The Complete 28 Major Forex Pairs List

You’re probably here because you want to learn how to trade forex pairs.

Well, I have the perfect solution for you.

It’s a 28 major forex pairs list, so you can simply copy and paste this to add all of these pairs to your trading platform.

It covers the major pairs of forex including USD/JPY, EUR/USD, USD/CHF, GBP/USD, AUD/USD, NZD/USD, EUR/CAD, GBP/CAD, and many more.

That way, you’ll never miss a single opportunity.

Let’s get started.

What are Forex Majors and Minors?

Strange terminology indeed!

When you think about it there are over 180 currencies to exchange too.

Every country requires exchanging currencies from one to another.

However, lucky for you that the market’s don’t speculate on all 180 currencies…

Instead, they are narrowed down to a basket between 40-70 forex pairs offered by the broker.

Ok, so why are they called majors in forex trading?

Not all of the forex pairs are in the major’s bracket.

The currency majors and minors (plus exotic forex pairs) are categorised by popularity and liquidity.

The majors are the most commonly traded currency pairs globally.

These are the cheapest and have the fastest execution to market plus pricing tends to be less volatile.

How Many Forex Pairs Are There

In reality, there are over 2,300 forex pairs which include all possible crosses with majors, minors and exotics. You’ll only ever see about 5% of these on a trading platform because the other 95% are really illiquid.

According to ICE data from Tradingview.com, there are over 2,300 forex pairs that you could in theory trade.

However, due to the niche of most of the world currencies, brokers only provide data for around 115 fx pairs.

Later on, I’ll share with you the top 28 fx major pairs for you to trade from.

What Are Currency Majors Pairs?

Major pairs are the most liquid of all currency pairs. They are also the most popular because they are used in almost every type of trading.

You will also see these pairs referred to as “the majors” or “the Big Four”. The most widely traded currencies are USD, EUR, GBP, and JPY. These four currencies are known as the majors.

If you’re new to trading, we recommend learning more about major pairs to get a better understanding of what you’re up against!

Major Forex Pairs List

The 28 Major Forex Pairs List

This is the list of all major forex pairs available for trading on the Forex market.

These are all the possible crosses for each major currency.

Typically, these are the main forex pairs you would be trading on a day-to-day basis.

If we expanded into exotic currency pairs, there would be over 100 variations.

There is an abundance of opportunities trading the majors or exotic currency pairs but it is best to stay focused on the currency majors because they have more liquidity, less sharp movements and are cheaper to trade (lower spreads).

With that being said, the major pairs list contains the following currency pairs:

Australian Dollar Major Currency Pairs

  • AUD/CAD
  • AUD/CHF
  • AUD/JPY
  • AUD/NZD
  • AUD/USD
  • EUR/AUD
  • GBP/AUD

Canadian Dollar Major Currency Pairs

  • AUD/CAD
  • CAD/CHF
  • CAD/JPY
  • EUR/CAD
  • GBP/CAD
  • NZD/CAD
  • USD/CAD

Swiss Franc Currency Pairs

  • AUD/CHF
  • CAD/CHF
  • CHF/JPY
  • EUR/CHF
  • GBP/CHF
  • NZD/CHF
  • USD/CHF

Euro Currency Pairs

  • EUR/AUD
  • EUR/CAD
  • EUR/CHF
  • EUR/GBP
  • EUR/JPY
  • EUR/NZD
  • EUR/USD

British Pound Major Currency Pairs

  • GBP/AUD
  • GBP/CAD
  • GBP/CHF
  • GBP/JPY
  • GBP/NZD
  • GBP/USD
  • EUR/GBP

New Zealand Dollar Pairs

  • NZD/CAD
  • NZD/CHF
  • NZD/JPY
  • NDZ/USD
  • AUD/NZD
  • EUR/NZD
  • GBP/NZD

Japanese Yen Major Currency Pairs

  • AUD/JPY
  • CAD/JPY
  • CHF/JPY
  • EUR/JPY
  • GBP/JPY
  • NZD/JPY
  • USD/JPY

United States Dollar Major Currency Pairs

  • AUD/USD
  • EUR/USD
  • GBP/USD
  • NZD/USD
  • USD/CAD
  • USD/CHF
  • USD/JPY

The 7 Forex Major Pairs

There are 7 forex majors, which are:

The global economy is dependent on the highs and lows of different country-specific currencies and their importance.

1. The Euro/Dollar (EUR/USD)

The EURUSD is the most traded currency pair due to its widened appeal with the EUR and USD.

High-impacting announcements from the European Central Bank and the US Federal Reserve will impact the currency pair.

2. The Dollar/Japanese Yen (USD/JPY)

What makes the USD/JPY a major pair is that Japan is one of the largest net exporters in the world, which means huge volumes of businesses would exchange into and from the Japanese Yen.

