Major Traded Currency And Currency Pairs

 MAJOR TRADED CURRENCIES

The 8 most frequently traded currencies in the Forex market are USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, CHF, CAD, NZD and AUD as listed below. They are also called the Major Currencies.

In the Table, you will see the Currency Symbol, The Country that owns the Currency, The name of the Currency and the Nickname given to each currency.

 Let me do some little explanation on the Table.

Each major traded currency is known only by the Symbol. The symbols are derived from using two letters from the name of the country and one letter from the currency name

For example:

·       USD is taken from United States Dollar,

·       GBP is Great Britain Pound,

·       JPY is Japanese Yen.

·       CAD is Canadian Dollars

·       NZD is the New Zealand Dollar.

The currencies also have Nicknames. For example:

USD is nicknamed Bucks, green back.

GBP is nicknamed Cable.

EUR is Fiber

NZD is Kiwi. Etc. 

All other currencies that are not included in the Majors are known as the Minor Currencies. The minor currencies are traded by professionals only.

For your convenient, I would suggest you concentrate on the major currencies. These pairs are the most liquid in the Forex market.

I hope this makes sense?

         CURRENCY PAIRS

As stated earlier, Currencies are traded in pairs through a broker or dealer.

Example of currency pairs as represented symbolically include; AUD/USED, USD/CAD, EUR/USD, GBP/JPY..etc.

When you trade in the forex market, you buy or sell in currency pairs. Currency reacts based on which currency is stronger at the particular point in time.

Currency pairs could be classified into four viz

Major Currency Pairs,

Crosses Currency Pairs and

Exotic Pairs

 Major Currency Pairs

They are basically currency that contains the U.S. dollar (USD) on one side and are constantly traded in the FX Market. Most traders prefer them because of their liquidity in nature. In summary, they are major widely traded currency pairs in the world.

Below is a table of major currency pairs;

Cross-Currency Pairs

These are simply currency pair that does not contain the U.S. dollar (USD).

The major crosses in this aspect are called "the minors." The most traded crosses are derived from these three major; JPY, EUR and GBP.

Let’s take a look at the crosses on after the other.

YEN CROSSES

Euro Crosses

Pound Crosses

Hold the break. We are not done yet. Let’s take a look at some other major crosses too.                                                                 

Other Crosses

Exotic Pairs

Exotic pairs are a combination one major currency paired with the currency of an upcoming economy, like South Africa, Thailand, Brazil, or Singapore.

Examples of some exotic pairs are shown below;

You may be surprise to see some of these exotic currency pairs, but mostly, it depends on your broker.

It is good we let you know about them even if you need not trade them. Because the transaction costs related to these pairs are generally bigger.

The spreads could be twice or even trice bigger than the normal major currency pairs.