Money is actually a symbol to which we attribute certain value. This value is derived from the value of the goods and services in society. In ancient times, before the invention of money, the goods and services used to be exchanged directly. This system was called barter. The goods that you have produced is sold to someone who need the goods and services and has goods or services that he seeks to sell which you need. However, this kind of transaction was very complex and difficult. In order to make these transactions much easier, money was invented. You could now sell your goods to anyone who needs your goods and with the money you get, you could go and get the goods which you need. The trade in goods and services became quite easy. The money that was used to buy and sell was earlier in the form of coins made of precious metals such as gold, silver and copper. This later gave way to banknotes which was called currency. Now we have virtual money in the form of digital money to carry out these exchanges.
The first country in the world to introduce paper money was china in the 13th century. In 1661, Sweden became the first country in Europe to introduce paper currency. Sweden was facing a problem with its copper coins which had a low real value. They had to introduce bigger and bigger coins to buy things which had a higher value. This posed a major practical problem. So they introduced paper money. Paper money was not only easier to produce but also easier to handle. Paper money soon began to be adopted as a medium of transactions in a widespread manner. In order to give the paper money an intrinsic value, the government backed it up with precious metals which they bought and stored. By 1990 most industrialized countries linked up their currency to gold standard. This was followed with the de-linking of the gold standard from money and instead became a valued tender by virtue of government fiat.
Currencies are traded with each other in the market. The market where this type of trading occurs is called as the foreign exchange market or the forex market. Currencies are bought and sold by money managers, governments, speculators, banks and currency traders in the forex market. The forex market got established as a specific form of economic activity in the 1970s. It soon expanded phenomenally to reach a volume transaction today valued at US$4 trillion per day. It is the fastest expanding economic activity today. In 1971 the floating exchange rate replaced the fixed exchange rate between two currencies. There are many easy ways to learn about forex market such as Forex Trading Made E-Z, the London Forex Rush System and Learn Forex Live.
Increase in production, employment and business in a country increases the demand for the currency of that country. When exports become more in a country, the demand for its currency increases. The forex market serves the need for currencies.
