Retail forex

The retail forex (retail currency trading or retail FX) market is a subset of the larger foreign exchange market. This "market has long been plagued by swindlers preying on the gullible," according to The New York Times[1]. It's commonly thought that about 90% of all retail FX traders lose money.

While forex has been traded since the beginning of financial markets, on-line retail trading has only been active since about 1996 . From the 1970s, larger retail traders could trade FX contracts at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.[1]
By 1996 on-line retail forex trading became practical. Internet-based market makers would take the opposite side of retail trader’s trades. These companies also created online trading platforms that provided a quick way for individuals to buy and sell on the forex spot market.
In online currency exchange, few or no transactions actually lead to physical delivery to the client; all positions will eventually be closed. The market makers offer high amounts of leverage. While up to 4:1 leverage is available in equities and 20:1 in Futures, it is common to have 100:1 leverage in currencies.]].[1] In the typical 100:1 scenario, the client absorbs all risks associated with controlling a position worth 100 times his capital.
Currencies are quoted in pairs i.e. EURUSD (euro vs. United States dollar). These are often incorrectly quoted with a "/" between them. In fact if the "/" is present the currency order should be reversed - the "/" signifying arithmetic division. The pair should be quoted EURUSD or USD/EUR. This then gives the correct exchange rate. e.g. if you had to pay $135,000 for €100,000 135000/100000 = 1.35 (the exchange rate).