Currency Guides
In-depth guides to the currency pairs that matter for cross-border payments.
How exchange rates actually work — and what moves them
What an exchange rate really represents, the forces that push currencies up and down, and why the rate you see quoted is rarely the rate you pay.
Managing currency risk: a plain-English guide for businesses
The three kinds of currency risk, the tools businesses use to manage it — spot, forwards, options, natural hedging — and how to think about which fits.
How to read a currency quote: pairs, pips, and spreads explained
Read any rate fluently — the pair, the direction, bid and ask, pips, and the hidden spread — so you can see exactly what you're paying above the mid-market.
EUR/USD Guide: What Drives the World's Most Traded Currency Pair
EUR/USD is the most heavily traded currency pair in the world, representing the exchange rate between the two largest reserve currencies. If your business pays suppliers in the Eurozone from a US-based operation, or vice versa, this is very likely the pair you're watching most closely.
GBP/USD Guide: Why Cable Moves the Way It Does
GBP/USD is one of the oldest and most actively traded currency pairs, often called "Cable" — a nod to the transatlantic telegraph cable laid in the 1850s that was originally used to transmit the exchange rate between London and New York.
USD/JPY Guide: The Pair Driven by the World's Biggest Rate Gap
USD/JPY has spent extended periods driven by one dominant theme: the size of the interest rate gap between the US and Japan, making the yen a popular currency to borrow in cheaply and invest elsewhere.