Currency impact

When you own something priced in another currency, two things move its value in your own currency: the price of the asset, and the exchange rate. A US stock can rise 20% in dollars while the dollar falls against the euro, and a euro investor sees much less than 20%. When the dollar rises, the same investor sees more.

Stonksfolio splits the return on every foreign holding into those two parts, so you can see which one did the work.

Where to find it

Hover over a return amount: the total return on the portfolio page, the return of a holding in the holdings table, or the figures on the dashboard. A small box shows three lines:

• Total

  Your return in the portfolio currency, the number you already see.

• Gain / Loss

  The part that comes from the asset's price, as if the exchange rate had not moved since you bought.

• FX Impact

  The part that comes from the exchange rate.

The split appears only for holdings priced in a currency other than the portfolio's. It is part of Pro.

How it is calculated

For the shares you still hold, using your average purchase price and average purchase rate:

Gain / Loss = (price today − average price paid) × rate today × shares
FX Impact   = average price paid × (rate today − average rate paid) × shares

Both prices are in the asset's own currency, and the rate converts that currency into the portfolio currency. For shares you have sold, the same formulas use the price and rate on the day of the sale instead of today's. The two parts always add up to the total.

What to do with it

Over a few months, currency moves can be as large as price moves and point the other way. Over decades they tend to matter less than what the assets themselves earn. A large FX Impact tells you that part of your result depends on the exchange rate, so it can reverse when the rate does.

If that is more than you want, some ETFs are currency hedged, and their share classes usually have "Hedged" in the name. Hedging has a small yearly cost.