FOREX MARKET HOURS

At 7:00 pm Sunday, New York time, trading begins as markets open in Tokyo, Japan. Next, Singapore and Hong Kong open at 9:00 pm EST, followed by the European markets in Frankfurt (2:00 am), and then London (3:00 am). By 4:00 am, the European markets are in full swing, and Asia has concluded their trading day. The U.S. markets open first in New York around 8:00 am Monday, as Europe winds down. Australia will take over around 5:00 pm, and by 7:00 pm Tokyo is ready to re-open.

All times are quoted in Eastern Standard Time (New York).

FX or Forex, currency trading is the trading of one currency against another. In terms of trading volume, the currency exchange market is the world's largest market, with daily trading volumes in excess of $1.5 trillion US dollars. This is orders of magnitude larger than the bond or stock markets. The New York Stock Exchange, for example, has a daily trading volume of approximately $50 billion.

Currencies are traded for hedging and speculative purposes. Various market participants such as individuals, corporations, and institutions trade forex for one or both reasons.

Corporate treasurers, private individuals and investors have currency exposures during the the regular course of business. The FXTrade Platform is an ideal platform to hedge any such exposure. An investor, who has bought a European stock and expects the EUR exchange rate to decline, can hedge his currency exposure by selling the EUR against the USD.

Currency markets are ideally suited for speculative trading. The foreign exchange market has a daily volume in excess of 1.5 trillion USD, which is 50 times the size of the transaction volume of all the equity markets taken together. This makes the foreign exchange market, by far, the most liquid and efficient financial market of the world. Thanks to its efficiency, there is little or no slippage of market price for the execution of even large buy and sell orders. Traders are able to take advantage of intra-day volatility thanks to the low spreads and enter positions for short time periods, such as minutes and hours. Unlike equity trading, where restrictions limit a trader's ability to profit from a market down turn, there are no such constraints on currency trading. Currency traders can take advantage of both up and down trends thus increasing their profit potential.

The most commonly traded currencies are: USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, CHF, CAD and AUD.

The most commonly traded currency pair is EUR/USD.

Forex Symbol Guide

Symbol Currency Pair Trading Terminology

GBP/USD British Pound / US Dollar "Cable"

EUR/USD Euro / US Dollar "Euro"

USD/JPY US Dollar / Japanese Yen "Dollar Yen"

USD/CHF US Dollar / Swiss Franc "Dollar Swiss", or "Swissy"

USD/CAD US Dollar / Canadian Dollar "Dollar Canada"

AUD/USD Australian Dollar / US Dollar "Aussie Dollar"

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