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Currency heatmap

Which pairs rose or fell the most over the period?

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Free, and no password: enter your email, then click the link in the message. One IBFX account covers every tool. The numbers below are an example.

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Biggest riser over 1 day

CADJPY +0.31%

Biggest faller: USDCAD −0.17%

Change over 1 day. Rows are the base currency, columns the quote currency: the cell in row GBP, column NZD is GBPNZD.

Base currency CADGBPEURAUDNZDUSDCHFJPY
CAD +0.06%+0.10%+0.12%+0.16%+0.17%+0.26%+0.31%
GBP −0.06%+0.03%+0.06%+0.10%+0.11%+0.19%+0.25%
EUR −0.10%−0.03%+0.03%+0.07%+0.07%+0.16%+0.22%
AUD −0.12%−0.06%−0.03%+0.04%+0.05%+0.13%+0.19%
NZD −0.16%−0.10%−0.07%−0.04%+0.01%+0.10%+0.15%
USD −0.17%−0.11%−0.07%−0.05%−0.01%+0.09%+0.14%
CHF −0.26%−0.19%−0.16%−0.13%−0.10%−0.09%+0.05%
JPY −0.31%−0.25%−0.22%−0.19%−0.15%−0.14%−0.05%
  • Up under 0.10%
  • Up 0.10–0.30%
  • Up 0.30–0.60%
  • Up from 0.60%
  • Down under 0.10%
  • Down 0.10–0.30%
  • Down 0.30–0.60%
  • Down from 0.60%

The figures above are an example worked out from a sample price series, not market data. Turn on JavaScript to see the percentage change from the latest prices.

Source for the 1-hour and 4-hour periods: CXM Direct MT5 prices (CXMDirect-Live server), closed candles only. IBFX works out the indicators from the candle closes.

Source for the 1-day and 1-week periods: European Central Bank (ECB) reference rates, published for information. IBFX recalculates the cross rates and the indicators from those figures.

How to read the heatmap

Each cell is the percentage change of one currency pair over the period you picked. Rows are the base currency, columns the quote currency: the cell in row GBP, column NZD is GBPNZD. A green cell with a + sign means the pair rose, that is the row currency gained against the column currency; a red cell with a − sign means it fell. The deeper the shade, the larger the change; the thresholds are in the legend, narrow for the 1-hour period and widening out to the 1-week period.

  • Strongest to weakest: the currency with the highest average percentage across its row goes first, so the top right half is usually green and the bottom left half usually red. A row that is almost all green is a currency that gained against nearly every other one; for the score of each individual currency, use the currency strength tool.
  • Two cells mirrored across the diagonal are close to opposite: if GBPNZD rose 0.75%, NZDGBP fell about 0.74%. The two are not exactly equal because each cell divides by the starting price of that pair.
  • This is only what has already happened over the period, not a forecast or a buy or sell signal.

How it is calculated

  1. The price of each pair: for the 1-hour and 4-hour periods it is the MT5 candle close on the CXMDirect-Live server, closed candles only; for the 1-day and 1-week periods it is the ECB reference rate published each business day, and pairs without EUR are worked out as a cross through EUR.
  2. Percentage change = (price at the end of the period − price at the start) ÷ price at the start × 100. A start of 1.1000 and an end of 1.1110 is a rise of +1.00%.
  3. The 1-hour and 4-hour periods compare the close of the candle that just closed with the one before it, using the same candle timestamp for all 28 pairs. The 1-day period compares with 1 business day earlier and the 1-week period with 5 business days earlier; the ECB publishes only one rate a day, so the daily period has no session open price the way a broker does.
  4. Cells in the opposite direction (row USD, column EUR) come from the inverse price: USD/EUR = 1 ÷ EUR/USD.

Heatmaps on trading platforms are usually built from live prices and the session open, while the MT5 candles here are built from CXM's Bid price. That is why the percentages here can differ from what you see elsewhere.