Please explain about the emergence of forex market. Why it presents an outstanding trading opportunity, and what about its future in comparison to the other markets?
Funny you should ask.
I am just reading "Forex Revolution"by Peter Rosenstreich.
It gives a nice readable explanation of where the Forex came from, where it is going, how fundamentals and technicals all fit in, all in simple terms for a beginner like myself.
does not tell you howto make money on the forex, but that is where babypips comes in !
peter
My involvement in forex goes back to about 1993, so I’ll give you my own perspective on things.
The forex market has existed basically since the 70s when exchange rates became free-floating. For the most part, though, forex trading was restricted to the professionals until only recently. It wasn’t until the internet exploded and technology developments really provided ready access to the spot market (though futures had been around for a while) that retail forex trading took off.
The forex market is not exchange-based. It is predominently over-the-counter in the form of the inter-bank market. At that level you’re talking multi-million dollar transactions. Not too many of us can push trades that big, so we were on the outside looking in. Around the turn of the century, new brokers were starting to make 100,000 lots available to the individual trader. Then, to bring even more people in, there were mini, then micro lots introduced.
Here’s what made forex trading really explode, though. It was the collapse of the stock market. A lot of retail traders were flushed out of stocks when the market tanked and with all the corporate scandals. People moved out of equites right at a time when the 24-hour opportunity of forex was coming on line. You could trade whenever you want. The universe of instruments is smaller, and less overwhelming, and there is no risk of some CFO cooking the books. The volume is huge and the trading is liquid. That, is why forex is such a big thing today.
Eventually, stocks will get trader’s attention en mass again. Most people still think first of stocks when they think of trading, after all. At the time there will probably be a shake out in terms of forex brokers, system providers, etc., but the market isn’t going to go away.
