Being no expert in Forex, I am curious what the significance of the number "6" is in the currency futures like 6E.

I checked, there are more than six of them.

My second guess was perhaps it's because on forex they each have six letters in them? ie "EURUSD".

So perhaps someone can shed some light and educate me.

Mike

according to one source 6 replaces actual currency symbol for that instrument since some machine can't handle a special character.

More cryptically, the mini 6e is e7, and the mini 6j is j7. I think they are just messing with us.

It might have grown out of the G-6, the original G-6, and now it might include those from the 8 or 20 group as well.

G8 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

G-20 major economies - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Might also be a simply code to describe the market itself. Below is a list of codes to describe different markets as per Nasdaq website..

Markets:
m1 = Listed Stocks Market
m2 = Listed Bonds Market
m3 = Securities Free Market
m4 = Money Market
m5 = Government Bonds Market
m6 = Currency Market
m7 = Manual Trades
m8 = REPO Market
m9 = IPO Market

Notice how the currency market has a 6. Euro (ECM6), Pound( BPM6), Canadian (CDM6) and Yen (JYM6) all fit the description as well with a 6.