Foreign exchange: where to place your bets in the world's biggest casino

No other market is as big or liquid as foreign exchange. And in recent years, it has become easier for small investors to play. Tim Bennet reports

No other market is as big or liquid as foreign exchange. And in recent years, it has become easier for small investors to play. Tim Bennet reports

Most investors only deal in currencies when they're about to go on holiday. But they could be missing a chance to profit from the most liquid market around. The foreign exchange (forex, or FX) market is by far the world's biggest. The top 20 banks in Euromoney's 2009 FX poll recorded forex deals worth $175.3trn last year. No other securities market comes close: average daily forex turnover is regularly ten times that of the equity market.

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Tim graduated with a history degree from Cambridge University in 1989 and, after a year of travelling, joined the financial services firm Ernst and Young in 1990, qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1994.

He then moved into financial markets training, designing and running a variety of courses at graduate level and beyond for a range of organisations including the Securities and Investment Institute and UBS. He joined MoneyWeek in 2007.