Forex major players

In the Foreign Exchange market (also known as Forex or FX) currencies are traded against one another. Foreign currency trading occurs between individuals, between large banks, central banks, currency speculators, multinational corporations, governments, and many other institutions. Individual traders are only a small percentage of the market and oftentimes participate indirectly in the market via banks or brokers. The Foreign Exchange market is the largest financial market in the world and it is estimated that the average daily trade in it is over USD $3 trillion.

Foreign currency trading is available to all, but not everyone can trade in it directly. The Forex market is divided into levels of access. The inter-bank market (which is top level) consists of the largest investment banking firms. Those who are top level have access to different spreads—to better ones, of course, where the difference between bid and ask prices is little. The lower one is on the levels of access, the wider the difference between the bid and the ask prices.

The top level, the inter-bank market accounts for 53% of all transactions. These are followed by smaller investment banks, which are followed by large multi-national corporations, large hedge funds, and even some retail Forex market makers. The top 10 currency traders are (listed in an order that is based on their ranking): Deutsche Bank, UBS AG, Citi, Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays Capital, Bank of America, HSBC, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley.

Currency are traded everywhere. While there are major trading centers in North America, Europe and Asia, currencies are traded around the globe and also, around the clock. The most prominent currencies are: United States dollar, Eurozone euro, Japanese yen, British pound sterling, Swiss franc, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar, Swedish krona, Hong Kong dollar, Norwegian krone.