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FX is short for foreign exchange, the buying of one currency with another. It is the largest market in the world, with $9.6 trillion traded each day in April 2025 according to the Bank for International Settlements.
FX stands for foreign exchange. In finance the term covers any swap of one currency for another, from a tourist changing euros at an airport to a bank moving billions between dollars and yen. Traders use FX and forex to mean the same thing, the market where currency prices move.
The Bank for International Settlements counts the market every three years. Its April 2025 survey found $9.6 trillion changing hands each day, 28% more than in 2022. Spot trades made up $3 trillion of that, and the US dollar was on one side of 89% of all trades.
You see EUR/USD quoted at 1.1000. That is an FX price. It says one euro costs 1.10 US dollars. If you buy 10,000 euros at that price and the quote rises to 1.1100, your euros are now worth $100 more. The FX market runs 24 hours a day from Sunday evening to Friday evening, New York time, because it moves from Sydney to Tokyo to London to New York as each city wakes up.
FX rate, FX risk and FX hedging all mean the same thing with a different job. An FX rate is a price. FX risk is the chance that a rate moves against you. FX hedging is a trade that cancels that risk. A company that sells in dollars and pays wages in euros lives with all three.
See spot FX for the simplest kind of trade, base currency for how a pair is read, and FX options for contracts that give the right, not the duty, to exchange at a set rate. Our market hours tool shows which session is open right now in your time zone.
Foreign exchange. It means the exchange of one currency for another, and the market where the rates for those exchanges are set.
Yes. Forex is a blend of foreign and exchange. Banks and companies tend to say FX. Retail traders tend to say forex.
Sources: BIS Triennial Survey, OTC foreign exchange turnover in April 2025, published 30 September 2025. Checked 25 September 2026.
Risk warning: trading forex and CFDs on margin carries a high risk of losing money. Most retail accounts lose money. Never trade with money you cannot afford to lose.