Reading A Currency Quote

Just like anything else you may want to venture into, it's important to understand the basic terminology of the foreign exchange market before getting into it. You could start with understanding how to interpret a forex quote. First you should know that in every currency trading transaction you are simultaneously buying one currency and selling another. These two currencies make up a currency pair. For example in this comparison of the dollar versus the yen (USD/JPY = 153.37) the currency on the left side of the slash is the base currency and the currency on the right side of the slash is called the quote or counter currency. This means that one unit of the base currency is equal to 153.37 yen. Like Stocks, forex quotes include a bid price and an ask price.