EURUSD: How to Trade the Euro-Dollar Pair

EURUSD is the price of one euro in US dollars and the most traded currency pair in the world, with 21.2% of global forex turnover. One pip is 0.0001 and is worth $10 on 1 standard lot, and the pair moves most in the London and New York overlap and on ECB and Federal Reserve news.

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Last updated 27 October 2026

EURUSD is the exchange rate between the euro and the US dollar: a price of 1.1000 means one euro buys 1.10 dollars. It is the most traded currency pair in the world, with 21.2% of all forex turnover in the 2025 BIS survey, which is why it usually has the narrowest spread of any pair.

To trade EURUSD you buy if you expect the euro to rise against the dollar and sell if you expect it to fall. This guide covers how the quote works, what one pip is worth, the hours it moves most, what drives it, what it costs and how to place the trade in MetaTrader 5 (MT5). The usual path is to learn these, practise on an MT5 demo account, then trade live with the same steps. The examples use round prices and sizes so the arithmetic is easy to follow; your platform's Specification window shows the exact figures for your account.

What is EURUSD?

EURUSD is the currency pair that prices the euro, the currency of the euro area, in US dollars, the currency on one side of 89% of all forex trades. The euro is the base currency and the dollar is the quote currency, so the price tells you how many dollars one euro costs at that moment.

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Triennial Survey measured global forex turnover at $9.6 trillion a day in April 2025. EUR/USD made up $2.0 trillion of that, 21.2%, ahead of USD/JPY at 14.3% and GBP/USD at 7.6%. That depth of buying and selling is what keeps its spread narrow and its price moving in small, frequent steps through most of the trading day.

Traders sometimes call the pair "fiber" or simply "euro-dollar". How it compares with the other popular pairs on cost, range and hours is set out in the best forex pairs to trade.

How do you read a EURUSD quote?

A EURUSD quote has two prices: the bid, at which you sell, and the ask, at which you buy, and the gap between them is the spread. If the screen shows 1.10000 / 1.10008, you sell at 1.10000 or buy at 1.10008, and the spread is 0.8 pip.

Part of the quote Example What it means
Price 1.1000 1 euro = 1.10 US dollars
Pip 0.0001 (the fourth decimal) The standard step used to measure moves
Point 0.00001 (the fifth decimal) One tenth of a pip; MT5 shows spreads in points
Buy (long) Buy EURUSD You gain if the euro rises against the dollar
Sell (short) Sell EURUSD You gain if the euro falls against the dollar

A move from 1.1000 to 1.1050 is 50 pips: the euro has gained half a US cent. On a five-digit platform the same move is 500 points. Pips, points and lots in general are explained in lots, pips and pip value.

What is one pip on EURUSD worth?

One pip on EURUSD is worth $10 on 1 standard lot, $1 on 0.10 lot and $0.10 on 0.01 lot, because the dollar is the quote currency. The value stays the same whatever the price, which makes EURUSD the simplest pair to size.

Pip value = lot size × 100,000 × 0.0001. At 1 lot that is 100,000 × 0.0001 = $10; at 0.50 lot it is $5. The pip value calculator works it out for any size and account currency.

Worked example: one EURUSD trade in both directions

You open 0.50 lot at 1.1000, so each pip is worth $5. A buy gains when the price rises and a sell gains when it falls:

EURUSD moves to Pips moved Buy 0.50 lot Sell 0.50 lot
1.1040 +40 +$200 −$200
1.0960 −40 −$200 +$200
1.1080 +80 +$400 −$400
1.0920 −80 −$400 +$400

The spread comes off every row. With a 0.8-pip spread, 0.50 lot costs 0.8 × $5 = $4, so a buy closed at 1.1040 nets $200 − $4 = $196.

The position is worth 50,000 euros, or 50,000 × 1.10 = $55,000. At 1:100 leverage the margin set aside is $55,000 ÷ 100 = $550, as leverage and margin explains.

When is the best time to trade EURUSD?

EURUSD is most active in the London and New York overlap, 13:00 to 17:00 UTC, which is 14:00 to 18:00 at UTC+1 and 20:00 to 00:00 at UTC+7. Both currencies' home markets are open then, so spreads are tightest and moves are largest.

The table uses the hours from forex trading sessions, for when the UK and US are on winter time. The UK and US move their clocks forward for the northern summer, on slightly different dates in March and in October or November, so each window then starts an hour earlier in every column; none of these offsets change.

Window UTC UTC+1 (West and Central Africa) UTC+2 (Southern Africa) UTC+7 (mainland Southeast Asia) UTC+8 (maritime Southeast Asia and East Asia) How EURUSD behaves
Tokyo 00:00 to 09:00 01:00 to 10:00 02:00 to 11:00 07:00 to 16:00 08:00 to 17:00 Usually quiet, narrower ranges
London 08:00 to 17:00 09:00 to 18:00 10:00 to 19:00 15:00 to 00:00 16:00 to 01:00 Volume picks up at the open; euro-area data comes out
London and New York overlap 13:00 to 17:00 14:00 to 18:00 15:00 to 19:00 20:00 to 00:00 21:00 to 01:00 The busiest hours; US data lands here
Late New York 17:00 to 22:00 18:00 to 23:00 19:00 to 00:00 00:00 to 05:00 01:00 to 06:00 Activity fades, spreads can widen

The forex market hours tool shows which sessions are open right now in your time zone.

What moves the EURUSD price?

