One of the largest markets in the entire world is the Forex market. This is the place where foreign currency is exchanged by governments, companies and individuals. There are many reasons someone or something (like a business) might want to trade in currency. One big reason is to acquire another country’s currency in order to either make purchases or pay for services. This could come up in multi-national corporations who operate in a country other than their own, and must change large sums to pay workers or buy supplies.
But this far from the entire story. The majority of the market in foreign currency is speculative in nature. Traders, either representing investors or representing themselves as individual traders, are betting on the relative exchange rate fluctuations in order to buy low, sell high, and make a profit.
The forex is one of the ultimate democracies where there is no ‘insider information.’ Just about everyone is equal. Equally ready to make a large profit, or lose a large sum of money.