Currency Pair

A notation in which the price associated with the currency pair reflects the conversion of 1 unit of currency1 to currency 2. Typical notation is currency1 / currency2 or currency1currency2.

GBP/USD

USD/KRW

Base Currency

For an FX price the base currency (also known as primary currency) is the unit currency that the price is applied to in order to determine the required amount of the other currency (the quote or terms currency). In a currency pair the base currency is currency1.

For a given Currency pair the Base currency does not change. 

GBP in GBP/USD

USD in USD/KRW

Term Currency

For an FX price the term currency (also called quote currency, counter currency, secondary currency) is the currency to which the base currency is converted to.  In a currency pair it is currency2.

For a given Currency pair the Term currency does not change. 

USD in GPB/USD

KRW in USD/KRW

Dealt Currency

When trading a currency pair the dealt currency is the currency of the amount being traded in the order.  This is typically the base currency on EBS platforms but that may change in future. 

Even though every FX transaction trade both currencies, the Dealt Currency reflects the amount stated in the order.

eg currency pair GBP/USD with price 1.2965

A buy of 1 million GBP means dealt currency is GBP (USD amount is price * GBP amount i.e. 1.2965 * 1000000.

A buy of 1 million USD means dealt currency is USD (GBP amount is amount / price i.e. 1000000 / 1.2965). 

Since all trading is in Base Currency, current EBS FX functionality does not support Term currency as Dealt Currency.

Contra Currency 

The Currency that is the opposite of the dealt currency in the Currency pair.

In the current EBS FX transactions, the Dealt Currency is the Base Currency and Contra Currency is the Term Currency.

Referring the above Dealt Currency row:

A buy of GBP means contra currency is USD

A buy of USD means contra currency is GBP

Settlement Currency

This is the currency that the deal is settled in. For spot trading this is always the contra currency (i.e. a deal in one currency is settled in the other currency). 

For NDFs where one of the currencies is non-deliverable the settlement currency is always the deliverable currency.  

For Spot EUR/USD, if dealt currency is EUR then settlement is USD (if dealt is USD then settlement is EUR).

For NDF USD/INR the settlement is always USD regardless of dealt currency.