Forex (Foreign Exchange)

Forex — short for foreign exchange — is the global marketplace where currencies are bought and sold. With over $7.5 trillion in daily turnover, it's the largest and most liquid financial market in existence. It operates 24 hours a day from Sunday evening to Friday evening across major financial centers in Sydney, Tokyo, London, and New York.

The forex market isn't a single exchange with a physical location. It's a decentralized, over-the-counter (OTC) network of banks, institutions, brokers, and individual traders connected electronically. Most retail forex trading happens through online brokers who provide platforms like MetaTrader 4 and MetaTrader 5.

For retail traders, forex trading means speculating on currency price movements, usually through CFDs (Contracts for Difference). You're predicting whether one currency will strengthen or weaken relative to another. The combination of 24/5 access, high liquidity, and available leverage makes forex appealing, but the same features that create opportunity also create risk — roughly 70-80% of retail traders lose money.