A currency pair is a price quote showing how much of one currency is needed to buy one unit of another currency. A currency pair is normally shown as a ration of currency symbols. Most commonly traded currency pairs also called the majors, are EUR/USD, USD/CHF, USD/JPY, GBP/USD. The base currency in any currency pair is the currency the investor will buy or sell. The counter currency in any currency pair is the currency the investor will use to purchase or sell the base currency. In the USD/ZAR currency pair, USD is the base currency and the ZAR is the counter currency.