Introduction to the Australian Dollar

The Australian Dollar (Official currency code is AUD) is a commodity dominated currency and is at present, the sixth most traded in the world foreign exchange markets behind the US. Dollar, Euro, Japanese Yen, British Pound and the Swiss Franc. The Australian Dollar has been the official currency of the Commonwealth of Australia since February 14th, 1966. It is abbreviated by a '$' sign, with substitutes such as $A, $AU, or AU$ and is used to differentiate between the other dollar currencies. The Australian Dollar is divided into 100 cents. The Australian Dollar makes up to 5 percent of total forex transactions (approximately 1.9 trillion dollars a day). The Australian Dollar is a popular choice for currency traders as it lacks government intervention in the foreign exchange, its strong but stable economy and the region it's located, which is the Asia-Pacific region.