Money. We all need it. We all want it. Trillions and trillions of dollars, pesos, euros, pounds, levs, francs, and more change hands every day for goods and services around the world. Most of us are only familiar with the money that is exchanged for goods and services in our own country and are only concerned with getting more of that.
But there is a lot more to money than that. What is the relationship between the currency in your country and the currency of some other country and why should it matter to me? I’m glad you asked. In this article we will explore some of the currencies around the world and answer some questions you may not even know you had.
First, if we are going to discuss currency and it’s relationship to other currency, we have to talk about Forex. That’s short for foreign exchange or the exchange of currency for a different type of currency.
There is no market in the world, including Wallstreet that can compare to Forex in volume of cash traded daily. Retailers, Governments, Currency Speculators, Banks, Corporations, and other financial institutions engage in forex or foreign currency exchange to the tune of trillions of dollars and other currency each day.
It is a truly amazing thing to see. People making money just by trading one country’s currency for another. Keeping up with the latest news in each country, economic trends and indicators, real-time monitoring of current currency values in comparison to another currency are all things required if you are going to speculate in this arena.
More than that, some forex speculators will tell you is, you have to have a good feel for it. You have to understand economies and be able to recognize the events and conditions that will cause people to lose confidence in one currency or another. You have to know when to hold em and when to fold em, as the Kenny Rogers song goes.
If you would like to check the exchange rates for each of these currencies against other currencies, you can open a new browser window and put this url into your address bar. It’s a Forex Calculator. http://uk. finance. yahoo. com/currency-converter? u
The following is a list of world currencies. It may not be every currency in the world, but it will give you an idea of the complexity of forex.
Albanian Lek, Algerian Dinar, Aluminium Ounces, Argentine Peso, Aruba Florin, Australian Dollar.
Bahamian Dollar, Bahraini Dinar, Bangladesh Taka, Barbados Dollar, Belarus Ruble, Belize Dollar, Bermuda Dollar, Bhutan Ngultrum, Bolivian Boliviano, Brazilian Real, British Pound, Brunei Dollar, Bulgarian Lev, Burundi Franc.
Cambodia Riel, Canadian Dollar, Cayman Islands Dollar, CFA Franc, Chilean Peso, Chinese Yuan, Colombian Peso, Comoros Franc, Copper Ounces, Costa Rica Colon, Croatian Kuna, Cuban Peso, Cyprus Pound, Czech Koruna.
Danish Krone, Dijibouti Franc, Dominican Peso. East Caribbean Dollar, Ecuador Sucre, Egyptian Pound, El Salvador Colon, Eritrea Nakfa, Estonian Kroon, Ethiopian Birr, Euro.
Falkland Islands Pound, Gambian Dalasi, Ghanian Cedi, Gibraltar Pound, Gold Ounces, Guatemala Quetzal, Guinea Franc, Haiti Gourde, Honduras Lempira, Hong Kong Dollar, Hungarian Forint, Iceland Krona, Indian Rupee, Indonesian Rupiah, Iran Rial, Israeli Shekel,
Jamaican Dollar, Japanese Yen, Jordanian Dinar, Kazakhstan Tenge, Kenyan Shilling, Korean Won, Kuwaiti Dinar, Lao Kip, Latvian Lat, Lebanese Pound, Lesotho Loti, Libyan Dinar, Lithuanian Lita.
Macau Pataca, Macedonian Denar, Malagasy Franc, Malawi Kwacha, Malaysian Ringgit, Maldives Rufiyaa, Maltese Lira, Mauritania Ougulya, Mauritius Rupee, Mexican Peso, Moldovan Leu, Mongolian Tugrik, Moroccan Dirham, Mozambique Metical.
Namibian Dollar, Nepalese Rupee, Neth Antilles Guilder, New Turkish Lira, New Zealand Dollar, Nicaragua Cordoba, Nigerian Naira, Norwegian Krone, Omani Rial.
Pacific Franc, Pakistani Rupee, Palladium Ounces, Panama Balboa, Papua New Guinea Kina, Paraguayan Guarani, Peruvian Nuevo Sol, Philippine Peso, Platinum Ounces, Polish Zloty, Qatar Rial, Romanian Leu, Romanian New Leu, Russian Rouble, Rwanda Franc.
Samoa Tala, Sao Tome Dobra, Saudi Arabian Riyal, Seychelles Rupee, Sierra Leone Leone, Silver Ounces, Singapore Dollar, Slovak Koruna, Slovenian Tolar, Somali Shilling, South African Rand, Sri Lanka Rupee, St Helena Pound, Sudanese Dinar, Surinam Guilder, Swaziland Lilageni, Swedish Krona, Swiss Franc, Syrian Pound.
Taiwan Dollar, Tanzanian Shilling, Thai Baht, Tonga Pa'anga, Trinidad&Tobago Dollar, Tunisian Dinar, U. S. Dollar, UAE Dirham, Ugandan Shilling, Ukraine Hryvnia, Uruguayan New Peso, Vanuatu Vatu, Venezuelan Bolivar, Vietnam Dong, Yemen Riyal, Zambian Kwacha, Zimbabwe Dollar.
Can you imagine sorting out all of the relationships between each of those currencies and precious metals. Forex is not for the faint of heart it would seem, but it does make a facinating topic. In some of the currency names you can see how it relates to world history.
I hope you find this article has helped you with at least an explanation of what Forex is and how it works. There is a lot more out there about Forex. Learn more!