How to Trade in the Forex

The forex market is open 24 hours a day, five days a week across major financial centers across the globe. This means that you can buy or sell currencies at any time during the week. 
From a historical standpoint, foreign exchange trading was largely limited to governments, large companies, and hedge funds. But in today's world, trading currencies is as easy as a click of a mouse. Accessibility is not an issue, which means anyone can do it. Many investment firms, banks, and retail forex brokers offer the chance for individuals to open accounts and to trade currencies. 
When trading in the forex market, you're buying or selling the currency of a particular country, relative to another currency. But there's no physical exchange of money from one party to another. That's what happens at a foreign exchange kiosk—think of a tourist visiting Times Square in New York City from Japan. He may be converting his physical yen to actual U.S. dollar cash (and may be charged a commission fee to do so) so he can spend his money while he's traveling. But in the world of electronic markets, traders are usually taking a position in a specific currency, with the hope that there will be some upward movement and strength in the currency they're buying (or weakness if they're selling) so they can make a profit. 
A currency is always traded relative to another currency. If you sell a currency, you are buying another, and if you buy a currency you are selling another. In the electronic trading world, a profit is made on the difference between your transaction prices.