Introduction

The Dashboard has the capacity to convert the base currency and/or unit of measure for prices so that they can be compared on a like-for-like basis. Currency and unit conversions are available in the Single Price Tile, Multi Price Table, Historic Data Table and Price Chart widgets.

Foreign exchange rate source for conversion

The Dashboard uses spot foreign exchange (FX) rates provided by third-party data provider that takes indicative rates from a wide range of FX venues, for current and historical currency conversion. 

Daily rates on current pricing are provided by NetDania and update intraday (for conversion of published assessments and average prices) on a 30 minute basis until 23:00 UTC using the FX Bid price. 

Historical published assessment prices are converted using the end of day conversion FX rate for the day the price was originally assessed. 

Historical Fastmarkets published averages are converted using the end of day conversion FX rate for the day the average is published – for example, weekly average periods for assessments is Saturday to Friday.

Access the conversion menu

Conversions can be accessed via the widget actions menu, as shown on the left.  If using widgets where multiple prices are displayed, the Dashboard will convert all prices to the selected currency and/or unit. 

Please note currency conversion is not available for any exchange prices or foreign exchange symbols. In this instance the conversion menu will be greyed out. 

Convert the currency of prices in widgets

To convert the currency of prices in a widget, click on the “Widget actions” menu, select “Convert currency/unit” and select the currency you require from the top dropdown menu. Then click Convert.

The following example shows a Multi Price Table widget with each of the selected prices displayed in its base currency.

After converting all the assessed prices to “China Yuan”, the Multi Price Table clearly displays the currency choice at the top of the widget, and the “Currency” field will change to display the selected currency.

View currency rate used for conversions

As of January 2nd 2025, the underlying FX rates used for converting historic Fastmarkets assessment prices can be viewed in the Historic Price Table widget or Price Chart widget. This is available for all major currency pairs. 

Note: if conversions are used prior to 23:00 UTC on the day of the final assessment, the FX rate will continue to update every 30 minutes as outlined above. 

Example of assessed price in USD converted to EUR and the FX Rate used:

Assessment in USD	Assessment converted to EUR	FX Rate used

The physically assessed price Copper Grade A Shanghai can be converted from US dollars to Euros using the Currency Conversion tool in the widget: 

• Base Price: $60 
• Converted Price in Euros: € 58.27279437 
• Inferred FX rate: $60/58.272794=1.02964 as per the FX rate symbol 

View the corresponding FX rate by searching for the relevant FX symbol (e.g. XO-EURUSD-T) and selecting the Close Bid field.

FX rates methodology

The Currency Conversion tool uses two methodologies to convert a currency, depending on whether it is a “liquid” market pairing or not: 

1. Using Market Convention rates – Fastmarkets uses the most liquid currency pair for conversions, which aligns to standard FX market pair quotations. For example, the most liquid and standard market-conversion rate for US Dollars to Euros uses the EUR/USD rate and not USD/EUR eg symbol XO-EURUSD-T. (In FX markets its possible to quote the FX rate both ways around, Fastmarkets is only using the most liquid FX rate for conversions). 
2. Using triangulation for all other rates – in instances where a more illiquid FX pair is required, Fastmarkets triangulates the currency conversion from the most liquid FX rates to any other requested currency conversion. The FX rate shown in the Dashboard screen may therefore display a slight difference to the currency conversion rate used. See the example below where a Fastmarkets assessment price is converted from Malaysian Ringgit to Euros. Example of triangulation: 

Assessment in MYR	Assessment converted to EUR

The physically assessed price Crude Palm Oil, domestic Malaysia in ringitt/tonne can be converted from Malaysian Ringgit to Euros using the Currency Conversion tool in the widget, note that there isn’t a FX rate in the Dashboard for EURMYR and so triangulation is used: 

• Base Price: MYR 4730 
• Converted Price in Euros: € 1051.4728424755 
• Inferred FX rate: $473/1051.4728424755=0.4498451895238211 

A note on permissions: 

• Fastmarkets provides ‘major’ FX rates for free to all Platform customers, as per the list below.
• ‘Global’ FX rates are only included in the Exchange Data Basic add-on to the Platform, which is fee-liable. 

The FX spot pairs available to view and which are included in the Platform are: 

Convert the unit of measure of prices in widgets

It is also possible to convert the unit of measure using the Convert currency/unit dialogue box. Select the unit to which you want to convert by clicking on the dropdown menu. The example on the left shows the unit of measure converted to “Tonne” in the previous Multi Price Table. The Unit of Measure field in the table will display the selected unit, as shown below.

Convert both currency and unit of measure

To convert both currency and unit of measure for a group of prices in a widget, make selections from both dropdown menus and click Convert. Prices will be shown in a single unit; the “Currency” and “Unit of Measure” fields will reflect the conversion.

Please note that it is not currently possible to change the currency/unit of choice for an exchange price in a widget. An error message is displayed if you try to do so. The exchange price stays in the base currency – only the physical price is converted.

Edit a conversion 

To change a widget that has already been converted, click the purple currency button at the top of the widget. From the drop-down display, it is possible to choose whether to edit the current conversion or remove the conversion completely.

Further help