Everything you need to know before placing your first trade.
The foreign exchange market (Forex or FX) is the largest and most liquid financial market in the world. It involves the buying and selling of currencies with the aim of making a profit from fluctuations in exchange rates.
In Forex, currencies are traded in pairs. The first currency is the base currency, and the second is the quote currency. The exchange rate shows how much of the quote currency you need to buy one unit of the base currency.
Every currency pair has two prices: the bid (sell) price and the ask (buy) price. The bid is what buyers are willing to pay, while the ask is what sellers want to receive.
Leverage allows you to control a larger position with a smaller amount of capital. For example, with 1:100 leverage, you can control $100,000 with just $1,000.
Trading volumes are measured in lots. A standard lot is 100,000 units of the base currency. Mini lots (10,000) and micro lots (1,000) are also available.
Going long means buying a currency pair expecting it to rise. Going short means selling a currency pair expecting it to fall.
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