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Forex is a loose acronym for Foreign Exchange Market that originated in the 1970s around the time free currency exchange rates were introduced in the world. In forex markets, market participants determine the price of one currency against the other purely from market forces stemming from supply and demand. There are no external controls in a forex market and is perhaps the best example of a perfect market with free competition. Forex is also the biggest liquid financial market in the world, with market volumes ranging in 1-3 trillion US Dollars a day.

The US Dollar, Euro, Japanese Yen, British Pound and Swiss Francs are the major currencies traded in forex markets.

The foreign exchange markets as we see today have evolved through the gold exchange period, followed by the Bretton Woods Agreement, to its current setting. Although by 1973, the major industrialized nations' currencies were floated more freely across nations, coinciding with currency prices being quoted daily, it was only due to the advent of computers and technology in the 1980s that the market reaches for cross-border forex trading gained momentum extending through Asian, European and American time zones. Gradually over the years foreign exchange transactions increased intensively to all the facets we see today in forex markets worldwide.

Today advances in computer technology have permitted the instantaneous transmission and receipt of currency prices across the world. These technological advances in computer networks are the primary reason behind the growth of forex trading amongst ordinary investors.

To understand how forex markets work, one has to understand what exactly constitutes the forex market, the institutional framework that drives this market, and importantly the process of currency price determination.

Foreign exchange market is no different from any other market where buyers and sellers meet to buy or sell a commodity for a specific price. The only difference in forex markets being, it is the “currency” that constitutes the commodity, and the price at which it is exchanged conforms to the foreign exchange rate for that currency at that point in time.

Export earnings of corporations, overseas remittances, and investment flows (direct or borrowed capital) constitute the main sources of foreign exchange. Individuals and entities who receive foreign currency are the primary market suppliers and they may sell foreign currency to licensed exchange dealers who in turn may pass it to other dealers in need of foreign exchange. The Central banks may sell foreign reserves to make market adjustments, and on the other side companies would need to buy this foreign exchange to make overseas payments. This creates a market for foreign exchange wherein a person may sell a currency today and probably emerge as a buyer the very next day.