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Forward Rate Calculator

Derive implied forward rates from a spot yield curve under annual, semi-annual or continuous compounding.

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Forward Rate Calculator is free to use as often as you like, directly from this page. You will find it under Investing & markets, with Real Rate of Return Calculator and Funding rate calculator for the neighbouring cases.

How to use it

  1. Open the tool — no signup or install needed.
  2. Enter your input or adjust the available options.
  3. Get your result instantly, then copy or download it.

Frequently asked questions

What does Forward Rate Calculator do?

Derive implied forward rates from a spot yield curve under annual, semi-annual or continuous compounding.

When would I actually use this?

Comparing two investments that pay at different times, deciding whether a project clears its cost of capital, and sanity-checking a valuation someone else produced.

What is the most common mistake?

Trusting a valuation without asking what share of it comes from the terminal value. Past 70%, the answer is an assumption about the distant future dressed up as a calculation.

How is Forward Rate Calculator different from Real Rate of Return Calculator?

They sit next to each other but answer different questions: Real Rate of Return Calculator is the one to open when you need it to strip inflation out of a nominal return with the exact Fisher equation, and see how far the simple subtraction is off. Pick whichever matches what you're starting from — both are free.

Is there a tool for the next step?

Funding rate calculator is the closest one after this: On perpetual futures you pay or receive funding every few hours. Enter your position size, the rate and how long you hold, and it totals what funding costs you (or pays you) over the whole period — the drag that quietly eats a held perp.

What else is worth having open alongside it?

Interest Rate Calculator and Nominal Interest Rate Calculator — they come up in the same task often enough to be worth a second tab.

Where do the figures come from?

Discounting, IRR and payback are defined identically everywhere, so the arithmetic is not in dispute — the assumptions you feed it are. Change the discount rate by a point and re-read the answer.

Further reading

All guides →
ExplainerDividend Reinvestment: What Actually Drives the DifferenceReinvesting a 3 percent yield for 30 years turns 100 shares into 242.7 and multiplies the final position by exactly that factor: $32,434 becomes $78,726. Tax at 30 percent on each dividend costs $18,223 of it — nearly two and a half times the tax actually paid.ExplainerWhat Is a Funding Rate? The Recurring Cost of Holding a PerpetualFunding is paid every eight hours on the full notional, between traders rather than to the exchange. A rate of 0.01 percent looks like nothing and costs 10.95 percent a year. Here is the formula and an annualised table.ComparisonRegulated Savings, a Euro Fund or a Fixed-Term Deposit: the Ranking Inverts TwiceThe product paying the second-highest headline rate finishes last, and the reason is a tax change that took effect in January 2026. The three French savings vehicles scored on identical criteria: rate, tax, net return, real return, and what each one costs you in access.ExplainerHow Wrong Is Nominal Minus Inflation? Exactly One Year's Inflation WrongThe subtraction is not an approximation of the Fisher relation — it is the exact answer multiplied by (1 + i). At 8 percent nominal and 3 percent inflation the real return is 4.8544 percent, the shortcut says 5, and the error is exactly 3 percent of the answer. Always.ExplainerPrice Return, Total Return and Yield Are Three Different NumbersThe index quoted in the news is almost always a price index. At 5 percent price growth and a 2.5 percent reinvested yield, 30 years turn $10,000 into $43,219 on price and $90,656 on total return — the price measure misses 58.8 percent of the gain.ComparisonWhat the APR Includes That the Rate Does Not — and Why 6 % Can Beat 7.5 % BackwardsA 6 percent loan with a 3 percent fee and compulsory insurance carries an APR of 10.7 percent and costs $486 more than a 7.5 percent loan with no fees at all. The APR is the figure that catches it.