Currency Pairs and Their Characteristics

Of course, we can’t trade currencies without knowing about them. There are a large number of currencies that traders can choose from for establishing their trades and portfolios, but most currency traders will concentrate on a few of the more widely traded, and liquid Forex currency pairs such as the EUR/USD, GBP/JPY, or USD/CHF, which are all currencies of major powers. It is possible to divide currencies into many different groups based on the criteria chosen, but in general currency account position and interest rate policies of central banks are the most important values for classifying them.

If we try to divide currencies on the basis of financial soundness and economic policies, the following is one plausible categorization.

Reserve Currencies

These are the currencies of nations which have a dominant role in global economic transactions. The European Union, Japan, the United States are the important powers the currencies of which fill the coffers of central banks around the world. Among those, the role of the Japanese Yen as a reserve currency has been diminishing since the 90’s, while that of the Euro has been increasing continuously since the launch of the currency. Among all those changes however, the US Dollar has remained as the one major currency that has the greatest preponderance over everything else in central bank currency allocations. With about two thirds of global forex reserves denominated in the dollar, the USD is the reserve currency of the world.

For traders, an important rule of thumb is that reserve currencies as a group tend to depreciate in times of boom, and to appreciate at times of economic trouble. This is a generalization; needless to say there is a degree of variation among the behaviour of different currencies, but due to the financial structure of the global economy, economic activity usually leads to abundant supply of reserve currencies during robust economic growth.

Commodity Currencies

Currencies such as the Australian and Canadian Dollars, the Brazilian Real, the South African Rand, or the Russian Ruble, which are the monetary units of commodity exporting nations, are called commodity currencies. There’s a great degree of diversity among commodity currencies in terms of trade balance or economic sophistication. However, due to the large currency inflows generated by proceeds from the sales of commodities, the value of these currencies is strongly dependent on the buoyancy of global commodity market.

Exporter Currencies

Currencies of nations like Singapore, Japan, China, with large forex reserves accumulated through exports, are called exporter currencies. The value of these currencies is related strongly to the health of the global economy. As they depend on foreigners for economic buoyancy, any disturbance to the health of the global financial system can have outsized consequences for these nations. Nonetheless, due to their large forex reserves they are well-placed to withstand the impact of any economic shock better than most of their peers.

High-risk currencies

These may also belong to any of the other categories. High-risk currencies are the currencies of nations with high deficits (budget or trade), and high interest rates. Examples are Romanian Leu, currencies of Baltic nations, or Turkey. The currencies appreciate at times of boom, as capital from developed economies is directed to their assets, and depreciate during recessions and crises, as global capital discards risky assets.

Conclusion

Although the descriptions above may sound simple and brief, they already contain much of the basic concepts that are important for currency traders. The key to a successful trading career is carefully evaluating the widely available data, and establishing a disciplined and simple strategy which can be used to exploit the information for profit. How do we evaluate the data? What kind of tools do we use to make sense of the widely available and complicated information that we must sort out to generate trading signals? This is the subject of forex analysis, which we’ll discuss in the next chapter.

Next, part 5 >> Fundamental Analysis vs Technical Analysis >>

Previous, part 3 << Forex Order Types – Mechanics of Online Forex Trading <<

Forex Lessons in this Forex Trading Course:

Lesson 1: How to read a currency quote

Lesson 2: What are Forex Pips, Lots, Margin and Leverage

Lesson 3: Forex Order types – Mechanics of Online Forex Trading

Lesson 4: Currency Pairs and Their Characteristics

Lesson 5: Fundamental Analysis vs Technical Analysis

Lesson 6: Forex Technical Analysis

Lesson 7: Forex Fundamental Analysis

Lesson 8: Forex Trading Psychology: The Four Demons of Trading Psychology

Lesson 9: Choosing the Right Forex Broker

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CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Between 74-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.