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BACA JUGA
The dark underworld of forex trading-syney
Investors around the world haven't lost their appetite to trade in the post-financial-crisis era. But instead of playing the sharemarket, they fancy themselves as global currency traders. That has been propelling the growth of retail foreign exchange broking into a $380 billion industry, doubling since 2007.
Australia has become a hot-bed of the industry by virtue of its trading culture, and as a safe jurisdiction for locally based players to market themselves to traders around the world. Such is its popularity that daily turnover at some of Australia's largest brokers can exceed the entire cash equities volume of the Australian Securities Exchange on a given day.
Forex trading is not new, but the electronic platforms and extreme leverage – sometimes as high as 500 to one – can make the Euro/US dollar pair as riveting as punting on a penny stock.
Yet despite its rising popularity, some insiders are adamant the world of forex broking has been, and remains, a shifty business. Technology may have lowered trading costs but it has allowed many unsavoury practices to take place on a larger scale.
