How does Forex Work?

The foreign exchange market (forex, FX, or currency market) is a global decentralizedmarket for the trading of currencies. This includes all aspects of buying, selling and exchanging currencies at current or determined prices. In terms of volume of trading, it is by far the largest market in the world.

• Forex trading is the simultaneous buying of one currency and selling of another
  
• These two currencies make up what is known as a "currency pair"
  
• Currencies are always traded in pairs - each currency is represented by three letters
  
• The first two letters represent the country and the third letter identifies the currency
  
• Forex pairs are read in the opposite direction of mathematical proportions or ratios
  

For example:
EUR/USD = 1.23700

• The currency to the left of the slash ("/") is called the base currency (in this example, the Euro) and the currency on the right is called the quote currency (in this example, the U.S Dollar)
  
• This notation means that 1 unit of the base currency (that is, 1 Euro) is equal to 1.23700 U.S Dollars
  
• You have to pay 1.23700 U.S Dollars to buy 1 Euro
  
• If selling, the foreign currency exchange rate specifies how much units of the quote currency you get for selling one unit of the base currency
  
• In the above example, you will receive 1.23700 U.S Dollars when you sell 1 Euro
  

When to Buy?

A trader would open a buy position if they believe that the value of that specific base currency would increase.

When to Sell?

A trader would open a sell position if they believe that the value of that specific base currency would decrease.

When can Currencies be Traded?

The spot FX market is unique among the world financial markets in that it's open 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. See the below tables for GMT and EST trading times: