Currency Strength Meter

How the currency strength meter works

A forex pair only tells you how two currencies moved against each other. To see which single currency is strong or weak, the meter compares each of the eight major currencies (USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, CHF, CAD, AUD and NZD) with the other seven. A currency’s score is its average percentage move against the other seven over the period you pick. A score of +1% means it gained about 1% against the rest of the majors on average; −1% means it lost about 1%.

Because every currency is measured against the same basket, the eight scores always balance out around zero. That makes the meter useful for spotting where the money has moved, not just how one pair behaved.

How to read it

• The ranking shows the eight currencies from strongest to weakest for the period you choose, from one day to one year.
• Strength over time shows how each currency got there. Each line starts at zero on the first day. Lines that keep rising mean steady strength; lines that cross show a change of leadership. Click a currency in the legend to hide or show it.
• Pair moves gives the percentage change of all 28 major pairs and crosses. Read each row as the base currency: the GBP row under the JPY column is GBP/JPY.

Strength is not a signal on its own. A currency that has been strong can keep going or reverse. Many traders use a meter to shortlist pairs, then make decisions on their own chart. ChartWatch doesn’t give trading advice.

About the data

The meter uses the daily reference rates published by the European Central Bank (via the open Frankfurter service), which are set once each working day at about 14:15 Central European Time and published around 16:00. That makes it a daily strength meter, best suited to swing and position trading. It is not a live tick-by-tick meter, and it doesn’t update at weekends or on European holidays. The date of the latest rates is shown above the chart.

Checking strength on TradingView

TradingView has currency index symbols you can chart directly, the best known being the US Dollar Index, TVC:DXY. TradingView also lists other currency indices; type a currency code such as EXY or JXY into symbol search to see what’s available. You can also build your own: in the symbol search, type a formula like FX:GBPUSD*FX:GBPJPY to chart a combined view. Our DXY on TradingView page covers the dollar index in more detail.

See how pairs move together on the forex correlation table, check when each market is open with the forex time zone converter, or size a trade with the position size calculator.

Data: European Central Bank reference rates via Frankfurter. Rates are indicative, not dealing prices. ChartWatch is independent and not affiliated with TradingView or the ECB.

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