What is Forex, fx or 4x

4x currency trade definition

In a nutshell forex, fx and 4x are all terms that relate to the foreign exchange market.

The Forex (4x) market is where traders trade in currency and banks buy and sell foreign currency.

Normally, the 4x currency trade involves exchanging one countries currency for anothers or more like paying for so much of one countries currency with anothers.

The foreign exchange market that we see today started changing for investors when many countries changed to a floating exchange rate

The Forex  market is huge and one of the most liquid financial markets in the world. The traders on the Forex market include everyone from Governments, large institutions to individuals.   In 2007 The daily volume of the Forex (4x) market was known to be 3.2 trillion^{. In addition, the forex market has kept up its growth and between 2007 and 2008 had a estimated growth of over 40%}

The way investors are profiting from the forex market is by speculating on a countries currencies worth in the near future.

As you know, currency is not equal and what the US dollar is worth goes up and down relative to other currencies. Investors analyze these daily gains and losses to make money from the forex market. If a countries currency drops, that means you can exchange less of your own currency for their currency, if it goes back up, you just made money because you exchange it back at a higher price.

Take a look at the graph below from x-rates. This is the graph for Euro VS. US. You can see the fluctuations and where the Euro dropped dramatically, then came back. Savvy investors may have made a great profit on that.

Euro vs US

As you can see the 4x market can have large fluctuations in small periods of time, that is part of the reason that forex has become so hot in the last few years. Investors, banks and companies speculate on which way a countries currency is heading and invest in that currency just to exchange it back for more than they got it for.