The USD/CAD is heavily traded because of its close correlation to oil prices. Canada is one of the largest exporters of crude oil in the world, and the US imports much of Canada’s oil. Many traders use the USD/CAD as a hedge against buying US crude, as the two are negatively correlated to quite a high degree.
Traders should be aware, however, that are other factors at stake in the price movement of the USD/CAD. This includes monetary policy in both the United States and Canada and economic data. Over time these other factors are becoming more of a driver as Canada lessens its dependency on oil exports and OPEC policy becomes more important for driving oil prices.
The best time to trade the USD/CAD is during the North American trading day when crude oil trading is at its highest volume and the trading volume of this pair is highest. As this pair is less commonly traded than some major pairs, spreads can be wide with the industry average sitting at 1.8 pips.
The table below shows the Forex brokers with the lowest trading costs for USD/CAD, including the spread and commission. It also details the industry average spread and industry average trading cost for 1 lot of USD/CAD.
