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Foreign stocks: Calculate the return in your own currency

A foreign stock may have risen in its own currency while that currency has fallen against yours. Your return in your own currency can therefore differ from the percentage you see on the stock's price chart.

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Applies to the amounts in this calculator.

How many shares you bought and sold.

The price per share in the stock's own currency when you bought.

The price per share in the stock's own currency at the sale.

The price in your currency for one unit of the foreign currency on the purchase date.

The price in your currency for one unit of the foreign currency on the sale date.

The trading costs of the purchase, converted to your currency.

EUR

The trading costs of the sale, converted to your currency.

EUR

Before tax. Exchange rates are in your currency per unit. Dividends are converted at the rate when received.

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Worked example
  • Dividends: Without dividends
  • Number of shares: 100
  • Purchase price in local currency: 100
  • Sale price in local currency: 110
  • Exchange rate at purchase (your currency per unit): 7
  • Exchange rate at sale (your currency per unit): 6.65
  • Fee on purchase: 0.00 EUR
  • Fee on sale: 0.00 EUR

Result

Stock return in local currency

10 %

Currency change

-5 %

Cost of purchase

70,000 EUR

Final value

73,150 EUR

Gain before tax

3,150 EUR

Return

4.5 %

Working

  1. local stock return = 100 × (P₁ / P₀ − 1)
    100 × (110 / 100 − 1) = 10 %
  2. currency change = 100 × (v₁ / v₀ − 1)
    100 × (6.65 / 7 − 1) = -5 %
  3. cost = q × P₀ × v₀ + F₀
    100 × 100 × 7 + 0.00 EUR = 70,000.00 EUR
  4. final value = q × P₁ × v₁ − F₁
    100 × 110 × 6.65 − 0.00 EUR = 73,150.00 EUR
  5. gain = final value − cost
    73,150.00 EUR − 70,000.00 EUR = 3,150.00 EUR
  6. return = 100 × gain / cost
    100 × 3,150.00 EUR / 70,000.00 EUR = 4.5 %

The calculator includes the number of shares, the share prices and the exchange rates at purchase and sale. You can also enter trading costs and dividends received.

Stock return and currency return work together

Without dividends and fees, the formula is return in your currency = (1 + local stock return) × (1 + currency return) − 1. The percentages are written as decimals.

The currency return is measured as the change in the price of one unit of foreign currency in your own currency. A rising exchange rate therefore gives a positive currency contribution to an investment in that currency.

The stock rises 10%, the currency falls 5%

The calculation is 1.10 × 0.95 − 1 = 4.5%. An investment that cost 10,000 is worth 10,450 in this example before tax and costs.

So you cannot simply subtract five percentage points from the stock's ten percent to get the exact total return. The currency change affects the whole final value of the stock.

Dividends must be converted at the right time

In this calculation, dividends paid out are converted at the exchange rate when they are received. If you keep the amount in foreign currency, the cash holding also has a subsequent currency risk that must be calculated separately.

The calculation fits a position without currency hedging. A currency-hedged product must be assessed according to its own method. The trading currency alone also does not determine the underlying currency exposure of a fund.