Forex History

In 1944, the Bretton Woods Agreement was established. It's aim was to provide international monetary stability. The dollar was then set at a rate of 35 USD per ounce of gold.

The History Of Forex

Before the Agreement, it was the days of gold exchange, which at that time dominated the international economic system. That was between 1876 and World War I. But the gold exchange was not the perfect solution, it had its drawbacks. It created "boom-bust" patterns prevailing through out the era of the gold standard, until World War I, when there no longer a free movement of gold.

In 1971, the Agreement was abandoned and the US dollar was no longer exchanged for gold. The 1970s gave rise to new financial instruments, market deregulation and emerged trade liberalization and the Forex market grew.

Then came the era of computer technology in the 1980s and market continuum through Asian, European and American time zones was extended. Foreign exchange transactions from billions a day in the 1980s to trillions a day in just a few decades.