The Most Traded Currencies in the World, and Why It Matters for Your Costs
Every day, about $9.6 trillion changes hands in the currency market. But that money is not spread evenly. A handful of currencies make up most of the trading, and that decides how much you pay in spreads, how cleanly your orders fill and which hours are worth trading.
The Top 10 Currencies
According to the Bank for International Settlements survey of April 2025, these are the most traded currencies by share of daily turnover:
The shares add up to 200%, not 100%, because every trade involves two currencies. The US dollar is on one side of almost 9 out of 10 trades, and all ten of the most traded pairs include it, led by EURUSD, USDJPY and GBPUSD.
Why the Ranking Affects Your Costs
Heavily traded currencies usually mean tighter spreads, less slippage and steadier prices. A simple example, with one 0.10 lot trade a day for 20 trading days:
- Major pair with a 1-pip spread: about $1 per trade, about $20 a month.
- Exotic pair with a 30-pip spread: about $30 per trade, about $600 a month.
On a $5,000 account, the exotic spreads alone would cost 12% of the account in a month, before a single losing trade.
More liquidity does not mean less risk. The pound, yen and Swiss franc have all had very large single-day moves. Liquid markets lower your costs, but you still need a stop loss and sensible position sizing.
Trade Each Currency in Its Hours
- Yen and Australian dollar: most active in the Asian session.
- Euro, pound and Swiss franc: most active in London hours.
- Most majors: deepest liquidity in the London and New York overlap, roughly 12:00–16:00 UTC.
What This Means for Expert Advisors
A robot trades the same way every time, so small costs add up fast. That makes liquid pairs even more important for automated trading. Falcon FX scalps EURUSD, GBPUSD, AUDUSD and AUDCAD and limits how many open trades can share one currency, so several trades against the dollar do not quietly become one large dollar bet. Velora FX trades the AUD, NZD and CAD crosses, the commodity currencies from the middle of the ranking.
Trading Forex and other leveraged instruments involves a high risk of loss. Cost figures above are examples, not current market data.
