The Currencies Being Traded On The Forex Market

In theory there is no limitation on the currencies which can be traded on the Forex market but, in reality, the market will only support currencies for which there is both a supply and demand.

By far and away the most traded currency is the US dollar which appears in about 90% of all trades. If this figure seems unbelievably high then, as we will see in a minute, each trade must involve two currencies and thus the total of market activity would add up to 200% and not the 100% you might expect.

Aside from the US dollar the other major currencies traded are the Euro, the Japanese Yen, the Pound Sterling and the Swiss Franc. In many of the examples we give throughout this course we will normally include the US dollar as one side of the trade simply because it is the market's dominant currency.

Unlike may other markets in which you simply buy or sell the security in question, there must be two sides to every Forex trade (a currency that is bought and a currency that is sold) and the first thing we need to learn is the language used when referring to particular currencies and the manner in which prices are quoted for both buying and selling.

Currencies are denoted using the ISO (International Standardization Organization) international currency codes which, for example, denote the US dollar as USD, the Euro as EUR, the Japanese Yen as JPY, the Pound Sterling as GBP and the Swiss Franc as CHF.

Recommended books from

Forex on Five Hours a Week: How to Make Money Trading on Your Own Time (Wiley...
by Raghee Horner
Amazon Price: $37.80
Customer Review: While I think this is a decent book for people new to forex, I purchased the epub version and it has at least 1 error on every page, words misspelled, word separations, etc.. annoying when trying to read through the errors, seriously needs some proofreading, hopefully the print version isnt as bad..
 

The Million Dollar Set-Up (The Million Dollar Forex Set-Up)
by Raghee Horner & Jeffrey Alan Brandzel
Amazon Price:
Customer Review: I was allways interested in Forex tradeing but I was never comftorble with the market untill I read The Million Dollar Forex Set-Up book. The Million Dollar Forex Set-Up book was well written and very well explained. This book was not only full of very intelligent information but also held my interest the whole way through. I reccomend this book f...
 

Forex Trading: Trade On The Forex Market for Maximum Profits! AAA+++
by RRW
Amazon Price:
 

WORLD FOREX: Dollar Up Vs Euro, Down Vs Yen After US GDP Report - Wall Street...
30 Jul 2010 at 3:51pm

Moneycontrol.com
WORLD FOREX: Dollar Up Vs Euro, Down Vs Yen After US GDP Report
Wall Street Journal
Market watchers said the yen also got a boost as retail currency investors were forced to cut positions in foreign currencies ahead of the introduction of ...
WORLD FOREX: UK Pound Hits 5-Month High In Unsettled TradingWall Street Journal
FOREX-Dollar...
 
Forex Trading ? World Currency Exchange Rates ? Dollar Drops Against All Majo...
29 Jul 2010 at 10:28pm

Reuters UK
Forex Trading ? World Currency Exchange Rates ? Dollar Drops Against All Major ...
Best Syndication
(Best Syndication News) The dollar dropped against all major currencies today while the Swiss franc gained against them all (see the forex charts below). ...
Forex Trading and Currency Exchange RatesBest Syndication
Forex news: franc edges s...
 
Forex - US economy expanded at 2.4pc rate - ForexTV.com
31 Jul 2010 at 3:23am

Forex - US economy expanded at 2.4pc rate
ForexTV.com
Forex (or FX or off-exchange foreign currency futures and options) trading involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for every investor. ...
Basics of Forex Currency RatesForex Rate It! (blog)

all 45 news articles »