Major currency pairs
Family I · Instruments
Not to be confused with clusd currency pair, currency pair, znusd currency pair.
Major currency pairs are the foreign exchange pairs that account for the largest share of daily turnover in the global currency market. They almost always include the US dollar on one side and the currency of a highly developed economy on the other. The group is not fixed by any central authority; different platforms and institutions may classify a slightly different set of pairs as majors.
Composition and turnover
The most commonly cited major pairs are EUR/USD, USD/JPY, GBP/USD, USD/CHF, USD/CAD, AUD/USD, and NZD/USD. Together they represent a large majority of spot FX volume, though exact percentages vary by survey and reporting venue. Because they are so widely traded, major pairs generally have the tightest bid-ask spreads and the deepest liquidity, but those conditions can deteriorate around news releases or market stress.
Worked example: pip value in a major pair
Suppose a trader holds one standard lot (100,000 units) of EUR/USD and the exchange rate moves from 1.1000 to 1.1001. For most USD-quoted major pairs, one pip equals 0.0001. The pip value in USD is calculated as follows:
For pairs where the US dollar is the base currency, such as USD/JPY, the pip value calculation depends on the current exchange rate and is typically expressed in the quote currency first.
Why the classification matters
Being a major pair affects trading costs, margin requirements, and available leverage. Brokers and regulators often apply different rules to major pairs than to exotic or minor pairs. These rules vary by jurisdiction and by broker, so the specific margin or leverage applied to a major pair is not universal.
Often confused with
- clusd currency pair
- A clusd currency pair is a synthetic or exotic pair that may include the US dollar but lacks the liquidity and tight spreads of a major; the visible sign is that it is not among the pairs universally recognised as majors.
- currency pair
- A currency pair is any two currencies quoted against each other, whereas a major currency pair is a specific subset of the most traded pairs; the visible sign is the presence of the US dollar and a major developed-market currency.
- znusd currency pair
- A znusd currency pair is a thinly traded or synthetic instrument that does not meet the turnover and liquidity criteria of a major; the visible sign is its absence from standard lists of major pairs.