EURUSD moves when expectations change for interest rates and growth in the euro area compared with the United States, so the biggest moves come from European Central Bank (ECB) and Federal Reserve decisions and from major US and euro-area data.

Driver Why it can move EURUSD Where to learn more
ECB decisions The ECB sets euro interest rates at monetary policy meetings held about every six weeks; a higher expected rate tends to support the euro Central banks and currencies
Federal Reserve decisions The Fed's FOMC holds eight scheduled meetings a year; a higher expected US rate tends to support the dollar, pushing EURUSD down Monetary policy and currencies
US data Jobs (NFP), inflation (CPI) and growth (GDP) reports, mostly at 8:30 a.m. New York time, change expectations for the Fed Major economic releases
Euro-area data Inflation, growth and business surveys from the euro area change expectations for the ECB Economic calendar
The dollar's broad trend The euro is 57.6% of the US dollar index (DXY), so a broad dollar move shows up first in EURUSD US dollar index (DXY)
Risk mood In a sell-off, money often moves into the dollar, and calmer markets can reverse it Risk-on and risk-off

Prices react to the gap between what was expected and what was announced. A rate decision the market had already priced in can move EURUSD very little, while a surprise in the press conference afterwards can move it a lot.

What does it cost to trade EURUSD?

Trading EURUSD costs you the spread on every trade, swap for each night a position stays open and, on some accounts, a commission. Because it is the most traded pair, its spread is usually the lowest of any symbol on the platform.

Cost How it works Example on 0.50 lot
Spread Paid once, when you open 0.8 pip × $5 = $4
Swap A charge or credit for each night held, set separately for long and short positions, with one weekday counting three nights At −$4 per lot per night, 3 nights cost 3 × 0.50 × $4 = $6
Commission Charged on some accounts, per lot Shown in your account terms

Swap follows the gap between euro and dollar interest rates, which is why the long and short figures differ. How each cost is worked out, and why the triple swap day exists, is covered in spread, commission and swap, and the trading cost calculator adds them up for your own size.

How do you trade EURUSD on MetaTrader 5?

To trade EURUSD on MT5, find it in Market Watch, press F9 to open the New Order window, enter the volume, stop loss and take profit, then click Buy or Sell. The open position appears in the Trade tab of the Toolbox, where you modify or close it.

  1. Find the symbol. EURUSD is in Market Watch by default on most accounts. If not, right-click the list, choose Symbols, search for EURUSD and click Show.
  2. Read the specification. Right-click EURUSD and choose Specification for the contract size, digits, swap long and short and the trading sessions, as the MT5 Market Watch help describes.
  3. Open the order window. Press F9, or right-click the symbol and choose New Order, as the MT5 help on executing trades describes.
  4. Set the size and exits. Enter the volume in lots, then your stop loss and take profit prices.
  5. Choose the direction. Click Buy if you expect the euro to rise against the dollar, Sell if you expect it to fall.
  6. Manage and close. The Profit column in the Toolbox shows the running result in your account currency. Right-click to modify, or double-click and press Close.

To enter at a set level instead, choose a limit or stop order under Pending Order, as pending orders on MT5 explains. The full first-trade walkthrough, including the mobile app, is in place your first trade on MT5.

How do you size a EURUSD trade?

Size a EURUSD trade from the money you choose to risk and the distance to your stop: lots = money at risk ÷ (stop distance in pips × $10). The $10 is the pip value of 1 lot, so the formula needs no conversion.

Example: a $2,000 account, 1% risk per trade ($20) and a stop loss 25 pips from the entry. The size is $20 ÷ (25 × $10) = 0.08 lot, so each pip is worth $0.80. With a take profit 50 pips away:

A wider stop means a smaller size for the same $20: a 40-pip stop gives $20 ÷ (40 × $10) = 0.05 lot. The method is set out in position sizing, and the position size calculator does it for any pair. If you also hold GBPUSD or USDCHF, check how the positions overlap in correlation risk.

Try it on demo

On an MT5 demo account, open the EURUSD specification and note the digits, swap long and short and the triple swap day. Then watch the spread in Market Watch at three times: during the Tokyo session, at the London open and in the London and New York overlap. Open 0.01 lot with a stop loss and take profit in the overlap, close it, and check that the result matches pips moved × $0.10.

Frequently asked questions

What does EURUSD mean?

EURUSD is the price of one euro in US dollars. A quote of 1.1000 means 1 euro buys 1.10 dollars. Buying EURUSD is a position that the euro will rise against the dollar; selling is a position that it will fall.

How much is 1 pip on EURUSD?

One pip is a move of 0.0001. It is worth $10 on 1 standard lot, $1 on 0.10 lot and $0.10 on 0.01 lot, whatever the price, because the dollar is the quote currency.

What is the best time to trade EURUSD?

The busiest hours are the London and New York overlap, 13:00 to 17:00 UTC while the UK and US are on winter time, and an hour earlier, 12:00 to 16:00 UTC, while they are on summer time. At UTC+2 the winter window is 15:00 to 19:00, and at UTC+8 it is 21:00 to 01:00.

Why is EURUSD the most traded currency pair?

It pairs the world's two most used currencies: the BIS found the dollar on one side of 89% of forex trades and the euro on 29%. EUR/USD alone was 21.2% of global turnover in April 2025, which keeps its spread narrow.

What moves EURUSD the most?

ECB and Federal Reserve interest rate decisions, and the US and euro-area data that change expectations for them, such as jobs and inflation reports. A broad move in the dollar also shows up first in EURUSD, since the euro is 57.6% of the dollar index.

Sources

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