Currency pairs
Table of Contents
This is the hub note for currency pairs as reference data. Each linked note is a single focused concept; start here and follow the links.
Summary
A currency pair is the fundamental unit of FX trading: it defines the exchange relationship between two currencies and carries all the conventions needed to quote, settle, and value a transaction. Almost every FX concept — spot rates, forward curves, vol surfaces, fixings — is anchored to a pair rather than to a currency in isolation. This cluster covers what a currency pair is as a data entity: how it is named, which currency is base, deliverability, quoting/pip conventions, and classification. It is a companion to the cross-rates matrix cluster, which covers spot-rate derivation and graph structure rather than the pair entity itself.
Detail
Concept map
- Naming and quoting convention → FX currency conventions (base/quote, G11/EM, reciprocals, Product-vs-Valuation split).
- Settlement timing → FX spot date and settlement (spot days, T+2, business vs settlement day, holiday calendars).
- Deliverability → Deliverability and non-deliverable instruments (NDFs, NDOs, onshore/offshore bifurcation, pseudo currency codes).
- Quoting granularity → Pip, tick size, and pip factor.
- Classification → Currency pair classification: major, minor, exotic (and how it differs from the G11/EM taxonomy).
- Desk groupings → Currency groups (desk groupings) (extensible, many-to-many groups like G11, Scandies, Antipodeans — a currency-level concept, not a pair one).
- Data model → Currency pair and currency entity fields (the field-by-field reference, including cut code).
- Valuation dates → Valuation spot date and overnight (reval date, valuation spot date, O/N and T/N outrights).
- Cross-rate derivation (companion cluster) → Cross-rates matrix (CRM), Triangulation and cross rates.
See also
- Cross-rates matrix (CRM) — the companion hub for spot-rate derivation.