What are the Benefits

There are five things give trading the forex market some unique advantages.

1. 24 hour market

Since the forex market is worldwide, trading is continuous as long as there is a market open somewhere in the world. Trading starts when the markets open in Australia on Sunday evening, and ends after markets close in New York on Friday.

2. High Liquidity

Liquidity is the ability of an asset to be converted into cash quickly and without any price discount. In forex this means we can move large amounts of money into and out of foreign currency with minimal price movement.

3. Low Transaction Cost

In forex, typically the cost for a transaction is built into the price. It is called the spread. The spread is the difference between the buying and selling price.

4. Leverage

Forex Brokers allow traders to trade the market using leverage. Leverage is the ability to trade more money on the market than what is actually in the trader's account. If you were to trade at 50:1 leverage, you could trade $50 on the market for every $1 that was in your account. This means you could control a trade of $50,000 using only $1000 of capital.

5. Profit Potential from Rising and Falling Prices

The forex market has no restrictions for directional trading. This means, if you think a currency pair is going to increase in value; you can buy it, or go long. Similarly, if you think it could decrease in value you can sell it, or go short.