Original article by Forex Outbreak
If you’re involved in currency trading, you are probably going to come across the term interbank currency trading from time to time. The meaning is not always terribly clear and you have got to know a little about the history of foreign exchange trading to understand it. When speculative forex trading began, after the relaxation of the gold standard which fixed relative currency values till the 1970s, it truly only concerned banks and other massive monetary institutions like fund executives. It was rare for personal people to be involved unless they’d finance connections. The majority of the establishments – which are frequently just called banks for simplicity – would have their own dealing desk where their staff would negotiate with other banks, either on a trading floor in one of the financial centres, or by wire or phone to other locations around the world. The average Joe could only get in on the act through a broker, and even then, only if he had plenty of money to invest. So initially the currency market was almost totally interbank, which means between banks. But then the Net started to take over from the phone as the main trading medium, and at the same time it became more common for average voters to have a home PC and a broadband connection. Brokers replied to this by making software platforms which would allow folks to log in and manage their own account. This reduce costs and made it productive for many brokers to take on clients who weren’t dealing in hundreds of thousands of bucks, but far littler amounts. So gradually it became simpler for folks to trade from home. More of these retail traders have been coming online in the previous couple of years, becoming concerned in the forex market to earn income – or frequently unfortunately, to lose it. That is what can happen if a beginner is not well enough prepared for the fast moving and dodgy environment of the fx trading market. You continue to may see the term ‘interbank’ employed in a way that includes all of the forex market and those who trade it in, but exactly it shouldn’t be used that way any more. There is a difference between retail foreign exchange trading and interbank foreign exchange trading.