Beginner Forex Basics 10 min read Lesson 1 of 311

What is Forex Trading?

Understanding the basics of foreign exchange markets

What is Forex Trading? - Annotated chart illustration

What is Forex Trading?

Forex, short for Foreign Exchange, is the global marketplace for trading currencies. It's the largest and most liquid financial market in the world, with a daily trading volume exceeding $6 trillion.

How Does Forex Work?

![Major forex currency pairs and the global forex market](/lesson-images/forex-pairs.png)

Forex trading involves buying one currency while simultaneously selling another. Currencies are traded in pairs, such as EUR/USD (Euro vs US Dollar) or GBP/JPY (British Pound vs Japanese Yen).

Key Concepts:

Base Currency: The first currency in a pair (EUR in EUR/USD) Quote Currency: The second currency in a pair (USD in EUR/USD) Pip: The smallest price movement, typically 0.0001 for most pairs Spread: The difference between buy and sell price

Why Trade Forex?

Market Sessions

![Global forex trading sessions - London, New York, Tokyo, Sydney](/lesson-images/market-sessions.png)

  1. Sydney Session: 10pm - 7am GMT
  2. Tokyo Session: 12am - 9am GMT
  3. London Session: 8am - 5pm GMT
  4. New York Session: 1pm - 10pm GMT

Key Takeaways

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