Compare currencies to a firmer base

Beginner Questions
1

I’ve been watching the AUD/USD pair for years now mostly because I have investments in USD via my super fund. I did make a good amount of money watching the AUD/USD go down as I was in an unhedged fund (deliberately).
But sometimes I read the news and they say the USD is up but my pair didn’t go down. I’m guessing that’s because the AUD went up at the same time.
I notice that there is a USD index, which compares the USD to a weighted list of the currencies of America’s trading partners. When I did a google search for an AUD index I came up with nought.
Watching AUD/USD doesn’t tell me when they both go up or both go down, because the weighted list of currencies isn’t there.

So my question is whether there is an index or something I can use to assess each currency individually. I’m guessing gold is a good thing to compare each currency to.

Does anyone know if there are such charts about? I’m currently in a demo account with Vantage, but will consider another platform. I’d like to be able to see each currency individually and overlay the charts too if possible.

2

Very good question. I’ve never heard of anything equivalent to the USD index - but you might find currency ETF’s that will do the job well enough - it depends on how finely you want to run comparisons.

I’d disagree about gold as your “base” for comparisons. Gold has its own price drivers which are different to currencies and which are bound to distort net conclusions. Especially when the USD is globally regarded as the reserve currency. Most commentators on forex just use a secondary currency’s performance against the USD as evidence for strength or weakness.