Since the foreign exchange markets were opened up to private investors, plenty of investors have flocked to try to make some money in these exciting markets. If you've the right temperament, it's a good way to make money. In fact, it's one of the fasting growing types of home businesses that are being registered in the US.

Forex trading relies on the fact that currencies shift in their relative purchasing power. These movements are due to a number of factors - bond rates, government policies, and the actions of banks buying and selling large amounts of it.

For example, the Euro as of this writing is worth 1.2682 dollars - that's how many dollars you have to spend to buy one Euro. If you bought Euros at 1.2682 and sold them at 1.2931, you'd make roughly 2.5 cents on each transaction, or about 1% total on the exchange.

However, if you can do this multiple times over the course of a week, you're getting 3-5% per week, and that compounds rapidly to a major income stream. That doesn't sound like much, but it does add up.

The trick is knowing which currencies to buy and which currencies to sell, and playing the fluctuations of the currency markets.

How do forex traders figure this out?

Well, there are a number of factors that are commonly known. As an example, the Canadian dollar is tied to commodity timber and oil pricing, so when timber rises or falls, so does the demand for the Canadian dollar. The US dollar is pegged to the Federal reserve interest rate and treasury bills. When these indexes drop, so does the relative value of the US dollar.

The amount of research you can do to map your forex trading is unlimited; like all investments, a certain amount of research will hedge you against the worst scenarios, but there is a declining curve.

Most forex traders watch a few currency pairs, and check for the major exchange open and close figures.

It's also possible to subscribe to research services; that said, doing so puts you at the mercy of someone else's judgment calls.

For people that trade forex as a living, they almost always use some type of forex "robot" - this is a program that gathers realtime data on the markets and then spots out signals that might turn a profit.

Anyone who is considering trading forex for extra income needs to look into this type of program, especially if they have a limited knowledge on forex trading.

There's a lot of programs to choose from, so make sure you look for a couple of things when picking one out.

First, make sure the program lets you "test-drive" it by using a demo account where you don't actually risk your own money. This way you can let it run for a week or two and see the results it produces.

Second, always get a moneyback guarantee. If the company that sells it knows that it works, they won't mind offering a guarantee.

My suggestion - purchase a program, test it out using a demo account, and then decide if you want to keep it or not. If you aren't happy with it, you can get your moneyback.