The 7 major currency pairs: how each behaves, and which ones ESMA counts as major

The seven major currency pairs are EUR/USD, USD/JPY, GBP/USD, USD/CHF, AUD/USD, USD/CAD and NZD/USD: the US dollar against the six other most actively traded currencies. They have the deepest liquidity and usually the lowest trading costs. One nuance matters to EU traders: the ESMA leverage rules use a narrower definition, so AUD/USD and NZD/USD are treated as non-majors and capped at 20:1 for retail clients, while some crosses without the dollar get the 30:1 major-pair limit.

This guide goes through the seven pairs one by one, then covers the leverage rule, the pip value and margin differences between them, and how to choose which to learn first. If base and quote currencies are new to you, start with the guide to currency pairs, which covers the notation and the difference between majors, crosses and exotics.

Why the dollar sits in every major

The US dollar is on one side of the large majority of all foreign exchange transactions. The Bank for International Settlements' Triennial Survey for April 2025 put the dollar's share at 89.2% of trades (each trade involves two currencies, so shares add up to 200%), with the euro at 28.9% and the yen at 16.8%. The reasons, from trade invoicing to the size of the US Treasury market, are covered in our guide to the US dollar as a reserve currency.

Because so much trading runs through the dollar, the pairs that pair it with the other big currencies are where banks quote the most size, at the tightest prices, for the most hours of the day. That depth is the practical definition of a major: lots of participants, small spreads, and prices that rarely jump without a reason.

Four of the majors are quoted with the dollar second (EUR/USD, GBP/USD, AUD/USD, NZD/USD) and three with the dollar first (USD/JPY, USD/CHF, USD/CAD). The order is market convention, not a ranking. It matters for two things: which way the chart moves when the dollar strengthens, and what currency your gains and losses are calculated in.

The seven majors one by one

EUR/USD (often called "Fiber")

The euro against the dollar is the most traded pair in the world. It is driven above all by the relative policy of the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve, and by the data that shapes their decisions: US payrolls and inflation on one side, euro-area inflation flashes and business surveys on the other. Its liquidity means spreads are usually the lowest on any broker's price list. It tends to be most active during the London session and the overlap with New York. Our euro guide covers the ECB and the eurozone, and the EUR/USD profile covers the pair itself.

USD/JPY

The dollar against the yen is usually the second most traded pair. It is unusually sensitive to the gap between US and Japanese interest rates and to shifts in risk appetite, because the yen has long been both a low-yielding funding currency and a place investors return to when markets fall. Japan's Ministry of Finance has also intervened directly to support the yen, most recently in 2022 and 2024. Pip size is 0.01 rather than 0.0001. The Japanese yen guide and the USD/JPY profile go further.

GBP/USD ("Cable")

Sterling against the dollar takes its nickname from the transatlantic telegraph cable that carried the rate between London and New York in the nineteenth century. It responds to Bank of England policy, UK inflation and labour data, and UK politics, which have produced some sharp moves, including the Brexit referendum result in 2016 and the reaction to the September 2022 fiscal statement. It is typically a little more volatile than EUR/USD. See the GBP/USD profile.

USD/CHF ("Swissie")

The dollar against the Swiss franc. The franc is treated as a safe haven, and the Swiss National Bank has a long history of acting on the currency, from the minimum exchange rate against the euro in 2011 to its sudden removal in January 2015, which moved the franc by double-digit percentages within minutes. USD/CHF often moves roughly opposite to EUR/USD because both are heavily influenced by the dollar side. The USD/CHF profile has the details.

AUD/USD ("Aussie")

The Australian dollar is linked to commodity exports such as iron ore, to demand from China, and to global risk appetite. It tends to strengthen when markets are calm and growth expectations rise, and weaken in sell-offs. The Reserve Bank of Australia's decisions and Australian employment and inflation data are the domestic drivers. Its busiest hours start in the Asian session. See the AUD/USD profile.

USD/CAD ("Loonie")

The Canadian dollar is nicknamed after the loon on its one-dollar coin. Canada is a major oil exporter and the United States is by far its largest trading partner, so USD/CAD reacts to oil prices, Bank of Canada policy, and data from both countries. Canadian and US data are often released at the same time, 8:30 a.m. New York time, which can produce sharp moves at that moment. The USD/CAD profile goes further.

NZD/USD ("Kiwi")

The smallest of the majors by turnover. The New Zealand dollar responds to dairy and other agricultural export prices, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, and the same global risk mood that moves the Australian dollar, so AUD/USD and NZD/USD often move together. Spreads are usually somewhat wider than on EUR/USD. The NZD/USD profile has more, and our guide to commodity currencies covers AUD, CAD and NZD together.

