What FOREX particpants do.

[moneysense]

The InterBank takes care of commercial turnover and large amounts of speculative trading. This action could amount to billions of dollars per day.

While most of the trading is doe for the banks own benefit, some is done for customers.

Commercial Companies
Commercial Companies trade small amounts, and their trades usually have a short term impact on over all market rates.

Central Banks.
These banks are important in forex markets. Their job is to try to control money supply, interest rates, and inflation. They can use their forex reserves to help stabalize the market.

Hedge Funds
Hedge Funds have the reputation for agressive currency speculation. They control and may borrow billions of dollars and sometimes can be the undoing of Central Banks support of currencies.

IMF or Investment Management Firms
IMF handles pension funds and endowments for customers. Plus they use the Forex to facillitate transactions in foreign currencies. They also manage clients currency exposures to generate profits and limit risks.

Retail Forex Brokers
Thes brokers or Market Makers are a small fraction of the market. Retail Traders can participate in Forex only through brokers or banks.

The CFTC and NFA control Retail Forex Brokers because they may be subject to scams.

Other Participants
Non Forex companies may offer currency exchange and international payments to clients, but they do not offer speculative trading.

Money Transfer/Remittance Companies
These companies usually take care of high volume, low value transfers for migrants back to their home countries.