A market is simply a place where buyers and sellers agree on a price. When people say global markets, they mean the markets traded across borders, by participants in every time zone, almost around the clock. A bank in Tokyo, a pension fund in London and a trader on a laptop in São Paulo can all be trading the same euro, the same barrel of oil or the same stock index at the same moment.
This Academy focuses on five of these markets. They behave differently, but they are tightly connected, and understanding how they connect is one of the most useful things you can learn early.
The five markets you'll meet
Forex (foreign exchange)
Currencies are traded in pairs, such as EUR/USD: how many US dollars one euro buys. Forex is the largest market in the world. The Bank for International Settlements put average turnover at about $7.5 trillion a day in its 2022 survey. It trades 24 hours a day from Sunday evening to Friday evening.
Stock indices
An index tracks a basket of shares, such as the S&P 500 (500 large US companies), the Nasdaq 100 (large non-financial companies, heavy in technology) or Germany's DAX. Traders rarely buy all the shares. They trade the index through futures, CFDs or ETFs.
Commodities
Raw materials: metals like gold and silver, energy like crude oil and natural gas, and crops like wheat. Most active traders focus on gold and oil, which move on everything from interest rates to wars to weekly inventory reports.
Crypto
Digital assets such as Bitcoin and Ether. Crypto never closes, not even at weekends, and it is more volatile than the other four.
Bonds and interest rates
Governments and companies borrow by issuing bonds. The interest rate (the yield) on government bonds, especially the US 10-year Treasury, is the price of money itself. You may never trade a bond, but bond yields quietly drive the other four markets.
| Market | What you trade | Hours | Typical drivers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forex | Currency pairs (EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY) | 24h, Sun–Fri | Interest rates, central banks, economic data |
| Stock indices | S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, Dow, DAX, FTSE | Futures nearly 24h; cash hours per exchange | Earnings, rates, risk appetite |
| Commodities | Gold, silver, crude oil, gas | Nearly 24h on futures | Dollar, rates, supply, geopolitics |
| Crypto | Bitcoin, Ether and others | 24/7 | Risk appetite, liquidity, flows, regulation |
| Bonds | Government and corporate debt | Nearly 24h on futures | Inflation, central banks, growth |
How a price is actually made
At any moment some traders want to buy and others want to sell. Buyers post bids (the most they will pay), sellers post asks (the least they will accept). The best bid and the best ask sit closest together, and the gap between them is the spread. When someone is willing to cross that gap, a trade happens and the price you see on the chart updates.
Some markets match these orders in one central place, an exchange, such as CME for futures. Others, including most of forex, are over the counter (OTC): a network of banks and dealers quoting prices to each other and to their clients, with no single central book. You'll see why that difference matters when we look at brokers in chapter 5.
Why trade global markets?
- Liquidity. The major markets are so large that normal-sized orders fill instantly at tight prices.
- Hours. Something is open almost all the time, so you can trade around a day job.
- Both directions. Selling short is as easy as buying, so a falling market is as tradeable as a rising one.
- Small starting size. Micro lots and micro futures let you start with very little capital.
Key takeaways
- Global markets are traded across borders and time zones, almost 24 hours a day.
- The five you'll study here are forex, stock indices, commodities, crypto and bonds, and they influence each other.
- Prices come from bids and asks meeting; the gap between the best of each is the spread.
- Exchanges centralise orders in one book; over-the-counter markets like forex run on a dealer network.