At an airport you swap dollars for euros at a posted rate. Forex is the same idea. The rate keeps changing, and traders try to profit from those changes.

Forex means trading one currency against another, so it always comes in pairs. EUR/USD is the euro priced in dollars. When the price rises, the euro is gaining on the dollar. When it falls, the euro is losing ground.

In EUR/USD the first currency, the euro, is the base: the one being priced. The second, the dollar, is the quote: what you pay with. A price of 1.1649 means one euro costs 1.1649 dollars.

Gold is quoted in dollars, and its code is XAU/USD. You buy and sell it the same way as any other market, on the same kind of chart.

A stock, also called a share, is a small piece of one company. If you think the company will do well, you may buy its shares, and the price can rise if it does. An index, by comparison, bundles many companies into one price.

An index bundles many companies into one price, so a single trade follows a whole basket. Crypto trades every day and can swing hard in either direction.

Hours differ: forex pauses at the weekend, while crypto never closes. The rules are the same in every market, so start with one and learn how it moves.