The question often comes up among forex traders (especially newer ones) as to which are the most traded currency pairs. Theres no central source of information from which we can figure out how the various currency pairs rank, but we can look to the periodic surveys done my the central banks and monetary authorities of the major global regions to get an idea. These reports are based on the survey of banks, so they dont really capture activity on the retail level. That is currently only about 5% of total daily volume, though, and market prices are set in the inter-bank market in any case, so were not really missing much in the survey data.

Global Most Traded Currency Pairs

It should be noted that EUR/USD is way ahead of the other most traded currency pairs in terms of daily trading volume. That one pair does something like 50% more volume globally than both USD/JPY and GBP/USD combined.

You will notice that I did not include the more regionally-oriented forex pairs like USD/MXN, EUR/SEK, USD/KRW, etc. If youre interested in them, I recommend exploring the individual report (links are provided below). Also, these figures are based on spot market volume, and do not include swaps, forwards, or options.

What Forex Pairs Should I Trade?

If you are a short-term trader then youre going to want to focus on the most traded currency pairs because they are generally active enough in that time frame to be worthwhile, and also offer the best bid/ask spreads. If you are specifically a day trader or scalper, youll want to focus on the the top forex pairs for the region you trade in to further ensure the best trading conditions. Traders who operate in longer-term swing and position trades, though, need not concern themselves as much with focusing on the most traded currency pairs, though. The costs and requirements for short-term movement are not a real issue.

Most Traded Currency Pairs by Region

Here is a center-by-center breakdown of the top forex pairs for each region. Again, this is for spot trading only. Swaps, forwards, and options can add considerably to the volume totals (more in some regions than in others). If you want to see the full center totals you can follow the links to the individual reports.

London

2C300 /%London remains by far the highest volume trading center for foreign exchange. It therefor wont come as much surprise that the global pair ranking is very similar to the one for this specific center. Based on the most recent data, here are the most traded currency pairs in for the London market.

Singapore

The volume pattern in Singapore shows EUR/USD with nearly 2.5 times as much volume as USD/JPY. Interestingly, EUR/USD does about as much volume in Singapore as in Australia, both of which do about double the volume in Japan. See the SFEMC website for more details.