Currency and stock markets from a large variety of countries make up an overall trading market where millions and millions of dollars and other currencies are traded on a daily basis. Like the stock market, the forex marketplace lets individuals acquire and sell, but the market itself and the results it produces are much, much larger in size. The most important players in forex trading are comprised of Deutsche bank, UBS, Citigroup, HSBC, Barclays, Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, ABN Amro, Morgan Stanley, along with many other firms and banks.
To get involved in forex trading as a single person, you should get in touch with any of these sizeable broker assistance firms. Although anybody can get involved in forex trading, it takes time to ascertain what is hot, what is not, and just where you should place your capital at any given time. International banks are the biggest participants on the forex markets: They have millions of dollars to invest each day so as to accumulate interest. This is similar to the way banks make money on the cash you deposit.
Look at the bank that you utilize on an almost daily basis. Do you know if you can go there and obtain foreign currencies if you are going to travel internationally? If not, your bank is most likely not involved in forex trading. If you want to know if your bank participates in forex trading, just ask any bank manager. Another way is to peruse the financial information sheets that banks use to report four times a year to the general public.
If you are a novice at forex trading, you ought to know that there is no single person or bank that executes all the trades that occur in the forex markets. Various currencies from around the planet are traded on the forex markets. The currencies that are traded most often are the US dollar, the Euro, the Japanese yen, the British Pound Sterling, the Swiss franc and the Australian dollar. These are just a few of the currencies that are traded. Many other international currencies are included, as well. The most important exchanges for the forex trading are located in London, New York and Tokyo. There are also smaller currency trading centers all over the globe.
Forex trading can be a very risky occupation but it can also be extremely profitable. To minimize the risk for new players, most brokers offer demo or practice accounts where you play with fake dollars but in a real market for a while until you get the hang of it. Once you begin to trade, you may desire to consider using mechanized trading software, also referred to as a “forex robot” or sometimes as an “EA”. This type of software can be set to simply propose trades or it can be left on its own to open and terminate your trading positions for you. It all depends on how relaxed you are about trusting a machine to make big economic decisions on your behalf.
A word of caution about forex automated trading software: This type of software is pre-programmed to make choices based on what is known about the currency trading markets at the time the robots are programmed. This is OK, most of the time, but sooner or later there is bound to be a cataclysmic event in the world such as the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami which will affect currency values drastically and immediately. You trading robot would not and could not be aware of this news and would trade as if it never happened.
Another, perhaps better, trading tool is what is known as a forex signal service. Here you are relying on the expertise of professional traders to make your trading decisions for you. If a certain professional trader has a sterling track record and you copy every trade he or she makes, it would seem that your track record would duplicate the track record of that professional trader. Or, as a beginner, you can decide to “go it on your own.” Good luck with that!