One currency, priced against another.
Majors, minors and crosses from a single balance. Every position here is a view on two economies at once: what you buy is paid for with what you sell, and the quote between them is the whole trade.
Major, minor and cross pairs, grouped the way the market groups them. What is tradable, and what it costs, is set out in the platform rather than on this page.
- Major pairs
- Minor pairs
- Crosses
What you are actually trading
A currency has no price of its own. It only has a price against another currency, and that relationship is what the pair in front of you represents.
A price with two sides
The first currency in the pair is the one being priced; the second is what it is priced in. Buying the pair means taking the first and paying with the second, and selling does the same thing in reverse.
Traded between institutions, not on a floor
Currencies change hands over the counter across a network of banks and dealers rather than at one exchange. That is why quoting carries on wherever a large financial centre happens to be open.
Continuous through the trading week
The week opens with the Asia-Pacific session and ends after New York on Friday. In between there is no daily bell, only busier hours and quieter ones.
Long and short are the same action
Selling a pair involves no borrowing step, because it is simply buying the second currency with the first. Positioning against a currency is as ordinary as positioning for it.
How a currency book is grouped
Names only. There are no prices, quotes or costs on this page, and the platform's instrument list is what decides which pairs you can trade.
Major pairs
Every major has the US dollar on one side. These are the most heavily traded pairs of the day, and the ones most traders learn on.
- EUR/USD
- GBP/USD
- USD/JPY
- USD/CHF
- USD/CAD
- AUD/USD
- NZD/USD
Minor pairs
Other developed and emerging currencies quoted against the dollar. They trade in thinner conditions than the majors and react harder to local news.
- USD/SEK
- USD/NOK
- USD/DKK
- USD/SGD
- USD/PLN
- USD/MXN
- USD/ZAR
Crosses
No dollar on either side. A cross is the direct way to hold a view on the two economies named in it, without a dollar opinion riding along.
- EUR/GBP
- EUR/JPY
- GBP/JPY
- EUR/CHF
- EUR/AUD
- GBP/AUD
- AUD/JPY
- CAD/JPY
- CHF/JPY
The shape of a currency day
None of the following is a strategy. It is the mechanical behaviour of the market, and it decides how a position placed in one session survives the next.
- 01
The session clock
Trading rolls west from Sydney and Tokyo into London, then into New York. The overlap between London and New York is the busiest stretch of the day, and the hours after New York closes are the thinnest. Which session is open usually matters more than the calendar date.
- 02
Central banks set the tone
Rate decisions, the language around them and the expected path from here are the market's main input. A pair tends to follow the difference in expected returns between the two economies named in it, rather than the level of rates in either one on its own.
- 03
The calendar moves prices
Inflation, employment, growth and survey releases arrive on a published schedule, and the reaction is to the gap between the figure and what was expected. Quotes can widen and prices can gap through a release, so a stop is an instruction to exit, not a guaranteed exit price.
- 04
Positions are financed overnight
Holding a pair means holding one currency and owing the other. A position carried past the daily rollover is credited or debited the funding difference between the two, which can work for you or against you depending on the side you hold.
- 05
Liquidity has a rhythm
Ranges tend to expand as a major centre opens and around scheduled events, then contract in the gaps between them. A stop that looks generous inside a quiet range can look thin the moment the next session arrives.
- 06
Correlations you did not ask for
Pairs that share a currency tend to move together, so several separate tickets can quietly add up to one large bet on the same thing. Reading your exposure currency by currency, rather than position by position, is the habit worth building early.
Before your first currency trade
If your question is not covered here, ask us before you place the trade rather than after.
Contact usWhat does a pair like EUR/USD actually mean?
The first currency is the one being priced and the second is what it is priced in. Buying EUR/USD means buying euros and paying for them with dollars, and the quote is how many dollars one euro costs. Selling it does the opposite.
Is the currency market really open around the clock?
Through the trading week it does not stop; it hands over from one financial centre to the next. It does close over the weekend, and conditions in the quietest hours are nothing like conditions during the London and New York overlap.
What happens to a position I leave open overnight?
It stays open and it gets financed. Each day a position is carried past the rollover point, the funding difference between the two currencies is applied to the account, sometimes in your favour and sometimes against it. The costs page sets out how that is worked out.
Why do majors and crosses behave so differently?
A major carries a dollar view whether you wanted one or not, because the dollar is on one side of it. A cross takes the dollar out, so the position responds mainly to the two economies actually named in the pair.
Do I have to trade around the news calendar?
You have to know it is there. Prices can move sharply and trade thinly through a scheduled release, so a position sized for calm conditions may not survive one. Whether you trade the event or stand aside is a strategy decision, but being surprised by it is avoidable.
The rest of the account
One balance and one set of margin rules sit behind all four, so moving between them does not mean moving money.
Start with a pair you can explain
If you can say which two currencies are involved, which one you are buying and what would prove the trade wrong, you have enough to size it properly. Open the account when that is true.