volume Journal of Commerce in 2004, 1900 million U.S. dollars, reports as follows:
600 billion of transactions in cash and 1300 million dollars in future almost exclusively on over the counter transactions, according to the study of three years of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).

Transaction volume was 53% for banks;
33% between a bank and a fund manager at a bank or financial institutions;
and, finally, 14% between a bank and a non-financial.
In all banks large traders are the 3 × 8, though usually in different places. A team based in Asia or Australia takes over to another located in Europe and third placed in North America, and so on.

However, despite the global nature and timing of releases between continents, a large (31% volume total, according to BIS), the market activity is still physically located in London.

In its latest triennial review, the BIS (Bank for International) has shown that an increasing number of people choose to invest in the Forex. Although they still represent a very small minority of transactions and volumes a dedicated private investors has grown in parallel. Simply record the number of trading platform available on the Internet, and information tools real time once reserved for professional traders in the rooms. Now, the active trader of foreign exchange market can invest minimum amounts and because there trader has leveraged almost (!) similar to those of the professional trader. Tools for real-time information broadcast news information and fundamental change (Economic indicators) and to give individuals the possibility of trading conditions in real time.

The foreign exchange market has existed in its current form, called system of floating exchange rate since March 1973 and the abandonment of fixed exchange rates of various currencies against the dollar standard of Bretton Woods in 1944.

Treated products

Place
Cash (named point), the main parities were processed in 2004, according to BIS:

the euro and the dollar – 28%
the dollar / yen – 17%
the pound / dollar (cable, said in English) – 14%
Despite the strong development of the euro, the dollar remains the dominant center, present in 89% of transactions (37% against the euro, the yen 20% and 17% sterling, all on a total 200% because each transaction involves two currencies). For a non-European XXX currency, a transaction between the euro and the currency is usually divided into a EUR / USD and USD XXX /.

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