Most people will only really worry about how the pound is fairing on the forex market when they are due to go on holiday. However, there are a number of people out there that live and breath the world of currency trading, as even a small movement in the market (known as a pip), could make a huge difference to what is won or lost.

The United States Dollar (shortened to USD in forex trading) has not been as strong against the pound as it was around six months ago. Today, the rate is around USD 1.65 to every pound exchanged and this means that if you have a holiday in the States, you will find that it is quite good value for money over there.

Other currencies: the Euro (EUR) and the Australian Dollar (AUD) have been doing better against our currency, therefore you get much less when you exchange your pounds.

The Euro is at a rate of EUR 1.13 at the moment and by the time you come to finding the best deals to exchange your money, you may well be only looking at EUR 1.08. This is very bad news for anyone who has a holiday booked to Europe.

The Australian Dollar has proven to be the biggest shock over the past year. The Australian economy has been doing far too well, compared with ours, and this means that if you have a trip planned down under, expect everything to be far more expensive than you think. People crow about Australia being relatively cheap - well when I was there at the start of the year, I definitely had the opposite impression.