The Money Changers: A Guided Tour Through Global Currency Markets is a terrific book for those interested in understanding exactly how and why the foreign currency exchange markets exist and behave as they do. It is an insider’s look at the world’s largest financial market, taking the reader through the entire process, the structures, and the people involved in this $2 trillion per day juggernaut.
It is not a “how to” guide to trading in the foreign currency exchange market, nor is it a technical examination of the market. There are no claims of “secret trading systems” that promise to make the reader rich beyond their wildest dreams. Instead, it is an interesting and in many ways an entertaining read that offers the reader a real glimpse into the world of foreign currency exchange.
A world tour unlike any other
The author, Robert G. Williams, writes in a way that takes the reader on a world tour unlike any other you could imagine. In The Money Changers: A Guided Tour Through Global Currency Markets he includes vibrant and fact filled discussions of a variety of aspects for the foreign currency exchange market, such as:
- Locations – Where are the foreign currency exchange markets physically located? What are the buildings like? How big are the buildings? What are the most surprising things about each location? Why were these particular locations chosen?
- Machines, technology, and circuitry – What are the physical machines used to run the foreign currency exchange markets? How does technology play a part in the operation of these markets? How and where are connections made, both within a particular trading location and between trading locations? What limitations are there because of these types of connections?
- People – Who actually works at the physical trading locations? What do they do each day? What about the foreign currency exchange market traders, where do they work? What do they do each day? What about the many other people who participate directly or indirectly in the currency exchange market, such as money managers, analysts of the market, payment processors, information technology specialists, and the like?
This may seem like a strange way to go about explaining the foreign currency exchange market, but Williams makes it work beautifully. He takes the reader on this amazing tour just as you would a visitor to your own home town, sharing information, providing history and background, and revealing the human side of the foreign currency exchange market. The result is that The Money Changers: A Guided Tour Through Global Currency Markets is a book filled with accurate details as well as human insights and perspectives on the structure, processes, and people that are so integral to the currency exchange industry.
Why are these perspectives and discussions so important?
It is well known that the foreign currency exchange market is one of the most, if not the most, volatile and changeable financial market in the world. There are many, many books, manuals, and guides available that attempt to explain this volatility through technical analysis, fundamental analysis, or both. Those are of course important aspects of the currency exchange market and anyone participating in the market must have a thorough understanding of them, but they are not the only key aspects to consider.
The statistical and measurable aspects of the foreign currency exchange market should be viewed and understood in the context of the currency exchange market as a whole. Many factors weigh in to the behaviour and tendencies of the market, including the locations, the technology, and of course the people themselves who operate in and near the currency exchange market. Even the influence of different cultures in the trading locations is important to understand.
For all of these reasons and more, the perspectives and discussions in The Money Changers: A Guided Tour Through Global Currency Markets are important and relevant to anyone wanting to better understand the foreign currency exchange market.
Specific contents of the book
Let’s take a look at the specific contents of The Money Changers: A Guided Tour Through Global Currency Markets by listing the information according to the table of contents:
- Introduction – Encounter with a Money Changer
- Chapter 1 – A Glance at Foreign Exchange at Breakfast
- Chapter 2 – A Visit to the Local Bank: What Do Money Changers Buy and Sell?
- Chapter 3 – How Do Money Changers Arrange Deals?
- Chapter 4 – Who Are the Actors in the World’s Biggest Market?
- Chapter 5 – Where Deals are Made: Historical Geography of Money Changer Enclaves
- Chapter 6 – Professor Smith Gets FX’d in Tokyo: Could He Have Profited From a Currency Forecast?
- Chapter 7 – Inside the Trading Room: Philosophies Behind Trading Strategies
- Chapter 8 – Behind the Fish Tank: What Causes Rates to Change?
- Chapter 9 – How Currencies are Delivered: Snapshot of an Evolving System
- Chapter 10 – The Big Apple: Electronic Dollar Deliveries Through CHIPS
- Chapter 11 – Time to Settle Up: CHIPS Closes the International Dollar Day at the New York Fed
- Chapter 12 – In the City of London After the Russian Default: Anatomy of Currency Storms of the 1990’s
- Chapter 13 – The Euro in its Infancy
- Chapter 14 – Doubts About the Euro and the New Central Bank
- Chapter 15 – Testing the Dollar’s Hegemony: Will the Adjustments be Smooth?
It’s clear from this actual list of the table of contents that The Money Changers: A Guided Tour Through Global Currency Markets is a book unlike any other on the subject of the foreign currency exchange market. The tone of the writing and the perspectives offered by the author make the book extremely accessible to readers ranging from the complete foreign currency exchange market novice to the experienced and well informed long time participant.
Final thoughts
While The Money Changers: A Guided Tour Through Global Currency Markets is certainly not a detailed technical manual filled with statistical tools for technical analysis or fundamental analysis, it is still a worthwhile book to read and keep in your library. The author does a very nice job of humanizing the foreign currency exchange market, making the inner workings and processes both accessible and understandable to the reader.
It is particularly interesting to read about the people involved in the foreign currency exchange market. So many other books about currency exchange focus on the mechanics of the marketplace that it is refreshing to learn more about the people who actually run and participate in these activities. Instead of talking about anonymous traders as if they are simply interchangeable parts, The Money Changers: A Guided Tour Through Global Currency Markets provides insight on participants as human beings, looking at their activities from the standpoint of their own motivations and financial interests.
In the end, if you are looking for a technical manual to guide you through trading on the foreign currency exchange market, this is not the book for you. If, however, you are looking for a more all encompassing book that reveals the mechanics, the emotions, the passions, and the human interests of the foreign currency exchange market, The Money Changers: A Guided Tour Through Global Currency Markets is an excellent choice as an addition to your reading library.