If you are involved in fx trading, you are likely to come across the term interbank foreign exchange trading from time to time. You could see it discussed on websites or forums. The meaning is not always terribly clear and you’ve got to know a bit about the history of currency trading to understand it. It was rare for personal individuals to be involved unless they had money connections. Almost all of the institutions – which are frequently just called banks for simplicity – would have their own dealing desk where their staff would negotiate with other banks, either on a trading floor in one of the money centers, or by wire or telephone to other locations around the globe. The average bloke could only get in on the act thru a broker, and even then, only if he had tons of money to invest. So initially the forex market was nearly totally interbank, meaning between banks. Brokers responded to this by making software platforms which would allow folk to log in and manage their own account. This cut costs and made it advantageous for many brokers to take on clients who were not dealing in many thousands of bucks, but much smaller amounts. So gradually it became simpler for folk to trade from home.
More and more of these retail traders have been coming online in the last few years, getting involved in the currency market to earn money – or often , sadly, to lose it. That is what can happen if an amateur is not good enough prepared for the fast moving and risky environment of the fx trading market. You may see the term ‘interbank’ employed in a way that includes all of the foreign exchange market and those that trade it in, but precisely it shouldn’t be used that way any more. There’s a difference between retail forex trading and interbank currency trading.