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Trading basics

1998–2002 Argentine great depression

The 1998–2002 Argentine great depression was an economic depression in Argentina, which began in the third quarter of 1998 and lasted until the second quarter of 2002. It followed fifteen years of stagnation and a brief period of free-market reforms. The depression, which began after the Russian and Brazilian financial crises, caused widespread unemployment, riots, the fall of the govern

Banking

Argentine peso

The peso (established as the peso convertible; several older currencies were also named peso) is the currency of Argentina since 1992, identified within Argentina by the symbol $ preceding the amount in the same way as many countries using peso or dollar currencies. It is subdivided into 100 centavos, but with 10 pesos being worth about 1 US cent in early 2025, smaller denominations are

Trading basics

Aruban florin

The Aruban florin (Dutch: [floːˈrɪn]; abbreviation: Afl.; code: AWG), also called the Aruban guilder, is the currency of Aruba. It is subdivided into 100 cents. The florin was introduced in 1986, replacing the Netherlands Antillean guilder at par. The currency is pegged to the US dollar at (or very near) AWG1.79 per USD1.00.

Trading basics

Bahamian dollar

The dollar (sign: $; code: BSD) has been the currency of The Bahamas since 1966. It is normally abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or alternatively B$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies. It is divided into 100 cents.

Payments & settlement

Balance of payments

In international economics, the balance of payments (also known as balance of international payments and abbreviated BOP or BoP) of a country is the difference between all money flowing into the country in a particular period of time (e.g., a quarter or a year) and the outflow of money to the rest of the world. These financial transactions are made by individuals, firms and government b

Banking

Banknote

A banknote or bank note – also called a bill (North American English) or simply a note – is a type of paper money that is made and distributed ("issued") by a bank of issue, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes were originally issued by commercial banks, which were legally required to redeem the notes for legal tender (usually gold or silver coin) when presented to the chief cashie

Trading basics

Barbadian dollar

The Barbadian dollar (sign: $; code: BBD) is the official currency in Barbados. It is often abbreviated to international unofficial abbreviations in Barbados such as: B$, BD$ or the International vehicle registration code BDS$ is also commonly used, a currency code that is otherwise reserved for Bangladesh (ISO 3166-1 country code BD) outside Barbados. As such the present Barbados dollar

Trading basics

Belize dollar

The Belize dollar (also known as the Belizean dollar), known until 1973 as the British Honduras dollar, is the official currency in Belize (currency code BZD). It is normally abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or alternatively BZ$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies.

Trading basics

Bermudian dollar

The Bermudian dollar or Bermuda Dollar (symbol: $; code: BMD; also abbreviated BD$) is the official currency of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. It is subdivided into 100 cents. The Bermudian dollar is not normally traded outside Bermuda, and is pegged to the United States dollar at a one-to-one ratio. Both currencies circulate in Bermuda on an equal basis.

Finance

Brazil cost

Brazil cost (Portuguese: Custo Brasil [ˈkustu bɾaˈziw]) refers to the increased operational costs associated with doing business in Brazil, making Brazilian goods and services more expensive compared to other countries. For this reason, it is identified as a set of factors that undermine the competitiveness and efficiency of the domestic industry. The “Brazil cost” drains more than 1.5 t

Fiat currencies

Brazilian real

The real (sign: R$; code: BRL) is the official currency of Brazil. It is subdivided into 100 centavos. The Central Bank of Brazil is the central bank and the issuing authority. The real replaced the cruzeiro real in 1994.

Fiat currencies

Brazilian real (old)

The first official currency of Brazil was the real (pronounced [ʁeˈaw]; pl. réis), with the symbol Rs$. As the currency of the Portuguese empire, it was in use in Brazil from the earliest days of the colonial period, and remained in use until 1942, when it was replaced by the cruzeiro.

Banking

Canadian dollar

The Canadian dollar (symbol: $; code: CAD; French: dollar canadien) is the official currency of Canada. There is no standard disambiguating form, but the abbreviations Can$, CA$ and C$ are frequently used for distinction from other currencies, particularly the US dollar.

Trading basics

Caribbean guilder

The Caribbean guilder (code: XCG; abbreviation: Cg; Dutch: Caribische gulden; Papiamento: florin karibense) is the currency of Curaçao and Sint Maarten, two constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is divided into 100 cents (Papiamento: sèn). Introduced on 31 March 2025, it replaced the Netherlands Antillean guilder (ANG), which ceased to be legal tender on 1 July 2025

Trading basics

Cayman Islands dollar

The Cayman Islands dollar (currency code KYD; symbol: $ or CI$) is the currency of the Cayman Islands, a British Overseas Territory. It was introduced in 1972 to replace the Jamaican dollar. Its base unit is the dollar; each dollar is subdivided into 100 cents.

Fiat currencies

Cent (currency)

The cent is a monetary sub-unit of many currencies that equals a hundredth (1⁄100) of the currency's base unit. The word derives from the Latin centum, 'hundred'.

Finance

Central Zone of São Paulo

The Central Zone (Portuguese: Zona Central de São Paulo) is an administrative zone of the city of São Paulo, Brazil.

