Currency Trading Information

ISO 4217 in Forex Trading


ISO 4217 is an international standard describing three letter codes to define the names of currencies established by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

The first two letters of the code are the two letters of ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country codes (which are similar to those used for national top-level domains on the internet) and the third is usually the initial of the currency itself. So Japan's currency code becomes JPY-JP for Japan and Y for yen. This eliminates the problem caused by the names dollar, franc and pound being used in dozens of different countries, all with wildly differing values.

The standard also defines the relationship between the major currency unit and any minor currency unit. Often, the minor currency unit has a value that is 1/100 of the major unit, but 1/10 or 1/1000 are also common. Some currencies do not have any minor currency unit at all. Mauritania does not use a decimal division of units, setting 1 ouguiya (UM) = 5 khoums, and Madagascar has 1 ariary = 5 iraimbilanja.

ISO 4217 includes codes for not only currencies, but also codes for precious metals (gold, silver, palladium and platinum; normally measured in troy ounces) and certain other entities used in international finance, e.g. Special Drawing Rights. There are also special codes allocated for testing purposes (XTS), and to indicate no currency transactions (XXX). These codes all begin with the letter "X". ISO 3166 never assigns country codes beginning with "X", so ISO 4217 can use "X" codes for non-country-specific currencies without risk of clashing with future country codes.

Supranational currencies, such as the East Caribbean dollar, the CFP franc, the CFA franc BEAC and the CFA franc BCEAO are normally also represented by codes beginning with an "X". However, the Euro is represented by the code EUR; although EU is not an ISO 3166-1 country code, it was used anyway, and in order to do so EU was added to the ISO 3166-1 reserved codes list to represent the European Union. The predecessor to the Euro, the European Currency Unit, had the code XEU.

More detail about ISO 4217 can be found on wikipedia.org

The author blog: Online Forex Resource - http://forexbroker.blogspot.com

  


MORE RESOURCES:

Movers: Citi, GM, GAP, Dell, Wal-Mart
BusinessWeek - 19 hours ago
Forex Club Try trading Forex today with a free 5000 demo account OR start trading live and get a $100 bonus. Try Currency Trading Learn to Trade FX with a ...


Maktoob

Dollar Posts Weekly Gain as Stock Plunge Spurs Haven Demand
Bloomberg - 21 hours ago
“It’s all about risk in this emotional market,” said Jacob Oubina, a currency strategist at FOREX.com, a unit of online currency trading firm Gain Capital ...
Traders Renew Appetite for Risk as Obama Names Treasury Secretary International Business Times
Yen Trades Near Three-Week High on Signs US Recession Deepens Bloomberg
Yen Advances as Drop in Stocks Reduces Appeal of Carry Trade Bloomberg
Bloomberg - Bloomberg
all 333 news articles


Runaway FX turnover growth tamed by crisis
guardian.co.uk, UK - Nov 21, 2008
London's position as the global hub of currency trading was cemented with figures in April from the Foreign Exchange Joint Standing Committee (JSC) showing ...


Americans’ ’Hypocrisy’ in Auto Rescue Spurs Me-Too Trading Ire
Bloomberg - 19 hours ago
One of the Americans’ biggest gripes involves Japan’s currency, which they claim is kept artificially cheap against the dollar. The Automotive Trade Policy ...


Dependence of economy on Forex
BigNews.biz (press release), MA - 1 hour ago
Generally, trading of natural resources such as gold, silver and currency trading are undertaken through the process of forex. It also involves foreign ...


AFP

WSJ(11/11) Currency Trading: Bad Crop: Commodity Currencies
Alibaba News Channel, NEW YORK - Nov 11, 2008
When commodity prices fall, it translates into a shock for the trading position of commodity-exporting nations. Suddenly, the price they earn for their ...
Value Plays in Equity Markets Help Support Euro Rally International Business Times
Euro firms against dollar, pound sinks amid credit turmoil AFP
Yen Falls Most in Two Weeks Versus Dollar, Euro as Stocks Rally Bloomberg
RTT News - Reuters
all 224 news articles


Currency Trading Markets Remain Highly Correlated to Dow Jones ...
Daily FX, NY - Nov 18, 2008
Currency trading markets continue very highly correlated to broader risky asset classes, as the common theme of financial market deleveraging creates strong ...
Currency Trading Markets Remain Highly Correlated to Dow Jones ... Daily FX
all 6 news articles


Euro Forecast to Decline Further Against US Dollar on Forex ...
Daily FX, NY - Nov 20, 2008
EURUSD – Currency trading crowds have recently bought the Euro against the US Dollar, and we forecast that the sudden shift in sentiment may bring Euro ...


Kuwait Times

Forex Expo promotes currency trading as alternative to bourse
Kuwait Times, Kuwait - Nov 20, 2008
By Dana Khraiche, Staff writer KUWAIT: Currency trading has its ups and downs. Recently, one of Kuwait's largest lenders, Gulf Bank suffered a major crisis ...


Mexican Peso Posts Biggest Weekly Drop in Month on Growth View
Bloomberg - 20 hours ago
... the nation’s biggest trading partner, will throttle demand for Mexican-made cars, electronics and beer. The currency slumped as much as 1.9 percent ...
Mexican Peso Sinks to One-Month Low as Recession Concerns Mount Bloomberg
Mexican Peso Falls to Near Record as Recession Concerns Mount Bloomberg
all 7 news articles

currency trading - Google News

Article List | Index | Site Map
All logos, trademarks and articles on this site are property and copyright of their respective owner(s).
The comments are property of their posters, all the rest is Copyright © 2006 CanadaSEEK.com - All Rights Reserved.