EUR/USD: Euro / US dollar

EUR/USD is the price of one euro in US dollars. If the pair is quoted at 1.1000, one euro buys 1.10 dollars; if it rises, the euro is strengthening against the dollar, and if it falls, the dollar is gaining. It is the most traded currency pair in the world, and for most retail traders it is the first pair they meet.

Traders call it "Fiber", a name usually traced to the fibre-optic links that carry modern dealing, as opposed to the old transatlantic cable that gave GBP/USD its nickname. This profile covers who trades it, what moves it, how it behaves across the day, what it costs to trade, and what a beginner should watch out for.

What EUR/USD is and who trades it

The pair puts the world's two largest currency blocs against each other. The US dollar is the world's main reserve and invoicing currency and sits on one side of almost nine in every ten FX trades. The euro, shared by the euro-area member states, is the second most traded currency.

According to the BIS Triennial Central Bank Survey of April 2025, global FX turnover averaged about 9.6 trillion dollars a day, and EUR/USD accounted for roughly a fifth of it, close to 2 trillion dollars a day. That is more than any other pair, ahead of USD/JPY in second place. How the forex market works explains who stands behind those numbers.

The participants are the whole market in miniature:

• Banks and dealers making prices to each other and to clients.
• Asset managers and pension funds buying or hedging US and European bonds and shares.
• Corporations paying for imports, repatriating profits or hedging future revenues across the Atlantic.
• Hedge funds and proprietary trading firms expressing views on growth, inflation and interest rates.
• Central banks and official institutions managing reserves.
• Retail traders, mostly through CFDs or rolling spot accounts, who are a small slice of the total.

Because so much of the activity has nothing to do with speculation, the pair's price reflects real cross-border flows as well as views about the future.

The two economies and central banks behind it

The euro area and the ECB

The euro was launched as an accounting currency on 1 January 1999, with notes and coins following in 2002. Monetary policy for the whole currency union is set by the European Central Bank in Frankfurt, whose primary mandate is price stability, defined as 2% inflation over the medium term. The Governing Council holds monetary policy meetings roughly every six weeks; the decision is published at 14:15 Frankfurt time (13:15 UK time) and followed by a press conference half an hour later.

One feature that sets the euro apart is that it is a single currency for many separate national economies and governments. That has occasionally put political risk front and centre, most famously during the sovereign debt crisis of 2010–2012, when the bond yields of several member states rose sharply and the future of the currency union was openly debated.

The United States and the Federal Reserve

On the other side is the Federal Reserve. Its Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meets eight times a year and has a dual mandate of maximum employment and stable prices. Decisions are released at 14:00 New York time, which is 19:00 UK time for most of the year, and the chair's press conference follows at 14:30 New York time.

The US also publishes the most closely watched economic data in the world. The monthly employment report, usually on the first Friday of the month, and the consumer price index are the two releases most likely to cause a sharp move in EUR/USD. Our guide to central banks and interest rates explains how policy decisions feed into exchange rates.

What typically moves EUR/USD

The side panel lists the main drivers. In practice they combine in a few recurring ways.

Relative interest-rate expectations. Over months, EUR/USD tends to follow the difference between what markets expect the Fed and the ECB to do. If US rates are expected to stay higher for longer than euro-area rates, holding dollars becomes relatively more attractive. Note the word "expect": the pair often moves more on a change in guidance than on a decision that was already priced in. The glossary entry on the interest rate differential covers the mechanics.

Data surprises. A US payrolls figure far above consensus, or a euro-area inflation print far below it, can move the pair dozens of pips within minutes. What matters is the gap between the actual figure and the forecast, as explained in how economic data moves forex.

Risk sentiment. In acute global stress the dollar has often been in demand because of its role in funding and trade. That has tended to push EUR/USD lower in crises such as late 2008. This is a tendency, not a law; there have been stress episodes in which the dollar weakened.

