Hedging basically takes place in nearly all types of financial markets. Mostly it involves making several and multiple investments in order for potential losses from one investment van be safeguarded and insured by another investment. For instance, two companies that have largely different characteristics in terms of market presentation could be invested in to secure in case if things go south, the remaining ones will still do better.
When hedging is referred to in terms of the Forex market or foreign exchange, it has a rather similar way of putting things into perspective. Should a currency trader would want to protect their existing position via a new trade, that is considered to be a Forex hedge. Consequently, for those who have traded in the long, they likewise need to secure themselves from a potential downside risk. For those who go short, they are given the benefit of the doubt that they are protecting themselves from upside risk.
There are actually two specific ways in engaging Forex hedging, once step involves spot contracts and the other one involves currency options. With spot contracts, there is an instant trade made between currencies and these are considered as effective as hedges since it is very easy to see what the possible outcome will be. Spot contracts are delivered within a certain number of days which can be very useful for Forex hedging as well.
It must be considered that Forex trading mainly involves buying or selling a currency pair at a certain exchange rate in the future and these options having the potential of limiting losses in a bad trade.