Currency pairs and rates All currencies in forex trading are quoted in pairs, one against another. Their names are given as a three letter abbreviation known as ISO code, where the first two letters represent the country and the third one is the name of the currency. Depending on how commonly they are traded, currencies can be into three categories: The most traded ones are usually referred as to majors and include the US dollar, the euro, the Great Britain pound, the Japanese yen, the Canadian dollar, the Swiss franc, the Australian dollar and the New Zealand dollar. Major pairs involve the US dollar and another currency from the list above, for example, EURUSD, USDJPY, USDCHF Cross pairs comprise of two major currencies neither of which is the USD dollar, for example EURGBP, EURCHF, EURJPY, GBPCAD, GBPAUD and CHFJPY. Exotic pairs consist of a major currency and another less traded one, for instance EURTRY, USDSEK, USDDKK, USDHDK, USDSDG. Exotics tend to be less liquid and to have less tight spreads.