Understanding the Basics of Forex Trading: Currency Pairs

The foreign exchange market, or Forex (FX) for short, is said to be the oldest international trade market. It is also the largest of all trade markets. Analysts have estimated the average yearly trading volume on Forex to be over a trillion dollars. The Forex is not an exchange centralized in any one place, and trading on it takes place 24 hours a day and seven days a week without pause.

To trade on this market, you have to understand what is being traded. Forex trading deals with world currencies. A trader buys and sells currencies by exchanging one form of money for another, with the goal of making a profit from the transaction. The market quotations in Forex specify pairs of currencies. They are depicted by showing the base currency followed by a different currency, for example: USD/EUR or GBP/USD.

Currency Trading

The most commonly traded Forex currency pairs are considered to be:

EUR/USD: Euro vs. U.S. Dollar

GBP/USD: British Pound vs. U.S. Dollar

USD/JPY: U.S. Dollar vs. Japanese Yen

USD/CHF: U.S. Dollar vs. Swiss Franc

Here's how to interpret a typical Forex quotation. The currency that is shown first is generally known as the base currency, but it is known by other terms as well. It can be called the domestic currency or accounting currency or even be termed as the primary currency of a Forex currency pair. The currency that is shown in second place is called the counter or quote currency. The base currency is always equal to a single monetary unit of exchange (for example, 1 USD, 1 EUR, 1 GBP). This is generally implied and not shown. The quote currency is the amount of that currency that is able to purchase a single unit of the base currency. Forex currency pairs normally depict what is termed the "bid" and "ask" price. The bid price refers to the price at which the broker is willing to buy, while the ask price refers to the price at which the broker is willing to sell.

Let's take a look at a sample quotation. Consider a USD/EUR currency pair that is quoted as USD/EUR = 1.8. If you purchase this currency pair, you will receive 1 USD for every 1.8 euros that you sell. If you sell this currency pair, you will earn 1.5 euros for every 1 USD that you sell.

Understanding the Basics of Forex Trading: Currency Pairs