How to use the cross rate calculator
- Choose the cross you want. Pick the base currency (the first one) and the quote currency (the second). The answer is the number of quote-currency units for one unit of the base, so EUR then JPY gives yen per euro.
- Enter the two US dollar pairs the form asks for. Each label names the exact pair, quoted the way the market quotes it: EUR/USD and USD/JPY for EUR/JPY, EUR/USD and GBP/USD for EUR/GBP. Copy the prices as your platform shows them; never invert them yourself.
- Switch to bid and ask if you want the cross bid, ask and spread. Enter both sides of each dollar pair.
The table under the results highlights which of the four arrangements your cross uses.
How a cross rate is calculated
Every cross is built so the US dollar cancels out. Which operation does that depends on where the dollar sits in each leg:
EUR/GBP = EUR/USD ÷ GBP/USD
CAD/JPY = USD/JPY ÷ USD/CAD
CAD/EUR = 1 ÷ (USD/CAD × EUR/USD)Read each pair as "units of the second currency per one unit of the first". EUR/USD is dollars per euro; USD/JPY is yen per dollar. Multiplying dollars per euro by yen per dollar leaves yen per euro.
With bid and ask quotes, the cross bid is what a dealer would pay you for the base currency by trading both legs, and the cross ask is what you would pay:
EUR/JPY ask = EUR/USD ask × USD/JPY ask
EUR/GBP bid = EUR/USD bid ÷ GBP/USD ask
EUR/GBP ask = EUR/USD ask ÷ GBP/USD bidWhen a leg is divided, its bid and ask swap places. The calculator handles this for every arrangement.
A worked example
EUR/JPY. EUR/USD is 1.085 and USD/JPY is 150. The dollar is the second currency in the first pair and the first in the second, so you multiply: EUR/JPY = 162.750. The inverse, JPY/EUR, is 0.0061444, and 1,000 euros buy 162,750.00 JPY.
With bid and ask. Using EUR/USD at 1.08495 / 1.08505 and USD/JPY at 149.994 / 150.006, the cross is 162.736 bid and 162.764 ask, a spread of 2.8 pips.
Cross rates for the main arrangements
Using the example dollar prices in the calculator (EUR/USD 1.0850, GBP/USD 1.2700, AUD/USD 0.6600, NZD/USD 0.6000, USD/CHF 0.8800, USD/CAD 1.3800, USD/JPY 150.00):
| Cross | Built from | Rule | Cross rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| EUR/JPY | EUR/USD, USD/JPY | Multiply | 162.750 |
| GBP/CHF | GBP/USD, USD/CHF | Multiply | 1.11760 |
| EUR/GBP | EUR/USD, GBP/USD | Divide | 0.85433 |
| AUD/NZD | AUD/USD, NZD/USD | Divide | 1.10000 |
| CAD/JPY | USD/CAD, USD/JPY | Divide (second by first) | 108.696 |
| EUR/CAD | EUR/USD, USD/CAD | Multiply | 1.49730 |
The fourth arrangement, where the dollar is first in the base leg and second in the quote leg, produces pairs such as CAD/EUR that the market normally quotes the other way round. The calculator also shows the conventional quote.
Why cross spreads are wider
When you trade a cross through its two dollar legs, you pay the spread on both. In percentage terms, the cross spread is roughly the sum of the two legs’ spreads. In the bid-and-ask example, the 1-pip EUR/USD spread is worth about 1.5 yen pips once carried into EUR/JPY, and the 1.2-pip USD/JPY spread adds about 1.3 more, for a cross spread of 2.8 pips.
In practice, liquid crosses such as EUR/JPY and EUR/GBP trade directly between banks, and their quoted spreads can be tighter than the synthetic one. Thinly traded crosses tend to price close to the synthetic spread or wider, which is worth knowing before you trade them. The forex spread calculator turns any spread into a money cost.
Limits of the calculation
- Timing. The two dollar pairs must be quoted at the same moment. In a fast market, prices taken a few seconds apart can give a noticeably different cross.
- Indicative only. Banks and brokers add their own markup, so the price you can trade at may differ from the theoretical cross.
- Dollar legs only. The calculator builds every cross through the US dollar, the way most of the market does. Crosses through the euro, such as EUR/PLN for a zloty rate, are not covered.