Currency & Pairs
Beginner
Base Currency
The first currency in a pair — the one you're buying or selling.
Definition
In EUR/USD, EUR is the base. The quote (1.0800) tells you how many units of the quote currency one unit of the base buys.
For accounts, ‘base currency’ separately means the currency your balance is denominated in (USD, EUR, GBP, etc.) — affects P&L calculation on cross pairs.
Example
EUR/USD = 1.0800 means 1 euro buys 1.08 US dollars. EUR is the base, USD is the quote.