Which pairs ESMA counts as major

Here is the nuance that catches EU and UK traders out. Market convention calls the seven pairs above the majors. The ESMA product intervention measures for retail CFDs, introduced in 2018 and later written into national rules across the EU (the UK's FCA adopted equivalent limits), define a major currency pair for leverage purposes differently: any pair made up of two of these six currencies.

• US dollar (USD)
• Euro (EUR)
• Japanese yen (JPY)
• British pound (GBP)
• Canadian dollar (CAD)
• Swiss franc (CHF)

Six currencies make fifteen possible pairs, and all fifteen carry the 30:1 retail leverage cap (a 3.33% initial margin). Every other currency pair is capped at 20:1 (5% margin). Two consequences follow:

• AUD/USD and NZD/USD are not majors under ESMA. The Australian and New Zealand dollars are not on the list, so retail clients get at most 20:1 on them, even though every trading textbook calls them majors.
• Some crosses are majors under ESMA. EUR/GBP, EUR/JPY, GBP/JPY, EUR/CHF, GBP/CHF, CAD/JPY and the other combinations of the six currencies get 30:1, despite being crosses.

Professional clients are not bound by these caps, but opting up means giving up retail protections; see our guide to ESMA leverage limits and negative balance protection. Outside the EU and UK, regulators set their own limits, and some use different groupings. The reliable check is the margin percentage your broker shows in each pair's contract specification.

Worked example: margin across the majors

Illustrative prices, one standard lot (100,000 units of the base currency), retail account in USD, ESMA limits.

1. EUR/USD at 1.1000: the position is worth 110,000 USD. At 30:1 the margin is 110,000 ÷ 30 = 3,666.67 USD.
2. USD/JPY at any price: the position is 100,000 USD. At 30:1 the margin is 3,333.33 USD.
3. AUD/USD at 0.6500: the position is worth 65,000 USD. At 20:1 the margin is 65,000 ÷ 20 = 3,250 USD.
4. NZD/USD at 0.6000: the position is worth 60,000 USD. At 20:1 the margin is 3,000 USD.

Two points stand out. First, the cap is applied to the notional value, so a cheaper base currency needs less margin per lot even at a lower leverage. Second, if AUD/USD were capped at 30:1 like EUR/USD, its margin would be about 2,166.67 USD, so the 20:1 rule raises the margin on one lot of AUD/USD by half. Use the margin calculator to check any pair at your own prices.

Margin is not risk. How much a trade can lose depends on position size and stop distance, which brings us to pip values.

Pip values: why the same move is not worth the same

For the four majors quoted in US dollars (EUR/USD, GBP/USD, AUD/USD, NZD/USD), one pip on one standard lot is always worth 10 USD. For the three quoted with the dollar first, the pip is worth 10 units of the quote currency (or 1,000 yen for USD/JPY, where a pip is 0.01), which then has to be converted into dollars at the current rate:

• USD/JPY at 150.00: 1,000 JPY ÷ 150 = about 6.67 USD per pip per lot.
• USD/CHF at 0.8000: 10 CHF ÷ 0.80 = 12.50 USD per pip per lot.
• USD/CAD at 1.3500: 10 CAD ÷ 1.35 = about 7.41 USD per pip per lot.

Those figures move as the exchange rate moves, and they change again if your account is in euros or pounds. The pip value calculator handles every combination; the guide to what a pip is explains the logic.

Worked example: the same risk on four majors

Illustrative numbers. A 5,000 USD account risks 1% per trade, or 50 USD, with a 30-pip stop on each of four separate trade ideas. The money per pip needed is 50 ÷ 30 = about 1.67 USD.

1. EUR/USD: 1.67 ÷ 10 = 0.1667 lots, rounded down to 0.16. Loss at the stop: 0.16 × 10 × 30 = 48 USD.
2. USD/JPY at 150: 1.67 ÷ 6.67 = 0.25 lots. Loss at the stop: 0.25 × 6.67 × 30 = 50 USD.
3. USD/CHF at 0.8000: 1.67 ÷ 12.50 = 0.1333 lots, rounded down to 0.13. Loss at the stop: about 48.75 USD.
4. USD/CAD at 1.3500: 1.67 ÷ 7.41 = 0.225 lots, rounded down to 0.22. Loss at the stop: about 48.89 USD.

Same risk, four different position sizes. A trader who uses 0.20 lots on everything is taking noticeably more risk on USD/CHF than on USD/CAD without realising it. Always round lot sizes down, and let the position size calculator do the conversion.

