How the converter works
An exchange rate is the price of one currency in another. The converter multiplies your amount by the rate between the two currencies you choose and shows the result along with the rate in both directions, so you can sanity-check the number against a quote from a bank or card provider.
At a glance
- Rates are the European Central Bank's daily reference fixing, quoted against the euro.
- Conversions between two non-euro currencies go through the euro as a cross rate.
- The reference rate is mid-market; providers add a margin and often a fee.
- Use the converter as a benchmark to measure what a provider is really charging.
The rates come from the European Central Bank's daily reference fixing, the benchmark most European businesses, tax authorities and statisticians use. The ECB publishes one rate per currency against the euro each working day at about 16:00 CET. Because every rate is quoted against the euro, converting between two other currencies, dollars to pounds, say, goes through the euro as a cross rate.
The formula
rate(from → to) = units of TO per euro ÷ units of FROM per euro converted = amount × rate(from → to)
Because the calculation is a single division and multiplication, it is exact to floating-point precision; only the display is rounded. Amounts of one unit or more are shown to two decimals, smaller values to four so that a rate such as 0.0062 is still readable.
Worked example: $100 to euros
Suppose the fixing is 1 EUR = 1.08 USD. Then 1 USD = 1 ÷ 1.08 = 0.9259 EUR.
$100 × 0.9259 = €92.59.
Worked example: dollars to pounds through the euro
With 1 EUR = 1.08 USD and 1 EUR = 0.86 GBP, the dollar-pound cross rate is 0.86 ÷ 1.08 = 0.7963.
$100 × 0.7963 = £79.63. Converting the £79.63 back at 1.08 ÷ 0.86 = 1.2558 returns exactly $100, the converter's round-trip test checks this.
Reference rate versus the rate you get
The ECB figure is a mid-market rate: the midpoint between what dealers pay and charge for a currency at the moment of the fixing. Nobody outside the interbank market trades at exactly that price. When you exchange money you are quoted a rate that includes the provider's margin, and often a fee on top:
- Banks typically add 2 to 4% to the mid-market rate on cash and transfers.
- Card networks (Visa, Mastercard) set their own daily rates close to mid-market, but the issuing bank often adds a foreign-transaction fee of around 3%. Cards advertised as "no foreign-transaction fee" usually come closest to the reference rate.
- Airport bureaux can be 10% or more away from mid-market.
- Specialist transfer services quote a visible margin, often under 1%, plus a stated fee.
The practical use of a reference-rate converter is therefore comparison: convert the amount here, compare it with the amount a provider offers, and the gap is what that provider is charging. A quote of €90 for $100 against a reference of €92.59 means a cost of about 2.8%.
| Provider | Typical gap from the reference rate |
|---|---|
| Bank cash exchange or transfer | 2% to 4%, sometimes plus a fee |
| Card with a foreign-transaction fee | About 3% |
| Card with no foreign-transaction fee | Under 1% |
| Specialist transfer service | Under 1% plus a stated fee |
| Airport bureau | 10% or more |
Reading the result
- The headline is the converted amount at the reference rate.
- The two rates under it, from→to and to→from, let you check either direction. Providers sometimes quote the inverse to make a rate look better than it is.
- The fixing badge shows the date of the rates in use. Green means today's (or the latest working day's) fixing; amber means the rates are more than three days old or come from a cached snapshot because the live source was unreachable.
- The quick-reference table lists 1, 10, 100 and 1,000 units both ways, handy for pricing a menu or a shopping list on the move.
When the rate matters and when it does not
Rates for the major pairs move by fractions of a percent on an ordinary day, so for small purchases yesterday's fixing is indistinguishable from today's. They matter for large or time-sensitive transactions, a property deposit, a tuition payment, a business invoice, where a 1% move on £20,000 is £200. For those, treat this converter as a benchmark, get a live quote from your provider, and consider whether the timing of the transfer is within your control.
For historical or accounting purposes, note that the ECB fixing is the rate many tax authorities accept for converting foreign income and expenses. If you need the rate for a specific past date, the ECB publishes its full history; this tool shows the latest fixing only.
Currencies covered
The ECB publishes reference rates for 30 currencies against the euro: the US dollar, British pound, Swiss franc, Japanese yen, Chinese yuan, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore dollars, the Indian rupee, South Korean won, Mexican peso, Brazilian real, South African rand, Turkish lira, Israeli shekel, and the Nordic and Central European currencies. Currencies outside that list, including many Middle Eastern, African and Southeast Asian currencies, are not available here.