• There are many activities that can be seen throughout the forex market.financial charts image by Chad McDermott from Fotolia.com
  
  There are many different activities that take place in the foreign exchange, or forex, market, which is the largest and most fluid trading market in the world. Activities can start because of individual traders, a released economic report, or even a nation's central bank interfering in order to boost or lower the value of its own currency. The forex market is where all free-floating currencies in the world are traded in pairs to determine overall value.
  
  

Trading

• The most common activity seen in the forex market is the trading of currency pairs. The forex market is open to the activity of individual traders at home, to forex brokerages, or even to large national banks. The trading of currency pairs occurs literally every minute, or even automatically on a small level every second, which is why so many currency pairs literally change their value by the second. Trading can involve buying or selling of one currency for the other in that pair.
  
  

Scalping

• Scalping is a common activity in the forex market that can often be seen throughout the day, especially with many forex brokerage firms who have individual forex traders who specialize in practicing this. Scalping is a very specific type of trading where a trader enters the market for a few minutes at most, and sometimes for as little as a few seconds, and then exits the market immediately after a small gain, or at the first sign of loss. The term is referred to as scalping because of the quick action that results in just a few bits of profit off the top when it works. This type of trading is part of why the markets are so fluid and volatile.
  
  

Central Bank Intervention

• A third type of activity that is rarer than trading but makes a huge impact on currencies in the market is central bank intervention. This is when a nation's central bank, or several nations' central banks work together to stabilize a currency, or to take the value of another currency down. In 2009 and 2010 the Swiss central bank made a lot of noise when it intervened in the markets to stabilize the Swiss franc by dumping other currencies into the market with massive sell-offs. In the early history of the forex, many nations worked together (including the United States) to devalue the United States dollar when it was becoming too strong for the good of the U.S. or other nations trying to trade with the U.S. Central bank intervention often has an immediate noticeable impact on the forex markets.