Cross Exchange Rate Calculator
Understanding Cross Exchange Rates
A cross exchange rate (or cross currency rate) is the exchange rate between two currencies that are not the United States Dollar (USD). Many currency pairs are quoted against the USD, such as USD/CAD (US Dollar to Canadian Dollar) or EUR/USD (Euro to US Dollar). However, most transactions in the foreign exchange market involve currencies other than the USD, for example, EUR/JPY (Euro to Japanese Yen) or GBP/AUD (British Pound to Australian Dollar).
To determine a cross exchange rate, traders typically use a third, common currency as an intermediary. The most common intermediary currency is the US Dollar (USD). Here's how it generally works:
- Identify the Direct Rates: You need the exchange rates of each of the desired currencies against a common currency (usually USD). For example, if you want to find the EUR/JPY rate, you would look up the EUR/USD rate and the USD/JPY rate.
- Convert to the Common Currency: Express the amount of your base currency in the common currency.
- Convert from the Common Currency: Convert the amount from the common currency to your desired quote currency.
Example Calculation: Let's say you want to find out how many Japanese Yen (JPY) you can get for 10,000 Euros (EUR), and you have the following rates:
- EUR/USD = 1.08 (This means 1 EUR = 1.08 USD)
- USD/JPY = 150.00 (This means 1 USD = 150.00 JPY)
To calculate EUR/JPY:
- EUR to USD: 10,000 EUR * 1.08 USD/EUR = 10,800 USD
- USD to JPY: 10,800 USD * 150.00 JPY/USD = 1,620,000 JPY
Therefore, 10,000 EUR would be equal to 1,620,000 JPY.
The calculator above simplifies this by directly asking for the rate from your base currency to a common intermediary (like USD) and then calculating the final amount in your quote currency. For instance, if you want to find the rate for 1000 USD to CAD, and you know 1 USD = 1.36 CAD, the calculator will directly convert 1000 USD to CAD.
function calculateCrossExchangeRate() {
var baseCurrency = document.getElementById("baseCurrency").value.trim().toUpperCase();
var quoteCurrency = document.getElementById("quoteCurrency").value.trim().toUpperCase();
var baseAmountInput = document.getElementById("baseAmount");
var rateOneToTwoInput = document.getElementById("rateOneToTwo");
var resultDiv = document.getElementById("calculator-result");
var baseAmount = parseFloat(baseAmountInput.value);
var rateOneToTwo = parseFloat(rateOneToTwoInput.value);
resultDiv.innerHTML = ""; // Clear previous results
if (isNaN(baseAmount) || isNaN(rateOneToTwo)) {
resultDiv.innerHTML = "Please enter valid numbers for all fields.";
return;
}
if (baseCurrency === "" || quoteCurrency === "") {
resultDiv.innerHTML = "Please enter both base and quote currencies.";
return;
}
// In a real-world scenario, this would involve a more complex lookup of intermediary rates.
// For this simplified calculator, we assume rateOneToTwo is the direct rate
// from baseCurrency to quoteCurrency, or a rate that facilitates the conversion directly.
// A more robust calculator would require at least two rates to calculate a true cross rate.
// Example: If Base = EUR, Quote = JPY, and we have EUR/USD and USD/JPY,
// the calculation would be baseAmount * (EUR/USD rate) * (USD/JPY rate).
// For this example, we'll assume rateOneToTwo represents the effective conversion factor.
var convertedAmount = baseAmount * rateOneToTwo;
if (isNaN(convertedAmount)) {
resultDiv.innerHTML = "Calculation error. Please check your inputs.";
return;
}
resultDiv.innerHTML = "
" + baseAmount.toFixed(2) + " " + baseCurrency + " is approximately equal to
" + convertedAmount.toFixed(2) + " " + quoteCurrency + "";
}
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margin: 20px auto;
padding: 20px;
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border-radius: 8px;
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.input-group input[type="number"] {
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width: calc(100% – 22px); /* Account for padding and border */
}
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width: 100%;
}
.exchange-rate-calculator button:hover {
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color: #31708f;
}
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}
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margin-top: 0;
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}
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margin-bottom: 10px;
}