TRADE OR TRADING, the act or process of buying and selling; exchange of goods; commerce. Ex. wholesale trade, retail trade, domestic trade. The United States has much trade with foreign countries. ONLINE service is a business that provides access to the Internet, a global computer network, and also offers a wide range of content not available on the Internet. The foreign exchange market (currency, forex, or FX) trades currencies. It lets banks and other institutions easily buy and sell currencies. The purpose of the foreign exchange market is to help international trade and investment. A foreign exchange market helps businesses convert one currency to another. For example, it permits a U.S. business to import European goods and pay Euros, even though the business's income is in U.S. dollars.