When you trade in the forex market, you buy or sell in currency pairs.
Imagine each pair constantly in a “tug of war” with each currency on its own side of the rope. Exchange rates fluctuate based on which currency is stronger at the moment.
Major Currency Pairs
The currency pairs listed below are considered the “majors”. These pairs all contain the U.S. dollar (USD) on one side and are the most frequently traded. The majors are the most liquid and widely traded currency pairs in the world.
Pair | Countries | FX Geek Speak |
EUR/USD | Euro zone / United States | "euro dollar" |
USD/JPY | United States / Japan | "dollar yen" |
GBP/USD | United Kingdom / United States | "pound dollar" |
USD/CHF | United States/ Switzerland | "dollar swissy" |
USD/CAD | United States / Canada | “dollar loonie” |
AUD/USD | Australia / United States | "aussie dollar" |
NZD/USD | New Zealand / United States | "kiwi dollar" |
Major Cross-Currency Pairs or Minor Currency Pairs
Currency pairs that don’t contain the U.S. dollar (USD) are known as cross-currency pairs or simply as the “crosses.” Major crosses are also known as “minors.” The most actively traded crosses are derived from the three major non-USD currencies: EUR, JPY, and GBP.
Euro Crosses
Pair | Countries | FX Geek Speak |
EUR/CHF | Euro zone / Switzerland | "euro swissy" |
EUR/GBP | Euro zone / United Kingdom | "euro pound" |
EUR/CAD | Euro zone / Canada | "euro loonie" |
EUR/AUD | Euro zone / Australia | "euro aussie" |
EUR/NZD | Euro zone / New Zealand | "euro kiwi" |
Yen Crosses
Pair | Countries | FX Geek Speak |
EUR/JPY | Euro zone / Japan | “euro yen" or "yuppy” |
GBP/JPY | United Kingdom / Japan | “pound yen" or "guppy” |
CHF/JPY | Switzerland / Japan | “swissy yen” |
CAD/JPY | Canada / Japan | “loonie yen” |
AUD/JPY | Australia / Japan | “aussie yen” |
NZD/JPY | New Zealand / Japan | “kiwi yen” |
Pound Crosses
Pair | Countries | FX Geek Speak |
GBP/CHF | United Kingdom / Switzerland | "pound swissy" |
GBP/AUD | United Kingdom / Australia | "pound aussie" |
GBP/CAD | United Kingdom / Canada | "pound loonie" |
GBP/NZD | United Kingdom / New Zealand | "pound kiwi" |
Other Crosses
Pair | Countries | FX Geek Speak |
AUD/CHF | Australia / Switzerland | "aussie swissy" |
AUD/CAD | Australia / Canada | "aussie loonie" |
AUD/NZD | Australia / New Zealand | "aussie kiwi" |
CAD/CHF | Canada / Switzerland | "loonie swissy" |
NZD/CHF | New Zealand / Switzerland | "kiwi swissy" |
NZD/CAD | New Zealand / Canada | "kiwi loonie" |
Exotic Pairs
No, exotic pairs are not exotic belly dancers who happen to be twins. Exotic pairs are made up of one major currency paired with the currency of an emerging economy, such as Brazil, Mexico, or Hungary. The chart below contains a few examples of exotic currency pairs. Wanna take a shot at guessing what those other currency symbols stand for?
Depending on your forex broker, you may see the following exotic pairs so it’s good to know what they are. Keep in mind that these pairs aren’t as heavily traded as the “majors” or “crosses,” so the transaction costs associated with trading these pairs are usually bigger.
Pair | Countries | FX Geek Speak |
USD/HKD | United States / Hong Kong | |
USD/SGD | United States / Singapore | |
USD/ZAR | United States / South Africa | "dollar rand" |
USD/THB | United States / Thailand | "dollar baht" |
USD/MXN | United States / Mexico | "dollar peso" |
USD/DKK | United States / Denmark | "dollar krone" |
USD/SEK | United States / Sweden | |
USD/NOK | United States / Norway | |
It isn’t unusual to see spreads that are two or three times bigger than that of EUR/USD or USD/JPY. So if you want to trade exotics pairs, remember to factor this in your decision.
The forex market is considered an Over-the-Counter (OTC), or “Interbank”, market due to the fact that the entire market is run electronically, within a network of banks, continuously over a 24-hour period.
This means that the spot forex market is spread all over the globe with no central location. They can take place anywhere, even at the top of Mt. Fuji!
