Currency pairs

The forex market trades in currency pairs. These pairs use a standardized quote structure of Base/Quote with the above mentioned abbreviations in an XXX/YYY format. The pair can be thought of in terms of how much of the Quote currency it takes to make one unit of the Base currency.
Putting this together, EUR/USD is the number of U.S. Dollars it takes to equate to 1 Euro. This is the exchange rate.
It should be noted that a cross rate or cross currency pair (often just called a cross) is the term used in common market parlance for a currency pair which does not include the USD. An example would be EUR/GBP.
In some trading circles you may hear the term 'Cable' referred to when talking about the GBP/USD. This refers to the transatlantic cable which when laid opened up a whole new area of currency specualtion. for more informations...........

Quotes:

Currency market quotes are displayed in a standard bid/offer set-up. Among the major currency pairs (pairs which include two of the major currencies as listed above), most are quoted to 4 decimal places with a pip equal to 1/10,000th of a point. Where the Japanese Yen is included as the Quote currency, the standard is 2 decimal places, with a pip being 1/100th of a point.
With increased volume in forex trading, the quotes have actually been extended an additional decimal point, at least in the major currency pairs. This has created what are referred to as pippettes, fractions of a pip.learn more.............