Academy › Lessons › Trading Education

Trading Education

What is Forex Trading?

2 min lesson Jul 2, 2025
What is Forex Trading?

The Foreign Exchange Market (Forex) is where currencies are bought and sold, 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. Currencies from all around the world are a vital part of conducting foreign trade and business. Their exchange affects us all, whether you are aware of it or not. To give you an example, when you want to buy a fine wine, made in Italy, either you or the company you purchase it from, has to pay for it in Euros (EUR). As a Canadian with only Canadian Dollars (CAD), you will be required to exchange your dollars for euros in order to purchase the wine. The same rule applies when you are traveling. As a Canadian traveler, heading to Italy, you will have to exchange your dollars for euros, which depending on the current exchange rate, the value will be more or less.

How to Profit From Trading Currencies (Forex)

In this example, imagine you decided to travel to Italy on vacation. You converted $1000 Canadian Dollars in Euros which converted into €820 Euros at the time. During your vacation, you ended up using money on your credit cards and didn’t spend the money you converted. Now, when you travel back to Canada, you need to convert that money you didn’t spend back into Canadian dollars. While you were away on vacation, the Candian dollar depreciated in value and the Euro made some modest gains. Instead of getting back the original $1000, you’re now getting back $1100. In this transaction over the course of a few weeks, you would have made $100 profit.

Now I know you’re thinking this isn’t a whole lot of profit, but in Forex trading with leverage provided by your brokerage, that $1000 transaction could easily turn into upward profits of well over 100 percent.

The Foreign Exchange Market (Forex) is where currencies are bought and sold, 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. Currencies from all around the world are a vital part of conducting foreign trade and business. Their exchange affects us all, whether you are aware of it or not. To give you an example, when you want to buy a fine wine, made in Italy, either you or the company you purchase it from, has to pay for it in Euros (EUR). As a Canadian with only Canadian Dollars (CAD), you will be required to exchange your dollars for euros in order to purchase the wine. The same rule applies when you are traveling. As a Canadian traveler, heading to Italy, you will have to exchange your dollars for euros, which depending on the current exchange rate, the value will be more or less.

How to Profit From Trading Currencies (Forex)

In this example, imagine you decided to travel to Italy on vacation. You converted $1000 Canadian Dollars in Euros which converted into €820 Euros at the time. During your vacation, you ended up using money on your credit cards and didn’t spend the money you converted. Now, when you travel back to Canada, you need to convert that money you didn’t spend back into Canadian dollars. While you were away on vacation, the Candian dollar depreciated in value and the Euro made some modest gains. Instead of getting back the original $1000, you’re now getting back $1100. In this transaction over the course of a few weeks, you would have made $100 profit.

Now I know you’re thinking this isn’t a whole lot of profit, but in Forex trading with leverage provided by your brokerage, that $1000 transaction could easily turn into upward profits of well over 100 percent.

Free Academy Access

Unlock the rest of this lesson free

Sign in to continue, or create a 100% free Academy account and unlock the full member experience.

Create account to track this

Free — save your progress across every lesson.

Test Your Knowledge

Take the Final Exam. Earn the Certificate.

When you are ready, take the 30-question Financial Markets Assessment. Score 70% or higher to instantly earn your verified Certificate of Completion. You can retake it free as many times as needed.

Take the Exam →
VERIFIED CREDENTIAL ACADEMY OF FINANCIAL MARKETS

Certificate of Completion

This certificate is proudly presented to
Your Name

Pass the 30-question Financial Markets Assessment with a score of 70% or higher.

30 Questions70% To PassQR Verified