🧱 Basics·beginner

Quote Currency

Also called: counter currency, secondary currency

The second currency in a forex pair — the one used to price one unit of the base currency.

The quote currency sits on the RIGHT side of a pair. In EUR/USD, the dollar is the quote. The price of the pair literally answers the question: "how many units of the QUOTE currency does it take to buy one unit of the base?" EUR/USD at 1.0950 means one euro costs 1.0950 US dollars. When you profit on a trade, that profit is initially denominated in the quote currency. A 50-pip win on EUR/USD makes you USD because the dollar is the quote. A 50-pip win on USD/JPY makes you JPY because the yen is the quote — your broker then converts that to your account currency at the close. This is why pip values stay constant on USD-quoted pairs (always ~$10 per pip per standard lot in a USD account) but float on non-USD-quoted pairs.

Real trade example

EUR/JPY traders in late 2022 saw their pip value swing nearly 15% in a few months as USD/JPY ran from 130 to 150 — same lot size, totally different dollar risk.

Related terms

Base Currency

beginner

The first currency in a forex pair — the one you're buying or selling, priced in units of the second currency.

Currency Pair

beginner

Two currencies quoted together — you're always buying one and selling the other at the same time.

Pip

beginner

The smallest standard price move in a currency pair — the building block of every forex profit or loss.

Cross Pair

intermediate

A pair that doesn't include the US dollar — used to trade one non-USD currency directly against another.

Major Pair

beginner

Any forex pair that includes the US dollar and one other top-tier global currency — the most liquid pairs in the world.

Margin

beginner

The amount of your own money locked up as collateral to open and hold a leveraged position.

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