It’s been a busy week in the foreign exchange ( Forex  Forex Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest trading market by volume. According to the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) latest survey, the Forex market now turns over in excess of $5 trillion every day, with the most exchanges occurring between the US Dollar and the Euro (EUR/USD), followed by the US Dollar and the Japanese Yen (USD/JPY), then the US Dollar and Pound Sterling (GBP/USD). Ultimately, it is the very exchanging between currencies which causes a country’s currency to fluctuate in value in relation to another currency – this is known as the exchange rate. With regards to freely floating currencies, this is determined by supply and demand, such as imports and exports, and currency traders, such as banks and hedge funds. Emphasis on Retail Trading for ForexTrading the forex market for the purpose of financial gain was once the exclusive realm of financial institutions.But thanks to the invention of the internet and advances in financial technology from the 1990’s, almost anyone can now start trading this huge market. All one needs is a computer, an internet connection, and an account with a forex broker. Of course, before one starts to trade currencies, a certain level of knowledge and practice is essential. Once can gain some practice using demonstration accounts, i.e. place trades using demo money, before moving on to some real trading after attaining confidence. The main two fields of trading are known as technical analysis and fundamental analysis. Technical analysis refers to using mathematical tools and certain patterns to help decide whether to buy or sell a currency pair, and fundamental analysis refers to gauging the national and international events which may potentially affect a country’s currency value. Foreign exchange or forex is the act of converting one nation’s currency into another nation’s currency (that possesses a different currency); for example, the converting of British Pounds into US Dollars, and vice versa. The exchange of currencies can be done over a physical counter, such as at a Bureau de Change, or over the internet via broker platforms, where currency speculation takes place, known as forex trading.The foreign exchange market, by its very nature, is the world’s largest trading market by volume. According to the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) latest survey, the Forex market now turns over in excess of $5 trillion every day, with the most exchanges occurring between the US Dollar and the Euro (EUR/USD), followed by the US Dollar and the Japanese Yen (USD/JPY), then the US Dollar and Pound Sterling (GBP/USD). Ultimately, it is the very exchanging between currencies which causes a country’s currency to fluctuate in value in relation to another currency – this is known as the exchange rate. With regards to freely floating currencies, this is determined by supply and demand, such as imports and exports, and currency traders, such as banks and hedge funds. Emphasis on Retail Trading for ForexTrading the forex market for the purpose of financial gain was once the exclusive realm of financial institutions.But thanks to the invention of the internet and advances in financial technology from the 1990’s, almost anyone can now start trading this huge market. All one needs is a computer, an internet connection, and an account with a forex broker. Of course, before one starts to trade currencies, a certain level of knowledge and practice is essential. Once can gain some practice using demonstration accounts, i.e. place trades using demo money, before moving on to some real trading after attaining confidence. The main two fields of trading are known as technical analysis and fundamental analysis. Technical analysis refers to using mathematical tools and certain patterns to help decide whether to buy or sell a currency pair, and fundamental analysis refers to gauging the national and international events which may potentially affect a country’s currency value. Read this Term) and cryptocurrency industries - with developments and breaking news occurring across the globe. In case you missed any of the most interesting stories, here is a recap in our best of the week segment.

Put a name to a cryptocurrency

Facebook is a company renowned for selling personal information, manipulating its users, and destroying political discourse. But now the firm has other plans - launching its own cryptocurrency.

Rumors surrounding the tentative coin have been circulating for over a year now. On Friday, however, we got some real news.

The social media giant is going to be calling its cryptocurrency GlobalCoin, and it will be focused on money transfers and remittances. Western Union must be shaking in their boots.

SIX’s stablecoin

Unlike many other financial institutions, SIX Group has put a lot of effort into developing a cryptocurrency business.

Earlier this month, Thomas Zeeb, the executive charged with leading the firm’s crypto efforts, said that SIX has spent over $20 million on its digital assets exchange, SDX.

At the same time, Zeeb also hinted that SIX would be launching its own coin.

This week that was confirmed, with the Swiss exchange operator saying that it will be releasing a stablecoin tied to the Swiss franc. Said coin is as of yet unnamed. We just hope they come up with something better than GlobalCoin.

