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SAR/CNY OTC is a currency pair you will find on Pocket Option and nowhere else. No bank quotes the Saudi riyal against the Chinese yuan directly, and no exchange lists it: the pair is an OTC asset, priced by the platform’s own feed and open around the clock. This page explains what you are actually trading when you open SAR/CNY OTC, why its direction is decided almost entirely by the US dollar, and what the figures below mean.
What SAR/CNY OTC is
On the interbank market, currencies trade in pairs that banks actually need: the big crosses, and everything against the dollar or the euro. SAR/CNY is not one of them. When a company in Saudi Arabia pays a supplier in China, the banks go through the dollar: SAR to USD, then USD to CNY. The rate you would get is a calculation, not a quote.
Pocket Option builds SAR/CNY OTC from that calculation. The label “OTC” (over the counter) means the price comes from the platform’s own source rather than from a public market, which is also why the pair trades at weekends and at night, when the real currency markets are closed. You cannot check this price on another chart: on an OTC asset, the platform’s chart is the only one. Our guide to Pocket Option OTC assets covers what that changes in practice.
Why SAR/CNY follows USD/CNY
The Saudi riyal is pegged to the US dollar: the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) holds it at 3.75 riyals per US dollar, a rate that has not moved since 1986. The yuan, on the other hand, is managed by the People’s Bank of China, which sets a daily reference rate and lets the currency move within a band around it.
Put the two together and the arithmetic is simple: SAR/CNY equals SAR/USD multiplied by USD/CNY. The first factor is a constant. So every move you see on SAR/CNY OTC is, in reality, a move in USD/CNY, scaled by the peg. If the dollar strengthens against the yuan, SAR/CNY rises; if the yuan strengthens, SAR/CNY falls. The Saudi riyal itself has nothing to do with it.
What matters, then, is what moves the dollar against the yuan: the daily fixing of the People’s Bank of China, Chinese data (exports, inflation, growth), the Federal Reserve’s decisions and the general appetite for the dollar. Note that none of this applies at weekends, when the OTC feed keeps quoting while the real USD/CNY market is closed: during those hours the price is the platform’s, with no outside reference.
The two currencies
SAR, the Saudi riyal. The currency of Saudi Arabia, issued by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) and fixed to the dollar since 1986. China is the largest buyer of Saudi crude oil, and the two countries have discussed settling part of that trade in yuan, which is why the riyal-yuan rate is followed closely even though it is only ever derived from the dollar.
CNY, the Chinese yuan (renminbi). The currency of the world’s second-largest economy. Onshore (CNY) it trades under the central bank’s daily reference rate; offshore (CNH, in Hong Kong and elsewhere) it floats more freely. Which of the two the platform’s feed follows is not stated, and the difference is usually small.
How to trade SAR/CNY OTC on Pocket Option
- Start on the demo account. It is free, needs no deposit and shows the same OTC feed as the real account: how the Pocket Option demo works.
- Read the payout before you trade. The figure in the box above is read on our own Pocket Option account and refreshed every 15 minutes; it changes during the day. At a 92% payout you need to be right on 52.1% of your trades just to break even: what the payout really means.
- Keep the amount fixed. The same amount on every trade, whatever happened on the previous one. Our lesson on money management explains why this single rule decides whether an account survives.
- Do not trade it on economic news. Reading the calendar makes sense on real-market assets; on an OTC pair, the feed does not react to a central bank decision the way the market does.
- Be suspicious of “SAR/CNY OTC signals” sold online. Since the price comes from a single source nobody else can see, nobody can show you verified long-term results on it.
Frequently asked questions
Does SAR/CNY exist outside Pocket Option?
Not as a quoted market. Banks and brokers price SAR/CNY through the dollar, as a calculation; Pocket Option is the only platform that lists it as a tradable asset, under the OTC label.
Why is SAR/CNY OTC open at weekends?
Because it is an OTC asset: its price comes from the platform’s own feed, not from the currency market, so it keeps quoting when the real market is closed. At those hours there is no outside reference for the price.
What is the payout on SAR/CNY OTC?
It changes during the day and from one asset to another. The box on this page shows the payout read on our own Pocket Option account, refreshed every 15 minutes, with the highest level the asset reaches.
What really moves SAR/CNY?
The US dollar against the yuan. The Saudi riyal is fixed to the dollar, so SAR/CNY is USD/CNY in disguise: the People’s Bank of China’s daily fixing, Chinese data and the Federal Reserve move it; nothing in Saudi Arabia does.
Which other pairs are only on Pocket Option?
Five other Gulf and Middle East currencies against the yuan, all pegged to the dollar in the same way, listed in the box above, plus a few exotic currencies quoted against the dollar.
Binary options and leveraged products are high-risk: you can lose all the money you invest. Read our binary options guide and our risk disclosure before trading. The figures on this page are read on the Optencis account and can differ from yours. Signed: the Optencis team.
