Currency Converter

What Does a Currency Converter Do?

A currency converter changes an amount of money from one currency to another using an exchange rate. Unlike a length or weight, a currency has no fixed size. Exchange rates change every day, and sometimes every second, so a converter is only as good as its rate.

Where the rates come from. When you open this page, it asks this website’s server for the latest rates. The server gets them from the Exchange Rate API open data service, checks them and saves them for up to one hour. The provider updates its rates once a day. The page shows the date of the rates, so you can see how fresh they are. They are labelled delayed daily reference rates. They are not live trading prices.

Rate types on this page. Daily-rate mode uses the provider’s daily rates. These rates are delayed, never real-time, since they update once a day. Manual mode uses a rate you type. It is marked clearly as a manual rate and is never shown as a market rate.

If rates are not available. If the rate service cannot be reached, the page says so and shows no result in daily-rate mode. It does not guess. You can press “Try again” or switch to Manual rate. If the service is down but older rates were saved on the server, those are shown with a clear warning that they are saved rates.

Currencies that are unavailable. If a currency has no rate in the data, it is greyed out in daily-rate mode, with the note “rate unavailable”. You can still use it in manual mode.

Supported Units

The lists show currency codes (ISO 4217 style) and names. Whether a currency can be converted in daily-rate mode depends on the rate data available on the day.

How to Use the Currency Converter

1. Type the amount, for example 250.
2. Choose the From currency and the To currency.
3. The result appears instantly, or press Convert Now. The page shows the rate used, in both directions, and the date of the rates.
4. Use Swap Currencies to reverse the pair, Copy Result to copy the answer and Clear to start again.
5. To use your own rate, open Manual rate and type how many units of the second currency equal one unit of the first.

Worked example (illustration only, not a real rate)

Suppose 1 unit of currency A is worth 1.25 units of currency B. Then 200 A × 1.25 = 250 B. In the other direction, 1 B is 1 ÷ 1.25 = 0.8 A, so 250 B × 0.8 = 200 A. The numbers here are made up for the lesson. The converter above uses the real daily rates.

When Exchange Rates Matter

• Travel budgets: estimate the cost of a trip in your own currency.
• Online shopping: check the approximate price of an item priced in another currency.
• Freelance and export income: estimate earnings paid in dollars, euros or pounds.
• Sending money home: compare a transfer offer with the reference rate. A bank or transfer service often adds a margin or fee.

Ready-made pairs

Type an amount and choose the pair. The most used pairs are available at the top of the list: USD, EUR, GBP, INR, AED, AUD, CAD, CHF, CNY, JPY, MXN and SGD.

Important Limitations

• These are not real-time rates. They are reference rates updated about once a day. For a trade, a transfer or a payment, use the exact rate quoted by your bank, card or exchange.
• Banks add a margin. The rate you actually get is usually worse than the reference rate, and fees may apply.
• Some currencies may be missing. Rare, restricted or new currencies might not have a rate on a given day.
• Old or special codes. Some codes in the list (for example older or replaced currencies) may have no current rate. Use manual mode if you have a rate you trust.
• Not financial advice. This page is an information tool. Do not use it as the only source for trading or legal decisions.
• Manual rates are your responsibility. The tool does not check them.