New York opens at 8:00 am to 5:00 pm EST

Tokyo opens at 7:00 pm to 4:00 am EST

Sydney opens at 5:00 pm to 2:00 am EST

London opens at 3:00 am to 12:00 noon EST

High liquidity - The Forex market has an average trading volume of over $2 trillion per day, making it the most liquid market in the world.

Low transaction cost – The retail commission on a Forex trade is as low as $0.0000295 (x) currency value traded with no minimum charge.

Forex Market Nature – A trade in the Forex market involves selling or buying one currency against another. A bull market or a bear market for a currency is defined in terms of the outlook for its relative value against other currencies. If the outlook is positive, we have a bull market in which a trader profits by buying that currency against other currencies. Conversely, if the outlook is pessimistic, we have a bear market for that currency and traders may profit by selling the currency against other currencies.

Inter-bank market - The backbone of the Forex market consists of a global network of dealers. They are mainly major commercial banks that communicate and trade with one another and with their clients through electronic networks and telephones. There are no organized exchanges to serve as a central location to facilitate transactions the way the New York Stock Exchange serves the equity markets. The Forex market is referred to as an over the counter (OTC) market.

No one can corner the market - The Forex market is so vast and has so many participants that no single entity, not even a central bank, can control the market price for an extended period of time. As the market has grown even central bank interventions have become increasingly ineffectual and short lived as a tool for controlling the value of a particular currrency.

Forex Risks – The following information is based on the new CFTC 50:1 leverage requirements that will come into effect on October 17, 2010. Trading off-exchange foreign currencies is a challenging and potentially profitable opportunity for educated and experienced investors. However, before deciding to participate in the Forex market, you should carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience and risk appetite. Most importantly, do not invest money you cannot afford to lose.

There are also risks associated with utilizing an internet-based deal execution software application including, but not limited, to the failure of hardware and software and communications difficulties.

Spread – When trading Forex, the Last, High, Low, Open, and Close are always based on the bid. Thus, it is possible to have a buy order filled at a price higher than what is shown for the high of the day because buy orders are filled at the ask price, which is always greater than or equal to the bid. It is also possible to not have a buy order filled even though the low of the day reached the price you wanted to buy at because the ask never reached that level.

Currency Pairs – In the Forex market, trading is always in currency pairs, such as EUR/USD or USD/JPY. The base currency (the first currency listed in the currency pair) is the basis for the buy or the sell. As an example, the US Dollar is the base currency for USD/JPY (US Dollar/Japanese Yen). The current bid/ask price for USD/JPY could be 107.20/107.23, which means you could buy $1 US for 107.23 Japanese Yen, or sell $1 US for 107.20 Japanese Yen.