Majors are the most liquid and commonly traded currency pairs in the world. Trades involving majors make up about 90 % of total Forex trading. Currencies, just like any other commodity that can be bought or sold, are subject to the laws of supply and demand. When more people want a particular currency, the cost of the currency in terms of other currencies will go up. When demand decreases or people do not want to hold a country ' s currency, the value will go down. The four currencies that are traded the most are called the majors. The majors are generally the U. S. dollar ( USD ), the British pound ( GBP or cable ), the Japanese yen ( JPY ), and the Swiss franc ( CHF or the swissy ).
The US Dollar ( USD ) The US dollar features in many of the currency pairs that are traded global. But the dollar hasn ' t always been the world ' s gorgeous when it comes to reserve currencies, and there are fears that it might not be in the future. Forex traders are constantly exposed to doom and gloom tidings that seem to center around the US dollar. What you need to think is that despite the doomsday scenarios, U. S currency has not collapsed and foreign banks, in particular Asian ones, continue to hold trillions in U. S. dollar reserves. It is estimates of up to two - third of all global central bank holdinga are U. S dollars, though official reserve holdings and allocations are not really published anywhere. The Euro The Euro was born on January 1, 1999 signaling the end of currencies such as the Deutsche mark, the French frank, and the Italian lira. Out of the 27 countries that make up the European Union, thirteen of them use the Euro as their currency. Eleven countries initially joined to form the Eurozone - Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxemborg, Netherland, Portugal and Spain. Greece joined in 2001 and Slovenia joined in 2007. As a result the Euro has surpassed the US dollar as far as total value of cash in circulation. With the inception of the euro, there has been no need for member countries to have their own central banks. The European Central Bank ( ECB ) sets the interest rates and creates the monetary policy for the entire Eurozone. Individual countries still track and report their own economic data, however the figures are also kept for the Eurozone in its entirely. The Eurozone will add eleven countries beginning 2008 and finishing in 2014 - Malta, Cyprus, Slovakia, Estonia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Czech Republic, Poland and Romania. The Japanese Yen ( JPY ) The yen is the official Japanese currency and is usually denoted by JPY. Yen literally means circle. Japan foreign trade industry maintains an isolationist view and they tend to lag behind the rest of the world with regards to foreign trade. However, the Yen is increasingly held as a reserve currency by central bank worldwide. One thing to notice is that when the strength of the yen rises, it tends to hurt the manufacturing industry of Japan, which is a large component of the Japanese economy. The Swiss Franc The swiss franc, or Swissy and CHF, is the legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. The franc booknotes are issued by the Swiss National Bank, also known as the central bank of Switzerland. The Swissy is the only version of the franc still issued in Europe. The most recent version of the Swiss franc was released in 1850.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment