Supply and Demand in Currency Exchange Market
Written by J. Mance Gordon
Updated at April 23rd, 2024
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Who Demands and Supplies Currency in a Foreign Exchange Market?
In foreign exchange markets, demand and supply become closely interrelated, because a person or firm who demands one currency must at the same time supply another currency—and vice versa. To get a sense of this, it is useful to consider four groups of people or firms who participate in the market: (1) firms that are involved in international trade of goods and services; (2) tourists visiting other countries; (3) international investors buying ownership (or part- ownership) of a foreign firm; (4) international investors making financial investments that do not involve ownership. Let’s consider these categories in turn.
Firms that buy and sell on international markets find that their costs for workers, suppliers, and investors are measured in the currency of the nation where their production occurs, but their revenues from sales are measured in the currency of the different nation where their sales happened. Thus, a Chinese firm exporting abroad will earn some other currency—say, U.S. dollars—but will need Chinese yuan to pay the workers, suppliers, and investors who are based in China. In the foreign exchange markets, this firm will be a supplier of U.S. dollars and a demander of Chinese yuan.
International tourists will supply their home currency to receive the currency of the country they are visiting. For example, an American tourist who is visiting China will supply U.S. dollars into the foreign exchange market and demand Chinese yuan.
Related Topics
- What Does it Mean to Dollarize
- Foreign Exchange Market
- Who Demands and Supplies Currency in a Foreign Exchange Market?
- Foreign Direct Investment
- Greenfield Investment
- Brownfield Investment
- Portfolio Investment
- Hedging
- Dealers in the Interbank Market
- Weak and Strong Currency
- Depreciation of Currency
- Appreciating and Depreciating Currency
- Exchange Rate
- Real Effective Exchange Rate (REER)
- Limited Flexibility Exchange Rate System
- Expectations about Future Exchange Rates Shift Demand
- Expected rate of return shift demand and supply for a currency
- Relative Inflation Shifts Demand and Supply for a Currency
- Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)
- Relative Purchasing Power Parity
- Law of One Price
- Burgernomics
- Balassa-Samuelson Effect
- Arbitrage
- Tobin Tax
- Foreign Exchange Market
- Foreign Exchange Contract
- Arbitrage
- Hedge
- Why Central Banks Care About Exchange Rates
- How Do Exchange Rates Affect Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply?
- What Causes Exchange Rate Fluctuations?
- Exchange Rate Policy
- Fixed Exchange Rate
- Floating Exchange Rate
- Hard and Soft Peg
- What is a Merged Currency?
- Capital Control
- Exchange Stabilization Fund