[brownsfan019]

More or less for my reference, what are the major pairs to look at in the FX area? I tried to find it in other threads but didn't find a good list of the major pairs.

Thanks.

[Flojomojo]

The Triennial Central Bank Survey results you can find here under the point "Trading characteristics".

Cheers,
Flojo

[Anna-Maria]

If you’re talking liquidity, spreads/costs & shipping thru retail, then the $INDEX main constituents will generally keep you safe:

EURUSD
USDJPY
GBPUSD (in that order)

Popular pairs out there would also fall under:
USDCHF
USDCAD
AUDUSD
EURGBP

You then got the cross instrument combination pairs which make up the Euro….British Pound….Jap Yen….Swissy etc

Ie:
GBPJPY
GBPCHF
EURJPY
EURCHF etc etc………


Again, depending who you use & their spread/size/cost deals, will impact on your aims & trade strategy intent.

If you’re in doubt regards costs, liquidity, key time zone exposure, sizings etc on your chosen instrument(s), just talk to your brokers & tell them what you’re looking to do.

If it’s a half decent shop they’ll have switched on reps available to talk you thru your objectives

[Flojomojo]

Hi brownsfan,
also have a look at this study from the bank of england which I just stumbled across here. It basically adds the numbers to Anna-Maria´s post and is more compact than the BIS study.
Flojo

[daedalus]

The 9 "Majors" are technically the:

EURCHF
EURGBP
EURUSD
EURJPY
GBPUSD
AUDUSD
USDCAD
USDCHF
USDJPY

And the "10th" that is being traded more heavily and gaining in popularity all over seems to be the GBPJPY. Roughly 5 pip spreads but HUGE movement and compared to the other spreads right now in the spot market with recent volatility its actually a bargain of a pair. A lot of $$ movement for a 5 pip spread.

[traderkeith]

Typical spreads for EURO/USD should be under a pip now and this currency is the major of the majors. Traders like The Rumpled One love to trade inside the spread and I have been able to get regular fills of under a pip. So the fact that a load of retail brokers out there still charging 2 - 3 pips shows how the retail market still tolerates high spreads real well. ACM is charging 3 pips! That adds up to a lot of money if you are high frequency trading. If not it doesn't matter so much.

[tlfx]

So far i see the EURUSD is the choice of most traders.

[sneo]

From an Interbank perspective -
Majors against USD:
EURUSD
GBPUSD
AUDUSD
USDJPY
USDCHF (not so sure)

Majors Crosses:
EURJPY (narrow spread due to popularity in EBS)
GBPJPY
AUDJPY

Any pair against NZD has a wide spread due to the lack of liquidity.