Base Currency & Quote Currency

Fundamentals

The first currency in a pair (base) and the second (quote) — the price shows how much quote currency one unit of base buys.

In any currency pair, the base currency is the first one listed and the quote currency is the second — the price tells you how many units of the quote currency it takes to buy one unit of the base. In GBP/JPY, GBP is the base and JPY is the quote, so the price shows how many yen one pound buys. When you go long a pair you're buying the base currency and selling the quote currency; going short reverses that.

Related terms

Currency Pair Going Long / Short

More in Fundamentals

Account Balance ADP National Employment Report Balance of Payments Beige Book Bid/Ask Cable (GBP/USD)Carry Trade Central Bank Central Bank Intervention Commodity Currency Consumer Confidence Index Consumer Price Index (CPI)

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