Forex glossary
Major Pairs
In a common retail convention, seven currency pairs involving USD, including EUR/USD and USD/JPY. The group name is not a legal instrument category or a guarantee of cost or liquidity for an individual order.
Illustrative example
How does it work in practice?
In a hypothetical EUR/USD quote, bid is 1.1000 and ask 1.1002 USD per EUR. With a 0.0001 pip, the spread is two pips; the major-pair label does not guarantee that cost next time.
A case to work through
USD in three symbols
Model list: EUR/USD, USD/JPY and USD/PLN; use the common seven-major-pair convention.
- EUR/USD and USD/JPY belong to that conventional group.
- USD/PLN includes USD but is not on that list.
What follows? State the convention rather than define majors solely by USD.
Example boundary: The grouping determines neither current spread nor legal margin category.
A useful distinction
Major Pairs / Minor Pairs (Cross Pairs)
Minors conventionally combine leading currencies without USD; the common majors list includes USD.
Check your understanding
Identify the limits of the stated major-pair convention.
Show the answer and explanation
USD/PLN
USD alone does not make it one of the seven majors.
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Related terms
Sources and documentation
- Saxo: major-pair convention
A common retail majors list rather than legal margin categories.
- ESMA Decision (EU) 2018/1636: temporary retail CFD restrictions
The historical ESMA decision renewed a temporary retail-CFD restriction model that included account-based margin close-out protection.
The example illustrates the mechanism. Check current account conditions and instrument specifications with the provider.