What is the forex market?
The foreign exchange (forex / FX) market is where currencies are traded. It is the world's largest financial market — the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) estimates that well over $7.5 trillion changes hands every day. It runs 24 hours a day, 5 days a week through a global network of banks, brokers and institutions.
Currency pairs
Currencies are quoted in pairs — BASE/QUOTE. If EUR/USD = 1.1650, one euro costs 1.1650 US dollars.
| Category | Examples | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Majors | EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY, USD/CHF, AUD/USD, USD/CAD, NZD/USD | Highest liquidity, lowest spreads |
| Minors / Crosses | EUR/GBP, EUR/JPY, GBP/JPY | No USD; moderate spreads |
| Exotics | USD/INR, USD/TRY, USD/ZAR | Wider spreads, more volatile |
| Metals | XAU/USD (Gold), XAG/USD (Silver) | Popular with algo traders; big moves |
Pips, lots, leverage & spread
- Pip — the smallest standard price move: 0.0001 for most pairs (0.01 for JPY pairs).
- Lot — trade size. Standard = 100,000 units, Mini = 10,000, Micro = 1,000.
- Pip value — on EUR/USD, 1 pip ≈ $10 per standard lot, $1 per mini lot, $0.10 per micro lot.
- Leverage — borrowing power (e.g. 1:100). Magnifies both profit and loss.
- Margin — money locked to open a leveraged trade.
- Spread — difference between bid and ask; your cost to enter.
- Swap — overnight interest charged or paid for holding positions.
Trading sessions (IST, approximate)
| Session | Approx. IST | Character |
|---|---|---|
| Sydney | 2:30 AM – 11:30 AM | Quiet; AUD/NZD active |
| Tokyo | 5:30 AM – 2:30 PM | JPY pairs active |
| London | 12:30 PM – 9:30 PM | Highest volume; strong trends |
| New York | 5:30 PM – 2:30 AM | USD news; big moves |
| London–NY overlap | ~5:30 PM – 9:30 PM | Peak liquidity & volatility |
Times shift by about an hour with daylight-saving changes in Europe and the USA.
What moves currencies?
- Central bank interest-rate decisions (Fed, ECB, BoE, BoJ, RBI).
- Inflation (CPI), jobs data (US Non-Farm Payrolls), GDP.
- Geopolitics, risk sentiment and commodity prices (oil, gold).
- Capital flows and trade balances.
Automated forex trading (Expert Advisors)
An Expert Advisor (EA) is a program that runs inside MetaTrader 4/5 and trades automatically based on coded rules. Benefits: no emotions, 24×5 monitoring, instant execution, strict SL/TP and position sizing.
Goldmine Bot is our fast gold-scalping EA for MT4 & MT5 — it uses trend-based entries, stop-loss and take-profit management, risk-based lot sizing, and manages open trades with break-even and trailing-stop logic.
- Always test in the Strategy Tester and on a demo account first.
- Run on a VPS for uninterrupted operation.
- Choose a regulated broker with low spreads.
Forex rules for Indian residents (important)
⚖️ Under FEMA and RBI rules:
- Indian residents may trade forex only in permitted currency pairs — USD/INR, EUR/INR, GBP/INR, JPY/INR and the cross pairs EUR/USD, GBP/USD and USD/JPY — on recognised Indian exchanges (NSE, BSE, MSE) through SEBI-registered brokers.
- Trading forex / CFDs on overseas or unauthorised online platforms, and sending money abroad for margin trading (including under LRS), is not permitted. RBI publishes an Alert List of unauthorised forex platforms.
International clients should follow their own country's regulations and use properly regulated brokers.
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Educational content only — not investment advice. Rules and tax rates mentioned are as understood at the time of writing and may change; verify with official sources (SEBI, RBI, Income Tax Dept.) or a qualified adviser.