How to choose my account currency

Beginner Questions
1

Hi

I’m new to forex and new to this forum. And I guess that means my questions are going to be very basic to start off with. I appreciate you taking the time to point me in the right direction(…s).

I’ve dug around a fair bit to find an answer to the following - even posting elsewhere - but have yet to find a conclusive answer. [B]How do you choose your account currency?[/B]

I guess if you are based in the US, it is obvious. But I’m based in the UK. I’m using Alpari UK. They offer the option to choose which currency my account should be in. Initially I thought that GBP was the obvious answer, but now I’m not so sure anymore. Should it not be USD?

So many of the calculations - for example for direct rate pip values, etc, are based on the assumption that the account is in USD. Okay, it’s a minor inconvenience, but it is what got me wondering. If my account is in GBP, does that mean my broker is constantly converting trades that are based on USD back into GBP?

The USD seems to dominate forex (or is that just my newbie perspective?), so, I do wonder whether there are good practical reasons to have one’s account in USD too…

2

I wouldn’t worry too much about what your account currency is in. When you enter a trade where the two currencies are different from yours, there is an additional step in calculating your profits and losses, but it doesn’t affect your account equity in any way.

3

Okay, thanks for that. So, there are no disadvantages then to choosing USD?

4

You might be charged an exchange rate for converting your GPB to USD. That is, initially, before you start trading. I’m not 100% on how that fee would work though.

Once you start trading, it doesn’t matter, unless you do the math yourself.

5

Thank you!