Forex Cross Pairs Explained: Rates, Spreads, and Swaps

A cross pair is any currency pair that does not involve the US dollar. Because the dollar sits on one side of most global currency trading, pairs such as EUR/GBP, EUR/JPY, and GBP/JPY behave differently from the majors: their prices are derived through the dollar even though the dollar never appears in the quote, their spreads are usually wider, and the familiar "one pip equals USD 10" shortcut stops working.

This guide explains the mechanics that all cross pairs share, so that the individual pair guides can focus on what actually drives each one. It covers how a cross rate is built, why the cost of entry is higher, how to read pip value and margin when neither currency is the dollar, and what the published swap rates reveal about the central banks behind them. It is an educational overview of mechanics and costs, not a recommendation to trade any particular pair.

If you are new to currency trading, the how to trade forex pillar covers the foundations first. For single-concept definitions of the terms used here, the trading glossary defines pips, lots, spread, swap, and margin.

What Is a Cross Currency Pair?

A cross currency pair is a pair made up of two currencies where neither one is the US dollar, which is why crosses are also called minor pairs.

The distinction exists because of the dollar's central role in the foreign exchange market. Historically, converting one non-dollar currency into another meant going through the dollar in two transactions: selling euros for dollars, then buying pounds with those dollars. Modern quoting removed that inconvenience for traders, and a pair such as EUR/GBP is now quoted directly as a single price. The underlying plumbing, however, still runs through the dollar, and that is what shapes the cost of trading a cross.

Crosses sit between the majors and the exotics. The majors always contain the dollar and carry the deepest liquidity and the tightest spreads. Exotics pair a major currency with a smaller or emerging-market currency and carry the widest spreads and thinnest liquidity. The most heavily traded crosses, built from two major currencies, retain strong liquidity while pricing at a modest premium to the majors. The full classification is set out in the how to trade forex guide.

How a Cross Rate Is Calculated

A cross rate is calculated from the two dollar pairs behind it, either by multiplying them or by dividing one by the other, depending on where the dollar sits in each quote.

The rule follows from cancelling the dollar out of the two quotes. When the dollar is the quote currency in one pair and the base currency in the other, the two rates multiply. When the dollar is the quote currency in both pairs, one rate divides by the other.

The Two Formulas

There are two arrangements, and the position of the dollar in each underlying quote determines which one applies.

Multiply when the first pair is quoted against the dollar and the dollar is the base of the second: EUR/JPY equals EUR/USD multiplied by USD/JPY. The dollar cancels because the euro is priced in dollars and dollars are then priced in yen, leaving the euro priced in yen.

Divide when both pairs are quoted against the dollar on the same side: EUR/GBP equals EUR/USD divided by GBP/USD. Both the euro and the pound are priced in dollars, so dividing one by the other leaves the euro priced in pounds.

Worked Examples on Live Vanto Prices

The formulas can be checked against real quotes, and on a single snapshot of the Vanto MT5 server they reproduce the directly quoted cross to within about one pip.

The three prices below were taken from the same feed at the same moment, using bid prices throughout.

Indicative values from the Vanto MT5 server, snapshot 4 August 2026. Prices change continuously; check the trading calculator for current figures.

The arithmetic holding to within roughly a pip across all three pairs is the practical demonstration that a cross is not an independent market. It is the same dollar liquidity, expressed in a different pair of currencies.

Why the Synthetic and Quoted Prices Differ Slightly

The small residual between the calculated and quoted price is expected, and it comes from spreads rather than from a pricing error.

A synthetic cross built for actual execution would not use the bid on both legs. Buying EUR/JPY through the dollar means buying euros at the EUR/USD ask and selling dollars at the USD/JPY bid, so the two spreads stack. The table above simplifies by using bid prices on both legs, which is why a residual of a fraction of a pip remains. That stacking of two spreads is also the reason a cross costs more to enter than either major behind it, which is the subject of the next section. The bid and ask mechanics are covered in what is the spread in trading.

Why Crosses Usually Carry Wider Spreads

Crosses normally quote a wider spread than the majors behind them because the price is assembled from two dollar legs, and the cost of both legs is reflected in the single cross quote.

A market maker pricing EUR/JPY is managing exposure in EUR/USD and USD/JPY at the same time. Two spreads and two sets of hedging costs sit behind one quote, so the quoted cross spread is normally wider than either underlying major. On top of that, the pool of participants trading a cross directly is smaller than the pool trading EUR/USD, and thinner order flow widens quotes further.

Spreads on crosses are variable, not fixed. They are typically at their narrowest when both of the relevant regions are open and liquidity is deepest, and they widen when one side of the pair has gone home for the day, around high-impact news, and at the daily rollover. A cross spread is therefore something to read live in the platform rather than to assume from a published figure, and the same caution applies to the majors.

Pip Value on a Cross Is Not USD 10

On a cross, one pip on a standard lot is not worth USD 10, because pip value is denominated in the quote currency and the quote currency is not the US dollar.

