Spot Forex: History of Forex
Foreign Exchange Timeline
Starting with 1944, click the arrows above to scroll through the timeline of currency trading.
Historically, the earliest currency used in commercial transactions appeared in Egypt and Mesopotamia around 3,000 B.C. Exchanging currencies began in the Middle East, and continued into the Middle Ages, when multiple coin currencies were converted into a single currency consisting of paper bills, progressing very similarly until WWI.
Unlike today, exchanging currencies during the Middle Ages to WWI was extremely stable and involved very little risk. After WWI, forex markets changed dramatically, becoming highly volatile with speculative activity increasing tenfold. The increase in risk led to an unfavorable view of forex by society and most institutions. The Great Depression and other events of that era, including the removal of the gold standard in 1931, further perpetuated a lull in activity, similar to that experienced during the Middle Ages. From 1931-1973, global economies saw great changes to forex but these changes did nothing to increase the pace of activity. It wasn’t until the 1990s that the currency market again began spiking with activity and the rest, as they say, is history.
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