Currency Converter

Mid-market rate: The rate shown is the mid-point between the buy and sell rates in the global currency market. This is the fairest rate, but banks and money transfer services add their own markup.

Spread: The difference between the mid-market rate and the rate you actually get. Banks typically charge 1–3% spread, which can add up for large transfers. Specialist services often offer better rates than traditional banks.

Floating vs. fixed: Most major currencies (USD, EUR, JPY, GBP) have floating rates determined by the market. Some countries peg their currency to another (e.g., Saudi riyal to USD) at a fixed rate.

When to convert: Exchange rates fluctuate constantly. For small amounts, timing matters less. For large transactions, monitor rates over time and consider using a limit order to lock in a target rate with some services.

Every conversion runs through a single base currency (USD) rather than storing a rate for every possible pair directly. The tool fetches a full rate table from open.er-api.com, quoted against USD, and caches it in memory for one hour. To convert between two non-USD currencies, say GBP to JPY, it first divides your amount by the GBP/USD rate, then multiplies by the JPY/USD rate. This is why the "1 XXX = Y.YYYY ZZZ" line under your result is computed, not looked up directly.

Cross rates: Below your converted amount, the tool lists live rates against a set of commonly traded currencies relative to whichever currency you selected as "From." This is useful for scanning several conversions at once without re-entering an amount each time.

Refresh cycle: If the live rate feed is unreachable, the converter automatically falls back to a stored snapshot of rates so the tool keeps working, though the timestamp will reflect when that snapshot was last valid rather than the current hour.