| Forex, (a.k.a., FX or currency market), is the foreign | | | | trade; that's because these macro trends are actually |
| exchange market. Each day, about $4 trillion (that's | | | | composites of tons of micro trends that change on a |
| trillion with a "t") worth of global currencies change | | | | moment-to-moment basis. It is these trends that |
| hands on this market. The forex operates 24 hours | | | | investors need to read. |
| per day, 5 days per week, meaning that it is almost | | | | If you are interested in becoming a successful player |
| always in operation (except on weekends). | | | | in the foreign currency market, you will need to have |
| The foreign exchange market is actually a | | | | the ability to track the values of a given currency |
| de-centralized market for the trading of currencies. | | | | through time relative to another currency (say, the |
| The purpose of the market is to promote | | | | British pound or the U.S. dollar). A simple version of |
| international trade and investment, and it does so by | | | | this is known as a time-series graph or trend line. In |
| allowing businesses to convert one currency to | | | | addition to the trend graph, you'll need to view the |
| another. For example, a Japanese firm can import | | | | data in order to make good decisions. |
| Chinese raw materials and pay for them in yuan | | | | Since the data itself (i..e, the value of the currencies) |
| renminbi (Chinese currency) rather than in yen | | | | is always changing from minute to minute, you will |
| (Japanese currency). | | | | need to have software, called forex currency trend |
| The typical transaction is as follows: an individual, | | | | meter software, which specifically tracks the value of |
| company, organization or government buys one type | | | | any given currency through time. |
| of currency, paying for it in another type of currency. | | | | With this type of trend meter software, you can not |
| Generally, currencies are bought and sold depending | | | | only track the currency exchange, you can actually |
| upon the direction the traders believe the currency is | | | | set it on auto-pilot to make trades for you. (Before |
| headed in terms of its value. | | | | you buy any such product, make sure you do your |
| Given this large number of daily transactions | | | | research into the feature set of each product |
| comprising the trillions of dollars worth of currency | | | | available in order make sure you are buying the best |
| changing hands, the value of any given currency at | | | | one). |
| any one time relative to that of any other currency | | | | Here is the way that the software works, from a |
| is always changing. | | | | high level view: |
| Some businesses buy and sell currency for the | | | | 1. Install the software on your computer (or use one |
| purposes of making future purchases for goods and | | | | of the software maker's servers to run the software |
| services in the home currency of the product or | | | | remotely). |
| service provider (as noted above). Meanwhile, others | | | | 2. Open a forex account (an easy process, usually |
| - mostly individual and institutional investors - make | | | | done through the software maker). You can start |
| trades on the foreign currency market for the | | | | with as little as $50. |
| purposes of making money. These forex traders - | | | | 3. Run the software. |
| whether amateur or professional - bank on their | | | | The software decides when to make trades, when |
| ability to spot trends and act upon them quickly. Of | | | | to hold back. You can track your profits via an |
| course, looking at macro trends - trends over days | | | | electronic dashboard. |
| and weeks - is not enough to guarantee a successful | | | | |