The foreign exchange market is unique because of

• its huge trading volume, leading to high liquidity;
• its geographical dispersion;
• its continuous operation: 24 hours a day except weekends, i.e. trading from 20:15 GMT on Sunday until 22:00 GMT Friday;
• the variety of factors that affect exchange rates;
• the low margins of relative profit compared with other markets of fixed income; and
• the use of leverage to enhance profit margins with respect to account size.

As such, it has been referred to as the market closest to the ideal of perfect competition, notwithstanding currency intervention by central banks. According to the Bank for International Settlements,^[3] as of April 2010, average daily turnover in global foreign exchange markets is estimated at $3.98 trillion, a growth of approximately 20% over the $3.21 trillion daily volume as of April 2007. Some firms specializing on foreign exchange market had put the average daily turnover in excess of US$4 trillion.^[4]
The $3.98 trillion break-down is as follows:

• $1.490 trillion in spot transactions
• $475 billion in outright forwards
• $1.765 trillion in foreign exchange swaps
• $43 billion currency swaps
• $207 billion in options and other products