Currency Strength Meter

How it's computed

For each of the eight majors, we measure the percentage change against every other major over the last two ECB-published business days, then average those seven changes. A positive score means the currency strengthened against the basket; negative means it weakened.

The European Central Bank publishes daily reference rates around 16:00 CET on weekdays. Weekends and holidays carry the previous business day's rates forward, so on a Monday morning this meter typically shows Friday-vs-Monday change.

How to use it

The classic application is pair selection: combining the strongest and weakest currencies into one trade gives you the cleanest macro backdrop. If GBP is the strongest and JPY is the weakest, GBP/JPY long aligns with the prevailing flow on both legs. The opposite — pairing two equally-strong or two equally-weak currencies — is choppy and noise-driven.

This tool is daily-resolution, not intraday. For position trades held over hours-to-days, that's exactly the right horizon. Day-trading entries off intraday strength shifts is a different question that needs minute-bar data.

FAQ

Why ECB rates and not broker quotes?

ECB reference rates are free, well-documented, and published once per day at the same time across all eight majors. Broker quotes drift relative to each other by a fraction of a pip, which would create false noise in a daily strength score. For minute-by-minute strength a broker feed is the right source; for the daily macro picture, ECB is cleaner.

Is the meter live during the trading day?

It refreshes once per ECB publish — i.e. once per business day around 16:00 CET. If you reload at 18:00 CET on Monday you'll see Friday→Monday change, fully baked. If you reload at 10:00 CET on Tuesday you'll still see Friday→Monday, until ECB publishes the new daily fix.

Can I pick the side of a pair from this?

The longest-running rule is “long the strongest against the weakest.” If USD is +0.6% and JPY is −0.4%, USD/JPY long is the alignment trade. Combining a strong currency with another strong currency (e.g. EUR/GBP when both are strong) is the sloppiest setup — neither side is decisively driving.

Does the basket include USD?

Yes. Each currency is averaged against all seven of its peers including USD, so USD's own score is just the negative of the basket's mean change against USD. The display includes USD as one of the eight rows.

Pair this with our Forex Market Hours to time entries during the high-volume sessions, and our Trade Plan Builder to size the position.