What Are Forex Rates? 
Foreign exchange rates - aka forex rates – are the values of two currencies relative to each other. 

In other words, how much of one currency needed to buy a unit of the other currency. For ease of use, the Forex normally expresses this relationship as the amount of one currency required to buy one US dollar. The shorthand for this is a pairing; USD JPY at 110.00 means one US dollar buys 110 Japanese Yen. 

Sometimes the pairing of currencies is reversed, with the rate expressing the US dollar equivalent of one unit of foreign currency. In addition, you will also see currency pairings between foreign currencies and these values are known as “cross rates”. In cross rates, where the US dollar does not figure, the value is the relative value between the two currencies. The pairing, EUR JPY at 135.10 signifies that one Euro can be exchanged for 135.10 Japanese Yen. 

Forex rates, unlike the simplified examples above, are usually denoted to four decimal points, which are referred to as pips or basis points. If Euros were used to buy Yen at 135.1030 and then the Euro exchange rate went up to 135.1035, this would be a five pip improvement on the rate. 

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