Forex Currency Exposure Calculator
Enter up to 20 FX positions to decompose each buy or sell into base- and quote-currency legs, then review long, short and net native units by currency. The calculator uses your entered units and reference prices only; it does not retrieve quotes, convert unlike currencies or recommend a hedge.
Enter comparable FX positions
Use one pipe-separated row per position: label | pair | buy or sell | base units | reference price.
Three-letter currency code used for the primary net result.
One to 20 rows. Price means quote-currency units per one base unit.
Entered currency-leg map
Entered Portfolio Exposure and Stress 1.0.0.
On smaller screens, scroll horizontally to inspect the complete calculation table.
| Currency | Long units | Short units | Net units | Gross units | Offset units |
|---|
How forex currency exposure is calculated
Buy quote leg = −Base units × Reference price
Sell reverses both signs
Currency net = Long native units − Short native units
Version 1.0.0 normalizes a pair such as EUR/USD to the base currency EUR and quote currency USD. CME explains the same transaction direction: buying an FX pair buys the base currency in exchange for the quote currency, while selling reverses that exchange.
For a buy, the engine records positive base units and negative quote units at the entered reference price. For a sell, the base leg is negative and the quote leg is positive. Every leg is then grouped by its own three-letter currency code.
Within one currency, positive legs become long units and negative legs become short units. Gross units add both sides, net units subtract short from long, and natural offset is the smaller of the entered long and short totals.
The focus currency simply brings one row from the same table into the primary result. If the focus code is absent, its long, short, gross, offset and net values are zero rather than an invented conversion.
The Basel Framework describes conversion of net currency positions into a reporting currency for a regulated capital method. This retail calculator deliberately stops before that step because it has no governed account-currency conversion input or current spot-rate feed.
Worked example from the audited fixture
The audited fixture buys 100,000 EUR/USD at an entered reference price of 1.10 and sells 50,000 GBP/USD at 1.25, with USD selected as the focus currency.
- The EUR/USD buy contributes +100,000 EUR and −110,000 USD. The GBP/USD sell contributes −50,000 GBP and +62,500 USD.
- USD therefore has 62,500 long units, 110,000 short units and a net of −47,500 USD. EUR remains +100,000 and GBP remains −50,000 in their own native units.
Reproduce it: select “Load audited example” above. The governed engine retains full precision and rounds only the visible interface.
How to interpret the result
- A negative focus result means the entered short legs for that currency exceed the entered long legs. A positive result means the reverse.
- Gross units show activity on both sides before natural offsets. They are not account equity, margin requirement or monetary stop risk.
- A zero currency net can result from offsetting entered legs. It does not prove the positions are risk-free because timing, pricing, costs and basis can differ.
- The net-to-gross percentage describes how much gross native exposure remains after same-currency offsetting. It is not a safety score.
- Reference prices should use one clearly documented basis. Mixing stale fills, current mid prices and unrelated settlement prices can make the leg map internally inconsistent.
- The table is an exposure inventory. Hedging decisions require objectives, execution terms, liquidity, costs and suitability that this page does not assess.
Assumptions and limits
- The model does not read MetaTrader positions, contract specifications, lot sizes, account balances or current market prices.
- It assumes the entered base-unit quantity and reference price correctly represent each position basis.
- Native currency units cannot be ranked by size across currencies without a separate conversion basis.
- Rolling spot, CFD, futures, forward, option and cash exposures can have different accounting, settlement and nonlinear behavior.
- The model omits spread, commission, financing, tax, margin, stop execution, gaps and counterparty terms.
- Duplicate or economically linked positions are not merged automatically.
- No hedge amount, target exposure, risk band, forecast, signal or recommendation is generated.
Currency exposure vs stress vs concentration
These calculations are complementary, not interchangeable. Currency exposure preserves native FX legs, stress testing applies entered same-unit shocks, concentration measures entered share unevenness and portfolio volatility uses covariance assumptions. None of them alone establishes suitability or future loss.
| Measure | Evidence entered | Question answered | Main boundary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Currency exposure | FX pair, direction, base units and reference price | Long, short and net native units by currency | No cross-currency total or hedge decision. |
| Portfolio stress | Same-unit directional exposure and entered shock | First-order scenario P/L and equity reconciliation | No probability, nonlinear repricing or complete stress program. |
| Portfolio concentration | Positive absolute values in one unit | HHI, effective positions and top shares | No covariance, look-through or diversification grade. |
| Portfolio volatility | Weights, volatilities and correlation matrix | Covariance-based dispersion | A separate assumptions-based risk model. |
Frequently asked questions
- It decomposes entered FX buys and sells into base- and quote-currency legs, then totals long, short, gross, offset and net native units within each currency.
- A buy contributes positive entered base units and negative quote units equal to base units multiplied by the entered reference price.
- A sell contributes negative entered base units and positive quote units equal to base units multiplied by the entered reference price.
- No. Unlike native currency units are not comparable without a separate conversion basis, so every currency remains on its own row.
- Within one currency it is the smaller of entered long and short native units, showing how much opposing gross exposure offsets arithmetically.
- No. Prices, timing, costs, settlement, basis, liquidity and nonlinear products can create risk even when entered native units offset.
- No. It reads only the browser inputs and never accesses a broker, terminal, account, market feed or journal.
- No. It calculates no hedge amount, margin, exposure grade, forecast, signal or recommendation.
Sources and methodology
- CME Group — Trading cross-rate futures — Official education showing that buying a pair buys the base currency in exchange for the quote currency and selling reverses it.
- Basel Framework — Foreign exchange risk — Official framework describing net positions by currency and later conversion into a reporting currency.
The immutable implementation contract fixes row parsing, direction signs, normalization, invalid states, reconciliations and permanent exclusions so later copy or layout edits cannot silently change the arithmetic.
Continue the exposure review
Verify the position values and execution terms
Before using a position, exposure or scenario value, confirm the exact symbol, contract basis, account currency, conversion, spread, commission, financing and execution records for the broker entity and account involved. These browser calculations cannot certify that entered evidence is current or complete.
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