Settlement currency

Available Forex pairs can be found on the IDEAL PRO exchange page. Find out more about trading spot currencies on the IBKR website from the Spot Currencies…

In forex (fx) trading, the transaction currency (also referred to as base currency) is the first currency listed in the currency pair. When creating a forex order with Interactive Brokers, the order quantity is entered in terms of the transaction currency…

Overview:

In the international forex cash market (known as the Spot Market) currencies are traded in pairs. The first currency in each pair is known as the Transaction Currency, while the second currency in the pair is the Settlement Currency. The quantity bought and sold will apply directly to the Transaction Currency, while the gains and losses from transactions will apply to the Settlement Currency. When you buy a currency pair you are going long the Transaction Currency while simultaneously shorting the Settlement Currency. Conversely, when you sell a currency pair you are shorting the Transaction Currency while simultaneously buying the Settlement Currency. Since the forex market is foreign exchange, each transaction must contain one currency against another…

Price quoting for Forex pairs on IdealPro is subject to an industry convention whereby the relationship between the first pair (transaction currency) and second pair (settlement currency) is fixed and cannot be inverted. Considering, for example, pairs involving the USD, the following are examples where the USD is listed as the transaction currency: USD.CAD, USD.JPY and USD.CHF. Similarly, the GBP.USD, EUR.USD and AUD.USD are examples where the USD is listed as the settlement currency (a complete listing of quotin conventions for pairs executable via IdealPro can be found by typing IdealPro into our website search engine)…