The two currencies that are involved in a FOREX transaction: a base currency and a quote currency. The first currency is the base currency and the second is the quote currency, with both being separated by a hyphen or backslash:

Base currency/ quote currency

Examples of currency pairs include: USD/ GBP, USD/ EUR, EUR/ JPY, etc. The exchange rate for the euro/ U.S. dollar might be expressed:

EUR/ USD 1.3245/08

The base currency is always equal to one, while the quote currency is the amount required to buy one unit of the base currency. The currency pair EUR/ USD 1.3245 means that for every euro, a trader will receive 1.3245 U.S. dollars.

Alternatively, the base currency is often referred to as the “primary currency” and the quote currency as the “secondary currency” (also the pip currency). FX currency pairs are usually traded in 100,000 or 10,000 units of the base currency, but sometimes increments of 1,000 are also offered. The size of a FOREX trade is relatively standard and contract sizes are classified as a full-sized contract (standard lot), a mini contract, and a micro contract.