Forex trading involves the exchange or trade of currencies from various countries. The currencies are traded against one another. To give you a better understanding of the principles of forex trading a perfect example would be to take the Euro which is the currency of Europe and then trade it against the US dollar which is the currency of the United States. Forex trading is done by buying the Euro while at the same time, selling the US dollar.
In forex trading, a trader selects a pair of currencies or a currency pair that is expected to change in value. When that change in value occurs, a trade is placed accordingly. For example, a trader buys 2,000 Euros at the cost of 2,400 US dollars. As time goes by due to many factors affecting the global market, the value of the Euro continues to rise above the value of the US dollar. At this time the value of the 2,000 Euro that the trader has procured earlier will amount to more than the 2,400 US dollars that he bought it for. At this point if the trader chooses to end the trade then he is set to earn money from his forex trading. Forex trading is done through a market maker or a broker. A trader can place an order over the internet and them the broker will relay this order to fill your position on the trade.
Forex trading is a 24-hour market all over the world. This gives the trader more opportunities to engage in great trading deals at any time of the day or night. Forex trading also offers high liquidity which means that an asset can be converted into cash in no time at all without any deductions on the price. Large amounts of money can be moved in and out of foreign currencies with very little change on the price in forex trading.
Forex trading has a very minimal transaction cost. The cost of the transaction in forex trading is usually incorporated into the price. This is called the spread which is the variation between the selling and buying price of a currency.
Forex trading gives traders the opportunity to trade using only leverage. Leverage is the capacity to trade an amount of money in the market that is actually higher than what is in the account of the trader. A 50 to 1 leverage means that a trader can trade $50 for every 1 dollar that is in his account. Leverage means that forex trading can be done even at a minimal capital.