The dollar problem: four trades, one bet

Every major includes the US dollar, so positions across them overlap. Buying EUR/USD, buying GBP/USD and selling USD/JPY are three trades on the chart but, to a large extent, one view: the dollar will weaken. If the dollar rallies on a strong US jobs report, all three can hit their stops on the same afternoon.

A useful habit is to write each open position as a currency exposure. Long 0.10 EUR/USD is long euro and short dollar; short 0.10 USD/CHF is short dollar and long franc. Add up the dollar side across all positions. If you are risking 1% on each of four trades that are all short the dollar, your real risk on a dollar move is closer to 4%. The guide to currency correlation shows how to measure this, and the US Dollar Index guide explains the most common gauge of the dollar's overall direction.

Trading hours and when each major is active

The forex market trades around the clock from Sunday evening to Friday evening (European time), but each major has busier and quieter hours:

• EUR/USD, GBP/USD and USD/CHF are most active from the London open through the London and New York overlap.
• USD/JPY is active in Tokyo and again in London and New York, with US data and US yields often driving it.
• AUD/USD and NZD/USD have meaningful activity in the Asian session, when Australian and New Zealand data are released, and again when US data arrive.
• USD/CAD is busiest during New York hours, when both US and Canadian data are released and the oil market is most active.

Spreads on all of them widen around the daily rollover, in the thin hours after New York closes, and around major releases. The market hours tool shows the sessions in your time zone, and the guide to forex market hours and sessions explains the pattern.

How to choose which majors to learn

There is no best pair, but there are sensible filters:

• Cost: EUR/USD usually has the lowest spread on any account. Check your own broker's typical spread, not its advertised minimum.
• Your hours: if you can only trade in the European evening, the pairs active in the Asian morning, such as AUD/USD, may suit a different routine than EUR/USD.
• What you understand: if you follow UK news closely, GBP/USD may make more sense to you than NZD/USD. Knowing what the next big event is for a currency helps you avoid being caught by it.
• Volatility: GBP/USD and USD/JPY can move further in a day than EUR/USD. Larger moves need wider stops and therefore smaller positions; they are not automatically better.
• Leverage rules: for EU retail clients, AUD/USD and NZD/USD need 5% margin rather than 3.33%. That rarely matters for a properly sized position, but it is worth knowing.

Most beginners do better learning one or two pairs well, including their typical daily range, their release calendar and their behaviour around the sessions, than spreading attention across all seven. The step-by-step forex trading for beginners roadmap fits pair choice into the wider learning process.

Common mistakes

• Assuming every major has 30:1 leverage. In the EU and UK, AUD/USD and NZD/USD are capped at 20:1 for retail clients.
• Using the same lot size on every pair. Pip values differ, so the same lot size carries different risk on USD/CHF and USD/CAD.
• Treating several dollar trades as diversification. They usually move together on US news.
• Ignoring the release calendar. Each major has its own central bank meetings and data days; trading through them unaware can mean wide spreads and slippage. The guide to using an economic calendar explains how to plan around them.
• Reading the chart the wrong way round. On USD/JPY, USD/CHF and USD/CAD, a rising chart means the dollar is strengthening; on the other four it means the dollar is weakening.

Frequently asked questions

What are the 7 major currency pairs?

EUR/USD, USD/JPY, GBP/USD, USD/CHF, AUD/USD, USD/CAD and NZD/USD. Each pairs the US dollar with one of the six other most traded currencies: the euro, Japanese yen, British pound, Swiss franc, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar and New Zealand dollar.

Is AUD/USD a major pair?

In market convention, yes. Under the ESMA retail leverage rules in the EU, no: the regulatory definition of a major only includes pairs made of USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, CAD and CHF, so AUD/USD is capped at 20:1 for retail clients rather than 30:1.

Which major pair is the most traded?

EUR/USD is the most traded currency pair in the world, with USD/JPY usually second. Their liquidity is why they typically have the lowest spreads at most brokers.

Is EUR/GBP a major or a cross?

It is a cross, because it does not include the US dollar. For the EU leverage rules, though, it counts as a major pair because both currencies are on ESMA's list, so retail clients can use up to 30:1 on it.

Which major pair is best for beginners?

Many beginners start with EUR/USD because it usually has the lowest cost and very deep liquidity. That does not make it easier to trade profitably; it only means costs and surprises tend to be smaller. Learn one or two pairs well rather than all seven.

Why do majors have lower spreads than other pairs?

Because more banks and other participants quote and trade them, in larger size, for more of the day. That competition and depth narrow the gap between bid and ask. Spreads still widen at rollover, during thin hours and around major news.