Interesting Forex Slangs

Posted: 16 May 2011 11:08 PM PDT

Every morning while browsing through the forex market commentaries I usually come across a range of terms used in currency market which either do not exist in real world or exist in a totally different context. Its quite interesting to know these terms and find out why they have been named as such.

Cable

Refers to the Great Britain Pound i.e. GBP/USD currency rate (read our note on currency basics to understand the pair). It refers to the Atlantic Cable, a steel cable laid under the Atlantic Ocean in 1850, telegraphically linking the UK with the USA, enabling messages with currency prices to be transmitted between the London and New York Exchanges. GBPUSD pair is also known as Pound Sterling

Quid

Again refers to the GBPUSD currency pair. I think the term comes from a popular phrase quid pro quo but I am not sure, please check on the reasons of this name.

Kiwi

No prizes for guessing this pair. It is New Zealand's NZDUSD currency pair named after its national bird.

Loonie

This refers to the Canadian dollar i.e. USDCAD currency pair. This is named after the name for Canadian 1 dollar coin.

Chunnel

Referring to the cross between Euro and Pound i.e. EURGBP pair. Infact this term is also a cross between words from English Channel Tunnel linking England and France by rail.

Fiber

Some asking for a quote on Fiber is asking quotes on the most traded EURUSD currency pair. This terminology borrows from the term cable used for GBPUSD reflecting the fact that optic fiber is the modern day equivalent to the telegraph cable that gave GBP/USD its most common nickname. One more reason might be that Euro notes are printed on pure cotton fiber paper and have a security “fiber” woven into each one.

Chief

Refers to Swiss Franc, i.e. the USDCHF currency pair. This term comes from the currency's three-letter ISO 4217 code of CHF.

Geppy

This strange word, in the world of forex refers to cross between British Pound and Japanese Yen i.e. GBPJPY. I think the term has just been formed G and PY in the currency pair.

I am sure there would be many more interesting terms doing rounds in the market among traders and dealers. Do let me know any such terms through a comment on this post.

Author: Praveen Bajaj