The concurrent selling and buying of currencies takes place on forex trading. The currencies are traded in pairs and dealers or brokers are used for the trading purpose.
Take an instance of the British pound sterling and the U.S. dollar (GBP/USD) or the U.S. dollar and the Swiss franc (USD/CHF).
Currency pairs are used in the selling or buying process in the forex market.
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Due to the fluctuating exchange rates, it is hard to determine the strongest currency. However, it can be determined for a given moment.
Major Currency Pairs
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The following currency pairs are classes as “Major Currency Pairs” in the forex market. They are frequently traded because of their liquid nature. It is worth noting that the most regularly traded pairs are the ones which contain USD.
CURRENCY PAIR | COUNTRIES | FX GEEK SPEAK |
GBP/USD | Great Britain / United States | “pound dollar” |
AUD/USD | Australia / United States | “aussie dollar” |
USD/JPY | United States / Japan | “dollar yen” |
NZD/USD | New Zealand / United States | “kiwi dollar” |
USD/CAD | United States / Canada | “dollar loonie” |
EUR/USD | United States / Eurozone | “euro dollar” |
USD/CHF | United States / Switzerland | “dollar swissy” |
Major Cross-Currency Pairs or Minor Currency Pairs
The USD is not a part of some of the currency pairs. Such pairs are classed as “Crosses” or “Cross-Currency Pairs. Minors is the term used to express the major crosses. The GBP, JPY and EUR are the most frequently traded currencies in the crosses.
Euro Crosses
CURRENCY PAIR | COUNTRIES | FX GEEK SPEAK |
EUR/GBP | Eurozone / Great Britain | “euro pound” |
EUR/AUD | Eurozone /Australia | “euro aussie” |
EUR/SEK | Eurozone / Sweden | “euro stockie” |
EUR/NZD | Eurozone / New Zealand | “euro kiwi” |
EUR/NOK | Eurozone / Norway | “euro nockie” |
EUR/CAD | Eurozone / Canada | “euro loonie” |
EUR/CHF | Eurozone / Switzerland | “euro swissy” |
Yen Crosses
CURRENCY PAIR | COUNTRIES | FX GEEK SPEAK |
CAD/JPY | Canada / Japan | “loonie yen” |
GBP/JPY | Great Britain / Japan | “guppy” or “pound yen” |
CHF/JPY | Switzerland / Japan | “swissy yen” |
AUD/JPY | Australia / Japan | “aussie yen” |
EUR/JPY | Eurozone / Japan | “yuppy” or “euro yen” |
NZD/JPY | New Zealand / Japan | “kiwi yen” |
Pound Crosses
CURRENCY PAIR | COUNTRIES | FX GEEK SPEAK |
GBP/CAD | Great Britain/ Canada | “pound loonie” |
GBP/AUD | Great Britain / Australia | “pound aussie” |
GBP/CHF | Great Britain / Switzerland | “pound swissy” |
GBP/NZD | Great Britain/ New Zealand | “pound kiwi” |
Other Crosses
CURRENCY PAIR | COUNTRIES | FX GEEK SPEAK |
AUD/CHF | Australia / Switzerland | “aussie swissy” |
AUD/NZD | Australia / New Zealand | “aussie kiwi” |
AUD/CAD | Australia / Canada | “aussie loonie” |
NZD/CHF | New Zealand / Switzerland | “kiwi swissy” |
NZD/CAD | New Zealand / Canada | “kiwi loonie” |
CAD/CHF | Canada / Switzerland | “loonie swissy” |
Exotic Currency Pairs
In an exotic currency pair, one of the currencies is of a developing nation. The instances of developing nations could be Kenya, Russia or South Korea.
A few instances of the currency pairs are demonstrated in the following chart. Take a look at the chart and try to guess which currency is represented by the symbols. It is always a good idea to have some background information before you begin trading on Forex. One thing that should be kept in mind is that the exotic pairs are quite expensive to trade as they are not widely traded like the “crosses” or “majors”.
CURRENCY PAIR | COUNTRIES | FX GEEK SPEAK |
USD/HKD | United States / Hong Kong | |
USD/MXN | United States / Mexico | “dollar mex” |
USD/ZAR | United States / South Africa | “dollar rand” |
USD/DKK | United States / Denmark | “dollar krone” |
USD/SGD | United States / Singapore | |
USD/THB | United States / Thailand | “dollar baht” |
USD/SEK | United States / Sweden | “dollar stockie” |
USD/NOK | United States / Norway | “dollar nockie” |
Exotic pairs usually come with a high cost as opposed to GBP/USD or USD/CHF. The element of cost should be considered before taking any decision.