What is Forex Trading?

Forex is the World’s Most Actively Traded Market

Every day, an estimated $5 trillion worth of currencies is traded. Forex is the world’s most actively traded market, dwarfing equities markets around the world by a long margin. Forex trading is dynamic and highly capitalized. Currency traders speculate on the strengths of currencies by buying/selling currencies accordingly. FX traders generate profits from volatility in the currency markets, via the exchange rate between different currencies.

Major Pairs, Minor Pairs, and Exotic Pairs

Each currency pair contains a base currency and a counter currency. In the GBP/USD pair – The Cable – the GBP is the base currency and the USD is the counter currency. When you go long on The Cable, you are effectively buying the GBP and selling the USD. Traders who go short on the cable are selling the GBP and buying the USD. This currency pair is one of the most actively traded pairs in the world, alongside the EUR/GBP, USD/JPY, and the USD/CAD. Forex trading includes major pairs, minor pairs, and exotic currency pairs.

Why Trade
Forex?

All Forex trading activity is quoted in pairs. This means you are buying one currency, and selling another currency in the same pair. Currency traders make their money when there are changes in the currency exchange rates. If you believe the USD will strengthen, you would sell the cable (go short) by buying USD and selling GBP. Currency trading is all about speculation. You forecast your expectations of a currency pair and act on it by going long or going short. When a currency appreciates relative to another one, it is strengthening in value and when it depreciates relative to another one, it is weakening.

Potential Profit Off Rising or
Falling Markets

Forex can be traded in bullish or bearish markets. Money can be made whether markets are rising or falling. You simply go short for bearish markets or long for bullish markets. Leverage allows Forex traders to take up much larger positions with just a small amount of money up front. In FX trading, leverage of 1:50 is now available to new UK traders, but leverage of 1:200 is also possible, perhaps even 1:1,000 as in the case of Canadian Forex brokers. Forex markets are highly volatile, as currencies routinely fluctuate in price. Forex price movements are measured in pips, and the spread (difference between the buy price and sell price) is what determines Forex brokers’ profits.


Top 8 Forex Brokers offers comprehensive insights into Forex trading, for your added convenience.


What We Cover

Top Brokers Reviews

We have reviewed a variety of world-class Forex brokers. These brokers are fully licensed and regulated to offer a wide range of Forex trading services to clients. Whether you’re a newbie or a professional Forex trader, always stick with the best Forex brokers. Our Forex broker reviews allow for quick and easy comparisons of the trading services, educational resources, features and characteristics of the top brokers.

Top Forex Brokers by Country

See all the countries covered by our expert reviews and choose the most suitable broker for you depending on your country of residence.

Forex Live News & Analysis

Live news on popular currency pairs, updated on an hourly basis in trading hours. You can also find a summary of the developments of previous days and weeks on each pair. We cover influential events and their possible impact on the forex market.

Broker VS Broker

Compare Brokers side-by-side with our easy to compare Broker VS Broker tool.


How to Choose a Forex Broker? The Importance of Regulation

The global Forex market is decentralized. That means it is not controlled by any central agency, and is not limited to any country, or jurisdiction. For this reason, it’s important that there are regulations in place to standardize the protections afforded to traders. As such, multiple regulatory agencies and independent organizations cooperate to oversee the Forex market. These are the go-to organizations for traders in the event of a dispute with the Forex broker. Licensing and regulatory agencies, and various financial watchdog authorities provide the necessary safety net for FX traders.

 

 

Why is Regulation Important in Forex Trading?

Regulation ensures that traders will always have access to a watchdog authority if a Forex broker reneges on its duties and obligations to traders. Nonpayment, bankruptcy, faulty trading platforms, terms and conditions and other issues may crop up from time to time. In the event that a Forex broker does not make good on its promises to traders, they will be able to contact the respective agency in question. There are multiple regulatory agencies in operation, including the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC), the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), as well as the Financial Services Board (FSB).

 

What Should You Look for in a Forex Broker?

Regulation is one of the most important features of credible brokerages. But there are many other factors that need to be considered when choosing one FX broker over another. Since many brokers do not cater to traders in the US and other countries, it’s important that the broker is fully licensed and regulated to offer Forex trading in your country. Next, traders should take the number of available financial assets into consideration. These include major pairs, minor pairs and exotic currency pairs. Besides currencies, Forex brokers provide a wide range of other financial instruments such as commodities, indices, and stocks. Perhaps the most important feature of any online broker is customer service. Traders are advised to contact customer service prior to registering and depositing at a Forex broker. Traders should seek out brokers that offer professional, prompt and courteous service.

 

Other pertinent issues include fixed or non-fixed spreads. Is the broker a dealing desk, or a non-dealing desk? Spreads are another consideration, since the greater the spreads, the less the profits. If you are trading with just a few pips (price movements in Forex) a large spread will eat into your profits. But before you begin trading, you should practice Forex trading on a demo account. Learn about leverage and margin, and how to use that to your advantage. Leverage allows traders to trade a large position by simply placing a percentage of the total trade down. Leverage can work in your favour, or against you. There are many other factors that are important to FX traders, including the range of educational resources provided by the Forex broker. The more information, the better. Since currencies are affected by monetary policy, fiscal policy, GDP, retail sales, sentiment etc., these factors should be taken into consideration.

 

Trade Forex with Confidence: Trust but Verify

Many Forex brokers will provide a wide range of features to traders. It is important to evaluate these features by comparing Forex brokers. The Top 8 Forex Brokers offers comprehensive insights into the world’s best Forex brokers. Rest assured that our in-house Forex experts have evaluated the merits of each broker, and we have also highlighted areas for possible improvement. Regulated brokers are required to maintain cash reserves to ensure that contracts are executed efficiently. They are also required to maintain segregated accounts to protect clients against the liquidation, bankruptcy or claims against the broker. It is always a good idea to verify the licensing and regulation of a Forex broker before you deposit and trade with them.