Major Cross-Currency Pairs or Minor Currency Pairs

Currency pairs that include any two of the major currencies except the U.S. dollar are known as cross-currency pairs or simply as the “crosses.”

Major crosses are also known as “minors.”

While not as frequently traded as the majors, the crosses are still pretty liquid and still provide plenty of trading opportunities.

Don’t confuse minor currency pairs with the seven major currency pairs, all of which include the U. S. dollar against one of the seven other most liquid currencies in the world.

The most actively traded crosses are derived from the three major non-USD currencies: EUR, JPY, and GBP.

Euro Crosses

CURRENCY PAIR	COUNTRIES	FX GEEK SPEAK
EUR/CHF	Eurozone / Switzerland	“euro swissy”
EUR/GBP	Eurozone / United Kingdom	“euro pound”
EUR/CAD	Eurozone / Canada	“euro loonie”
EUR/AUD	Eurozone / Australia	“euro aussie”
EUR/NZD	Eurozone / New Zealand	“euro kiwi”
EUR/SEK	Eurozone / Sweden	“euro stockie”
EUR/NOK	Eurozone / Norway	“euro nockie”

Yen Crosses

CURRENCY PAIR	COUNTRIES	FX GEEK SPEAK
EUR/JPY	Eurozone / Japan	“euro yen” or “yuppy”
GBP/JPY	United Kingdom / Japan	“pound yen” or “guppy”
CHF/JPY	Switzerland / Japan	“swissy yen”
CAD/JPY	Canada / Japan	“loonie yen”
AUD/JPY	Australia / Japan	“aussie yen”
NZD/JPY	New Zealand / Japan	“kiwi yen”

Pound Crosses

PAIR	COUNTRIES	FX GEEK SPEAK
GBP/CHF	United Kingdom / Switzerland	“pound swissy”
GBP/AUD	United Kingdom / Australia	“pound aussie”
GBP/CAD	United Kingdom / Canada	“pound loonie”
GBP/NZD	United Kingdom / New Zealand	“pound kiwi”

Other Crosses

PAIR	COUNTRIES	FX GEEK SPEAK
AUD/CHF	Australia / Switzerland	“aussie swissy”
AUD/CAD	Australia / Canada	“aussie loonie”
AUD/NZD	Australia / New Zealand	“aussie kiwi”
CAD/CHF	Canada / Switzerland	“loonie swissy”
NZD/CHF	New Zealand / Switzerland	“kiwi swissy”
NZD/CAD	New Zealand / Canada	“kiwi loonie”