Fiat currencies

Commodity currency

A commodity currency is a currency that co-moves with the world prices of primary commodity products, due to these countries' heavy dependency on the export of certain raw materials for income. Commodity currencies are most prevalent in developing countries (eg. Burundi, Tanzania, Papua New Guinea). In the foreign exchange market, commodity currencies generally refer to the New Zealand d

Fiat currencies

Costa Rican colón

The colón (plural: colones; sign: ₡; code: CRC) is the currency of Costa Rica. It was named after Christopher Columbus, known as Cristóbal Colón in Spanish. A colón is divided into one hundred céntimos.

Trading basics

Cuban peso

The Cuban peso (peso cubano in Spanish, ISO 4217 code: CUP) also known as moneda nacional (Spanish for 'national currency'), is the official currency of Cuba.

Fiat currencies

Currency

A currency is a standardized form of money used as a medium of exchange. Under this definition, the US dollar, the euro, the yen, sterling, and the renminbi are examples of (government-issued) fiat currencies. Currencies may act as stores of value and be traded between nations in foreign exchange markets, which determine the relative values of the different currencies.

Fiat currencies

Currency pair

A currency pair is the quotation of the relative value of a currency unit against the unit of another currency in the foreign exchange market. The currency that is used as the reference is called the counter currency, quote currency, or currency and the currency that is quoted in relation is called the base currency or transaction currency.

Fiat currencies

Currency symbol

A currency symbol or currency sign is a graphic symbol used to denote a currency unit. Usually it is defined by a monetary authority, such as the national central bank for the currency concerned.

Fiat currencies

Currency War of 2009–2011

The Currency War of 2009–2011 was an episode of competitive devaluation which became prominent in the financial press in September 2010. It involved states competing with each other in order to achieve a relatively low valuation for their own currency, so as to assist their domestic industry. Due to the Great Recession, the export sectors of many emerging economies experienced declining

Fiat currencies

Dollar sign

The dollar sign ($; also known as the peso sign) is a currency symbol consisting of a capital ⟨S⟩ crossed with one or two vertical strokes ($ or depending on typeface), used to represent the base unit of account of various currencies around the world, including most currencies denominated "dollar" or "peso". The explicitly double-barred sign is called cifrão in the Portuguese language.

Trading basics

Eastern Caribbean dollar

The Eastern Caribbean dollar (symbol: $ or EC$; code: XCD) is the currency of all seven full members and one associate member of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). The successor to the British West Indies dollar, it has been issued since 1965.

Fiat currencies

Exchange rate

In finance, an exchange rate is the rate at which one currency will be exchanged for another currency. Currencies are most commonly national currencies, but may be sub-national as in the case of Hong Kong or supra-national as in the case of the euro.

Finance

Fiscal pedaling

Fiscal pedaling (a calque from Brazilian Portuguese: pedalada fiscal, or simply pedaladas) is a governmental creative accounting technique involving the use of state-owned banks to front funds required for paying general government obligations without officially declaring a loan, thus hiding these transfers from public scrutiny and delaying repayment from the Treasury to these banks. As

Fiat currencies

Foreign exchange market

The foreign exchange market (forex, FX, or currency market) is a global decentralized or over-the-counter (OTC) market for the trading of currencies. This market determines foreign exchange rates for every currency. By trading volume, it is by far the largest market in the world, followed by the credit market.

Fiat currencies

Gaucho (currency)

The gaucho was a proposed currency intended to be used by Argentina and Brazil in the context of the Argentina-Brazil Integration and Economics Cooperation Program or PICE (Spanish: Programa de Integración y Cooperación Económica Argentina-Brasil) to make interregional payments. It was named after the gauchos typical of both Argentina and Southern Brazil.

Fiat currencies

Guatemalan quetzal

The quetzal (locally [keˈtsal]; code: GTQ) is the currency of Guatemala, named after the national bird of Guatemala, the resplendent quetzal. In ancient Mayan culture, the quetzal bird's tail feathers were used as currency. It is divided into 100 centavos, or len (plural lenes) in Guatemalan slang. The plural is quetzales.

Fiat currencies

Honduran lempira

The lempira (Spanish pronunciation: [lemˈpiɾa], sign: L; code: HNL) is the currency of Honduras. It is subdivided into 100 centavos.

Banking

Hong Kong dollar

The Hong Kong dollar (Chinese: 港元, symbol: $; code: HKD) is the official currency of Hong Kong. Each dollar is divided into 100 cents (or fen). Historically, it was also divided into 1000 mils. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is the monetary authority of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong dollar.

Finance

Internationalization of the renminbi

Since the late 2000s, the People's Republic of China (PRC) has sought to internationalize its official currency, the renminbi (RMB) or Chinese yuan (CNY). This initiative aims to reduce dependence on the United States dollar and enhance China's influence in the global financial system. Key strategies have included promoting the use of the yuan in international trade invoicing, cross-bord

Trading basics

Itautec

Itautec is a Brazilian electronics company founded in 1979. Currently, its a division of the Itaúsa group, a Brazilian business group.

Fiat currencies

List of countries by exchange rate regime

This is a list of countries and territories by their exchange rate regime.

