It might be hard to believe but the forex market is the largest market in the world in terms of the amount of money being traded and the volume of transactions taking place. The market is basically an over the counter market that is composed of an interconnection of banks. It is so large that it is almost 60 times the size of the New York Stock Exchange (the largest stock market in the world). It is the only market that is open 24 hours a day. So what exactly happens on the forex market? Well, in simple terms the forex market is a platform where one currency can be exchanged for another. This means that it is place where buying and selling of currencies takes place. On the forex market currencies are bought or sold in pairs such as USD/GBP and USD/YEN. These currency pairs are nothing more than the exchange rate prevailing between the values of each individual currency. For example in case of a USD/GBP pair quoted at 0.8730, 1 US dollar is equivalent to 0.8730 Great Britain Pound. The forex market is not like your traditional market. It is not a central market which means that there is no central system to which all the investors are linked. It is basically an interconnection of banks called the interbank. Investors, companies and institutions can gain access to the forex or the currency market by opening a forex account with their respective banks or brokers. A forex broker acts as a medium between the investor and the market and provides its services to the investor by charging a small fees that is related to the difference between the bid and the ask price for a currency pair in the market. These days due to the emergence of online for trading platforms and online forex brokers, the currency market or the forex market has been thrown open to even small and medium investors. By making use of these online systems and platforms individual investors can gain access to the interbank forex network and buy or sell currency pairs, speculate on currency prices to gain money in the market. These days the currency market is mostly used for the purpose of speculating and earning profits rather than as a medium of currency exchange between banking institutions or corporate giants. The forex market is one of the largest growing markets in terms of the number of investors joining the market every day. According to most of the brokers out there it is quite easy to profit from the currency market. But this is not the case, since forex trading involves substantial amount of risk. So what needs to be done is to understand the market completely and then trade so as to reduce risk and increase gains at the same time.