Introduction to Bloomberg FX Functions

If you are interested in foreign exchange rates or other information on world currencies, Bloomberg is an excellent resource for that data. In this blog post, we will go over some of the basic FX functions that are available in Bloomberg.

To get started, hit the yellow [CURNCY] market sector key, and then hit the green [GO] key. This will display a menu of the main currency functions, giving you an overview of some of the options available to you when you are looking for currency and FX data.

One of the main FX functions is FXIP, the FX information portal.

If you type in FXIP [GO], you will be taken to the FX markets overview screen. FXIP gives you a detailed overview of FX information, enabling you to get a quick snapshot of pricing information for various currency baskets. This is a great starting point for FX overview information before navigating to different screens for more detailed information, some of which are detailed below. The default currency for the FXIP screen is USD, but you are able to change that by typing in a different base currency at the amber box near the top of the screen. You can click on the different gray tabs for additional market overview information.

WCR is the function for World Currency Rates.

The WCR screen allows you to view spot pricing for different currency baskets. Because we have an academic subscription to the Bloomberg terminal, pricing information is delayed by 15 minutes.

The default currency basket displayed is the G10, but you can also choose specific regions of the world, or other baskets, such as Emerging Markets or Precious Metals. The Base currency can also be changed. The default is currency for exchange information is USD.

In addition to looking at pre-populated tables, you can also search for a specific currency much like you would search for an equity, by typing in the name of the currency, hitting the [CURNCY] key, typing in the function you want, and then hitting the green [GO] key. For example, in order to search for the Euro spot FX rate, you would enter the following:

EUR [CURNCY] BQ [GO]

That pulls up the current spot rates for the Euro.

By default, the spot rates on the BQ screen are set to compare to the US dollar. You can also look up cross quotes for a specific currency pair. For example, if you wanted to see the spot exchange rate between the Euro and the Japanese Yen, you would type the following:

EURJPY [CURNCY] BQ [GO]

Note that the exchange rate will be displayed in the order that you type in the currency pair – so for the example above, Bloomberg will display the spot rate for the price of 1 Euro in Yen. If you typed in JPYEUR [CURNCY] BQ [GO], it would display the price of one yen in Euros.

 

 

 

Additionally, you can look at the spot forward monitor for a given currency pair by using the function FXFR, which allows you to look at spot and forward exchange rates for your chosen currency pair.

 

 

You can use the function FRD to view the FX Forward calculator for an individual currency. Here is what it looks like when you use the command EUR [CURNCY] FRD [GO]:

 

FRD is divided into four tabs, which allows you to perform different types of calculations. The default display screen is forwards, but you are also able to calculate cross-rates, par forwards, and predelivery/HRR. If you click on “Multi-Currency View” in the red menu bar at the top, you will be able to view forward calculations for multiple currencies at once:

These are just some of the many FX functions that Bloomberg has available, including robust charting features, which will be covered in a separate blog post.

For more information on Bloomberg see our Bloomberg Help Guide and additional posts in Datapoints under the Category:  Bloomberg.