Politics and trade. Elections, fiscal disputes, tariff announcements and geopolitical shocks affecting Europe, such as the energy price surge of 2022, have each had their turn as the main driver.

For a broader framework, see what moves currency prices.

Character and behaviour by session

EUR/USD trades around the clock from Sunday evening to Friday evening (UK time), but its activity is far from even. Times below are UK time; our market hours tool shows them in your own time zone.

• Asian session (roughly 00:00–08:00): usually the quietest stretch. Neither of the pair's home markets is open, ranges tend to be narrow and spreads can be slightly wider than later in the day.
• London open (around 07:00–09:00): activity picks up sharply as European banks start dealing. Euro-area data, such as German and euro-area PMIs, are released in this window.
• London/New York overlap (about 13:00–17:00): normally the most liquid and active part of the day. Most major US data come out at 08:30 New York time, which is 13:30 UK time for most of the year.
• Late New York (after about 17:00): volume fades. Around the daily rollover at 22:00 UK time (17:00 New York), spreads often widen for a few minutes.

Daylight saving matters here. The UK and US change their clocks on different dates, so for a few weeks in March and again from late October to early November, US releases and the Fed decision arrive an hour earlier in UK time than usual (12:30 and 18:00 instead of 13:30 and 19:00). Our guide to forex market hours and sessions has the full detail.

In terms of volatility, EUR/USD is generally regarded as one of the calmer major pairs: its average daily range is typically smaller than that of GBP/USD or the yen crosses. That does not make it safe. On central-bank days, major data releases or political shocks it can move a long way quickly, and leverage turns even an ordinary move into a large percentage of a small account.

Costs of trading EUR/USD

Because it is the most liquid pair, EUR/USD usually carries the tightest spreads a broker offers, and it is the pair brokers advertise most. Three things are worth knowing.

1. Advertised spreads are often minimums or averages in busy hours. Spreads widen around news, at the daily rollover and in thin markets. Our guide to why spreads widen explains how to check typical rather than best-case figures.
2. Commission may be separate. On raw-spread or ECN-style accounts you pay a commission per lot on top of a narrower spread. Compare the all-in cost, as described in spreads and commissions and how to compare trading costs.
3. Swaps depend on the rate gap. If you hold a position past the daily rollover, you pay or receive overnight financing based largely on the difference between euro and dollar interest rates, minus the broker's mark-up. When US rates are above euro rates, long EUR/USD positions usually pay a charge, and short positions may receive a small credit or a smaller charge. The Wednesday rollover normally carries three days' worth. See swap and overnight financing.

Pip value: a worked example

A pip on EUR/USD is 0.0001, the fourth decimal place. Most platforms also show a fifth digit, the pipette, worth a tenth of a pip. Because the US dollar is the quote currency, pip values are fixed in dollars:

• 1 standard lot (100,000 euros): 10 dollars per pip
• 1 mini lot (10,000 euros): 1 dollar per pip
• 1 micro lot (1,000 euros): 0.10 dollars per pip

Example (illustrative numbers). You buy 0.3 lots (30,000 euros) of EUR/USD at 1.1000 with a stop-loss 25 pips below at 1.0975. Each pip is worth 3 dollars, so if the stop is hit the loss is 25 times 3, or 75 dollars, plus spread and any commission. If your account is in euros at an exchange rate of 1.1000, that is about 68 euros.

The margin needed for that position under the ESMA cap of 30:1 is about 3.33% of its value. The position is worth 33,000 dollars, so the margin is about 1,100 dollars, or about 1,000 euros. Notice the difference between the two figures: margin tells you what is tied up, the stop distance tells you what is at risk. Use the pip value calculator and the guide to position sizing to work these out before you trade.

