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The currency markets · lesson 3 of 20
Majors, crosses and exotics
The most traded pairs are called majors and all have the US dollar on one side: for example EUR/USD, USD/JPY, GBP/USD and USD/CHF. According to the April 2022 survey of the Bank for International Settlements, the dollar appeared in 88% of trades.
Pairs that do not contain the dollar are called crosses, such as EUR/GBP or EUR/JPY. They are heavily traded but a little less liquid than the majors.
Exotic pairs combine a main currency with that of a smaller or emerging economy. They have wider gaps between buying and selling prices and can move sharply.
Questions
1. What do the major pairs have in common?
They all have the US dollar on one side
The majors are the most traded pairs and always include the dollar.
2. What is a cross pair?
A pair that does not contain the dollar
EUR/GBP and EUR/JPY are examples of crosses.
3. What characterises exotic pairs?
They have wider price gaps and sharp moves
With less trading, costs rise and prices move more.
Continue from lesson 4
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This page in other languages
- Major, cross ed esotiche (Italiano)
- Majeures, croisées et exotiques (Français)
- Majors, Crosses und Exoten (Deutsch)
- Principales, cruces y exóticos (Español)
- Principais, cruzados e exóticos (Português)
- Основные пары, кроссы и экзотические пары (Русский)
- 主要货币对、交叉盘与小众货币对 (中文)
- メジャー、クロス、エキゾチック (日本語)
- मेजर, क्रॉस और एग्ज़ॉटिक (हिन्दी)
- 메이저, 크로스, 이그조틱 (한국어)
- Majörler, çapraz pariteler ve egzotikler (Türkçe)
- Major, cross, dan exotic (Bahasa Indonesia)
- الأزواج الرئيسية والتقاطعية والغريبة (العربية)
- Cặp chính, cặp chéo và cặp ngoại lai (Tiếng Việt)
- Pary główne, krzyżowe i egzotyczne (Polski)