Reasons for the Popularity of Forex and Currencies

Forex or Foreign Exchange is nothing but a market where corporations, nations and retail investors exchange their money to make a profit. Though the smallest increment in the Forex, the pip, has only a value of 0.0001 of a dollar in most cases, its value quickly adds up to huge profits or losses, due to the fact that trillions of dollars are exchanged in the Forex market which is open 24 hours a day, 6 days a week. Added to that, Forex is one of the most exciting, highly volatile and attractive investment markets in the world.

To explain the exchange of currencies let’s take the following example. If an organisation in the U.S. wants to send money to their office in Europe, they have to convert their U.S dollars into Euros, as one U.S. dollar does not have the same value as a Euro. In order to convert the money, the organisation has to buy Euros with their U.S. dollars through the Forex market. The transaction has to be made in pairs, which means that the organisation has to buy the USD/EUR currency pair to send money to its office in Europe. The converted value of the money depends on the current value of the currency pair in the market. If the USD/EUR has a current value of 1.2500USD, then the organisation will obtain 80,000 Euros if it converts $100,000 at the Forex.

Now coming to the pips, one movement of the above transaction will equal $10 (0.0001 x $100,000). If a trader moves in and out of a position quickly, it is possible for him to make a profit even if the price fluctuates by a few pips. Although it is possible to make a substantial profit in the transactions, making an equal loss is also a possibility.