3. The British Pound Sterling/US Dollar (GBP/USD)

The GBP/USD is one of the most traded pairs thanks to the volume of business between the United States and the United Kingdom.

You may see this pair referred to as Cable. This was because there was a large cable that ran across the floor of the Atlantic Ocean that connected the UK and the US.

4. The US Dollar/Swiss Franc (USD/CHF)

The USD/CHF is referred to as the Swissie most commonly.

The USD/CHF is a safe haven currency which is where investors will put their money when the markets are extremely volatile and uncertain.

5. The Australian Dollar/US Dollar (AUD/USD)

One of a few commodity currency pairs. Also known as the Aussie, Australia is a huge exporter of coal and iron ore. This means that the price is dependent on coal and iron ore prices

6. The US Dollar/Canadian Dollar (USD/CAD)

Another popular commodity pair is the “Loonie.” Canada is also an economy dependent on commodity prices. It has huge reserves of timber, natural gas, and oil.

The Canadian Dollar is another commodity pair and is nicknamed the Loonie. The commodities it exports are oil, natural gas and timber.

7. The New Zealand Dollar/US Dollar (NZD/USD)

Also known as the Kiwi, New Zealand is the largest exporter of dairy-based products, which means that if milk prices rise, the NZDUSD tends to follow.

The Minor Forex Pairs

Next up is the minors, which are different crosses of currency pairs that are less popular but are still liquid and tradeable.

However, the minors tend to be slightly more expensive to trade and can tend to be more volatile.

To some, more experienced traders would see minors as a better option as they tend to react to technical analysis slightly better.

So the minors are basically currency’s paired with non-USD.

These are the forex minors, which are:

Euro Minor Crosses

EUR/CHF         Euro-Zone / Switzerland

EUR/GBP         Euro-Zone / United Kingdom

EUR/CAD         Euro-Zone / Canada

EUR/AUD        Euro-Zone / Australia

EUR/NZD         Euro-Zone / New Zealand

EUR/JPY          Euro-Zone / Japan

Great British Pound Minor Crosses

EUR/GBP         Euro-Zone / United Kingdom

GBP/JPY          United Kingdom / Japan

GBP/CHF         United Kingdom / Switzerland

GBP/AUD        United Kingdom / Australia

GBP/CAD        United Kingdom / Canada

GBP/NZD         United Kingdom / New Zealand

Japanese Yen Minor Crosses

EUR/JPY          Euro-Zone / Japan

GBP/JPY          United Kingdom / Japan

CHF/JPY          Switzerland / Japan

CAD/JPY         Canada / Japan

AUD/JPY         Australia / Japan

NZD/JPY         New Zealand / Japan

Different Minor Crosses

AUD/CHF        Australia / Switzerland

AUD/CAD        Australia / Canada

AUD/NZD        Australia / New Zealand

CAD/CHF        Canada / Switzerland

NZD/CHF        New Zealand / Switzerland

NZD/CAD        New Zealand / Canada

The Exotic Forex Pairs

Lastly, the exotic pairs.

These are a basket of currency pairs from emerging markets.

The exotic pairs tend to have the widest spreads, thinnest liquidities but can be the least volatile compared to the others.

There are exotic pairs, which are:

USD/HKD        United States / Hong Kong

USD/SGD        United States / Singapore

USD/ZAR         United States / South Africa

USD/THB         United States / Thailand

USD/MXN        United States / Mexico

USD/DKK         United States / Denmark

USD/SEK         United States / Sweden

USD/NOK        United States / Norway

USD/INR          United States / India

GBP/INR          United Kingdom / India

Which Forex Pairs to Trade?

This is a difficult question, it’s kind of like which car should you drive – everyone has their preferences.

The majors are the cheapest to trade due to the sheer volume traded each day. To find out what you should trade is by simply loading up a platform and going through each currency pair and figuring out whether or not it fits your trading style.

Even though it is a 24-hour market, 5 days a week, it is usually better to trade currency pairs in your time zone – this is due to liquidity and cheaper pricing again.

You may even want to take note of forex pairs that correlate as this could also give you an added benefit.

All of this is a preference to you.

There is no right or wrong way of investing YOUR money in forex trading for beginners.

Over time, you will learn everything about the currency pair, how it reacts to news, price action etc. – so everything is learnable.

Conclusion: The Complete 28 Major Forex Pairs List

If you’re interested in trading foreign exchange, you’ll need to understand the forex market, the global economy, the world’s currencies and their relationships to one another.

With this comprehensive list of 28 major forex pairs, you’ll know exactly which pairs to watch, trade and invest in.

This is the perfect guide to learn more about the forex market.

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About the author

Seasoned forex trader John Henry teaches new traders key concepts like divergence, mean reversion, and price action for free, sharing over a decade of market experience and analysis expertise in a clear, practical style.