In an increasing variety of markets, ranging from spread-betting on stocks and shares to more exotic futures and derivative markets, internet technology has made it possible for a growing number of day traders situated around the globe to bet on the markets via online platforms from the comfort of their own home or office. Even the previously off-limits currency markets, which will be explored in this article, can now be traded online by the individual investor, and there is a growing list of banks, brokers and specialist firms offering these services.
Until relatively recently the foreign exchange market was strictly the preserve of institutional investors and hedge funds. Large minimum transaction sizes and stringent financial requirements dictated that only the largest and most capitalised investors could make bets on the direction of the world's currencies. However, in order to make any meaningful profits from these 'over the counter' currency bets, traders and money managers would frequently have to place positions the equivalent of millions of dollars, putting the world of forex trading way out of the reach of individual investors unless they invested through a currency fund.
But all that began to change when the internet revolution of the late 1990s swept through the financial markets and radically altered the way in which trades were executed in most markets. When placing a trade on a company's share or on a futures contract became as simple as a couple of clicks on the mouse, suddenly, the traditional broker/client relationship was no longer a pre-requisite and some of the barriers that prevented many investors from taking part in the financial markets began to tumble.
This has had something of a democratising effect on the financial markets, and in the years that have followed a plethora of banks and brokerages have extended the range of their services to a new market by packaging up their online trading systems for the retail market, enabling the more modest investor to trade from their own computer screen - even on the previously out-of-reach currency markets.
Until relatively recently the foreign exchange market was strictly the preserve of institutional investors and hedge funds. Large minimum transaction sizes and stringent financial requirements dictated that only the largest and most capitalised investors could make bets on the direction of the world's currencies. However, in order to make any meaningful profits from these 'over the counter' currency bets, traders and money managers would frequently have to place positions the equivalent of millions of dollars, putting the world of forex trading way out of the reach of individual investors unless they invested through a currency fund.
But all that began to change when the internet revolution of the late 1990s swept through the financial markets and radically altered the way in which trades were executed in most markets. When placing a trade on a company's share or on a futures contract became as simple as a couple of clicks on the mouse, suddenly, the traditional broker/client relationship was no longer a pre-requisite and some of the barriers that prevented many investors from taking part in the financial markets began to tumble.
This has had something of a democratising effect on the financial markets, and in the years that have followed a plethora of banks and brokerages have extended the range of their services to a new market by packaging up their online trading systems for the retail market, enabling the more modest investor to trade from their own computer screen - even on the previously out-of-reach currency markets.