Fiat currencies

List of currencies in the Americas

There are 39 currencies currently in official use in the Americas. All de jure present currencies in the Americas are listed here, including currencies from countries which are not sovereign states or dependencies.

Fiat currencies

Monetary Policy Committee (Brazil)

The Monetary Policy Committee (Portuguese: Comitê de Política Monetária - Copom) is a department established by the Central Bank of Brazil on June 20, 1996, through Circular No. 2698 (revoked as of January 2, 1998 by Circular No. 2780 of November 12, 1997) in order to define monetary policy guidelines and set the basic interest rate. It regulates the liquidity of the economy through mone

Fiat currencies

Money

Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are: medium of exchange, a unit of account, a store of value and sometimes, a standard of deferred payment.

Fiat currencies

Nicaraguan córdoba

The córdoba (Spanish pronunciation: ['koɾ.ðo.βa], sign: C$; code: NIO) is the currency of Nicaragua. It is subdivided into 100 centavos.

Fiat currencies

Non-deliverable forward

In finance, a non-deliverable forward (NDF) is an outright forward contract or futures contract in which counterparties settle the difference between the contracted NDF price or rate and the prevailing spot price or rate on an agreed notional amount. It is used in various markets such as foreign exchange and commodities. NDFs are also known as forward contracts for differences (FCD).

Fiat currencies

North American monetary union

The North American monetary union is a theoretical economic and monetary union of three North American countries: Canada, Mexico, and the United States.

Banking

Overnight rate

The overnight rate is generally the interest rate that large banks use to borrow and lend from one another in the overnight market. In some countries (the United States, for example), the overnight rate may be the rate targeted by the central bank to influence monetary policy. In most countries, the central bank is also a participant on the overnight lending market, and will lend or borr

Trading basics

Panamanian balboa

The balboa (sign: B/.; ISO 4217: PAB) is, along with the United States dollar, one of the official currencies of Panama. It is named in honor of the Spanish explorer and conquistador Vasco Núñez de Balboa. The balboa is subdivided into 100 centésimos.

Fiat currencies

Paraguayan guaraní

The guaraní (Spanish pronunciation: [ɡwaɾaˈni], plural: guaraníes; sign: ₲; code: PYG) is the national currency unit of Paraguay. The guaraní is divided into 100 céntimos, but because of inflation, céntimos coins are no longer in use.

Fiat currencies

Peruvian sol

The sol (Spanish pronunciation: [sol]; plural: soles; currency sign: S/) is the currency of Peru; it is subdivided into 100 céntimos ("cents"). The ISO 4217 currency code is PEN.

Payments & settlement

Pix (payment system)

Pix (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈpiks]) is an instant payment platform created and managed by the Central Bank of Brazil (BCB). It enables free instant transfers between individuals in Brazilian real 24 hours a day without interruption, even outside banking hours and during holidays or weekends; payments made and received by legal entities may be subject to fees.

Fiat currencies

Redenomination

In monetary economics, redenomination is the process of changing the face value of banknotes and coins in circulation. It may be done because inflation has made the currency unit so small that only large denominations of the currency are in circulation. In such cases the name of the currency may change or the original name may be used with a temporary qualifier such as "new". Redenominat

Payments & settlement

RioCard

The RioCard (Bilhete Único) is a smartcard system used in the transport system of Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil. The card is contactless and uses MIFARE technology. It is a form of electronic payment produced and distributed by the Fetranspor company, in cooperation with Itaú bank. Its installation was seen as strengthening Brazil's connection with the Open Standard for Public Transport

Trading basics

Singapore dollar

The Singapore dollar (sign: $; code: SGD) is the official currency of the Republic of Singapore. Each dollar is divided into 100 cents (Malay: sen, Chinese: 分; pinyin: fēn, Tamil: காசு, romanized: kācu). It is normally abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or S$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) issues the banknotes and co

Finance

Telexfree

Telexfree (stylized as TelexFREE), a trade name owned by Telexfree Inc., was a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme disguised as an internet phone service company. Prosecutors have described it as the largest fraud of all time in terms of the number of people affected - more than 1 million, with victims in various countries. The brand became best known for its operations in Brazil held by Ym

Banking

Uncle Paulo incident

On 16 April 2024, Érika de Souza Vieira Nunes, a 42-year-old Brazilian woman, brought the corpse of her 68-year-old uncle, Paulo Roberto Braga, to an Itaú bank branch in an attempt to withdraw a loan of 17,000 Brazilian reais. The incident occurred in the Bangu neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro and was recorded by bank employees.

Trading basics

Vem

The VEM (Acronym of Vale eletrônico Metropolitano, Electronic Metropolitan Ticket) is a Smart card system used in bus, train and metro of the metropolitan area of Recife, Brazil.

Trading basics

Withdrawal of low-denomination coins

The withdrawal of a country's lowest-denomination coins from circulation (usually a one-cent coin or equivalent) may either be through a decision to remove the coins from circulation, or simply through ceasing minting. This usually occurs after inflation or increased production costs for the coin. The coin being removed usually has a poor seigniorage, which means the coin costs as much i