Advantageous Features of the Forex Market

Fees associated with Forex Trading: Due to the fact that the forex market is decentralized - there are no exchange or clearing fees involved. There are no government fees or brokerage commissions. Forex brokers make their money through the spread - so when evaluating a broker, you should consider how tight a spread they offer.

No fixed lot size: Unlike other markets, the flexibility of lot size allows participation in forex trading with a very small account size (sometimes as low as $300).

High Volume and Liquidity: The electronic marketplace offers alomost instantansous transactions and the volume traded is greater than all the stocks and futures markets combined - over $1.9 trillion.

Around the clock access: Unlike the stock market, the forex trader is able to get in or out of a position at any time, day or night.

Highest leverage available in any market: Most online brokers offer 100 to 200 times leverage.

No Uptick Rule: Unlike the stock market, where traders cannot short a stock in a downtrend without an uptick - a forex trader can short a currency pair whenever they want.

Insider Trading: Due to the sheer size of the forex market, insider trading and other manipulations (such as an attempt to corner a market) are far harder to achieve than in other arenas.

Bull/Bear Market: In the stock market, the majority of investors are long and suffer in a bear market. However, in the forex market, due to the fact that if you are long one currency, you must be short another - there is an equal opportunity for profit whether a market is rising or falling.