With over $2 trillion in daily volume and leverage as high as 250:1, the forex market is unquestionably the most exciting financial market for investors, as well as the most potentially lucrative. But the obvious question for forex novices is: How do you know what to trade? The answer: Forex alerts.

Forex alerts notify traders when it's time to execute a trade. After all, the forex market is open twenty-four hours a day, so forex trading alert is vital for traders who don't want to be tied to their computers all day -- but don't want to miss out on a great trading opportunity either!

Forex alert allows individuals with $1,000 or less in the forex market to compete with central banks, hedge funds, and multinational investment banks worth hundreds of billions of dollars. These massive institutions move slowly due to their size, so forex alerts can help the agile individual investor profit as one or more of the financial behemoths signals a new direction in a particular currency.

Prior to the advent of the Internet, individual traders had little access to the forex market. But thanks to the 'net, forex alerts have helped even the playing field. After all, without the Web, delivering buying and selling alerts in real time would be next to impossible. But now, for a minimal investment, any forex trader can receive forex alerts via the Web, e-mail, or even SMS text message.

Many Web sites offer trading alerts that tell investors exactly what trades to make -- they may even give you the exact language to use with your broker. Of course, it's unwise to make trades based only on what an alert says. Forex traders should learn as much as they possibly can about their favorite currency pairs, and use forex alerts to notify them when conditions favorable to their strategies arise.

Web-based forex alerts are the individual forex trader's best friend, but unless you are at your PC twenty-four hours a day, you will need a method of receiving your forex alerts when you're away from your computer. The two favored methods are e-mail (for traders with blackberrys or other portable e-mail devices) and SMS (short message service -- text messaging). Be sure that any forex alerts service you sign up for offers your preferred method of distribution.

The forex is the world's largest and most liquid financial market. It allows individuals to trade commission-free, and with leverage of at least 50:1. But aspiring traders should not be fooled into thinking that making money in forex is easy -- it's not. And the leverage that allows you to profit handsomely when you're right can easily wipe out your account with a single misstep.Forex alerts are no magic bullet, but in order to compete with the full-time research staffs of central banks, hedge funds, and other institutional traders, they are virtually a necessity.