Foreign exchange is the largest and arguably the least understood financial market on earth. In the last 10 years it has almost doubled in size. The $6.6tn traded today affects us all on various levels and yet, oddly, is still archaic compared to other asset classes.

Today, I can trade in the institutional market more or less for free. For every $1m I trade, I would pay around $30 for the privilege. This sounds like a fair deal and it is! However, should my neighbour decide he’d like to exchange some Euros from last summer’s holiday for Sterling, he would be charged around 1%. A fair deal? I don’t think so.