Glossary / Wealth and risk
Currency exposure (unhedged)
Unhedged currency exposure is the part of a portfolio held in foreign-currency assets without a currency hedge. Its value in the base currency changes with exchange rates as well as with the assets' own prices.
Written by Antevo · 15 September 2026
See it in practice01 / In practice
Illustrative only, with invented prices and exchange rates. A fictional CHF-based investor buys US shares worth USD 100,000 when 1 USD = CHF 0.90, a cost of CHF 90,000. A year later the shares have risen 10% to USD 110,000, but the dollar has fallen 10% to CHF 0.81. In francs the holding is now worth 110,000 × 0.81 = CHF 89,100. The return in francs is (1.10 × 0.90) − 1 = −1%. The shares gained 10% in dollars, yet the unhedged position lost 1% in the investor's base currency. Had the dollar risen 10% instead, the franc return would have been (1.10 × 1.10) − 1 = +21%.
Formula. Base-currency return = (1 + asset return in local currency) × (1 + change in the foreign currency against the base currency) − 1
02 / In Antevo
Where you will
meet it.
Antevo Wealth reads a household's results in its own currency, so a CHF-based family sees its foreign holdings expressed 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.