Glossaire · Qu'est-ce que le forex ?Exchange rate
Ce contenu n'existe pour l'instant qu'en anglais.
An exchange rate is the price of one currency in terms of another. EUR/USD at 1.10000 means one euro exchanges for 1.10000 US dollars. On a trading platform every rate comes as two prices: a bid you can sell at and a higher ask you can buy at.
Exchange rates are what the forex market trades. The what is forex lesson explains who moves them and how to read them.
How an exchange rate is quoted
A rate is written as a currency pair. The price is how much of the second currency one unit of the first currency buys.
No single body sets the rate. It moves with supply and demand among banks, funds, companies and traders, and some central banks step in to steady their own currency.
On a trading platform each rate shows two prices: the bid price, where you can sell, and the ask price, where you can buy. News sites usually show the mid price halfway between them.
How to flip an exchange rate
The same rate can be written either way round. To flip it, divide 1 by the price. With an illustrative EUR/USD of 1.25000, USD/EUR is 1 ÷ 1.25000 = 0.80000.
Here is a worked conversion at that rate. 2,000 euros buy 2,000 × 1.25000 = 2,500 dollars. Going back, 2,500 dollars at 0.80000 buy 2,000 euros, before any spread or fee.
Questions fréquentes
Who decides exchange rates?
No single body decides them. Rates come from trading between banks, companies, funds and traders, and central banks sometimes intervene in their own currency.
Why is the rate at my bank different from the forex price?
Banks and money changers build their fee into a wide gap between their buying and selling rates. News sites show the mid price, which sits between the two and is not a price you can deal at.
Autres termes de ce chapitre
ForexForex (foreign exchange, or FX) is the global market for trading currencies. Every price is quoted as a pair, such as EUR/USD, and trading happens over the counter between dealers rather than on one central exchange.
Base currencyThe base currency is the first currency in a currency pair, the one whose price is quoted. In EUR/USD it is the euro, so a price of 1.10000 means one euro costs 1.10000 US dollars. Buying the pair means buying the base currency.
Quote currencyThe quote currency is the second currency in a pair, the one the price is counted in. In EUR/USD it is the US dollar, so 1.10000 means one euro costs 1.10000 dollars. Pip value and profit on the pair are worked out in the quote currency first.
Long and short positionsLong and short positions are the two directions a trade can take. Going long means buying a currency pair to profit if its price rises. Going short means selling it to profit if the price falls. In forex you can sell a pair as easily as you buy it.
Over-the-counter (OTC) marketIn an over-the-counter (OTC) market, traders deal directly with no central exchange. Spot forex works this way: dealer banks quote prices to each other and to brokers, so there is no single official price at any moment.
Liquidity providerLiquidity providers are banks and firms that quote buy and sell prices to a broker. They stand ready to trade at those prices. A broker combines their quotes into the bid and ask you see, sometimes adding its own markup to the spread.
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