Can fluctuating foreign exchange rates affect international
meeting budgets? Should I pay foreign suppliers in local
currency or U.S. dollars? Are forward contracts a good tool for
guaranteeing future exchange rates? Where can I get information
that will give me an edge in the foreign exchange market? These
are questions that will be easier to answer with a basic
understanding of foreign exchange markets.  At more than a
trillion dollars in daily trading volume, the foreign exchange
market is by far the largest capital market in the world--
eclipsing the daily trading volume on the New York Stock
Exchange several times over. Market participants include
governments, banks, nonbank financial institutions, and
corporations.  The sheer size of the foreign exchange market,
coupled with its lack of a physical presence, often leaves the
average bystander with the impression that the market is crazy
and unorganized. Although the market can appear this way to the
uninitiated, it is clearly an efficient market that reac