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 The forex exchange market is currently the largest market in the whole world. With a daily turnover of about $4 million is obvious why. By far the most traded currency is the US dollar (USD) with 42% share of the market turnover. Other high popularity currencies include euro (EUR) with about 20% market share, the Japanese yen (JPY) with 10% market share and the pound sterling (GBP) that has about 6.5% market share. These are the top four most traded currencies that together represent about 78.5% of the forex market.
Other currencies that have a medium popularity on the forex market are: Australian dollar (AUD), Swiss franc (CHF), Canadian dollar (CAD), and Hong Kong dollar (HKD). All these currencies have a market share between 3.8% and 1.2%, according to the April 2010 official data. The solid Australian economy and the high interest rates available in the prosperous developed country made the Australian dollar the fifth most traded currency on forex. In October 2010, the Australian dollar reached for the first time in history the parity with the US dollar and kept that level for few days. Now the AUD has stabilized just few units under the parity level with the USD. The Swiss franc is seen as one of the safest currencies in the world, having for a long period of time zero inflation. Between 1920 and 2000 the law required that 40% of the currency to be backed by gold. That increased the people’s confidence in the Swiss franc creating a very good reputation on the financial markets. In November 2007, during the US difficult economic period and backed by a stronger Canadian economy, the Canadian dollar over passed the USD parity. Currently the exchange rate between the two currencies is just under the parity level, in favor of USD. Having an economy based on low taxes and free trade, Honk Kong is currently one of the most important financial centers in the world. Hosting the fourth forex trading center in the word as of the total volume of transactions, Hong Kong has a strong currency that now if the eighth most traded currency in the world. |
