---
title: "Which currencies are most liquid? What FX turnover data means for payout pricing"
seoTitle: "Most liquid currencies and what it means for payouts"
description: "BIS 2025 data: the dollar is on 89% of FX trades, MXN 1.6%, BRL 0.9%, COP 0.2%. Why liquid pairs quote tighter and how to use that when pricing payouts."
date: "2026-10-01"
updated: "2026-10-01"
category: "payments"
author: "BlindPay Team"
faq:
  - q: "What is the most liquid currency in the world?"
    a: "The US dollar. The BIS Triennial Survey found it on one side of 89.2% of all FX trades in April 2025, out of $9.6 trillion traded per day. The euro came second at 28.9%, then the Japanese yen at 16.8% and sterling at 10.2%. Shares add up to 200% because every trade involves two currencies."
  - q: "What is the most traded currency pair?"
    a: "USD/EUR, with about $2.0 trillion a day, or 21.2% of global FX turnover in April 2025, per the BIS. USD/JPY was second at 14.3% and USD/CNY third at 8.1%. All ten of the most traded pairs involve the US dollar, which is why the dollar works as the bridge currency for most cross-border conversions."
  - q: "How liquid are Latin American currencies?"
    a: "Much thinner than the majors. In April 2025 the Mexican peso had 1.6% of global FX turnover, about $153 billion a day, and the Brazilian real 0.9%, about $90 billion. The Chilean peso had 0.3%, the Colombian peso 0.2%, and the Argentine peso about $1 billion a day. Thinner markets usually mean wider spreads on payouts."
  - q: "Why do liquid currency pairs have tighter spreads?"
    a: "More dealers compete to quote them, two-way flow lets dealers offset trades quickly, and inventory risk is lower because prices move less between trades. A market maker quoting a thin pair holds positions longer and charges for that risk. The result shows up as a wider gap between the market rate and the rate you are quoted."
  - q: "Does FX turnover predict the price of a stablecoin payout?"
    a: "It predicts the direction, not the number. A payout into a liquid currency usually quotes tighter than one into a thin currency, but the local rail, regulation, and the provider's own liquidity matter too. Compare live quotes for each corridor at the same moment and the same size before deciding."
---

The US dollar is the most liquid currency in the world: it sits on one side of 89% of all FX trades, per the BIS 2025 Triennial Survey. Among Latin American currencies, the Mexican peso has 1.6% of global turnover, the Brazilian real 0.9%, and the Colombian peso 0.2%. Thinner currencies usually mean wider spreads on payouts.

That ranking isn't trivia. It explains why a payout to Mexico tends to quote tighter than one to Colombia, why size matters more in some corridors than others, and why almost every conversion routes through dollars.

**Key takeaways**

- FX trading averaged $9.6 trillion a day in April 2025, and the dollar was on 89.2% of trades (BIS).
- All ten most traded pairs involve the dollar, so the dollar is the bridge for most conversions.
- MXN is the most traded Latin American currency at 1.6%; BRL is 0.9%; COP 0.2%; ARS barely trades.
- Liquid pairs quote tighter because more dealers compete and inventory risk is lower.
- Turnover predicts direction, not the exact price. Test each corridor with live quotes.

## What are the most traded currencies?

The BIS runs a survey of FX markets every three years. The 2025 edition collected data from more than 1,100 banks and dealers in 52 jurisdictions, for April 2025 ([BIS press release](https://www.bis.org/press/p250930.htm)).

Here are the currencies that matter most for payouts, from Table 4 of the survey:

| Currency | Share of FX turnover, April 2025 | Daily turnover | 2022 share |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| US dollar (USD) | 89.2% | $8,560 billion | 88.4% |
| Euro (EUR) | 28.9% | $2,773 billion | 30.6% |
| Japanese yen (JPY) | 16.8% | $1,610 billion | 16.7% |
| Sterling (GBP) | 10.2% | $981 billion | 12.9% |
| Chinese renminbi (CNY) | 8.5% | $817 billion | 7.0% |
| Mexican peso (MXN) | 1.6% | $153 billion | 1.5% |
| Brazilian real (BRL) | 0.9% | $90 billion | 0.9% |
| Chilean peso (CLP) | 0.3% | $24 billion | 0.3% |
| Colombian peso (COP) | 0.2% | $20 billion | 0.2% |
| Peruvian sol (PEN) | 0.1% | $9 billion | 0.1% |
| Argentine peso (ARS) | 0.0% | $1 billion | 0.0% |

Source: [BIS Triennial Central Bank Survey 2025](https://www.bis.org/publications/202509-commentary-otc-derivatives.pdf), preliminary results, Table 4, "net-net" basis. Shares sum to 200% because each trade has two currencies. The full data set is on the [BIS statistics page for April 2025 FX turnover](https://www.bis.org/statistics/rpfx25_fx.htm).

The gap is wild. The euro trades about 30 times more than the real every day. The real trades about 90 times more than the Argentine peso.

