Foreign exchange trading is one of the most dynamic financial industries in the world today. If you want your share of the action – and the opportunities for profit – you should learn as much as you can about forex trading. There are a lot of online resources that you can study in order to brush up on your currency trading skills.

If you will be taking up an online forex trading course, for example, the first subject that you will learn about is foreign exchange or forex rates. This is due to the fact that forex rates are where the market revolves. Once you know what forex rates are all about, you will have a solid foundation from where you can build your expertise in forex trading.

Here is an overview of the forex rates basics. Foreign exchange rates actually refer to the value of one country's currency relative to another country's currency. The usual gauge of measurement is against the US dollar. If the Canadian dollar has a value of 0.98 against one US dollar, then that is the forex rate between the two currencies. Now, this foreign exchange rate varies from time to time, depending on a lot of factors.

The market value of a particular currency is dictated by the strength of the country's economy, the worldwide demand for the currency type, its strength or weakness relative to the US dollar, as well as other factors. Knowing about forex rates and how they get calculated is a must if you would like to excel and profit in the forex trading industry.