Glossary / Wealth and risk
Base currency
The base currency is the single currency in which a portfolio or household's holdings are valued and performance is reported. Assets priced in other currencies are converted into it, so exchange-rate movements feed into the results.
Written by Antevo · 15 September 2026
See it in practice01 / In practice
Illustrative only, with invented exchange rates that are not market quotes. A fictional household uses Swiss francs as its base currency. It holds CHF 500,000 of Swiss shares, USD 400,000 of US shares and EUR 200,000 of euro bonds. Assume 1 USD = CHF 0.80 and 1 EUR = CHF 0.95. The US shares count as 400,000 × 0.80 = CHF 320,000 and the euro bonds as 200,000 × 0.95 = CHF 190,000. Total in the base currency: 500,000 + 320,000 + 190,000 = CHF 1,010,000. A household using US dollars as its base currency would see a different total, and different returns, from exactly the same holdings.
Formula. Value in base currency = value in local currency × exchange rate (units of base currency per unit of local currency)
02 / In Antevo
Where you will
meet it.
Antevo Wealth reads results in the household's own currency, so a CHF-based family sees its figures in Swiss francs.
Go there03 / Related terms
Read next.
04 / Sources
Where this comes from.
Primary sources for the definition above. Intelligence, not advice: your adviser or counsel confirms anything a decision rests on.