When looking at currency pairs as a beginner to the forex
market, there are a few things that you need to consider.
Remember: each currency pair is essentially the economy of a
country. This means that managing a currency pair can be
extraordinarily complex, because you’re really dealing with two
major economies and their relationship with each other. For
beginners, the most important aspects of a currency is generally
stability and liquidity. You want to find a currency pair that
fluctuates fairly predictably but isn’t incredibly volatile, and
one that has high enough liquidity that it’s not going to be
difficult to trade or have particularly expensive spreads.
With that in mind, here are the five best currency pairs for
beginners.
EUR/USD
Many trading strategies have been developed and fine-tuned with
the EUR/USD pair specifically in mind. It makes sense: the Euro
and the Dollar are the two largest currencies in the world, and
thus it has very high liquidity as well as stability. EUR/USD is
such a popular currency pair that it has very low bid/ask spreads
and there are always available units for even very large trades —
moreover, the trading market is very unlikely to shift or
influence the currency pair, making it easier to create analysis
and strategies that will benefit the trader.
EUR/USD is often suggested as the starting place for a trader who
is just starting out.
As with many USD trades, this trade can be hedged by other trades
such as USD/JPY and USD/CAD. That being said, it’s usually not a
good idea to initiate too many trades with USD in the pair at
once; this is a common beginner’s mistake that can take them out
of the game if the price of USD sharply rises or quickly falls.
The dollar is the most traded currency in the world, and though it
would seem that it would create stability, other currencies do
range significantly in relation to their value to the dollar.
USD/JPY
Two global powers, the United States and Japan create a good
pair for those seeking profit.
USD/JPY is extremely liquid. Often called the Gopher, it is the
second most commonly traded pair on the foreign exchange market.
USD/JPY is one of the better trading tools for beginners that
either want to dive in fast or learn about volatility; it’s not
advisable to sink a lot of money into USD/JPY until you’ve gotten
a feel for its swings and behavior.
USD/JPY is one of the currency trades that is most often impacted
by political issues; JPY tends to swing up or down fairly sharply
in comparison to the relatively stable USD. That being said, the
patterns that JPY creates are fairly predictable, based on both
time and season, so many traders can make quite a lot by learning
more about its temperament.
The Japanese currency (Yen) is highly dependent on many global
factors, such as the import of oil. Thus, an experienced trader
will often be able to strategize regarding the market and
commodity prices. Japan is also often uniquely hit by natural
disasters and political issues; at these times, conscientious
traders may need to get out of the market, as the currency can
become quite volatile.
The Yen also tends to be either boosted or dragged down relative
to the rest of Asia; for instance, China and Korea may both have a
substantial impact on the trading activity and volatility of JPY.
This is because JPY is often seen as a doorway to the east. Those
who do trade USD/JPY may want to keep current on Japan’s political
and financial issues directly.
GBP/USD
GBP/USD trades on one of the largest markets in the world; the
British pound. GBP/USD tends to be fairly predictable. Many forex
traders are known to use support and resistance level trading in
order to better understand the market with this currency pair.
In fact, the GBP/USD trading pair is one of the oldest in the
world, and it’s often referred to by the nickname “The Cable” in
reference to the older technologies that used to carry the day’s
trading rates. GBP/USD is one of the best beginning currency pairs
because it is so liquid and because it is backed by such stable
economies.
GBP/USD maintains an interesting relationship with EUR/USD;
specifically, it tends to mirror it. The Euro and the British
pound both perform virtually identically, so traders may either
want to use GBP/USD to hedge EUR/USD or may not want to involve
themselves with trading both currency pairs at all.
Trading GBP/USD and EUR/USD in the same direction will often be
fruitless; they will almost always operate in tandem without any
specific advantage to either. GBP/USD can still be a very
interesting trading pair — though it is best left to experienced
investors when looking to trade both the GBP/USD and EUR/USD
simultaneously.
USD/CAD
The United States dollar and the Canadian dollar make an
interesting pair.
Both of them tend to fluctuate very strongly based on commodities,
but they tend to do it together, because similar commodities are
traded. However, there are notable exceptions; for instance, the
United States oil industry has caused a divergence between USD
value and CAD value, depending on where the oil market is within
the United States at any given time. Thus, there are many
differences in trading and commodities that a skilled and
strategic trader can take advantage of.
Nevertheless, USD/CAD remains a good pair for the beginner because
it is generally very stable.
Due to the close geographical proximity of the USD and CAD
markets, the currencies don’t tend to diverge very often — but
they still do which creates opportunities for profit. As a
relatively strong economy, the Canadian Dollar tends to be
primarily influenced by political events; thus, a trader getting
into USD/CAD may want to educate themselves regarding any issues
that could potentially arise.
AUD/USD
AUD/USD — the Aussie — has occasionally become the third most
popular currency. This can be surprising to many who would expect
that JPY, CAD, EUR, and GBP would all outrank it, but in fact, the
Australian dollar is extremely attractive for both beginning and
advanced investors.
Australia’s economy has been doing very well for some time, and
that has driven a significant amount of growth within the country.
The currency has reflected this by making marked and predictable
gains against many other currencies, though there are also some
significant shortfalls and financial collapses. Essentially, there
are many trading strategies that can be used and tested out on
AUD/USD, as it often shows long periods of stable growth in
addition to periodic collapses.
AUD/USD is probably a little more challenging than the other
currency pairs on this list, but it does have a very unique
benefit, its volatility. That being said, those who are interested
will need to keep abreast of Australia’s current economic
conditions, as when there is a low, it is usually a very dramatic
one.
What is the best currency pair for me?
You may have noticed that most of the best currency pairs include
the USD.
The United States Dollar is by far one of the most stable and
predictable currencies out there. EUR, JPY and AUD operate very
similarly (which is why EUR/USD, USD/JPY and AUD/USD are such good
pairs). But there’s also another advantage — and that is for
domestic traders. Traders in America will be able to anticipate
many of the changes in global economic strength, such as issues
surrounding presidential campaigning and other major economic
shifts. Similarly, those in Japan or Australia may want to focus
on their own domestic currency to give them an edge.
To summarize, start with a pair that you can best familiarize
yourself with, learn it’s patterns, and give your forex trading
career the best chance of taking off.
The Wall