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About currency pairs

Currencies are always traded in pairs

Currency prices (i.e. the exchange rate) are always quoted in pairs. GBP/USD, EUR/USD and NZD/CHF are all examples of currency pairs.

The first currency in the pair is called the base currency, while the second currency is called the quote currency. The exchange rate is defined by how much of the quote currency is required to purchase one unit of the base currency. So if GBP/USD is currently trading at 1.32459, this means that it costs 1.32459 USD to purchase 1 GBP.

You may often see currency pairs written without the "/". So GBP/USD can also be written as GBPUSD.

Currency pairs are generally divided into four categories: majors, cross-currencies, exotics, and cryptocurrencies.

Major currency pairs

Major Currency Pairs, or majors, are the most commonly traded currency pairs that have the US dollar on one side.

The following table lists the majors that are tradable on Hummingbird Trading:

Pair	Base	Quote	Security
AUD/USD	Australian Dollar	United States Dollar	Major
EUR/USD	Euro	United States Dollar	Major
GBP/USD	Great British Pound	United States Dollar	Major
NZD/USD	New Zealand Dollar	United States Dollar	Major
USD/CAD	United States Dollar	Canadian Dollar	Major
USD/CHF	United States Dollar	Swiss Franc	Major
USD/JPY	United States Dollar	Japanese Yen	Major

Cross-currency pairs

The most commonly traded currency pairs that do not contain the US dollar are referred to as cross-currency pairs, crosses, or minors.

The following table lists the crosses that are tradable on Hummingbird Trading:

Pair	Base	Quote	Security
AUD/CHF	Australian Dollar	Swiss Franc	Cross
AUD/JPY	Australian Dollar	Japanese Yen	Cross
CAD/CHF	Canadian Dollar	Swiss Franc	Cross
CAD/JPY	Canadian Dollar	Japanese Yen	Cross
CHF/JPY	Swiss Franc	Japanese Yen	Cross
EUR/AUD	Euro	Australian Dollar	Cross
EUR/CAD	Euro	Canadian Dollar	Cross
EUR/CHF	Euro	Swiss Franc	Cross
EUR/GBP	Euro	Great British Pound	Cross
EUR/JPY	Euro	Japanese Yen	Cross
EUR/NZD	Euro	New Zealand Dollar	Cross
GBP/AUD	Great British Pound	Australian Dollar	Cross
GBP/CAD	Great British Pound	Canadian Dollar	Cross
GBP/CHF	Great British Pound	Swiss Franc	Cross
GBP/JPY	Great British Pound	Japanese Yen	Cross
GBP/NZD	Great British Pound	New Zealand Dollar	Cross
NZD/CHF	New Zealand Dollar	Swiss Franc	Cross
NZD/JPY	New Zealand Dollar	Japanese Yen	Cross

Exotics

Exotics are currency pairs with a major currency and a currency of one strong but small economy.

The following table lists the exotics that are tradable on Hummingbird Trading:

Pair	Base	Quote	Security
AUD/CAD	Australian Dollar	Canadian Dollar	Exotic
AUD/NZD	Australian Dollar	New Zealand Dollar	Exotic
CHF/NOK	Swiss Franc	Norwegian Krone	Exotic
CHF/PLN	Swiss Franc	Poland złoty	Exotic
EUR/CZK	Euro	Czech Koruna	Exotic
EUR/DKK	Euro	Danish Krone	Exotic
EUR/HKD	Euro	Hong Kong Dollar	Exotic
EUR/HUF	Euro	Hungarian Forint	Exotic
EUR/NOK	Euro	Norwegian Krone	Exotic
EUR/PLN	Euro	Poland złoty	Exotic
EUR/SEK	Euro	Swedish Krona	Exotic
EUR/TRY	Euro	Turkish lira	Exotic
EUR/ZAR	Euro	South African Rand	Exotic
GBP/DKK	Great British Pound	Danish Krone	Exotic
GBP/NOK	Great British Pound	Norwegian Krone	Exotic
GBP/SEK	Great British Pound	Swedish Krona	Exotic
NOK/SEK	Norwegian Krone	Swedish Krona	Exotic
NZD/CAD	New Zealand Dollar	Canadian Dollar	Cross
NZD/SGD	New Zealand Dollar	Singapore Dollar	Exotic
SGD/JPY	Singapore Dollar	Japanese Yen	Exotic
USD/CZK	United States Dollar	Czech Koruna	Exotic
USD/DKK	United States Dollar	Danish Krone	Exotic
USD/HKD	United States Dollar	Hong Kong Dollar	Exotic
USD/HUF	United States Dollar	Hungarian Forint	Exotic
USD/MXN	United States Dollar	Mexican Peso	Exotic
USD/NOK	United States Dollar	Norwegian Krone	Exotic
USD/PLN	United States Dollar	Poland złoty	Exotic
USD/RUB	United States Dollar	Russian Ruble	Exotic
USD/SEK	United States Dollar	Swedish Krona	Exotic
USD/SGD	United States Dollar	Singapore Dollar	Exotic
USD/TRY	United States Dollar	Turkish lira	Exotic
USD/ZAR	United States Dollar	South African Rand	Exotic

Cryptocurrencies

The latest addition to the foreign exchange world is cryptocurrencies. Just as with fiat currencies, cryptos are also be quoted in pairs. They are often crossed with other cryptocurrencies, but as they enter the mainstream, more and more crypto-fiat crosses have hit the markets.

Hummingbird Trading currently offers the following cryptocurrencies pairs, available for leveraged fx trading:

Pair	Base	Quote	Security
BTC/EUR	Bitcoin	Euro	Crypto
BTC/GBP	Bitcoin	Great British Pound	Crypto
BTC/JPY	Bitcoin	Japanese Yen	Crypto
BTC/USD	Bitcoin	United States Dollar	Crypto
ETH/EUR	Ethereum	Euro	Crypto
ETH/GBP	Ethereum	Great British Pound	Crypto
ETH/USD	Ethereum	United States Dollar	Crypto
LTC/USD	Litecoin	United States Dollar	Crypto
TRX/USD	Tron	United States Dollar	Crypto

Minerals

Scarce metals such as gold and silver can also be exchanged and paired with the USD and occasionally other currencies.

As of now, Hummingbird Trading does not offer any minerals, however we hope to get them onto the platform soon. Here are the two most comonly exchaged minerals:

Pair	Base	Quote	Mineral
XAG/USG	XAG	United States Dollar	Gold
XAU/USD	XAU	United States Dollar	Silver

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