## Which currency pairs trade the most?

USD/EUR, by far. Table 5 of the same survey ranks pairs:

| Pair | Daily turnover, April 2025 | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| USD/EUR | $2,033 billion | 21.2% |
| USD/JPY | $1,372 billion | 14.3% |
| USD/CNY | $781 billion | 8.1% |
| USD/GBP | $731 billion | 7.6% |
| USD/MXN | $140 billion | 1.5% |
| USD/BRL | $86 billion | 0.9% |
| EUR/GBP | $169 billion | 1.8% |

The BIS notes that the top ten pairs all involve the dollar, "reflecting its status as the world's vehicle currency." Notice how small the non-dollar pairs are. EUR/GBP, two major currencies, trades less than USD/GBP by a factor of four.

That's why most cross-border conversions route through dollars, even when neither side is American. Paying reais from euros is usually EUR to USD, then USD to BRL. A dollar stablecoin fits that structure: it is the vehicle leg, just on a blockchain. [How to read an FX quote](/resources/more/how-to-read-an-fx-quote) covers the notation for those cross rates.

## Why do liquid currencies quote tighter spreads?

Because the dealer's risk is lower. Three reasons:

1. **Competition.** More dealers quote USD/EUR than USD/COP, so margins get squeezed.
2. **Two-way flow.** In a busy pair, a dealer who buys can sell again within seconds. In a thin pair, the position sits on the books.
3. **Smaller moves between trades.** Inventory held for a minute in a liquid pair moves little. In a thin pair it can move a lot.

A market maker charges for the risk of holding inventory. Less risk, smaller spread. [What a market maker does in stablecoin payments](/resources/more/what-is-a-market-maker-stablecoin-payments) walks through how that becomes the rate on your quote, and [why on-ramp and off-ramp rates differ](/resources/more/why-onramp-and-offramp-rates-differ) covers bid and ask.

## Does offshore turnover tell the whole story for BRL, COP, and ARS?

No. Some currencies trade mostly onshore or on exchanges, and some can't be delivered offshore at all.

The real is the clearest case. The same BIS table lists exchange-traded BRL derivatives at $47 billion a day, 22.5% of exchange-traded FX turnover, behind only the dollar and the euro. So a lot of BRL trading happens in exchange-traded futures, which the OTC ranking above leaves out. For the Argentine peso, years of capital controls help explain the tiny figure.

For payouts, what matters is liquidity inside the country, at the moment of conversion, from a provider that can deliver local currency on a local rail. [What a non-deliverable currency is](/resources/more/non-deliverable-currencies-stablecoin-payouts) explains the onshore and offshore split, and [what a payment corridor is](/resources/more/what-is-a-payment-corridor) covers the other pieces of the price.

## Illustrative example: what does liquidity do to a month of payouts?

Illustrative example. A company pays out the equivalent of $100,000 a month into each of four currencies. The margins below are made up to show how liquidity can show up in price. They are not BlindPay prices and not market data.

| Payout currency | Illustrative margin vs market rate | Monthly cost on $100,000 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| EUR | 0.30% | 100,000 x 0.0030 = $300 |
| MXN | 0.45% | 100,000 x 0.0045 = $450 |
| BRL | 0.55% | 100,000 x 0.0055 = $550 |
| COP | 0.80% | 100,000 x 0.0080 = $800 |
| Total | | $2,100 a month, $25,200 a year |

The point isn't the specific numbers. It's that the same company, same provider, same month, can pay almost three times more in margin in one corridor than another, purely from the depth of the receiving market.

Two things follow. Thin corridors deserve more scrutiny on price. And size matters more there, because a large payout can eat through available inventory. [How to test an off-ramp's liquidity depth](/resources/more/test-offramp-liquidity-depth) gives a quote-ladder protocol for exactly that.

## How should you use this when pricing payouts?

Use turnover to set expectations, then measure.

- **Expect tighter quotes in deep currencies.** If a EUR payout quotes wider than an MXN payout, ask why.
- **Watch size in thin currencies.** Request quotes at the sizes you actually send, not just $1,000.
- **Price your own product per corridor.** A single blended FX fee across all countries overcharges deep corridors and loses money on thin ones.
- **Compare at the same moment.** A quote from this morning and one from this afternoon aren't comparable in a volatile currency.

The BIS also flags that the April 2025 survey ran during "elevated FX volatility" after trade policy announcements. Volatility widens spreads everywhere, and thin currencies widen most. [FX swaps vs stablecoins](/resources/more/fx-swaps-vs-stablecoin-liquidity) covers the funding side of the same market.

## How does a BlindPay quote show corridor liquidity?

Every BlindPay payout quote returns `commercial_quotation`, the market rate, next to `blindpay_quotation`, the rate after BlindPay's margin, plus `sender_amount`, `receiver_amount`, and the fee lines ([payout quotes](/docs/payout-quotes)). The gap between the two rates is the price of the corridor on that quote.

BlindPay pays out in dollars (ACH, wire, RTP, SWIFT), reais (Pix, PIX Safe, TED), Mexican pesos (SPEI), Colombian pesos (ACH Colombia), Argentine pesos (Transfers 3.0), and euros (SEPA) ([bank accounts](/docs/bank-accounts)). BlindPay combines a monthly plan with per-transaction fees that vary by rail and network and are disclosed in the live quote before execute.

## What to do next

Request the same $10,000 payout quote into two currencies from the table, one deep and one thin, at the same minute, and compare the gap between `commercial_quotation` and `blindpay_quotation`. The [payout quotes docs](/docs/payout-quotes) have the request body.