The foreign exchange market might seem to some people very similar to other financial markets. On the surface, the forex exchange has many similarities to the stock exchange. However, there are a number of differences. Below is a breakdown of some of the major differences that might not be obvious to everyone.

Related: "What is Foreign Exchange (Forex)?"

Some sees foreign exchange (forex) market a very similar to other financial markets. It is true that forex trading shares many characteristics with the stock exchange, but upon examination, you will learn that they also have a number of differences that distinguish forex and the stock markets from each other. We listed a few of these differences according to (1) trading hours, (2) trading market, (3) financial friction, (4) speed and (5) complexity.

1. Trading Hours

Both the stock market and the forex market operates in a strict schedule. Most stock market operates for 8 hours, and then closes until the next morning when it open for trading again,. For example, the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) trading hours is between 10 am until 9:30 pm Sydney Time. You can check a more elaborated schedule in the ASX web site here. In contrast, there is no downtime in forex trading. The forex market operates 24hours a day in 3 shifts, throughout the entire year. You can choose between the US, Asian or Europeans forex trading hours, although they do overlap and thus, allows for currency trading day or night.

2. Trading Marketplace

Forex, unlike the stock markets, are not geographically tied down. It is in fact considered an over-the-counter (OTC) exchange. It can be conducted on a location best suited to the demand and convenience of the trader. Some forex outfits such as Go Markets, even allows for mobile trading using an iPhone or an iPad. On the other hand, stock markets are centralized. This means that it is located mainly in one place like New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), in where all trades are entered or exited.

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3. Financial Friction

The stock market always require a middleman, which thus results to more financial friction, or simply put: fees. Everytime a stock is sold, a middleman, may it be a broker or some other entity, is always standing between buyer and seller. They make money just to facilitate the trade. The same is the case every time a stock is bought. You have to go through a middleman. That is not the case with forex trading. In forex market, a trader can buy or sell directly by spot trading because the forex market is not centralized. But there are of course, forex brokers. But the edge is, in forex market, the spread are transparent. Besides, most brokers don't require additional transaction fee or even charge a commission.

4. Trading Speed

In forex markets, a trader can use programs to automatically execute a forex trade on a forex trading signal. This makes forex trading almost instantaneous. A forex trader is more less likely to miss a trade because of the time it takes to execute a single tade. In stock markets on the other hand, a trader has to get this order to the trading floor, and from there, it could still take several minutes to be executed.

5. Complexity

When you think about it, forex trading boils down to tracking just 4 major currency pairs. Of course, one could argue that in forex trading, you got to do a lot of formulation and study for a sound forex market analysis. On the plus side, many web sites offers forex education resources and forex tips for free. Compare this to keeping tabs on thousands of stocks in the stock market. In forex markets, currency traders has the advantage of using forex systems. These systems help a currency trader in determining the best time to sell, or buy a currency and the best thing that a stock market trader for that is a broker.

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