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One of the reasons which has made the fx forex market attractive and into one of the fastest growing markets is it's easy access and volatility. The larger the movements in the market, the greater the scope of making large profits. Many techniques, charts and systems have been developed to spot trades which are highly profitable. Many traders (especially those who are new to the forex market) tend to run systems on demo accounts to test and perfect certain systems before going onto live accounts and placing real trades.The forex market opens between Sunday from 5:00PM EST and closes on Friday at 4:0PM EST. It opens in Australasia and closes in North America. The fx forex market is spread across different regions around the world. When one market closes another one opens, hence effectively making it a 24 hour market for which to trade on.
Major Currencies Traded on the FX Forex Market
The currencies most commonly traded on the forex market are:
The United States Dollar (USD)
The Great British Pound (GBP)
The Euro (EUR)
The Japanese Yen (JPY)
Australian Dollar (AUD)
Canadian Dollar (CAD)
Other currencies are also traded but the above are considered to be the most commonly traded.
Currencies are traded as currency pairs and are often seen as symbols such as: GBP/USD and USD/JPY.
Forex Brokers and Trading Platforms
There are literally hundreds of forex brokers who offer a platform to trade the forex market. Even though the majority or forex brokers will accept traders from around the world, it maybe wise to choose a broker which is based in your country or region.
Most brokers offer SWAP free accounts which means that you will not pay or be paid interest on these accounts. Making forex religiously legal for certain groups.
Most brokers will allow you to try their trading platform for free using demo forex practise accounts. This will allow you to make real trades without actually trading using real money. This is a great way to get used to the brokers trading platform.
A lot of brokers will allow you to open live trading accounts with a minimum balance of $1. The larger, more established brokers will only allow accounts to be opened with larger amounts.
The 2 most common trading platforms used for online forex trading are:
Online Trading Platforms and the Meta Trader 4 Platform.
Online trading platforms are a way of making trades directly from your brokers website. Different brokers have their own designs and layouts for their platform.
Meta Trader 4 is a Windows based trading platform and is also the most common and one of the most powerful. This is a great stand alone tool for making trades, checking charts, running automated trading systems and it's generally quite easy to use. You will have to get used to where everything is but once you know, it can be very easy to use. Most brokers who offer demo accounts run on the Meta Trader platform so you can play around with the platform using a demo account. If you mess up your demo account you can always open a new one. In fact there is no limit to the number of demo accounts you can open.
Ask Price: This is the price at which a currency pair can be purchased.
Base Currency: This is the term given to the first currency in a currency pair. For example the base currency of the pair GBP/USD would be GBP.
Bear Market: This term is used to describe a decline in the market.
Bid Price: This is the price at which a currency pair can be purchased.
Bull Market: This term is used to describe a growing market.
Closed: These are trades which have had their positions closed.
Forex Futures: To buy or sell a currency at a predetermined price on a set date in the future.
Hedge: These are trades designed to reduce risk. A perfect hedge eliminates risk.
Long: This is referred to currency pairs which have been purchased.
Margin: This is the amount of balance required to to open trading positions and keep current positions.
Open: These are any currency pairs which are still trading.
Short: This is referred to the currency pairs which have been sold.
Spread: This is the difference between the Ask and Bid prices. The difference is measured in pips.
Pip: This is the incremental movements in trades. | 
