الدروس
- 01The US dollar.The US dollar is on one side of most forex trades because it is the main reserve, trade and funding currency. Its value moves largely on what traders expect from the Federal Reserve, and those expectations shift with US jobs, inflation and growth data. In a global panic it often rises.
- 02The euro.The euro is the shared currency of 21 European Union countries, managed by the European Central Bank in Frankfurt. The ECB sets one interest rate for economies that can need different ones, aiming for 2% inflation across the whole area. EUR/USD, the euro against the US dollar, is the world's most traded currency pair.
- 03The Japanese yen.The Japanese yen is shaped by decades of very low interest rates set by the Bank of Japan, which made it a popular funding currency for carry trades. It often rises when markets panic, though not always. Japan's Ministry of Finance sometimes intervenes, and on yen pairs a pip is 0.01.
- 04The British pound.The British pound, or sterling (GBP), moves mainly on Bank of England interest rate expectations and on data from a services-heavy UK economy. GBP/USD, nicknamed cable, is one of the most traded pairs. The pound has often swung further in a day than the euro, so a trade on it may need a wider stop and a smaller position.
- 05The Australian, Canadian and New Zealand dollars.The Australian, Canadian and New Zealand dollars are called commodity currencies because their countries export large amounts of raw materials. The Aussie tends to follow metals and Chinese demand, the loonie oil and the US economy, and the kiwi dairy prices. Interest rates and global risk appetite also move all three, and can outweigh commodities.
- 06The Swiss franc.The Swiss franc (CHF) is the currency of Switzerland, a small economy with a currency that investors often buy in times of stress. That safe-haven demand can push the franc too high, so the Swiss National Bank has fought it with negative rates and currency intervention, including a 1.20 floor on EUR/CHF that it dropped without warning in 2015.