Choosing your pairs

You have now met the majors and the main crosses. Choose which ones to trade by how well they fit your hours, and start with your diary rather than the chart.

Start with your hours

Typical activity by hour (illustrative)

UK timeUTCNew York time

Sydney

Tokyo

London

New York

Overlap

UK

0003060912151821

EUR/USD

GBP/USD

USD/JPY

AUD/USD

NZD/USD

USD/CAD

USD/CHF

EUR/GBP

GBP/JPY

QuietLightModerateBusyVery busy

Hour:

19:00 UK

Northern summer hours (UK on BST). In the UK winter the Asian sessions start about an hour earlier in UK time.

Typical activity by hour in UK time. Slide to the hours you can really trade and see which rows are still coloured. An illustrative model, not live data; news can make any hour busy.

A pair is only as good as its activity when you are at the screen. In its busy session it usually has tighter spreads and cleaner moves. In its quiet hours spreads tend to widen and price often drifts. So write down the hours you can keep every week, then slide the heatmap to them. Pairs that are pale in your window drop off the list, however interesting they look.

Then temperament, news and experience

Three more filters narrow the list.

• Movement you can tolerate. Volatility sets how wide your stop must be. If a 150-pip day would rattle you, GBP/JPY is not your pair yet, whatever its reputation.
• News you can follow. Every pair is two central banks and two calendars. A list that shares one currency, usually the US dollar, halves the homework.
• Experience. If you are new, start with a major pair. Cross pairs and fast movers can come later, once your sizing is automatic.

One or two, and not the same bet

Pick one pair, two at most, and learn it well: when it moves, how it reacts to its big releases, how far it usually travels. That takes many trades on the same pair. A second pair should add something different, not repeat the first. EUR/USD and GBP/USD often move together, a strong correlation, so holding both is close to one larger bet against the dollar. The lesson on how pairs move together shows how to check.

My pair shortlist

0 of 6

• I wrote down the hours I can trade every week, in UK time or my own.
• Each pair on my list is active in those hours on the heatmap, or I only plan trades on daily charts then.
• I can name both central banks and the next big release for each currency.
• Its usual daily range lets me use a sensible stop at my normal risk per trade.
• If I am new, every pair on my list is a major.
• My list has one or two pairs, and they are not the same bet on one currency.

Sam’s evenings are calmer and moves are usually smaller, so she may wait days for a clean setup. The big US data at 13:30 UK has already landed, so she trades its after-effects, not the release. Fed decisions often come at 19:00 UK, which can turn a quiet evening busy. And she stops before 22:00, when the daily rollover arrives and spreads often widen.

Try it

When you can watch the market (pick any)

Asian morningLondon morningLondon–New York overlapNew York afternoonEvenings UK

Approximate UK times: Asian morning 00:00–06:00, London morning 07:00–12:00, overlap 13:00–17:00, New York afternoon 17:00–21:00, evenings 19:00–23:00.

How much movement can you stomach?

CalmModerateLively

News you can follow (pick any)

USEurozoneUKJapanAustralia/ChinaCanada/oil

Experience

NewSomeExperienced

Pairs that may suit you

1. 1
2. 2
3. 3

Probably not for you yet

!

Pick one or two and learn them well before adding more.

How the match score is worked out

Out of 100: up to 40 for how busy the pair usually is in the hours you picked, 30 for how much of its news (two currencies) you follow, 20 for how close its usual movement is to what you can stomach and 10 for liquidity and cost. New traders lose points on any cross and more on fast crosses such as GBP/JPY and EUR/JPY, and their top two picks are always majors; traders with some experience lose points on fast crosses only. Exotic pairs are left out on purpose.

Answer for yourself: when you can watch, how much movement you can stomach, the news you follow and your experience. Activity and movement ratings are illustrative, simplified from our pair guides; check spreads and ranges on your own platform.

Notice how, with the default answers, EUR/USD scores 93. Now untick London morning so only evenings are left: most scores fall, while USD/CAD edges up and climbs to second.

Quick check

Quick check

1. Question 1 of 4

   You can only trade from 18:00 to 21:00 UK time. Which pair is usually most active then?

   AUSD/CADBEUR/GBPCGBP/JPY

Go deeper: Best currency pairs for beginners (and ones to avoid) · Forex market hours · Currency correlation