Very often, traders and professional Forex investors simplify currency pair names by referring to them using nicknames. The most used jargon in FX is about the major currency pairs. This language is not only used in forums or social media but also in official communications, news, and formal events.
If you are trading FX, you have got to know about the Fiber. This is, by far, the most traded FX pair in the world: the EUR/USD. The “Fiber” nickname has two meanings: on one side, it stands as a deviation from the fact that the GBP/USD is called Cable, the Euro being a newer currency. On the other side, because it said that Europe has the fastest optical fiber network worldwide.
Trading the GBP against the US Dollar must imply that one knows what Cable is. This is the most widely used nickname in the Forex market since its launch. The name comes as a mixture between the steel cables found beneath the Atlantic Ocean; build in 1858 to connect the two major economies in the world (back then): US and UK, to enable telegraphic messages about currency prices to be transmitted between the New York and London exchanges.
When you trade the AUD/USD currency pair, you are actually exchanging the Australian Dollar against the United States Dollar or the other way around. This pair is also known as the Aussie or Ozzie, although the most commonly used is the Aussie, the second being just a variation – difference in pronunciation between the US and UK English.
NZD/USD. This pair is known as the Kiwi. Not a hard one to remember, as New Zeeland is commonly named the Kiwi in official communications.
You will often read or hear about Loonie, especially in the US markets hours. Coming from the name of the bird on the Canadian currency, this pair is the nickname of the USD/CAD currency pair.
Between the United States dollar resonance and the Swiss currency, traders choose to use the name Swissy. So from now on, when you stumble upon this word you will know that it is about USD/CHF cross. Swissy was definitely very common in the first part of 2015 when the Swiss Franc rose against the US Dollar by approximately 2500 pips in one hour’ that is 26 times more than the average volatility for a day in the Swissy.
EUR/GBP. This is the cross formed by the European currency (Euro – EUR) and the Great Britain’s currency (British Pound Sterling – GBP). The colloquial name for this pair is the Chunnel, coming from the Channel Tunnel that connects France and England, the Euro and the GBP zones.
If you are trading the Asian session, you have to know about Yen or Ninja. This obviously stands for the major currency pair USD/JPY. The explanation for “Yen” is not complicated, as it is the short version of the pair. As for the “Ninja” term, it is safe to say that it happened because ninja fighters are found in Japanese tradition.
Trading Forex is not about the names and nicknames but there is a lot of jargon in the trading world and if you want to understand the information you find on the internet about trading you must learn to speak the language of the professionals.
