The US dollar is on one side of nearly 9 in 10 currency trades

The market where currencies are exchanged is the largest in the world. In April 2022, global foreign-exchange trading averaged about $7.5 trillion every day - and one currency dominated it utterly.

The US dollar was on one side of roughly 88% of all FX trades, a share that has barely moved in two decades. By comparison, the euro - the next most-traded currency - appeared in about 31% of trades. (Because every trade has two sides, the shares for all currencies add up to 200%, not 100%.)

The dollar’s reach extends beyond trading floors: it makes up around 58% of disclosed official foreign-exchange reserves held by central banks. This dominance gives the United States outsized influence over global finance, lets much of the world price oil and debt in dollars, and is a major reason events at the Federal Reserve ripple through economies everywhere.