A forward rate is an exchange rate agreed today for a currency exchange that settles at a specified future date, calculated from the spot rate adjusted for the interest-rate differential between the two currencies. Businesses and institutions use forward contracts to lock in a rate and hedge future currency exposure.
Retail traders rarely trade outright forwards, but the same interest-rate-differential logic is what produces the swap/rollover charge on an open leveraged position.
Next step
Guide
What an Exchange Rate Regime Changes About a Pair
Whether a currency floats, is steered, sits in a band or is administered outright is a published policy fact — and it decides more about how the pair behaves on your screen than anything on the chart.