Major Pair
The most heavily traded currency pairs, all involving the US dollar.
Also called: majors · major currency pair
In plain language
The majors are EUR/USD, USD/JPY, GBP/USD, USD/CHF, AUD/USD, USD/CAD and NZD/USD.
They carry the deepest liquidity and tightest spreads, which makes execution cheaper and more predictable.
Pairs without the dollar are called crosses, and pairs involving smaller economies are exotics. Both have wider spreads and thinner books.
Why it matters
Spread is a fixed cost on every trade. On majors it is a small fraction of a typical move; on exotics it can consume a meaningful part of the expected profit.
Common mistakes
- Trading exotics on short timeframes where the spread dominates the edge.
- Assuming exotic spreads stay stable during volatile sessions.
Keep exploring
These concepts are connected. Understanding one usually makes the next one easier.
Two currencies quoted against each other, showing how much of one buys the other.
The gap between the bid and the ask — the built-in cost of entering a trade.
How easily an asset can be bought or sold without moving its price.
The first currency in a pair — the one being bought or sold.
The second currency in a pair — the one the price is expressed in.