The following forex statistics may be of interest to anyone who is looking to trade currencies as a form of investment. These forex statistics show why forex trading has gained considerable popularity among individual forex investors.

Forex Statistics on Market Liquidity

An average of 3.21 trillion USD is traded of the forex markets each and every trading day. This forex statistics shows how liquid the forex market is.

1 trillion USD of that amount comes from spot trading where there is the buying of one currency with a different currency for immediate delivery, rather that future delivery. The standard settlement timeframe in forex spot trades is T+2 days (2 days from the date of trade execution). A notable exception is the USD/CAD currency pair which settles T+1.

362B USD of the total forex transactions are forward contracts where two parties agree to exchange currencies at a specific time in the future at a price agreed upon in the present.

1.7 trillion USD of the daily transactions are in the form of forex swaps. A forex swap is a simultaneous buying and selling of identical amounts of one currency for another with two different value dates (normally spot to forward).

Forex Statistics on Global Market Shares

With forex being a 24-hour market for 5 days a week, the forex statistics on how the daily transactions are distributed per market are as follows:

• 34.1% of daily turnover is traded in London making it the leader in forex statistics for average daily turnover.
• 16.6% goes to New York which is the central leader in the American markets.
• 6.0% is traded in Japan which becomes the leader in the Asian market at the start of every trading day.

Forex Statistics on the Top Ten Currency Traders

Financial Institution Market Share

1. Deutsche Bank 20.96%
2. UBS AG 14.58%
3. Barclays Capital 10.45%
4. Royal Bank of Scotland 8.19%
5. Citi 7.32%

Forex Statistics on the Most Traded Currencies

Currency % Daily Share

1. US Dollar 86.3%
2. Euro 37.0%
3. Japanese yen 17.0%
4. Pound Sterling 15.0%
5. Swiss Franc 6.8%

Forex Statistics on Most Heavily Traded Products

1. EURUSD 27%
2. USDJPY 13%
3. GBPUSD 12%

Other Interesting Forex Statistics

Foreign exchange trading increased by 38% between April 2005 and April 2006 and has more than doubled since 2001

Around 70%-90% of all forex transactions are speculative which means that the buyer or seller of the currency has no actual plans of actual delivery of the currency. The transactions were purely made on speculation that price values would change and profits would be gained.

80% of trading volume is accounted for by the 10 most active traders.

The above forex statistics show that forex trading is on the rise. And that more and more people are turning to forex trading as a speculative investment alternative. So read on and learn how you can participate in this highly lucrative investment alternative available today.

Incoming search terms:

• forex statistics
• statistics forex
• forex statistic
• statistics for forex
• statistic forex
• statistics and forex
• forex trader statistics
• forex market statistic
• statistics in forex
• why forex

Tags: forex basics, forex market, forex statistics

Posted in Forex Education