There are a number of reasons why people who are computer literate are more likely to invest in the forex market than others. Of course, that doesn't mean that fx financial products are not offered to a plethora of clients, and many who do not even have computers will invest in FX. However, the foreign exchange markets provide opportunities not available in other markets. For example:
Investment size is irrelevant - You can invest $500 or $500 million in currency trading. Of course, the size of your account may determine the psychology of your trading strategy, but there is no reason to treat small accounts different than large accounts.
Open Source Community - Forex is more open than other markets, utilizing the fix protocal for example, or the Meta Trader platform, traders can develop their strategy without spending any money, which can be saved for their trading account. There are many open source communities of other traders and systems developers that share code, ideas, tools, and much more, through online portals like Money Tec and Strategy Builder FX.
Automated Trading - Anyone in computers at least appreciates automation. So many tasks in today's world are automated we take them for granted. Your investment accounts should also be automated. Why rely on human traders that can be subject to hunger, fear, greed, excitement, fatigue, etc.
Online Business - The entire business process from account opening to trade and withdrawal, is totally online. Of course brokers and businesses have physical offices in major trading areas like New York and Chicago, but that is not a requirement. You have no real advantage being across the street from the CBOT or NYSE because there isn't any FX exchange. Also it would be quite silly to strategically place your offices near your counterparties, which are large banks - because they are spread out all over the world. And even considering that point, those banks probably don't even house their servers in their main offices they are probably remote. As the FX market itself is decentralized from a trading point of view, it is technically as well, allowing participants of any sort to be anywhere, that has a stable internet connection.
Develop your own automated system - You can start from scratch, making your own FX Strategy, and test it before using live money. Or, build on the ideas of others, tweaking settings and rules to suit your needs. It can be fun, too!
Custom tailored trading - There are very few limitations to how you can run your strategy. This makes it possible to create complex money management and trading strategies. Also, fx is traded in pairs, such as EUR/USD and EUR/CHF making calculations more dynamic (whereas most other instruments are traded against local dollars. For example if you purchase shares in Microsoft MSFT, you pay in USD.)
Ultimate software business - Think about this: Most software companies write software and then sell it. They are relying on marketing efforts more than the quality of their software, to bring in results to the bottom line. If you develop a forex trading strategy or standalone software, you are actually writing software that makes money! What better bang-for-the-buck can you have than writing a money making software?
The human element - Many people think that robotics and automation is somehow inhuman, whereas the reality is quite the opposite. Remember also, that it is humans who will be writing the software. Humans will be maintaining the servers, and many other tasks associated with automatic trading. It is not a printing press by any means, and does not absolve human traders from doing their work. More than anything, robotic trading takes out the tedious process of picking perfect entry and exit points, streamlines backtesting and analysis, and simplifies the process of portfolio building. It frees up traders time to work with clients, and don't forget it takes a lot of work to make a strategy that consistently profits.
Room for more - We saw the .com bombs of the late 90's, the day trading fad that fizzled out around 2001, and other tech start up failures. We have seen the success of Amazon and Yahoo, which really are not all that revolutionary. Although it is convenient to shop at Amazon, didn't we have mail order catalogs in the 80's? We have not seen much development in the investment and trading industry, which could be a very profitable business to be in. Of course, it's impossible to convince any industrialist of the potential for profit, but many programmers have taken up forex strategy development as a part time hobby and have made many strategies that are successful. There is room for more participants in the fx market, and they do not compete. If someone makes a strategy that is better than mine, I am a likely investor in that strategy. There isn't the kind of competiiton that exists in traditional I.T. business.
A little background
Foreign Exchange trading is the trading of foreign currency from one to another, for example exchanging Euros into New Zealand Dollars. The exchange rates float, and you can exchange at one rate, wait for a change, sell at another, and have a profit or loss. This is organized by large banks, and a growing number of retail and individual traders. At the center of retail fx business are brokers who offer access to the interbank market through a number of methods and software platforms.
The forex market is decentralized, in that you have each counterparty clearing it's own trade rathar than an exchange who counterparties clear through. Brokerage firms, such as FXCM, Velocity4x, GFT, Gain Capital, and others, offer retail access to the forex markets. You can open an account with CMS Forex for as little as $200 USD! An account is either self-directed, where you do the trading, or managed, where you sign a Limited Power of Attorney to authorize another individual or company to manage your account. In a managed account situation, the trader can charge you a commission of varying structure but the account remains in your name so he cannot withdraw the funds.
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