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The FOREX market was made available to the average investor in 1998 and is one of the fastest growing markets in the world, with daily volume of nearly 100 times that of the entire stock market.

In the 1980s, cross-border capital movements accelerated with the advent of computers and technology, extending market continuum through Asian, European and American time zones. These same technologies made it feasible for private investors to enter a market that had traditionally been the sole domain of banks and large institutions. Transactions in foreign exchange rocketed from about $70 billion a day in the 1980s, to more than $1.5 trillion a day two decades later, with close to 95% of the volume being speculative.

The following decades have seen foreign exchange trading develop into the largest global market by far. Restrictions on capital flows have been removed in most countries, leaving the market forces free to adjust foreign exchange rates according to their perceived values.

But the idea of fixed exchange rates has by no means died. The EEC introduced a new system of fixed exchange rates in 1979, the European Monetary System. This attempt to fix exchange rates met with near extinction in 1992-93, when pent-up economic pressures forced devaluations of a number of weak European currencies. Nevertheless, the quest for currency stability has continued in Europe with the renewed attempt to not only fix currencies but actually replace many of them with the Euro back in 2001.

This project is fairly advanced now and the final structure and fixed levels were decided in May 1998. After this a dangerous three-year period loomed, where devaluation candidates could be attacked nearly without risk until the final introduction of the Euro in this Millennium.

The lack of sustainability in fixed foreign exchange rates gained new relevance with the events in South East Asia in the latter part of 1997, where currency after currency was devalued against the US dollar, leaving other fixed exchange rates, in particular in South America, looking very vulnerable.

But while commercial companies have had to face a much more volatile currency environment in recent years, investors and financial institutions have found a new playground. The size of foreign exchange markets now dwarfs any other investment market by a large factor. It is estimated that more than USD1,200 billion is traded every day, far more than the world's stock and bond markets combined.

Timeline of foreign exchange

- 1944 Bretton Woods Accord is established to help stabilize the global economy after World War II.

- 1971 Smithsonian Agreement established to allow for greater fluctuation band for currencies.

- 1972 European Joint Float established as the European community tried to move away from its dependency on the U.S. dollar.

- 1973 Smithsonian Agreement and European Joint Float failed and signified the official switch to a free-floating system.

• EUR / USD
• USD / JPY
• GBP / USD
• USD / CHF
• AUD / USD
• USD / CAD
• EUR / JPY
• AUD / JPY
• GBP / JPY
• EUR / GBP
• GBP / CHF
• EUR / CHF