Forex — short for foreign exchange — is the global marketplace for buying and selling currencies. It is the largest financial market in the world, open 24 hours a day during the business week, and its prices are driven by trade flows, interest-rate expectations and macro news.
Currencies trade in pairs: EURUSD, for example, expresses how many US dollars one euro buys. The first currency is the base, the second is the quote. A “pip” is the standardised smallest move of a quote, and a “lot” is the standardised trade size — typically 100,000 units of the base currency.
Retail traders access the market through a broker as CFDs: you speculate on the price rather than taking delivery of currency. This makes leverage available, which magnifies both profits and losses — the core reason risk management comes before strategy.
Your next steps: learn how to read a quote, understand margin, and practise on a demo account before risking real capital.
This content is provided for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Trading leveraged products involves a high level of risk.