Pip value follows a single rule: one pip multiplied by the contract size, expressed in the quote currency. On the majors where the dollar is the quote currency, that arithmetic lands on exactly USD 10 per standard lot, which is where the familiar shortcut comes from. On a cross, the same arithmetic lands in pounds or yen instead, and converting that amount into a dollar-denominated account gives a number other than 10.

Converted at the same snapshot as above; the dollar figure moves as GBP/USD and USD/JPY move.

Two details in that table are worth drawing out. First, EUR/GBP has a pip worth noticeably more than USD 10, because the pound is stronger than the dollar, so GBP 10 converts to more than USD 10. Second, EUR/JPY and GBP/JPY have identical pip values despite trading at very different prices, because both have a contract size of 100,000 units and both are quoted in yen: the conversion depends on USD/JPY, not on the price of the cross itself.

The consequence for position sizing is direct. The same stop distance in pips represents a different money amount on each pair, so a stop of 30 pips on EUR/GBP risks roughly twice as much per lot as a stop of 30 pips on GBP/JPY. Sizing has to be calculated per pair rather than carried over from a major. The underlying concepts are covered in what is a pip and what is a lot.

Contract Size, Notional, and Margin on Crosses

Margin on a cross is calculated from the notional value of the base currency, so two crosses with the same contract size can require different margin.

All three crosses covered here have a standard contract size of 100,000 units of the base currency. Because that base is the euro on EUR/GBP and EUR/JPY, and the pound on GBP/JPY, the notional value in dollars differs: 100,000 euros is worth less than 100,000 pounds. On the snapshot above, a standard lot of a euro-based cross carries a notional of about USD 115,000, while a standard lot of GBP/JPY carries about USD 134,000.

Leverage scales both gains and losses, because profit and loss are calculated on the full notional position rather than on the margin deposited. The higher notional on a pound-based cross means the same nominal lot size represents a larger position, and that difference compounds on a pair that also happens to move in wider ranges. The mechanics of used margin, free margin, margin level, and stop-out are covered in what is margin in trading, and the ratio-to-margin relationship in what is leverage in trading.

What Cross Swaps Reveal About Interest Rates

The signs of the published swap rates on the crosses read out the ranking of the central-bank policy rates behind them, without needing any rate figure to be quoted.

Swap is the overnight financing applied to a position held past the daily rollover. A position is long one currency and short the other, so it earns interest on the currency bought and pays interest on the currency sold, with the broker's financing costs applied on top. When the currency bought carries the higher rate, the position tends to receive a credit; when it carries the lower rate, it pays a debit.

Indicative values from the Vanto MT5 server, snapshot 4 August 2026. Triple swap is applied on Wednesday on all three pairs. Swap rates change over time as benchmark rates move.

Read together, the three rows are internally consistent. EUR/GBP pays to be long the euro and receives to be short it, placing the pound above the euro. EUR/JPY receives to be long the euro, placing the euro above the yen. GBP/JPY receives more to be long the pound than EUR/JPY receives to be long the euro, placing the pound above the euro again. The resulting order runs pound, then euro, then yen, which corresponds to the relative stance of the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, and the Bank of Japan.

The figures are directionally consistent rather than arithmetically additive. Combining a short EUR/GBP swap with a long EUR/JPY swap does not produce the GBP/JPY figure exactly, because each rate is quoted per lot of its own base currency and each carries its own financing markup. The ordering survives; the arithmetic does not, and it is not meant to.

Two practical points follow. The short side of a yen cross carries a substantial debit, which is the cost of being short the higher-yielding currency and long the lower-yielding one, and on GBP/JPY that debit is the largest of the three pairs by a wide margin. And triple swap on Wednesday means a position held through Wednesday's rollover is charged or credited three days of financing to cover weekend settlement. Positions closed before the daily rollover incur no swap at all. The mechanics are set out in what is swap in trading, the way rate differentials generate these flows in carry trade explained, and the way rate decisions transmit into currencies in how central banks move forex.

When Crosses Are Most Active

A cross is most active when the market hours of both of its currencies overlap, which is not the same window that suits the dollar majors.

The dollar majors concentrate their activity in the London and New York sessions, because that is when both the relevant European or Asian region and the United States are open. A cross has no dollar leg, so the relevant overlap shifts. EUR/GBP is at its most active during the European morning, when London and Frankfurt are both trading and UK and eurozone data is released, and it quietens considerably once Europe closes. The yen crosses are unusual in that their two regions barely overlap at all: Tokyo trades while London sleeps, so EUR/JPY and GBP/JPY see one burst of activity around the Tokyo session and a second, generally larger one when London opens, with the handover between them often thinner. Session hours, overlaps, and how daylight saving shifts them are covered in forex trading sessions.

Are Cross Pairs Harder to Trade Than Majors?

Crosses are not inherently harder to analyse than majors, but they cost more to enter and they remove the dollar as a reference point, which changes what a trader has to track.

