The U.S. Dollar Index consists of a geometric weighted average of a basket of foreign currencies against the dollar.
The U.S. Dollar Index consists of SIX foreign currencies. They are the:
Euro (EUR)
Japanese Yen (JPY)
British Pound (GBP)
Canadian dollar (CAD)
Swedish Krona (SEK)
Swiss Franc (CHF)
The U.S. Dollar Index is the exclusive property of ICE, also known as Intercontinental Exchange Group.
ICE U.S. Dollar Index
Intercontinental Exchange Group (ICE) is a global exchange, clearing, financial data, and technology company operating multiple markets and services across nine asset classes.
ICE operates 13 regulated exchanges, including ICE Futures and OTC exchanges in the US, Canada, Europe, and Singapore. It is also the parent company of the well-known New York Stock Exchange.
Today, the company is among the largest exchange groups in the world.
The ICE U.S. Dollar Index futures contract is the only publicly available, regulated market for U.S. Dollar Index trading, allowing virtually round-the-clock access to futures traders worldwide.
This is why the ICE U.S. Dollar Index (USDX) futures contract is considered the leading benchmark for the international value of the U.S. dollar and the world’s most widely recognized traded currency index.
USDX vs. DX vs. DXY
If you’ve Googled “U.S. Dollar Index,” you might’ve seen three acronyms associated with the phrase: USDX, DX, and DXY and wondered, “What the heck is the difference between them?!”
What is USDX?
USDX is the umbrella term for the U.S. Dollar Index. You can’t go wrong using this term if you’re talking about the original dollar index.
What is DX?
The ICE Exchange symbol for the futures contract is DX, followed by the month and year code.
The ICE Exchange symbol for the value of the underlying Dollar Index (sometimes called the cash or spot index) is also DX (without a month or year code). However, different data providers may use other symbols.
What is DXY?
DXY is a popular ticker or symbol used by Bloomberg Terminal users, so that index is sometimes called the “Dixie.”
DXY is more commonly used when referring to the dollar cash or spot rate, while DX is geared more toward futures traders. However, as mentioned, DX can also refer to the spot rate.
US Dollar Index (USDX) Components
Now that we know the basket of currencies, let’s return to that “geometric weighted average” part.
Because not every country is the same size, it’s only fair that each is given appropriate weights when calculating the U.S. dollar index.
With its 19 countries, the euro comprises a big chunk of the U.S. Dollar Index.
The next highest is the Japanese yen, which would make sense since Japan has one of the biggest economies in the world.
The other four make up less than 30 percent of the USDX.
Example:
When the euro falls, which way does the U.S. Dollar Index move?
The euro makes up a huge portion of the U.S. Dollar Index; we might as well call this index the “Anti-Euro Index.”
How is the U.S. Dollar Index calculated?
The ICE U.S. Dollar Index is calculated in real-time, approximately every 15 seconds. This real-time calculation is redistributed to all data vendors.
The market sets the prices of the DX futures contracts and reflects interest rate differentials between the respective currencies and the U.S. dollar.
Real-time prices for the ICE U.S. Dollar Index
The real-time prices for the underlying cash U.S. Dollar Index and futures contracts based on the U.S. Dollar Index are available from market data vendors and on WebICE (an Internet-based subscription service that provides real-time access to trading activity on the ICE trading platform).
Since ICE controls the data price and charges a fee for the data feed, access to a real-time feed does not come FREE!
Delayed prices for the cash U.S. Dollar Index can be found on websites such as Bloomberg, MarketWatch, CNBC, WSJ, and Yahoo! Finance.
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