Most people’s idea of forex trading is online: you sit at your computer and trade your dollars for yens and euros in various parts of the world. But that’s just one of the many ways you can participate in the forex market. Long before online trading became possible, people were buying and selling currencies in a dozen different forms. Some of them remain popular today. The three most common ways to trade currencies are the forex spot market, the options market, the futures market, and exchange-traded funds.

Spot trading involves on-the-spot trading of currencies, based on the market prices in effect at the time of the trade. This is how most people get their start in forex trading, because it’s simple, flexible, and perhaps most importantly, cheap—one can get started with a $100 capital. And because it’s so popular, there’s a wealth of information available, from online resources to crash courses to free books and pamphlets from brokers.

Futures are often considered a market separate from forex, although a futures contract may involve currencies and thus fall under the spectrum. One important difference is that the futures market is centralized, much like stocks. This is good in the sense that there’s lots of transparency and regulation, while avoiding the monopolistic tendencies of the stock market. The catch is that it’s not liquid; since it’s a contract for a future transaction, money is locked in for a given period and you can’t buy or sell on a whim.

An options contract basically overlies a futures contract. It’s a piece of paper that says you can buy an asset, typically a futures contract, at a given time and at a given price. The contract gives you the right, but not an obligation, to buy the futures contract at the expiration date. “Selling” an option, however, makes buying or selling mandatory. Forex options are also centralized; that is, they go through regulating boards such as the Boston Options Exchange. As such, they aren’t as flexible or liquid as spot forex.

The newest addition to forex trade methods is exchange-traded funds. These are essentially a cross between stocks and forex. An ETF typically includes a bundle of shares and currencies, which lets you branch out into a variety of assets instead of sticking to one. This is ideal for beginning investors who would like to diversify, a common strategy for protecting against loss. Again, the drawback is that it’s not a 24-hour market, and the presence of stocks tends to drive up transaction costs.