Quote Currency

The quote currency (also called the counter currency) is the second currency in a forex pair. In GBP/USD, the US dollar is the quote currency. The exchange rate essentially tells you the price of one unit of the base currency expressed in the quote currency.

When you sell a forex pair, you're selling the base currency and buying the quote currency. So selling EUR/USD means you expect the euro to weaken relative to the dollar — or equivalently, you expect the dollar to strengthen. Both framings describe the same trade.

Your profit and loss on a trade is always denominated in the quote currency first, then converted to your account currency. If your account is in USD and you're trading EUR/USD, profits are naturally in dollars. But if you trade EUR/GBP on a USD account, your P&L is first calculated in GBP, then converted to USD at the current rate.