The Foreign Exchange (currency, forex or FX) market is where currency trading takes place. FX transactions typically involve one party selling a quantity of one currency in exchange for purchasing a quantity of another. The FX market is one of the largest most liquid financial markets in the world, and includes trading between large banks, central banks, currency speculators, corporations, governments, and other institutions. The average daily volume in the global FX and related markets is continually growing. Traditional turnover was reported to be over US$ 3.2 trillion in April 2007 by the Bank for International Settlement. Since then the market has continued to grow. According to Euromoney's annual FX poll, volumes grew a further 41% between 2007 and 2008.

The FX market is unique because of:

• Its trading volumes
• The extreme liquidity of the market
• The large number and variety of, traders in the market
• Its gregraphical dispersion
• Its long trading hours: 24 hours a day except weekends
• The variety of factors that affect exchange rates
• The low margins of profit compared with other markets of fixed income (but profits can be high due to very large trading volumes)
• The use of leverage

The top 7 currency traders % of overall volume, May 2008

1. 21.70% (Deutsche Bank)



2. 15.80% (UBS AG)



3. 9.12% (Barclays Capital)



4. 7.49% (Citigroup)



5. 7.30% (Royal Bank of Scotland)



6. 4.19% (JPMorgan)



7. 4.10% (HSBC)

Principal House aims to bring the money making power of the FX market to the average investor. Such a complicated market can be broken down into simple fundamentals which can be taught to anyone, allowing them to benefit from the unique characteristics of the FX market as outlined above. Many Principal House clients have progressed from not knowing of the FX market to live trading in less than one month.