Best Currency Pairs for Day Traded in the Market
Market turnover is approximately 7.2 trillion dollars per day, 95 percent of all trade transactions are carried out by speculators for profit. The Majority of these transactions is comprised of the five major Forex currencies that are the Best Currency Pairs for Intraday Trading comprised of:
- USD
- EUR
- GBP
- JPY
- CHF
The above trading symbols represent currencies of their different countries, the 3 letter naming format is used. This is the format used in Forex when trading these currencies, for those not familiar with currency symbols the above represent the following; USD - US Dollar, EUR - EURO, GBP - Great Britain Pound, JPY - Japanese Yen & CHF - Swiss Franc.
Best Currency Pairs for Day Trading to Trade
USD is the most transacted pair
USD - 85% of all daily market transactions
EUR - 40 % of all
JPY - 20% of all
GBP - 13 % of all
CHF - 9 % of all
USA Dollar or USD - the United States dollar is the main currency of the world. It's used as the standard measure of all other currencies that are traded and transacted in the market. All others are in general quoted in terms of US dollar. The Best Currency Pairs for Intraday Trading are the ones which have USD, EUR, JPY and GBP.
The USA dollar is a safe haven currency, because it's held as a reserve by many central banks. In the times of economic recession the dollar will strengthen due to the fact that investors buy the dollar due to its safe haven status. On the other hand when the economies are doing well people will go for those that are higher yielding like the EURO, Pound, Swiss Franc & Australian Dollar.
In the market the dollar is transacted against other major currencies, these are Euro, Japanese Yen, British Pound & Swiss Franc.
Euro or EUR - Euro has a strong international influence because it represents 17 EU Zone member countries of the European Union. Because Euro currency represents 17 combined economies, this makes the Euro the second most transacted currency after the USA dollar. The Best Currency Pairs for Intraday Trading are the ones that have USD, EUR, JPY and GBP.
Japanese Yen or JPY - Japanese Yen is the third most transacted in the world due to its liquidity. Japanese economy is the second biggest economy after the American economy.
British Pound or GBP - Britain economy is the third biggest economy after the US & the Japanese Economy. This makes the British pound liquid and it's the 4th most transacted in the market.
Swiss Franc or CHF - Swiss Franc is the only major of a major European country that doesn't belong to the European Union or G-7 countries. Although the Swiss economy is not relatively big compared to the others, the Swiss Franc is one of the 5 major currencies on the Currency Trading Market. This is due to and because of the strength of the Swiss banking system & the Swiss economy which makes the Swiss Franc stable with a high demand that exceeds supply.
The Canadian Dollar or CAD & the Australian Dollar or AUD are also part of the currencies transacted on the market but these do not count as being part of the major pairs due to and because of their illiquidity.
After classifying the currencies, there are 2 categories:
- Major pairs
- Crosses
Major Pairs - Best Currency Pairs for Day Trading to Trade
Currencies are traded and transacted in pairs of 2 e.g. EUR USD
Best Currency Pairs for Day Trading also known as Major currency pairs have a combination of the USD and one other major(EUR, JPY, GBP, CHF).
The 4 major currency pairs or the big four in Forex are - Best Currency Pairs for Day Trading:
- EURUSD
- USDJPY
- GBP/USD
- USDCHF
These are the most traded because they have a high turnover and are the most profitable.
These are the best pairs for intraday trading, if you want to make the most profit it's best to only trade these 4 majors only.
Daily Trade Turnover of Currencies by Volumes
The USD is the most transacted, followed by EUR, GBP, JPY and CHF, the daily turnover volume share taken by each of these 5 in terms of percent is displayed below:
USD - 85 %
EUR - 40%
JPY - 20 %
GBP - 13%
CHF - 9 %
Since transactions are in pairs the total will be 200 %
For example the EUR/USD pair: EURUSD = 100% EUR + 100% USD
Best Currency Pairs for Intraday Trading
Summing up the total of the large 4 pairs = 85 + 40 + 20 + 13 + 9 = 167 percent . Note these 4 are made up of 5 individual currencies which make up the sum total of 167%. This % of the total turnover volume is what makes these 4 currency pairs to be referred to as major currency pairs or in short "majors". This lion share of the total turnover daily volume is also what makes these 4 the Best Currency Pairs for Day Trading to trade especially among the Day Traders.
Hence volume for Majors is:
FX Major Pairs = 167 % of all turnover
Other Forex Pairs Combined = 33 % of all turnover
Best Currency Pairs for Day Trading to Trade: Because the major pairs are the most actively traded, many experienced investors only trade the majors because these are highly liquid and their market movement tends to be more predictable. This makes these majors; USD, EUR, GBP, JPY and CHF the best to analyze using technical analysis as they're the most liquid.
The Best Currency Pairs for Day Trading have more liquidity - The more the liquidity, the more the volatility, volatility means a currency is likely to trend in one particular direction & when the prices are heading in a particular direction it is easier to make money as opposed to when prices are not moving in a particular direction - range market.
On the other hand, all the other pairs, also known as minor forex pairs that make 33% of all daily turnover & are said to be illiquid, meaning they do not have a lot of market volatility & as such most of their price movements are choppy or range bound. These means that the minors are the most hard to analyze using trading analysis studies because they don't show defined market movements in one particular direction (they do not move in a trend) and hence they are not the Best Currency Pairs for Day Trading.
For Example by just trading EURUSD then a trader will be participating on 85 + 40 = 125% of all turnover volume, which's two-thirds of all transactions. This is another reason why some just stick to the EURUSD alone - one of the Best FX Pairs for Day Trading.
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