The argument in their favour is that a cross gives a cleaner read on the two economies involved. A EUR/GBP move reflects the relative position of the eurozone and the United Kingdom, without US data pushing the pair around, which is not true of EUR/USD or GBP/USD. The argument against is the cost and the behaviour: wider spreads make short-holding-period strategies more expensive, liquidity is thinner outside the relevant sessions, and a cross can move on either of its two currencies, so two economic calendars matter rather than one.

None of this makes a cross suitable or unsuitable for any particular trader, and no pair is inherently profitable. Most retail accounts lose money over time, and that reality is unaffected by the choice of pair. This guide describes the mechanics so that the costs are visible before a position is opened; it does not predict outcomes or suggest that any pair is a reliable source of income. Past performance is not a guide to future results.

The Three Most Traded Crosses on Vanto

Vanto quotes EUR/GBP, EUR/JPY, and GBP/JPY, and each has its own dedicated guide covering what drives it.

EUR/GBP is the euro against the pound, historically one of the narrowest-ranging actively traded crosses, shaped by the relative stance of the ECB and the Bank of England and by the UK's trading relationship with the European Union. It is the only one of the three where the short side currently receives the swap credit. See how to trade EUR/GBP.

EUR/JPY is the euro against the yen, widely watched as a barometer of global risk appetite because the yen tends to attract flows when markets turn defensive. See how to trade EUR/JPY.

GBP/JPY is the pound against the yen, historically among the widest-ranging crosses in active trading and the pair with the largest long-side swap credit and the largest short-side debit of the three. See how to trade GBP/JPY.

Frequently Asked Questions About Forex Cross Pairs

What is a cross pair in forex?

A cross pair is a currency pair that does not contain the US dollar, such as EUR/GBP, EUR/JPY, or GBP/JPY. Crosses are also called minor pairs. They sit between the majors, which always include the dollar and carry the tightest spreads, and the exotics, which pair a major currency with a smaller or emerging-market currency and carry the widest spreads.

How is a cross rate calculated?

A cross rate is calculated from the two dollar pairs behind it. When the dollar is the quote currency in one pair and the base in the other, the rates multiply: EUR/JPY equals EUR/USD multiplied by USD/JPY. When both pairs are quoted against the dollar on the same side, one divides by the other: EUR/GBP equals EUR/USD divided by GBP/USD. On live Vanto prices these formulas reproduce the directly quoted cross to within about a pip, with the residual explained by spreads.

Why are spreads wider on cross pairs?

Spreads are wider on crosses because the price is assembled from two dollar legs, so two spreads and two sets of hedging costs sit behind a single quote, and because fewer participants trade a cross directly than trade EUR/USD. Cross spreads are variable: they are normally narrowest when both relevant regions are open and widen when one side is closed, around high-impact news, and at the daily rollover.

What is the pip value of a cross pair?

Pip value on a cross is denominated in the quote currency, not in US dollars. On EUR/GBP one pip on a standard lot is GBP 10, worth about USD 13.40 at current rates. On EUR/JPY and GBP/JPY one pip on a standard lot is JPY 1,000, worth about USD 6.30. The two yen crosses share the same pip value despite very different prices, because both have a contract size of 100,000 units and both are quoted in yen.

Do cross pairs have higher swap charges?

Cross swaps are not automatically higher, but they can be larger in absolute terms when the two currencies have widely separated policy rates. On current Vanto rates the short side of GBP/JPY carries the largest debit of the three crosses, because it means being short the higher-yielding currency and long the lower-yielding one. Triple swap is applied on Wednesday, and positions closed before the daily rollover incur no swap.

Which cross pair is the most volatile?

Of the three crosses Vanto quotes, GBP/JPY has historically shown the widest daily ranges and EUR/GBP the narrowest, with EUR/JPY between them. Volatility is a historical tendency rather than a fixed property: a pair that ranges narrowly on average can still make large moves around central-bank decisions or unscheduled news, so position sizing based on average behaviour can understate event risk.

Trade Cross Pairs on Vanto

Vanto offers EUR/GBP, EUR/JPY, and GBP/JPY as CFDs on the MT5 platform with variable spreads, published swap rates, and both Standard and Raw account types. Compare the account structures on the account types page, check live pricing and pip values in the trading calculator, or open a demo account to see how cross spreads behave across the trading day before funding a live account.

To go deeper, read the how to trade forex pillar for the foundations, then the individual guides to EUR/GBP, EUR/JPY, and GBP/JPY. For the dollar legs behind these crosses, see EUR/USD, GBP/USD, and USD/JPY.

Risk warning. Trading securities, futures, options, and contracts for differences are complex financial instruments that require knowledge and understanding. Prices can fluctuate significantly and securities may become valueless. Investors may incur losses exceeding the potential for profits. Trading on margin can result in losses greater than the amount initially deposited. Past performance is not necessarily a guide to future performance. The information in this article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice, a recommendation, or an offer to buy or sell any financial instrument. Consider whether CFD trading is appropriate for your circumstances and seek independent advice if necessary.