Currency Pairs

Currencies are traded in pairs. A currency pair is the quotation of the relative value of a currency unit against the unit of another currency. The first currency of a currency pair is called the base currency, and the second currency is called the quote, or counter, currency.
Currency pairs are written by concatenating the ISO currency codes (ISO 4217) of the base currency and the quote currency, separating them with a slash character.
Example: GBP/USD

• GBP -> base currency
• USD -> quote/counter currency

According to the average daily trading volume and to the liquidity we distinguish between: Majors, Minors and Exotic Pairs.

Major pairs

The most traded currency pairs in the world are called the Majors.
They involve Euro, US dollar, Japanese yen, Pound sterling, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar and the Swiss franc.
The Majors are:

• EUR/USD - Euro/US dollar
• USD/JPY - US dollar/Japanese Yen
• GBP/USD - British Pound/US dollar
• AUD/USD - Australian dollar/US dollar
• USD/CHF - US dollar/Swiss franc
• USD/CAD - US dollar/Canadian dollar

These currency pairs have high liquidity and represent more than 80% of the total Forex volume.

Minor Pairs

The Minor Currency Pairs ("Minors”) consist of those currencies traded less actively than the Majors, although their economies are still significant and they also tend to be active in international trade.

Exotic Pairs

The Exotic Pairs ("Exotics") are those pairs that are from emerging economies rather than from developed/industrialized nations. This includes:

• USD/TRY - US dollar/Turkish lira
• EUR/TRY - Euro/Turkish lira
• USD/ZAR - US dollar/South African rand
• EUR/ZAR - Euro/South African rand
• USD/CNY - US dollar/Chinese Yuan
• USD/INR - US dollar/Indian Rupee
• USD/MXN - US dollar/Mexican peso
• USD/SGD - US dollar/Singapore dollar
• etc.

Currency pairs that are not paired versus the dollar are called "Currency crosses" or simply "Crosses". Pairs that involve the euro are often called "Euro Crosses".

Currency Crosses GBP/CAD - British pound/Canadian dollar GBP/CHF - British pound/Swiss franc GBP/JPY - British pound/Japanese yen GBP/NZD - British pound/New Zealand dollar GBP/AUD - British pound/Australian dollar CAD/JPY - Canadian dollar/Japanese yen AUD/JPY - Australian dollar/Japanese yen AUD/CAD - Australian dollar/Canadian dollar AUD/NZD - Aussie dollar/New Zealand dollar AUD/CHF - Australian dollar/Swiss franc NZD/JPY - New Zealand dollar/Japanese yen CHF/JPY - Swiss franc/Japanese yen etc.

Euro Crosses EUR/CHF - Euro/Swiss franc EUR/JPY - Euro/Japanese yen EUR/GBP - Euro/British pound EUR/CAD - Euro/Canadian dollar EUR/AUD - Euro/Australian dollar EUR/NZD - Euro/New Zealand dollar

Currency Pairs/Currencies nicknames

Currency pairs and currencies are often referred to by nicknames by traders rather than their symbolic nomenclature. These are some common examples:

Currencies Currency Nickname Australian dollar (AUD) Aussie British pound (GBP) Cable / Sterling Canadian dollar (CAD) Loonie New Zealand dollar (NZD) Kiwi Swiss franc (CHF) Swissy U.S. dollar (USD) Buck / Greenback	Currency Pairs Currency Nickname GBP/USD (British Pound/US Dollar) Cable EUR/USD (Euro/US Dollar) Euro or Fiber USD/CHF (Swiss Franc/US Dollar) Swissy USD/CAD (US Dollar/ Canadian Dollar) Loonie AUD/USD (Australian Dollar/US Dollar) Ozzie EUR/GBP (Euro/British Pound) Chunnel USD/JPY (US Dollar/Japanese Yen) Yen
*Table taken from Wikipedia (latest data can be obtained from the Triennial Central Bank Survey of Foreign Exchange and Derivatives Market Activity, http://www.bis.org/publ/rpfxf10t.pdf)

Most traded currencies by value

Currency distribution of global foreign exchange market turnover[1]

Rank	Currency	ISO 4217 code	Symbol	daily share (%)
1	United States dollar	USD	$	84.9%
2	Euro	EUR	€	39.1%
3	Japanese yen	JPY	¥	19.0%
4	Pound sterling	GBP	£	12.9%
5	Australian dollar	AUD	$	7.6%
6	Swiss franc	CHF	Fr	6.4%
7	Canadian dollar	CAD	$	5.3%
8	Hong Kong dollar	HKD	$	2.4%
9	Swedish krona	SEK	kr	2.2%
10	New Zealand dollar	NZD	$	1.6%
11	South Korean won	KRW	₩	1.5%
12	Singapore dollar	SGD	$	1.4%
13	Norwegian krone	NOK	kr	1.3%
14	Mexican peso	MXN	$	1.3%
15	Indian rupee	INR	$	0.9%
16	Other			12.2%
	Total			200%

The ISO Code of the most known currencies: AUD - Australian dollar BRL - Brazilian real CAD - Canadian dollar CHF - Swiss Franc CNY - Chinese Yuan DKK - Danish krone EUR - Euro GBP - British Pound HKD - Hong Kong dollar HUF - Hungarian forint IDR - Indonesian rupiah ILS - Israeli new sheqel INR - Indian rupee JPY - Japanese yen MXN - Mexican peso MYR - Malaysian ringgit NOK - Norvegian krone NZD - New Zealand dollar PKR - Pakistani rupee PLN - Polish zloty RON - Romanian new leu RUB - Russian rouble SEK - Swedish krona SGD - Singapore dollar TRY - Turkish lira USD - United States dollar ZAR - South African rand

ISO Codes for precious metals: XAU - Gold XAG - Silver XPD - Palladium XPT - Platinum