Correlations with other pairs

Because the dollar is on one side, EUR/USD tends to move with other "dollar as quote" pairs and against "dollar as base" pairs:

• GBP/USD often moves in the same direction, since a broad dollar move hits both. See the GBP/USD profile.
• USD/CHF has often moved in the opposite direction, partly because the Swiss economy is closely tied to the euro area. See the USD/CHF profile.
• AUD/USD and NZD/USD share the dollar but add commodity and risk-sentiment drivers, so the link is looser.
• EUR/GBP and EUR/JPY are the euro's main crosses. A EUR/USD trade carries some of the same euro exposure.

Correlations are measured over a chosen period and they change, sometimes abruptly. Holding long EUR/USD and long GBP/USD at once is, much of the time, one larger bet against the dollar. Our guide to currency correlation explains how to check this.

Notable history

A few well-documented episodes show how the pair can behave over long periods:

• 1999–2000: a weak start. The euro launched at about 1.17 dollars in January 1999 and then fell for most of the next two years, reaching record lows in October 2000. In September 2000 the ECB, the Fed and other G7 central banks intervened together to support the euro, a rare coordinated action.
• 2008: the peak and the crash. The pair reached its highest levels since the euro's launch, around 1.60, in 2008, before the global financial crisis drove a sharp rally in the dollar later that year.
• 2010–2012: the sovereign debt crisis. Doubts over Greece and other member states dominated the pair for long stretches, until the ECB's commitment in July 2012 to do "whatever it takes" to preserve the euro.
• 2022: parity. With US rates rising quickly, an energy shock in Europe and the war in Ukraine, EUR/USD fell to parity, one euro for one dollar, in July 2022 for the first time in about 20 years.

These episodes are a reminder that the pair can trend in one direction for long periods, and that the forces involved are much larger than any retail position.

Trading EUR/USD as a beginner

EUR/USD is a sensible first pair because costs are low, information is plentiful and price behaviour is usually orderly. None of that removes the main risks.

• Leverage cuts both ways. At 30:1, a move of about 3.3% against an unprotected, fully margined position would wipe out the margin. Most retail CFD accounts lose money, as brokers' risk warnings show. Read leverage and margin and the guide to why most retail CFD traders lose.
• Size by the stop, not by the margin. Decide the maximum you will lose on the trade, often 1% of the account or less, set the stop where your idea is proven wrong, and calculate the lot size from those two numbers.
• Know the calendar. Check the Fed, ECB, payrolls and CPI dates before you open a position. The economic calendar guide explains how.
• Respect the quiet hours. Spreads are often wider and moves erratic around the 22:00 rollover and in the Asian session. Many beginners do better trading only during the European and US hours they can actually watch.
• Watch the weekend. Prices can open on Sunday evening at a different level from Friday's close. See gap risk and weekend risk.
• Practise first. A demo account teaches the mechanics; see from demo account to live trading for what it does not teach.

Frequently asked questions

Why is EUR/USD called Fiber?

It is market slang. The usual explanation is that it contrasts with "Cable", the old nickname for GBP/USD that comes from the transatlantic telegraph cable; EUR/USD arrived in the age of fibre-optic communications. The name is informal and not every trader uses it.

When is the best time to trade EUR/USD from the UK?

Liquidity is usually deepest between about 08:00 and 17:00 UK time, and especially in the 13:00–17:00 window when London and New York are both open. That is also when the big US data come out, so "most liquid" also means "most likely to move sharply on news".

Is EUR/USD good for beginners?

It is the pair with the lowest typical costs and the most information available, which makes it a reasonable place to learn. It is not low-risk: with leverage, a normal day's move can produce a large loss on an oversized position.

What does a rising EUR/USD mean?

A rising price means the euro is strengthening against the dollar, or the dollar is weakening against the euro; the chart cannot tell you which. Checking other dollar pairs, such as USD/JPY and GBP/USD, shows whether the move is broad dollar weakness or something specific to the euro.

Do I pay swap on EUR/USD?

Only if you hold a position past the daily rollover, usually 22:00 UK time. The amount depends on the interest-rate difference between the euro and the dollar plus the broker's mark-up, and it can be a charge or, less often, a small credit. Your platform shows the current long and short swap rates.