CurrenlyzerAverage Daily Range of Currency Pairs: Table of the Majors
The table gives the average daily range of twelve major and cross pairs over the last 30 finished days, in pips and as a percentage of price. The ranking is by percentage, because pips of different pairs are not comparable.
The average daily range (ADR) is the average distance between the high and the low of a day. It is the simplest way to know how far a pair usually moves. The values below come straight from the database and are recalculated every hour.
Average daily range, ranked
| # | Symbol | Average day | % of price | Quietest to busiest day |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AUD/JPY | 91.5 pips | 0.83% | 36.6 to 219 |
| 2 | NZD/USD | 42.1 pips | 0.75% | 23.0 to 105 |
| 3 | EUR/JPY | 119 pips | 0.67% | 55.2 to 252 |
| 4 | AUD/USD | 45.8 pips | 0.66% | 27.7 to 102 |
| 5 | GBP/JPY | 130 pips | 0.62% | 59.6 to 252 |
| 6 | USD/CHF | 51.0 pips | 0.62% | 21.4 to 96.8 |
| 7 | USD/JPY | 92.2 pips | 0.58% | 39.5 to 186 |
| 8 | EUR/USD | 63.6 pips | 0.57% | 26.7 to 121 |
| 9 | EUR/CHF | 47.8 pips | 0.52% | 21.9 to 154 |
| 10 | GBP/USD | 67.0 pips | 0.50% | 38.3 to 138 |
| 11 | USD/CAD | 59.4 pips | 0.42% | 21.1 to 103 |
| 12 | EUR/GBP | 28.2 pips | 0.33% | 13.2 to 42.9 |
AUD/JPY had the biggest average day of this list at 0.83% of price and EUR/GBP the smallest at 0.33%. Pips of different pairs cannot be compared directly because a pip is a different fraction of the price, so the percentage column is the fair comparison and the pip column is the one you use to size a trade on that pair.
The scanner shows the same number for every symbol we track, with today's range so far next to the usual range.
How to use the table
Use the percentage column to compare symbols and the pip or point column to size a trade in the symbol you trade. A symbol with a large average day in pips, such as gold, is one where a target of a few tens of pips is ordinary; on a symbol with a much smaller average day the same target is ambitious. Every symbol has its own scale, and the table is the quickest way to learn it.
Why we use 30 days
Thirty finished days are long enough to average out single events and short enough to follow the current market. Longer averages react slowly to a change of regime, shorter ones are dominated by the last news. The dashboard lets you switch between 14, 30 and 60 days for the same measurement.
Days that are not counted
A day with too few candles (the Sunday open, a short holiday) is left out so that it does not look like a quiet day. This is the same rule as in the dashboard, which is why the numbers here and in the tool match.
How to check this in Currenlyzer
- Open the scanner. It lists every symbol with its reading for the current hour: Busy, Normal or Quiet.
- Sort by the busiest now or by the usual range, and filter by currency.
- Click a symbol to open its analyzer, where the hours of every weekday and the number of days counted are shown.
How we count
The numbers come from the live price feed of Currenlyzer: one-minute prices are built into hourly and daily candles, all in UTC. The range of a candle is its high minus its low. We use finished candles only, and we leave out hours when the market is closed and days that are too thin to count (the first hours of the Sunday open, short holiday days), so a closed hour is never averaged in as zero. Averages cover the last 30 days for the daily range and the last 60 days for hours, unless the text says otherwise. Pips follow the dashboard: one pip is 0.0001 on most pairs, 0.01 on yen pairs and 0.10 on gold. The same method is used in the dashboard.
Frequently asked questions
What is the average daily range?
The average of high minus low over a number of days; here the last 30 finished full trading days.
Which major has the biggest range?
See the first row of the table.
Why is the range in pips different on yen pairs?
A yen pip is 0.01 and other pips are 0.0001, so the pip numbers are on different scales. Use the percentage to compare.
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Historical statistics for information only. This is not investment advice and not a recommendation to buy or sell. Past patterns do not predict future moves. Trading leveraged products carries a high risk of loss. Read the full disclaimer.