Forex is an acronym for Foreign Exchange and "FX" is an even shorter abbreviation. It refers to the worldwide cash inter-bank or inter-dealer market that uses a floating exchange rate system. Basically, it is an electronic marketplace where leading banks and large institutions trade currencies. Forex is the world's largest financial market with an estimated average daily trading volume of more than $1.5 trillion; approximately 75 times greater than that of the entire New York Stock Market! In addition, because of the tremendous liquidity, inter-bank currencies offer one of the most powerful and persistent price trends of any major market. A propensity for these strong and sustained movements give inter-bank currency traders a profit making edge that's unavailable in any other market!

  Over the last decade the volume in these markets has grown exponentially and is expected to continue this trend well into the future (1). However, for much of its history, Forex trading has been largely isolated to major financial institutions. As it has evolved and grown over time, the foreign exchange market has come to attract other participants such as Banks, Investment Funds, Brokerage Firms, International Companies, and Affluent Individuals. Reasons for participation have varied:
 

  From the largest institutions, to the individual investor foreign exchange trading offers the ability to operate in an optimum fashion in today’s global economic environment.

(1) According to the fourth Central Bank Survey of Foreign Exchange and Derivatives Market Activity, turnover in the foreign exchange market grew by 45% to $1.2 trillion a day between 1992 and 1995. The same type of growth has occurred through 2001, and is expected to continue through 2005 and beyond. (Note: Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.)

  There is no central location where Forex trading takes place. Trading occurs over the Internet, by telephone, and through computer terminals at thousands of locations worldwide. The bulk of the inter-bank currency trading is done between approximately 300 large international banks that process transactions for large companies and governments. These institutions continually provide exchange rates for each other and the broader market. The most recent quotation from one of these banks is considered the market's current price for that currency.

  There are actually five over-lapping trading sessions that trade 24 hours a day between Sunday evening and Friday evening. The New York exchange trades from 7:30 am to 5 pm EST. The Sydney, Auckland and Wellington exchanges trade from 3 pm to 11 pm EST. The Tokyo Exchange trades from 6pm to 11 pm, they stop to take a lunch break for an hour, then trade until 4 am EST. The Hong Kong and Singapore exchanges trade from 7 pm to 3 am EST. The last exchanges to trade are the Munich, Zurich, Paris, Frankfurt, Brussels, Amsterdam, and London exchanges, which trade from 2:30am to 11:30 am EST.

  Your money is deposited with a brokerage firm in your name.. You will receive a username and password that enables you to view your account 7 days a week 24 hours a day.

  Realizing that understanding trends are at the core of profitable trading makes the idea of trading currencies very exciting. Countless studies of trend following systems prove invariably that currency trends are the most consistent and profitable! Regardless of the type of trend following system used --long term, intermediate term, or short term-- currencies invariably outperform all other markets including stocks, bonds and commodities. It should come as no surprise that some of the worlds' most successful traders are inter-bank currency traders.

  Another reason currencies tend to trend better than most other markets is because they trade on a macro-economic level. Unlike commodities or stocks, whose prices fluctuate wildly as supply and demand fundamentals can literally change from minute to minute, currency fundamentals are much less random. Most importantly, the FOREX market, because of the huge global volume, is a lot more liquid. Simply put, inter-bank currencies represent the worlds' largest marketplace, and many view the price trends as more persistent.

  Just simply contact our private client services group via e-mail: info@tempestasset.com and we will walk you through your application.