The quotations of exchange rates for currencies normally reflect the ask prices for large transactions. Since exchange rates change throughout the day, the exchange rates quoted in a newspaper reflect only one specific point in time during the day. Quotations that represent the value of a foreign currency in dollars (number of dollar per currency) are referred to as direct quotations. Conversely, quotations that represent the number of units of a foreign currency per dollar are referred to as indirect quotations. The indirect quotations is the reciprocal of the corresponding direct quotation.
Definition