Speculating in the Currency Market
While commercial and financial transactions in the currency markets represent huge nominal sums, they still pale in comparison to amounts based on speculation. By far the vast majority of currency trading volume is based on speculation. Traders buying and selling for short-term gains based on minute-to-minute, hour-to-hour, and day-to-day price fluctuations.
Estimates are that upwards of 90 percent of daily trading volume is derived from speculation (meaning, commercial or investment-based FX trades account for less than 10 percent of daily global volume).
The depth and breadth of the speculative market means that the liquidity of the overall forex market is unparalleled among global financial markets. The bulk of spot currency trading, about 75 percent by volume, takes place in the so-called “major currencies,” which represent the world’s largest and most developed economies.
Additionally, activity in the forex market frequently functions on a regional “currency bloc” basis, where the bulk of trading takes place between the USD bloc, JPY bloc, and EUR bloc, representing the three largest global economic regions.
Liquidity
Liquidity refers to the level of market interest. The level of buying and selling volume available at any given moment for a particular asset or security. The higher the liquidity, or the deeper the market, the faster and easier it is to buy or sell a security.
From a trading perspective, liquidity is a critical consideration because it determines how quickly prices move between trades and over time. A highly liquid market like forex can see large trading volumes transacted with relatively minor price changes.
An illiquid, or thin, market tends to see prices move more rapidly on relatively lower trading volumes. A market that only trades during certain hours (futures contracts, for example) also represents a less liquid, thinner market.
