Hedgers account for less than 5% of the market, but are the key reason futures and other such financial instruments exist. The group using these hedging tools is primarily businesses and other organizations participating in international trade. Their goal is to diminish or neutralize the impact of currency fluctuations.

Hedge funds, such as George Soros's Quantum fund have gained a reputation for aggressive currency speculation since 1990. They control billions of dollars of equity and may borrow billions more, and thus may overwhelm intervention by central banks to support almost any currency, if the economic fundamentals are in the hedge funds' favor.

Discover how the Forex market offers more opportunities for quick financial gains than almost any other market.