Foreign Exchange trading is in general the trading of many currencies of the world. It is emerging as the largest and least regulated market providing the greatest liquidity to investors.
This trading is always done in pairs – Currency Pairs, one currency is bought and the other is sold. Together, they make up what is known as the "exchange rate".
For example, you may buy Euros with Dollars, anticipating that the Euro to increase in value relative to the Dollar. If the Euro rises relative to the Dollar, you sell the position and can earn a profit.
Most commonly traded currencies or the “majors” are:
US Dollar (USD)
Japanese Yen (JPY)
Euro (EUR)
British Pound (GBP)
Canadian Dollar (CAD)
Australian Dollar (AUD)
Swiss Franc (CHF)
Most commonly traded currency pairs are:
US Dollar and the Japanese Yen (USD/JPY)
Euro and US Dollar (EUR/USD)
US Dollar and Swiss franc (USD/CHF)
British Pound and US Dollar (GBP/USD)
While quoting currency pairs, the first currency is referred to as the base currency and the second as the counter or quote currency. The base currency is always equal to 1 monetary unit of exchange, for example, 1 Dollar, 1 Pound, 1 Euro.
It is also known as domestic currency or accounting currency and sometimes also referred to as the primary currency of a Forex currency pair. The price represents how much of the quote currency is needed to get one unit of the base currency.
When a currency is quoted against US Dollar, it is known as direct rate. Any currency not against the US Dollar is called a cross rate.
The quote currency is translated into a certain number of units of the base currency. This is also referred to as the foreign currency, secondary currency or counter currency. For example, if you find that a quote of USD/JPY is at 1.30, it says that for every 1 US Dollar, you get 1.30 Japanese Yen. When you quote for AUD/JPY of 67.73, it says that for every 1 Australian Dollar, you get 67.73 Japanese Yen.
Currency pairs are generally traded as 100,000 units of the base currency. For example, if you were buying EUR/USD at 0.95 you would be paying Dollars for Euros as follows:
100,000 x .95 = $95,000 for 100,000 Euros
When you find a quote going up, it means that the value of the base currency is rising or in other words, it is getting stronger. If a quote is going down, it means that the base currency is weakening.
The dominant base currencies are:
Euro - EUR/USD, EUR/GBP, EUR/CHF, EUR/JPY, EUR/CAD
British Pound - GBP/USD, GBP/CHF, GBP/JPY, GBP/CAD
US Dollar - USD/CAD, USD/JPY, USD/CHF
The currency pairs are usually traded and quoted with a ‘bid’ and ‘ask’ price. The ‘bid’ is the price at which you are willing to buy and the ‘ask’ is the price at which price you are willing to sell.
For example, if the USD/EUR currency pair is quoted as - USD/EUR = 1.5 and you purchase the pair, this means that for every 1.5 euros that you sell, you get US$1. If you sold the currency pair, you receive 1.5 euros for every US$1 you sell.
The key to successful trading lies in selecting one or two pairs of currencies that you wish to trade in as a beginner. As you gain confidence, you may wish to add more pairs in your trading portfolio. But for a new trader or investor it is always advised to have limited pair just to ensure simplicity. And that what ForexGen Promises with.
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