Forex is carried out for a number of reasons, for example, to hedge against international currency and interest rate risk. This is topical at the moment, as world economies grapple with inflation concerns and where interest rate levels have come under particular scrutiny.
Forex is also used to speculate on the impact of geo-political events such as the increase in tensions between Russia and the West over Ukraine. Political events and natural disasters have the potential to alter the strength of a country’s currency significantly, leading to potential trading gains or losses.
Companies make use of forex as well. For example, a multinational headquartered in one location might use the forex market to hedge currency risk resulting from transactions carried out by subsidiaries around the world.
Forex is also a means of providing diversification within an investment portfolio. Because the forex market is open 24 hours a day, five days a week, it provides traders with the opportunity to react to news that might not impact a particular country’s stock exchange until much later.
Economic indicators used to analyse the forex market include:
- interest rates
- inflation rate
- a country’s balance of payments and its economic policies
- a government’s attitude towards intervention in currency markets.
Forex trading takes place ‘over the counter’ (OTC), which means there’s no physical exchange of the underlying currency. A global network of banks and other financial institutions effectively oversee the market instead.
In the past, those without the necessary means to trade forex directly may have used a broker to trade currencies on their behalf. But thanks to advances in technology, the evolution of smartphones and a plethora of online trading platforms, it’s now possible to trade currencies directly as an individual.
Note: whether you should consider forex trading depends on your financial circumstances as well as your market knowledge and appetite for risk. As with any market-based speculative venture, there’s always the possibility that trades can go against you and that you lose money as a result.
