I compiled a complete list of amount symbols that are commonly used in foreign exchange trading and international remittances, so I can look them up later.

At first, I didn’t understand why I needed to specifically remember these symbols, but later I realized it’s just for quick identification. If you see €, you know it’s the euro; if you see £, it’s the British pound—saving you from having to write out a long string of currency names each time. Especially when doing forex trading, being able to quickly recognize the symbols for different currencies really improves efficiency.

I organized the main amount symbols for major countries: US$, Japan ¥, UK £, Euro €, South Korea ₩, India ₹, Thailand ฿, New Taiwan Dollar NT$, Hong Kong Dollar HK$, and Renminbi ￥—these are the most common. Actually, the $ symbol is used the most widely—by the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand—so sometimes you need to add a prefix to distinguish, like US$, C$, and A$.

I also gathered the keyboard shortcuts. On Mac, the euro sign is Shift+Option+2; on Windows, it’s Alt+E. For the British pound, Mac is Option+3 and Windows is Alt+L. The dollar sign is Shift+4 on both sides. The yen sign on Mac is Option+Y. These are the ones I use most often.

One detail can be confusing— the ￥ symbol represents the Japanese yen in Japan, but it represents the Renminbi in China. So to clearly indicate Renminbi, you need to write CNY￥100; to indicate yen, you write JPY￥100. Also, the ฿ symbol: in forex it represents the Thai baht, but in cryptocurrency it represents Bitcoin—this has to be judged based on the context.

In forex trading, currency pairs you’ll see—like EUR/USD or GBP/JPY—represent the exchange rate between two currencies. The one in front is the base currency, and the one after is the quote currency. For example, USD/GBP means one US dollar equals how many British pounds. Mastering these symbols and concepts is quite helpful for international investing.