The Major pairs and their respected trading volume are as follows: EUR/USD (Euro) 28%, USD/JPY (Yen) 17%, GBP/USD (Cable) 14%, and USD/CHF (Swissy) 4%.

Other notable currencies are the commodity pairs AUD/USD (Ozzie), NZD/USD (Kiwi), and USD/CAD (Loonie). They are considered commodity pairs because their prices tend to move with the price of gold for AUD and NZD and with Oil for CAD.

Finally, we have the cross pairs, non Dollar paired currencies. The most commonly traded cross pairs are the: GBP/JPY (Gopher), EUR/JPY (Euppy), EUR/GBP.

For new traders it is recommended to stick to the majors and even in that group really only focus on one currency pair. The EUR/USD would be the obvious choice since it is the most liquid pair. Selecting a currency pair to trade is only half the battle. It is just as critical to identify the right time period to trade. The forex market is open 24 hours a day five days for the week. There are multiple market trading sessions as the major players come in and out of the market. The three sessions are as follows in order of volatility: The European session 7am – 4pm gmt, the US session 12 pm – 10pm gmt, and the Asian session 11 pm – 8am gmt. Generally it is best to trade the EUR/USD, GBP/USD, and USD/CHF during the European session and the USD/JPY during the Asian session. The greatest volatility for any pair is when the European session and the US session overlap.

Correlations in the forex market do appear to be strong. The EUR/USD has an almost perfect inverse correlation with the USD/CHF. When the EUR/USD makes a strong move up, look for the USD/CHF to move down hard. The EUR/USD also has a strong correlation with the GBP/USD. Other correlations to take note of would include the AUD/USD moving in tandem with the NZD/USD. The EUR/USD has a loose inverse correlation with the USD/JPY as well. This may not be enough information to solely trade off of alone, but when monitoring with a trading system this information could prove to be useful.