The sales and purchases of the currencies is carried out in the foreign exchange market by governments, banks, currency traders, financial institutions, money managers and speculators. It was in the 1970s that currency trade became a specific global economic activity. Today the volume of business transacted has crossed US$4 trillion daily. Most of the trading, over 60 percent, is speculative in nature. It is only the remaining that is actually used to transact goods and services and includes both financial assets and real assets. When traders do not take into consideration the nature of assets or the risk involved even to the extent of endangering the loss of the investment, it is called speculative trading. Ever since it emerged, the foreign currency market has expanded phenomenally.
