Forex trading is the simultaneous buying of one currency and selling another. Currencies are traded through a broker or dealer, and are traded in pairs.

For example the euro and the U.S. dollar (EUR/USD) or the British pound and the Japanese yen (GBP/JPY).

When you trade in the forex market, you buy or sell in currency pairs.

Imagine each currency 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.

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

Yen Crosses

Pound Crosses

Other Crosses

Exotic Currency Pairs

No, exotic pairs are not exotic belly dancers who happen to be twins. Exotic currency 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 currency 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.

It’s not 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 currency pairs, remember to factor this in your decision.

G10 Currencies

The G10 currencies are ten of the most heavily traded currencies in the world, which are also ten of the world’s most liquid currencies.

Traders regularly buy and sell them in an open market with minimal impact on their own international exchange rates.

BRIICS

BRIICS  is the acronym coined for an association of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia, China and South Africa.

Originally the first four were grouped as “BRIC” (or “the BRICs”). BRICs was a term coined by Goldman Sachs to name today’s new high-growth emerging economies.

BRIICS is the term used by the OECD, the rich-country think tank adds Indonesia and South Africa.