The foreign exchange market is also called the FX market, and the forex market. Trading that occurs between two counties with different currencies is the fundament for the fx market and the background of the trading in this market. The forex market is over thirty years old, established in the early 1970's. The forex market is one that's not grounded on any one business or investing in any one business, but the trading and dealing of currencies.

The difference between the stock market and the forex market is the immense trading that takes place on the forex market. There's millions and millions that are traded every day on the forex market, almost two trillion dollars is traded every day. The sum of money is much greater than the money traded on the every day stock market of any nation. The forex market is one that involves governments, banks, financial institutions and those same types of institutions from a different countries. 

What is traded, purchased and sold on the forex market is something that may easily be liquidated, meaning it may be returned to cash fast, or often times it's really going to be cash. From one currency to another, the availability of cash in the forex market is something that may happen fast for any investor from any country.

The difference between the stock market and the forex market is that the forex market is global, worldwide. The stock market is something that occurs only inside a country. The stock market is based on businesses and products that are inside a country, and the forex market takes that a step further to include any country.

The stock market has set business hours. Normally, this is attending follow the business day, and will be closed on banking holidays and weekends. The forex market is one that's open normally twenty four hours a day as the large number of countries that are involved in forex trading, purchasing and selling are settled in so many different times zones. When one market is opening, another countries market is closing. This is the endless process of how the forex market trading occurs.

The stock market in any country is going to be based on only that countries currency, say e.g. the Japanese yen, and the Japanese stock market, or the United States stock market and the dollar. However, in the forex market, you're involved with several types of countries, and several currencies. You'll find references to a variety of currencies, and this is a big difference between the stock market and the forex market.