Minor Currency Pairs and Cross-Currency Trading

Trading in the major currency pairs accounts for the lion’s share of overall currency market volume, but speculative trading opportunities extend well beyond just the tour major dollar pairs (currency pairs that include the USD). For starters, three other currency pair commonly known as the minor or small dollar pairs round out the primary trading pairs that include the U.S. dollar. Then there are the cross-currency pairs, or crosses for short, which pit two non-USD currencies against each other.

Each of the minor dollar pairs has its own attributes and idiosyncrasies, and the crosses can frequently represent a parallel universe trading alongside the major dollar pairs.

We will take a closer look at the minor dollar pairs and cross-currency pairs to see how they fit into the overall market and offer an additional array of speculative trading opportunities. Although the USD is frequently the driving force in the currency market, you’re going to want to know where the opportunities are when the spotlight isn't on the greenback.

Trading the Minor Pairs: USD/CAD, AUD/USD, and NZD/USD

The minor dollar pairs are USD/CAD (the U.S. dollar versus the Canadian dollar), AUD/USD (the Australian dollar versus the U.S. dollar), and NZD/USD (the New Zealand dollar versus the U.S. dollar). The minor currency pairs are also commonly referred to as the commonwealth currencies or the commodity currencies.

Commonwealth refers to the commonwealth of former colonies of the United Kingdom. The commodity currencies nickname stems from the key role that oil, metals, and mining industries play in the national economies of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

The minor currency pairs each account for around 5 percent of global daily trading volume, according to the 2004 Bank for International Settlements (BIS) survey of forex market volumes. But they can offer significant trading opportunities, both for short-term traders and medium- to longer-term speculators.