Currency Symbols Backwards - US and Canadian

[Solace]

My investments are generally in the default $, and options are using this symbol.
Some investments are made in US dollars, and I have set the option currency as "U". It's very slick to convert from mixed dollars invested to the default currency by using the View - exchange rates checked.

To keep an ongoing change in the currencies, I have set an investment into currency exchange with the currency defaulting to "U".

Using Yahoo to update investment prices, there are two symbols,
one USDCAD=X and one CADUSD=X.

I would think that my U.S. dollar investments could be converted to Canadian by using the USDCAD=X but it doesn't. I have to use the CADUSD=X symbol to convert the U.S. investment into the Canadian equivalent.

Am I thinking backwards, or is the software taking the reciprocal in error?



Regards,
Solace..

[Mark]

Hi Solace,

This is correct. It is just a matter of definition, but when you assign an exchange rate, the price is how many currency X equal 1 currency default. In the case of converting USD to CAD you do need to use Yahoo's symbol of CADUSD=X. You might also want to read this:

http://www.fundmanagersoftware.com/tutor_currency.html