Don’t bring your clients down under

After leverage-capping, marketing-restricting, and warning sign-imposing regulations were implemented in the European Union last August, many retail brokers began to ramp up their Australian operations.

But, in the past month, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has begun clamping down on brokers.

And this week Vantage FX’s Australian subsidiary, Vantage Global Prime, sent an email to clients saying that it would no longer be serving clients from outside Australia.

Fear not, however, for the broker still has a Cayman Islands regulatory license so if you want high leverage, head to the Caribbean.

Tron in trouble?

Since its launch, Tron - like many cryptocurrency projects - has been mired in controversy. The company’s founder, Justin Sun, has come under particular scrutiny, with many questioning his ability to produce serious products.

Earlier this month, Lucien Chen, the company’s chief technology officer, left in acrimonious circumstances. In a post published on Medium, the ex-CTO claimed that Tron’s technology is dodgy and that it is not honest with its users.

Tron fired back, saying that Chen had been fired in January for unscrupulous behavior.

Don’t know who to believe? Read Rachel McIntosh’s analysis to see which side you should pick.

Binance slipping

Long the largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, Binance has seen its standards dropping in the past couple of weeks.

On Wednesday, traders were unable to buy or sell after the exchange saw a massive lag in its systems.

Things were compounded by the exchange’s CEO, Changpeng Zhao, who said on Twitter that the lag was the result of high trading volumes and that this was “a good problem to have.”

Good if you are the owner of the exchange, not so much if you just lost a bunch of money because you couldn’t sell your bitcoin.

More pricing data, great transparency

Hoping to bring more openness to an often opaque retail trading industry, technology provider Integral announced the launch of a new data streaming service this week.

Called TrueFX, the firm will be providing clients with access to live prices in the institutional foreign exchange and cryptocurrency markets.

For the latter, the firm used data from 14 cryptocurrency exchanges and another eight market makers. Exciting times ahead!

A safe bet for Sagi

Teddy Sagi is a billionaire who has made a pile of cash dealing in several industries, including trading, ad-tech, and online gambling.

And this week Sagi is thought to have raked in a cool $600 million after SafeCharge, a  Payments  Payments One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonly the basis of exchange involves fiat currency or legal tender, be it in the form of cash, credit or bank transfers, debit, or checks. While typically associated with cash transfers, payments can also be made in anything of perceived value, be it stock or bartering – though this is far more limited today than it has been in the past.The Largest Players in the Payments IndustryFor most individuals, the payments industry is dominated currently by card companies such as Visa or Mastercard, which facilitate the use of credit or debit expenditures. More recently, this industry has seen the rise of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) payments services, which have gained tremendous traction in Europe, the United States, and Asia, among other continents.One of the biggest parameters for payments is timing, which looms as a crucial element for execution. By this metric, consumer demand incentivizes technology that prioritizes the fastest payment execution.This can help explain the preference for debit and credit payments overtaking check or money orders, which in previous decades were much more commonly utilized. A multi-billion-dollar industry, the payments space has seen some of the most innovation and advances in recent years as companies look to push contactless technology with faster execution times. One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonly the basis of exchange involves fiat currency or legal tender, be it in the form of cash, credit or bank transfers, debit, or checks. While typically associated with cash transfers, payments can also be made in anything of perceived value, be it stock or bartering – though this is far more limited today than it has been in the past.The Largest Players in the Payments IndustryFor most individuals, the payments industry is dominated currently by card companies such as Visa or Mastercard, which facilitate the use of credit or debit expenditures. More recently, this industry has seen the rise of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) payments services, which have gained tremendous traction in Europe, the United States, and Asia, among other continents.One of the biggest parameters for payments is timing, which looms as a crucial element for execution. By this metric, consumer demand incentivizes technology that prioritizes the fastest payment execution.This can help explain the preference for debit and credit payments overtaking check or money orders, which in previous decades were much more commonly utilized. A multi-billion-dollar industry, the payments space has seen some of the most innovation and advances in recent years as companies look to push contactless technology with faster execution times. Read this Term company that he co-founded in 2007, was sold to Canadian technology firm Nuvei for $889 million.

David Avgi, the company’s current CEO, told Israeli outlet Globes that he is “very positive” about the deal and that it will enable SafeCharge to expand into new jurisdictions.