With over 170,000 active members and more than 6,000 posts per day HotCopper is Australia's and New Zealand's
largest stock market discussion forum. Membership is free so
Join Now.
Access to over 4 million posts on the HotCopper Forum
Ability to post messages
Announcements
Current Stock prices
Price charts
Full search functionality
More views and personalised view options
Single agreement to Terms of Use (instead of on each post)
When you think of finances, you may be thinking on a smaller scale, like the national market, when it comes to where you want to invest. But why think small, when you can think big? This is when you need to consider getting involved with Forex. And what is Forex? Forex stands for foreign exchange market, and this is actually the international finance market that includes shares and investments on a global scale. Forex can be a difficult concept to completely understand, but when you look at the foreign exchange market in smaller components, then you'll know what it means.
This foreign exchange market is decentralised, and trades various currencies on a global scale. There are various different kinds of both buyers and sellers, and this means that there are many functions and facets within respective industries that are involved in this trading. One of the most crucial components of the Forex is that there is currency conversion built right into the international finance market. This aids those who want to be serious investors in the global market, without having to spend all of that time converting and calculating the losses and gains, determined by currency conversion alone. For example, if you're a company in the United States, which uses the US dollar, but you want to invest in stock in India, which uses rupees, then the Forex will actually allow you to invest in the stock with the currency conversion factored in to your investment. It also easily shows you the carry trade of these currencies, and their respective interest rates.
When you're purchasing stock or shares of stock from a company within the Forex, there used to be a process within the foreign exchange market that required you to pay the stock price amount in the currency of the country you're purchasing - which can be a costly and time wasting process. With the Forex in its modern form, which was updated and established in the 70's, allows countries and companies trading in the Forex to floating exchange rates. This means that there is conversion consistently going on electronically, allowing you to purchase the amount of shares you want from a foreign country, while paying a converted amount in your own currency. This is actually a part of the Bretton Woods system, which means that the exchange was fixed on the exchange rates of the time.
The Forex is unique in terms of a finance market, as it has one of the highest amounts of trading volume, meaning that there is constant fluctuation and movement within the financial foreign exchange market, so if you start to see a downswing in the value of your stock you don't necessarily need to worry, there may just as quickly be an uptick in its value. The Forex also has companies in their network of trade that typically include the highest asset class in the world, which means you're getting high quality assets that you can use to expand your stock portfolio and your shares.