There are some things that knock you for six when you hear them, and this is generally the case when one first encounters the foreign exchange markets, or 'forex' for short. Followed by the credit (debt) market (think US government bonds, notes and bills here), forex is the largest, most liquid market on the planet - an immense auction house which has a daily turnover of $5.1 trillion (according to the 2016 Triennial Central Bank Survey of FX and over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives markets). Forex is a globally decentralized marketplace, which simply means that there's no central exchange or physical location. It Operates around the clock five days a week, with the action beginning in Wellington, New Zealand and closing on Friday evening in New York, essentially allowing one to pick and choose when to trade.