The forex OTC market is by far the biggest and most popular financial market in the world, traded globally by a large number of individuals and organizations.
In the OTC market, participants determine who they want to trade with depending on trading conditions, attractiveness of prices, and reputation of the trading counterpart.
The chart below shows the ten most actively traded currencies.
The dollar is the most traded currency, taking up 84.9% of all transactions. The euro’s share is second at 39.1%, while that of the yen is third at 19.0%. As you can see, most of the major currencies are hogging the top spots on this list!
*Because two currencies are involved in each transaction, the sum of the percentage shares of individual currencies totals 200% instead of 100%
The chart above shows just how often the U.S. dollar is traded in the forex market. It is on one side of a ridiculous 84.9% of all reported transactions!
The Dollar is King
You’ve probably noticed how often we keep mentioning the U.S. dollar (USD). If the USD is one half of every major currency pair, and the majors comprise 75% of all trades, then it’s a must to pay attention to the U.S. dollar. The USD is king!
In fact, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the U.S. dollar comprises roughly 62% of the world’s official foreign exchange reserves! Because almost every investor, business, and central bank own it, they pay attention to the U.S. dollar.
There are also other significant reasons why the U.S. dollar plays a central role in the forex market:
- The United States economy is the LARGEST economy in the world.
- The U.S. dollar is the reserve currency of the world.
- The United States has the largest and most liquid financial markets in the world.
- The United States has a super stable political system.
- The United States is the world’s sole military superpower.
- The U.S. dollar is the medium of exchange for many cross-border transactions. For example, oil is priced in U.S. dollars. So if Mexico wants to buy oil from Saudi Arabia, it can only be bought with U.S. dollar. If Mexico doesn’t have any dollars, it has to sell its pesos first and buy U.S. dollars.
Speculation
One important thing to note about the forex market is that while commercial and financial transactions are part of trading volume, most currency trading is based on speculation.
In other words, most trading volume comes from traders that buy and sell based on intraday price movements.
The trading volume brought about by speculators is estimated to be more than 90%!
The scale of the forex speculative market means that liquidity – the amount of buying and selling volume happening at any given time – is extremely high.
This makes it very easy for anyone to buy and sell currencies.
From the perspective of an investor, liquidity is very important because it determines how easily price can change over a given time period. A liquid market environment like forex enables huge trading volumes to happen with very little effect on price, or price action.
While the forex market is relatively very liquid, the market depth could change depending on the currency pair and time of day.
In our trading sessions part of the school, we’ll tell you how the time of your trades can affect the pair you’re trading.
Different Ways to Trade Forex
Because forex is so awesome, traders came up with a number of different ways to invest or speculate in currencies. Among these, the most popular ones are forex spot, futures, options, and exchange-traded funds (or ETFs).
Spot Market
In the spot market, currencies are traded immediately or “on the spot,” using the current market price. What’s awesome about this market is its simplicity, liquidity, tight spreads, and round-the-clock operations. It’s very easy to participate in this market since accounts can be opened with as little as a $25! (Not that we suggest you do) – you’ll learn why in our Capitalization lesson! Aside from that, most brokers usually provide charts, news, and research for free.
Futures
Futures are contracts to buy or sell a certain asset at a specified price on a future date (That’s why they’re called futures!). Forex futures were created by the
Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) way back in 1972, when bell bottoms and platform boots were still in style. Since futures contracts are standardized and traded through a centralized exchange, the market is very transparent and well-regulated. This means that price and transaction information are readily available.
Options
An “option” is a financial instrument that gives the buyer the right or the option, but not the obligation, to buy or sell an asset at a specified price on the option’s expiration date. If a trader “sold” an option, then he or she would be obliged to buy or sell an asset at a specific price at the expiration date.
Just like futures, options are also traded on an exchange, such as the Chicago Board Options Exchange, the International Securities Exchange, or the Philadelphia Stock Exchange. However, the disadvantage in trading forex options is that market hours are limited for certain options and the liquidity is not nearly as great as the futures or spot market.
Exchange-traded Funds
Exchange-traded funds or ETFs are the youngest members of the forex world.
An ETF could contain a set of stocks combined with some currencies, allowing the trader to diversify with different assets. These are created by financial institutions and can be traded like stocks through an exchange. Like forex options, the limitation in trading ETFs is that the market isn’t open 24 hours. Also, since ETFs contain stocks, these are subject to trading commissions and other transaction costs.