In foreign exchange markets, the first currency in a currency pair is the base currency. Whereas the second currency is referred to as the quote currency which is also called as counter currency, terms currency. Exchange rates are quoted in per unit of the base currency. The thing that should be noted is that FX market convention is the reverse of mathematical convention.
Currently for base currency, the euro has first precedence; as a result of this all currency pairs involving it should have the euro as the first currency. For instance, the exchange rate will be identified as EUR/USD between the US dollar and the euro; the number shows the amount of US dollars that can be traded for one euro.
